Self-health:

As I’m going through my journey there is one thing that I’m doing more of. What is that one thing you ask? Well, it’s water. I’m not a huge water drinker and I drink more coffee and tea than water. I just don’t like plain water if I’m being honest. But I have incorporated different things into my water. I love cucumbers and lemons in my water. The taste is so refreshing. I’m not big on adding any flavors that are not natural. So I’m doing a 21-day water journey. I can have in the morning either coffee or tea and then that’s it. Nothing but water for the rest of the day. It’s said that it takes 21 days to create a habit so this is a good habit that I want to create. I have started looking at what I eat and drink and I’m taking the time to do better. Anything not good for me I don’t want to put in my body anymore. Now, this is a journey I’m not going to get rid of everything overnight. But little by little I only want to eat things and drink things that are good for me. Health is definitely wealth in my opinion. A healthy you is a better you.

What are you reading?:

I have been reading and I use to write book reviews, but this time I’m enjoying just reading and I do write book reviews just not on my blog. So here are some books that I have read and some that I’m reading now.

Here are the books that I have already read:

Piece of my Heart by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke
Cup of Secrets-Trace of Lace By Barbara Howard
Finding Home Mystery Series by Barbara Howard
What did you Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage by Paul David Tripp
Madam Honey by Trina Beasley
More to Life by ReShonda Tate Billingsley
A Pocketful of Possibilities: Impossible Dreams, Made Possible by Shuronda Scott
Seven Days In June by Tia Williams
Cut and Run by Fern Michaels
The Critic’s Daughter: A Memoir by Priscilla Gilman
The Confident Woman: Start Today Living Boldly and Without Fear By Joyce Meyer

These are all the books that I have read this year so far. And these are the books that I’m currently reading now.

Unexpected Place: Thoughts on God, Faith, and Finding Your Voice by Anthony Evans
The Return by Nicholas Sparks
Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to becoming financially whole by Tiffany Aliche

All these books that I’m reading and have read are something that I needed at that time or something that I wanted to read for enjoyment. Thanks to all who have reached out about what I’m reading or have read. Let me know what your reading.

If it was easy:

It’s always nice to see people get engaged and prepare for the wedding day. I remember getting engaged and working on the wedding. It was an exciting time, but also a stressful time. It’s magical when the day comes but what about the days after? We concentrate so much on that one day that we forget about the rest of the days after. Yes, it’s nice to have a day all about you two, but honestly, every day is going to be about you two. There will be days when one gives more than the other. There will be days when you are wanting your spouse to understand where you are coming from but there busy. Everything is going to start becoming more important than you two. Why is that? Well, you stop making the time to spend with one another. You stopped taking the time to care for one another. That one magical day now looks like you have made a mistake because the person you married is so different now. What happened to my spouse? Where did things begin to change? You use to have so much fun. I heard people say these things so many times. Nothing happened to your spouse, you two just made other things more important. Now your marriage doesn’t look like what you envisioned as a little girl. No, now your marriage looks like real life. Not some perfect picture on Instagram. Your marriage is now a hot mess and you don’t even know where to begin. Well, honestly people need to get back to the foundation of their marriage. How about talking about things that are bothering them and being honest about them? Not mean and harsh but let the truth and tears flow. It’s so easy to give up and quit. But it’s harder to stay and say I want this to work. We are flawed humans and if we don’t know how you feeling then it’s business as usual. But just like you put in time and effort on the things that you like and enjoy. How about putting that same effort into your marriage? You can’t expect a garden to grow if you don’t plant the seeds and water them. You can’t expect your marriage to grow if you’re not taking care of it either. So before you think marriage is easy and anyone can do it, how about you look past the wedding day and ask yourself how can you make this better past the wedding day.

Wisdom Wednesday:

It’s time to look at the people in our circle. Spring is here so it’s time to do some spring cleaning when it comes to the people in our circle. It’s time to let some friendships go. Who is hanging around you just because you have what they want? Who is your YES friend but won’t ever tell you when you are wrong? How about that friend that’s only around when they want something? You know we all have these types of friends. This is just a small list but it’s time to let some of these people go. You need people in your circle who are genuine and will celebrate with you. You need people in your life who will call you out when you’re doing wrong. It’s time to spring clean your circle of friends, just me it’s time to let go of people who have no benefit in your life.

My journey:

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I was messaged by several people wanting to know how I started my journey of healing and just getting to where I am now. Well, the first thing you have to do is get tired of doing the same thing and getting the same results. I had to decide that enough was enough. I started journaling and then made a decision that I needed extra help so I found a counselor and she made all the difference. I had to change my mindset and how I allowed people to treat me. I also had to value myself and love myself. But most of all I had to be committed to making a better me and sticking with the plan that I had made for myself. There were different books that I read that also helped me along the way. But you are important and taking care of yourself is just as important as well. Start somewhere and decide to stick to whatever plan you make for yourself. Trust me you can’t go wrong.

My journey to peace and joy:

Good Sunday morning everyone. I want to talk to you all about peace and joy. I had been going through some things for about 4 years now. And people would have thought that I had peace and joy but I didn’t. It’s so easy to fake and hide how you feel from other people. I’ve always been good at masking my feelings, but something had to give and quickly. I started going to counseling to deal with my feelings and what was going on. That helped me so much at the time. She gave me tools to help me and I’m at a place that I never thought that I would be at. I had to take some hard looks at my life and who was in my life. Was I okay with how things were going? Why did I put up with certain things? Just because we are friends and family doesn’t mean you can treat me a certain way. There were so many things that I had to figure out and it wouldn’t be overnight. But once you start putting in the work for yourself you start to see changes. And you can’t give up or give in either. You have to stick to your plan because you have to understand you are just as important as anyone else. I didn’t value myself or even love myself like I thought I did. I was so busy making sure others were okay and had what they needed from me, that I didn’t even give myself what I needed. Fast forward to now. When I smile it’s genuine. When I laugh it’s from the heart and sincere. When I tell you that I have worked so hard to get to where I am and I refuse to let anyone take that from me. My peace and joy took me a long time to find and I have found them. I’m still not done doing the work myself but the results so far are amazing. I have read so many blogs, Instagram posts, and Facebook posts about people wanting to make a change and how it’s hard. Yes, it’s going to be hard but you have to start somewhere if you want to change your life. No one is going to do the work for you. You have to commit to doing better for yourself. When will you put yourself first? When will you change? Listen if this is you start today. Start by journaling your feelings. Start by asking yourself the hard questions. Start by googling books that can help you with what you’re going through. Start by looking for a therapist if that’s what you need. But the main thing is to start somewhere. Don’t give up on yourself or put yourself to the side. You wouldn’t do that for anyone else so why would you do that to yourself? Peace and joy take time but when you find it you will know that it was worth putting in the work.

Wisdom Wednesday:

Good morning,
I just wanted to stop by and make sure that you were taking care of yourself. If not then why not? You are just as important as anyone else. So on this wisdom Wednesday please take the time to take care of yourself. You are loved so take care of yourself please. Have a great Wednesday.

New week, New You:

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Good Monday morning,
So it’s a new week and a new day. So what are you going to do differently with your life? How are you going to work on your mental health? How are you going to take care of yourself? New week new you. You are so important and never forget that. You matter to so many people around you. Never think that you’re too busy to take care of yourself because you are not. This is a new week and I’m excited to do some things differently and to start some new adventures. Life is not going to wait for you to get yourself together. Each day is a new day to be better. So this is a new week how are you going to spend it?

Self-care Sunday:

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Self-care Sunday. What are you going to do today to take care of yourself? How do you take care of yourself? When do you make yourself a priority? If you don’t then today is the day that you need to start. You are important too. You need to pour into yourself because if you don’t then you don’t have much to give to others. When do you take the time to relax and just spend some time with yourself? Some of my favorite self-care things to do are make myself some tea and just listen to some calming music. I always like to get a good book and just relax on the couch. I love tending to my plants. Self-care is just not for the ladies only. Men, you need some self-care as well. We all need to take a day, an hour, or longer to do something for ourselves. When will you start putting yourself first? How about today? You only have one self so do something to take care of yourself today.

Keep your head up:

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No matter what you are going through never give up. Keep pushing and know that you are going to have an awesome outcome. So many people are going through things and it’s so easy to want to give up. But keep going. This is my pep talk daily. No matter what please keep your head up and keep going. You are stronger than you know. You are doing awesome just know that trouble doesn’t last always.