Avoid Rejection

March 5, 2025February 28, 2025 Jennifred Jones

Volunteer! Who would’ve thought?!

98% (my guesstimate) of stuff that needs to be done could be done by volunteer effort!

‘I don’t know what to do with my life.’ Everywhere I apply for a job I get rejected.’ ‘Every idea I suggest gets shot down.’ ‘Woe is me.’

Yet there is a whole array of work that needs to get done. Ideas that need to be thought about and worked on. So, get started! Volunteer – somewhere, anywhere, no other people needed to tell you what to do or when to start or quit. You’re on your own schedule! You set the pace and before you know it you’ll be talking with people who see you doing useful things and they’ll ask questions etc. In the meantime, you’re developing skills, keeping your mind sharp while thinking of better ways to help and do stuff. Go somewhere and say, ‘Hey, what can I do to help out here?’ ‘I know how to do this and that…’ You’d be surprised the reaction you’ll get. Begin there and go back again to help, and again and again. People will remember your good work.

All you are doing is being a helpful human being helping other human beings. Take a brief survey of your area, where you live, where you shop, your downtown, shelters, parks and so forth and go ‘sign up’ to volunteer.

My daughter-in-law says, ‘the world is your oyster’ …and there are many undiscovered pearls waiting to be uncovered. Get out your broom or rake or gardening gloves or wash rags and look for ‘work’. You will find plenty to do and your sense of satisfaction will be huge!

Don’t let these opportunities go to waste. Volunteers are wanted everywhere!

I Am a Model

March 4, 2025February 27, 2025 Jennifred Jones

Today I am modeling…

Many people want to be noticed, remembered, looked up to, thought important…maybe even become a model!

They don’t know it, but they already are! We’re all modeling something every moment of every day to somebody, to nobody, to ourselves…what do they (we) see? Is it something we’d be happy to see, something we want to see, something we’re proud of? Is it even something we really want to model or are we only modeling what others (or we think others) want us to?

These are deep questions to ponder. All my growing up years on into college, I was in constant inner turmoil. Do I look good? What will others think? Do my clothes look right, am I stylish, is my hair okay, my glasses on straight, am I too skinny? I was a self-conscious wreck!! Finally at 21 I learned it was okay to be who I was. I looked okay in my homemade clothes (I was too tall for most dresses and pants), I was born with curly hair, that’s just the way I was made and my glasses helped me see better and being skinny I could be more active. So there!

But before that revelation, I was modeling shyness, insecurity, inferiority, self-consciousness, not really any fun to be around. I wasn’t happy to see me, I wasn’t proud of myself and was all wrapped up in myself so I couldn’t think about anybody else! Crazy how that works! (It was all me, myself and I)

A new mindset had to be formed where thoughts of others and their needs became important to me. What a relief to not be so self-consumed! There was freedom to think new thoughts, find new interests, make new friends, try new things and go different places. There would always be someone fun to meet and talk to.

How about you? Are you modeling who you are or want to be, or are you modeling what you think others will want to see?

Only flip the switch inside of you and you’ll become the something new.

‘I Just Don’t Care’

March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 Jennifred Jones

This is why we need others…why we need to be the ‘others’ who call or stop by to check on them.

Every one of us has down times where we feel like giving up. ‘Forget it! Not Interested! Leave me alone! I quit!’

This is where us ‘others’ have to be alert and step in. Call your friend. Speak to the co- worker. Stop by the neighbors. Send flowers to somebody. Just say ‘hi, how’re you doing to a stranger’.

And when we’re at the place where – ‘I just don’t care anymore!’… we can ‘self-medicate’ by forcing ourselves to do something good and helpful for somebody else. Maybe don’t want to interact face to face but get outside. Sweep the walk, clean the garage, wash the window on the door, organize the junk drawer. Turn on some pretty music and light a candle. Make a cup of coffee. Read a good book and find something funny to laugh and laugh and laugh about.

These steps will pull us out of the land of the ‘I don’t cares’ faster than any therapy!

Let’s get moving, there’s work to be done, people to help and encourage and time is wastin’.