Sometimes we think we are the only ones who are going through issues.  However, every generation goes through similar stages in life.

I came upon an assignment I wrote for a class in high school, called “The Young Adult of the Past and Present.” For the assignment, I had interviewed one of my grandmothers.  The original document has been changed only to take out personal information.  

My grandmother has lived in the same city for her entire life; she was born in 1921.  I chose to interview her because I think she has had a really interesting life. I wanted to find out how she was socialized to handle three developmental tasks: 1) separation from family, 2) development of intimate peer relationships, and 3) choice of career.

I had this powerful dream the other night which I have to share with you.

It relates to a situation I have been going through over the past year.  I find that if you have been thinking about something a lot, your mind has a way of incorporating those thoughts into your dreams.

Since I have been talking about relationships for the past few weeks, I thought I would share about a member of my family. I was looking at my dog today, and I was reminded of how blessed I am to have her in my life. She stared at me with her beautiful little eyes. It is true what they say about a dog's eyes; when she looks at you, you can’t help but smile. Even though she is getting older, she has the energy of a puppy. Let me show you what she looks like.

What happens when you meet that special someone, and then they move away? Do you pursue them, or do you forget them and find another who lives closer to you?

I find I’m hearing this question a lot in my circle of friends and with others in their twenties and early thirties. Therefore, I thought I would share this question with you all.

Tell me if any of these scenarios sound familiar to you:

• I met this special someone during school; after I graduated, I moved to a job somewhere else.
• I met a special someone on vacation, and then we both had to go back to our “real” lives.
• I met a really special person, then found out they have a job where they are travelling all of the time.

This picture was taken in Maui at sunset. The quote is from The Band Perry's song "All Your Life."  It is such a romantic quote, and I thought it was fitting to the topic of relationships.  It makes me smile, so I'm sharing it with you.

I was talking about this song with a friend, and they were like," I want to fall in love with my best friend and grow old with him."  My sentiments exactly.  We were also talking about how every relationship always has a beginning (i.e., a story of how the couple met).  The stories can range from simple to quite elaborate.  Regardless of the complexity of the story, I always enjoy hearing how couples met and fell in love.  Each story is unique and special.

While I have been talking about relationships for the past week or so, I have yet to bring up a very important relationship in people’s lives.  The one with yourself.  Many put this relationship at the lowest level of priority.

Many of us want to help others; I am the same.  However, you can’t help others in the most effective manner if you aren’t helping yourself first.  If you have ever been on an airplane, you have probably heard the safety announcement, “Make sure that your own oxygen mask is on first before helping others.”  The same principle applies here. You’ve got to attend to your own needs, before you can go about helping others effectively.  My struggle has involved making other people the focus of my relationships, without first taking time to nurture a love for myself.  While I was always going out of my way to help others and to let them know how great they were, I would never do this to myself.  I was just me.  I was certainly not like the girl in the video below.

I was really saddened to hear this afternoon of the passing of Champion freestyle skier and fellow Canadian Sarah Burke.

Sarah died today, nine days after she crashed at the bottom of the superpipe during a training run in Utah on Jan. 10.  She sustained life-threatening injuries which placed her in a coma.

She was a pioneer in her sport and such an inspiration to many people all over the world.  Her energy and her passion for her sport were evident every time you saw her.  I loved her bubbly attitude and her strong presence in sport. She was a role model of mine and I admired her accomplishments.  She was instrumental in getting ski halfpipe into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

This quote struck a chord with me. When it comes to relationships, it is hard to evaluate your actions with your mind when your heart is so heavily invested in the other person.

The quote reminded me how, in the past, I have "fought for a person" instead of both of us "fighting for it." Relationships need both parties to make it work. I was guilty of this. I held on to this man because I enjoyed his presence in my life, yet our relationship wasn’t worth fighting for. There were many factors as to why it didn't work, but in the end he didn't want to “complicate” his already complicated life.

Many words and phrases can offend me, but I find the term “shut up” the most offensive.

For example, you are talking and someone tells you to “shut up.”  They want you to stop talking and to be silent.  I find such an intrusion to be very impolite, as this person is taking away your right to speak.  And, the person is doing it in an unmannerly way.

While there are times when you may feel it is important to interrupt someone when they are talking, I think that using the term, “shut up,” to do so is extremely rude.

When I was growing up, the Disney princes were what us young girls thought of as our "dream" guys.  Huesmann (1988) suggests that when children view television, they learn about many aspects of society. They gain knowledge of the attitudes and behaviours that are acceptable to society. The children learn from television by copying the behaviours that are portrayed on it. Therefore, if a behaviour is shown on television to be acceptable and valued by their society, the children will learn to emulate that behaviour.

If you haven't seen Beauty and the Beast, you should watch it, as the movie is a classic.

Before I start talking about relationships for the next couple weeks, I thought I would share some songs that empower me every time I hear them. My middle sister, the same one that made me that beautiful collage, is addicted to music and always sends me beautiful songs. She asked me to bring more music to my page. Therefore, to honour her request, I put together ten of my favourite empowering songs.  Hope you enjoy them!

Why do people have a fear of doing these events alone? If you really wanted to do something (i.e., go to a concert), would you not go simply because you had no one to go with? I have a friend who went to this huge sport event by himself; he had an amazing time! Should he not have gone because he couldn’t find someone to go with? This sounds kind of silly; but in reality, it is a pretty common choice. I am partially guilty of this as well. Most people have to go to events with others.  These individuals wouldn’t even consider the possibility of going alone; they worry about being insulted, or having nothing to say, etc.  Individuals then think that the notion of being alone is a bad thing.