3 Steps to My Best Life
My personal trainer sent out a Memorial Day message that prompted me to think about what I'm really getting out of my life. I realized that yes, I am busy, yes I am a single mom that works full time, but I have so many blessings, so many resources at my disposal, and yet I'm still not living my life to the fullest. And I really sat down and thought about what that meant. What could I be doing better at, and most importantly, what do I need to be doing more of and better at in order to live the life that I truly want. There are so many aspects of my life that I feel are lacking, and that deep down, it is vitally important to me that I fill these voids so that I can feel fulfilled in my life. For instance, I would love to learn to surf, but is learning to surf so critical to my meaning as a person that I must focus my few spare minutes of time doing it? Not at all. I would love to do it, and if given the chance I will jump at it, but if I never learn how to do it in this life, I don't feel like it will make or break me as a person. However, my scripture study is subpar, and I truly feel in the deep recesses of my soul that if I don't step up my efforts immediately my life, my well being, will suffer eternal consequences. And as I sat and thought about what that message meant to me, I came up with a few aspects of my life that need quick and thorough attention.
1. Scripture study - I learned years ago that I have to read my scriptures every night or I will have a bad next day. I have been baptized in that principle for years and I hardly ever miss a night of reading. But as I've grown spiritually in the last few months, I've realized that reading (or listening to) a chapter of the Book of Mormon as I half fall asleep isn't going to cut it anymore. My attention needs to be 100% on what I'm reading, I need to take notes, think about the concepts and ideas being taught. I need to be 100% present at the time of study. I also want to get some study material, like books or study guides that walk me through the ideas, modern day revelation on the topics, etc. So on my Galaxy I downloaded a free LDS scriptures app, and am reading the corresponding Institute lesson that goes with the chapter of the day. And I am taking notes on a separate piece of paper and then I'm going to come here and blog about it. I'm going to write down my notes, what I realized, my questions, etc. So everyday for the next 239 days (there are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon) I'm going to write a blog about my study of a Book of Mormon chapter. Today is the first day.
2. Family prayer and scripture study daily - we are usually pretty good about praying as a family in the morning, but reading scriptures together and doing family prayer at night is pretty much non existent in my house. My excuse has always been "but I work nights, I'm not even home when the kids go to bed. If only I had a day shift, then I would teach them everything about the gospel." Then I realized that that was such an excuse, I could have a Christ centered home NOW, not when my shift changed. What if I end up working this shift for the next 7 years? I will have lost all that time and opportunity to teach my kids, while I was "waiting" for everything to be perfect. And while I was reflecting on what I really wanted to change in my life, I realized that I need to be doing that stuff NOW! While thinking about what my time resources are I decided that after I pick the kids up for school, before I leave for work my kids and I are going to do family scripture study and family prayer. My grandma let me borrow this illustrated kids scripture set and we are reading from that. This will also be done everyday.
3. Best shape ever! - During the last 1-2 months, while I've first started working out and changing my diet, I've had some huge successes and for the first time in my life I feel like I can do this. I can live a healthy lifestyle, I can wear cute clothes, I can have the energy to play with my kids and feel good. I mean, I've been hot before, I've been hot enough to have every dude in the room hit me up, and honestly I don't want that again. What I want is to be healthy, feel good, set a good example for my kids, I want to sweat and be active and I want to have the wisdom that a clear mind and healthy body can bring. I honestly don't care about looking good to other people, I've been there before and it's shallow and very hedonistic, and that's not my life. I want to breathe deeply, laugh hard, think through ideas, I want to hike tall peaks and see the view. I want to feel my body and my life running at maximum efficiency. I want to be proud of myself, I want to look as good on the outside as I feel on the inside. I'm done being tired, I'm done feeling like I'm drowning. I'm going to make a weekly meal plan, cook it all up once a week as "Meal Prep Monday" and we will be set for the week. We will have the time to spend with each other as a family, and still be fueled enough to feel great.
Those are the 3 aspects of my life that I want to focus my efforts in improving. I feel at this time, this is what needs to change, this is where all my extra energy needs to go into improving.
1. Scripture study - I learned years ago that I have to read my scriptures every night or I will have a bad next day. I have been baptized in that principle for years and I hardly ever miss a night of reading. But as I've grown spiritually in the last few months, I've realized that reading (or listening to) a chapter of the Book of Mormon as I half fall asleep isn't going to cut it anymore. My attention needs to be 100% on what I'm reading, I need to take notes, think about the concepts and ideas being taught. I need to be 100% present at the time of study. I also want to get some study material, like books or study guides that walk me through the ideas, modern day revelation on the topics, etc. So on my Galaxy I downloaded a free LDS scriptures app, and am reading the corresponding Institute lesson that goes with the chapter of the day. And I am taking notes on a separate piece of paper and then I'm going to come here and blog about it. I'm going to write down my notes, what I realized, my questions, etc. So everyday for the next 239 days (there are 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon) I'm going to write a blog about my study of a Book of Mormon chapter. Today is the first day.
2. Family prayer and scripture study daily - we are usually pretty good about praying as a family in the morning, but reading scriptures together and doing family prayer at night is pretty much non existent in my house. My excuse has always been "but I work nights, I'm not even home when the kids go to bed. If only I had a day shift, then I would teach them everything about the gospel." Then I realized that that was such an excuse, I could have a Christ centered home NOW, not when my shift changed. What if I end up working this shift for the next 7 years? I will have lost all that time and opportunity to teach my kids, while I was "waiting" for everything to be perfect. And while I was reflecting on what I really wanted to change in my life, I realized that I need to be doing that stuff NOW! While thinking about what my time resources are I decided that after I pick the kids up for school, before I leave for work my kids and I are going to do family scripture study and family prayer. My grandma let me borrow this illustrated kids scripture set and we are reading from that. This will also be done everyday.
3. Best shape ever! - During the last 1-2 months, while I've first started working out and changing my diet, I've had some huge successes and for the first time in my life I feel like I can do this. I can live a healthy lifestyle, I can wear cute clothes, I can have the energy to play with my kids and feel good. I mean, I've been hot before, I've been hot enough to have every dude in the room hit me up, and honestly I don't want that again. What I want is to be healthy, feel good, set a good example for my kids, I want to sweat and be active and I want to have the wisdom that a clear mind and healthy body can bring. I honestly don't care about looking good to other people, I've been there before and it's shallow and very hedonistic, and that's not my life. I want to breathe deeply, laugh hard, think through ideas, I want to hike tall peaks and see the view. I want to feel my body and my life running at maximum efficiency. I want to be proud of myself, I want to look as good on the outside as I feel on the inside. I'm done being tired, I'm done feeling like I'm drowning. I'm going to make a weekly meal plan, cook it all up once a week as "Meal Prep Monday" and we will be set for the week. We will have the time to spend with each other as a family, and still be fueled enough to feel great.
Those are the 3 aspects of my life that I want to focus my efforts in improving. I feel at this time, this is what needs to change, this is where all my extra energy needs to go into improving.
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