My Honest FabFitFun Review

Here’s the thing…I hate shopping. Like, I really hate it. I don’t know what it is, but shopping just causes me so much stress. My mom doesn’t even want to go shopping with me because I used to get unpleasant during shopping trips.

There’s about 2-5 times a year when I get in the mood to go shopping, other than that I just try to avoid it. I don’t see the point in spending the money to get new things when I still have items that work perfectly fine. I also don’t like spending money, so there’s that. 

But, I also like getting nice things. I like to splurge sometimes and indulge in nice things every once in a while. But even when I do, I don’t get myself really nice things. 

I had been eyeing FabFitFun for a while because I thought their concept was intriguing. I spent some time watching unboxing videos and reading reviews about the items that come in the box and I finally gave in and signed up November 2016. I wanted to see what all of the hype was about and see if it was worth it.

Items I’m wearing from FabFitFun: sweater poncho, blue light glasses, necklace, bracelet

Let’s just say it’s been 3+ years and I am still a loyal customer! These boxes are amazing and are perfect for me since I don’t like to go shopping and spend a lot of money on myself. 

Not to mention the boxes are always very pretty & my Kip approves!

What is FabFitFun?

If you are unfamiliar with FabFitFun, no worries- I will explain! 

FabFitFun is a seasonal subscription box filled with 8 full sized products for beauty, fashion, fitness, home decor, etc. 

The price? $49.99 per box for seasonal members or a yearly payment of $179.99 upfront for all 4 boxes for the year (you actually save $20 with this option!).

Inside these boxes are $300-$400 worth of products that you paid $49.99 for. Often, there are products in the box that are retailed at the price you paid for the entire box. 

What I love is that I get to splurge on myself. Splurge on nice, quality products that I would never purchase if they weren’t included in the box. 

Here are some of my favorite things about FabFitFun!

Ability to customize your box

The downside to seasonal boxes, is that you don’t get to choose what you get in your box. However, FabFitFun does give you about 4 product options to choose from so you are more likely to get what you want! 

Discounted Add-Ons

Another cool feature is they have what they call Add-Ons where you can shop other products at a discount up to 70% off! You just add the items to your cart and the items ships with your box.

Gifts for Loved Ones

Another great perk of FabFitFun is that the products included in the boxes are high quality and make for great gifts for loved ones. There have been a handful of items that I received that I ended up giving to my mom or someone else that would find more use for them. 

The Add-Ons are another great way to purchase gifts for loved ones. This past winter, I did a majority of my Christmas shopping in their Add-Ons. I was able to get my mom a nice spa set and even got my boyfriend an indoor grill that he absolutely loves! Not to mention these gifts are highly discounted so you get to give quality products to your loved ones at a discounted price! It’s a win-win!

FFF TV

A cool feature on their website that they have what they call FFF TV where they have all kinds of different videos from women they partner with! There are different recipes, workouts, lifestyle tips and information on the current box and the products included.

I’ve made several of the recipes and they are so good and also healthy food!

They Partner with Awesome Influential Women & Organizations 

FabFitFun is all about highlighting influential women who are making an impact on the world. I love reading the various stories about the women they highlight in each box. It always makes me feel empowered and motivated to keep going and keep working towards my own goals of making an impact. 

Here is a sneak peak into items I’ve received in the boxes!

SKINCARE/BEAUTY

I have received so many skincare items in my FabFitFun boxes! From face masks, scrubs, even lip & foot masks!

One of my favorite items I’ve received is this FOREO LUNA fofo. You connect it to an app, it calculates your oil levels and the vibration helps get deeper into pores. I started using this every night with my night time face cleanser & I have been able to notice a huge difference!

Retail price: $89 (almost double what I paid for the entire box!)

More beauty item including face primer, bronzing oil, goat milk face moisturizer & charcoal teeth whitening.

I’ve also got body lotion, oils & nail polish.

HAIRCARE

So much hair care products! I honestly can’t remember the last time I bought myself hair products because FabFitFun covers it all for me!

I’ve even gotten 2 really nice hair straighteners! These are definitely the best quality straighteners that I’ve ever had. I usually just get cheap straighteners from the drug store, so it’s nice to be able to have good quality straighteners that I didn’t even have to pay full price for!

MAKEUP

So many quality makeup items! I’ve gotten a highlight & bronzer pallete from Tartiest, lipsticks, eye shadow pallet, eyeliner, highlighter pencil.

This tarte tartiest PRO glow highlight & contour palette has gotten a lot of use as you can tell! It comes with 4 different highlight shades & 2 bronzers.

Retail price: $45

BATH/SHOWER

I personally loooove any kind of self-care, so any shower/pampering items that I can get my hands on I’m all game for! (You can read more about my thoughts on The Importance Of Self-Care & how much I truly value it!) In these boxes, I have gotten a couple really nice body scrubs and shower gels that really helps amp up my self-care routine!

I even got a band.do bluetooth shower speaker which I absolutely LOVE! My boyfriend loves it too & gets to use it everyday as well- it’s a win-win!

Retail price: $30

Who doesn’t want to start their day with an in-shower jam session?!

FASHION

These boxes always have 1 fashion piece which I always find very useful! Some of these items include hats & gloves in the winter boxes that are very useful during the winter months here in the midwest!

Also, suuuuper comfty blanket scarves! They care very cute & also warm during those frigid winter evenings!

Also, a cute umbrella and Rachel Pally Reversible Clutch for spring time!

Rachel Pally Reversible Clutch Retail price: $60

Even this cute bathrobe that I absolutely LOVE! It’s super cute & I love throwing it on when I’m getting ready for the day in the morning. You can read more about my My Morning Routine As A Young Entrepreneur Working From Home for more on how I spend my morning for productivity & focus!

Retail price: $84

I got this really nice tote that I use to carry all of my work items! It’s nice to have a nice bag to carry all of my items in to meetings!

Retail price: $128 (almost what I pay for an entire YEAR of boxes!)

JEWELRY/ACCESSORIES

I have received several cute necklaces in some of the boxes! Also, a bracelet & ear crawlers. They are always a nice addition to any outfit!

To have a nice place to store the jewelry on when I’m not wearing them, I’ve even received 2 jewelry holders!

FITNESS

Who doesn’t love fitness items to make your workout even more exciting?! I absolutely love the rollers I’ve received in the boxes to roll out my sore muscles, as well as bands to help me stretch.

I even got my gym bag in a FabFitFun box! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had women come up to me at the gym to ask where I got it from because it is so cute!

Retail price: $59

WORK/ORGANIZATION

You not only get beauty items in these boxes, but you can even get items to help you stay nice & organized! Especially since I have my own business & work from home, I absolutely love that I have been able to receive items through FabFitFun that allow me to stay nice & organized!

Since I spend most of my day staring straight at a computer, I had been thinking I should invest in some blue light glasses. I was so happy when I was able to get them through FabFitFun, because I was able to get a quality pair of glasses that I probably need and didn’t have to pay full price for. I am even wearing these glasses right now while I am typing up this post!

Sweater poncho & necklace are also from FabFitFun!

HOME

I’ve also received items that I can use around the house and find get use for!

I wear the eye mask every single night & it has a ice pack inside to help with eye puffiness, which is suuuper nice!

I absolutely love The Five Minute Journal & have seen great progress in my mindset in writing in it for the last couple years. You can read more about my experiences with this in my post about The Power of Journaling!

This isn’t the best picture of this roundie, but this is cute to use when on a picnic during the spring & summer!

Retail price: $50

Also, a pouch that I always use to help me pack for vacation and nice coasters that I have placed all over the apartment!

Yes, even the blanket I used to take the pictures on came from FabFitFun! It’s a light blanket and perfect for spring/summer.

Also can’t forget about all of these kitchen items! I’ve gotten a mug, cheese board, copper measuring spoons, bowls & wine glasses!

The bowls are perfect for healthy snacking! There are 3 sizes and are perfect for holding dips, veggies and anything else you might be snacking on!

One of the best items that I’ve gotten through FabFitFun is this indoor grill! I gave it to my boyfriend for Christmas and he absolutely loves it! Since we live in the Midwest, we can’t grill during the winter months (we also can’t have grills on our patio-sigh), so this option is absolutely perfect for us!

How cool is it that I was able to get my boyfriend such an amazing gift through FabFitFun?!

As you can see, I’ve received so many really great items through FabFitFun! It really is the perfect option for me since I don’t like shopping, but enjoy getting quality items.

I am so excited to partner with FabFitFun to offer you 20% discount on your first box so you can start receiving these AMAZING items as well! To give you some perspective, that’s $300-$400 worth of amazing products for only $39.99!

READY TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS AMAZING OFFER?!

*Click HERE & Use code FLOWERS for 20% off your first box until May 31!

I hope you enjoy these boxes as much as I do!!

xx

Why I’m Proud of Millennials and Proud to be One

It wasn’t until one of my assignments during my master’s program a couple years ago when I realized how much older generations didn’t like millennials. Actually, how much they strongly disliked millennials, especially in the workplace. This program was for Business Psychology and had a couple generations in the program, so I got exposed to several opinions. The answers were eye opening & made me a little bit upset because I was not expecting everyone to be so harsh.

Since the class was online, the assignment was to make a post in the online classroom space describing working our own experiences with each generation in the workplace. 

Almost every single person who was in older generation described millennials as “lazy” and that they didn’t have any social/interpersonal skills, relied too much on technology, constantly glued to our phones. Even other millennials were complaining about our own generation. Granted, maybe they did have their own bad experience, but I have a hard time believing that everyone was “lazy”. But it’s like we hear how lazy we are & are disappointed to be a part of the generation.

I was shocked. It honestly never occurred to me to think that millennials were lazy at all, especially because I see how hard we all work. I see how many amazing things that millennials are doing and the amazing impact they are making on the world. We are taking what are learning & making some really great change that this world needs.

I was also confused because it’s not our fault that we were born right in the middle of the booming digital era. We were handed phones, learned how to use computers in school and then now we were being blamed for it. Doesn’t make much sense to me.

I see people complain so much, that our own generation is complaining about ourselves. That some people do believe that millennials are just lazy people and there’s nothing good to say about them other than “they’re good at technology/social media”.

The point of this post isn’t to say that the following things aren’t prevalent in other generations, because they definitely are! But, while everyone is complaining about millennials, I just wanted to touch on some of the things that I’ve observed to be true for the millennials. We aren’t a bunch of lazy, self-centered people that have nothing to put out into the world.

Here’s why I’m Proud of Millennials and proud to be one.

Millennials are inclusive

Nothing warms my heart more than seeing how much we all care for each other for the most part. Now, more than ever we are seeing support for everyone, allowing everyone to be who they are. I’m able to see so much growth in society allowing people to be free to be who they are. 

We are the first generation to really be inclusive for the LGBTQ community, allowing others to be truly who they really are. For the most part, we all want everyone to be who they are and to feel like they are supported and accepted, because everyone does deserves it.

Millennials support and stand up for one another. 

For the most part, millennials truly care about one another and want to see each other treated with respect. I see so many people standing up and doing the right things for one another. Seeing someone being treated unfairly, we stand up for them. We are creating this conversation to make sure that everyone is being included. There’s still a lot of work still to be done, but this is a good start! 

At the end of the day, we truly care and want the best for everyone. This is one my favorite things I love about being a millennial. We are truly making a difference in shifting how we treat others. Like I already mentioned, everyone truly deserves to be happy.

“Work smart, not hard” mentality. 

Baby Boomers are known for how hard they work and I truly do admire their work ethic and their passion. I’ve seen it and know that first hand how hard they work and it’s truly admirable. With advancements in technology and growing up around it, we know how to do things faster and more effectively. Why waste time “working hard” when we can do things faster, more effectively and more productively?

I have also noticed that millennials are working multiple jobs, multiple side hustles to be able to pay off student loans. So, we are also willing to put in the extra work to make ends meet. Trust me when I say that we are not “lazy”, we want to get things done faster and more efficiently. Who doesn’t want that?!

Millennials want to do meaningful work. 

Passion is a big deal for us millennials. While that might frustrate some people in older generations, I don’t see anything wrong with it. When you are passionate about something, you are more likely to show up even better in work. But, this passion is about making a difference in the world. It’s something that we truly believe in and want to make a significant impact on the world.

We want to make a difference in the world and want to enjoy what we are doing. Yes, “work is work”, but why not do something that makes us happy & proud to do it? I have to admit, I actually strongly dislike the phrase, “work is work”, like it’s supposed to be miserable and you just have to hate it.

At the end of the day, what’s the point if you are truly miserable doing what you’re doing every single day? We want meaningful work that we enjoy doing & is making a difference in the world. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Life doesn’t have to start when you retire. That’s just ridiculous to me.

Millennials want to get the most out of life. 

Us millennials think that whole “life starts after retirement” is ridiculous. We don’t want to just work our lives away and wait until afterwards to be able to enjoy life. Why wait when we can build a happy, enjoyable life right now?

I’m starting to see more and more people drift away from the typical 8-5 Monday-Friday work schedule. While a majority of people still do, I am starting to see people drift away from this schedule. I’m also starting to see small businesses become flexible in allowing employees to work from home if they need to. What’s wrong with that?!

Millennials are smart. 

Yes, believe it or not, millennials are incredibly smart. It is even harder to get into college. Not to mention a bachelor’s degree is becoming less and less relevant anymore, let alone affordable. A lot of times, you need at least a master’s degree to be able to qualify for many jobs, even “entry-level”. 

Even then, it’s even harder and more demanding to just get a job. Qualifications are ridiculous and it’s very hard to find a job that fits your unique set of talents. Despite the growing demand, I know many millennials who are going back to school to get higher degree and landing very prestigious jobs.

Personally, I failed at getting a job. You can read more about this in Getting Fired Was The Best Thing to Happen to Me. Nobody had what would capitalize on my individual strengths and nobody wanted to actually give me a chance. It took a lot of work and a lot of time trying to convince employers that I “had what it took” and it didn’t work.

Trust me when I say that we aren’t lazy!

Innovative “Outside the Box” thinking. 

Let’s be real, businesses need young employees on their team. While traditional methods might work now, it’s not going to work forever. Millennials bring so much knowledge and talent that make all the difference in business and production. Not to mention ideas that increase efficiency and productivity. Remember the “work smart not hard” mentality? That’s what I’m talking about here.

Every business needs new, up-to-date, innovative thinking on their team in order to stay relevant in business. Whether older generations want to admit it or not, millennials are needed on the team because we can bring so many ideas and talents to the business. 

Millennials are building businesses and making a difference. 

We all have something to learn from everybody. Nothing is perfect and I’m not saying everything about millennials is perfect. But, we all have something that we can learn from each other.

I have noticed that a lot of millennials are becoming freelancers and building their own business making their own impact. If nobody is going to give a chance to make the difference in the world that we are meant to make, we will create it ourselves and do an AMAZING job!

You can read more about my experiences in these posts about building my own business:

My journey from a struggling high school student to starting my own business

First month of entrepreneurship

Six Month Business Recap : What I’ve Learned

2019 Reflection + What I Learned In My First Year Of Business

BUSINESS PLAN FOR 2020 / CHANGES TO BUSINESS

At the end of the day, I am VERY proud of millennials and I am definitely proud to be one! We can’t help that we grew up during the time when technology was booming. We can’t help that we grew up with a phone in our hands. We can’t help that we have more efficient technology at our fingertips. But, we are trying our best to use this knowledge to make a difference in the world and do work more efficiently.

I’ve talked to my mom about this and she says this happens with every generation and everyone is always hesitant when a new generation grows older and enters the workforce. But, every time a new generation makes their presence, amazing things happen!

Just wait until you see what the NEXT generation can accomplish!

xx

7 Fool-Proof Social Media Strategies

Let’s be honest, social media can be extremely frustrating, especially when it comes to utilizing it for business. There’s so much to learn about the different platforms & the algorithms, let alone figure out how to use the platforms to your advantage.

Social media can be a very powerful tool in business & can be used to build your business, but only if you are able to use them strategically and work around the algorithms. So, I want to let you in on some of my most powerful, game changing strategies for thriving on social media!

I spent one year in Social Media Management, worked with several clients, spent HOURS learning, testing, studying, pulling information together and have seen proven results with the information I am sharing with you. 

I’ve been able to gather so much information over the last year & I want to share all of this information & secrets I’ve been able to learn & see proven results with!

Here are my top 7 tips for conquering social media!

Do Your Research

Do some research on what your competitors are doing on social media. By locating your competitors & doing a little research on their platforms, this should help give you an idea what you can do for your business!

Come up with a plan

I have always been one to need to be organized at all times and I think this is incredibly important for being successful on social media. The more you can plan ahead, the better off you will be!

When I was working with clients, I would sit down at the end of every month and map out ideas for content throughout the upcoming month. I found that working with pen and paper first helped in brainstorming ideas.

Get organized

Planning what content you are going to post & getting into a planning system is one thing, but actually preparing the post is another story. After you figure out what you want to post, you need to get everything ready to go to make your life a little easier!

Be consistent

On average, it takes around 7-11 touches to actually get someone’s attention. So, one solid social media post is not likely going to gain a lot of traction. Let alone result in multiple sales. So, we have to make sure we are being consistent so your potential customers/clients don’t forget about you forever.

Write good captions

Captions can be tricky. Do you write long captions? Do you write short & sweet captions? Do you write the same caption on all platforms? It depends. If you can get your point across in a couple sentences, stick with that. If you feel that you need to tell a story to get your point across, do that. Instagram tends to be better for longer captions, but it isn’t always necessary!

Use the right hashtags

If you don’t already know, hashtags are incredibly crucial for making sure your posts are searchable & getting in front of the right audience, especially on Instagram & Twitter.

Making sure you are using the right hashtags for your business & industry takes a little bit of research. There are infinite amounts of hashtags out there that are being used every day & can be used to potentially get in front of your target audience.

Pay attention to your page & post analytics

I can’t stress this enough! If you want to be successful on social media, you HAVE to pay attention to analytics! There is no one-size-fits-all formula for social media. You have to be monitoring how your posts are performing so you know what you need to continue doing and what you can do without.

Need these strategies to be explained in further detail?

I have put together 3 comprehensive social media guides explaining these tips in detail, explaining EXACTLY what you should be doing on your social media platforms!

These guides are perfect for those who don’t want to hire someone to take over their accounts, but need some solid guidelines on EXACTLY what they should be doing to optimize their platforms!

I spent a year in my social media management business learning all of the strategies for conquering each social media platform and I am so happy to be able to provide you with these comprehensive guides! 

The information included are exactly what I’ve spent HOURS learning, testing out, studying and have seen proven results with. I have chosen to focus these guides on Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn, because those are the platforms that I feel I have gained the most knowledge from and have seen the most results from.

After pulling together all of the information I’ve gathered, I have compiled them into 3 guides: Ultimate Social Media Guide, Social Media Strategies Per Platform & Social Media Checklist.

WHAT YOU GET WITH THESE GUIDES

ULTIMATE SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE:

  • 18 pages full of strategies I’ve used to transform several client’s platforms
  • My system to getting organized & planning your content
  • Tips for writing captions for your posts
  • Tips for using the correct hashtags on your posts for the most exposure
  • How to monitor your analytics so you can best optimize your platforms

SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES PER PLATFORM:

  • 11 page breakdown of social media strategies per platform for Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn
  • Strategies for setting up personal & business profiles
  • Tips for posts on the different platforms
  • Various tips & strategies that are unique to each platform

SOCIAL MEDIA CHECKLIST:

  • This checklist is what I use to perform & analyze platforms for social media audits
  • I took the information included in the Ultimate Social Media Guide & Social Media Strategies Per Platform guide & put together an organized checklist for making sure you have included everything needed to optimize the different platforms

The information included are exactly what I’ve spent HOURS learning, testing out, studying and have seen proven results with! No fluff here, just exactly what I used to increase my clients social media engagement & presence up to 700%. You want these guides if you want to know my secrets!

>> CLICK HERE to get your hands on these comprehensive social media guides!

My Morning Routine As A Young Entrepreneur Working From Home

We’ve all heard all about how setting a solid morning routine is incredibly important for starting the day. I don’t believe there’s one “perfect” morning routine universal for everyone. What works really well for me might not work for you and vice versa and that’s OK! But, I do think it’s important for everyone to set one for themselves & test out different strategies to figure out what that ideal morning routine looks like. 

The thing about routines is that they change often. They change with us, when certain life shifts happen. For me, it’s changed many times over the years & especially with starting my own business working from home.

Personally, I’m a BIG morning person. I’m definitely one of those “annoying morning people” that people like to complain about. I just think mornings are so peaceful, especially early mornings. I love getting up early before the sun and taking my time to get ready for the day because how I spend my mornings definitely sets the tone for how the rest of the day is going to be. 

Figuring out what works for you

Since everyone is different, it’s important to learn about yourself & test out different things to be able to come up with a solid morning routine. One thing that I’ve learned about myself over the years is that I get stressed out really easily. It’s frustrating, but it’s just one of those traits that I have. Once I get stressed out, it’s hard to get myself back together & I have figured out the best way to deal with it is to prevent myself from getting to that point. 

The most prominent thing that I’ve learned for preventing stress is being planned, organized & prepared. The feeling of being behind or that I am under time pressure is one of the easiest ways for me to get overwhelmed. I need to have things planned out and prepared ahead of time, I do not handle procrastination well AT ALL! 

My morning routine might seem a bit excessive for some, but this is what works for me. After experimenting with my morning routine for several years now, I’ve been able to pinpoint certain things that are important for my morning routine. 

Here’s what my routine looks like:

My morning routine starts the night before

I think this is true for a lot of people, but making sure everything is prepped & ready is helpful in making sure the morning flows smoothly. Plus, you can save yourself a lot of time & stress in the AM!

I prep the coffee maker, prep breakfast (crack eggs into a tupperware, measure oats), prep snacks/smoothie so I just have to reach in the fridge throughout the day.

I also lay out my gym clothes & make sure everything is packed in my gym bag. Having everything ready helps me feel like I can make sure I’m not rushed and make sure that I don’t get stressed out!

(I’ll write another post on my night time routine!) 

EArly morning gym time

I have been going to the gym first thing in the morning for about a year and a half now. A lot of people call me crazy, but it’s been the most amazing lifestyle shift. I’ve found that getting my workout done first thing in the morning helps with my anxiety & not talking myself out of getting to the gym throughout the day.

You can read more about this in How/ Why I Go To The Gym At 5AM & also 3 Tips for Early Morning Workouts if you are thinking about transitioning to working out early!

Starting my day with a sweaty workout has been the key thing to making sure that I don’t get overwhelmed. I notice that if I go more than 2 days without a workout, I get on edge and start feeling overwhelmed & stressed out. It’s such a great feeling to start the day getting to the gym early & clear my mind! 

Breakfast

I always have breakfast with my boyfriend when we get back from the gym! He jumps in the shower & gets ready for work while I prepare a healthy breakfast for both of us. Having everything prepped the night before helps makes things so much easier for me!

Meditation

I’ve been experimenting with meditation for the last couple years. I have been inconsistent with it, but I have recently added it back into my morning routine. I’ve been trying to make it a habit to meditate for 5-10 minutes after I shower & get dressed and it honestly helps significantly. 

Once I start, I notice how much my mind is focused on all the tasks I have to do for the day. Letting my mind calm down helps me to be able to focus & think more clearly.

Even though I’ve been practicing meditation for a couple years, I’m not very good at it! It really takes a lot of practice. It can be difficult to shut everything off & focus just on your breath, so I’m a big fan of guided meditations. My favorite guided Meditations are in the Sanvello app that I talked about in My 8 Step Process to Overcoming Depression.

Sitting in mediation for 5-10 minutes helps me calm my mind so I feel nice & grounded. Since I get stressed out easily, making sure my mind is calm & clear is extremely important in making sure that I don’t start my workday feeling like my mind is all over the place.

Journaling

After calming my mind with 5-10 minutes of meditation, I sit at my desk and get ready for the work day. You’ve heard me mention this many times, especially in The Power of Journaling! Over the summer I would sit out on my patio for about 30 minutes to journal & get some fresh air.

I journal about what’s on my mind, what’s bothering me, what I feel like I need to get done for the day & how I’m feeling. I just let my mind do the writing and get everything out that I need to. I find that getting everything out of my head & onto paper helps me organize my thoughts and make sure that my mind is calm and ready to take on the day.

Sometimes I find myself thinking that I can skip journaling & sometimes I do. When I do skip journaling for a couple of days, I start getting overwhelmed so I try not to make it habit.

I actually just recently talked myself out of journaling for about a week because I had a lot on my to-do list. I started feeling myself get consumed by my thoughts around everything I had to get done. After I noticed this, I decided I needed to stop talking myself out of it & I ended up journaling for about 2 pages. Taking the time to journal has really helped in getting everything out of my head and out on paper, ultimately helping me feel better & better able to focus.

Review my to-do list & make a plan for the day

I try my best to write out my to-do list the night before, but that doesn’t always happen & sometimes I have some new ideas that I want to add into my schedule. So, I make sure that I take some time to review everything that needs to be done and make sure I have a plan for the day.

By this time, it’s around 8am and I am ready to get started on my work for the day! It’s always so nice to be able to start the workday with a clear mind & fresh perspective. We are all so busy and often get caught up in the motions of everyday life that we don’t take the time for ourselves.

I have enjoyed the transition to being my own boss & working from home, but it has been a hard & stressful journey! Being completely in control of my time & schedule is difficult, but I’ve been able to figure out what works best for me. Having a solid morning routine in place, especially focusing on self-care and prioritizing my mental health has been so refreshing!

I hope you take the time to try out different things for your morning routine. Even making it a goal to get up a little bit earlier so you can ease into your day can be very helpful!

xx

The Circle of Life / Navigating the loss of loved ones & tragic events

I started writing this post MONTHS ago when I was on my way to visit my grandmother. I started writing it in the car when emotions were high. Life happened and I never got back to finishing this post. I remember planning on publishing it shortly after she passed, but never got around to it because things got busy.

But, recent events going on in the world have me back to feeling high into emotion.

We are constantly going through the motions of life,  focused on whatever is going on in our lives, until something happens that forces us to take a step back and really reflect.

I have been all focused on my business this past month. I’ve been really motivated and, but with that I’ve been neglecting my own self-care that I preach about. I was aware this was happening, but I told myself that it was OK because I wanted to take advantage of this motivation that I was feeling. 

I was getting so much done and it was incredibly liberating to feel that energy again because I had been lacking it for months. There’s so much that I want to do and I was finally feeling the motivation and the drive to actually put that desire to ACTION. 

Then, the series of tragedies to start 2020 began. My heart always hurts a little bit when tragedies happen. Especially ones that are so widespread and effect so many people. From the fires in Australia, a series of fatal house fires here in my home town, senseless crimes, reading news on my feed of people I know losing loved ones. 

Then, we received the news about Kobe Bryant and for some reason, that news hit me like a ton of bricks and all of my emotions started pouring to me. The more we learned about the accident, the more heartbreaking the whole story became.

I think Lizzo said it best her grammy speech,“This week I was lost in my problems, then in an instant all of that can go away and your priorities really shift.”

We all take life for granted at times. We are all so blessed to be here and often don’t take the time to really appreciate that. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed, but things happen, tragic things happen. Not only to us, but to our loved ones. 

I did want to remind everyone that it’s okay to be sad and angry and frustrated when things happen, because they will. It’s hard to understand & comprehend why bad things happen to good people & it’s impossible to justify why they happen.

Whatever you do, don’t suppress your feelings & emotions. Cry if you need to, yell if you need to, curse into your pillow. Do what ever you need to do to release those emotions from your system, into the universe.

Give yourself permission to be sad during tragic times & don’t forget to take care of yourself.

The series of tragic events have forced me to stop and think for a moment. Think about things that are really important to me that I’ve been neglecting because I have been so focused on my work I’ve been working SO HARD and I have been able to accomplish some really amazing work over the last couple weeks of this new year. I’ve put my own self-care on the back burner, and a lot of other things that are really important to me. But, these events have forced me to come back to this blog post that I had started 4-5 months ago. It brought me back to losing my grandmother this past fall and how grateful I have been to have all of my grandparents in my life for so long. 

I have been so lucky to have had ALL of my grandparents for 23 years. All four of them. It was something that I didn’t realize how lucky I was and how rare that is. Not only did I have 2 amazing parents, but I also had 4 amazing grandparents.

It was always a blessing to know that my parents would show their support for my brother and I by coming to our sports games and any other activities we were involved in. We always knew that we would look up in the stands and see them cheering us on. Then at least once a year, we would look up in our stands and see both sets of grandparents up in the stands with them.

We would receive phone calls on our birthdays, birthday cards, Christmas cards, lots of family gatherings. I mean, I had the best childhood and was so incredibly blessed that I had that in my life for 23 years.

In April 2016, my mom’s mom was put on hospice and passed away a short time later. It was the first time when I really had to experience intense grief. It was when I saw my own mom struggling to deal with the loss of her mother and have to take care of her father because he slowly started to decline after her passing.

He started to decline. My mother and her siblings had to take turns taking care of him until it was his time to be called Home. This is the Circle of Life.

Just 2 short months later, my mom’s father passed away. The grief was almost overwhelming. It was hard seeing my own mother so upset and having to deal with the intense grief that comes with losing both parents in such a short amount of time.

I didn’t deal with this loss well. At all. My mental health struggled and I was just extremely sad to see such an important part of my life disappear. But, in the process I gained some incredible guardian angels.

It then hit me that I will soon have to go through the same thing with my dad’s parents, especially since they are about 10 years older than my mom’s parents.

Well, September 2019 was that time. Time for us to prepare to say goodbye to my dad’s mom. As of right now, while I’m writing this, it’s Saturday September 14, 2019. My boyfriend and I are on our way to visit my grandmother. She was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer the weekend prior and was put on hospice. At this moment, she doesn’t have that much time. We are on our way to say our goodbyes.

It’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking to see my grandparents go through this time in their lives and to ultimately leave earth. All the memories are just memories.

It’s hard to see my parents have to struggle to help their parents make the transition to be called Home. To see them have to make hard decisions.

This visit ended up not being the last time I saw her. I visited her again on October 22 with my mom and she passed away on October 25. At the end of the day, I miss all of my grandparents. I miss them dearly & wish that I could bring them back & heal the heartbreak my parents feel.

But, this is the Circle of Life. They did their part on earth. They lived their lives, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end. This is the hard part that comes with life, having to say goodbye to the ones that we love. To turn those happy fun moments into distant memories.

To carry their legacy with us. To keep their memory alive.

They lived their life, it’s time for me to live mine. 

My 8 Step Process to Overcoming Depression

*Before I start, I want to emphasize the fact the depression is very serious. While I have a degree in psychology, I am NOT a trained professional. If you feel like you need professional help, please seek professional help immediately! These tips are what helped me when I was experiencing depression. Just know that you are not alone, we are in this together! ❤ 

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255  

Depression is an unexplainable thing. It’s extremely serious and a lot of people experience depression to a certain extent at some time in their lives. It can come at any time and affect people in different ways. While depression can be a very isolating feeling, I want everyone to know that you are very much not alone. It can be very difficult to understand that while you are going through feeling of depression, but I want anyone reading this to know that you don’t have to go through this alone. 

Depression hit me hard and I was confused why I was feeling the way I was feeling because I truly have an amazing life. I was raised by the most amazing parents who gave me everything that I could have ever needed in my life growing up. I was always loved and truly had everything I needed to be happy. I have always been a naturally happy, cheerful, positive person. I have always loved that about myself and always wanted to spread as much happiness as possible. Which is why I wanted to pursue a career in psychology.

So, when I was feeling like I was slipping into depression, I honestly felt guilty and confused. 

On paper, I had everything that I could have ever needed in my life. I had every reason to be happy. I knew there were so many people in the world dealing with much harder situations, so I truly felt guilty. I felt like I didn’t need to feel the way that I did. What I didn’t understand at the time is that anyone can experience depression. It doesn’t matter how blessed you feel like you are. 

Depression isn’t just a “bad day” where you just “get over it” and move on. It’s not an emotion. Depression is serious and needs to be taken seriously. Most of the time, it takes some kind of therapy to dive deep into cognitive processes and treat the source as deemed necessary by a professional. 

It doesn’t mean something is wrong with you or you did anything wrong. However, I completely understand and resonate with people who tell themselves this on a daily basis. I know how serious depression is and how damaging it can be. While I experienced mild depression, I didn’t need to be put on an antidepressant, however some people do need to be.

There were some things that helped me & I want to take the time to write out the process I used to climb out of the depression. I hope that anyone reading this finds some hope that they will be able to make it through this and be able to experience at least some relief. ❤

1.I WENT TO THERAPY.

The absolute number one thing I want to mention first is I sought out professional help. I tried to do it on my own, but I eventually realized that it just wasn’t possible. So, I found a counselor in my network and I started going to therapy. To be honest, I never thought I would be someone who went to therapy. I always saw myself as someone being the therapist. I thought that if I went to therapy, that would mean that I didn’t have what it took to be a therapist, because I should be able to help myself if I’m going to help others. If that’s you at all, just know that’s absolutely not true! 

I truly give credit to therapy for really jump starting my healing process. If I didn’t have the therapy, I don’t think I would have been able to get through it, to be honest. It is so incredibly helpful to have a safe space to talk about everything going on, to cry if you need to and to have someone there to help you through it all. Every time I went, I would leave feeling 10 pounds lighter than I did when I walked in. Trust me when I say that the first step is to seek professional help. Trying to get through it on your own is almost impossible. It’s OK to allow yourself to get help if you need it! 

2. I STARTED TAKING SELF-CARE SERIOUSLY.

In addition to counseling, there’s definitely some inner work that needs to happen between sessions. One 1-hr session biweekly isn’t going to deliver results, because there’s work that you need to do on your own to. I remember things like struggling to sleep at night became nightly occurrence. I was sleeping an average of 3-4 hours per night and I was always exhausted.

In my first session with my therapist, she gave me several things to do to start taking care of myself better. Some things she told me to work on were: journaling, meditation, getting outside, exercising. The more I started started really focusing on myself and my self-care, the more I started noticing things falling into place. It was a hard journey, but definitely worth it in the end. Make sure you are really prioritizing your self-care! If you want some self-care ideas, make sure you check out my post on The Importance of Self-Care. ❤

3. I STARTED JOURNALING REGULARLY.

Journaled, and journaled some more! I know I’ve talked about this a lot, but I give a lot of credit to journaling for my progress. There’s just so many benefits that can come from journaling if you do it regularly. It can be a little weird to get started because you might not know what to talk about, but I promise if you keep at it, it will become a habit and you will start uncovering a lot going on in your subconscious! I wrote a blog post all about the transformative experience I’ve had with journaling and you can read all about it in The Power of Journaling.

4. I DOWNLOADED THE SANVELLO APP (PREVIOUSLY PACIFICA).

I’m actually surprised that I’ve never heard anyone other than my therapist talk about this app. I used this app religiously for 1-2 years while I was healing. I love it because there are guided meditations, journal prompts, you can rate how your day is going and so many other things. There is a free version, but you do have to pay to upgrade to use all of its features. I would pay for a month or 2 at a time while I felt like I needed extra help. You can easily downgrade the update the settings in the iTunes app.

I would highly recommend this app if you feel like you need some extra help! 

5. MADE IT A GOAL TO GET OUTSIDE everyday.

When I was feeling depressed, I noticed that all I wanted to do was lay in my dark room and watch TV. That’s literally ALL that I wanted to do. When I got home from work, I would change into the comfiest clothes I owned, turned off the lights and climbed into bed. That’s where I stayed until I had to get up the next morning for work. It could have been the most beautiful day outside & all I wanted to do was lay in bed in my dark room. So, I started making it a goal to get outside for at least 30 minutes a day. At least just sit outside on the patio, or even better, go for a walk. I just knew that I needed to get outside and get some fresh air. 

What started as just sitting outside for a half hour, turned into actually getting some exercise. I started going on walks every morning when I got up. I would go for walks during the sunrise, take deep breaths and really take in the beauty of nature. I also started walking around during my lunch breaks at work. Just to get outside, walk around and debrief. Nature is truly powerful!

6. I STARTED EXERCISING AGAIN.

I have always been into exercising. I grew up an athlete and always enjoyed being in the gym. In a Behavioral Psychology class I took in college, I remember the professor asking us to write down one thing that would be a sign something was wrong if we stopped doing it. Something we are truly passionate about. For me, it was working out. So, when I found that I hadn’t gone to the gym in 2-3 months, I knew that I needed to slowly get back into it. Even if it just meant going on a walk in the evening. Just starting slow. Starting somewhere. 

So, I started making it a goal to get to the gym a couple times a week after work. I slowly started making working out a priority again and started noticing myself feeling better about myself. You can read more about this in My Fitness Journey | Choosing Yourself First.

7. I started eating healthier.

Here’s the thing, I actually lost about 10 pounds while going through this. But, losing weight DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL HAPPINESS. Especially in this example because I was not making healthy choices. I wasn’t eating a lot and when I was, I was eating things like cliff bars for dinner. When I did eat, it wasn’t always the best food choices. Honestly, when you start fueling your body with nutritious foods, you start feeling so much better overall. Like everything, this takes a lot of time and patience.

I actually hired an online health coach that made a plan for me because I knew that I needed some help. While I completely understand that this isn’t always financially reasonable for some people, there are so many resources online to refer to in making some changes to diet. There are so many ways to make small changes throughout the day to keep damaging chemicals out of the body. 

There’s just so much benefit to fueling your body with healthy, nutritious foods. Other than the known benefits to you physically, it can help with your mental health as well. Just simply changing my diet helped me start to feel better!

8. I started hanging out with friends.

I remember during this time, I wasn’t really motivated to go out and hang out with friends. I found myself wanting to just stay home and watch TV all day. While it was lonely, that’s what I preferred.

But, I noticed that when I did spend time outside of the house and interacting with my friends, that I actually started feeling better. So, I made it a goal to start making plans with my friends.

Even though you might feel exhausted and just want to lay around all day by yourself, just getting yourself out can make you start feeling better!

RECAP

At the end of the day, it’s taken about 2-3 years of working on myself to get to where I am today. There is no magic solution to feeling better and loving yourself again, or maybe for the first time. You’re not going to wake up one day feeling amazing. There’s not going to be a magic feeling that you are ready to conquer the world. 

However, starting with small goals will turn into HUGE accomplishments. The process will look different for everyone. But, I know there are a couple universal things that will help most people. Those things being:

  • Getting professional help
  • Journaling
  • Getting outside
  • Exercising
  • Fueling the body with healthy, unprocessed food
  • Getting yourself out of the house and spending time with friends

One other thing I recommend doing is tracking progress. For me, this is done by writing in my journal. I keep all of my journals and sometimes refer back to them. I find myself looking back at the same day a year or two prior, just to see all of the progress I’ve made over the years. Just when you feel like you haven’t made any progress, you will realize how far you have truly come.

You got this! Don’t be afraid to reach out for help if you need it! ❤

xx

Getting Over Extreme Burnout

If you’ve ever experienced extreme burnout, you know just how frustrating it can be. It’s something that happens to just about everyone at some point and it can be really difficult to get over it. 

Over the last year of building my business, I had to go through a really important learning experience about building a business. The most prevalent thing that I had to figure out was how to schedule my time to best fit my schedule and how I work best.  [You can read more about this in my post about 2019 Reflection + What I Learned In My First Year In Business.]

When you have a job, there’s already a process in place and you just have to learn it and adjustments are made when necessary. When you are building a business, you have to figure all of that out on your own. Especially if you are building your own business and just starting out, it’s most likely just YOU. A one woman/man show. Which is a very wonderful thing because you get to be in complete control of the business and build it exactly how you want. 

But, it also means that you are to figure everything out by yourself. Figure out how to do everything, when to do everything. The best process that makes the most sense and works FOR you, in your favor. 

What I learned is that you have no idea what you don’t know. You have to go through a learning/trial & error time period before the puzzle pieces start coming together. After the first year of my business, I definitely understand how a lot of people decide to stop pursuing their business because it can be incredibly mentally draining. You don’t know what you’re doing. You keep standing up, just to get knocked back down again. You question whether you have what it takes. You take on the wrong clients. Money isn’t flowing in like you wanted it to. You start feeling discouraged and maybe a bit burnt out.

You feel like you’re constantly shouting into the abyss, working way more than you have before and not getting very far. After you try so hard for so long with no system or understanding of what to do, it gets tiring, frustrating & overwhelming.

I’m learning that starting a business is a mental test.

It’s extremely hard and exhausting at first, but if you keep standing up, the pieces start falling into place. For me, I ended up falling into a really extreme burnout. I started despising my work. I had a hard time just getting myself to figure out what I needed to do when I sat at my desk in the morning. I was constantly exhausted and felt like I just needed to lay around all day. 

It’s confusing and it’s hard. I’ve had to experience so many mental breakdowns. Moments of frustration because I just wanted to figure this out so I can finally get my career going. There were so many times when I just sat there and thought that maybe I didn’t have what it took to run a business and be successful like I thought I was capable of. 

After dealing with what I describe as an extreme level of burnout for about 6 months, I can finally say that I have finally found myself climbing out of the dark whole that I accidentally worked myself into. It took lots of hard work. Lots of trusting the process. Lots of making myself stand back up even though I just wanted to stay down at times because it was easier… and less disappointing. 

I know lots of people deal with burnout at some point and I know just how frustrating and exhausting it can be. I know my example I just talked about was about building a business, but burnout can happen to anyone at any time. No matter what situation you are getting burnt out from, all you want to do is feel excited and energized about what you are doing, but all you feel is exhausted and don’t feel like doing a thing. You want to get it figured out, but can’t seem to figure out how.

I wanted to share my tips about how I dealt with major burnout and how I managed to keep myself going, even though I really wanted to throw in the towel at times.

give yourself A BREAK

My number one tip is absolutely, without a doubt, TAKE A BREAK. When I say take a break, I mean give yourself a real break. I spent months trying to just lay down and give my body a rest, but I wasn’t giving my mind a rest. Meaning, I while I was laying there, I was still thinking about everything I still needed to do & trying to come up with a plan to get those things done. I would find myself scrolling on Pinterest trying to find helpful advice & get the inspiration I was so desperately looking for. 

I was doing this pretty much everyday for several months, everyday getting more and more frustrated because I wasn’t getting anywhere. I was feeling an active resistance in my mind, just couldn’t focus on ANYTHING. Which was even more frustrating because I felt like I had so much to do and I was so deep in a mental funk that I couldn’t even figure out how to be productive. 

It wasn’t until my business coach told me to take 3 FULL DAYS rest to do nothing. Clear my plate for 3 FULL DAYS and let myself [especially my mind] rest. The thought of taking 3 full days can be a really daunting thought at first. I thought there was no way I can take off 3 days because I have SO MUCH to do! I take about this more in 5 Steps For Getting Back On Track & Shifting Your Mindset!

But, it was either take the break, or let myself struggle with burnout & being productive. So, I took the break. I had to tell myself that this is what I needed to reset because what I had been doing thus far just wasn’t working. Sometimes, you just need to allow yourself to surrender and trust that this will work. I had to convince myself that what I was currently doing obviously wasn’t working & I HAD to try something different.

It did work. I came out of the 3 day break just feeling so much lighter and calm. My energy started coming back and I could just feel the difference. I am so happy I decided to trust that it would work because I would still be in that mental funk if I didn’t.

Take the break, friends. Like, a real break. It can be the best thing you do for yourself [& your business if applicable!]. 

Are you trying to do too much?

The answer is probably: YES! Holy moly, I was trying to do too much at once, it’s no wonder I started feeling burnt out when I looked back at everything I was trying to do. It’s really important that you take a step back and really think about all that you are doing and trying to do and if it’s really worth your time & effort at the moment.

However, I’m glad that I was trying to do a little bit of everything because I was able to figure out where I really wanted to focus most of my time. Everyone always tells you not to try to do too much at a time, which I agree because you simply can’t. But, if you find yourself getting overwhelmed, make sure you take a step back and really figure out what is worth your time at the moment and what can take a back burner.

Being able to identify the things that overwhelm you the most will be helpful in figuring out what you can hold off on at the moment. It’s OK to not do everything at once! This was also where I found it helpful to hire a business coach, because she was able to help me identify where I should be focusing my time and would give me the OK to hold off on some other things.

When you give yourself permission to let go of some things, you are letting your mind focus on ONLY the things that are really important at the moment. Trying to do too much is just exhausting.

JOURNAL & journal some more!

Am I sounding like a broken record yet? If you’ve read any of my other posts, you know that I’m a HUGE fan of journaling! I’ve mentioned journaling so many times in my most recent posts and you’re probably like, “OK Jess, we get it! You think journaling is great.”

If you’re new here, I invite you to read all about my transformative experiences with journaling in my posts about The Importance of Self-Care & The Power of Journaling.

I’m just saying… Maybe if I keep talking about it, you’ll start believing me! I just think that journaling about what’s going on can really help with getting everything that is bothering you out of your subconscious and onto paper can be incredibly powerful. This is one of my favorite things to do to start my work day because it helps me get some kind of clarity. It helps me understand what is going on in my mind and what I am struggling with that particular day. It also helps track progress and notice patterns. 

TALK ABOUT IT

In addition to writing about what’s going on, I also find that talking to someone helps as well. This doesn’t have to be in a therapy session, it can be a friend or anyone who you trust with what is going on at the moment. I’ve noticed that there’s certain people that are easier to talk to about certain things. But, just talking to someone about what’s going on can make a HUGE difference. 

Not to mention, they can help you see more clearly. Some things that might be foggy to you, might help getting some outside perspective. There are just some things that are helpful to seek help from and this is definitely one of those things. 

move your body/EXERCISE

I think everyone can agree that you feel so much better after getting in a good, sweaty workout. Even though you feel like just sitting on the couch all day doing nothing, just getting up and getting your sweat on can help turn your mood around. 

I have been going to the gym first thing in the morning on weekdays for a year and a half now and it has been a game changer for me! You can check out my blog post on How/Why I Go To The Gym At 5AM & My Fitness Journey | Choosing Yourself First. Going to the gym early has ultimately helped my mental health, helped me stay on track with my workouts and has become my non-negotiable. Some of my best workouts have happened when I felt like I didn’t want to workout.

However, I do agree with giving your body a physical rest if that’s what you feel like you need. As long as you don’t continue to stay there. Give yourself a rest from the gym and get right back into it. I personally did this a couple times and I think this is also a good idea if you feel that’s what you need. Definitely listen to your body!

Seek inspiration, where ever it may be

For me, I get inspired by reading into and watching other women do what I want to be doing. I love to watch YouTube videos and even insta-creep. There’s something about seeing others killin it that gives me inspiration to keep going.

HOWEVER….

Try not to get too consumed by social media! There is such thing as too much of a good thing. If you find yourself going down a rabbit hole and not getting much benefit, it might be a good idea to turn it off.

This might not work for everyone! But, this is something that works for me. Maybe you find inspiration in other ways?? If you do, maybe try exploring that and see if it helps you at all!

Read a good book

I have also been talking about reading a lot lately. I’ve been talking about it a lot, because it really has helped me a lot. I’m not usually one to enjoy reading, but I have found reading to be very helpful when I was going through burnout.

I remember feeling desperate to find answers. I actually craved reading, which was odd for me, because I usually don’t like reading. But, I ordered some books and I started feeling myself get motivated.

I would give myself time to myself, away from social media, away from work to just read for 30 minutes to an hour. I was hooked and I started feeling better. But, you have to be consistent with it.

I mention about 5 books in my post A lot can happen in just ONE year & My Favorites, but here are my 3 favorites right now that I can’t stop talking about!

You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero
You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo

I hope you found these tips helpful! Trust me when I say I understand how frustrating burnout can be. I was struggling with burnout for what felt like 6 months and I just couldn’t seem to pull myself together.

For me, giving myself a break and taking a step back from everything is what really helped bring myself back together. When I’m in a constant state of chaos and overwhelm, it’s hard to do just about anything & I think that’s true for a lot of people.

Just know that you are not the only one going through this and you are going to come out on the other side stronger and more knowledgabale than you were before! These times can be seen as a great learning experience and opportunity for growth. Coming out, you will have a better understanding of yourself and know more about what to do and not to do in the future!

xx

5 Steps For Getting Back On Track & Shifting Your Mindset

We’ve heard it all before, but I think that it’s something extremely important: progress is never in a straight line. We all want it to be, though. This is true and relevant in just about every aspect of life. We get in a good system, start losing weight, get our social lives together, whatever it may be, then something happens to throw us off track. 

It happens to all of us and it happens in just about every situation in life pretty much. It’s frustrating because you just want to keep moving forward. Things were going so well and you just want to keep going forward. Moving backwards, in any capacity and in any way is frustrating. It feels like you’re taking 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards.

I used to get really hard on myself when this happened. I would be in a good system, a good rhythm, my healthy habits were on point. Then, something would happen to get everything all messed up. I would get frustrated and mad at myself for letting myself get to that point. I would be mad for not being able to handle it and ultimately “letting myself go”. Then, this negative self-talk would spiral into more negative self-talk and I would begin going down a tunnel of neglecting my healthy habits and mental health more and more. 

It seems dramatic, but it’s very true and I know it’s prominent for a lot of people. We continue to let ourselves spiral out of control until we get tired of it and decide we want to make a change, then the cycle repeats. 

I felt inclined to write this post because I recently experienced this and I wanted to take the time to explain how I dealt with the stress. Over the years, I have learned a lot about how to handle these times in our lives and I think that what I have to say is important! It’s going to happen & it’s going to happen a lot, unfortunately. Whether we want to admit it or not, it’s inevitable.

I’ve learned that during these times when it feels like I’m “taking a step back”, it might actually be a good thing. I’ve learned that this might mean that I’m entering an important time for growth and a breakthrough is about to happen. It’s uncomfortable in the moment, but it’s necessary to take the next step forward. 

Life kind of makes you stop, so you can keep moving forward. Now, this might sound counter-intuitive, but stay with me here!

I’ve learned to listen to the universe. To pay attention to these times when I feel like I’m falling off track because, sometimes, it doesn’t really mean that I’m falling “off track”. It’s the universe telling me that I need to slow down. 

To be honest, life would be quite boring if things turned out exactly how we wanted all the time. If things worked out perfectly the first time and things continued in a straight line, there would be no growth, no learning experiences, no breakthroughs to celebrate. Times of reflection wouldn’t result in celebrating all of the hard work that was done and all the growth that happened. It sounds nice on paper, that everything will work out perfectly and all will end exactly how we expect. 

However, these times are frustrating. It’s extremely hard not to just want to throw in the towel and stay frustrated. But, I encourage you to keep an open mind here because shifting your perception can result in a life changing breakthrough.

Here are some important things to remember during these times:

Don’t be hard on yourself

The most important thing to remember is that you must not get hard on yourself during these times. Beating yourself up for “falling off track” will get you nowhere except keep you going even further downhill. 

I’ve noticed this to be especially prevalent in my early to mid-twenties and I think it’s pretty common around this age for most people. It’s the time in our lives when we are set free to really figure out who we are and what we are supposed to be doing with our lives. Every time we think we are getting closer to getting it figured out, something happens to throw us off track a little bit. 

When this started happening to me, I was thinking that I was the only one going through this. I just assumed that everyone else my age was getting things all figured out and they were happily progressing without any problems. When you think you’re the only one going through something, it’s very discouraging. 

Trust me, I know this very well. I spent about 3 years trying to find a job, getting another degree, revising my resume, countless applications & interviews and ended up getting fired from the job I finally got after just 5 weeks. Talk about discouraging! While it was frustrating and discouraging, I’ve come to realize that Getting Fired Was The Best Thing To Happen To Me!

The most important piece of advice that I received in terms of getting through this was to not beat myself up. If you can shift your perception on the situation to the best of your ability, you can see this in a whole new light.

Give yourself some grace here! If you want some extra tips, make sure you check out my blog on The Importance of Self-Care!

TAKE A BREAK

Seriously, take a break. Sometimes these times are meant to tell you that you need to slow down and give your mind & body some TLC. Make sure you listen to your body and rest if/when you need it.

For my most recent experience with falling off track, what helped the most was giving myself 3 full days off, away from work, completely focusing on myself. When I say a break, I mean a REAL break. I was trying to give myself breaks, but I was still constantly thinking about alllll the things I had to be doing or SHOULD be doing, scrolling on Pinterest trying to find some inspiration. I was resting my body, but I wasn’t letting my mind rest, which was making me even more exhausted.

Before you start rolling your eyes and thinking “OK Jessie, not everyone can just take 3 days off!“, hear me out. I know that giving yourself 3 days might seem out of reach or impossible, considering where you are in life. But, we all need to find time in our lives to give ourselves a break. We all need it and it might be just what you need to get on track. Maybe see if anyone can help you out for a day to get some things off your plate so you can rest. Giving yourself just one day completely to yourself could be the best thing you do right now!

journal

I’ve talked about the importance of journaling many times, but I find that it holds so many benefits. Especially if you feel like your progress has stopped, no matter what area, it’s always good practice to get everything out of your head and on to paper.

Sometimes, we have things going on in our subconscious that we don’t even know that’s weighing us down. Which is why I always think that journaling can be super powerful. Just getting all of your thoughts, everything that bothering you out of your head and on to paper might give you some clarity.

If you want to read more information on my transformative experiences with journaling, make sure you check out my recent post on The Power of Journaling!

Come up with an action plan

After you journal and get everything out of your head and on to paper, it can be easier to see what specifically needs to be done to keep moving forward. Think about what’s going on and why this “step back” is happening.

Get specific. Don’t just say “get back on track”. How exactly are you going to do it? Are you going to give yourself a mental health day? Brain dump everything that needs to be done? Drink more water?

Giving yourself realistic actionable goals is important to getting yourself back on track.

find the silver lining

I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. We are given certain “bumps” in our paths because we are supposed to go through a certain learning experience to prepare us for what’s to come.

Finding the silver lining in a situation like this, when we feel like we’ve taken a step backwards, is helpful in shifting our mindset. If you can conquer your mindset, you can conquer anything!

If you just rolled your eyes when you read that, try to hear me out because I think this is really important! If we’re constantly beating ourselves up about things and focusing on the negatives all the time, it’s going to be really difficult to get to where we want to be. Just hear me out & try to shift your perspective!

If you are still not convinced, I understand. Shifting your perception is hard and can take some work. But, I do want to share a resource that I’ve mentioned before that helped me shift my mindset.

It’s a book called, Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo!

This book revolves around the phrase, “Everything Is Figureoutable“. Meaning, no matter where you are in life, what situation you are currently in, no matter how sucky or sad, it is figureoutable. Marie Forleo helps you get out of your mental BS to start living your life. To help you get out of that mental funk that you’ve found yourself in and start taking actionable steps to changing your mindset.

I’ve noticed that each time I go through a period where I feel like I taking a step back & I see a regression in progress, I learn more about myself. I’ve been able to learn about what helps & what doesn’t and I’ve been able to make changes to make sure that I continue to keep moving forward.

Taking a step back, in any way, in any situation is frustrating. But, the way you perceive the situation can be a game changer!

xx,
Jess

BUSINESS PLAN FOR 2020 / CHANGES TO BUSINESS

If you know me or have been following me over the last year, you know that I began a journey of starting my own Social Media Management business in 2019. It was an opportunity that fell into my lap and I decided to give it a try. I spent two months putting together a business plan and preparing to launch the business on January 1, 2019. At the same time, I decided that I wanted to start a lifestyle blog because I wanted to figure out a way to also help make a difference in people’s lives. I wasn’t sure what my main goals were for starting the blog, but I felt a desire to start one and see where it would take me. 

>> Have you read my 2019 reflection blog post?! <<

Towards the middle of the year, I started noticing a major shift in my energy towards my Social Media Management business. I started noticing myself almost having to force myself to get my work done and force myself to be creative when I really couldn’t get myself to think creatively. I was feeling extremely burnt out and I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do next.

After several months of trying to get myself to feel passionate about my business again, I realized that Social Media Management just wasn’t for me. It wasn’t where my true passion was and what I’m ultimately supposed to be doing. 

In October 2019, after much contemplation, I decided to close the doors on my Social Media Management business and dip my toes into something else. This was a hard decision for me to make because I had to make a decision to decrease my income tremendously so I have the time and energy to build something that I love. I am very blessed to be able to be my own boss and create a life and a business that truly fulfills me. 

I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ve always wanted to pursue a career helping others. In high school, I was always the friend that people went to for advice and I loved it. I loved helping others work through whatever they were going through and I loved that people felt comfort in coming to me for that advice. Helping others has just always been that one thing that came naturally to me.

Over the years, I’ve received my BA in Psychology, conducted research projects, got experience in clinical work, learned ethics & the importance of interpersonal communication, dipped my toes in other industries including childcare & sales, received my MS in Business Psychology, overcame depression, made the mistakes, started my own business, learned the hard way & worked through every obstacle that tried to stop me from continuing to move forward. It’s taken a lot of time, tears, confusion, frustration, feeling defeated and continuing to stand back up when it felt like it would be easier to just throw in the towel & accept that I just didn’t have what it takes. 

So, going into 2020, I am going to be focusing my energy on building a Female Empowerment Coaching business. 

I hired my own coach and we have been working through the process of getting this new business started and I am SO EXCITED! It’s a scary leap, much scarier than the last time I launched a business because I now know what I didn’t know last year. I’ve had to work through the mental blocks of worrying that I won’t be able to be successful at starting my own business. However, that fear is telling me that this is the direction that I am supposed to be going. 

Life is a crazy journey. Sometimes frustrating, but also fulfilling if you choose. I believe we were all placed on earth for a reason and I want to help as many people as I can reach their full potential. I have the degrees, but most importantly, I have the experience.

So, going into 2020, I will be embarking on yet another entrepreneurial journey. I’ve made it through the first year of trial & error of building a business and I know so much more than that I did last time. I’ve made it through all of the mental blocks and I’ve learned what it takes to run a successful business. I know so much more about myself and I can’t wait to teach others how to get the most out of their own lives. 

My Social Media Management business will always hold a special place in my heart. It definitely fulfilled a part of my life that I needed to prepare me for where I am supposed to go next. Through that business, I was able to learn from those around me and I will take those learning experiences with me into my next adventure.

I’m excited to take everything that I have learned and really turn it into something amazing. I’m getting to the point where I want to spread my wings and really delve into what makes me truly happy. I’m getting very excited about embarking on a journey to really hone into my true potential. 

I am very grateful for the internet to provide me with the ability to make this impact and reach as many people as possible. I truly believe there’s more to life than just living for Friday. I want to live everyday and feel completely fulfilled. I want to be able to go into everyday loving what I do and make the difference that I want to make. Not only that, but I want to help others do the same as well! 

The time is now to make the difference. I hope you decide to join me on this adventure to live our lives to the fullest potential! ❤ 

>> Click here to join my FREE facebook community (females only)!

In this group, you will find daily inspiration, encouragement, find yourself in a community of like-minded women who strive to accomplish the same things and an opportunity to work with yours truly directly.

Let’s start 2020 off right, with support and positivity. I hope to see you there!

xx

2019 Reflection + What I Learned In My First Year Of Business

As 2019 comes to a close, it’s natural to dive into some reflection about how the year went. I honestly can’t believe that it’s already been a whole year since I started my business & I have to say, 2019 did not end up being quite like I had expected it to be, but… does it ever? 

Towards the end of 2018, I was full of excitement and eagerness to get my business going and to see all of the opportunities that were about to be right in front of me. I was excited and had no idea what to expect. It was a leap that I had no idea where it was going to take me or what the experience was going to be. But, I was so freaking excited for it. I took the leap with little-to-no expectations, just letting the universe guide me to my next adventure.  I went into the experience with very little expectations because I had no idea what I did and didn’t know about starting and running a business. 

I was full of excitement and eagerness to get started and see what could come from working from home and being my own boss. Honestly, I wasn’t even nervous or hesitant to get started. After years of trying to get my career figured out & months of not knowing what my next steps were going to be, I was just excited. 

Looking back, I can’t even begin to explain the amount that I’ve learned & the growth that happened over this year. At times, I felt  like I was just crawling to the finish line, on the brink of exhaustion and mental break down(s). But, I’ve made it to the end of the year &  it’s time to stop and really take the time to appreciate everything that happened this past year. 

Check out these other blog posts:

My journey from a struggling high school student to starting my own business

First month of entrepreneurship

Getting Fired Was The Best Thing to Happen to Me

Six Month Business Recap : What I’ve Learned

A lot can happen in just ONE YEAR!

I spent 2 months (November & December 2018) preparing for the launch of my new business on January 1, 2019. I was so excited and on January 2, 2019, I started learning what I did not know. For those of you contemplating starting your own business, I am talking about what I’ve learned in my first year starting my own business. However, while I wish I knew some of these things before starting, I’m happy I experienced & went through everything that I did because I have learned SO MUCH!

Here’s what I learned:

1.I DIDN’T HAVE A PLAN

This might seem like a no brainer, but when you are the one trying to put this together, it doesn’t come as easily as it may seem. During my 2 months of preparing for my launch, that’s all that I was preparing for.. Just the launch. I put together my website, packages, announcement video. But when I woke up on January 2, I thought “OK…what’s next”… I didn’t have a PLAN. I had no idea what I was going to post on my social media accounts or how I was going to sell my services. So, I immediately started feeling like I needed to frantically come up with a plan. I started signing up for webinars, downloading guides, joining facebook groups, trying to do research and try to start pulling together a plan. I was trying to work all day long, just doing as much research as possible. Some days I would work for like 12-14 hours. It’s probably no surprise that I quickly started getting burnt out and exhausted. 

I very quickly realized how much I did not know. I also very quickly realized that I needed a plan moving forward if I wanted to get anywhere in this business. So, a year of trying to figure out my schedule and a plan that works for me and my business began coming together. 

2. YOU CAN’T DO THIS ALONE

The entrepreneurial journey can be a very lonely journey. At home, by yourself, trying to put the pieces together by yourself. I’m  in charge of all the job functions because I’m not making enough money to pay someone to help me with various tasks yet. I didn’t have anyone to turn to for entrepreneurial advice because no one I know is also an entrepreneur. 

I started joining Facebook groups to see if I could start gaining connections there & eventually started investing in coaches. 

We all want to be that one person who figures it all out on their own, without investing in a coach or spending any money at all. We try to google answers, pulling answers from a million different directions. We don’t want to ask for help, because we want to do it all ourselves. I so badly wanted to do be that person. 

BUT IT IS SO FRUSTRATING.

I would get some answers and think I started figuring something out then I would hit a wall and get confused. It’s freaking frustrating. At times I just wanted to throw in the towel and say, “Forget it. I have no idea what the heck is going on.”

That’s why we invest in coaches. Nobody wants to do it at first. I know I didn’t. It took me 7 months of floundering until I finally decided that I was done floundering in the abyss of my own confusion, trying to figure it out on my own. It’s seriously impossible. 

Plus, being on this journey completely on your own is very lonely and boring. When you connect with people that are in the same journey as you, understanding your frustrations and helping you work through your situation is so.much.better. As someone with a psychology background, I very much value talk therapy. Not that I think it should be seen as talk therapy, but just simply talking and working through the issues on the surface and figuring out how to work through them is VERY important! Whenever I get off a call with any of the coaches I’ve had, I always feel 10x better than before I got on the call. 

Trust me, don’t put the pressure on yourself to try to figure this out on your own. 

3. I Didn’T KNOW HOW TO PLAN MY OWN SCHEDULE

Lol.. what? But, seriously. I didn’t. I had no idea how to plan my own day.

The hardest part has been figuring out how to adequately schedule my day. I was so pumped to be completely in charge of my own schedule and create a daily plan that works for ME. Being in complete control of my schedule is wonderful and I love it, but figuring out how to actually use my time to my advantage has been a learning experience. For the first time, I had no structure and I didn’t know what to do with all the time in the day. 

I remember thinking: “Do I just work all day?” It seems like most entrepreneurs are always working. So, I should be working all day, right? Hint hint: Not true..I quickly worked myself into burnout and exhaustion. I had to learn that I don’t have to sit at my desk, typing away on my laptop to be productive.

Whenever someone would say “what does your ideal day look like”. If I knew, I start trying to implement those things!!!

Coming out of 2019, I have a MUCH better understanding of a schedule for myself. It’s actually shocking the difference that was made over this year to get to where I am now. It has taken so many mental breakdowns, burn outs, endless amount of frustration, business courses, trial & error and never giving up to get here. A whole year later and I think I am starting to scratch the surface of what I am doing.

But, it’s all trial & error. Unfortunately, you learn what doesn’t work before you figure out what does work. It’s very frustrating & discouraging at times, but the experience is very rewarding. It’s actually pretty cool to see everything that I had to go through to finally get to a point of understanding.

4. THE POWER OF MANIFESTATION

I’ve heard of the term manifestation many times but never really gave it much thought. In connecting with other online entrepreneurs and in my research, everyone was talking about the power of manifestation. The thought that you can really achieve anything you put your mind to just by shifting your mindset seemed just about impossible to me. It can’t be that easy, right?

While I am still learning about this concept and experimenting with the power of manifestation, I have turned into a believer. I think it’s interesting that we are conditioned to think negatively about things and think that a level of success just isn’t in our reach.

It comes down to mindset, as I’m learning. If you believe that you are capable of success, you are more likely to be successful. If you stay stuck in your own pity party, constantly thinking and talking about your sad situation, then staying stuck you will be. From what I understand, manifestation is an energy shift. It’s a shift that happens within you & it takes work to actually believe.

Why not give it a try? The resources I have listed in the next section have helped me in understanding & believing in the power of manifestation.

5. the importance of CONTINUING EDUCATION

By continuing education, I don’t mean going back to school necessarily. But, continuing to read, stay up to date on what’s going on in the industry, reading blog posts, watching helpful business YouTube videos, etc. 

When you think about it, at a job, you’re usually continuing to learn something. It’s important for entrepreneurs to continue their own education and keep learning. I didn’t start realizing this until very recently. So, I’ve been trying to at least read a helpful book, blog posts or watch a YouTube video. 

Here are some of my favorite books right now:

You Are A Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero

I absolutely love this book! When I started reading this book, I had such a hard time putting it down. Jen Sincero is such a breath of fresh air and knows how to relate to her readers. She breaks down & explains how you are holding yourself back from getting the most out of life. Using her own experiences, she talks about where she was mentally in her own life, constantly feeling sorry for herself and her situation. She talks about the importance of changing your mindset & shifting your energy to allow yourself to reach your fullest potential.

If you’re anything like me, you’re going to want to get your hands on this book. If you want to be able to reach your fullest potential and start shifting your energy to realizing that you have what it takes to reach that potential and believe in yourself, this book is a great place to start! Go ahead and grab this book & get ready to get massively motivated to start changing your entire outlook on life. >> CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS BOOK NOW!

You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero

Raise your hand if you have ever wished you made more money! 🙋🏻‍♀️ UM, YES! OK, now raise your hand if you don’t believe being rich is possible for you, however you wish you were rolling in the dough… 🙋🏻‍♀️

If you answered YES to those questions, you also want to get your hands on this book. I am on my second round of reading this book & I have never truly believed that I have what it takes to live my dream life. The thought of making enough money to live your dream life seems completely out of reach and those who are rich, are just lucky.

You see, we get so caught up in lack of money that we don’t even see all of the possibilities in front of us to make that money. Jen Sincero does it again, making me see that I am the one holding me back from reaching my full potential & understanding that I am in control of my financial situation. Yes, it’s hard to figure out, but Jen Sincero really makes you think hard about if you are just holding yourself back. What if the money opportunities are truly right in front of you, but you’re just too busy focusing on your lack of money to see them? The time is now to change that mindset! >> CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS BOOK NOW!

Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo

THIS.BOOK.IS.AMAZING. In addition to Jen Sincero, Marie Forleo is really helping me see my true potential as well. This book revolves around the phrase, “Everything Is Figureoutable”. Meaning, no matter where you are in life, what situation you are currently in, no matter how sucky or sad, it is figureoutable.

Like Jen Sincero, Marie Forleo helps you get out of your mental BS to start living your life. To help you get out of that mental funk that you’ve found yourself in and start taking actionable steps to changing your mindset.

In my opinion, Jen Sincero + Marie Forleo = life changing authors. Seriously. I have read these books and really felt the energy shift happening. There were so many “aha!” moments when reading these books making me realize that opportunities are right in front me. Where I choose to place my energy is what’s holding me back.

The time is now to start taking action to change your life. >> CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR HANDS ON THIS BOOK NOW!

6. THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING WITH YOUR IDEAL CLIENT

This one is hard because when you are just starting out in business, you don’t really have much direction. You are pretty much willing to work with anyone that is willing to work with you. Plus, you need to learn who your ideal client really is. 

Working with the wrong client can be extremely frustrating. You learn this all the time in business and I definitely learned first hand the importance of this. I appreciate all of the clients that I worked with and I definitely learned a lot about who I do and don’t want to work with in the future. Both parties have to be on the same page and work well together for the relationship to work. If it doesn’t, that’s OK. It’s OK to not be able to work with everyone. The more you hone in on your niche, the better!

7. EVEN THOUGH I LIKE HAVING A PLAN, I CAN’T FORCE MYSELF TO BE CREATIVE. 

I started writing out a content plan for each month. Typically about what I was going to post on my Facebook business page, as well as an idea for a blog post I was going to publish. I quickly started to learn that I can’t force myself to be creative about a topic. I have to let the ideas flow and work from there. 

While I’ve learned more about being organized and more prepared, there are just certain things that are hard to plan for. Sometimes I’ve even come up with a blog post idea and put it all together in one sitting. I just have to let myself go with the flow and write as the content and creativity flow to me naturally. Forcing doesn’t help anything. 

Lastly and certainly the most boring…

8. KEEP A SPENDING & INCOME LOG FOR TAXES.

When you work from home and work for yourself, it’s important to keep a log of all that you’ve spent & your income. When you work for an employer, they keep all of that organized so that you don’t have to. They pay for computers, office supplies, rent, electric bill, and anything else needed to run the business. Same goes for you if you are working from home. These are things that are important to keep track of to file for taxes when the time comes.

I just made an excel spread sheet and I tried my best to log everything and keep receipts for anything that I spent money on that would help me run my business. Keeping a running list as the year goes will be so much easier by the time tax season rolls around. Super boring, but also super important!

This has been a long post, but it only covers just a small portion of all that I’ve learned this year. I’m going into 2020 with something very important that I didn’t have in 2019: A PLAN. Not just a launch plan, an actual business plan. I have a better idea of how to schedule my time. What times of the day work best for me & understanding that taking breaks is very crucial. I have a business plan and a plan for myself. 

As I am writing this, I am truly baffled by the amount that I learned this year. I might not be as energized like I was last year, but I am feeling much more prepared. I am taking every single thing that I learned this year, every tear shed, every mental break down, every hour spent researching and pouring it into my new business and my new approach. 

Overall, 2019 was a great year! Even though I didn’t reach some of my own goals and I’m ending on a different foot than I started, it was a great year. There’s so much more to learn and I just know that I am going to come out of this next year even more knowledgeable than I am now. I’m just so excited to have the experience of 2019 in my back pocket. Just thinking about how much I have learned & how much more equipped I am going into 2020, makes everything worth it.

It’s time to say goodbye to 2019 & hello to all the possibilities coming in 2020! Let’s do this.

xx