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Back to school and good intentions

August 19, 2013 / in Encouragement, Family, Stress / by

backtoschoolHappy Back to School Day! I call it Back to schedule day because in the summer any semblance of a regular schedule goes out the window.  It’s fun but someone like me needs a schedule to keep myself on track.

When all three of my children were in school mornings used to be really busy.  I only have one in school now and she takes care of herself in the morning so it’s pretty mellow at our house in the morning. I am not a morning person (understatement) and getting myself up and going is enough of a challenge for me so I’m grateful that she is so independent!

The beginning of the school year is like the New Year for me.  I always start out with GOOD INTENTIONS.  I intend to get up a little early to have a few minutes to myself before the family day gets going.  I intend to have the house in order so that the morning won’t be a rush to get lunch or iron shirts or whatever else needs to be done.  I intend to make my bed.

And for the first few weeks I usually keep it up and then something happens.  I forget to set my alarm.  Or I set it but turn it off and turn over.  Life gets crazy and the ironing piles up and I end up having to iron a shirt for Danny just before walking out the door and resort to putting my make-up on in the car.

Yesterday my pastor said something that rang in my head this morning.

Intentions alone will not lead you to your destination.  Direction not intention leads you to your destination

So although I might intend to do all those things throughout the school year I have to actually move in that direction to make it happen. I have to put things in place to make sure that I can follow through on my intentions. It’s like that with anything, right?

I have intended to write a book for years now but that hasn’t gotten me anywhere. Putting pen to paper is the only thing that will get me closer to reaching that goal. Now that I’m back to a schedule I’m hoping to do a lot more of that.

What have you been intending to do that you need to actually start doing?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments so we can cheer each other along.  

One BRAVE step at a time

August 14, 2013 / in Courage, Depression, Dream Big, Encouragement, Faith, Resolve / by

impossible journey

How do you make a dream come true?

One brave step at a time!

So far in 2013, over at For the Girls International, we have built all of our events around this idea that we were created to be STRONG, BEAUTIFUL and BRAVE and we have been cheering women on to take brave steps all year.  I have taken a few myself by talking about my struggle with depression…you can read a little bit about that here, here, and here.

And even though I feel like I’ve definitely taken a few brave steps this year there is one more I have decided to take.

For the longest time I’ve had a secret dream. Well, not completely a secret. Some of those very close to me have known of it. I’ve dreamed of writing a book. I love books!

I love stories and characters and plots and themes. I love how you can learn, even from recreational reading, about places and people and life. I love how words strung together in just the right way can transport you to another world. And I love how people sharing their life experience can reach out beyond the paper pages and touch you right where you live, giving you strength and helpful tools for your journey. And I’ve dreamed of inspiring others as I have been inspired by so many wonderful books.

But here’s the problem:

There are SO many books already! When I stand in Books A MILLION I hear this little voice tell me that the world doesn’t need another book, at least not from me. Who am I to think that the world needs to hear what I have to say?

I expressed this nagging thought to my business coach. (I hired him to keep me focused – something I highly recommend if you have a fly by the seat of your pants kind of personality like me)

And he said to me, “The truth is…you’re right. The world doesn’t need a book from you. The whole world doesn’t need to hear what you have to say. But someone does.”

And that is precisely why I am taking this journey. It’s a little scary to put yourself out there because in order to bring real hope there must be transparency which can leave one feeling a little…well, naked.

But this hope that I have and hold so dearly, I want to share.

So, yesterday I started my journey to write The Six Impossible Things I Believe Before Breakfast – (tag line still to be determined). With one brave step I started.  I had actually written a little bit already but yesterday I bought a white board and post it notes and now I’m telling YOU so that makes it official!!!

What brave step have you been putting off? Start your journey today and let’s do this thing together!

I’ll be sharing bits of the journey here so follow along and please feel free to leave comments.  I love to hear what you have to say! first step