Be good at stuff

I had a workmate once who made the most awesome cob loaf dip.  You know the one. The one so full of deliciousness you gained a kilo looking at it.

The problem with being good at something is you get a reputation for it. And people keep asking you to do that thing. So every time we had a morning tea, workmates would ask her to make it. And because the ingredients cost so much, she began to feel really pressured into making it all the time at her own personal expense - just because everyone wanted to shovel it into their mouths on their way back from the photocopier. In the end she stopped making it.

She got almost TOO good at something. People wanted more of it. That became problematic, so she didn't want to do it any more. What's the moral? Never let on you're good at something. No, wait, that sounds wrong. I think it is: use your talent, share it as you will, but don't let people dictate what you do with it.

Like the old saying goes, the reward for good work is usually more work. And that's ace, whether you're an artist or cake decorator or accountant. But everyone needs to draw their own line as to how much of a good thing is enough. Don't risk burnout simply because people are demanding it of you.

What are you good at? Do you find yourself doing too much of it?

Sarah Suggests: The Good Stuff

There's a lot of crap on YouTube. But there's a lot of good stuff too. Which is why I'm recommending The Good Stuff.

What is it? It's basically a bunch of guys that like to make videos about things. Interesting things, cool things, scary things, amazing things. Each playlist has a theme, such as Time, Recycling or the Senses. It also doesn't hurt that one of the members is one of my favourite YouTubers, WheezyWaiter!

Watch the below to see what they're all about.



And here are two of my fave vids they've done - one about what it's like to be blind, the other about a Halloween Haunted House.






They also need financial support, so you can do so on their Subbable page, if you like their stuff!

Sarah Suggests is an ongoing serious in which I will highlight stuff I think is cool. It might be a book, a movie, a tv show, a magazine, podcast, song - whatever!

Cheer up at the office

If you're like me and have a desk job, sometimes the Cubicle Life (not to be confused with Thug Lyfe) can make you feel like you're living in a Dilbert comic.

It can kind of grind you down, as anyone who has seen Office Space will agree. So here's my tips on making your day at the office more bearable.

- Make your desk nice. Studies show that adding personal items can make it a nicer environment to work in. Duh, right? I'm always suspicious of anyone who doesn't have personal items on their desk. Weirdos. I have sarcastic calenders, a photo of me and my husband, hand cream and a stress ball. Do you have a favourite colour? Decorate with that. It'll cheer you up more than a "Hang in there!" kitten poster.

 

[source]

- Plants. If you're allowed, get one for your desk. They're great. I don't recommend fish though - they tend to die and give everyone a sad.

- Drink your favourite drinks. If you love coffee, take in your favourite brand. If you're a tea-drinker, brew your best leaves in a little teapot for one. Or if that's too odd (though I've seen people do this everywhere I've worked), buy beautiful boutique tea bags and drink a cup every day. I like to have mine in the morning, so I'm sipping it as I open my email. Makes the day more bearable.

- Take awesome food for lunch. Seriously, having yummy food to look forward to in the middle of the day can be a great way to boost your mood. Nothing kills my happy like realising it's 15mins until lunch, but then remembering I only have 2 minute noodles. If you can afford to buy lunch, perhaps restrict yourself to one great one per week. Go for a walk in your lunch break to find cool places to get food. This has the bonus of getting you out of the office. Which segways nicely to my next point...

- Get out of the office if you can. I fail at this one. But before I knew my workmates and gossiped my way through every break in the lunchroom, I used to go for walks around the city blocks near my office. Fresh air does the brain good, plus you get the blood pumping after hours of static sitting at your desk.

- Cool stationery is cool. Though perhaps this is just me. I am fussy about pens but there is so much cool papergoods out there just begging to be used. If you're like me and frequently splurge on KikkiK stuff that you never use, take it into the office! Everyone loves a pretty post-it. Yes even the grumpy old guy in accounts.

 

[source: kikki k]

So what do you do to cheer yourself up at work?

Good stuff

Image: mine*

Just lately, we have been feeling that there's a lot of "good stuff" going on in our lives. It's a really nice way to feel too, as my partner and I have been through some tough times over the past few years.

I always felt it was mainly about money (ie. we never had enough) but looking back, it was more about other issues - The Truck (deserves a separate post by itself), my job dissatisfaction, C's business. But just lately, really good things are starting to happen.

It all started when I read The Secret last year. JUST KIDDING. Though I did actually read The Secret last year at the urging of a friend. I practiced the visualization techniques for a while, then forgot about them!

This year, however, things have really started getting on track for us. Good things that have happened to contribute to this positive feeling are:

- C proposed, and my parents offered to pay for the wedding (phew!)

- I got a new job

- The Pulsar got written off, so C finally had the means to fix The Truck, and it is now back on the road (the beast of a thing)

- We had a financial windfall, which will make a significant dent in our mortgage

Funny how these four things have made such a huge difference to my personal happiness. C is a pretty happy person anyway, he doesn't tend to worry about things like bills, mortgages, world hunger etc. like I do. But even he has expressed his amazement in the way things are going lately.

And you know what the greatest thing is? I just know that life is going to get better. I'm not sure how, but there are things coming up that are going to be fun (the wedding), amazing (the honeymoon) and interesting (who knows?). It's this feeling I have - that the good stuff is going to keep on rolling in. Wishful thinking? I hope not!

*yes, I took a photo of my own hand. Because I couldn't find any nice pics of a thumbs up, ok?!