Samara Heinrichs Prak

It'll seem ironic that as I'm sitting here writing this, it only took three hours of procrastination to get out my laptop. But what is it about time that we so often take it for granted? Ask anyone who's procrastinated (who hasn't?) and I bet the main reason will be that they think it can always do it tomorrow. That's a scary thought though, and quite honestly, a huge disrespect to ourselves. By saying there's always tomorrow allows us to put a price tag on our time. It gives us the opportunity to devalue what our time is worth. For anyone who knows me that's reading this, I straight up admit that I'm always late. I finally found out that it's an actual thing though! A tidsoptimist is a person who's habitually late because they think they have more time than they actually do. The hard part about working with horses is that it is not a 9:00-5:00 kind of job. Horses don't understand that they're supposed to fit into specific blocks of tim...

This may sound a little ridiculous, but I hope you'll bear with me, because I'm going to tell you a story about a llama. My family and I moved out of the city to an acreage when I was in grade five. This was due to the accumulation of horses that were being boarded at several different barns. Naturally, moving to a farm was going to be the cost effective route in that venture (I wouldn't suggest it if I were you). The obvious thing to do when you move to a farm is to become a farmer, so we became shepherds. However, it turns out we were not very good farmers. We learned a lot the hard way. Now, for those of you that don't know much about sheep, there is only one important thing for you to learn. Sheep aren't very bright and they certainly are not capable of protecting themselves from predators. This is where the llama enters the story. Llamas make surprisingly good protectors for sheep. They bond with the lambs and can be quite vicious when predators attack. Bef...

Don't get me wrong. Normal isn't innately a bad word. In fact, normal can be a very good thing. Normal blood pressure; normal temperature; normal readings; normal results. Those are all good things. Everyone knows having normal blood pressure is tantamount to your health. The first definition of the word normal (as given to me by Google): conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected. Here's my problem with normal: normal becomes routine, which opens the door to monotony and to boring. Boring in turn invites complacency, and the dangerous thing is that complacency can easily slide into stagnancy, all before you even notice that you've left routine behind. Stagnancy is characterized by lack of development, advancement or progressive movement (again, as given to me by Google). Stagnant ponds are bacteria's breeding ground. Stagnant friendships quietly fade away to nothing. Stagnant marriages can quickly give way to infidelity or divorce. Here's my po...

I recently finished reading the book called "Daring Greatly" by Brené Brown. For those of you who haven't read it, I highly recommend it. She concludes the book with this quote: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs; who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of the high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...." -Theodore Roosevelt The most difficult mental training a rider must go through is getting past those self-doubts ev...

challenge play  verb    chal·lenge   \ˈcha-lənj\ 6:   to arouse or stimulate especially by presenting with difficulties  she wants a job that will  challenge  her Today marks the beginning of a new month, and, it would seem, a new challenge. I was eating lunch earlier today with one of my best friends. She's been a support system, a cheering section, a wonderful example and a true blessing in my life. And, like best friends should do, she challenged me. Everyone faces challenges. It's just a fact of life. What that looks like to each of us though, is very different. Challenge can look a lot like trying to get out of bed and tie your shoe laces when your body is riddled with arthritis after a long life of labour. Challenge can be your youngest child going to school and standing up to a high school bully that torments them. It can be having the humility to apologize, and ask for forgiveness, when you have wronged someone. I...