Fill up to Spill out

It's 2020, the beginning of a new decade, and since I was born in 1980, it's literally a new decade for me!  Today I turn 40.  As I prepared for this day and how it might feel and what it might bring, I decided to go big.  And no, I don't mean a big party or extravagent gifts or a trip, but BIG GOALS .  I am a goal-oriented person, I thrive on having goals and dreams and going after them.  I like pushing myself to do hard things, learn and grow in the process, and feel that sense of joy and satisfaction for achieving them.   Last spring I decided on not just 1 goal for my 40th Birthday, but 2 big goals.  A book-lover myself, I always dreamed of writing a book, not sure if or when it might actually happen.  10 months ago I decided i t was time, but really just envisioned a sweet book for my girls, a bit of a memoir to share childhood memories and tell them my story and my journey to becoming the person I am today.  But as I started writing and figuring out how to string wo

I've been a runner for most of my life, which is nearly 40 years.  Yes, I'm that old... In my younger years, I ran cross-country and track, pushing myself to not only run the hurdles, but run long distance as well.  In a way, I liked the challenge of doing the races that no one else liked doing.  I'm still that way today, as I push myself to run marathons.  It's as mental as it is physical, and most people can do it if they decide to push themselves! Running is transformative for me.  It is not just a form of exercise (although it's great exercise!).  Running is therapy.  It's worship.  It's alone time.  It's community.  It's thought-provoking.  It's inspiring.  Running is one of the greatest tests of endurance.  I love it. You might be a runner yourself and agree with all of the above statements.  Or the only running you've ever done is when someone was chasing you.  You might wonder how someone could find running enjoyable or wonder

We all know that exercise is important, but unfortunately less than 25% of adults in the U.S. get the recommended amount each week.  As a health care provider, I commonly hear that people don’t have time for exercise or simply don’t enjoy it or feel motivated to do it.  Therefore, despite knowing the health benefits of regular exercise, they continue to live a fairly inactive lifestyle.   Since most of us are short on time and a lot of people just don’t enjoy exercising, we need to look at exercise in a different way.  Moving our bodies is not only good for our physical health, but essential for our mental well-being.  Exercise can significantly help with managing stress, anxiety, and depression.   Don’t just think of exercise as “working out,” but look at exercise as THERAPY.  When I exercise, it is “ME TIME.”  It is time away to think, listen to a good audiobook, motivational podcast or uplifting music; it’s time in nature; it’s an instant mood lifter and energy booster.  We

On my journey to create the best version of myself and create a more fulfilling life, I have learned the importance of a good morning routine.  How we start our day can have incredible impact on how the rest of our day goes.  Starting our day with gratitude, time in scripture and prayer, and setting our intentions for the day sets us up for success.  Creating time to work on ourselves and our goals is life changing.  Not feeling rushed, unorganized, and flustered in the morning is important in setting the tone for the day. I have always been someone that wakes up early, mostly because I have to!  In my younger high school days, I would often set my alarm for 4 am to finish up homework or study for a test before an early morning practice.  In college, it was often the same way.  I just never seemed to have enough hours in the day or would tire out early at night, so I was left with early morning hours to get my work done.  As a nurse in the hospital, I had to be at work by 6:40am, so

With the new year and some free time on my hands during the holiday break, I found myself on a mission of cleaning, organizing, decluttering, and simplifying our house and our routines.  Does anyone else find themselves in this kind of mindset after Christmas?  As we are taking down the tree and holiday decor, we start cleaning, decluttering, and replacing the old with the new?  I love fresh starts, including a fresh new, clean, organized look in my home as the new year begins.  I recently read all of Emily Ley's books, including a Simplified Life, and if you haven't read any of her books, especially this one, I would highly recommend it!  She is very focused on creating simplicity in every area of our lives and making time and space for the good stuff.  I just love her and all of her books. I consider myself a pretty clean and tidy person.  Our house has always been a space that I consider clean and welcoming, but there have definitely been areas of our house and our life th

I have always been someone that loves the beginning of a new year.  I look at January 1st, and often the beginning of a new school year in late August as a fresh start.  I like to clean, organize, declutter, reevaluate, simplify, plan, and set new goals.  I'm not necessarily someone that comes up with a "resolution," but instead looks at areas to improve my life, my routine, my habits, and my vision.  It's a good time to reflect on the year, what worked and what didn't work, focus on accomplishments, focus on the theme of the year, focus on preserving meaningful memories, and decide how to best move forward. 2019 was a great year for me and my family.  I experienced an enormous amount of growth as a person, ran 2 half marathons, wrote my first book that I hope to publish soon, established a consistent early morning routine, read 18 books, and attended my 1st personal growth conference.  We traveled to 4 different states as a family, attended our 1st big music co