Last year my life was going badly, and I realized I needed to make some big changes! I was always trying to improve, but struggled to implement it. I found the word BALANCE last year and started balancing out 7 areas of my life and saw HUGE progress!!
This year, I feel so much more balanced, but am still struggling, so this year my word is ROOTED! I struggle the most with staying consistent with my personal Bible time. It's so easy to do family devotions, Bible classes, kids memory verses, etc, and never have time for my personal Bible time. This year I am determined that with God's help I will not only become more balanced, but also rooted deeply in what God has for me.
My big areas to balance and continue to grow in:
1) Faith- I want to stay strong in my PERSONAL Bible time and grow more as a Christian
2) Family- I want to trust God for what my family needs as a whole, and not just want is most comfortable for myself
3) Friends- I want to continue to grow in my Christian friendships and encourage each other daily!
4) Finance- I want to stick to my budget and start cutting out unnecessary spending!!
5) Field- I want to pray that God allows the right balance of my work to stay balanced with my other needs. I am excited for the job that this new year will hold! (more details at a later date)
6) Fitness- I want to stay faithful to my new CG workout group, continue with my Zeal, and also accomplish a 5K this year!
7) Fun- I want to enjoy life and continue to have fun with what I do, as well as plan for new fun trips and events with others!
Last year I had these same 7 F's, but different goals. I am so excited for what this New Year holds!
Now, onto the next part of our New Years for school!
The month of December was filled with so much stuff!!! We had Christmas parties, friends, cookies, presents, advent tree... we did SO much! With homeschooling we did not do a heavy month of school because we did so much Christmas fun :)
The downside to that was the day after Christmas we had a house full of kids with the blues. The hype was done, the fun was over... now what?? I know a lot of people love Christmas break (and of course I do too) but I feel that our break was mostly the month of December doing all that fun stuff.
This year I kicked back into school immediately after Christmas and it was wonderful! This allowed us to get back into a good routine and schedule which helped to counter act that hard hit of blues after the holiday hype.
And onto my own struggles for this New Year.
I am struggling hard this year with PPD (post pardum depression) I struggle with this every child, but now I KNOW what it is, so I can look out for it better. Keeping into a routine forces me up and going even on the days I want to run and hide. When I feel my anxiety creep up, I have friends I can count on to help. I have an amazing family that understands this and supports and helps out a lot!
As a first time mom I didn't noticed the PPD as much, by child number 4, there is no break! You can't sleep when the baby does, you can't rest, and everyone needs mommy!! I am learning to take those much needed "mommy self care time" so I can be there for my family.
I have to remember I'm not being a bad mom because I am drained and depressed, but I will be a bad mom if I fail to acknowledge and help myself get better!
1. Have a GOOD support group!! I cannot express enough how amazing my friends and church family are!
2. Don't hide. As much as I want to curl up and hide, I'm thankful to have a routine that keeps me involved with others, so I don't spiral down worse.
3. Not being afraid to ask for help. With my other children I was afraid to let people see how bad I felt. Now, I know that asking for help actually gets help!
4. Taking care of myself! I started doing workout groups (awesome motivation and encouragement from others), keeping my nutrition up (COULD NOT do it with my Zeal and great menu plan!), getting sleep (also thankful for an amazing husband who helps with baby at night), and keeping my MIND right!!
God's grace gets me through the mental, Zeal helps me physically, and friends help me emotionally! So thankful for all the love, support, and encouragement. I'm glad I know what to look for, and to understand that it's normal, and it ends in its season. These days I take it easy, stay in our routine, and don't overschedule myself. This is also why it is SO important to me to have my own personal devotion time. I need to be rooted and growing in God's word for MYSELF, especially during the struggles of Post Pardum
Let's go 2017!! Stay in God's word and don't let myself fall away!!
Love the encouragement! You are such an awesome friend with great advice!!!
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