Tag Blog

The bloom is off the rose

Michael 5 Comments

Since Sunday night my curtains have been closed.  I kept them drawn tight to prevent any heat leaking outside where each night, the low temperature found joy in dropping lower than the previous night’s, all of them starting with a “-“ sign. I don’t particularly mind the cold and snow of winter but this was getting ridiculous. I was ready to break into the vacation fund and hop a plane to Florida. But yeah, that wouldn’t have been much of an improvement this week!

Who thought it was a good idea to snow on Florida, or across Alabama, and deep into South Carolina. Has anyone checked on the Bahamas? Are we sure those white beaches are still sand? This year is not shaping up to be a good year. There have been better starts. 

We might as well face it, those record highs on January 1 were not a portend of a kinder, gentler year. It didn’t take long for this rose to lose its bloom. The honeymoon was over before it even started. 

Speaking of honeymoons, he said smoothly, have you had a chance to read this week’s Uplift.  It’s not that the honeymoon is over. Just that the best is yet to come. Go on. Check it out! 

While you’re there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.


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Happy? New? Year

Michael 7 Comments

I really want to wish everyone a Happy New Year but already this year is proving to be not too happy and unfortunately, that’s nothing new. On top of the terrible tragedy in New Orleans in the early morning hours of January 1, the FBI uncovered what they are calling the largest collection of explosive devices in one location when they raided a farm outside Norfolk, Virginia. Those events on the heels of the burning of a woman in the New York City subway, 10 mass shootings between Christmas and New Year’s Eve killing 47 victims, and of course the murder of an insurance company CEO by a fruitcake turned folk hero who people are still defending in social media.

Truly the same old same old. We have not only not learned to become more compassionate as we hit the winter holiday season, typically noted for peace and joy, we seem to be relishing in causing pain and suffering, emboldened by a bully atmosphere still hovering over the land from the recent political carnage.

I won’t say I have all the answers but I have all the answers. We addressed them in yesterday’s Uplift post, Resolve to Live, Love, Share. We opened with, “Resolutions. January 1 we make them. January 2 we break them. January 3 we forget about them. We have a tip for you. Live 2025 like it was the 1960s.” I know, you’re going to say the 60s was the poster child decade for social unrest. But we say nay nay. The 1960s I remember is a time of hope with people calling for peace and love, not like today’s unruly crowds purposely antagonizing others. We present a novel concept to get people together – love. Love is the root of all that is good. It doesn’t have to be elegant, it doesn’t have to be momentous. It merely has to be and it can be its best when it is shared.

I would be thrilled if you took 3 minutes to read all of Live, Love, Share and then you yourself joined us in resolving to lose hostility and to love more. Let’s bring life back to the party – let’s bring love back to life!

While you’re over there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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A peek into the new year

Michael 2 Comments

I hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season. And a season it is indeed! Did you know between December and January, 19 religious and secular holidays are celebrated? Truly the middle of winter – or summer depending on which side of the equator you find yourself – is a magical time.

The next big holiday as far as the stores and restaurants are concerned pops up next week when we break out our new date books, calendars, and planners, and celebrate the beginning of 2025. Who had a quarter of a century in the “at least how long we make it through the 2000’s” pool?

The new year will bring a new focus to ROAMcare. Our theme for our 2026 activities is “Live, Love, Share,” and next Wednesday’s Uplift will introduce members and readers to exciting new opportunities to grow and share the ROAMcare community as we re-open the user forums.

The new year will bring other new changes to ROAMcare and I thought I’d share them, just in case you visit us next Wednesday and don’t recognize the place. It won’t be big, but the website will get a minor facelift, and we hopefully will have the bugs worked out of the blog comments routine, not to mention the automated emails that seem to have multiplied for no reason.

We’re also reviewing our presence on social media. Starting January 1, you will also find us on Blue Sky and shortly after that, Tic Tok. We’re also differentiating our social feeds and we are looking to revive our YouTube channel with at least YouTube Shorts. I would love to see us bring back the ROAMcare on Air podcast but until one or both of us can be successfully cloned that may have to wait until 2026.

There is still 2024 to close out and Uplift subscribers can expect a FLASHBACK FRIDAY offering tomorrow and a new Moment of Motivation on Monday. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should pop over and read yesterday’s Christmas post. Nope, Christmas Post is a misnomer. Remember those 19 winter holidays? We think it speaks to all of them.

Happy Holidays! God bless us, every one.

Give yourself a present by subscribing to Uplift today. Join the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Sneak non-peek, ‘Tis the Season

Michael 3 Comments

Are you feeling holiday stress now Ethan we deep into the Winter Holiday Stress Zone? I bet is not the same stress I’m feeling.


Stress. We were reminded of that when we were talking about how quickly the year has gone, bringing us to the annual Winter Holiday Stress Zone. That is how we describe the days that begin at Halloween and end with January 2. And that’s not meant in a bad way.

Stress is a funny thing. Ask most people what they think of when they hear the word stress and you may hear things like stress management and stress relief, stress hives and stress headaches or maybe stress test or stress fracture.

The dictionary stresses a different side of stress.

I’m going to stop there. I don’t want to give away all of it!  It’s another sneak peek but that’s all you’re getting today. That’s part of a post we published to ROAMcare last November. ‘Tis the Season talked about the good stress of the holidays and every other day. We’re featuring it in tomorrow’s Flashback Friday.

You can read it all of tomorrow, by subscribing to Uplift today.Join the ROAMcare community and subscribe to have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Flashback Friday repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

I know. I’m getting mean in my old age.

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A Thanksgiving Prayer and then some

Michael 1 Comment

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. Others’ Thanksgivings was or will be likewise celebrated around the world. It doesn’t always seem that way, but really everybody is or at least should be thankful for something and most nations have managed to work in a holiday to legitimize the feeling.

I’m not sure when I first wrote the worlds in bold below. Something tells me 2011. That sounds right because pre-2013 I took more for granted that cause for gratitude.

At the time I said, “Sometime today while I think of all that I am thankful for I’ll manage to miss most of them. So will everyone else. Mostly we’re not bad people as much as clueless ones.” And then I offered this prayer that I since have found useful even on days that aren’t called Thanksgiving.

 

Heavenly Father, this is the day set aside to give thanks for Your surpassing goodness to human beings. Let me give proper thanks for my blessings  –  those I am aware of as well as those that I habitually take for granted. And let me use them according to Your will.

 

Happy Thanksgiving today and every day you think to be thankful.

Now I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention there’s another heartfelt Thanksgiving greeting on the Internet this week at the Uplift blog on ROAMcare. All you need to know to entice you to check it out is the title. Thanksgiving Love and Dysfunction.

That is all. Now go eat a turkey.

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The silly side of serious

Michael 6 Comments

If you read yesterday’s Uplift post, you might have been wondering where we were going with our opening sentence. By the time you got to the second paragraph, you may had doubted that you were even on the right website. How often do you find a post digging into how we improve our lots in life by comparing it to a stereotypical American Thanksgiving dinner (less the pumpkin pie)?

We knew we wanted something relating to Thanksgiving but not necessarily about Thanksgiving. (We’ll do that next week.) We both have been busy working on improvements. Not the self-improvements you might think based on our string of self-helper posts. Physical improvements to things, Diem to her house, me to my little hobby car. It made us wonder, why do people bother to try new things. We like the idea of new ideas but what gives people the idea to try making those ideas ideals. We hit upon one unassailable fact. The old stuff wasn’t very good.

Nobody cares about a better mousetrap no matter how many get built. But come up with a mouse repellant that works and now it’s a different story. A whole different way to do something that nobody thought of before. Or was able to accomplish before. Those things that so changed the way we conduct life deserve at least a passing remark of thanks.

I remembered a post I wrote for Thanksgiving in 2014. I was only interested in one part of it. The part about the turkey, the stuffing, and the cranberry sauce. It turned out, It was a pretty good preface to yesterday’s sentiment, Give thanks for what is broken. Go ahead, give them a look.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Why the pill?

Michael 5 Comments

The most common question we asked ourselves when we put ROAMcare together was “do we need a ‘mascot’?” Months before even opening a website we were searching for the face of the website. After an extensive search of about 15 minutes we came up with Pill Guy. Technically he’s a capsule but Capsule Chap didn’t have that je ne sais quoi.

And where did we come up with Pill Guy? He is the homage to our shared background, Pharmacy. We created ROAMcare to increase enthusiasm for what people did at our work and in the field. One of our daughters, or maybe both, commented what we had envisioned could benefit everyone. Realizing these were the strategies we use in our private lives, we expanded ROAMcare to reach everybody everywhere! But Pill Guy stayed with us, smiling from his heart shaped face. 

Pill Guy gets around. He has appeared cutting the grass, hiking (complete with backpack), hanging out with the couple from American Gothic, in a parade, at his desk, in a classroom, dressed as Santa, on a bicycle, on a scooter, and in a car (once driving, once in the back seat), and yesterday for the first time, with his dog.

Pill Guy’s as yet unnamed furry friend showed up to remind us that the easiest way to a happy life is not found living in the present. It is found living in your present, as we explained in yesterday’s Uplift post, Be Present in Your Present. Take a look. We think it’s a good one, and it was inspired by Jingle’s recent surgery and recovery. 

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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Corrected: Take a peek – Heal Thyself

Michael 2 Comments

Darn, did it again  A bad kink in the first email  and I checked them too!

Hi dear readers. It’s time again to take a peek at the latest ROAMcare Uplift post, Heal Thyself.

When we suffer a scrape or cut our bodies heal themselves. When we suffer a disconnect from positive feelings and emotions, we can still heal ourselves.

Heal Thyself

Posted November 6, 2024
3 minute Read

The day after Election Day in the U.S. is probably a good time to talk about healing. No matter who won and lost, there will continue to be anxiety and divisiveness, and people will look to others for hope and healing. They will be looking in the wrong place.

True healing comes from within. We previously quoted Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous words, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” There is a corollary to that. No one can make you feel whole without your participation. …

Read the full blog at Heal Thyself, on Uplift at ROAMcare. As always there is no fee to read, nothing to join, no catches, no kidding.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

A word of caution: Some physical injuries are too severe for our bodies to repair themselves and require the attention of healthcare professionals. If you are suffering significant emotional or psychological distress, please consult a mental health professional to help with your healing process.

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Take a peek – Heal Thyself

Michael Leave a comment

Hi dear readers. It’s time again to take a peek at the latest ROAMcare Uplift post, Heal Thyself.

When we suffer a scrape or cut our bodies heal themselves. When we suffer a disconnect from positive feelings and emotions, we can still heal ourselves.

Heal Thyself

Posted November 6, 2024
3 minute Read

The day after Election Day in the U.S. is probably a good time to talk about healing. No matter who won and lost, there will continue to be anxiety and divisiveness, and people will look to others for hope and healing. They will be looking in the wrong place.

True healing comes from within. We previously quoted Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous words, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” There is a corollary to that. No one can make you feel whole without your participation. …

Read the full blog at Heal Thyself, on Uplift at ROAMcare. As always there is no fee to read, nothing to join, no catches, no kidding.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

A word of caution: Some physical injuries are too severe for our bodies to repair themselves and require the attention of healthcare professionals. If you are suffering significant emotional or psychological distress, please consult a mental health professional to help with your healing process.

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Corrected Take a peek – Yes You Can

Michael 7 Comments

The first email of this post contained a broken link. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Hello fellow bloggers! I again invite you to take a peek at another ROAMcare post, Yes You Can. 

Confidence comes from within and you can increase your self-confidence. A positive you is a confident you. Confident that you are the best you there is.

Yes You Can

POSTED TO UPLIFT, OCTOBER 30,2024
3 MINUTE READ

Two weeks ago, we wrote about self-worth. It is impossible to discuss self-worth without bringing up self-confidence. Without being confident that you are presenting the best you to the world, it is difficult to describe your value. Likewise, if you do not value yourself, you are not going to be confident of contributing to society. Confidence comes from within. We know that and presented words from others describing the connection between value and confidence. We closed that post with, “Once you accept yourself, you can offer you to others. The true you. The valuable you.”

Are there exercises you can do or it there a roadmap to increasing how confident you feel about being you? There are things you can do to build your self-confidence, beginning with accepting yourself and rising to the challenge of being you.

Read the full blog at Yes You Can, on Uplift at ROAMcare. As always there is no fee to read, nothing to join, no catches, no kidding.

While you are there, consider joining the ROAMcare community and have Uplift delivered to your email as soon as it hits the website. In addition to an Uplift release every Wednesday, you will also receive weekly our Monday Moment of Motivation and the email exclusive Blast from the Past repost of one of our most loved publications every Friday. All free and available now at ROAMcare.org.

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