everyday i'm learning more and more the importance in living for myself and seeking the things that bring me joy and peace. i've spent a lot of years anxious over being someone else, but one of the biggest lessons i've learned this year is letting go of that. the main thing i've learned, is that you have to change your mindset. you've got to be forgiving of yourself and you've got to change your actions.

start small. you can't expect yourself change in one day. take whatever you aspire and break in down into small, attainable goals. for example...

- i want to take yoga more seriously...
            do ten minutes of yoga everyday
- i want to eat a plant based diet...
             remove one food group from my diet at a time and don't continue until i've made it a habit
- i want to finish writing my book...
              sit down with my story at least once a day

when you commit to these small actions, you're creating habits. we're habitual creatures by nature, we constantly seek what is familiar and known, which is why you've gotta make the unknown known...

another important thing is to keep yourself motivated, some things that i've found that work well is to...

- always carry a notebook with you
              write everything down - your aspirations, fears, dreams, grocery lists, ...
- surround yourself with visual reminders
              create a mood board or write your goals on a post it note and put it on your mirror
- what you seek is seeking you
              read quotes, listen to podcasts, read books and blog posts, watch vlogs and documentaries
- speak it into existence
              (this was a hard one for me) it's super important to share your story, when you say things 
              out loud and share them with others, it's also a tool for holding yourself accountable
- there's beauty in growth
              there's beauty in your path and it will be crooked and sometimes you may feel like you're 
              walking back in the direction you came from. failure is apart of growth, but so is starting again
- believe in impossibilities
             wake up everyday and believe that you're deserving of your dreams


i have a vision of who i want to be and just the idea of it alone makes me smile uncontrollably. it won't be easy to meet that person, but it's not impossible. all i have to do is adjust my habits and my strengthen my work ethic. everyday i wake up with the simple intention of being a better version of myself than i was the day before.

what are you goals? speak them into existence into the comments below!

       

             Last week I went to the Tennessee Aquarium, and looking into the salt water tanks and watching the schools of fish, the sharks sea turtles, and stingrays swim by, I overheard a conversation between a father and his son. The father was describing how (certain types of) sharks had to keep swimming in order to live. Their whole lives and they never still... How wild is that? Sharks physically have to keep moving in order to live. If they're not moving, they can't produce oxygen.

            I kept going back to that idea, and I very quickly began to find a lot of symbolism in it. And I fully believe that if you look hard enough, God leaves us knowledge and advice to equip us, and not only in prayer and the bible, but guidance that can be found within his creations. It reminds us that if we're not moving: growing, changing, or evolving, then how could we possibly be living out our lives to the fullest?

            Keep going, keep moving forward. Even if you're scared. There's always room to grow and there's always new and exciting places around the corner. We weren't made to stand still. God created a far better legacy for us.

             Sometimes I let fear immobilize me, but real talk: you're never gonna grow inside your comfort zone. I think we sometimes have this fear of being defined by our failures. But in all honesty, I've discovered that we're defined by our actions, by our character, by our story, and failure is a part of that journey. And then sometimes it's not even about fear, it's about settling. Sometimes I just get used to things and before I know it, time is passing and I really didn't grow during that time. Carry that reminder, to always seek opportunities for growth. Don't let your goals and passions become a concept for the someday. Do something today, move today.