Hey guys! Long time, no talk. I do apologize for my lack of posts these past couple of weeks. I think between the holidays and the fire back home AND balancing work I was a little overwhelmed. Plus, then I decided to revamp my WHOLE website! Speaking of which, I would love to hear what you think! Please comment below if there are any suggestions you have or content you would like to see in certain sections. Help me, better serve YOU!
Anyways, all that aside, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t nice to just take a break, refocus and redirect. After taking that time off, I feel more ready than ever to take on 2018 and provide you guys with the best content possible! So, without further ado, today’s post is all about my 5 areas of intention for 2018!
1. Wellness
My first and probably most important area I am hoping to focus on this year is wellness. Wellness can be such a broad term, but that is exactly why I chose it. I was INTENTIONAL (my word for the year!) with this term because I don’t just want to focus on working out three times a week or eating healthy 5 days a week, or any of those other limiting phrases we so often use with our New Year Resolutions. Instead, I want to focus on ALL areas that make me well. This does include getting exercise regularly and eating better (my focus is eating REAL food), but it also includes things like taking time to center myself, my spiritual wellness (setting time aside for GOD), spending time with people who bring me JOY and add to my life….these are all important aspects in making me WELL. Health isn’t just diet and fitness; being healthy is so much more than that and it is this shift from viewing being healthy as diet and exercise, to the idea of whole body WELLNESS that we are truly going to see changes in HEALTH in our community.
2. Simplify
The next area I want to focus on is simplifying my life. I am a shopper (let me tell ya!) haha, and so often I go and buy things because I want them at the time or I want to buy something just to buy something. As a result, I end up with so much STUFF. I don’t want STUFF to clutter my life anymore. I want items in my life that make me happy, have meaning, and ADD to my quality of life. I want to INTENTIONALLY bring things into my home that are going to add to my happiness or my husband’s happiness. I added this, by the way, to my list of Intentions for the year after it took me THREE WHOLE DAYS to purge our apartment of all the stuff we had accumulated over the past year. The great thing about the term simplify I love too, is that it is multi-purposeful. Simplify by simplifying what I buy and purchase (translating to spending less and less clutter), but it also signifies getting down to basics too. What is really important in my life? People, my home, my health, my happiness. When I think of this word, I think of so many areas of my life that I can cut down and get back to basics in and I like that. Get back to what is truly IMPORTANT.
3. My Marriage
The average divorce rate is 50%. May not seem like a lot to you, or it may seem like a TON to you. Think of it this way, if you are married and you have a friend that is married, one of you guys will end up getting a divorce. Does that resonate better? It DEFINITELY resonates with me and I refuse to be the 50%. I don’t know where the love goes in these relationships or what exactly happens, but the idea of losing John or not spending my life with John scares me so much. I can’t picture it and to be honest, I don’t want to. As a result, I want to truly cultivate my marriage. I want to be cognizant of the way I refer to him, I want to support him in his career, and I want to just keep up with things a little better. Since, I have moved to Charlotte, I have relied on John a lot. He has been my shoulder to cry on, the only thing that brings me joy some days, and my strongest rock. I owe him a lot. On top of that, we are currently in our first year of marriage and I think if we make good habits now, we will hopefully be able to maintain them for the many more years to come. So here are some areas I am hoping to work on –> being more on top of meal planning, groceries, and cooking, keeping up with our home a little bit better, being aware of the language I use when I get frustrated or upset and making sure I am not using words that might cut him down, and ultimately loving him unconditionally.
4. My Blog
Next up is this platform right here! I initially started this as a hobby and outlet, but now, as I have been progressing and realizing the full potential, I want to be putting more effort and love into this place. I want to truly create a community where women can feel safe, comfortable, supported, and loved. I want to help in any ways that I can and I am excited to see where it takes me. I currently already focus a lot of efforts here, but now I want to really give 100%. I want to represent and cultivate my brand 24/7, create a community, be CONSISTENT with my posting, and most importantly, I want to be real and authentic. This is me and I am here to serve you!
5. Nursing
Lastly, I want to really focus on my nursing career. Nursing was something I was fortunate to be able to be called to. Everything lined up for me and God made it very simple for me to follow his plan. However, ever since becoming a nurse (3 years ago in February), I have moved to a new hospital and city every single year. I truly haven’t been able to hone my craft and I haven’t been able to get to a place where I feel confident in my skills. The great thing about nursing is that you are constantly learning, but the issue I am facing is that I don’t think I am where I should be after three years. As a result, I have set some goals for myself: By the end of the year I will be able to become a charge nurse for the unit, by August I will be able to take ECMO patients, throughout the year I will become a preceptor to help introduce and teach new hires, and lastly I will pass my CCRN. I feel that by focusing on these goals, I will not only learn more, but I will truly get to a more confident place in my nursing career. Guys, this is something I am really excited about. I am ready to be the best nurse I can be!
Well, there ya have it! I hope you have enjoyed learning about my 5 intentional areas and if you need help developing your own 2018 intentions, let me know! I would be more than happy to write a blog post on this or help individually. It was a really great experience for me and really got me motivated for this new year. I will definitely try to do update posts on where my intentions are at as well. Regardless, we have 355 days left in 2018 to really make this year our best yet, so let’s do it!
xoxo,
Melissa
