What Ms. Bean The Blogger Said + A Simple Rules Of Life Poll

/ Ally Bean

Welp, this is embarrassing, but I don’t have anything in particular to write about this week.  I post at least once a week, that’s the deal I made with myself when I started blogging.

I told myself that I’d show up here weekly because I know me, and I’m a slacker.  I could easily disappear for weeks on end, but because I set a specific goal and promised myself that I’d be here, I. Be. Here.

That’s what I said.

So today instead of starting a conversation about something that has happened OR sharing a bit of research OR posting a random list of links, I made the following poll– which fulfills my self-imposed blogging goal as stated above.

[Also if you, my gentle readers, look closely at the poll you’ll see that one of the ideas pertains to what I’m saying I said above.]

The ideas in this poll come from a framed piece of art that I bought at T.J. Maxx.  I’ve no official source for these 7 ideas, but I like them and have adopted them as my own sorta kinda rules of life.

As one does.

Comments, anyone?

89 thoughts on “What Ms. Bean The Blogger Said + A Simple Rules Of Life Poll”

  6. Oooo I pressed about 5 & then saw choose one – of course it was KC & CO. Tricky one about showing up but I truly sometimes feel I have nothing to say or, what I want to say would be hard in keeping it concise.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Allie P, that’s how I got the idea to do a poll. I look at those 7 ideas every day, but can never truly decide which one influences me the most. Not that I have to know, of course. Just idle curiosity, I suppose.

      Like

  8. Disappearing is easy. Getting motivated enough to come back is very, very hard.

    Also, you gotta laugh. Life is too stupid and crazy to not laugh. Not laughing makes all those other options impossible. At least for me.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Zazzy, I hadn’t thought about the laughing angle that you mention here. You’ve got a good point, without the laughter there’d just be angst and craziness. I see your logic.

      [So… will you be back to blogging soon? Inquiring minds want to know.]

      Liked by 2 people

  10. Quizzes that offer multiple choices but allow only one choice, like this one, make me crazy because how can I choose only one? So I won’t. I just won’t. You can’t make me.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Perhaps it depends on the day. Since it’s snowing and I’m grumpy about that, I chose don’t whine. On a day I wasn’t grumpy I might chose something else. All are good. Now excuse me while I go back to my whining!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, I agree with you that today is a good day to remember to not whine. No snow here, just flurries– but ever so gray outside. Should you need to break the No Whining rule, I understand. Have at it.

      Liked by 1 person

  13. I was definitely in the minority with Try New Things. However, I’ve worked hard at some of the other ones, and try to always help others. Because I crave security(does such a thing even exist?), it’s difficult for me to try new things, so that one jumped out at me. I’ve been forcing myself to go out of my comfort zone since Patt died, and now after retiring. It’s still hard.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Margaret, I think that trying new things is a relative sort of idea. It’s not always a big “leap and the net will appear” situation, but more like a series of little nudges that get you headed in slightly different directions. And you’ve been doing that so I can see how that particular rule calls to you.

      Liked by 1 person

  14. I was going to pick “Don’t whine” because I hate whiners but then I thought the poll was about MY issues, not other people’s so I went with “Keep Your Promises” because I want to be thought of as a dependable person. “Keep calm and carry on” is really more true to my nature. Such tough decisions and thinking you’ve made me do this morning on a post that you just threw out there!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Janet, I picked Keep Your Promises, too. I’m dependable– to a fault at times. I look at this list of life rules every day, so it dawned on me to use it for a blog post. Plus polls are always fun.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Whoever else voted for Taking Time to Breathe, I’m your compatriot there. *raises hand* *takes a deeeeeeeeeeeeep breath*

    Perhaps you can find a door and play along with Norm this week? When in doubt, join a fun blogging event! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • JT Twissel, me too! However, my idle mind goes down some odd paths. I just got thinking that one of these ideas might be the basis for the other ones, making the rest possible. Is that true? I dunno. But there you have it & a poll to go with it.

      Like

  17. I have a deeply ingrained sense of ‘Thou Shalt Keep Your Promises … or else”. I attribute it to my Catholic schooling and a take-no-prisoners kind of mom.

    No one, however, required me to remain calm while keeping said promises 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  18. All are important no doubt. I ended up picking ‘help people,’ because I was thinking in my mind that being kind to others is most important to me, and ‘help people’ fit with that. But I also think keeping promises and keeping calm and carrying on are right up there in importance. 😁

    Liked by 1 person

    • Carrie, it makes sense to me that you’d choose help people– being a doc, and all. But you’re right that many of these rules of life are intertwined, of equal importance. As far as I can tell, it depends on your immediate situation as to which rule rules.

      Liked by 1 person

  19. Okay, this is even more embarrassing….I couldn’t find the poll. It seems like everyone else found it. What have I done wrong?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Donna, the poll is on this post, at the bottom of it. In blue. With a question as the title and options below. OR AT LEAST THAT’S WHERE THE POLL IS SUPPOSED TO BE. Considering how WP sometimes get things muddled, and considering how I sometimes get things muddled, the poll could be on Mars by now. However, I see the poll on this post so it’s still here. For now. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  20. You know, I’m really beginning to appreciate those who only post once a week. (and post interesting stuff)
    Polls and comment resulting are always fun! (Difficult choices there…breathing critical – for else how could be laugh and if there’s no laughter we’re done – breathless results HAHA)

    Liked by 1 person

    • philmouse, there’s something to be said for fewer [blog posts] rather than more. I try for 2 or 3 posta a week, but things could change around here.

      You make an excellent point about how breathing is critical… and supports all the other ideas. Had not thought of that, but take your point, well said.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Hmmm… I’m not sure what to choose. I guess it depends on what I’m currently involved in. Right now, it’s buying a car so “Take a moment and breath” (as well as “Protect your wallet”) would probably be the most relevant. Btw, I agree with philosophermouseofthehedge, posting multiple times a week is not necessarily a good thing. I’m not sure why some people try to post 5-7 times a week.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Janis, yes, you need to take many moments and breath when car shopping. I hear ‘ya, sister. Sticker shock can leave you gasping for air.

      I agree with philmouse, too. I’ve committed to posting here once a week for sure [vacations or illness excepted]– trying to go for 2 or 3 times a week most weeks. When I first started blogging I was an almost daily blogger because everyone was. Now blogging is mellower for me– and a lot more fun.

      Liked by 1 person

  24. That was a tough poll, Ms. Bean. I like to think they’re all important, depending on what happens to be happening at any happening moment. However, I chose “Help people” because I feel like when I do something nice for someone else, it’s a day-brightener.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, I agree with you– all the ideas are good ones. I don’t know why I got thinking about which one idea was the “best” one, but I did. If nothing else this poll has been fascinating because everyone has their reasons for their choice. Enlightening, I tell you.

      Like

      • I’ve always wanted a trophy. Thanks, Ally! Yes, very soon. Even as we speak, I have many of my (underpaid and overworked) writers toiling down in “The Attic’s” basement trying to turn outa brilliant masterpiece, and as soon as one meets my low standards I told them I’d publish it. So they’ve gone back down there and are now feverishly working to remove all the proper grammar. Shouldn’t be long now—I hope. 😀

        Liked by 1 person

  26. This was tough. I want to do ALL these things EVERY DAY. Each one is so important. I’m thinking that Keep Calm and Carry On and Take a Moment to Breathe are basically the same thing. And if I don’t stop and breathe and stay calm, I can’t do everything else on that list. So you know which one I voted for…

    Liked by 1 person

    • Pam, I like these rules of life for the reason you mention– that is, these are applicable to everyday life. I agree that keeping calm and breathing are about the same thing; I bought this wall art at T. J. Maxx so you know… maybe not the most well-reasoned list ever? Thanks for playing along on this poll. It’s been fun to learn why commenters choose what they do.

      Like

  27. Very good rules of life. In particular, I have always been a fan of “keep your promises”. So much so that when my kids were growing up they would ask me “do you promise?’ and 99% of the time, I said “No, I cannot promise. I can try, but I cannot promise”. This saved me from letting them down and promising things that I had no control over delivering. It also prevented their having big expectations but rather appreciating when something did work out.

    Yeah, who likes a whiner? But moaning, that is something different and when you need to moan and groan, man it does really help.

    Help people. Yeah. Help animals. Smile. A smile goes a long long way.

    Peta

    Liked by 1 person

    • Peta, I chose keep your promises, too. I grew up much the way you describe, so I take promising quite seriously. Although helping people is something I aspire to do, too. As for not whining, that’s one of those ideas that sounds good in theory, but might be not so easy to do in reality. However smiling, everyone can do that! 😊

      Like

    • Liesbet, I’m glad that you picked try new things. I thought it’d be one of the first one ideas picked, but commenters went a different direction with this poll. I try new things, but in rather controlled ways– no jumping off cliffs, but will try a new cuisine just to see if I like it.

      Liked by 1 person

  29. Yeah for personal rules. I like the ones above. No whining is always a good one (but one I’m terrible at, so I didn’t pick that one) and keeping promises was a good runner up (because I feel like if you’re impeccable with your word, other things just seem to fall into place), but I picked help people because lately…I think we all could use a little more love and kindness.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Kate, I like how you think. I picked keep your promises for the exact reason you mentioned. [Hello my old friend, The Four Agreements.] I agree that helping people is a good basic idea, too– considering the negative times in which we live, anything that counteracts hate + violence is to be commended.

      Like

    • Elen, a few commenters have made the same argument as you have for why keep calm is the one idea that allows for all the other ideas to happen. I have to say that it makes sense to me, even if I did chose a different idea on the poll. I agree about the laugh out loud, I do that daily, too.

      Liked by 1 person

  31. Oh *nice* poll Ms Bean, way to make a body make tough choices! I chose the “help people” one as being a Life Coach, it’d look bad if I didn’t! 😀 Seriously though, it is what drives me, although I’d probably describe it in broader terms as “making a difference”. The keeping promises option I avoided as, although being yet another of those with a catholic upbringing who does always try to do so, I’ve been struggling with Himself’s view of promises in that he refuses to agree to anything (and yes I mean anything at all), unless he can completely and utterly ensure that he will deliver … which gets tiring sometimes. But the way life has been going for the past few years, the one that fits best is probably KC & CO. I’m a great head-down & keep-at-it kinda girl (well, old lady).

    Liked by 1 person

    • Deb, I did this poll on a whim, knowing that everyone would have a different point of view about which idea was the most important. I think that you’re right– if you didn’t choose help people, we’d wonder about ‘ya. [Well more than we do already. 😉]

      I picked keep your promises, but have come to realize that I might be more of KC & CO person at heart. Heaven knows, I keep on, keeping on most days of the week. 😎

      Liked by 1 person

      • When I was training to be a counsellor, I cleaned up my Facebook feed in case I offended people, but I’m more relaxed now. A friend of mine shared one of my posts saying “see, there are cool coaches”. I preened way more over that comment than any professional testimonial!

        But back to your poll – I did follow the Try New Things option for a year. I said yes to everything (unless it was unsafe and/or im/amoral). I did loads of new stuff & had a blast. I was at a bit of a cross-roads life-wise and it was the perfect antidote to feeling sorry for myself – I’d heartily recommend it.

        Liked by 1 person

        • FB is such a weird place. You can be yourself, but then you have to wonder if yourself is being understood for who you really are. I can see why you tidied things up a bit.

          I find that try new things is a quiet undercurrent in my life. Although for me it’s not necessarily doing new things as much as it’s thinking new thoughts. Or tweaking what I already have going on. New is new. You just have to acknowledge it.

          Liked by 1 person

    • Marcia, made me laugh with that one. You’re so right, if I’m saying that to myself, then you can be sure that I’m trying to do too things all at once. Ain’t it the way?

      Like

Comments are closed.