Day 3787: Personal growth

Personal growth is my game and Ann Koplow is my name. As a matter of fact, I’ve tagged every blog post I’ve written here with the category “personal growth” (the other constant tagged category is “photojournalism”).

Today, the Daily Bitch has something to say about personal growth.

One aspect of my personal growth has been embracing my inner Daily Bitch. And while I have not had enough of personal growth (if that were true, I wouldn’t return back to work today as an individual and group psychotherapist), I do want to join with the Daily Bitch declaring that I don’t HAVE to do any more personal growth work on myself. As I blogged here when I turned 70, I’ve worked very hard at many things (including personal growth) my whole life, and now it’s time to relax, coast, and not work so hard.

Of course, I’m open to all the personal growth that happens naturally if one is open to change and difference. And I’m 100% there for my patients’ personal growth.

Do you see personal growth in any of my other images for today?

There’s a lot on YouTube about personal growth, including this:

Thanks to all who join me in personal growth, including YOU!

Day 3745: Difficult Times

In difficult times,

• realize that you are not alone,
• be especially kind to yourself,
• connect with people you love,
• do things that comfort you,
• try to avoid difficult people,
• remember that you have made it through other difficult times before, and
• breathe.

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This blog post is dedicated to everyone who is going through difficult times.

The Daily Bitch and my inner bitch have helped me through many difficult times.

Here’s what I find when I search for “difficult times” on YouTube.

Thanks to all who deal with difficult times, including YOU.

Day 3724: Nice!

“Nice!” I just said to myself when I woke up with plenty of time to blog and get to the hospital for my first day of work after a week-long group therapy conference, where several people told me I was nice. When people tell me I’m nice, it’s often after I’ve given them a sincere compliment and I usually respond, “I’m not nice, I’m authentic.”

Yesterday, when my nice husband Michael and I went food shopping, I saw another nice little yellow Honda Fit in the parking lot, so I pulled into the space next to it and took a picture.

Nice!

Later, I noticed that somebody had left a note on my windshield and Michael and I speculated on what it might say. My guess was that the note said “nice car!” Here’s the note:

That’s so nice and here are my other images for today (which include several images shared by a nice guy on Twitter):

It IS nice to believe in yourself. Here’s the first thing I find on YouTube when I search for “nice”:

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Nice!

Thanks to all the nice people who read this daily blog, including YOU!

Day 3686: Defining moments

I’ve decided that turning 70 years old is a defining moment for me. From now on, I will:

• abandon perfectionism,
• be more tolerant of mistakes, and
• relax whenever possible (using Joan the cat as my teacher).

Do you see defining moments in my images for today?

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “defining moments.”

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Thanks to all who help me create and recognize defining moments, including YOU!

Day 3622: Focus

I woke up wondering what the focus of today’s blog post might be and then I thought, why not focus on focus?

These days, I have many centers of interest and activity (including group therapy for patients and providers, parenting, friendships, home repair, self-care, social media, writing, the news, word games, my original songs, travel, and cats), which makes it difficult to focus.

Now, I’m going to focus on quotes about focus.

That’s my cue to focus on my images for today.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “focus”:

Now I’m going to turn the focus to you: what are your thought and feelings about focus?

Many people recommend that we focus on gratitude, so thanks to all who help me focus every day, including YOU!

Day 3622: Focus

I woke up wondering what the focus of today’s blog post might be and then I thought, why not focus on focus?

These days, I have many centers of interest and activity (including group therapy for patients and providers, parenting, friendships, home repair, self-care, social media, writing, the news, word games, my original songs, travel, and cats), which makes it difficult to focus.

Now, I’m going to focus on quotes about focus.

That’s my cue to focus on my images for today.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “focus”:

Now I’m going to turn the focus to you: what are your thought and feelings about focus?

Many people recommend that we focus on gratitude, so thanks to all who help me focus every day, including YOU!

Day 3575: A bad day

I had a bad day yesterday because of a bad reaction to the COVID booster shot. I felt so bad that I didn’t take a walk, even when the bad weather turned good in the afternoon.

I push through bad days and yesterday was no exception. I worked from home and, even though I love my work, I couldn’t wait for the bad day to be over. From now on, I’m going to practice better self care, calling out sick on a bad day.

At the end of the bad day, we decided to watch the season finale of “Bad Sisters” and I asked a question about bad movies on Twitter.

Here are the images I captured on my bad day:

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If today is another bad day, at least I have permission to be a grouch about it.

Here’s the opening sequence of “Bad Sisters,” where somebody is having a very bad day.

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Thanks to all who make a bad day better, including YOU.

Day 3548: Still alive

Despite the many close calls I’ve had since I was born in 1953 with a very unusual heart, I’m still alive to blog another day and to share my latest images with you.

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Tomorrow (which is National Talk Like a Pirate and National Butterscotch Day), this wife will be working from home providing psychotherapy for people who are still alive. (Usually I’m in-person at the hospital on Mondays, but since I’m still alive after my T.I.A. last week, staying home seems like the smart thing to do.) Because my love of group therapy is still alive, my plan is to keep doing this work for as long as I’m still alive.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “still alive.“

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As long as I’m still alive, I’ll be expressing gratitude for YOU.

Day 3518: The proper response

As a therapist, I often think about the proper response to what people share in groups and individual therapy. In the therapy biz, we call that “an intervention.” Sometimes, focusing too much on the proper response or the “perfect” intervention can get in the way of being present in the moment with people.

Because I’ll be offering groups to the doctors at the hospital where I work, I just joined The American Balint Society and signed up for their online training program, so I can give the proper response when I facilitate Balint groups for the first time.

The Daily Bitch Calendar today is all about the proper response.

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Do you see the proper response in any of my other images for today?

I don’t know what the proper response is to those National Days, especially since I’m trying to lose a little weight before my trip in September.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “the proper response.”

I hope you know that any comment you choose to leave is the proper response to this post.

The proper response at the end of my blogs is always gratitude for YOU.

Day 3515: Message in a Bottle

Yesterday, I saw this “Message in a Bottle” at a public art installation near the hospital where I work:

Here’s the description of “Message in a Bottle” by Janet Kawada and Bette Ann Libby:

For centuries, bottles have been used for preservation and as vessels to carry thoughts and memories. They have the capacity to last much longer than we anticipate. Finding an unexpected relic of a bygone time gives the discoverer a moment to consider. WHO left it, WHAT was that person doing here and WHERE did they come from? Yearning for peace, love, a better future, frightened, hopeful, adventurous or all of the above. Did we welcome them? Maya Angelou states, The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”

In a way, every blog post is a message in a bottle from me — yearning for peace, love, a better future, frightened, hopeful, etc. Also, my photos often try to capture a message in a bottle from somebody else.

What message in a bottle do you notice here, now?

Because it’s National Tell a Joke Day, here are some “message in a bottle” jokes.

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Here’s “Message in a Bottle” by the Police:

I look forward to your message in the comments bottle, below.

Thanks to all who have sent or received a message in a bottle, including YOU.