Mindful Grounding {Mental Health check-in}

 I know life can feel overwhelming.... again. Now that we are back full force into life and busyness. Especially with the new year getting those goals crushed etc. Sometimes it can tend to feel like like a lot. I know I promised myself that I would lessen up. But I am still adding to my plate. I am not getting ahead of schedule. I wish time would slow down. Maybe, even that I work faster, or not need as much rest. But I guess that is the point. So, here I am being super transparent that I am still struggling with this myself. 

It's hard to have big dreams, and big goals. I know last time I talked about making lists etc. But my list keeps getting bigger and bigger. My ideas are flowing now and they won't let me sleep. 

With that said I have really appreciated this advice that was given to me several months ago. 

MINDFUL GROUNDING

5 things you see

4 things you hear

3 things you can touch

2 things you can smell 

1 thing to taste.

1,3,10 Rule:

Think of  one word

3 deep breaths

Count to ten. 

These are great things for when you are stressed or feeling overwhelmed. Take a minute to do these things and then get back at it. 

Hope this helps you as well. 

Love/Hate relationships

 

The older I get the more this becomes apparent. The more that I see the effects of social media makes me want to break up with it once and for all. I may have spoken on this topic already. The changes never stick because we aren't retraining our brains to think differently. Whether you are addicted to the scroll or constantly being made to feel bad about yourself from the constant comparison.  We can't stop we love to look at the pretty pictures. The places we want to go. The houses we want to have. The clothes we want, the body we want. The social life that seems to be more interesting and entertaining then our own. The personality that we wish we had if we could just get over the anxiety. The creativity we wish came so naturally.

What does all this do?

Leaves us wanting. Forces us into discontentment. Nothing is ever enough for us. It's a struggle even for the most content person. It's been around for ages. Since pre-school days. You wanted the toy that the other kid had even if you had a handful already. "Keeping up with the Jones's" was relevant in the early 90's. It made those housewives and middle age guys go crazy. 

We desperately need to put on this armor every morning. Finding joy and contentment in our present life. "Comparison is the thief of joy". That phrase is pure truth. It threatens to steal our identity, our mental health. Isn't that worth protecting. 

I encourage you to take your time to really take a look at your habits. Really try to understand what your triggers are and take those social media breaks. A life of peace, contentment and joy is worth way more than keeping up with everyones' false, perfectly curated content.

Philippians 4:11. “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” 

Matthew6:25-26  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 

 

 

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  

 

{Fashion} Floral Peasant Dress/ pros and cons of listmaking

 

 You know what has been in my head a lot lately. Lists. Always with the lists. It came to my attention last night and into this morning as me and the hubby finished a show on our Netflix list and I was able to take it off. I'm not sure why I am this way actually. You put a list in front of me and I have to do those things on the list. Netflix titles it "My list" well that just makes me want to watch everything on there so I can check it off. This can be good and it can be bad. I did a little research on it. The positive is making lists motivate you. It helps you focus and when you cross those things you feel a sense of accomplishment. A visual, tangible thing that you can see. Also, it's a great way if you are feeling stressed by all the tasks you have to do, it really helps to be able to brain dump them on a piece of paper so you can easily see them and get them done. I feel like those are the main reasons I do the lists. 

The bad however, it's hard to be present. You are always thinking of either making lists or checking things off your list. It's easy to become obsessed with feeling productive. I am definitely guilty of those things. It's hard to stop in the middle of being productive to eat food, or go to the bathroom. You feel like you are on a roll and you can't stop. You want to keep the flow of thought, creativity, and all those great things. If it gets interrupted you lose it all. 

That can also be the result of a creative person though too. Still figuring that all out. 

Some good advice that I did hear in terms of being productive and list making. Is make shorter lists. A list of 3-5 things to only accomplish that day. That will help to make the list less overwhelming as well. Have I taken this advice yet? No ...not at all. My list just keeps getting longer. I even find myself doing things and getting them done but they weren't on my list. So I will actually write them on my lists just so I can check them off. It's still being productive right? So, why not?

Are you obsessed with making lists like I am?

Or are you normal? Please tell me I'm not the only one?

Side note:

I wanted to add more interesting content with my outfit posts. So this is todays outfit. A floral peasant dress. Paired with a leather moto jacket, faux leather booties, and fedora fat.

 

DIY 2022 {Steampunk Dresser}

I know this post is about DIY. I’ve always posted the projects that I do. However, this one ended up getting sourced out. I bought this dresser back in Alabama when we were living in Georgia. I’ve been hanging on to it for a few years now. I think I bought it for 50 or 60 bucks. I thought I got a great deal. Come to find out there were some broken parts and it wasn’t made out of real wood, it was manufactured wood. No biggie though right? I brought my mom in to help me with pieces but we never finished. So, it's just been sitting unfinished since then. Until I brought my super awesome friend in to help me out Resurrection Contracting. At first I just wanted him to help me with the broken pieces. I had every intention of painting it myself. In fact he wasn't too thrilled about my choice. I told him he just needed to trust me. 

I bought these pulls when I first got the dresser. That was another issue as well. The holes didn't match up with it. I'm glad I got them when I did though. They are unfortunately out of stock now. I picked the owl heads because they were my dads favorite animal so I wanted little man to have a little piece of him in his room. It took a few months but it came out so good. He had to completely rebuild the drawers but was able to keep the original newspaper liner inside. He put Soft close Ball Bearing Drawer Slides which I would've not thought to do. I have a feeling this is the first of many projects. So excited to get some things done around here!

New Year follow up

 

 

 

 

 

I feel like the new year should officially start in February. We don’t get our act together until then I think. Between coming back from vacations. Putting your house back in order. Getting back into the routine of everything can take a few extra weeks. Even longer if you start the new year sick like I did. But it has forced me to finally get some rest. Finally give myself those days off to veg out like I originally intended in the beginning of Fall. So if you are like me I grant your full permission to start your new year in February. Get back into the gym, reorganize your house, start a new project etc … just in February.
I’ve got a lot of goals for 2022 so I’m excited to see which ones pan out. However, I want to make sure that I press that enough. Don’t be too busy. Don’t burn your candle at both ends. Just take each day as it comes and give yourself a lot of forgiveness and grace. 

Let’s have a great 2022 …… starting in February.