Valentine’s MONTH is right around the corner, so you know Silly is prepping for it NOW. It’s going to be an amazing month, which will be kicked off by a Warrant/Firehouse concert on February 1 and will be followed by, what I believe, will be the best comeback a girl can ever work towards.

It really is time to stop moping around and start pushing myself toward the life I had worked so hard for. There was an end goal, but it was put on hold when I allowed someone else’s decision to cloud my vision.

Silly used to say, “Life does not end with a diagnosis.” whenever she attempted to help others. Now, she is saying, “Life does not end after a divorce”.

Ten things I learned (that helped) during this “growth period” (so far), are:

1. Crying does not mean you are weak

2. You can have fun, even though you are completely broken inside

3. Your self worth is not dependent on other’s opinions of you

4. Encouragement comes from the least likely people

5. Be nice to EVERYONE (yes, even that person)

6. Always show compassion toward others (even strangers)

7. Sharing your life, good & bad, helps others in similar situations

8. You can take breaks, but never lose sight of your goals

9. Love them, even when they can’t love you back

10. If you feel stuck…you’re not (everything is figureoutable)

There will be a lot of much needed ME time and ME things getting done, in My Silly Life, so I ask for your prayers for continued growth, health and success.

As always, thank you for reading this installment of My Silly Life. I love and thank those of you who have been around for it’s 14 years of existence and, to those of you who just joined…if it’s not for you, I will not be offended if you choose to move along.

Remember, it’s never too early to plan for something/someone special. Especially if that someone is YOU.

That being said, please know, I love you and wish you the best Valentine’s MONTH ever!

We’ve all seen the catchphrase, “New year, new me.” since it’s initial social media presence on, New Year’s Day, in 2014. Since then, some of our friends and/or family members have been posting it, like clockwork every single first day of the year.

Sometimes, when I read it, I try to analyze what the poster means by it…depending on each individual poster, of course. You know? Because, we all give a different voice, tone, and attitude to each one of our friends and family members, on social media (and off).

I wonder, does the poster mean they want to be a different person starting, literally, THAT moment? Were THEY that bad, that they feel the need to be a different version of themselves? What could have been the worst thing they did, the previous year (or, literally, days before), to make them want a new them? Do they only want to change the way they were the previous year, or ALL OF THE YEARS prior to this new one?

Oxford defines the word, new, as “not existing before”. Is it possible to become such a person, after existing for this long? Does anyone REALLY want EVERYTHING in their life to be new? Are there no good qualities about them, whatsoever?

Okay, all silliness aside. We all know whoever posts that EVERY YEAR, didn’t think too deeply into it, when they posted it (The first time, nor any of the times after.) Honestly, it’s probably just a Facebook memory that comes up and they think, “Oh yeah…it’s THAT TIME again.”

Also, I get it. We may not want an entirely new version of ourselves, but I’m pretty sure we all have something we would like to change about ourselves. My question now is, why wait until the first day of the next calendar year (because, let’s face it…that’s all it is.) to work on making those changes?

Instead, I propose, to anyone who is interested in making changes, to first decide whether those changes will benefit you or someone else. If the changes are for someone else, I wouldn’t even start, because this is YOUR life, even if you share it with someone else. Trust me, if you are working toward becoming the version of yourself that makes you the most comfortable, they will not be disappointed with the result. If they are, then maybe they need to be changed (dropped, replaced, etc.) too. Just sayin’. Keep in mind, it is much easier to make changes that benefit ourselves, than it is to make them in order to please others, because we KNOW how we feel and only THINK we know how they feel.

Once you make the decision, choose a date you’d like to see some results by, instead of a date you want to start making the changes. The idea is, if you know when you want to check on your results, you’ll be able to determine when you have to begin working toward them.

If you want to test my theory, choose a small change. For example, try saving $5.00 (or whatever amount you want) per week, for 4 weeks. Determine when the 4 weeks will end, mark your calendar for that date, then get to work. Four weeks from now, you can choose to stop saving and use that money to reward yourself for accomplishing your goal, OR you can add another 4 weeks and continue that process.

This process will work, for any change/goal you’d like to accomplish. Set a date you want to see results, mark your calendar, and check on your results when that day comes. If you see results, but it’s not exactly where you’d like to be, yet, simply add more time if you still feel it’s something you’d like to accomplish.

The effort we put into it, while getting to the result date, will determine how serious we are about the changes we want to make. The results on the result date will let us know how much effort we put into it. At that point, is when we determine whether we still want the change, or if we are fine without it.

When we are serious about REAL change, we won’t mind adding more time to the calendar, or putting more effort toward the change.

Remember, change is a gradual process that, when done long enough, becomes a habit…a NEW version of YOU.

I love you guys and hope you “get it right” this year.