Hello Gold Star Squad!
Welcome to our first Gold Star Friday! I decided that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to lead by example by naming myself as our very first Star of the Week!
When someone receives an award, he or she has most likely been nominated for that award by someone else. We don’t often nominate ourselves for merit-based prizes or accolades.
Many people would feel incredibly awkward nominating themselves for an award. We simply don’t go around talking about how wonderful we are on a regular basis (or even on an occasional basis!). Society often considers this to be arrogant, selfish, rude, etc.
We even have derogatory phrases that we apply to people who speak well of themselves –we might condescendingly say that someone is “patting himself on the back,” “fawning over herself,” or “tooting her own horn.”
I disagree with these societal characterizations. There is certainly a difference between arrogance and self-love. I don’t think that we can be of any long-lasting help to our family, friends, or the community if we don’t love ourselves first. It’s hard to love other people unconditionally if we can’t love and appreciate ourselves. You can’t give away what you don’t have.
I LOVE the idea of paying attention to and feeding our strengths instead of concentrating on fixing our weaknesses all the time. The problem, though, with appreciating our strengths is that we are NOT taught to do this at any point in our lives.
That’s why I want you to consider nominating yourself for a Star of the Week award. It’s time to start appreciating ourselves, and hopefully this practice will in turn help make it easier for us to appreciate those around us.
To nominate yourself for the award, simply tell me in an email what you really want others to know about you more than anything else. You can describe your best personality traits, your favorite things, your accomplishments, your hopes and dreams, or even your current struggles. Anything goes!
Since I am the first recipient of this award, I’ll start us out. I will begin with a heavier topic, but then I will move on to lighter fare, I promise! Here are a few of the top things that I really want you to know about me so that you can begin to see me for who I truly am:
I have suffered with serious physical pain and other health issues for about the last 15 years. The pain has not been constant every single day, but I have experienced it on a regular basis. I don’t meet the specific qualifications for a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, so my condition is referred to as “myalgia,” which simply translates as “muscle pain.”
I have faced other health issues on and off throughout my adult life. I won't go into all the details. But, most recently, in 2019, I developed a mild case of shingles. I also started to occasionally have bouts of vertigo. One episode in December 2019 was severe enough that it left me feeling nauseated every waking minute of the day for about 6 weeks straight. I find vertigo to be very anxiety-inducing because the episodes come on without any warning whatsoever.
When I am in pain or experiencing any of my other physical issues, I outwardly appear to be “normal.” Most people I encounter have no idea that I am suffering during our interactions.
Although I don't want to bring people down by talking about my problems all the time, it’s hard to not be acknowledged for what I am going through. And it’s difficult to show up for life in a productive way when you feel like garbage.
But I absolutely try my best even when I am not feeling well, and this is one of the reasons why I feel I deserve a gold star. For those of you who are reading this and are silently struggling with pain or discomfort, physical or otherwise, please know that I appreciate you! Thank you for getting out of bed every day (or almost every day!) and putting forth your best effort, especially when you feel that your effort isn’t even close to being good enough.
Time to move on to some lighter things! I love to laugh!!!🤣 I am a very silly person, one of the silliest I know.😁 I am a child at heart! This is the trait I am most proud of when it comes to my personality. It is truly the one thing that I most want you to know about me!
I am a LOUD and animated person! Always have been, always will be. I have been shushed by strangers in public more than once. I think that some people might see this as a negative trait, but I have more than made my peace with it, and I've even used it to my advantage in a number of jobs that I've held over the years.
I unabashedly love exclamation points!!!! I refuse to apologize for my love of them!!! I will try not to overuse them in the blog though because I am pretty sure that I am in the minority on this issue.😜
Purple is my favorite color by far. 💜💜💜
I don’t wear makeup – none, zero, ever. I literally don't own any and haven't for decades. What you see is what you get!
I love, love, LOVE to incorporate lines from A Charlie Brown Christmas into every day conversation. Whoever wrote that show is a genius – it has the best dialogue ever!!! Two of my very favorite sayings are – “All I want is what I have coming to me. All I want is my fair share.” And “I know when I’ve been insulted . . . I know when I’ve been insulted.”
I am a thoughtful person, and I do my best to remember the birthdays, anniversaries, and other special dates of the important people in my life.
I am a sappy romantic at heart. One of my all-time favorite movies is The Sound of Music. Enough said.
I am all about cute! It’s hard to be specific about this one, but I am a sucker for just about anything that can be labeled as “cute” – baby animals, kids' toys, anything with a smiley face on it, etc. Hopefully you get the picture! You can see this love for cuteness reflected in all of my Gold Star products** on Zazzle!
I love to read, both fiction and non-fiction. I prefer to have an actual, physical book in my hands, but I have gotten used to e-books. I don’t do audible books though. I’ve never tried one!
I get SO much enjoyment from drinking a bottle of wine and eating cheese with my husband and/or friends.
I am a cat person. No offense to all the dog people I know are out there! I am super in love with my cat, the sweetest li’l fluff nugget in the world – Tiki Joy! I couldn’t live with myself if I did not share a couple of photos of her with you, so here she is!
Those are some of my favorite gold star qualities! And without any further ado, I happily accept the first Star of the Week award on behalf of myself!
And now for the most fun part! Every U.S. resident who receives the Star of the Week award will get to choose a product from my Gold Star Award Winner collection** on Zazzle as a prize, which I will send to you free of charge!
Now it's your turn! Would you like to nominate yourself or someone you care about to be our next Star of the Week? To read the rules about the nomination process and get more information about the free gift that winners will receive, please click here. Then submit the Nomination Form!
Finally, for my Star of the Week photo, I have chosen my current favorite selfie, which you can also find on the About page. It might be one of my favorite selfies of all time!
Have a Funtastic Friday everyone!
**If you click through any of the links on this page and make a purchase from Zazzle, I will receive two separate commissions: one for being the designer of the product and another for referring the sale to Zazzle.