Self Care is Health Care

Can you believe that It's already the last day of January?

I'd love to say that my goals are all set for the year, but honestly they are not...and that's okay. Over the years, I've learned to give myself grace. I have chosen to be more present in the season of life that I am currently in opposed to the four seasons in a calendar year. January 1st, 2023 was just another day in my book. Now, don't get me wrong, I do believe that creating New Years goals can be highly beneficial, but this year, I am choosing to do things a tad bit different.

This season for me is all about self-care; nurturing my spirit, my body and my mind. In December, I was prompted to start a wellness journey to a healthier lifestyle (spiritually, physically and mentally). 

I'm choosing to prioritize my spiritual health over all, because as I do the work to take care of the spirit, everything else will begin to fall into place. First and foremost, by focusing on my identity in Christ, and rebuilding my confidence in God alone. Truly discovering who I am and whose I am will allow me to show up as my best self more frequently. The next most important thing is my physical health, which will consist of taking care of my body from the inside out. These days, I am becoming more conscientious of what I eat and drink as well as how much physical activity I get daily. Implementing more nutritional foods and physical activity into my daily routine will promote healthy blood flow through the body. Which leads me to believe that improving my lifestyle spiritually and physically, will impact my mental stability. As I begin taking practical steps to improve my lifestyle, my mind will be stretched. A mind stretched never returns to its original size.

Now, truth be told, this journey so far has been a bit rough. Breaking poor habits has been my number one challenge. In order to conquer what seems like a mountain of obstacles, it’s going to take major discipline and commitment. I understand that this not an over night process; therefore, my goal is to take things one day at a time. I plan to bring you along on the journey.

As a way of holding myself accountable, I plan to post updates on what my journey looks like. My goal is to be real, raw and transparent; not pressuring myself to "perform", but to genuinely be transformed from the inside, out. I hope to inspire you as I share this part of my life with you.

I’ll be tracking my progress daily using my 2023 ”Planned on Purpose” Planner by Kourtni Miller.  This is by far my favorite planner to date. If you’re anything like me and you still use pen and paper to write everything down, you will enjoy this planner as much as I do. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.

My WHY!

As a young wife and mother of 7, I have to be diligent of my health and overall wellness. I am not only responsible for my life on this earth, but the lives of my loved ones as well. If I am unhealthy spiritually, mentally and/or physically, I cannot show up for myself or anyone else the way that God intends for me to. Pouring from an empty cup is impossible. Each and every day I have a choice to make. That choice is to make the most out of this life that God has blessed me with. In order to do that I must be intentional about filling myself up and carving out time for what’s most important. Over the next few posts, I’ll be diving deeper into what that really looks like.

I hope that you stick around for the ride.

Blessings,

Ashley