How to Avoid Burnout / 2019 Goals

I don’t know about you, but January was one heck of a month. I keep seeing all these memes of people saying how January felt like the whole year and figured I would talk about it a little bit with you.

When it comes to the New Year there are a lot of positive vibes flowing the first week. Things like people starting over with a clean slate, forming new habits, working towards a big project, etc. and then life happens. Your apartment floods, you get sick, you realize you forgot to pay a bill and now you have to pay a fine. These types of thing happen whether or not you have a plan to reorganize and revamp your day to day life. We end up idealizing what our year will look like and by February feel disappointed we weren’t’ able to put life together in four weeks.

The new-year cycle is far too familiar with us filling January with possibilities and February filling us with disappointment. When we start to feel disappointed instead think about November and December. The months where we get the opportunity to take a look back on the year and express our gratefulness for everything. We take time to reflect on the good and bad, to see the changes in our personal lives and get excited because in just a few weeks we get a whole new 12 months!

I don’t know about you but I want to feel like every month, week, or day is a new opportunity to achieve something great! I want to acknowledge the fact of each day is a gift from God and we can accomplish anything because God has given us the chance. It says in Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Instead of focusing this month on what stopped you from achieving goals and filling your days with regret for how you might have spent your time, rejoice in the time God has given you! Each day we wake up, each day we have a chance and as long as you wake up these chances never end. They last all day, all week, all year, and all you have to do is decide what attitude you are going to greet your day with.

Start with a grateful heart and an optimistic attitude and before you know it every day will feel like January first.

Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Thanks again for stopping by,

Sonya

How to Regain Focus and Motivation

I don’t know about you guys but when it comes to other people I love to love them. It’s not me being weird or anything, but I genuinely aim my day at helping people become a better version of themselves. People are amazing and I love to see others accomplishing big goals, going out of their comfort zone, finding joy and accomplishments, etc. It makes me feel on top of the world when I see others do these things, and I strive to help them accomplish this!

The amazing part of blogging and Instagram is it gives me a platform to encourage others, but lately it’s felt more of a reminder of failure at giving you guys my all. Emotionally and physically I feel drained, and I almost like a fraud coming here to help motivate you while figuring out how to even motivate myself. Thankfully I have a loving God who gave me perseverance and an amazing husband to lift me up with encouragement.

In Romans 5:3-5 it says “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”.  Now I don’t know about you, but to me this means the fact I feel so defeated is exactly why I need to keep on persisting through this time of trial!

I don’t want to be one of those people who in the midst of a personal trial I give up because I would be admitting everything I have felt called to do and have done would be worthless. I know when God calls you to do something it indeed is worth more than rubies!

Whether or not you are a believer in Christ I know we all feel a strong pull to do something in our lives and it is easy for us to get derailed. We tend to feel small and alone in these times, and for me I tend to accomplish everything I need and more before even reconsidering taking a second look at what needs to happen in my life. I want to just stand here for you and for my future self to keep searching in these times of distress and demotivation. For every person rediscovering there passion and drive for something looks different so don’t do what you think is expected, do what you know works for you!

For me I tend to always spend my free time with people, I love deep conversation, getting to know others and experiencing deep emotional connections, but I have a hard time finding the time to be alone and reflect. I am realizing if I want to be there for you guys, I have to also stop and be there for myself.

If you are struggling in this area take some time for yourself whether it be alone time, time with family and friends, time spent researching, dancing, cooking, etc. Do something today to recharges and brings you energy and motivation! When you feel your best you create more, you love people more, you accomplish more and overall feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders!  

Now if words from my human brain didn’t encourage you here is some scripture I find inspiring!

·         Proverbs 12:25 “Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad”

·         Romans 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”

·         1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

·         Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

·         2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”  

Thank you so much for stopping in and taking the time to share some love,

-Sonya

How to Enjoy the Small Victories

I don’t know about you guys, but when it comes to accomplishing goals I go 110%, up until about the half way point. For example, I started an eight week fitness program and the first four weeks were fantastic, but the last four have been a struggle. It’s not that my body can’t do it, but it’s my mind that tells me to stop. I haven’t seen or felt the drastic change so I try to tell myself it’s not working or I decide to neglect a workout because I convince myself I have too much to do. Of course this is all while I lay on the floor watching IG stories on how to make Halloween cakes…It is a good trait to think big, but when I don’t see the big change immediately I give up, thankfully I have my husband to keep me grounded when it comes to these things.

He constantly reminds me that in order to get where you want to be, your confidence is going to drop and spike and you have to push through. What you’re passionate about will drive you to learn more so you can overcome the down slopes and keep moving forward. And in order to see the big results I have to give it time, effort and consistency without letting the fear of failure or inability getting in the way.  

A big part of what gets in the way of doing these things is not recognizing all the little victories along the way. Think about having a clean house. You don’t just pull out the dust pan and brush, stand there for an hour and poof your house is clean. You have to individually approach each part of the house. When the floors are cleaned you move on to the windows, and from there the messy drawer, and so on.  You would not have a clean house with all the small victories of different areas of the house. It is the same for our lives, weather your looking to get healthy, change your habits, improve relationships, etc. It’s not going to happen overnight, but when you take time to appreciate the little victories you will come to see the value in what you are doing.

If you feel unmotivated to finish or even star working towards a goal, take some time to journal some of the little victories that have helped get you this far. You might be surprised at how many victories you have accomplished that have helped you reach that point.

After you write down your accomplishments take some time to make a list of small victories you would like to accomplish to help you work towards your goal. This will help you get excited and help you to see as you go along just how much ability to accomplish what you set your mind on! 

Give it a go and let me know what you guys think!

Thanks again for stopping by!

-Sonya Peacocke

How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

I don’t know about you guys, but lately I have been feeling a little bit overwhelmed. Maybe it’s the summer coming to a somber end where events wrap up and we look forward to bringing routines back into play. To me this is almost like a January 2.0 where you’re trying to wrap up from the holidays and realize you have a million and one things to accomplish. Silly things and big things that have somehow been neglected, but now stare you down as they wait to be accomplished. For me this includes paperwork, folding laundry (instead of leaving it in a big pile on the floor…), planning out meals, blog posts, etc.  

Thankfully we go through this seasons like this fairly often so we have to learn more each time, right? This season I have learned a few important things that I felt I should share even though you guys are probably way ahead of me on the productivity train…Even so here are my tips and tricks for working through times in life where things are crazy and all you want to do is get things back on track!  

1)      Set Obtainable Goals

To start out, an important part of getting back on track with life is to set yourself up for success. This means set goals, but don’t set them so high that they are impossible to accomplish, leading to a disheartening feeling that it can’t be done.   

For example I tell myself the whole house needs a deep clean on a Sunday, while also wanting to workout, finish a blog post and spend time with my family. This is OBVIOUSLY too much work, but honestly I have attempted this goal before, and yes I have failed…SO don’t set yourself up for failure, but set yourself up for success!

This leads to my next few tips.

2)      Start Small

So when I decided that I needed to set more obtainable goals I still felt overwhelmed by everything that needed to be accomplished. Instead of freaking out (which I started to do), I took a step back and just focused on the little things. I cleaned my hairbrush, which is no big deal, but seeing that clean and neat helped me to feel accomplish and get a little taste of satisfaction that comes along with order and cleanliness. 

After this small thing I moved on to cleaning the dishes, making the bed, etc. and before I knew it the house was clean enough that I didn’t feel overwhelmed and I could move on to my next task with ease.

3)      Show Yourself Some Grace  

I have a really hard time with this one, as I never take the time to appreciate the work I have accomplished and move on to the overwhelming feeling that I need to do more. If I find myself in this situation I again take a step back and take a good look at what I have done.

If you have a hard time doing this I suggest taking a break in between tasks to do something calming such as going for a walk, listening to happy music, having a conversation with a loved one. This helps to put your day into perspective as well as break your tasks up so that you actually can see the progress you have made! 

4)      Be Patient

Your life will not be organized overnight and that you’re going to have to be patient. What helped me is knowing how many weeks left of school I had. Because I knew when my time would free up more after school I allowed myself to do what I could within the minimal amount of time I had without giving up my sanity. This helped me to minimize stress help me stayed focused on the task at hand. 

Overall these tips and tricks have helped me to manage stress and be encouraged seeing that I can accomplish more than I thought I could with more grace than ever thought possible!

I hope that you guys enjoy this post, and that is will help you enjoy whatever season in life you are in, no matter how busy!   

Until next time!

-Sonya