Self Care

Photo By: Lisa Fotios

You can't pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first.- Unknown

For the last 6 months, I have struggled with the idea of self-care. My mind and heart were constantly reminding me that I needed to do everything in my power to put my husband, Jaxen, and the home first. The idea of wanting a 5-minute break to just scroll on Instagram seemed selfish to me. Wanting an hour to blog, or work on projects made me feel terrible!

How dare I want time to myself.

I mean I was blessed with this amazing baby boy, home, and husband. Why am I finding myself not wanting to dedicate every second of my day to them? Am I becoming self-absorbed? Maybe I’m being selfish.

These are the thoughts that followed the little nudge to just take some time to relax.

To be completely transparent, I was becoming tired. I felt worn out, and drained. The joyful, peaceful Jo was becoming an old grumpy hag. I found myself being extremely irritable, and just downright unhappy.

What was missing? What was going wrong?

Self Care

Let’s break that down;

Self: a person's essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action.

Care: the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.

So, self-care can be defined as providing what is necessary for the health, welfare, and protection of a person’s essential being.

Moms, dads, future moms, and future dads, practicing self-care is a MUST.

I realized that in order for Jaxen, and Marquise to be happy, and for our home to function, I needed to be in a good space. I mean come on, it’s a well-known fact that your babies can feel your emotions, and react to them.

It was time to kiss the guilt goodbye, and take care of myself. Something as simple as taking a bath for more than five minutes, going to the coffee shop with friends, or even painting my nails, really lifted my spirits.

I realized that I needed to do everything necessary to maintain the health and welfare of my body, mind, and spirit.

& ladies and gentlemen, I am feeling my BEST.

So, I encourage you all to take care of yourselves. It is not selfish to take a minute to breath in, and out. It is actually selfish to carry on through life not taking care of yourself.

How can we be happy and healthy parents, wives, husbands, friends, if we aren’t happy with ourselves? Take some time today to inhale, and exhale.

Join me on my journey to be a better me.

Xx,

Jo

Walk It Out

Hey y'all ! Once again, happy new year! I can't even believe how quickly 2016 came and left. There is something that has been on my heart (since last year haha) and now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is over, let's talk about the P word. 

Purpose. 

After becoming a mom, the idea of living my life to the fullest potential has never left my thoughts, my heart, or my spirit. I have been seeking God like never before, and while it isn't always easy, trying to making time to hear him speak. 

I know for a fact that we all have a purpose embedded in us. Most of us have an idea of what it is that we are meant to be doing in life. 

These ideas may be pounding at the doors of our hearts, or may just resurface here and there. No matter what way they come to you, please, please, please don't ignore them.

At this point I'm convinced that with every dream, idea, or calling fear is waiting right around the corner, and who walks hand and hand with fear? Mr. Excuse.

Way too often we let our fear of failure, and excuses enslave our purpose. While on this journey to discover my purpose and walk it out, I began reading Jeremiah. This scripture could not have come at a better time, and I've been meditating on it for the last few days. 

“Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations— that’s what I had in mind for you.””

Jeremiah 1:5 MSG

Now this scripture is one that I have read over 100 times, but it never meant as much to me as it does now. We can find courage in knowing that although some of us are still searching for our purpose, God already set us apart, for the exact calling that is over us. 

Appointed: Decided before hand; designated

Come on now! Before we were born; God decided beforehand that we were called to do more than just live an ordinary life. 

I know you're probably thinking "Who me?" And to be completely honest, so was I! We aren't the only ones, let's look at how Jeremiah responds.

“But I said, “Hold it, Master GOD! Look at me. I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!””

Jeremiah 1:6 MSG

Haha. I literally laughed out loud when I read this, because that was my exact response. 

When God reveals your purpose to you, it's normal, human to say "Who me? I'm just Jenny from the block" or "Uh you have to be kidding me I'm 50 years old!" I think that sometimes we can beat ourselves up for not living a life of certainty regarding every single situation. I'm glad that this story was recorded to show that reassurance from God is right around the corner from doubt; doubt that is completely normal to have.

“GOD told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’ I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there. I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it. Don’t be afraid of a soul. I’ll be right there, looking after you.” GOD ’s Decree.”

Jeremiah 1:7-8 MSG

Man, God always shuts it DOWN! Let's do a little exercise. Whatever doubts that you have about your purpose, or whatever fears you may have about even digging to see what your purpose is, let's replace that with Jeremiah's response "I'm only a boy." 

Here's mine, don't laugh I'm being vulnerable here:

"God told me, don't say I'm only Jo. A woman still working on a college degree after all these years. A woman who came from a broken home. A woman who hasn't mastered proper English 101. A woman that feels like her blog probably isn't reaching many people." My list can go on and on. 

Let's agree to stop speaking, thinking and focusing on negative things. When we find our purpose, or for those of you who already know what their purpose is, God will tell us where to go, and what to say. We shouldn't be afraid of a soul. Not even our own. He is and always will be with us. 

Trust me I don't have it all figured out, but focusing on this scripture sure is helping. On this journey that we are all on, finding and living out all that is in store for us, I'm praying that we will stop letting our fears stop us from exploring all that we are destined to be.

xx,

Jo

Breaking All The Rules

"I'm convinced that the tradition of setting New Year goals was only created to remind us of how inconsistent we all are. Now where is the fun in that? " -Jo M. 

It's that time of year again for, let's say it together " New Year, New Me."  Now I'm not going to sit here and pretend that this slogan has not left my lips the last few years. As the year comes to an end most of us can attest to the fact that the pressure to set new goals for ourselves is breathing down our backs. Goals that can only be "achieved" on January 1st and any day after that. 

It's time to end this terrible tradition. Out with that old, and in with new. 

This year I am not making a silly resolution that I won't even be striving to keep by March. If I didn't work out faithfully in 2016, a new year won't change that. If I didn't save ten million dollars, eat less burgers, and gain a six pack in 2016, the new year won't change that either. 

Why do we put these expectations on ourselves? Sitting and waiting for January first to do everything that we could've been doing anyway? I'm taking on improving my life and lifestyle one day at a time!

The secret to mastering the goals that you have set for yourself is to take baby steps and remain

consistent. Let's say you want to lose weight, instead of waiting until the New Year and starving yourself by replacing every meal with a salad, start slowly today! 

Instead of waiting until the new year and depriving yourself of that handbag or cologne you've been dying to purchase, start small today. Open a savings account, and put away $20 a check and watch that account grow! 

Starting small instead of going cold turkey to honor the New Year tradition is a game changer folks.

I'm changing the game. 

A personal goal of mine is living fearless! I want to take more risk, and trust that if I fail or succeed God will use my victory, or loss for his and my good. Instead of me hawking over the calendar waiting to become this fierce daredevil, I've been taking steps for the last few months to achieve my goal. 

I am no longer pressuring myself to come up with a New Year resolution, just because it's a "tradition." I'm taking my life goals and setting them NOW! 

So, let's say GOODBYE to that useless pressure and short lived excitement, and let's be all that we can be starting today! 

If you dare to be a rule breaker, join me on this new wave. I would love to hear some of your RIGHT NOW resolutions in the comments below. 

xx, 

Jo