Marilyn Bland

Snacks and treats that are not healthy choices and tip the scales always seem to taste so good and are so readily available. Why don't I have the same desire to reach for a celery stick as my favorite cookie?

No matter what is on my to do list - fun things or chores - the day simply isn't long enough and the night is always too short.

No matter how carefully and thoroughly I plan, some little thing always seems to pop up that changes everything. Now and then these unforeseen changes work out better than the original plan, so I have to learn to be open to whatever might turn up.

Staying healthy is hard work - needs continuous discipline and sacrifice, not just good food, rest, and exercise. And having money (or not) makes a huge difference too.

"Long time no hear" reconnections always make me feel so warm inside, especially these days.

Why do we feel guilty when taking time to sleep when it's such an essential part of staying healthy?

Retreating from the world is hard. Returning to it is harder, but I'm back - smiling.

It's so easy to fall behind with things that need doing, and oh so hard to get caught up again.

When I feel overwhelmed and don't know which way forward, I think of those less fortunate than me, and then what I have to deal with doesn't seem quite as bad.

I feel like it isn't just the sky that's falling on my head and all around me. Then I feel my dog's head resting on my feet, and I wonder how he feels. Can I follow his example, be happy with those dear to me and let that feeling shield me from all else?

Even a small positive gesture can lift our mood. Smile at someone today.

I thought I knew myself, but daily I feel I'm walking on quicksand. I have constantly to rethink things I used to think I was comfortable and satisfied with. I hardly know myself, let alone others. What will help? Tolerance and kindness.

I've realized that "getting back to normal" isn't going to happen soon, in fact, never. What once was normal is gone for good. Uncertainty and unknowns are now normal. We should learn to celebrate our differences to the point where such celebration is normal rather than not.

Just as we have to find new ways of making our lives work, we have to be open to finding new things that give us pleasure and fulfillment.

What a razor-sharp double edged sword technology is. It opens up a multitude of possibilities and opportunities, but oh, what a toll it exacts from us.

My right to exercise my freedom and do as I choose does not include the right to infringe on the rights and freedoms of others.

Reflecting on life in 2020, I feel like I'm reading a strange novel, one in which the daily unfolding events of our lives are more unreal than those in a made-up story.

You yearn to do something, but circumstances make it impossible. It hurts, but let it go. You may never know why, but there is a reason for things the way they are. Not easy, but true.

Start changing the wrongs of the world by changing wrongs that are really close to you.

Doing something you've never done before is nerve-wracking, but when you've muddled through somehow to the end, you can look back and know that you've done something you can build on in the future. The obstacles you've had to overcome are steppingstones, not stumblingblocks.