Monday Motivation(ish)

📷: Credit

We are so close to Fall, y’all! My favorite season and time of year. This past weekend was a rough one for me mentally. I felt very low and spent a lot of time in bed. I know that’s not the best thing to do, but I didn’t have it in me to do much else other than shower, and a few chores. However, as Sunday afternoon came around, I found myself at home alone. Rather than stay inside my head, I decided to finally go see “It Ends with Us.” I bought myself some candy and popcorn and sat back to enjoy one of my favorite books brought to life.

Afterward, I stopped to wash my car and then headed home to finally give “It Starts with Us” a real go of it. As some of you may know, getting back into reading after such a long break has been a real struggle. But I fell right back into a groove. I devoured the pages until my eyes started to close, and I made a huge amount of progress. Will it continue? Who knows. But I’m excited to be reading some fiction again.

This morning, I woke up to rain showers. Thunder in the distance. If you don’t know, rainy/cloudy weather is at the top of my favorites list. As I got ready for the day I felt much better than I had the past few days. While I still had to go to work, getting back into my routine felt nice. I got ready, packed my things, and then headed out. Every once in a while I get into these funks. Lately, they’ve been occurring a bit more frequently, but I know the reason behind it. So, I do my best to get through them. I know I’ll eventually feel better, I just have to hang on during the lows. 

Now, it’s a new week in a new month. I've spent the day catching up on some less high-priority items that I had been putting off. I've been sipping on some coffee and enjoying the rainy weather. I hope your day has been a good one. I hope September treats y'all well. And here’s to cooler weather around the corner; fingers crossed! Happy Monday! Happy Labor Day!

Monday Motivation

It’s a new day, a new week, and a new month! I had my performance evaluation last week and it went surprisingly well. I’ve qualified for the opportunity to receive a raise this year if they are given. So, I’m praying that happens. That said, if I don’t receive one I will request one next year because as of June 1, I had a significant increase in workload. It’s made the days go by a lot faster, but it’s added a lot more to my plate. If I do a good job, then it should definitely qualify me for a raise next year.

 

Today, I’ll be spending the first hour of my day establishing some work goals. Then, I’ll shift to creating some personal goals for the month too. I’ve got some ideas about my running, diet, and faith that I’d like to flesh out. It’s good to take a step back and re-evaluate from time to time. And like I said in a previous post, the running goals I had at the beginning of the year are no longer attainable. So, this made me want to take a look at all other areas to see where I might need to adjust as well. I encourage you to do the same sometime soon. Anyway, here’s to July! Here’s to a new week! And most of all, Happy Monday!

Monday Motivation

I wanted to post something meaningful/of value, but lately, I’ve been a bit burned out in all areas of my life. I’ve gotten behind on cleaning, and the laundry, and every time I look at my closet or the stack of boxes in our living room (a throw-away pile that has been started) I want to set it all on fire, So, today, I just hope that your coffee is strong. Happy Monday!

*Not sure who the illustrator is for this picture but the watermarks are on there.

Monday Motivation

Hey, y’all! I hope this post finds you well. It’s the first Monday in February. Is it just me or did January seem to last about forever? While February started with some unexpected home repairs for us, I’m hoping that things will settle down going forward. My only plan for February is to finish decluttering our home. We did one round last month, and it’s time for the second one. I’m dreading the DVD collection. Other than that, no major plans. I do have the Cowtown 10k at the end of the month and we will be attending the AMA Supercross event with friends. So, I guess those count as plans, but I don’t want to commit to anything else for the rest of the month.

Today, I wanted to pop in and say hello! I hope February is good to you. And regardless of how this month started, here’s to a fresh month, week, and day. Here’s to you, and I hope you had a great day!

Monday Motivation // New Year

Happy New Year everyone! For those who had a long break, I hope it was exactly what you needed! For those who had a few days off, I hope they were relaxing and allowed you to recharge. For those who had to work, I hope it wasn’t too miserable and you were still able to find time for yourself. As we step into 2024, I am feeling very blessed.

Our holiday break was a bit chaotic at first, but the last few days were calm and slow. It was exactly what I needed. I spent the last two days cleaning, doing laundry, and making sure my home was in order. This may not seem like an ideal way to spend my vacation, but it brought me so much peace to wake up to a clean house. To have time to do laundry AND put it up. Our errands were done, and I still had time to fit in a few runs. There was no stress, and I was able to sleep if I was tired. Truly, it was wonderful! So simple. And I am so grateful for it.

Now as we head into a new year, new month, and start a new week I am feeling ready! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year holiday! Here’s to 2024!

Monday Motivaton

It’s a new week and a new month! This week will include a lot of planning and meetings for me. But then, next week, it will slow down a bit. Maybe not so much in the “meetings” department, but as we get closer to the end of the year our offices start to wind down. People start to take vacations, and some switch to working remotely when they can. But I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, I just want to say, HAPPY DECEMBER! I hope this month is a joyful one for you rather than a stressful one. I hope you’re getting to do something you enjoy or love. Tis the season after all, right? Now, here’s to a new week! Let's make it a good one.

Monday Motivation

The time change sucks. There. I said it. As a teenager, I loved when DST ended and it got dark around 6:30 p.m. That meant I got to go out and party a little earlier. However, once I became an adult, and then a mom, it really put a funk in my routine. Pair it with seasonal depression* and you have a recipe for some pretty low times (read: months). Where before I’d throw a bandaid over it with a crap ton of caffeine - my current dietary restrictions do not allow me to have energy drinks yet. So, I’m trying to figure out how to push through/manage it without stimulants. And let me just say, that it has not been easy.

All of that said, it’s November, y’all. It’s a new month! We’re so close to the end of 2023, but it also feels like we just got started. The change in foliage has been beautiful, and the cooler weather has been nice too. Hallmark Christmas movies are in full swing. We’re ironing out plans for Thanksgiving, and I’m so ready to have time off for the holidays. Here’s hoping you have a great Monday and an even more wonderful November!

*Not officially diagnosed with seasonal depression, this is just based on my observation over the years of when my depression gets the worst for me. 

Monday Motivation

It’s a new week and a new month! My favorite month. My birthday month. And my favorite season of the year truly begins. September came with a lot more activity than I expected. From work to Emery’s after-school activities. There were even two weeks that I was only able to run on Saturdays - which really threw me off. It was also the toughest month of my healthy eating plan. It was when the cravings really kicked in. When the headaches and exhaustion really hit me. When the depression and bitterness really took hold. But now, we are starting fresh! And I’m feeling much better. So, today, I’m wishing you all a very Happy Monday! And HAPPY OCTOBER, y’all!! Let the Spooky Season begin.

Monday Motivation

It’s a new week! We had a whirlwind of a start to August that had me a lot more busy than I had originally planned. And while I have always intended to pick things back up on my blog: life happens. Anyway, I will slowly work my way up to blogging more consistently. I do have a lot more time on my hands these days. I just have to make sure I make time for it and actually plan it out. I'm currently working on a "blog calendar", and uploading all of my pictures from my phone. There's a lot I want to share. But for now, I just want to wish everyone a very happy Monday. Here’s to the new week!

Monday Feels

This is what I’ve looked like for the past ten days. No effort. No makeup. Some crazy ass eyebrows. You’re welcome.

Everyone in the office is getting, is currently, or has been sick within the past two weeks. I on the other hand have just felt…off. Body aches, slight sore throat, some head throbbing, chills, and exhaustion. It’s almost worse than actually being sick. At least then I would, kind of, be able to gauge when it would all be over. What I’m experiences right now though, either intensifies or dulls throughout my day. I’ve been miserable. Thankfully our house has been cold/flu free so far. There have been several cases here in our town, but so far things are okay and I hope it stays that way.

Today, I didn't feel like writing on a specific subject. Instead I felt like just getting on here to ramble a bit about what's going on in my head as I sit here. So, let’s get to it shall we? 1) I haven’t read a new book in awhile which has kind of bummed me out. I ended up getting rid of my tablet because, well, I needed the money so now I can’t even buy the 99 cent books to get me through this slump. Kind of irritates me a bit. But this feeling could also just be me going through book withdrawals. 2) I’ve gained a shit ton of weight, y’all. 30+ pounds in the last nine months. I ain’t even going to lie. It has been frustrating, though probably not for the reasons you’d think, and it was completely expected so I have no idea why I’m bitching. I know exactly what I need to do in order to start losing weight again, but at the moment I’m too lazy. So #chunkymonkeylife it is for now. 3) I enrolled in an online course. It’s something completely new, and I’ll write more about it later. After signing up for this course I realized I needed to purchase a new laptop (unexpected expense right there) because my old dinosaur is just not cutting it. We had a good run, but when it takes a minimum of five minutes to start up…well…it’s time. After three days of debating, quizzing one of my computer savy friends, and repeatedly going to Walmart to mess around with the displays they had I finally settled on getting a Chromebook. It should be here next week, and I’m pretty excited about it. Might even review it after the first month? 4) Today marks the start of my “no alcohol” experiment. Now, I don’t really drink "drink". What I normally do is afterwork on Fridays I have  a shot, or a beer (sometimes two) with my coworkers. We talk about the work week, go over some of the issues, or updates with customers before heading home. That’s the extent of my drinking. So now, I’m going to see how long I can manage to go without having a single drop of alcohol. Recently, I’ve just felt sluggish so I’m trying to see if cutting some stuff out of my daily diet will help me feel better. Fingers crossed that this works! 5) I’m really tired y’all. Did I mention that already? And 6) I finally heard back from my lawyer last week, and for some reason just knowing that I’ll be divorced (from someone I still really love) in a few months has me feeling all weird. But here we go, into the final stretch.

That about sums up the past week, or so for me. I’m sitting here with no energy. A closet that needs purging. A house that needs cleaning. A yard that needs some maintenance. A bookshelf that needs to be fixed. Some homework that needs to be finished. A reading log that needs to be checked off. A “100 days of school” outfit that needs to be planned. Dogs that need to be walked. And all I really want to do is put on my PJ’s, hop into bed, and call it a day. Let's hope the rest of the week is a bit more productive, yeah?