Eternal Optimist: 5 Things About Me

Hello, I’m an eternal optimist! I think this is how I will start all of my introductions from now on. Today I want to introduce myself to all of you. Tell you all a bit about who I am through a personal question-and-answer session here.

In turn, I would love to get to know you all better! This is a great opportunity we have right now to slow down and get to know each other better. To be in the present moment, to be still for a while.

Note: This biography about me was written in the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, so I included some updates about me at the end of this essay.

Here are 5 questions and answers all about me, the eternal optimist.

What were your growing-up years like?

I grew up out in the country on 20 acres of land in Redland, Oregon. My parents bought the land out there in the 70s when it was very inexpensive to buy land.

Most of the land was forest, but there was also our large house which my parents built largely on their own. Later on, there was a woodworking shop where my dad worked daily.

We also had an amazing fruit orchard and vegetable garden in the front yard. Although now I live in the suburbs and love being close to everything, I think it was wonderful to live out in the country where I could roam around each day and play, pretend, and explore.

Do you ever get upset or angry?

Yes, I do. I am someone who is very sensitive to the feelings of others and to the energy around me. I really feel everything very closely. The emotion that comes up most often for me is a kind of loneliness or sadness if I haven’t had enough time with people outside of my house having deep conversations.

I have found that it is deeply important for me to be connected to people. In my human design reading, as a generator, I was told I need a large variety of people. This is true! I love talking to all kinds of people. I want to find out all about them, and how I might help them and I love to give people hope and joy.

I rarely get angry, it has happened on occasion, and I try my best to let it out in a constructive way. One of the ways is to do some writing, and then burn the writing. That has been the best way for me.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I would say I am kind of a combination of both. I absolutely love to have conversations with all kinds of people. I love to host parties and go to events as I can (although right now they are all virtual parties).

However, I find that I do best with one-to-one conversations or small groups of people. I am an observer and love to take in what others are saying before I jump into the conversation. I do need some quiet, downtime to do my own thing at times of the day.

I do gain energy from people, but I also have to protect my energy from time to time. Because of that, right now I am trying to schedule lots of one-on-one conversations on Zoom with friends and people I’d like to connect with more. This is how I do my best.

How do you remain so positive?

I am often told that people love my smile. It is true that I smile a lot. I truly do feel happy, fortunate, and abundant most of the time. I do feel a deep connection to the earth and to positive energy. I choose to focus on all of the good things happening in life, and so more of those things come to me.

It doesn’t mean I don’t experience difficult times like everyone else, but I tend to process those and then let them go quickly. I honestly don’t watch or read the news very often. I find it is best to be at work at creating a reality that is positive for all of us, and for that, I don’t need an outside source to tell me how things are. That doesn’t mean I am oblivious to the difficult circumstances we are in right now, I just choose to do things that I feel will help the situation.

The best thing I can do is find positive things that I can focus on each day, and find positive things to share with others to uplift them. I had some really difficult days when the quarantine first started. I stopped, felt those emotions, and sat in them. Then, I decided that I do have a choice to create the reality that I live in and the reality that I can share with others. That is how I have chosen to view things.

What do you love to do?

I love to do so many things. I consider myself a person who rarely gets bored. I love to be creative with whatever I have in my life. I absolutely love to write. I have loved to write all of my life. It is how I best express myself. I find that I can write how I feel much more easily than explaining it in spoken words.

In school, I loved to write poetry. In college, I loved to write essays. I love to write and create word art with my calligraphy pen. This is my creative expression and my way of sharing with the world.

I also love to work in my garden. For a while when I was focused on my baking/cooking businesses I didn’t take as much time to work in my garden.

Now that my focus is different I love to go out there daily, do some weeding, trimming, and take care of my plants. This year I finally decided to grow some vegetables along with the many perennial flowers and shrubs we have in our garden.

It brings me great joy to see the plants thriving and doing well. The earth is taking a much-needed rest during this time and the joy of the plants is very apparent.

I love to declutter, organize, and clean my home. That is my current profession*** as a professional organizer. I love to help others in their homes. I can help them create comfort and harmony in their homes which also spills out into other areas of their lives. This is the beautiful ripple effect I love to see with my clients.

I’d love to know more about you too! I feel that when we share our true heart with others, we get so much in return. Thank you so much for reading!

With lots of love,

Trista

September 2023 Update:

• **I wrote this biography back in 2020. I am currently a pastry chef in a local tea house. I work Thursdays-Sundays creating scones and desserts for the tea house as well as brewing tea and helping our guests.
• Mondays-Wednesdays I love to write on Medium, create tea & food pairing videos for my Youtube channel Zero Casualteas, create new baked goods for my baking business Tempteations Treat Box, and take care of our home.