Tell me, please

[pegkerr]

I've been asked to take stock of my resources, and in particular, to note all the things I am doing right. Not in the too distant past (yes, I wrote some good books, but that was several years ago). I'm talking about, within the past year.

Friends list, please tell me the things I am doing right. Lurkers, that includes you.

Right now, I need to hear that rather desperately.

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

I admire your self-awareness and determination to go for walks in the sunlight on these short cold winter days.
I loved your story the other day about Delia and Rob cooking, and I admired your restraint not to fix it all for them.

[commodorified.livejournal.com]

You love your family and are kind to them even when they drive you nuts.

You are making progress at karate, even if it's not always exactly the progress you want.

You don't give up.

You are raising strong, smart, good women.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

You are successfully raising two beautiful daughters who are intelligent, sweet, and beautiful.

Does that count?

[only-sound.livejournal.com]

You are keeping yourself healthy, body and mind (and working on spirit) which is quite an accomplishment, given your busy life.

You are raising your girls to be strong, open-minded, confident, and kind.

You make me think.

[naomikritzer]

You are tremendously self-disciplined, particularly about exercise, your daily walk, and other forms of self-care that a lot of us put off.

You complain very little, considering the weight of all you have to carry.

You made an awesome wizard rock mix that my family has been enjoying immensely. :-)

[ckd]

Last year? Heck, even just the last month is a bunch of evidence of what you're doing right.

You are sticking with karate and exercise in general despite weather, and yet not being stubborn about it when you're really not up to it.

You are raising two wonderful daughters, by example, showing them how to be strong and how to care about others.

Right there, you could be doing a whole lot else "wrong" and still be way ahead of even.

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

It seems to me like you really get a lot of things done in a regular and timely way that I DEEPLY wish I could emulate!

[eal.livejournal.com]

You are an amazing mom and daughter. All evidence suggests that you are an amazing friend, too.

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

You are honest with yourself. Also you're out there everyday in the real world.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Even with everything you are feeling right now, you are still so clever - the ideas you sent to Gwen and me last night were fantastic and gave us so much food for thought about things that we never would have thought of on our own! <3 and appreciation for you!

[wintercreek]

You are proactive in caring for your family (your recent fish oil post is a good example) and in noticing and recording moments for later (Fiona's karate skills and proclivity for reading by candlelight being recent examples).
You are challenging yourself with your involvement in karate and your ongoing quest to find a meal that will satisfy all family members AND be nutritious. :)
You are maintaining an active creative life through your participation in hpalternity, and in doing so you are contributing to the creative lives of both other players and those of us who watch and speculate.
You are self-aware and reflective about your life (I suspect to a greater degree than we see in your LiveJournal, as some reflection is private) - and lest you think that is a small thing, let me point out that many adults lack those qualities and are the worse for it.
You are honest with us, your flist, which means taking a risk and trusting a group of people (some of whom you have never met in person, some of whom you may not even have met virtually), and it's that trust that is at the basis of meaningful human relationships - and so in maintaining a LiveJournal you are in fact being a good human.
You are obviously a loving wife, mother, family member, and friend to many in your life. It shines through your entries. And that, too, is no small thing.

[theresamd.livejournal.com]

You write in this journal nearly every day, which is disciplined in itself. More importantly, you're being the financial and moral bulwark for your family and you're not collapsing.

[chelsearoad.livejournal.com]

great, caring mom

creative card-maker and meal-maker

stays in shape with the martial arts

sensitive, wise, kind journaler

[argentus.livejournal.com]

I think you have a remarkable ability to keep yourself composed under increasingly difficult financial circumstances. You've been successful at putting away whatever money you can in order to stave off any unforseen further difficulties in the future, which is something a lot of people attempt but rarely see reach fruition.

You love and respect your daughters and husbands. Coming from a person whose mother has repeatedly failed in that aspect brings about a feeling of intense admiration for you. You're doing right by them and that's so important.

You manage to keep tabs on your fight with depression and talk about it openly. This is courageous and ultimately helpful to others who have this same condition.

You make yourself excellent lunches. I love seeing the photos of them.

[chamisa.livejournal.com]

Your dedication to karate, to bicycling, to walking, to being healthy. I admire the fact that you keep working at getting better at this. I admire the fact that you work so hard to be able to do it at all--for yourself and for the girls (i.e. cleaning the dojo).

Your dedication to your family, your girls in particular. You're an excellent role model to them, a good mom, a good friend. They are obviously to me, and I don't even know you or them, a bright shining example of what you're doing right.

Your persistence in cooking meals for ingrates. :-)

Your journal, which is enjoyable, thought provoking, entertaining, helpful.

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

You are taking care of yourself with your walks and karate and biking.

You are raising two wonderful daughters.

You are keeping your family going through hard times.

You are a wonderful person, Peg. Don't doubt it.

[sternel.livejournal.com]

You have the guts to get up in front of the internet and admit that things are hard. That's a courage that I admire so much, especially because being that open can be very, very difficult for me.

You're juggling a job, and a family, and a house, and all the balls keep moving somehow. That's managerial skills of the highest order.

You do not let the crap that life keeps throwing at you stop you. You shake it off, you come up with a new plan, and you keep moving. That is so, so hard (I know, I've been there) and you keep doing it and you keep doing it with grace.

I admire you like crazy, Peg. You are my visual of grace under fire and it's an example I try to emulate.

[corinnethewise.livejournal.com]

You are an awesome mom who encourages her daughters to do non-traditional things, but also encourages them when they want to do traditional things (like Delia's cooking). You try to find them activities they will enjoy and improve at instead of just sticking them in front of the TV.

You are open and friendly. You share your life with us on your journal, which I find, and I believe other people find as well, inspiring and helpful.

You are honest about your struggles with depression which again is helpful and inspiring. Instead of withdrawing or giving up you ask for help. You reach out to people. You fight!

You do Karate!!! You can defend yourself. You are doing something that is difficult and you are trying to improve at it. I can barely get myself to do basic exercise and I'm in my 20s. You go to karate!!! You have a brown belt. That's so freaking awesome!!!

You are trying to improve yourself in multiple different ways. That is so impressive. Most people have no interest in improving themselves. You are very special in this respect and I admire that characteristic more than almost anything else.

::hugs:: You are a wonderful person, Peg. You do lots of things right.

[anomilygrace.livejournal.com]

You're raising two wonderful, caring daughters.

You're holding your family together.

You're dedicated and determined and altogether beautifully graceful.

[moony]

You're definitely doing the friend thing right. I adore you.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

You are, to quote Kipling, keeping your head when all those around you are not. And don't dismiss this, because it's a rare quality. Of course you feel like a gibbering nervous wreck, but guess what? Everyone does. Some show it more than others is all.

You're a solid anchor for your family and you're doing the absolute best with what you're given. That's worth a lot. You may not think you're doing a good job at it, but you are.

You're an island of sanity, for family and even for fandom, and alternity. I know I can count on you for advice, suggestions, and valuable criticism. I know, and many others do too, that if I needed you, you'd do whatever you could.

So what are you doing right? After a year like this, you're still standing. In a few years, you'll look back and be pretty fucking impressed at that.

[kiwiria.livejournal.com]

You're a wonderful mother. I'm taking lessons from you for when I "grow up".

You're a great writer. No, I'm not talking about your books (though they're excellent too), but your blog posts. They're always interesting and you're one of the (very few) people whose posts I never skim.

You take good care of yourself. I'm wildly in awe of your karate abilities.

You're just genuinely nice. I know you'll always be there for me if I need advice or just a friendly ear.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Peg, you are awesome at Alternity, and you are a wonderful friend. Whenever I talk to you it makes me happy, because I know that life doesn't end at 30, which is honestly a concern for someone who's 21. ;) And you are obviously a really good mom, because your girls are a joy to be around, even if that isn't immediately obvious when you're living with them day to day and dealing with the daily problems that life brings...

[jbru.livejournal.com]

You acquired a straight, fresh Christmas tree.

You are raising a fierce warrior, even if she isn't blond.

You had excellent balance at karate.

You survived blue sauce with grace and humor.

You survived a pie disaster.

And that's just in the last 20 entries!

[barondave.livejournal.com]

All of the above, and some of these will be repeats because you should hear them a lot.

Being a successful wife. It's not easy being married for a long time, and your relationship with Rob is pretty solid.

Being a successful mother... of teenagers. Good heavens, woman, there is no tougher job. And you're damn good at it.

Keeping a good job through hard times.

Having a life outside marriage, motherhood and employment.

Writing good LiveJournal posts. Open, literate self-appraisals and other items of interest.

Finding good Wizard Rock amidst the vast amounts of only okay stuff.

You may not consider yourself a writer anymore, but lots of people brag about much less. Perhaps you've moved on, perhaps not, but be proud of your accomplishments.

Keeping in contact with old friends, such as Kij or MN-StF. (This is only a little self-serving...)

Maintaining a sense of humor, and the ability to laugh at yourself, throughout life.

Being introspective without letting it take over your psyche. This may seem a lesser accomplishment, at first, but is really a major compliment. It's one thing to feel down when things aren't going well; quite another to continue to beat yourself over the head even when things are looking up. Many people get into depression spirals, and you've avoided that. Congrats.