I'm Doing OK!

Today is a beautiful and in contrast to yesterday; it is less stressful by miles.  The sun is bright and shining and I am welcoming this weather with open arms!

I am thankful for supportive friends, family, and coworkers who despite my crazy schedule love and help me get through!  This song came on the radio and it totally reminded me that I'm doing OK!!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki97oF8LBFE.

Today is Friday.  It is also my Grandma Mary's birthday.  She is 82 years strong and I have just realized that our time is so limited with her.  Make the most of everything.  Make the most of each moment we have with her.  Life is so very short, but we are doing OK.

I have had a ton of stress in my life lately.  Everything is in perspective and for the first time in my life I am content in the direction I am being drawn and I'm doing OK not knowing for sure of the outcome.  I keep my faith.  I keep my mind fresh, positive and just keep on pressing forward with each challenge each day as they come.  Sometimes baby stepping....and sometimes running a 10 minute paced marathon.

I found this lovely reminder on Pinterest:

What beautiful motivation coming into the weekend!  Keep a smile on your face Catie-girl.  This stress won't live forever.  This period in your life of single girl too will not last forever.  Keep your heart in it!  Keep the faith that you are moving toward your destiny and never give up!  You leap over the hurdles as they come and if you crash and burn it's OK.  YOU are doing OK.

It is called life.  Life is funny in so many sorts.  It tries to throw you for a loop and cause you to bob and weave through it to survive.  If you can keep up, you too are doing OK!

Keep a smile on your face today friends despite whatever mood you are currently in and know we got your back.

Catie Manning

Reflection of Appreciation: Call to Action February

"It's not enough to love, people have to feel that they are loved."  St. John Bosco

Last night, my salon had a meeting.  They get together every other month to talk about the salon dynamics, house keeping, new events, additions and other topics to which will enhance our client's over all experience.  With that being said, something of a really wonderful thought stuck in my mind...we all love and respect each other as stylists and estheticians as well as in the end are working toward a common goal.  We want YOU our client to feel relaxed and as though you are apart of our salon family too.

Each of us are small business owners with a common home at our salon.  Our station is your oasis to chat about anything and whatever your heart desires.  It is our hope that as you are walking out our doors that you too have had a positive relaxing experience.

I was reminded that not everyone has a good day every day.  There will be days where we will be stressed because of life and all it's many unpredictable occurrences.  This surge in snow for an instance, I have a few coworkers that drive quite a distance to work and it really did stress them out driving in it!  I cannot even imagine.  There are some that have children and with all the delays and closings had a hard time trying to balance their appointments and making sure their bases were covered.  So with that all said, it is important just to support where our fellow stylists need supported and not to take anything personally.

http://whowasplato.com/?tag=fighting

We have a great team.  I think that our owners really do an amazing job at making sure the personalities among our group work well, that we are on the same page and that everyone is pulling their weight.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it is knowing that I am supported and that I help support this home too.

At the very end of the meeting, our owners reminded us that they truly love us.  They appreciate us as we are representing a common vision and appreciate our desire to help the salon be everything it should be.  That loving and positive approach is so much of what we all need to hear from time to time.  We all should feel that our gifts are appreciated and that our hard work is paying off.

For my January-March "non-resolution" resolution, I am striving to do one random act of kindness daily.  I want to do things for others because that is the right thing to do.  I want others to feel appreciated.  I too desire to express true and genuine appreciation for others help and gifts.   Pay it forward don't you know!  Sometimes the gift of appreciation is the best thing you can bestow upon a person.  You never know what that means or how it affects their whole day.  It might just be enough to turn a rough start into a photo finish!

Here is to a more appreciative and giving February...how are you going to show someone that you appreciate them today?  I want to challenge you to really embrace that question and make February the best one yet!

Catie Manning

Self-Appreciation: Best Gift ANYONE Can Give

Today, as I was going through my daily ritual of reading the news as it comes through my news feed, I came across an article to which the subject matter really made me disturbed. This is a positive response of removal of a "new image" of Princess Merida, the beautiful red-headed young woman from Disney's movie Brave. Disney created a "Sexy Merida" for a coronation ceremony late last week to which caused some major grief, rightfully so.

'Brave' (Photo: Walt Disney Pictures)

"This one character may not do any damage to a girl's psychological development, per se," said Dr. Robyn Silverman. "But Merida joins a barrage of thin, sultry characters for girls, making her yet another facet of our sexed-up, thinned down messaging." 

As a human (I cannot just say one gender faces this more so than the other), as men and women alike, we are faced with so many body image perfectionist ideas to which we can majorly lose sight of what makes us unique. Everyone is shaped differently. Everyone is colored differently and not one person is like another. Comparison is unfair and how boring of a world this would be if you looked like every other person! BOOOOORRRINNGG!

Take a look at this campaign that Dove created a while back. It illustrates a good point: how we perceive ourselves is not always how others perceive us.

One step in health and wellness is shaping, molding, and being honest with our skewed perception of ourselves. It is embracing our flaws and imperfections as much as it is realizing what our needs are to feel good about ourselves inside and out. Health and wellness is full body endeavor to which takes an extreme amount of honesty, heart, perseverance, and dedication to embrace everything God made us to be. So what if we have large thighs, bags under our eyes or our rear end is "too big". This is what makes YOU uniquely you. Instead of looking negatively on what you don't like about yourself, why not say one thing positive about yourself?

Next time you are brushing your teeth and look up into the mirror to clean the excess toothpaste off your lips, try saying something you love about yourself in a positive fashion. This is not to be a vain attempt as much as it is to recognize qualities you possess that have a positive impact. If there is something you do not like about yourself, it is up to you on whether you want to change it. There are means to do so if that is your choice, but before you go changing yourself, appreciate who and what you are first.

I want to challenge each and everyone today to really find self-appreciation. To me, that is more important than trying to look and act like someone you are not. Appreciate who and what you are. There is only one you in this world. Be yourself. Allow it to be so! That is simply the best gift that anyone can give to themselves!

Catie Manning, Hair Stylist