It's almost Springtime (no matter what that pesky groundhog may have said), which means it's time to open up the windows, breathe in the smell of new blooms (hopefully without launching into a sneezing fit) and pull the ol' capri pants out of storage.
There's a feeling of renewal in the air... of new beginnings and fresh starts. The New Year's resolutions have all crashed and burned by now, but that's a-okay because the warm air brings with it another opportunity to clean up and start over.
Well, here we are halfway through February.
How are your New Year's resolutions going?
Don't worry. Much like Planet Fitness, this is a no-judgement zone. If you've already fallen off the wagon with your promise to exercise every day or your resolution to quit sugar cold turkey, it's okay. In fact, I'm not really a big fan of New Year's resolutions anyway.
What I am a fan of, however, is life change.
Silver Tree Communications, LLC, has announced that its non-fiction book imprint Silver Tree Publishing has awarded a full contract to Charlotte-based writer and clean-living expert Jenn Baxter. This is the first book award of its kind at Silver Tree, and will begin a tradition of the company annually selecting one author and one manuscript to receive comprehensive book publishing services and book marketing at no cost to the author. The forthcoming book, Live a F.A.S.T. Life: How Stripping Down & Cleaning Up Gave Me My Life Back is due out in mid-December 2017.
Today's guest post comes from Thai Nguyen at The Utopian Life and the folks at Visme. They reached out to me since they know I am a big proponent of living a joyful, abundant life! And they have some handy tips for how you can "hack" into the happy chemicals in your body.
So what do you say... ready to start hacking? Take it away guys...
Has someone ever told you that you can’t control what you feel? Well contrary to that belief, your feelings are very much in your control. You may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it.
When you hear the word "journal," what do you think of?
A weathered leather book with deep philosophical thoughts? A color-coded planner filled with business plans and ideas? A fuzzy pink diary with a lock that contains all your childhood dreams?
The truth is, a journal is none of these things. Or it could be all of these things! A journal, simply put, is a place to dump your brain.
Why do you need to dump your brain you ask?
Just over five years ago, I was living a pretty "typical" American life. Meaning, I had a job (or should I say jobs) that I didn't like, mounds of debt, I ate a diet that consisted of a lot of sugar, dairy, wheat & processed/convenience foods, I seemed to always be tired & sick and basically, I was just "surviving" my life everyday instead of living it.
I would wake up and go through the motions just to get through the day. But overall, the days seemed to be filled with more stress, anxiety and fatigue than they were with joy or peace.
Have you ever seen the FedEx logo?
Of course you have. But have you seen the hidden arrow in the logo? No?
Take a look again right now and see if you see it...
Do you see it? I'll give you a hint... it's between the "E" and the "x." Ahhh... yes, there it is! And now I bet you won't ever be able to look at the logo again without seeing it!
Isn't it funny how that works? Something that's been there all along, right under your nose... yet, you weren't able to see it because you were looking at it in a different way.
So often, this is true for us in life as well.
A few weeks ago, I made an appearance on a local morning show. I was on there talking about what I call "bucket list living" and giving tips for people on how they can get started living a more meaningful and exciting life, instead of putting it off until later.
It's a topic I am super passionate about. I've written about it numerous times and taught many webinars, as well as my e-course on the same topic. Yet, there I was... a nervous wreck before airtime, giving myself a stomach ache and after it was over... well, that's when the real attack started.
“Born to hustle.”
“Hustle hard, girl.”
“All good things come to those who hustle.”
As a blogger or female entrepreneur, you’ve probably seen your fair share of quotes like this on everything from t-shirts to coffee mugs. They put it in pretty gold script on a soft pink background, so it feels light, airy, sweet and simple.
But when it comes down to reality, hustling is usually anything but sweet and simple.
This first guest post of 2017 is a very special one. While attending She Speaks, a Christian writers and speakers conference for women in July of last year, I had the privilege of meeting Heather Meadows. Actually, we technically "met" several weeks before the conference, when we were matched up as prayer partners. We had exchanged a few emails leading up to the event, sharing our back stories and fulfilling prayer requests for one another. So by the time we actually met in person in the convention hallway, it's like we had known each other for years. In fact, the woman who took our photo a few moments later thought we were best friends!
