Blog | - Part 5

May 12, 2019May 12, 2019

Create Your Life

Did you know that you are an artist? We are all artists. I am not talking about the kind of art that you use a literal medium to generate (paint, metal, fabric, canvas, etc.). I am talking about your imagination. I am talking about your desires and dreams. I am talking about YOU creating YOUR life the way that you want it to be.

As I sit on my back deck, looking at the blue sky and all of the green popping up around me, I reflect on the simple beauty of the world. I yearn for peace and solitude. I yearn for happiness and joy. I not only want this in my life, but I want it for everyone! I am truly blessed that I have all of those things in my life now. But, it wasn’t always that way for me. Many years ago, I struggled with where I was headed and what I wanted my life to look like. I was coasting, staying stagnate. I would constantly try and reinvent myself when things got tedious, but never really landing on any one thing. I didn’t understand that I could CHOOSE where I was headed and what I wanted my life to look like, or even how I would go about getting there. And…I was afraid. But then something happened…

I had an awakening through tons of self discovery. I had to let go of the fear of what I would find buried deep down inside. I had to learn all about the blank canvas we call life and how to add what I wanted to that canvas to create the beautiful piece of art that is now the life I have. I have also learned that I can change or even re-create that piece of art if I want to change direction and I would be just fine. It’s my art. It’s my life. It’s my choice.

I now find life inspiring and beautiful. I pick little pieces from each day and add it to my piece of art, my canvas. Some days it is harder than others and on those days, my art tends to wander to the darker side, but I don’t let it stay dark. I always look for the brightness, the color, and the beauty. We have this inside all of us. I work on my art every day and I am encouraging you to do the same. I am, and will always be a work in progress. I am o.k. with that because I know I have the creativity and the drive to be everything I want to be.

So now I ask you…are you ready to take that blank canvas and create something beautiful? I know you can! Get out that virtual (or actual) pencil, notebook, canvas, paint, pens, marker, or whatever you want to use to start your beautiful piece of art. Dig deep down inside. Tap into that imagination and endless stream of possibility. Bring it all to the surface and join me in creating the peace, solitude, happiness, and joy we all deserve and can create for ourselves!

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019

Welcoming Change

Change is necessary. Change can be scary. Many of us fear change. I know this because I used to fear change for a long time and still do from time to time. The fear comes from the unknown and uncertainty of what is to come. Change often occurs because of an event that has happened or something that needs to be different. There are many different types of change. In the end…change is inevitable. We need change. We need change in order to grow, to improve, and to move past certain behaviors and feelings.

I have gone through many changes over the past 12 months. Some of the changes were out of my control. Some were made because of choices I had to make. Some of my changes were my best-friend moved to far away to another state, my husband and I purchased our first home together in the country, my sister and nephew moved to another state, my self-work of coming to terms with my spirit, and many other little changes in between.

A very significant recent change I have made is leaving my job. I am sharing this with you because I know many of you have been and probably are in a similar situation. I worked for an amazing company, but it is was time for me to leave. I was slowly losing “me” in my work. Sacrificing way too many hours trying to make it all work. I was starting to have serious anxiety and depression, which presented itself as anger, illness, and frustration. Having been here many times before, I promised myself long ago that I would never let myself get to this point again. The culture, the people, and the overall company were amazing so why in the world did I feel the need to make the change? First of all, I have been doing a ton of work on myself over the past 6 months. I have been doing some serious soul searching about my life and where I want to be. I can honestly say, I am firm in my discovery that I was meant for something greater than being a staff accountant and in order to realize my destiny, I needed to free up “my” time so that I could focus on the things that were important. I still need to work a job, but I need job that allows me to come in, do my best, feel good about what I have contributed, and leave the work at work where it belongs. I had lost “my” time and part of that was this blog. The other being my coaching practice, which I am in the process of rebuilding. I was meant to help others and now was the time to make the transition, even though I wasn’t ready in my mind, my spirit was SO ready. I quit my job without having another one, which was very scary, but I embraced the fear, and searched until I landed another position which will be exactly what I need and will allow me to have “my” time to continue my work in helping others. I am not in a position yet to leave the world of accounting, but I know that I am where I need to be right now.

Leaving my job is the perfect example of a change that needed to happen. From the outside, it appeared perfect, but from the inside, I was slowly withering away. Instead of crumbling and falling into the darkness that was quickly overtaking me, I decided to make the change. I decided to take control of the outcome and embrace what needed to happen.

Choosing to make change is a little easier to stomach in the end than change that is not welcomed or is unforeseen. Sometimes, making the decision to make the change is every bit as difficult as the actual change. This was the case for me when I decided to make my exit. I needed to make the change NOW so that I could begin the transition process and make room for all of the new possibilities to flood in. So, how did I get to the place where I could actually embrace this change? I dug deep. I weighed my outcome. I knew that I could stay, but I would have just been miserable, and in turn, unintentionally making those miserable around me. I was already suffering from depression and anxiety which, in turn, made it next to impossible to find the energy to do what I loved in the small amount of time I had in between work hours. I wrote in my journal, I meditated, and I tapped into my daily affirmations. I visualized what I needed as if I already had it. I was sad to leave the people who were truly family and I was afraid of where I would go next, but I knew I was headed in the right direction. I didn’t allow my fear of change to take over. I also had the support I needed. Support from friends and family. Support from my co-workers and boss. Support from a loving husband who believed in me.

In the end, I am right where I need to be. I am taking the next step in my journey of life. I am happy with my choices. I am excited for new things to come. I am excited to have the time to start building my practice again and helping others. This would not be the case if I hadn’t embraced the change that I needed to make.

April 18, 2019April 18, 2019

Joy and Happiness

Joy is defined as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Happiness is defined as the state of being happy. Happy, feeling or showing pleasure or contentment. Based on the definitions, joy and happiness go hand-in-hand.

Now, I ask you, are you creating joy and happiness in your life every day? If not, why? Everyone deserves to be happy. Everyone deserves to feel joy. Feelings of joy and happiness are contributors to feelings of elation. If you have never had the feeling of elation, you are really missing out. But let’s stick with the basics.

There is nothing in this world as amazing as hearing a baby laugh. The innocence and pure joy they are releasing can make the gloomiest of people stop and smile. A baby’s laugh is contagious. A baby’s laugh is pure. The best part is we all have this within us. We were BORN with it. We just seem to have pushed it down so deep that as we grow older, all of the noise and emotions from our life experiences make it difficult to find. We have allowed the negativity of that noise and self talk take over. I am here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be this way!

We can all find our joy and happiness. We just have to CHOOSE to create the joy and happiness we desire. It’s up to us, nobody else. It only takes one step. One thought. One action. For me, sitting on my back porch watching all of the new life around me brings me so much joy. Watching the sun come up and set each day brings me joy. Helping other people create the life they live and love the life they create brings me joy. So, I challenge you…what is one thing that makes you feel joy and happiness? Now tap into that feeling. It doesn’t have to be huge and elaborate. In fact, I find the smallest, simplest things, such as a baby laughing, brings me joy and happiness. When I am resonating in a constant state of joy and happiness, I feel elated.

If you are blessed to have a baby in your world, tap into that baby. If you don’t have ready access to these wonderful, little humans, YouTube a video of a baby laughing! Listen and experience the innocence and the pure joy and happiness that is emitted. Let yourself join in! You deserve it. We all deserve it!

March 3, 2019March 3, 2019

Self Care

Have you ever been going so hard and fast that you get to the point where you just want to shut down and curl up into a ball and pretend the world didn’t exist? Do you want to go to that yoga class or start eating healthy but there is just no TIME? Do you want to take a vacation but just can’t seem to unplug completely from the world, your job, your life?

If you are like me, this sounds all too familiar. I am guilty of letting my time be consumed by everything other than what is truly important. Taking care of ME! My lack of self care has manifested in so many ways. Illness, stress, depression, anxiety, and down right feelings of lack of control of my life and a lack of progress in manifesting my desires. It has to stop!

I have workaholic tendencies and fall too easily into believing that if I am not constantly working, I am not making progress. I also have the tendency to put everything in front of what I need. I am a caretaker, I am a people pleaser, and I am always looking for the distraction to not focus on what I need. That is, until this year. I made a promise to myself (NOT a resolution) to make more time for me. It has been very difficult to make these changes, but has been so rewarding. It has only been a couple of months, but I can already feel and see the shift happening. I know deep down inside that I cannot be the best version of myself until I make time for myself and just do ME!

Selfish? Maybe. But it has been a long road and I got to the point that I just could not give anymore. My mental and physical well being was in serious jeopardy. Some of the challenges I am and have faced are having to step back from everything. I am definitely getting push back in some of these areas, but I know it will be temporary. However, this all causes me great anxiety because I know where I need and want to be, but am trying to move mountains to find a way to get there. I have a ton of emotions and feelings coming up that I am having to work through, and I am ok with it. I know it is only helping me grow and be the best version of myself. I get overwhelmed at times and that is ok too. It gives me a chance to step back, take a breath, and start over.

So…what am I doing for self care? First and foremost, I am SLOWING DOWN! Running a million miles an hour at everything all at once only causes more stress and anxiety. I am taking everything one day at a time. Stopping to rest and “smelling the roses”. I take every opportunity to enjoy the views around me and the time I spend with those I love. Yep, some days that means just sitting and vegging out on tv, the sky, a book, or whatever I feel at the moment. I am also getting back to my yoga practice and adding more days during the week for my Tai Chi practice. I have an hour commute each way to and from work so I use that time as my rolling classroom. I listen to all of my favorite audio books by my favorite authors, coaches, and speakers. I tap into podcasts and online trainings from everyone in my business organization. I practice my daily affirmations and visualization exercises.

Is it working? Heck yes! I am getting stronger and more confident. I am finally ok with telling people “no” when the ask doesn’t serve me or I just can’t make it happen. The most difficult part is saying “no” without the guilt, but I am there…most of the time.

A great analogy that was recently shared with me: you have a pitcher of water and several glasses to fill. You pour all of the water into the half of the glasses but your pitcher has run out. The next step…fill the pitcher again and fill the remaining glasses. YOU are the pitcher! When you are empty, there is nothing more to give. Take the time to fill up your pitcher! What are you going to do today to practice self care?

February 22, 2019February 22, 2019

Having a bad day?

So, you are having a bad day. It started first thing in the morning when you overslept and were late getting out the door and you HAD to be in the office by 8am. You spilled your coffee and had to change. You got in the car and started driving…straight into a traffic jam. You were TRYING to be calm and patient, but it seemed that the Universe was throwing everything it had at you. And then…you spilled your coffee AGAIN! You thought you may as well turn around, go back home, and write this day off as a loss. But you were stuck in that traffic jam with nowhere to go but straight to the office. You couldn’t help but wonder if you were being punished for something.

You FINALLY made it to the office, 20 minutes late for your meeting and frazzled by the morning’s events. You are just settling in, and the meeting ends, earlier than anticipated, so you missed the entire thing! You make it to your desk, open your email and find that your boss had emailed you several times with items that you made errors on and they need to be fixed ASAP. (Why is he constantly picking on me?) Your phone rings, more problems. (Why is this happening today?) Your office manager comes to chat, more problems. (Can’t someone else handle this?) And then you realize, you forgot your lunch. UGH!!!!

I am sure everyone can identify with some version of a bad day. But what makes a day “bad”? Well, for one, your mindset. It’s easy when things don’t go as planned and to play the victim. It’s difficult to look at the situation and say, “what have I done to cause this?” or “what is the universe (insert your version of divine energy) trying to tell me?”

With this example, the very first instance of oversleeping was just the beginning. Our first reaction is to fly out of bed and run around trying to get ready quickly. The reality is, you are just causing yourself more anxiety about being late and causing other things to unfold. Here is a thought: acknowledge the time, and then tell yourself I am good! I have plenty of time to get where I need to be. And if I am a few minutes late, no big deal! You make the appropriate calls/texts to alert others that you are running behind and then carry on with getting ready…in a calm manner. I bet the remaining events happen very differently or don’t happen at all. Maybe, they push the meeting by half an hour. Maybe, you are walking out of the door calmly and the traffic jam is only a 2 minute slow down to get around a stalled vehicle. Maybe you are in the car listening to your favorites songs and you just don’t care. You are grateful be where you are.

Your mindset has everything to do with what happens to you. You can’t control anything, but you can control how you react. You may still have the bad day, but you can dictate how bad it really is by changing your energy and thoughts around it. It may seem far-fetched for those who are not as versed in this mindful thought process, but I recommend you try it. Then, throw a little gratitude in there and see what happens!

February 10, 2019February 10, 2019

Let’s Talk Money 2

In my previous post, I mentioned “why” I desire more money in my life. I feel like I need to give you a bit of history as to how my “why” came to be. It starts back to when I was young. Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of money. In fact, we were poor. My mother and her beliefs around money inhibited any money coming her way, which, in turn, inhibited it coming my way. When my parents divorced, my brother and I lived full time with our mother, seeing our dad every other weekend. There was a constant battle about her needing the “child support right now” and making me call my dad for it (back then there wasn’t an organized agency that took care of all of that stuff). This was my first real experience with not having money and the difficulty that surrounded getting it.

February 10, 2019February 10, 2019

Let’s Talk Money

I have been doing a TON of personal work around money, so I will be spending a few posts around this topic. I (like many of you) desire more money, but part of my work is defining “why”. The process has not been easy because it taps into the personal relationship I have with money, which starts way back to when I was very young. It starts with how I was educated and the stories I was told about money, which later became deep rooted beliefs. My parents divorced when I was five, so I had two COMPLETELY different exposures to money, although, I was with my mom full time until the middle of 8th grade, so her relationship with money impacted me the most.

January 22, 2019February 10, 2019

Welcome!

I am so excited to finally be able to share with all of you! Writing has always been a passion of mine. Helping people another one. I have discovered that blogging is the best way for me to tap into both passions at the same time. I believe that everyone deserves to live their best life and I want to use this blog to inspire and encourage you to do just that. Enjoy and please share with EVERYONE!