I have always believed that age is a state of mind. I know 20-somethings that sit around and watch TV all day long, and I know an 82-year old who still comes out to the dropzone every weekend to make a skydive (His name is Jim, and he’s my hero). That is my proof. So, instead of thinking about how old I am in terms of my physical age, I try to look at my youth in terms of my experiences. How I choose to live my life determines my youth, but that doesn’t mean I want to go back to the days of all night keg parties and waking up to strangers passed out in my bathtub (Sadly, this was once my life).

My Mom and Dad split up sometime in 1983-1984. I don’t remember exactly when, but I do remember hanging out at my Dad’s apartment. We watched MTV and listened to Van Halen’s 1984 all the time. It was cool. My Dad was young. Somehow over the course of time, my Dad isn’t young like that any more. He listens to smooth jazz now; he takes bubble baths; and he falls asleep in his chair when we’re visiting… a lot. Don’t misunderstand me. My Dad is and will always be one of the coolest people I know and I love every thing about him. But watching him change as I have grown, makes me wonder: How does it happen? How do you go from jamming out to rockin’ music to living in a perpetual elevator? Can this be prevented, because if so, I want the answer!

Being young is a mindset. It’s thinking more about now, and less about tomorrow. It’s about believing that what is most important is happiness, and not the daily grind, taxes or laundry. It’s so difficult not to get caught up in all of that, I certainly catch myself there all the time. You know what saves me more often than not? My kids.

I look at my kids and I allow myself to be reminded how much fun it is to be young. When we go to our park, I watch them play and fight the urge to yell out, “Don’t get any of that mud on your clothes”. I stop myself because… is mud really so bad? Isn’t it just wet dirt? Shouldn’t enjoyment be more important than whether or not clothes get dirty? Why is it that when we grow up, we forget the little things like this? Maybe it’s because we only see the work involved in cleaning up the mud, or maybe it’s because we’ve forgotten that fun is what it’s all about. Losing sight of “fun” is the same as losing your youth. To me, they’re one in the same. It’s not as if we don’t have fun as grown ups, but instead of fun being priority… being the impetus for every choice we make, it becomes something we do when everything else is taken care of.

Here’s another way of looking at it. If tomorrow was going to be your last day on Earth, what would you do? I can tell you I wouldn’t go to work tomorrow, that’s the first thing. I realize we all have responsibilities to keep, and so you can’t just live everyday like it was your last no matter how great it sounds. But, to recognize the things that you love so much that you would spend your last moments on Earth doing them is like opening a door to your youth. So, what would you do? I would go hiking with my kids and then I would skydive (Yes, I know. Big surprise). Whatever your answer is, figure out a way to incorporate that into your life, and MAKE time for it. Don’t do it only when and if you have available time and money. MAKE it happen.

One other piece of advice that prevents us from staying young- Forget about the end point. Just forget about it. So many people stop doing things they love because they start thinking more about the “end” and less about the “now”. How many people do you know who have given up something they love because they have become overly cautious about protecting their life? I know many. Here’s where skydiving comes into play again. There’s is nothing more effective at reminding you of your impermanence here than jumping out of a plane. It brings the rest of life into perspective. We are all here temporarily; some of us will live to a ripe “young” age, and others may die tomorrow in a freak accident. You never know, so thinking about and trying to prolong the inevitable will do nothing except keep you from enjoying your time here on Earth. You’re going to die… get over it.

So, remember the power of youth. Remember what you’re here for (not taxes or laundry)! I will leave you with this quote. The first part is well known, but it’s been modified by skydivers alike:

I refuse to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death, but rather I will skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out loudly proclaiming… WOW What a Ride!!!

So, How Young Are You?

Here’s a great article I came upon today. It was in many ways the inspiration for this post. It’s a Hoot. 25 Signs that Sadly, You’ve Grown Up.

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Are you burned out? Running on empty at work? Do you get to work and count the minutes you’ve been there, waiting to leave? Job burnout is pretty common, and cnn.com has a great article on how to identify if you’re in burnout. Why does this happen to us? How do we get burned out? Consider the fact that American’s work longer hours and take/receive fewer vacation hours than other developing countries. One in three American workers are chronically overworked and report job stress. Not only are our jobs increasingly more demanding, but often times we are “encouraged” to work more than the standard 40-hour week. 40% of people say they work at least 50 hours per week, if not more. It’s no wonder were burned out! I was discussing this with a co-worked today and she said that she had heard a story about how 40 years ago they estimated that with all the new technological advancements, our workweek’s would be shortened to 25 hours per week. So, what happened??? How is it that technology made things worse? Alas, we are here… In the age of technology and workaholics. You know what’s even scarier?

For the fifth consecutive year in a row — a Bush record — the average American’s income remained below what it was in 2000. (See below for the link to this article)

So, that’s what we get for working our asses off. We are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have a law defining a set amount of annual leave for employees. Wanna know what employees of other nations get? Take a deep breath and sit down first.

France leads the world with 30 days off a year. Employees in Britain, German, Australia, Spain and Sweden have 20 or more days off a year, and Canada and Japan have 10 days off, about the same as some American corporations allow their workers. The Chinese get three weeks off a year, and this is only the legally mandated vacation time. Many employees in other countries take six or more weeks off a year (the French average 39 days and the English 24).

In my own life, I have experienced burnout many times, and often I think it is a result of not having enough time away from work to recharge. I had a job a few years ago that allowed one sick day every 6 months. Yeah, right. I have kids. That is in impossibility for me. So, I would typically have to use what little vacation time I had to take care of my family. That left me with no time for an actual vacation. In jobs that I’ve worked at since then, the vacation time is better, but there is this “idea” that is silently pushed that if you want to succeed, more than 40 hours a week is expected. My bonuses right now depend on it, actually. It’s the new standard now. If you want to succeed or rise up the corporate ladder you must work more than 40 hours a week, but agree to only get paid for 40. Sorry, Charlie. That will never work for me. I would rather give up my stinkin’ bonuses than have to work for free. I’m worth more than that; my time is worth more than that.

What are the signs of burnout? If you find yourself edgy at work, drained and fatigued; or you catch yourself trying to figure out ways to get out of work a little early each day, you are probably experiencing some form of “work fry”. It happens to everyone, and obviously there is good reason. One good way to resolve this problem is to use your vacation! I can’t remember the exact statistic, but many Americans never take more than one week off at a time. I can relate to this, because typically I end up using some of my vacation time for sick children and myself (because of course, we don’t get enough sick time). If you can take two weeks off, do it. It can recharge your system and hopefully stop the burnout all together. And if for some reason your burnout stems from boredom or unhappiness about where you work, than you owe it to yourself to fix it.

Here are some additional resources if you would like to read more about job burnout and the loss of the American vacation.

• Alternet has an article on American vacations vs. vacations in other developed countries.
• The Shrinking American Vacation… need I say more?
• Read the Labor Day Report Card over at the Huffington Post. Interesting stuff.

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Yep. As is typical of the beginning of the school year, my son is sick. It happens every year within the first month of school and it seems to be entirely unavoidable. It will inevitable snowball and as soon as one boy is better the other is sick, until finally I’ll get it but have not time left to take off for myself. B-E-A-utiful! Since I’ve already been through this a few times, I now start the school year off armed and ready. Here’s some tips to get you through the Sickies.

For You:

• If your job allows you to accumulate comp time, do it… and fast! Any amount of extra hours you can accumulate now can save you some of your paid time off.
• If your job allows for you to work at home some days, start preparing for what you could take home to work on if you had to.
• Start takin’ vitamins… arm yourself with Zicam, Airborne, or whatever works for you!

For your kids:

• Vitamins and sleep. Make sure they’re as healthy as you can get them. Even if it doesn’t prevent the sickies completely, it could very well minimize the intensity of what they do pick up.
• Get a humidifier. I live in a super-dry climate, but even in humid areas, a humidifier and assist their bodies by keeping everything moist and mobile while they sleep.
• Get ‘em something sparkly. To drink, that is. Something good and fizzy will help loosen and break up all that gunk. Around here we have something called “Juice-pop” (Super technical, huh?). I mix orange juice or cranberry juice with either sprite or ginger ale. It works wonders!
• Aromatherapy. If you already have an aromatherapy burner than you’re ahead of the game. Pick up a bottle of peppermint, eucalyptus and tea tree oils. Put in 3-4 drops of the tea tree, 2 drops of eucalyptus and one drop of peppermint. It will open up their passage ways, and the tea tree has the added bonus of helping to kill bacteria that’s floating around your house.
• Buy them some cool (and yummy smelling) foam soap that will encourage them to wash their hands. I don’t dare to even discuss the multitude of places that kids put their hands… but they share all those nasty places with each other, so be a stickler for washing!
• A hot bath or sitting in the bathroom while the shower runs hot (for the steam) will loosen up a lot of the crud that they can then get out of their system.
• Last, but certainly not least, make sure you’re there to give them lots of love. Remember too, while most the time this first round of sick is usually viral, if things don’t improve right away get you little rug rat in to see the doctor.

Got any other good tips to share? I’m hoping that tomorrow I’ll be back at work and have a few days to recover before my little one gets anything!

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This post refers specifically to the United States, and I don’t really have any idea how other country’s education systems work but I would love to hear from those of you not in the U.S. about how your country tackle’s these issues.

There are some huge problems in the education system here, and I am not going to touch on all of them because I don’t have time to write a novel! If you look around online, even just in the blogosphere, what are the two main things you see people interested in? Money and Diet. I’ll tell you that those are my two primary topics of interest most of the time. It seems that no one really knows how to manage their money or their health, and here in America those are the two subjects that no one ever teaches you about in school. I suppose the education system expects that families will teach these things to their kids, but that only works if the families are already well educated in finance and health. Based on our debt problems and obesity rates in this country, I’d say we’re not.

Finance

I never took a finance class, nor was there any class about managing money and the expenses of living as an adult offered at my high school (or any others that I know of). Children should be taught how to manage their own money and the responsibility that you have when you become an adult. How did I learn about money? The hard way. I learned the way most people learn- trial and error. Our financial system in this country is a scam and it feeds on the fiscally uneducated. After many mistakes and eventually winding up in the hole, I’ve joined the millions of people who are online reading and learning about how to be financially independent instead of at the mercy of credit card companies. Sadly, I don’t see any hope for primary and secondary education in this country realizing the need for kids to have access to financial knowledge. So, I’m gonna do the best I can to educate my children myself. I’ve certainly made enough mistakes to be able to tell what NOT to do! I’ve also learned along the way some ways to save money that have helped me. Women and especially and young girls should learn to be their own financial advisor because all too often there is this idea that managing money is a man’s job.

Since I realize I live in only one of 50 states, you should look into your education system and find out if your child’s school offers a class in finance. If they do, explain to you child how important it is to know how to avoid the pitfalls of the American financial system. Even if the classes viewpoint differs from yours, there is still much to be gained from learning these things from a teacher instead of just the parent.

Nutrition

I don’t have to explain why I think we need to be teaching nutrition in school. Look at our country. I saw in the news that Mississippi has now surpassed the 30% mark for obesity. More than 1 in 3 people in Mississippi are considered obese. Nation-wide it’s an epidemic and we hear about it all the time. Colorado is the thinnest state, where I live, and we’re still holding steady with a 17% obesity rate. It’s not about fitting some standard or looking like a model. It’s a serious health concern, and what bothers me most is the number of kids I see that are already fighting with weight issues. Parent’s should be diligent about what goes into their child’s mouth, but if the parent’s are struggling to make healthy food choices then they’re certainly not going to be making smart choices for their kids.

America goes on these fads; something will suddenly become “in” or “out”… right now whole grains are the new thing. If the newest trend towards nutrition has convinced people to stop eating refined grains like white bread, that’s great! Still, there’s so much more to nutrition than the latest fad. Everything from the types of meat we’re eating (and how much) to choosing whether or not to buy organic. How about Fast Food? Most people have no idea the levels of chemicals, hormones and pesticides that they’re eating on a daily basis.

As far as obesity is concerned, nutrition doesn’t just have to do with what you’re putting into your body. It also matters greatly what you do with your body, and let’s face it- watching TV for two hours every night is not a good choice when combined with our choices of diet.

We have teenage girls who are starving themselves to be thin and maybe if they had been educated on how to eat healthy, they would be in a place where they were actually healthy and the desire to starve would not be as intense. A simple nutrition class on healthy foods, healthy activities, and the basic idea of the body as an energy machine (i.e. your weight is a result of what you put in vs. what you put out) would go a long way towards teaching children about their health. I have taught my kids a lot about healthy food choices, and while they’re not perfect and still chow down on candy once in a while, they’re leaps and bounds above most kids their age. I was in the produce isle the other day with them and they were fighting over whether we should get asparagus, artichokes or broccoli. They were nearly begging me for asparagus but I had just made it the other day and wanted to get broccoli. You should have seen the other parents nearby looking at my boys like they were mutants! They’re not…. the only difference in them is that I’ve had them eating healthy fruits and vegetables for so long now that they actually like them.

Nutrition is something that is offered more commonly in schools, but usually is an elective. If your child’s school does have such a class, convince your child the class is valuable. Even if they don’t use what they’ve learned initially, it will come back eventually and the acquired skills will be important for getting on a healthy track.

I realize that adding two subjects to school’s here in this country is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our flawed education system, but it would be the first thing I would change if I had the power to do it on my own. It will take parents to realize the importance of these things to convince schools to add such subjects, and most parents are still struggling from the lack of financial and health information they received. Our kids deserve to have the necessary skills to become successful adults, and if the school system supported these two subjects I think this next generation would be far more prepared than my generation was.

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I used to eat fast food everyday, at least once a day. It never bothered my stomach, never tasted bad, and it never occurred to me that for the same price I could get something better. About 10 years ago I decided that I didn’t want to eat it anymore. I stayed away from it completely for about 4 years and then broke down one day and got some fries when I was out with a friend. I couldn’t believe what I was tasting. This wasn’t a potato! This was a grease-transport device that tasted like all the things that had been cooked in it that day (including fish). This wasn’t a fluke, I have since discovered the amazing ability the body has to acclimate to food. Now that I’m “out of the habit”, fast food tastes awful to me and my body has trouble digesting it. Fast food doesn’t save you time, it doesn’t save you money, and it certainly isn’t worth either as far as your health is concerned.

Lots of us get up in the morning and hit the snooze bar for as many 10-minute sleep sessions as we can possible manage and still get to work on time. You race to the shower, throw on some clothes, maybe make yourself a cup of coffee for the drive and figure you’ll just run through the drive-thru at lunch to save yourself the time of making one at home. Maybe you’re on the go a lot during the day, so the drive-thru seems even more time saving because you can eat in the car as opposed to stopping in somewhere to eat. All of this sounds so… efficient, so automated and easy, doesn’t it? The way I see it fast food is anything but fast, and it’s not cheap either! If we break it down a bit you might see where I’m coming from.

There’s such wonderful irony in waiting through a line that wraps around a building for 15 minutes so that you can eat fast food. On some occasions, the line can move quickly, but what does that mean, really? It means that everyone’s ordering food that has been already made and is sitting under a heat lamp. Waiting in line for crap… what an efficient use of our time!

The drive-thru line is the most obvious time waster, but there are other things too. For starters there’s the exercise you’ll have to do at the gym to burn off the 100 fat-gram burger you ate, and there’s the time spent either mending a gut-ache or your guilt-ridden conscience. And let’s not forget about the time driving there and back if you’ve made a special trip out.

I’m going to assume we’re all aware of the “quality” of food we’re getting when we go through that drive-thru so I’ll spare you the lecture, but think about it’s long-term costs. Eventually fast food can cost you time in the form of your health. There’s your cardiovascular system, weight gain, and cholesterol to name a few. All of these side effects to unhealthy eating will inevitably lead to increased doctor visits and sick days. And this is all in the name of saving time.

Let’s face it, even if we only consider the time spent in the line at the drive-thru, it’s not that fast. Couldn’t you have made yourself a lunch at home in that same amount of time? If you had, you would have truly saved time because instead of driving to wait in a line you just walked to the lunchroom fridge.

Maybe you don’t want to bring your lunch, or you need to leave the office for while so it’s better for you to go out to get your food. If I go through a Wendy’s or some other fast food joint, it’s a pretty sure bet I’m gonna spend around $6 for lunch. It never seems like it’s gonna cost that much, but it does. That’s pretty close to what it would cost me to go to a real restaurant for lunch and order take-out. And the beauty of take-out is you typically find healthier choices and you don’t have to wait in line. They make it for you while you’re driving there! What a concept! Another option is to run in to the grocery store, you can get anything you want and it’s super affordable.

I don’t expect that this post will convert all the fast-fooder’s out there. But, I hope that the next time you’re in line you’ll be thinking about all the ways that it’s costing you time and money.

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