monday

“This Too Shall Pass”

I survived Monday! And if you’re reading this, that means you did too! Congratulations! I hope you did something for yourself today, because you deserve it! I am happy to report that I woke up today in less pain than I’ve been in all week, and it really wasn’t a bad Monday! Work was productive, getting adjusted and chatting with the chiropractor’s assistant was pleasant, and doing some stretches in the comfort of my living room while listening to Mel Robbins is honestly quite therapeutic.

I just wanted to write for a second, because I was reflecting on my generally good mood today, and it truly is insane how different my mood was when I was in pain. I mean it makes total sense! Not only was I irritable because of the pain I felt and how slowly I had to move when doing literally anything, but I felt myself getting anxious about the house chores piling up, and of course starting the worst case scenarios: “what if I am in this horrific pain forever?” But when I found myself sobbing softly in the kitchen (because a hard sob would hurt too much) my brain did something different. Instead of letting myself go down that dark rabbit hole of guilt and negative self-talk, during the very worst of the pain I found myself saying, out loud too myself: “This is temporary, I am okay.”

I knew the back pain was temporary, because I had this same pain a month prior. I knew that I’d continue to see the chiropractor and actually start wearing the back brace (so maybe I didn’t wear the brace and maybe I skipped out on my therapies…I wonder why the pain started. LOL) and that I could get help myself out of this pain. I knew the pain wasn’t going to be there forever, and that I would feel myself again… so why not apply this to all of life’s hard times?

If I wanted to relive my past, which quite frankly I am actively trying to live in the present so that doesn’t sound very appealing, I would wish that I could have thought this way in so many moments. To be able to remind yourself that heavy emotions are temporary, the physical pain is temporary, the need for more rest is temporary, that stressful job is temporary…that can ease so much of the weight in those hard times. It’s easy for me to spiral into negative thought patterns and turn on the self-loathing soundboard, so to be able to stop the downward spiral with the simple reminder that “this too shall pass” is honestly a game-changer. I know, I know… I’ve heard that phrase a million times over in my twenty-seven years of life, but this is when it clicked for me.

As I move through the week and face challenges as they come (including hormonal ones, because sometimes I think mother nature f*cking hates me), I will continue to remind myself that everything is temporary. I get to choose what I focus on, and I am choosing to focus on my happiness. And no matter how heavy things may feel, I’ll just remind myself that this too shall pass.

New Week, New Routine

Writing this early morning blog post today as I am starting my new work schedule this week! On Thursday our boss came to us with the idea of working four 10-hour days instead of our normal five day work week, and we were all thrilled! Of course, I don’t have any seniority in my department at this time, so the other people picked to be off Monday and Friday, so I decided to choose Wednesday as my day off.

I am excited to have a day off in the middle of the week as I will be able to get all of the grocery shopping done, as well as house chores and still have plenty of time for myself! I’m also excited as I’ll work two days, be off a day, work two days, and then be off two days (weekend)! I wrote out a tentative schedule for myself yesterday as I want to make sure I am taking time to prioritize and give myself time to do the things I want.

I put the gym in the schedule a couple days in the week, but also made it a point that the days I am not going to the gym, I want to at least go for a walk or do a workout at home. I’ve been feeling a lot better getting my body moving and I want to continue to get stronger as well!

I made sure to add in reading and journaling into my mornings since I’ll be home and not rushing to go the the gym, and because I keep saying I want to write more and never do anything about it. Now with the schedule change I feel like I am basically starting new and I feel like it’s kind of a reset for me, which I am using to my advantage!

I have to head to work here shortly for a ten hour day, but I have a feeling I’ll feel very productive and the day will probably fly by! And if not, I just have to get through tomorrow and then I get a day to myself anyways! I hope everyone has a great week! Make sure you take time to check in with yourself and see what it is you want to prioritize today and this week!

Luck

When I was in high school, I would often win concert tickets off the radio. My friends would ask me if I was somehow cheating to get these tickets, but truly I’d just plan my days around when tickets were being given out! I’d set reminders/alarms in my phone, and I’d make sure if I was at home to use my parents home phone along with my cellphone (landlines always go through faster for me, and is how I won most of these tickets).

In the past I won tickets to Kanye, Mikey Cyrus, Kid Cudi, Bryce Vine, and even front row Jingle Bash tickets one year! It’s been a little while since I’ve won any, granted covid has been a thing so shows really haven’t been going on, but this weekend my luck struck again: Russ DM’d me on instagram giving me two tickets to his upcoming show in Chicago!

Now, I honestly couldn’t tell you if I was more excited to get a message from him or the fact that I’ll be getting to see him live, but wow was I jumping around like a little kid jacked up on sugar LOL. The nice thing is that my boyfriend also listens to him and likes his music, so we will get to enjoy the show together!

What is super ironic about this whole thing is that I’ve been on a self-care journey for quite a while now, and I’m learning a lot about manifesting and gratitude. My coworker had actually recommended Russ’ book “It’s All In Your Head” to me a while back and she sent me his digital book via email. Well on Saturday morning my friend was over and was still asleep, so I decided to take that time to read the rest of his book on my phone, and I was completely inspired by it!

When my friend woke up I was telling her about some of the stuff I read (I’ve attached an excerpt from the book on here as I had shared it to my instagram page), and was just reflecting back on the book throughout the day! It was later in the afternoon when we were back at my house and I saw Russ had posted an instagram story “2 min ago” and he was talking about giving out tickets to fans as he had been all week. I immediately messaged him in hopes that he’d see it, and within a couple more minutes my wish was granted!

I am still honestly in shock that he DM’d me and that my boyfriend and I get to see him live, and I’m so very grateful as I’ve been missing concerts so much lately! It’s next month and it can’t come soon enough! Now I’m inspired to keep looking for more concerts and ticket giveaways!

I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week ahead! Sending you all love and positivity!

Bird Set Free

Today I did something I never have, and I posted a short video of me singing on instagram. No music/instrumentals, just my voice, and I don’t feel insecure about it! I realized how I normally would feel weird or embarrassed, but I really don’t care if people hate it or think I’m awful, because I had fun!

It definitely is nice to have friend and some strangers comment and tell me that they think I sound good, but at the same time, it really doesn’t even matter! It’s more so nice to actually just feel good about myself and feel confident without feeling that need for validation.

Having the sun out this Monday has me feeling happy and motivated; I hope everyone reading is able to find something happy about today!

Back and Better!

We’re so happy to be home after our short little getaway! My boyfriend and I had 3-night-stay in Myrtle Beach over the past weekend, and it was quite a relaxing time! I was happy to have a balcony with an ocean view; being able to listen to the waves whenever I wanted was a wonderful pastime.

Honestly, at one point while just sitting in solitude on the deck, I began to tear up; I always feel so at peace when I’m near the water. It is a goal of mine to one day live near the ocean, or at least a large body of water in which I could paddle board or kayak. I don’t know…it’s just something about being on the water that gives me a feeling of serenity.

Although we somehow brought our cold, windy weather with us to North Carolina, we still very much enjoyed our time together. It was fun checking out local restaurants and just chilling in the hotel hot tub outside. I will say, the couples massage with the jacuzzi sea salt soak was definitely the highlight of the trip! The Swedish massage was much needed, but wow did it hurt at certain points!

It was nice to get away for the weekend to celebrate my boyfriend’s 27th birthday together and just disconnect for a while. This trip made me want to travel more, but honestly even just finding small towns and places in my state within a few hours driving distance sounds fun and within budget! Of course now it’s getting colder out and winter is right around the corner, but I can start my research on areas to check out! Not to mention, find some local holiday events!

We got back home yesterday, and today was overall a productive day. I grocery shopped, donated some clothes to Goodwill, and got some services done for my car! I’m also excited to continue the gym routine and set some fitness goals! Well, it is back to work for me tomorrow morning; I hope everyone is having a great week so far and has a great week ahead!

Labor Day

I cannot believe it’s already Labor Day… I feel like we already lost out on a whole year (2020) but now I’m like how is it about to be 2022??? In my timeline of life, ideally I would want to be getting pregnant this time next year with my first baby and already be married, but my boyfriend is still not my fiancé yet so we will see how that’s goes LOL.

Honestly I am happy with how life is going, and I want to keep this timeline in mind as motivation to keep me working out and eating healthier. I want to be much more healthy and fit by the time that I get pregnant/have children so that I can teach them how to have healthy habits as they grow up. I also know it may take a while to get pregnant, or I may find out I cannot get pregnant, in which case it will still be better to be healthy incase I have to try IVF.

I don’t want that to come off as negative or worried about the worst case, I truly just look at that as something normal that can happen, along with miscarriages! I think the problem is we weren’t really taught that in health class or in any type of schooling that 1 in 4 women have a miscarriage and a lot also struggle with infertility issues. I feel like since I’m very aware of that and have friends who have gone through all of the above, that is just something I’m (somewhat) mentally prepared for.

Overall there are obviously more reasons to want to get healthy and get stronger, but I am going to try to keep this in mind as the months and years keep flying by. I’m the only person who can make these changes and make healthy habits for myself, and my future self and children deserve it!

Indecisive

I have been going back and forth trying to make a decision about what to do with my job situation. I currently have a job that I like, but I have not been getting my full 40 hours for several weeks now, and it is starting to become stressful. I recently had my manager from my last job reach out and asked if I wanted to work in the billing department for her, and offered $1 more an hour, steady 40 hours a week, no weekends, and give me my vacation time back immediately as if I never left- the issue is the insurance is more expensive as they are a smaller company. So although I would “make more money,” it would be going to my insurance. The one good thing is it is a little closer to home than my current job. I am trying to see if I can get on my boyfriend’s insurance without being married, as we do have a joint account and are both on our current mortgage. If I can do that, that may sway me into going to that job.

On the other hand, I work for a company that wants to keep their employees, and I told them about my offer and how much I would want to get paid to stay and transition into being in their billing team; I had to keep in mind that it is quite a bit further of a drive to work. However, they can let me work from home two days a week once I am fully trained, and I would also have steady hours and not work weekends. I know a lot of people don’t care about the drive, but I just keep thinking about having an hour commute to work and then back, but also how it’ll be even longer in the winter.

In the midst of all of this stress, I came up with a craft drop schedule for my small shop! I will post it with this blog, that way if anyone wants to follow along on my Instagram or Facebook page! I am really excited to take this leap and give myself deadlines; it is important to set goals if you want to reach them! I can think about stuff I want to do as much as I want, but until I put in the work, all those thoughts will ever be are just thoughts. I keep reminding myself that you cannot rely on motivation as it is temporary, you have to rely on yourself, which requires discipline. I set up a crafting schedule so that I am constantly working on projects and being creative; I work well with routine and schedules, so as long as I put it on the schedule it will get done. Also, posting publicly about it also gives that added incentive to get it done and do a good job, as I can just hope someone is waiting to see what I’ve made!

I am open to any thoughts/advice anyone has, and appreciate any who are here reading this! I hope you all have a great week.

Rainy Monday

Today is supposed to be my productive day, and it did not start out how I planned. I had a few things on my to-do list, and this morning I was starting my day at UPS to ship off one of the orders I got over the weekend. It was raining when I left the house, and by the time I got to UPS (which was only six minutes away) it was down-pouring!

I got soaked getting out of my car and when I got in to find out shipping prices I was in shock! $45 to package and ship a couple of mugs to Miami! The girl at the counter was even shocked by the fee and said that Florida rates are high right now. Luckily the girl who ordered from me was understanding and paid for the shipping, but I was shook! Now I had to tell the other two people who made orders how much their shipping costs are and I’m waiting on their responses.

I got very lucky over the weekend and one of my cricut creations was recognized by the Official Cricut Instagram account and they shared my post to their 1.4 million followers and tagged me! I gained some followers on my crafting instagram, my etsy shop got favorited a couple of times, and I had three people place orders with me! So even though this shipping thing is annoying, I’m so grateful that this happened, and am happy to be learning the best ways to ship as a small business!

Now that they shared my work, I have been more confident and motivated and I now want to make/post at least one project weekly! I have been following more pages and hashtags to get inspiration, and I want to start making some fall items! I know it’s still summer for now, but kids are going back to school and fall is right around the corner! I’m also thinking about having a Halloween party again this year and going all out with crafting/decor!

I am going to start planning out projects and times to do certain things as I find it easier to stick to a schedule. My boyfriend and I are also making a list of updates we want to do on the house over the next couple years so we can plan for those. We are still without AC right now but it should be fixed this week- I really hope it’s soon because it’s going to be in the 90s for the next three days!

Overall I’ve had a lot of stress coming up, but also a lot of excitement! I am trying hard to focus on the positive things and be grateful, rather than let the stress bring me down. We will always have stress and not-so-great things that happen to us, but as long as we remember to practice gratitude and be aware of what we have, I feel that can only benefit us in the end.

I’m attaching the photo from instagram that was shared! If you have instagram, go ahead and check out some out the items I’ve made (@jenamadeitems)!

Monday Off

Happy Monday everyone!

I wanted to start this Monday off by being honest and letting everyone know that I definitely logged back into twitter and tiktok. I’m not sure if this will be for long term or not, but I have been paying attention to how much time I spend on the apps. I muted a lot of words on twitter so that I’m not seeing negative stuff that I don’t want to see, and I’m just posting lame shit on tiktok for fun!

Today I went and spent my $50 VS gift card that I got as a birthday gift! After treating myself to that I came back home and finished the book I was reading! Part of me wants to go to the gym, but also part of me doesn’t because my AC is still not working and I really want to be able to come cool down in a 70 degree house, but I currently cannot do that.

I think I’m just going to do some stretching instead and possibly craft or start another book. I just wanted to pop in and write today, and I also added a couple more photos to the photo section of my blog! Take a look if you’d like!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Never a day off

Happy Monday! Today I am off of work, but I feel like I have already done so much today. In reality all I did was grocery shop and make a couple phone calls, but it feels productive! I had a busy weekend celebrating my pregnant friends- one gender reveal (it’s a boy!), and one baby shower (her baby girl is due on my birthday)! I also worked on Saturday so I have really just been moving around all weekend!

Today I have a list of tasks, and luckily I am just about finished. Other than going to the grocery store, I made an eye doctor appointment so I can get my contacts and glasses updated before I fall off my parents’ insurance. I reached out to Feldco to get some questions answered in regards to our window financing; we had all 12 windows in the house replaced on Wednesday! I also had to reach out to my current 401k holder and discuss doing a rollover from a previous employer (which I’ve never done before so that was a learning experience)! Luckily I already snuck some laundry in over the weekend between all of the celebrations.

I love when I feel this motivated and on top of getting things done. Granted I am a little stressed as I feel like there is a lot going on, but when isn’t there? As long as I am aware of everything going on and keep it organized in my calendar and work on a little bit at a time, everything will be fine. Since I was able to get a lot done, I told a friend I could help her with some stuff she has to do for her bridal shower next weekend (I know, it never ends! LOL). I am planning to take a walk once I am done with this post as it is a hot, sunny day and I always feel great after soaking up some sunlight.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!