August 4, 2021 - Hiking Mt Bonnell

I hiked Mt Bonnell this evening with some friends and my dog. I use the term "hiked" loosely. That's what everyone says "Let's go hike Mt. Bonnell," but honestly it's like 30 steps straight up to a pretty viewing area overlooking the "lake" (Lake Austin is actually a river - these people have weird ways of naming things) and then a very small rocky path/trail thing you can go down. I wore athletic clothes, most of the people I met were in cute outfits for pictures and a number of people just chilling by the overlook were in nice-ish clothes as there were several couples on casual dates. Obviously I was prepared for a far more intensive hike than anyone else. That isn't to say it wasn't enjoyable, just the company was enjoyable, the hike was, well, not a hike. Those stairs are STEEP though! The view from partway down the path past the overlook. I wish I had gotten a picture of the sun before it set - it looked like something out of Star Wars, glowing red with some light clouds in front of it. Before we went tonight, I popped into the pet store down the road to grab a new harness for Faith - she hasn't had one since she was a puppy because she out grew hers and I didn't replace it. I checked the weight recommendations and the breed recommendations and got her a large harness. I loosened every single buckle I could on that thing and it still doesn't fit, so that will be returned tomorrow. I've been on a "return everything I have purchased that doesn't work for me" kick lately, which is making me feel very adulty. Side note - you should always return things that don't work for you as long as you are still in the return time and the item is still returnable. It is funny the things that are making me feel extra adulty lately. I had to call the dentist to discuss an extraneous charge which made me feel super adulty but I've been training loads of people at work lately and that just feels normal and less adulty. Returning things and negotiating payments makes me feel adulty but budgeting and paying rent doesn't. Those differences are just kinda interesting to me. Anyways, those are my musings for today. Y'all have a great evening.

I didn't want to ride a roller coaster

I didn’t want to ride roller coasters. But I also didn’t want to seem like a baby because I wouldn’t get on the roller coaster. So, I got on, utterly terrified, rode the ride, and FREAKING LOVED IT! #newadrenalinejunkie But, then I said I wouldn’t ride a roller coaster that went backwards. I did, and it freaked me out but also was so fun! Then I said I would never ride a roller coaster without a floor – Umm…the Superman ride at Six Flags was bomb. And I would never, ever ride something that went upside down. Y’all, I have done all of those. And ever single one, I got on in utter fear. I am in the middle of reading a book called Fear is Not the Boss of You by Jennifer Allwood. One of her chapters is titled Confidence is Not the Goal and begins with a John Wayne quote – “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” Wow. I believe with everything in me that, if no one else in the whole wide world reads this book, that is okay, because it was 100% meant for me. Every page hits me hard – I am talking soul conviction & God reminding me that I am not created to live in fear, but in freedom and abundance. I’m not sure that there is a page so far without a highlight or a note on it. This book is SO good. I’m not quite sure why I am writing this, just that I felt like I needed to, and I am kinda working on being obedient to the small nudges of the Spirit. So, you are getting this musing at 8 pm on a Friday night because I thought I was supposed to write this. Have a great evening y’all!!\ P.S. Here is a bit of what has been on repeat for me lately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CY3nf1Mvw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6glQdaQUZ1U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ8D2Mx7tGg

I've gone to write this blog post at least three times now in some form or fashion. At first I was going to give you a list of all the Netflix shows I have binge watched over the past few months. But then I decided that was an embarrassingly long list so it didn't get written. Then I was going to write a post about one of my Bible readings from the other day but then I decided not to because a) I am not a theologian and b) who really cares about my opinion on a random verse. Then I contemplated writing the post again, and again talked myself out of it. Until two weeks ago. In the span of a handful of hours, this topic has came across my social media feeds or up in conversations several times so I figure the blog post I've had in my head for days should be written. I should preface this by breaking down my typical day for you. I get up, read my Bible, sit quietly in thought for 10 min (I think that is meditation but I am really not sure how meditation is supposed to go. I am trying), get ready for the day. Before COVID, I would then go into work with the radio on in my car, right now, I just walk the 20 steps to my kitchen table, grabbing food on the way. I then proceed to work till noon, typically while also listening or watching something - a podcast, a sermon, lately Netflix. I eat lunch, usually reading an ebook or watching more Netflix, then return to work from 1 to 5 pm still listening or watching podcasts, sermons, Netflix, whatever. After work is over, my pup and I go for a walk, often with me on the phone chatting with someone, then home to watch the news and Wheel of Fortune. From there, we typically have the TV on for the rest of the evening, watching one thing or another, and I try to end my day by reading a chapter or so of a book before bed. Oh, and obvs social media is mixed in there all over too. TL; DR - I consume A LOT of content in a day. And honestly, I would be surprised if you didn't consume a lot of content too. But this isn't me trying to convict you of something. I realized I intake A LOT throughout the day and, for the most part, what I take in is what I put out. I've known this for years - when I stopped eating dairy in college, I stopped having breakouts and my headaches decreased. When I worked in jobs surrounded by people who cursed all day, I found myself far more prone to language I prefer not to use both verbally and in my thoughts. When I wasn't around those people for an extended amount of time, that stopped but it didn't take long for the bad habit to pick back up after short exposure to it (if you know me in person, this is why I call people out of their language - I pick it up too easily and I don't want to). While waiting tables, I developed a rather strong Southern accent that would wane a few hours after I got off work, but even now, if you get me talking to you about bar-b-que, I get a bit of a twang. If I listen to sermons and Chris-centered podcasts at work, I view life more through the lens of Christ; when I watch British TV, my vocabulary becomes more eloquent and proper; when I watch trashy sitcoms, my brain goes straight to the gutter. I output what I input. Most people do this. I'm not sure if I am more prone to it or if I just notice it more, but I seem to pick up habits and ways of speaking very quickly - if someone next to me is walking funny, I have to consciously NOT watch them or I will unconsciously mimic their gait. Anyways, I have been very diligent for a while now about what I am watching and reading and listening to. But, since the stay-at-home orders have been issued, I have needed something to keep my brain from going bananas so I started watching Netflix shows. It started with a cheesy detective show, then that got boring so I moved onto Sweet Magnolias (I liked this one), then Virgin River (also liked this one), then Merlin (yes the 2010ish really cheesy TV show - I like British humor), then The Good Witch, then Roswell, New Mexico, then all the vampire shows and frankly, the fact that I had the will power to stop watching bad TV and to not watch even more creepy cult-like stuff was 100% due to the fact that if I don't read my Bible in the morning, I'm not a nice person so I read my Bible every morning. My reading one morning included a section of Matthew chapter 6 - "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!" - v. 22-23 And then the question hit me like a brick wall - What are you watching Lyss? What are you intaking because that is what you are putting out. Is it light or is it dark? Where are your thoughts? In the gutter or out of it? The answer - not good. I was intaking junk and had been for almost two months. As a result, I was not thinking clearly, I was basically living for the next moment when I could watch more of whatever show I was on at the time, and I had all but wasted two months on TV shows - great for Netflix's wallet, bad for any dreams I had. So I stopped watching Netflix, I limit the TV that I am watching in the evenings and watch as little of the evening news as possible (I try to read unbiased news elsewhere anyways). And slowly, very slowly, I am sleeping better again, I am thinking clearly, and I am not driven by the desire to constantly be watching the next thing. But right now, this is a constant battle. Our brains are WIRED for worship and easily fall into addiction and I accidentally got myself addicted to junk TV at a push of an app on my phone. All because I stopped actively paying attention. This past Sunday, my pastor preached a sermon about The Church. Toward the end, he said something along the lines of, "On judgement day, when you stand before God, are you going to make excuses for what you didn't do or are you going to say 'I did my best to go all in to what you called me to do Father?'" And wow, has that been sinking in with me all week. Because right now, I would be making excuses to my Creator as to why I decided a Netflix series was more interesting and important than doing what I was created for. And that is not okay with me. My intake shaped my output and I really didn't like my output. So, I am reshaping my intake, starting with a break. Six months ago, I literally listened to 4-6 sermons a day plus 2-4 informational podcasts a day. A few weeks ago, I was watching 8-10 episodes of Netflix per day plus 2 episodes of Downton Abbey a night (also good show). I had to stop, to learn to be content with silence again. And when I can do that, I will slowly add beneficial content back in. But for now, I work in relative silence and surprisingly, I actually enjoy it. Have you taken an inventory of what you intake in a day? Maybe it isn't as much as me but I think if you start tracking what you do every day, you will realize you intake more content than you think you do. You can check out the Downloads page for the template I used when I decided to take an inventory of my daily actions. Let me know in the comments below how much you watch/listen/read in a day! .ugb-75be2bc .ugb-divider__dots{width:10% !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important}.ugb-75be2bc .ugb-divider__dot{height:7px !important;width:7px !important} P.S. I should probably note, in case my boss somehow finds this, I do do my work. I just also listen to a lot of podcasts while doing so because otherwise the office is weirdly quiet and I just want to talk to break the silence but then no one gets anything done. P.P.S. Thank you for reading a very long post. Here is a picture of my cute puppy:

There was a lady pulling weeds out of her front yard while I was on my walk this evening. It made me smile and my heart warm a bit. When I was little, I can remember visiting my grandma and every time she went to get the mail, on the way back, she would stop to pull a weed or two from the front yard. If we played in the front yard instead of the back, she would walk around pulling weeds and when we left, she would always give us hugs, wave as the van backed out of the driveway, and then lean over to pick any offending weeds she saw. It seemed silly to me – why pick weeds out of your yard? Aren’t they just going to come back? It isn’t like it is your flower bed that you are trying to grow something in particular – it’s just grass. So why bother? I asked her one time “Grandma, why do you always pick the weeds?” and she replied with something like “Because if I don’t pick them regularly, they will over take my yard.” I thought she was silly, little me didn’t understand. Fast-forward a decade and as I walk through the back yard, I often find myself leaning down to pull a weed or two and as I clean up doggy messes every Friday, I pull weeds as I go along. This may not be my house but I do it because a) the weeds look awful and I want the yard to look good, b) it is a small way I can be helpful around the house, and c) frankly they are just very uncomfortable to walk on and I like walking barefoot in the grass. But every time I lean over to pull a weed, I think of my grandma (she is still alive – I realize that may have sounded like she has died but she is very much alive) and smile. Small things, small moments, small actions – I am beginning to learn that those are what the story life is made of, the big things are just the punctuation. P.S. Sorry I have been MIA lately. I wish I had a good excuse for you but I don't. However, I am back and will be posting consistently again. Thanks for bearing with me friends!

Things I've Learned: Personal Finance

Growing up, money wasn't really discussed. It just kinda was a thing that people had to work hard to get and then turned around and used. So, when I got to college and had an income with bills to pay, I had to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do. My solution was a bit (a lot) of binge reading about personal finance fueled by Pinterest and Google and, after a few years, I wish I could tell you I have everything 100% figured out. I don't - sorry if that is what you were hoping for - but, I have come to some conclusions I would love to share. 1. Finance is personal Yeah, yeah, I know it is called 'personal finance' for a reason but just hear me out. Finance is personal because one method doesn't work for everyone. My best friend tracks her money on an app and keeps everything in one savings and one checking account. That doesn't work for me. I write out, on paper, every single transaction that clears my account and track that way. I also have several accounts because I can't just tell myself 'this $50 in my account is for dog shots in 3 months,' I have to actually see it separately. I have played around with and tried several budgeting methods and while I still don't have one that works perfectly for me, I am closer than I have been at being there. 2. You need a budget I do realize this could sound contradictory to number 1. Yes, how you manage your finances is personal but, take it from someone who has run their life on and off a budget - you need a budget. Unless you are a unicorn and able to know at all times without ever checking your bank account what is in it and where that money is going, you need to pay attention to that. Now, I am not saying obsessively stick to a budget with no grace for yourself. What I am saying is you need to track your spending, look at where you money is going, and then decide where you want it to go. 3. Money is an inanimate tool In deciding where you want your money to go, you begin to take control of your finances. Money is useful, it allows us to buy food and clothes and shelter and all the things we need/want. But, money is always being used by someone and if you aren't in control of it, then the marketing department at your favorite store you shop at 12 times a week is. When I started learning about money mindsets (Google if you are curious), I discovered a lot but one thing is that I was scared to control my money because I was afraid controlling it would turn me into an evil, money loving person. That is not even close to what happened. Telling myself I was going to control where I spent money and why I spent my money made it so a) I was no longer getting a paycheck and then wondering where it went and b) I began to realize I could do more that I thought with the money I had because I was determining how it worked for me. 4. My Money Mindset This is probably the single most important thing I have learned while discovering how to manage my finances - what my money mindset was and how to change it. This was not easy and is still a work in progress but forced me to take a long hard look at myself and how I viewed money. Spoiler alert: it wasn't beneficial for me. For compounded reasons, I viewed money as this thing that was hard to get, harder to keep, and was in short supply. After a LOT of work, I have begun to reshape my view that money is flowing abundantly, it wants to be used by people, and is easy to keep but even easier to use properly. And, when I began to view money like that, especially as being abundant, I began to notice it was no longer a chore to earn and use nor was it elusive. Now, I am no personal finance expert, nor am I certified in any sort of financial management. I am simply someone who has gone from literally not knowing where any of my money went for 4 months to paying off my entire car loan in less than a month and my student loans will be paid off fully within a year and a month after graduating - June should be my last payment! I don't tell you this to brag and I know everyone has different situations, I tell you this so you see I am not just telling you junk statements that I have never experienced. And, after looking at how my life and my look on life has changed after taking control of my finances, I think everyone should give it a try. How do you handle money? Do you budget and if so, how do you choose to do so? I will chat with y'all again next week!

Lyss – Loving Life with Lyss

30 Day Challenge

August 4, 2021 – Hiking Mt Bonnell

August 4, 2021

I hiked Mt Bonnell this evening with some friends and my dog. I use the term “hiked” loosely. That’s what everyone says “Let’s go hike Mt. Bonnell,” but honestly it’s like 30 steps straight up to a pretty viewing area overlooking the “lake” (Lake Austin is actually a river – these people have weird ways of naming things) and then…

Read More

Lyss
About Me, Lifestyle

I didn’t want to ride a roller coaster

July 17, 2020

I didn’t want to ride roller coasters. But I also didn’t want to seem like a baby because I wouldn’t get on the roller coaster. So, I got on, utterly terrified, rode the ride, and FREAKING LOVED IT! #newadrenalinejunkie But, then I said I wouldn’t ride a roller coaster that went backwards. I did, and it freaked me out but…

Read More

Lyss
Lifestyle, Monday Musings

Intake. Output.

July 15, 2020

I’ve gone to write this blog post at least three times now in some form or fashion. At first I was going to give you a list of all the Netflix shows I have binge watched over the past few months. But then I decided that was an embarrassingly long list so it didn’t get written. Then I was going…

Read More

Lyss
Lifestyle, Monday Musings

Monday Musings

June 22, 2020

There was a lady pulling weeds out of her front yard while I was on my walk this evening. It made me smile and my heart warm a bit. When I was little, I can remember visiting my grandma and every time she went to get the mail, on the way back, she would stop to pull a weed or…

Read More

Lyss
Lifestyle

Things I’ve Learned: Personal Finance

May 22, 2020

Growing up, money wasn’t really discussed. It just kinda was a thing that people had to work hard to get and then turned around and used. So, when I got to college and had an income with bills to pay, I had to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do. My solution was a bit (a lot)…

Read More

Lyss