Aviva Community Fund, Round 2!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Aviva Community Fund for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Last month, I shared with you about the first round of voting for  Aviva Community Fund.  You can find that post here:  http://getfitorganizedhealthy.blogspot.ca/2012/10/aviva-community-fund.html.  Now it's time for the second round.

The Aviva Community Fund is an annual charitable activation funded and supported by Aviva Insurance.  The goal is to provide funding to create positive change in communities across Canada.   Anyone can submit an idea that they think would create positive change in their community and have people vote for their idea.  The top ideas from each round go on to the semi-finals.  I like ideas that sound small but can make a huge impact on a community like community gardens to bring people together and help to feed the community, or new playgrounds that allow children to play outdoors.  

There are many wonderful ideas out there and you can help to choose those that will receive a share of the fund.  Anyone in Canada who registers on the page can vote and have their voice heard.  Now it's even easier to vote through Facebook Connect when you Like Aviva Community Fund.  You get 15 votes per round.  You can vote any time during the round, but you can only vote for each idea once per day.  Make your votes count!  You have the opportunity to support home-grown initiative that can bring positive changes to your community or communities like yours.  

Be sure to Follow @Aviva for the latest updates and more information. 

Time for an Update

It's been awhile since I've shared with you. Life is starting to settle down a bit. I feel a lot better since I've been off of the anti-depressants. I was talking with my daughter about it today and told her that I'm still working hard to be better. She asked me if I had any brain zaps lately, and I was able to assure her that I hadn't. Since she's 10, she understands more of what is going on than my 6 year old does. It's not easy when you have to tell your child that you have depression and you don't mean to be snarky and feel lousy all the time. She told me that I yell a lot less than I used to. I think that is a good thing, right?

I have to say that most days, I don't feel depressed. I have my moments, of course, and I probably always will, but I don't feel miserable. I still get surprised by moments of happiness when I truly feel happy. They are becoming more frequent and less of a surprise than they were at first. Now that the depression seems better, I notice that my anxiety creeps up a little faster than it did when I was medicated. Sometimes I wake up with a feeling of dread about the day and when I'm able to realize that it is anxiety, I'm able to distance myself from it a bit and I've started to pray about it. That was something I had trouble doing when I was on the medication.

Something that has helped me recently is the Upwords Campaign from Thomas Nelson. They have been sharing inspirational scripture every day during the US election campaign and it's been a great blessing to me. I am not American, but I found all the election talk was stressful to me and I eventually tuned it out. This video shows some of the uplifting photos and scriptures that were sent out through this campaign. The one that really made an impression on me was on October 29.  You can see it below.

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 I'm getting there, slowly but surely. I won't give up and I'm not going back.