Strategic Living - Page 5 of 7

If You Are Stressed About Prepping, Slow Down and Take a Breather

January 10, 2018 Gaye Levy 5 Comments

It makes me sad when I learn that preppers are overwhelmed, stressed, and clearly are letting prepping activities take over their life. It does not have to be that way! In this short article, I want to set the record straight. Prepping should be something you enjoy! That’s right. You need to enjoy the prepping process and if you are not, you are doing something wrong. I am not saying that all prepping will be a barrel of laughs but it can be both fun and rewarding.

The important thing to remember is that you do not have to stop prepping. You just need to slow down and prioritize!

8 Steps Toward Living a Joyful and Strategic Life

January 2, 2018 Gaye Levy 11 Comments

It seems only fitting that with the start of the new year, we revisit the concept of living a joyful and strategic life. Yes, I know that is a touchy feeling concept but bear with me, for no matter how many tasks you add to your list of things to do if those things don’t bring peace, comfort, and happiness into your life, why bother?

Before sharing these eight steps, let me just say that no matter where you happen to be in life, living joyfully should be your goal. Yes, we all have chores that are distasteful and bills to pay. In addition, we have people in our lives who are going to be negative and try to bring us down to their level. The moment is now to step back and clear the slate. If you are doing something regularly and you simply hate it, start doing something else instead. The same applies to toxic relationships. Life is too short not to be happy.

Pursuing Your Passion: Getting Started With Adult Coloring

November 16, 2017 Gaye Levy 12 Comments

In 2010, prepping took over my life, all in a good way. Years later, I now believe I have the skills, supplies, and most of all, the mental fortitude to prevail during dire circumstances. Although I still prep, albeit less frantically, I have moved on in pursuit of new passions. One of those passions is grown up coloring.

When I first learned about adult coloring (also referred to as grown-up coloring), it was an emerging craze, fueled mostly by Johanna Basford and her Secret Garden coloring book. As someone who had a day job as well as a full-blown website, I was stressed to the max and wanted something that would allow for private, me-time. I was also fascinated by the prospect of stashing some low-cost coloring supplies for passing the time during grid-down emergencies.

I jumped in with both feet and now, years later, find that doing so led me to discover that I indeed had some creativity and in my DNA and more important, I could pursue a guilty pleasure without having to spend a ton of money. Win-win.

With that introduction, let me help you get started with adult coloring!

5 Things To Set Aside and Not Worry About As You Pursue a Strategic Life

October 18, 2017 Gaye Levy 17 Comments

I recently watched a YouTube video about things you don’t have to worry about after age 50. The premise was that as you get older, things keep getting better and better. Since watching that video I have thought long and hard about what was said and have come to the conclusion that it was mostly fluff. To universally imply that things get better and better is simply not true. I say this because as we experience life, there will be good days and bad days. Over time, some things get better but some things get worse. That is the reality of our human condition and to try to convince you otherwise will only make you feel bad.

Even though I wanted to call BS on the video, the takeaway was that periodically we all need to identify those things that should be set aside because they drag us down and prevent us from having that better life we strive for. So that is what I did.

It is my hope that this article will motivate you to come up with your own list.

Living Life: Embracing the Benefits of Me Time

September 8, 2017 Gaye Levy 10 Comments

Have you ever been on the receiving end of someone telling you that they crave more me time? Or has the someone been you? How did you feel afterward? Selfish and guilty? Sorry for all the questions, but speaking from experience, we are trained to consider me-time, also referred to as alone time, a luxury to be indulged only when every single task and chore on our to-do list has been completed.

To that, I say phooey. Everyone needs some time to spend in the quiet solitude of their own thoughts, doing things they care about with out suffering the judgment of others. To that end, here are some of the benefits of setting time aside each day for “me time”.