Do You Surround Yourself With Positive People

The Frats of Phi Beta Sigma Inc of CSU
chilling with J & Missy at the
 Summerville Miracle League Game

It's December 31 and honestly it's been a really quiet morning so I decided to visit a few influential blogs that I enjoy reading when I have free time on my hands. 

Today I was drawn to Paul C. Brunson's blog in case you aren't aware of who he is he's the Real Life Hitch (yeah Hitch as in the movie that Will Smith played the matchmaker) will that's what Paul does for a living. He has a blog that he keeps on his website and I love getting the opportunity to read his words. 

A few days ago he wrote a blog entitled Surround Yourself With Better People and it was quite a interesting read. He speaks about how you should keep yourself surrounded with people who are as my passionate and accomplished as you or where your wanting to be.  This got me to thinking I don't have many people who I hang with or surround myself in real life that I wouldn't consider successful in their own right. However after taking a evaluation of my friends in my personal life it got me to thinking about my friends in my social media life. Now that's a different ballgame because I've come to find that over time my friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ have grown and often times I find myself looking at my friends list wondering who is who and where I know them from to the point one day I decided to purge my Facebook friends.

I was at 4600 people and do mind you Facebook only allows 5000 friends per a page and I wasn't getting a second page so with that purge I made simple guidelines if I hadn't spoken with the individuals within a 30 day period days or if their Facebook profile photo was inappropriate and didn't fit into what I would considered a good impression they had to go. My first purge was impressive I went from over 4000 friends to down to about 1000 friends. It felt good to clear up room in my profile and to get rid of unwanted and unnecessary status out of my news feed. 

As time went on I started realizing that I didn't want to be apart of any drama or negatively because at this time I was in the process of looking into myself and that meant I needed to watch who I was hanging around and who I had in my inner ear so this time when I went into my friends list I had a more concise process of what I wanted this time around it was your profile and you as a person had to have some sort of influence to me and by this time I told myself I wanted less than 500 friends and I went to town this time the purge took me a few days because I went on everyone's page and I really looked at what these individuals were about and I was mindful of their image as well as mine. I got my Facebook friends down to 450 every once in a while I start to look at profiles again to purge as I see fit as of today I have 400 friends easily and I'm quick to unfriend when things start being what I know I need to hear or see and it provides no positive outlook or influence on life or at least my idea of life.

I say all of this to say this when reading Paul's Blog he asked a good question he asks you to think of five or ten people you spend the most time with. He asks if your proud of what they have achieved or impressed by what they are doing? Are they passionate about the values you have and do they inspire you? If you think about these questions and you answer no to any then you really need to think about who your friends are. 

Now to those wondering what does any of this have to do with her and her son it has a lot to do with us. While many may find it weird that I look at my friends who have kids and I try to involved my child while he's special he has to learn to live in the normal world as everyone else sees it and he feeds off of the energy surrounding him and as his mother I make sure it's always positive energy. 

To check out the blog that inspire me to write about your friends check out Mr Paul Brunson at his blog. 

~Truly Blessed,

Misherald "Missy" & Jonathan "JB" Brown

Looking Back Over 2012

Jonathan and I taking a quick snapshot with the Webcam

It’s December 30, 2012, I am sitting here thinking back over this past year, and it is good to know that we survived it without any major issues. The beginning of the year started out pretty rough and hard not only were we in the process of fundraising for a service dog for Jonathan but we were also faced with the predicament of behavioral issues. I know most parents are saying for a child who is six behavioral issues are normal and for a while I truly did accept it however in my heart I knew it went further than that.  With the diagnoses of Autism it was already known that his behavior would be different but Jonathan had simply began to act out in a way that was simply awful.  Life began to evolve around how his demeanor was if we had a bad morning, anything extra in our life was shuffled to another day. Why you may ask? It was easier that way. Meltdowns in stores caused stares and I tend to react when I get stares because I’m sure many individuals have encounter special needs children but they automatically assume that as a mother I don’t have control of my child which can put a mother on edge.

 While I know, many would say I am venting and complaining far from that. My son has taught me patience, knowledge, understanding, and unconditional love.  It is not often as a mother you see your child’s eyes light up as if they just solved world hunger or something when they finally figure out the proper use for a toy or how to make it do what it is supposed to do. To him that is major so while I continue to look for more innovative ways for him to grow and gain some independence I simply continue to sit here and be a true role model and caregiver to my little one.

Now any parent would say we all have our difficulties but a special needs parent would say our day can start out on the happy end and by the end of the day we felt like we have dealt with eight kids instead of just our one.  This year I decided to venture into blogging about Jonathan and my life as we proceed to overcome many challenges and as we prepare to look forward to changes and life opportunities.

Truly Blessed,

Misherald “Missy” & Jonathan “JB” Brown