Today’s daily stumble deals with an issue close to my heart.

You may or may not be surprised to know that I’m a pretty shy person. For me, social interaction can be quite challenging at times, not to mention frustrating.

I’m still a work in progress but the tips here are good and I use quite a few. I believe that my shyness is all about a lack of confidence. In the work place I have no trouble at all dealing with and working alongside people, however when I am out and about in social settings I can really struggle. I’m certainly much better than I used to be but it’s something you have to acknowledge and continue to work on.

Although my shyness is not really debilitating, it can be embarrassing and the feeling of anxiousness is not a pleasant one. So I’m really pleased to share the following stumble with you all.

Check out: 20 Ways to Attack Shyness over at Think Simple Now

A quick video to watch today guys.

Sarah and Katrina from diet.com reveal their secrets to staying in shape and what they do to work out.

Today’s daily stumble is an interesting one.

Have you ever wondered what 200 calories looks like between different foods? Well, this post has pictures of various foods that are 200 calories and it’s quite fascinating to see differences.

Check out: What Does 200 Calories Look Like?

Today we had the very unfortunate news that a work colleague lost her husband to cancer.

The absolute tragedy is that apart from being 48 years old, he had chosen to ignore the many signs leading up to his diagnosis. It wasn’t that he was unaware of his health issues but that he simply put it in the back of his mind and went on denying he had a potential problem.

The very sad reality is, had he seen a doctor when his symptoms first appeared, he may have been able to receive treatment that at the very least extended his life and at the very most, put him in remission.
He was a father to a 13 year old daughter and I am so very sad for her today.

His wife was initially angry with her husband. She had repeatedly told him to seek medical advice but he was insistent that it was nothing to worry about.
The tragedy is that he has left a wife behind who is now dealing with guilt and anger for not pushing him to see a doctor and a young woman devistated that her Dad is not with her today.

I know that for many men it is simply easier to try and ignore their health but please, take it seriously. You are Husbands, Dads, Sons and Brothers and the void you leave behind is often unbearable for your loved ones.

It is ironic that most men take the responsibility of being a parent seriously. They work hard to provide happy childhoods for their children and provide them with everything they can. Yet, so many don’t take responsibility of their health when in-fact, it’s the most important thing they should be doing.

Take care of yourself and see a doctor regularly and especially if you know or suspect there might be an issue with your health.

Today’s daily stumble lists 5 health calculators you probably don’t use but should. I would like to point out that calculators are great if you use them as a guide only. You should always check with a health professional if you have any concerns regarding your health.

The calculators listed are pretty good and include a body fat calculator, estimated calorie requirements and a healthy body calculator so head on over to 5 Health Calculators You Don’t Use, But Should and check them out.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about finding your purpose in life.

I talked about coming to the realization that maybe we don’t really have any purpose in life, other than to be happy and really live life.

I must say that ever since I found this piece of gold, many of the irritations I had in my life have really been put into perspective.
I have pretty much let most of that baggage go and it feels really great. I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life but many of the things I would like to achieve are starting to take shape.

One part of trying to achieve some of these news goals involve taking risk. That is something that really scares me. One thing I really want to do is quit work and focus my attention on photography. I absolutely adore photography. I have much to learn and have no idea if I can ever earn a living off it but it’s my one real passion.

If I think about what I really want or more precisely what I dream of, it is spending my days finding subjects to photograph and for people to actually want to buy my work.

At the moment, it’s hard to even consider the idea of not having a regular income. It scares me. Having that safety blanket is comforting even though I really don’t enjoy my job. It makes me feel miserable at times which isn’t good. We all know how bad stress can be on your health!

What keeps me working is the thought that if I quit work and my dreams don’t become a reality that I’ll be even more stressed.

I don’t have the answers yet, it’s still very much a journey for me.

Of course, I am not alone. I speak quite often with some really fantastic people I’ve met on my blog who are in exactly the same boat.

Some believe that you need to push yourself by quitting your job and pretty much forcing yourself to do it. The thinking being that having to put food on the table is a strong motivating factor! Others like the idea of planning out your goals and establishing actions along the way to help you realize them.

Even though I love the idea of just throwing caution to the wind and just doing it, I’m going to try planning it out.
My first steps have been to write down what I want in my life and take some initial actions to make them a reality. It feels good, it really does. I have a long way to go but hopefully in a few years I will realize my dream and finally do what I really want with my life.

I have no doubt that taking risks big or small are important in helping shape who you are. I believe risk is worth it.

Today’s daily Stumble is a little odd. I am not too sure how this relates to health but it’s what came up when I hit the stumble button.

It should be amusing for the girls to read though ;)

41 ways to melt a woman`s heart

There are quite a few funny tips in here. It’s hard to pick a favorite but I especially liked tips 8 - Kiss her eyelids and 13 - Occasionally call her by her first and middle names.

My middle name is Doreen and I can tell you right now that anyone calling me that is definitely not going to melt my heart ;)

If you haven’t heard of it before, StumbleUpon is an application that helps you discover and share great websites.
You can set up categories you are interested in so when people Stumble and rate a site, you see only sites that are of interest to you.

Some rated sites are quite frankly terrible but most times it’s pretty brilliant. If you haven’t signed up then get on over to StumbleUpon.com and register. It’s easy and I’m sure you will enjoy it. Be sure to add me as a friend and Stumble any of my posts that you enjoy :)

This might be a complete disaster but I am going to share one daily Stumble with you. It will be from my health or nutrition category so hopefully the sites I list are great. I’m not going to pick and choose, it will be the first Stumble that comes up. So it might be good OR really, really bad. It should be fun, I hope!

So, on to the very first daily Stumble. I hit the button, put my hand over my eyes and peeked through. Thankfully, it was a great one to start with..yay!

And the winner is

The Beat Post. The post is all about the humble banana. After reading this post I know now that banana’s aren’t so humble. They pack a mighty punch, health wise that is.
The post is really good, head on over and read it.

That wasn’t so painful. Check back in tomorrow for our next random Stumble.

New research has found that teenagers aged 13 to 16 who slept less than 6½ hours a night were up to three times more likely to have elevated blood pressure.

The study looked at the sleeping patterns of 238 teenagers and found that the duration of sleep directly affected blood pressure.

It appears that technology may play a role in sleep deprived teenagers with many texting, chatting online and listening to music all hours of the night.

I’ve heard that some kids have their tv’s on all night, this can’t be good for them. It’s so important that you encourage them to switch off their gadgets and get a good nights sleep. 9 hours is the recommended time.

It’s good to try and get your kids into a normal sleeping routine and their bedrooms should be quiet and dark. The dark part shouldn’t be too difficult, they seem to love living in dens!

Given all the technology we have in our homes now, it’s not hard to understand why so many teens are struggling to get the rest they need.

Elevated blood pressure can lead to a variety of serious medical conditions including heart disease, strokes and kidney damage.

This video is an intermediate level Pilates core workout and will take you roughly 5 minutes to complete.