How do you build your own house with your words?

"Comparison is the death of my soul"

The definition of "compare" is a simple one but man do we use it a lot, sometimes without even knowing it. (Compare- .estimate, measure, or note the similarity or dissimilarity between)

This thought came into my head tonight after I have been at 2 different conferences and noticed a very bad trend between lots of the women I had been meeting. I was shocked at some ladies that I had never met before on how they talked about themselves and I thought "wow if that is what they are telling a stranger what are they telling themselves". I heard "I am not good enough" ”oh you are way better at that then I" “oh I wish I was more like you".  Don't get me wrong I have days were its like uhggg I just can’t get it together and it has taken ALOT of self-awareness to get to where I am now. 

As a Professional Organizer we are deemed the "organized" people. Granted yes we have a trait that a lot of people struggle with. I think everyone has a small part of them that is an organized person. I also feel being organized is more about how well you can get rid of things that don't fit in your space.  So for a while know I have been picturing my thoughts in my head as a house. Would you want to build a foundation with dark and bad materials, no. would you like strong and supportive walls, yes. Would you like a roof that is made with negative repelling components, YES!!!!

So why do we build our "mind" house with such bad materials? Why do we think such horrible things about ourselves?  Most of us are raising children and if our kids came and told us the same things we tell ourselves we would be so sad and crushed. So for the sake of rising our self and our families up, let’s build our house without comparing each other and saying horrible things to our self. Let’s take down that bad foundation and flimsy walls and worn out roof, and make a better house for our self. YOU ARE THE ARCHITECT!!!

 

"Failing to plan is planning to fail"

 

 

 

 

 

I am a planner, list maker and rule follower. I feel that if you don't write out your goals and in vision what you want for your life, you will not see the path. Sometimes I look back at my goals from a few years ago and they have changed and some are the same. I like seeing how far I have come.

 

With our new health goals I need a plan. Yes planning takes time but saves so much more time in the end.  If you have never heard of Happy Planner you can get the lowdown here. Well of course I would not be a Happy Planner addict if I did not get the Happy Fitness Planner with my 50% off at Michaels, got this kit for only 25.00. Such a great deal with all the motivation stickers and a new pen and a page flag.  Of course I had to go back and grab another coupon for the sticker pack.

The 21 day fix is a color coded system that keeps you on track and then each day there is an exercise to do.  I made my own stickers and may makes some smaller ones for next week I had a lot fun setting this baby up but you totally do not have to have it so fancy but to me fancy is motivating.  I am so excited for this to start and start feeling better physically and mentally.  

 

 

 

How I got ready to change our life.

So you start a diet lifestyle change, you plan out the week and you are ready to do this BUT……

Your kitchens a mess, you are behind on housework ,you can’t find the measly 30 minutes a day to work out so…. You fail.

What if we didn’t focus so much on the diet but the time management aspect?

I was able to take a week before we started our lifestyle change and look at how I “waste” my time. Instead of being on the internet all day, I have now scheduled that out for 1-2hrs a day. I run my companies so I still need to be available but not that available.

I really looked at how we will be using our small kitchen to make the most of the space. We will be doing the shakeology so I needed easy access to my blender. I also needed room to store the veggies and fruit that don’t get in the fridge.

                     

 

First order of business was to clean out all the junk food in our pantry. I took it all out and cleaned off the shelves I moved a lot down to our other pantry downstairs. I still kept the cereal at kid level with other breakfast items. Oats and peanut butter stuff like that. The next shelf up from that are the lunch items. My son still would like his not so healthy snacks and stuff. The other shelf is for veggies that don’t get refrigerated. Tomatoes, peppers, avocados, limes and lemons. Beside that is where all out measured out snacks will go.

 

Next was the fridge and freezers, I love an organized fridge. It just makes for relaxed cooking and no guess work on how old something is. I clean the fridge out every Thursday; garbage day is Friday mornings so it works well. I meal plan and shop Fridays or Saturdays and prep Sundays. The fridge is laid out with one of the drawers as a kid’s lunch drawer. It holds juice boxes, yogurt, cheese strings and fruit cups, stuff the kids can grab and toss in the lunch bags. I use to sell Tupperware and with that came a lot of free stuff yayaya. I love the fridge smarts. I don’t wash anything that is stored in them. I like to use a dry-Erase marker on them so I don’t forget what’s in them; I have a very bad memory. The top shelves will be for prepped meals and snacks.

I feel the trick with this lifestyle change is to be a bit organized and planned out. It will pay off 10 folds when the craziness of daily life is trying to get you off track.

 

Next post is how I plan out the meals and what I use to keep it all straight.

A new life

So let me start by saying I hate the word DIET. I really feel it’s like a bad word and I tend to rebel a lot. I am changing the word to LIFESTYLE.

I am a mother of 2 children; Red is 10 and MM is 7. We live in a small community in Alberta. My Husband and I are not the “small” people and our children have inherited our bad eating habits, granted we have a 10 year old that is 5’2”. She will be taller than me, I totally can see that happening and mm will be fast approaching her. The basketball coach already has eyes on her for next year’s team.

Our Lifestyle change came up when my husband and I woke up to reality that our daughter is very heavy . She always has been bigger than her peers. We also have parents that are getting sick at a very young age. My father was diagnosed with colon cancer 9 months ago. Thankfully he is on his way back on the road to health. This made us really open our eyes to the fact we need to take care of ourselves. I always tell clients if you want your kids to keep their rooms clean you need to clean yours first. You need to hold the same standards you have for your kids to yourself and they will follow.  With that in mind we can’t put Red on a diet lifestyle change and not do it ourselves.

I have never been on a lifestyle change before so I am very nervous of failing but I feel wisdom comes from frailer. I also feel we will do well because it’s the whole family doing it. We will learn new foods and new ways to have fun. We will grow as a family and shrink in size.

We have signed up with one of our friends. She is a beach body coach and I am so pumped to see what we can do together.

BRING IT ON!

 

Living in liminal space

The last few months we have been living in a unknown world. I feel so out of control with what to do next? Where do we take our family?  How do we live off the little money we get from EI? Do we sell the house? Do I quit my company to get a more steady job?.  This is a lot to think of, a lot to worry about. This season has most defiantly put a strain on our relationship and finances. With my hubby home with us it had been so nice to parent together and enjoy our kids.

I was listening to my favorite podcast the other day and it was on seasons and how to navigate though them. We feel overwhelmed and stuck waiting for a job to call us back. We are in a strange place that I could not think of a good word for. Then Rob Bell said that this space is liminal space.

“Participants "stand at the threshold" between their previous way of structuring their identity, time, or community, and a new way. Continuity of tradition may become uncertain, and future outcomes once taken for granted may be thrown into doubt. - Wikipedia 

This is 100% how my husband and I feel. We are at the threshold of old and new.  We still don't know what and where we will go and that is ok. We have some changes coming that will be good for us. I hope to share them here with my peeps.

Embrace the liminal space and don't stress and hurry to a space that may not be where you need to go. In this space breath, find peace you will figure it out and the universe will guide your heart to a new way of life you just need to be patient.

Till next time my friends

 

 

 

 

My Planner that keeps me sane.

Good Morning,
I have a secret of how I stay organized. I love planners and love lists. I have never been diagnosed with ADHD but I feel sometimes I just don't have the greatest memory and a little forgetful. It is my biggest anxiety trigger that I will forget something.
I carry a Happy Planner. There is a lot of different planners out there. I feel you need to find what will work with your life. I love Happy Planner for a few reasons.

1. I love the pages are removable. The disc bound system is awesome and strong. 
2. 100% customizable. They have a lot of things that can be added to the planner. They have fitness, meal planning, todo lists and budget planners.
3. lets me be creative.
4. fits my whole life in one book.

look at there site for some awesome stuff.

http://www.meandmybigideas.com/

Some of the Happy Planner candy that I am in love with.

My Motivation page

A busy week.

Cleaning schedule

Goals for the coming month

Lists Lists and more Lists

I am in love with the stickers that they have.

love that I can be creative and useful at the same time

I am not being compensated to talk about this planner. I just love it so much and I feel that if you are a busy lady this is the book for you. I just love how it keeps me on track of my goals and keeps my home and 3 jobs all in one area and I don't over book myself.
Have fun and wing it.

sometimes plan but somtimes wing it

MY FAVOURITE COFFEE CUP

Good Morning, life here in the crazy house is.... crazy. In this season we are in its hard and so unknown. We don't know where we need to go. Its like that song "should I stay or go now". As of right now we are trying our best to stay in our home. I am working on a awesome clients home. Hubby is filling in at a other company. Praying he can find a job soon. For now life is kind of nice having him around helping with the kids well I am working.

With us staying in our home we have been really looking at what we own and how much you really need. I am thinking on sharing some of my tricks on how to live on EI.  We can plan but sometimes you have to wing it. We are totally winging life right now and that is ok.

I think I will make a schedule to blog more. I also have become a planner baby. Wel I have always loved planners since high school but now I love it even more. I will share more another day but here is a little sample of it.