Well hey there! Long time no see. Last week, I finally started finding my groove and getting on top of a lot of the stressers. I took the physical time I needed to rest, I took some time for mental self care, to get on top of my home and pressing projects, and sorted through things one at a time. I’ve gotten back into my workout routine and this week am commencing week 3 of 6 of my Barre workout program that I’m thoroughly enjoying.
There are several things that always get me back into “normal” in a fairly quick manner. One is to refocus on relationships. I often find myself so caught up in the stress and to do list that the relationships get strained causing further stress. I’m not talking about a day or two of distraction. I’m more referencing the weeks in a row of neglect. Sometimes I feel neglected myself but more often than not, I’m the one needing to refocus.
Another thing I do is forget about fighting for routine and normal and just get the to do list knocked out. When there is an endless list of big projects that need to be done for life to continue, I just can’t cope. I’ve tried lots of things to change that but it’s just who I am. I can’t function in chaos or partial chaos so I until it’s done, I just go even crazier than I normally am. A lot of people I know are just like “schedule time every day to work on the projects”, or “focus on time management” but that takes a worse toll on me than just knocking things out. Like I said, it just doesn’t work for me to drag out the pressing to do list. How about you? Are you able to slowly chip away at things or do you just have to get it all knocked out real quick to resume normal?
The last, and most important thing I do is keep in mind that the stressful feeling will eventually pass. It’s so important to stay focused on the fact that “life will get better” than to wallow in the absolutes mindset like “life is *always* stressful” “this will *never* change/ get better” because then you’re resigning yourself to misery instead of being open minded any time there’s an opportunity to be positive and move forward. As I chip away at the pressing things, adjust mentally to the initial psychological shock of whatever is burdening my thoughts, and get up each day with the intent to make progress no matter how big or small, the cloud of stress slowly dissipates.
Honestly, one of the best feelings in the world, I think, is coming out of a stressful time and having the luxury of being back in routine and breathing anew. It’s a feeling of peace, acceptance, and optimism like no other because you know that you fought to be there.
So that’s where I am now. I am feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, and honestly way more balanced than I’ve been for about a year. Up til now, since I’ve launched my blog and started “putting myself out there” and sharing my journey on social media, I’ve been zealous and driven to find my way and get a groove. I finally feel like that’s all stabilizing and I have a balanced/ realistic/ refined purpose, something every day to improve about myself and work towards for physical improvement, and with the upcoming relaunch of my sewing business, I’m doing pretty good at structuring my time and schedule to be successful on the job front. Thankfully, going into everything, I knew it would be a learning phase and an adjustment. Especially since my husband and I are doing some revamping in others areas of our life as well. But we’re narrowing in on our family vision, our goals as individuals and as a couple, and I think even Isaac is feeling optimistic and more driven than before.
Now, unfortunately, I’m still having a lot of really annoying and variant physical problems. My thyroid and symptoms have been flaring up and I just decided last week to go back on my medicine since we’ve postponed the fertility specialists for about a year. It’s a super long process for the medicine to take affect in addition to having to slowly work your way to the right dose. So I’ve begun that and settled into the adjust period while everything stabilizes. The next couple months will be tumultuous physically and emotionally but I’m in the right mindset to tackle things one at a time. Good vibes appreciated!
On another note… This past weekend, Isaac and I celebrated 6 years of marriage. I’m at that point where I feel like we’ve always been married and Isaac’s always been part of my life. Now I know 6 years isn’t that long at all in the grand scheme of things but we’ve been through a lot as individuals and as a couple in this short amount of time. We’ve been through job changes, health problems, several moves, home ownership, babies gained and lost, intense relationship experiences (both positive and negative), built our own community, faced several financial roller coasters, and had lots of individual growth and personal development in the midst of all that. The longer we’re married the more I realize how undeserving I am of this amazing man. He is patient, kind, and forbearing. He’s an amazing provider and gentle, loving leader, and works relentlessly for me and Emmy to have a very comfortable life.
I didn’t know marriage could be so amazing. I really didn’t. I thought it would be average and monotonous and just part of life. Despite the given imperfections because we’re still imperfect humans, being married to Isaac is different. It’s being married to your best friend. It’s an incomprehensible place of no judgement or ill-will. It’s adventurous and exciting but also reliable and constant. I didn’t know love and being loved could be so amazing. I have no clue why God let me have him, but I’m grateful every single day that he’s mine.
We celebrated in a way truly typical to us. A random, crazy adventure involving just enough insanity to keep us sane.
And what we did was a 4 day total trip to Niagara Falls, NY. From where we are in south Alabama, that is 36 hours round trip of just driving. We spent all day Friday driving, Saturday we spent adventuring all around Niagara Falls National Park, and Sunday and most of Monday was driving home with an overnight stop over in Pigeon Forge, TN. It was an epic trip and definitely one for the books!
Here are a few pics of our adventure…
While getting so much quality time in the car, we talked about a new “business” venture that has presented itself to me. I’m not going to say it’s entirely unexpected because it is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time but never really thought possible or really known how to do. But after watching and learning from several webinars over the last few months and utilizing some social media techniques, I was approached by a company who is a key component to making this happen. After brainstorming with Isaac, we’ve come up with a general game plan. It’s all part of that whole thing I mentioned above about feeling focused and purpose driven. I’ve fine-tuned this blog’s purpose and vision and you’ll start seeing changes before too long. I’ll be announcing exactly what will be happening soon once everything is finalized. For now, I’m just gonna say that I’ll still be using this blog to document my progress with life and weight loss and lifestyle improvements with the occasional rambling of thoughts but it will be more geared towards one of my actual passions and be more fine tuned and specific. It involved trademarking a word I made up too so that will also be revealed with everything. I’m not sure how long the process will take but keep an eye on my Instagram (username @emily.helvin ) and I’ll keep that updated with the changes and everything.
I’m gonna sign off for now. Feel free to reach out and let me know how you’re doing, how I can pray for you, and what you’re working on/ through these days. Hope you’re having an awesome June!
Big Loss - Big Resolution 