It's Just Another Monday

I hear this every week. And it seriously bothers me.

Every other conversation goes something like:
"Hey! How are ya?"
"Eh, you know, it's Monday."

No. I don't know. Explain it to me. Or maybe I can explain it to you.

Mondays are days like any other. I mean, I used to despise Thursdays because, I swear that for the longest time, something terrible happened to Teenager Tawny every Thursday and I ended up associating such negativity with it. But anyway.


What's so bad about Mondays?
I have an idea. Mondays are socially constructed to induce negativity upon your poor brains so that you slosh around work and school feeling bad about your life. It gives you an excuse to be a negative Nancy and have people feel bad for you. Because it's Monday, and everyone else hates it. You've fallen into the lesson and have to hate it yourself.

"Why are you so glum, munchkin?"
"It's Monday."
"Awe, yeah I know. Hang in their pumpkin, the day's half over and it'll be Tuesday before you know it."
"Yeah, I'm trying. Thanks Sue."

No! Slap yourself for me. You're being ridiculous.

Guess what?
Mondays occur... EVERY... WEEK! And they don't just happen to you. They aren't out to get you. Everyone lives through Mondays right along with you. They're marked on every calendar you buy. What do you do? Dread them so much that you completely black the days out before you even bring your calendar home?

"My birthday's on a Monday this year... this is going to suck..."
Why? Because you can't get schwasty-pants that night? Because you have to work the next day? Or just because it's a Monday?

Why are you so upset?! Shouldn't you instead embrace the blessing of seeing another day's light? Shouldn't you be happy that you have the capability of working in general? Shouldn't you just be happy to be alive? Maybe you should actually try to enjoy your weekends more instead of just sitting on the couch all day in sweatpants eating potato chips and watching Breaking Bad marathons on Netflix. It sounds like fun at the time I bet, right? But in all reality, you've wasted a couple of precious days to have fun, work on a hobby, or get all of your errands done for the week. Because when Sunday night rolls around, you realize, "Oh no, I've wasted another weekend." And then you slum around all day Monday wishing for your weekend back and praying that the week goes by quickly in wait for Friday afternoon.


Shouldn't you learn by now? We're intelligent creatures, right? Stop letting a single word get you down. There's no avoiding Mondays. They are Just. Days! Get over it. Get over yourself. Turn the lights on at the pity party and be happy for once.

Break away from the endless cycle of glum. Listen to some Bananarama and play some fun music if that's what helps.


This is life.
<3 Tawny

Freedom Of Mind

I guess, in case you missed my (one of my) statuses last week on FaceBook, I wrote something that I really think everyone should not only read, but understand and remember.

Many of y'all know, that the way my sister and I have decided to keep in touch while I'm away from home/living across the country, is through letters. On the occasion, if it's pressing or needs to be vocalized immediately, one may text, call, or tweet another. But we've left all our prime mode of communication to snail mail.

1.) Who doesn't love getting mail, that isn't a bill or catalog that no one cares about? That's why we online shop, right? Not out of convenience, but just so we can get some fun mail send to us? Maybe it's just me.

2.) I think it makes hearing from someone all the more special. Taking the time to write a letter is a lot more appreciated than calling someone on the phone while you paint your nails or play a video game.

Recently, our cat at home passed away. He had a very advanced form of Leukemia that was discovered too late and his chances of life were next to nothing. So he had to be put down. I was informed of this via FB message. Not the best way of hearing about something like that, granted, the cat and I were never the best of friends, but my immediate thoughts went to my sister. How was she? I couldn't imagine her feeling any less than devastated and that's what tore my heart in half.

Then I received a letter from her and it was just as I expected. I of course made the mistake of reading the letter, again, in my office (I can't help it, I just get too excited to hear from her.) I had to close my door because I started crying like a little baby. Surprisingly, her being sad wasn't what made me cry, it was the fact that she had taken that negative experience, and found the light at the end of the tunnel.

Wise before her years. That's my sister. I'm so proud of her. She's becoming such a powerful young lady and she's only still in high school. That girl is going to move mountains in the future. I just know it.

But here's what I said to her in which I will say to you all:

"You may not have control over life or death, or anything in between, but you have complete control over yourself: your actions, your reactions; your emotions and your ability to process & cope. Take advantage of it. You have that ability and no one can ever take that away from you."

As humans, it is easy to fall into the negatives in our lives. It's always easier to say, "Woe is me," than it is to say, "My life is amazing and it's only going to get better." It's hard to say the latter because we're only living our own lives. One day, we may have everything fall in place for us. The next, someone will overcook our eggs at breakfast and it will ruin our appetite for the rest of the day. Then it becomes a downward spiral from there. "Oh, woe is me. First my eggs were burnt, then I got stopped at every red light on my way to work, then my computer had to be restarted 3 times this morning before I could get any work done, then I got a bill in the mail from my last dentist appointment. Today sucks." 

To you, this may seem like a horrible day. "For some, your floor may be their ceiling." I can't remember where I saw this quote or who said it, but it's true. Someone else will always have it worse for you. If your eggs were burnt this morning, well, at least they were under-cooked and gave you food poisoning. You got a dentist bill this morning? At least you have access to semi-affordable dental care.

And I know these are small and trivial examples of something much much bigger, but I'm only hoping to get this small point across to everyone.

Look on the bright side. It could be a lot worse. And, if it is a lot worse, what can you do to make it better. Maybe nothing physically, but you have all ability to think for yourself. You have that ability to look on the bright side. No one is making you feel sad and pitiful. That's all you.

Take if from someone who used to feel like someone else had control over my feelings. That I was consistently wrong for having the feelings that I did. That I was the bad guy for thinking for myself. Take it from someone who overcame that, fought past it, and took her mind back.

Take your mind back. Take it from the person who stole it from you. Take it from society, who implanted false hopes upon you. Take it back. Take that control back. Take whatever negative situation you're in, turn it around, and just be thankful for the amazing life that you've been blessed with. I bet others are thankful for you in turn.

You'd be surprised.

You'd be surprised how you yourself can make you feel. ;)

Try it. I dare you.


<3 Tawny

Saying Goodbye

I had a random thought one night last week whilst lying in bed.

I was going to simply post a small status on FB, but what I thought would be no more than three sentences max. Turned out to be a bit more. So, here I am, chattin' with y'all via this ol' thing.

(It's also been in draft form for about a week, and I keep forgetting to finish/post the darned thing...)

A Contradiction Posed:
Everyone says that they hate goodbyes. Saying goodbye, is associated with terrible feelings. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they enjoyed goodbyes. I can't blame y'all though. I'm not necessarily fond of them myself. Saying goodbye isn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. It doesn't quite roll off the tongue.

But here's where my mind pauses for thought. When someone close to us passes away - say a family member or a friend, its tragedy lies not in the death itself (necessarily), but in the idea of not having been able to say goodbye. For the most part, death comes when we least expect it. And when that happens, we suddenly regret our joking words of, "Later Gator!"

We don't like goodbyes, yet we always end up regretting not being able to say so before one leaves our lives. Why do we do this to ourselves? Cause such unnecessary guilt?

We have so many chances to say goodbye. But we never take them. We're greedy. We take these chances for granted. We don't realize that this one goodbye could be our last. We don't think that anything can happen in between, "See you tomorrow," and... well, tomorrow. We pass on the opportunity we're given, and expect that another will come our way when we need it, or when we think it should.

And that's when that rug is pulled from underneath us.

Embrace It:
For the longest time, I made it a point to never say goodbye and instead, always say, "See you later." Then, I think it was my freshman year of high school, or right before, my great aunt passed away. The last time I had seen her, she was telling me that she had to undergo some minor surgery, and I was leaving for vacation with my family soon. Upon leaving her, I said something along the lines of, "Good luck, and see you later!"

Then she was gone. I had made tentative plans with her to see her in the near future. I can't remember what we were planning, but I was looking forward to it. Then those plans became null and void. I handle death pretty well, it's a necessary part of life. It's going to happen to everyone at some point. It's going to happen to me one day. I was sad she was gone, yes, but not in the traditional sense. I was more upset, that I hadn't actually said, "Goodbye."

A Lesson:
From that point on, I decided to make a point of saying goodbye to anyone and everyone whenever leaving their presence. Don't take life for granted, and especially don't think that life will always play out in your favor.

Say goodbye, but go ahead and look forward to see that person again.

It'll make the reunion that much more sweet and the parting that much more bearable.

(Sorry for a depressing post. I tried to make it somewhat uplifting. I hope it worked..?)

Thanks for reading,
<3 Tawny