July 18: Thankful Thursday 🙏

I am thankful, despite all appearances to the contrary, of this whole uprooted expat-SAHM experience.

I used to be wound up so tightly, wearing my type-A + perfectionist personality like a badge of honor. I did not have the capacity to be interested in people, or to be interested in life, for that matter. What’s worse is that I wasn’t even aware of it.

I was always just busy and preoccupied with wowing the bosses at work. Now I notice the small things like, how beautiful fresh morning air smells or how good my eldest is at dancing, or when my baby is getting angry or when my husband does the dishes  ….

And I just feel grateful a lot more often.

I might virtually be kicking, screaming and throwing things all over the place throughout this whole experience, and yet I know without an iota of doubt that I will never – among many other things – take friends for granted again.

I learned how to cook (IK,R?!!), crochet, knit and blog and am ready to welcome new skills into my life. I am now an exerciser. I am taking care of my 1 y.o. without the help of a nanny and, my house is proof of this, I am no longer such a perfectionist 😁

I just know that I have become a better version of myself. And for this, I am thankful ❤

July 17: Wisdom Wednesday

Good morning beautiful people! 🙂

Rise and gift the world with your amazingness! ☀️ ✨

So today I am going to share 7 of my favorite quotes from the book “Someday is Not a Day of the Week” by Sam Horn.

I really love this book, and I enjoyed reading it because it speaks to my current “golden cage” situation. I love that it has a bias for action and that it nudges you to do something that will make your heart beat faster, now.

~ ~ oOo ~ ~

1. The mark of a successful organization (I swapped this for “person”) isn’t whether it has problems, it’s whether it has the same problems it had last year.
2. The question you should be asking isn’t “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”.
3. Clutter is simply delayed decisions.
4. Anxiety is a sign you’re confronting the potential of your own development. Do what makes you anxious, not what makes you depressed.
5. When we focus on what we don’t want, that’s what we’re going to get.
6. Instead of allowing that to define and defeat her [or me/you], she did one thing differently to improve the quality of her life.
7. One way to hack fears is to realize they don’t prevent things from going wrong, they prevent things from going right.

~ ~ oOo ~ ~

This book is full of encouragement & motivation on every page but perhaps my favorite line is: “What is one thing you can do this week to improve your situation?“.

So often I focus on the cage and what’s outside that cage to the exclusion of the space within. This book encourages the reader to do something (and there is always something!) that makes your heart sing – this week! I ❤ that there’s a timeframe to it because it forces our brains to focus on an action item that we can do asap.  Often, a small act of improvement is enough to create a ripple-effect of positivity in our lives.

Here’s something that I’d like to leave you guys with, I hope it blesses you as much as it did me 🙂

 

Seize the day!  ❤ ❤

The Photographers Probably Knew It All Along

found on

 

Odd-Photo Prompt #2: Self-Help

Sometimes, a group of words can come at such the right moment that I just have to take a screenshot of it for repeat reading throughout the day.

I don’t have a lot of these but since the words aren’t as powerful to me anymore, this is another one for deletion from my iPhone’s treasury of odd photos (and screenshots).

But before that, maybe some of you might like it too so here it is:

Pebble of Wisdom

Pebble of Wisdom from Max Lucado

Just Some Quick Reminders

The quality of our life comes down to the
quality of the people and experiences that fill it.

~ Scott Dinsmore

 

1. Take action.
2. Show up.
3. Lean into it.
4. Start anywhere.
5. Keep busy.
6. Get out more.
7. Ask for help.
8. Shake more hands.
9. Give more hugs.
10. Don’t stop.
~ Message from The Universe

 

Your prison is a product of your own creation.

~ Dumb Little Man

 

God loves me.
This too will pass.
Be grateful—if not for all things then in all things.
Do the next right thing.
Don’t push myself too hard.
Get plenty of rest.
Prayer matters.
  ~ Michael Hyatt