5 Ways to Better Love Your Coworkers (even the ones you don't like)

Workplaces are filled with people. And wherever humans gather, there is bound to be conflict.

And love is a choice, even at the office!

Here are some ways to help you better love even your most difficult coworkers. Five Ways to (choose to) Love Your Coworkers:

1. Take a quick look in the mirror to understand your part in it all. Is there really a conflict, or do you communicate or work differently, creating misunderstanding? It's best to avoid sarcasm, inside jokes and assumptions in general in the workplace, until you really, really know someone, and you're sure they "speak sarcasm" too.

2. Talk to them. If there seems to be a real conflict, or a misunderstanding, go to them, one on one, and discuss it.

Approach gently, and just as is suggested in marital conflict, let them know how something made you feel. "I felt disrespected when..." is far better than, "You were disrespectful when..." Because chances are, they didn't intend disrespect. That's what you are trying to clear up. Avoid involving a supervisor or a third party unless you are at an impasse and your job is directly negatively affected by the conflict.

3. Practice empathy. It's often said that hurting people hurt people. And, guess what? We're all hurting in one way or another. I recently heard that our actions are really expressions of need. Helping to understand where a coworker has come from, or is coming from, personally and professionally, might help you with #4.

4. Forgive. Often and actively. Make grace a daily practice.

5. Accept. We really are all pieces of a big ole puzzle. Consider how you fit in, and how your coworkers fit in, and understand that you were built to offer your own unique gifts to the team, as were they.  Actively work to respect your coworkers' talents, and how you all work together to make a whole.


Thanks for reading! - Kelly

5 Things I've Learned Since I've Been Single

 

1. You should never pay for a home repair until it is 100 percent complete, to your satisfaction.

Get warranty information on parts and  labor, in writing. I have quite a few almost-done repairs that were 100 percent paid for. My mistake.

Also, check Youtube to see if you can conquer it yourself. You will save money, and feel pretty good about it all. You can find some great tutorials in layman's terms. 

I replaced a toilet flush seal last Friday night via Youtube:  "Ya see that ther pipe? Don't know what it's called. Dudn matter. Below that is an orange rubber thingamabob...that's what were gonna replace..."

Yeah...that's right...I dig around in a toilet tank on a Friday night, and I am proud of it.

And...my toilet flushes.

2. You will receive an abundance of advice and opinions regarding your dating relationships or your choice to simply remain single.

Be discerning about whose advice you take to heart. Nobody else is in your exact position in life or dating or singleness.

You may need some new friends. I have some amazing friends from my "old" (married) life, lots of married couples. There is a chance some friends may not understand singleness as it pertains to today, and to you, so find a couple new friends, married or single, who are wise and who understand the challenges.

Don't date in a vacuum. That's dangerous. But be careful whose advice you take.

3. You are uniquely positioned to learn and explore and just be you.

You even get to make your own rules. You don't have to make your bed, unless you like it made. Laundry straight from the dryer is fine, and so is yogurt for dinner, if that's what you want. Take a road trip without planning a road trip.

Travel, see things, take a class, teach a class.

4. You might feel alienated.

The church, your former circle of friends if you were married before, even your coworkers, don't really know what to do with you. If they are married, they feel their life -- marriage -- is the norm. And maybe marriage is in your hopes, plans, too. Still though, timing.

The truth is that more than half of adults in America are SINGLE.  I started a "Singles Small Group" when I realized I was single, which took me a full year after losing my husband to cancer. That ended with a restraining order, so maybe don't do that. But something like that is helpful.

Find your people.

5. You can stretch.

 

Take up the whole bed. Take it up sideways if you want. Or diagonal.

 

...Stretch.

 

 

5 Crazy-Cheap Beauty Products I Really Like

I'm a single momma ...$

with two kids still at home ...$$

who are in college ...$$$

...and the girl is planning a wedding ...$$$$$.


SO...I have found some pretty amazingly inexpensive products to be life savers, or at least skin savers and lip savers. And here they are:

1. This stuff...pink salt bath soak.
It's amazing, and will cost you $5,
and last you six months most likely.

2. This stuff: careful...not all 

Burt's Bees are as silky and 

conditioning as Vanilla Bean.

Not waxy or sticky. $2.

3. That stuff too. Coconut oil...$3.99.
Use it on dry, winter, skin right after
a shower or bath.

4. My mom loved this stuff: Dove...it's not soap

...it's a beauty bar, and won't dry 

your skin. $1.50.

5. Hydrate. 

I love coconut water. $4. 

You either love it, or you hate it.

If you hate it, just find something

hydrating that you like.