I have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. I gave the first 4 years of my adult life earning that degree. Nowhere in my nursing education did I learn how to run a business! That training has all come since then through various courses, books, podcasts, and trial and error. One big concept for all business owners is to know which activities provide the best profit or return of investment. If you own a retail store, you’re likely not going to be selling winter coats when it’s 100 degrees outside. If you make jewelry, you’re likely not going to be making seashell jewelry if you live in the midwest. If you need a storefront, you’re likely not going to rent one for twice your average revenue. You don’t have to have a business degree to see the sense in this approach. 

Now, instead of revenue in your business, look at time in your life. What activities provide the best outcome for your time? Time is a resource we never get back. We never get this...

Sometimes it’s refreshing to not have any plans. To have a whole day open for whatever comes your way! However… it’s very hard to live every day like that. Most of us are driven by deadlines, points of necessity, and feelings of accomplishment. That is why we make to-do lists and schedules. Most of us get more done if we know what we are doing. As a general rule of thumb we do well with listing tasks for work, or getting the kids ready for the day, and maybe even our own daily routines as far as normal housework goes. But how are you doing on the road to your own wellness? Do you have a plan and goals for feeling better, more at peace, or less exhausted? Do you have any direction for having more positive relationships or a deeper connection with your partner? 

Here’s the funny thing about life. We get so caught up in helping everyone else achieve their goals that we forget about achieving our own. We forget to even set our own personal goals. I...

Does your conversation go like this, when you run into that acquaintance at the grocery store? 

“Hey! How are you? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m good, busy but good. See ya later!” 

Busy, but good. How many times do we repeat some version of that throughout the day? How many times do you think to yourself, “if I only had time…” How often do you get to the end of the day only to realize it flew by and you’re not even sure what you got accomplished? 

We have glorified busy. To be an overachiever is the best way to feel accomplished. To be so busy you can’t enjoy life is the only way to live. To have every day on your calendar full must mean that you are successful and well-liked. Right? Yeah… I thought that sounded a little crazy too. But, somehow that is the lifestyle we have fallen accustomed to. That is the standard we have set for ourselves. My dear girl, it...

Who would you be if you weren’t burnt out and tired and exhausted all the time? If you had the energy to get on the floor and play with your kids? What would it look like if you weren’t exhausted? Or if the smallest thing didn’t set you off? If you had the energy and the desire to interact with your partner for more than just the, “how was your day?” “good, how was yours?” type of small talk? What kind of mom would you be if your stress didn’t rule you’re every waking thought? What kind of wife would you be if anger and frustration were not the go-to emotions? 

Can you imagine a life where peace is your default setting instead of frustration? 

Imagine a life where instead of feeling like everything is your responsibility, you know exactly which tasks are yours and exactly which ones are a priority today. Imagine a life where you get to live in such a way that you do the things that make your heart happy routinely and...

Have you ever heard the phrase, “You can’t pour from an empty cup.”? If you read my post Self-Care isn't Selfish you know exactly what I’m talking about. So often our cups are empty because of the lives we lead. We are overwhelmed with the busyness of life and we have allowed society to tell us what is important, and in most cases taking care of ourselves is not at the top of that list. We have allowed our schedules to get so full that there is no room for us anymore. We have nothing left to give. That is when your cup is empty. When you feel like there is just nothing left of you or just not enough of you. If you’ve ever thought or uttered the words, “I’m just one person, I can’t do it all,” then you know exactly what I mean. 

Routine self-care usually keeps us out of that feeling. It keeps us from getting to a place of burnout, anxiety, depression, overwhelm, etc. But what happens if we allow ourselves to keep...

I remember early in my nursing career when I was eager to work. I wanted to learn everything I could. I wanted to be helpful. I wanted the overtime in my paycheck. I said yes, every time they called. I said yes every time there were open shifts. I said yes to the 3 am to 3 pm shifts. I said yes to the 8 shifts in a row. I said yes to the “I’ll go home and sleep for 4 hours and come back for 8 more. I said yes to everything. Until one day my parents were up visiting from their home 7 hours away. I got that same ol’ call to come to work in an hour and I said, “NO. My parents are visiting and I don’t want to miss a minute with them.” The response from my co-worker went something like this, “...but we haven’t even tried to call anyone else because we KNEW you’d say yes.” 

That did it for me. That was the moment I realized that I was being taken advantage of. My time with my family was not a priority for them, it did...

A friend recently reached out to me with two different job opportunities available to her. She was grateful for the opportunity, but these are life-changing decisions and she was having a hard time deciding what would be best for herself and her family. I’m sure you’ve been in that position. If I choose this path then these things will happen. If I choose that path then those things will happen. Each choice came with its own set of benefits and its own set of risks. When we compared the pros and cons of each job, they were about the same. The good of this one matched the good of that one, they were just different kinds of good… which makes it hard to make a decision. The conversation gave way to many, “yeah… but” arguments {insert “Yabits come at Easter Dad Jokes here}. We went rounds in the conversation. She and her husband went rounds in the conversation. She went many rounds in her own head… and was still stuck at making a...

Offering someone compassion doesn't always feel as easy as criticizing them. Because it feels hard it might even feel “better” to criticize before we offer compassion. Sit with that for a second… it feels better to criticize others than it does to offer compassion. Not just others, but yourself too. It feels better to criticize yourself than to offer yourself compassion because that is easier. Like water, we do take the path of least resistance. But like water in a flood zone, that path can certainly be destructive! 

Today, I want you to check your inner dialogue. Whether it’s walking through the store or after a conversation with your co-workers or interacting with a customer. Your knee-jerk response is likely one with a negative approach. “What is she wearing?” “I cannot believe she allows her kids to do that!” “Grow up and manage your money like an adult and you wouldn’t need to put items back.”...

My husband and I have this great arrangement in our marriage. If I’m working at the hospital, he cooks supper, if I’m not, I cook. I had mentioned this at work one day and one of the ladies told me how lucky I was that he would do that. For a while, I thought she was right, I am pretty lucky, not every husband would cook for his family while his wife worked 12+ hour days. And then I thought… wait a second. Although I have a great husband who is loving a supportive, I’m not "lucky" that he cooks supper 3 times a week. It’s not about luck as much as it is the things we value. We have an understanding of each other’s time and energy… Don’t go all thinking that my husband is more evolved than any other man because truthfully he is not. He calls all my work woo-woo and has never once read a personal development book in his life. However, from day one in our relationship, I knew that my time, my energy, and my financial contribution...

I don’t know about you but as a child, I thought that my family knew what was best all the time. What we did and believed was elite and any other opinion was “wrong.” I’m talking about things like Chevy trucks, John Deere Tractors, and Pepsi. I remember the first time I saw my older sister drink a Dr. Pepper and my 8-year-old sassy self told her that in our family we drank Pepsi so she needed to make a different choice… and yes that is read with ALL THE SASS. My sister was aware of something that I didn’t know at that time. She had lived enough life to learn that it is okay to choose something different than those before us. 

As you grow and evolve, you may find that you are ready to make some choices that look different than those of the people around you. Maybe even different from the choices you’ve made in the past. I’m here to tell you, THAT IS OKAY. The apple may not fall far from the tree, but it is still an...