PaperCat

Category: Uncategorized

  • Daily Writing Prompt 12.10

    Daily writing prompt
    What is something others do that sparks your admiration?
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    “What is something others do that sparks your admiration?”

    Honestly, being able to stick to one goal or to have one focus at all times. I am one of those unfortunate individuals who bounces from hobby to hobby, from interest to interest, from subject to subject, all because I get bored shortly after starting and I want to do something new all the time. I circle from being a hobby writer, to being a hobby musician, to a hobby seamstress, and then back again through the circle. One thing that is consistent for me is that I love to learn. But I also wish to reinvent myself at any chance I get. It’s a bit of a curse. I admire others who know who they are, what they like, and what they like to do with their time.

  • Kat’s Goals for 2025

    I’m just going to skip the fact that 2025 is right around the corner and time doesn’t feel real. I have lots of lofty goals for 2025 but something that I learned in the course of 2024 is that the little actions that we make each day add up to bigger progress than we could ever imagine in that moment. Some of the goals that I want to pursue are related to health and wellness of course, but I won’t bring them all up specifically.

    One thing that will help me achieve those health-related goals is to not drink any sodas. It can be a fairly restrictive idea but last year, I made it through the whole first quarter of the year without a single soda. The thing that I focus on is drinking water, coffee, and tea instead. I don’t just focus on what I can’t have because then that’s ALL that I want and can think about.

    I want to earn at least one Conquer’s Challenge medal in the year. I have started my first one which is a total of 145 miles in the timeframe of 6 months. This means walking 1-3 miles each day. That’s 20 mins to 1 hour of walking each day and that’s totally doable.

    I want to read 15 books in the year. This isn’t too difficult for me because I read multiple books at any one time. I do this by reading 1-2 chapters every few days. I don’t literally read multiple books at the exact same time, but I can’t limit myself to one genre at a time because I choose which one of my “in-progress” books to read based on my mood.

    I want to complete 3 specializations on Coursera. Specifically, I want to focus on business and leadership. My goal with this is to be able to grow in my career to become a leader in title as well as leading naturally. I also have more study goals that are specific to my career as an insurance claims adjuster, including to earn my Associate in Claims. This will also help me in the same goal of moving into a leadership position.

    An ideal that will be hard for me to do as well but I would like to implement some of it is staying off social media. The exception would be to post on social media but I do not want to scroll endlessly. I want to post on Instagram and LinkedIn, and then there is a group on Facebook that I will check for a specific weekly post, but I will not scroll. My goal will be to keep total social media usage under 1 hour a day. In January, if I can start by keeping it under 2 hours per day, I will be happy with that start.

    I want to keep up with my progress by blogging progress updates regularly. First, my goal will be once a week. If I can keep up with alllllllll that and the above items, then I will look into expanding that to three times per week. But these posts will include photos and essentially be my wordy version of “vlogs” so I also aim to make them quality posts.

    That is a lot but I am a determined individual. What are your goals for 2025? Or how many categories are you looking to improve in during the course of the year?

  • Daily Writing Prompt 12.09

    Daily writing prompt
    What’s your favorite cartoon?
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    “What’s your favorite cartoon?”

    It depends on what for! For my son, it’s Bluey. For nostalgia, it has to be Kim Possible or Phineas and Ferb. I don’t think I have a current favorite though.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 12.03

    Daily writing prompt
    What is one thing you would change about yourself?
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    “What is one thing you would change about yourself?”

    I would change my introverted nature. I tend to be dismissive of people in an inadvertent way because I’m trying not to bother them. They don’t see it that way but that is my true goal – not be a bother.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 12.02

    Daily writing prompt
    Are you more of a night or morning person?
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    “Are you more of a night or morning person?”

    I wish I was more of a night person as it is more natural to me. Life just doesn’t let me do that though. I honestly usually wish that I just didn’t need sleep, like in the prompt from last week.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 12.01

    Daily writing prompt
    What are your feelings about eating meat?
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    “What are your feelings about eating meat?”

    I used to be aiming for a plant-based diet where I was not eating any animal products. Now, I am focused on Whole Foods, but incorporating animal products while increasing the proportion of vegetables and fruits in the dishes. The main reason is because my husband does not want to be on an entirely plant-based diet and when I was making separate dishes for each, it was a lot more expensive for us. I am currently working towards making meals where it’s more plant-based in that any meat that is used is there for flavor, as it is in older, cultural dishes that come from when meat was more scarce for less affluent populations. I feel like this style of eating is more healthy since it’s incorporating more veggies and fruits and less processed foods. Processed foods is another reason why I moved away from an entirely plant-based diet – there are so many processed foods that are designed to replace meat that do not really digest as a meat would in our systems. I honestly would rather eat a little meat than eating more processed foods.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 11.29

    Daily writing prompt
    What technology would you be better off without, why?
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    “What technology would you be better off without, why?”

    As much as I hate that it’s true, I would be so much better off without my smartphone. My attention span has suffered. My social interactions have suffered. My relationship with my son has a barrier because I inadvertently zone out into my phone instead of properly regulating my emotions. Even with this awareness, I am not able to fix it because I still have the phone in my possession. Ideally, I need to get a basic phone OR I need to turn my phone into just a phone, text, camera, and maps device and use my computer for all my entertainment purposes. I have deleted and re-downloaded all my social media apps repeatedly because everyone else has these apps. I admit that it was FOMO.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 11.27

    Daily writing prompt
    Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?
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    “Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?”

    Not really. I just look forward to Stovetop stuffing and pumpkin pie every year.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 11.26

    Daily writing prompt
    If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?
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    “If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?”

    Ideally, I would like to study and read books. Some days, I would probably doom-scroll too much but I usually come back to studying out of curiosity.

  • Daily Writing Prompt 11.25

    Daily writing prompt
    Name your top three pet peeves.
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    “Name your top three pet peeves.”

    First is a work one; it’s when someone asks me a question, I give my answer, and they go with the first thing that they were thinking all along. Personally, if you were going to go with your gut anyway, don’t ask me, I’m not going to simply validate your thought unless I agree with it completely.

    Next is a personal one; it’s when someone places objects in a place where they do not go or they use an object of mine and they don’t put it back exactly where they got it from.

    I’m sure I have a third one but I cannot narrow it down right at this moment. It’s probably related to people correcting my language or presenting me with a misinformed reason for why they do or think something.