You Can’t Pour From An Empty Cup

January 31, 2019 Authentically_Mi 47 Comments

Today is the last day of January and I cant believe how fast the month went! I know I said this weeks post would be about love languages, but with Valentines day around the corner, I figured that would be more fitting for the occasion. Learn to expect the unexpected from me, things can change fast but all for the better good!

Abundance is when our cups run over, but what happens when your cup is empty? A burn out is most likely on the horizon. Achieving balance here can be tricky sometimes but ensuring your cup never gets too low is crucial for healing and maintaining self care. Its too easy to pour all of yourself into your loved ones and don’t get me wrong your heart is certainly in the right place, but realistically no one can sustain like that forever. To be a giving person is a blessing, but over exerting yourself will leave nothing else inside for you. The cup is supposed to represent you. When its empty, you cant give the things you need to give to your kids, family or community. Our cups become empty when there is nothing being poured back into us or we don’t give ourselves the opportunity to practice real self care. You cant have the drive and passion for everything else in your life and neglect to pour that magic back into yourself. YOU are the most important project you will ever work on. When you are operating are optimum levels, you are better able to give and serve those around you without becoming depleted yourself. Learn to work smarter not harder.

This is a good example outside of financial reasons of why we need equally yoked relationships. You cannot be the only one pouring from your cup, depleting yourself while that love isn’t reciprocated. We should surround ourselves with people who also help us, look out for and pour back into us. This is not just limited to romantic relationships either, this also applies for friendships, business relationships and such. We also have to make sure that we are open to receiving help, we cant be too busy and ignore or neglect the people who want to assist us. Even if it isn’t intentional, just be mindful of it. Accept help when it is offered and know that you don’t have to carry the burden of the world alone. This is something I’m actively working on.

Its ok to take breaks, or have alone time. Many times we feel guilty for not giving ourselves a break when there are more important things that require our attention, but this train of thought has to end. I am a much better parent if I’ve given myself time to collect my thoughts and improve my mood from a long day at work. Its easy to get annoyed at little things when we are already stressed from the day and we do not want to take it out on those closest to us. That’s exactly what we are trying to avoid and replace with better practices. We are human though, sometimes we may slip and have a moment but remember to forgive yourself and keep trying. We should be mindful to what our limits and triggers are and how long it takes us to reach them. Empty cups are detrimental to everyone around us and takes much longer to fix than catching it before it gets that bad. Its having practices in place to prevent problems before they arise.

To combat having an empty cup, self care practices can be ideal. You can develop a self care plan or list that has things to do that bring you peace when needed. It really is up to you and what you like but my list includes:

bubble baths
journaling
meditation
going to the gym
retail therapy
30 minutes of decompress time after work before jumping into mom mode
scheduling weekly date nights, happy hours or brunch dates with friends
chocolate and wine of course lol.
Pictured below another list of ideas that cost you absolutely nothing so no excuse!

For those unable to squeeze in time after work, there are the night owl hours after everyone has gone to bed for the night, or the early bird rising before everyone else to enjoy the sunrise and a cup of coffee in silence. There are plenty of ways to achieve the time, its taking the steps to actually do it and not giving into excuses. Prioritize yourself into those busy to do lists and make sure your cup is taken care of

DIY PROJECTS 2019, Empowerment 2019

DIY Project🔅2019 Vision Board

January 25, 2019 Authentically_Mi 30 Comments

VISION BOARDS

We are almost one month into the new year and what better time than now to create a vision board for the year. Its important to be proactive in creating your own vision for your life, as our thoughts are powerful and reflects the world as we know it.

So What Exactly Is A Vision Board and Why Do You Need One?

The purpose of a vision board is to make a collage of images, pictures, affirmations, goals, and dreams to serve as a source of inspiration and can magnify the law of attraction method to attain goals. The idea is to create the feelings and gratitude BEFORE it comes. By creating a visual representation, you stimulate and strengthen your emotions and emotions are the vibrational energy that activates Law of Attraction. This is how you make your dreams a reality. Last year was the first time I ever made a vision board and I kept it up for a few months before it somehow ended up in the back of my closet. Some things did come to fruition as I also did the work to achieve them, but my mission could of been accomplished much faster having that daily reminder to look at. I suggest a vision board to anyone who wants to plan and structure their lives around their goals and NOT their circumstances. This is the key difference between a life you chose and a life you just accepted. We are picking and choosing in 2019!

The law of attraction is defined as the attractive, magnetic power of the universe that draws similar energies together

So How Do We Get Started?

You cannot make a vision board without first having a vision for your life. Do you know your goals and the things you want out of life? Do you have a dream job or business? Or dream home? Try to be as specific as possible. Once you know what’s important to you, then you’ll need to decide on the categories you want to feature. The primary categories I went with were finances (operation financial freedom!), Love and Relationships, career and business plans, My blog and book club, holistic health and spiritual growth as well as family. Next I plug every item on my list into one of these categories so that I know how to structure the best layout. Categories with more items will need more space so be mindful of that. After you’ve made your plan, we need to find our content. I started with magazines but they only gave me some good quotes and words to live by. They didn’t offer much as far as pictures are concerned. So for that, I had to swing over to google to find the best images and print them off.

While looking for pictures, I tried to pick the ones I absolutely loved and was sure to include extra to give myself options during the final layout. Once I had all my pictures printed and cut to size, I got my poster board and laid out all of my pictures until I had the final format I was looking for. Gluing everything down was the last step.

Your vision board should be fabulously full and complete! Keep in mind that this vision board acts as a visualization tool, but it doesn’t absolve you from doing the actual work. You should still put forth the effort needed to execute your plan. Remember we are working on cultivating the feeling of already having what we want and our board is the reinforcement of that idea.
The key to this is making sure you keep your vision board in area that it will be visible daily. Look at it and change it as often as you need to and watch the magic happen! Thanks for tuning in!

Healing

Growing Pains

January 17, 2019 Authentically_Mi 18 Comments

GROWING PAINS

Growth should come with a warning label:

“🗣Caution, painful times ahead!”

Sounds like we should run for the hills huh lol, don’t leave just yet. Life is sometimes a roller coaster ride full of sharp turns, being in over your head and painful experiences. The saying is growth is not found in comfort and that’s the absolute truth. Growth can hurt and change is uncomfortable but if you can hold tight til the end, you’ll learn that the journey was necessary and you’ll appreciate all you’ve endured to get there.

Growing pains come in many forms. It’s a part of life that has to be accepted to live fully with the least amount of resistance. Instead of looking at it as a bad thing, learn to flip your perspective into how can this help me grow? What can I learn from this? This simple fix is the start to accepting what life throws your way and handling it in the best way possible.

Building and sticking to a new fitness and nutrition regimen is a growing pain when you aren’t used to working out and eating right. I began my fitness journey in December 2017 and the hardest thing for me was remaining consistent and pushing myself on the days I didn’t feel like sticking to the plan. Some weeks were better than others but I kept going. Here it is over a year later and I am still pushing to be the most fit I’ve ever been in my adult life. Backslides happen, things come up and sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day. It is easier for me to jump back on track because I’ve stayed with it for so long. This is no longer a pain for me, but a necessary part of self love.

Outgrowing destructive behaviors and relationships are growing pains. Many people will give the excuse for bad behavior as “that’s just how I am”. WRONG, that’s how you CHOOSE to be. We are in complete control of ourselves at all times and certain behaviors or traits can be replaced with better ones, but this requires attentiveness and work. Too many people don’t want to put the work in and expect good results and life does not work this way. More people need to understand that internal work is just as important as any other achievement you seek, even more if I’m being honest. Even when it comes to relationships, many times we tend to get into them without fully knowing the person your opening your life up to. People will remain in bad relationships for the sake of comfort and I will be the first to tell you that I have been there. I was once that girl, but as a grown woman this is no longer acceptable. Every relationship isn’t meant to last a lifetime and discernment is so necessary to recognize when that season is up. Growing pains is sometimes leaving situations that no longer serve you. Sometimes people come into our lives to teach us things and that’s it! We aren’t meant to hold on to them, but yet we do for fear of be alone. Being single or alone is not a bad thing and I wish society would change that narrative. It is much better to work on self than to hop from one meaningless relationship to another. That fear of being alone has to be addressed and you can’t avoid it forever. How can you expect other people to enjoy your company when you don’t even enjoy your own?

Building and sticking to a budget is a growing pain for those who aren’t so accountable with finances or those looking to make a financial change in their life. Especially in today’s economy, financial responsibility is a must. Many of us are only a paycheck away from being homeless and while budgeting, meal prepping and couponing doesn’t seem like it will help or be much fun, they are tactics to help you become more wise with where your money goes. The money saved can go towards outstanding debt, savings or college plans for children, investments, ect. Operation financial freedom is the # 1 goal I have right now and it was a hard adjustment to make but that didn’t stop me because I know my end goals and this is a major catalyst to achieving them. You know your on the right track when you resist reckless spending and think more long term and not just for the moment.

These are just a few examples of how we experience growing pains. Change is inevitable and it is wise to alter the way we think about it. Change is always an opportunity for growth. What good is the knowledge we collect along our way if we don’t apply it and put it to use? Something to think about

Self Discovery

Self Discovery🔸️What’s It All About?

January 10, 2019 Authentically_Mi 15 Comments

Self Discovery is defined as the process of acquiring insight into one’s own character

One piece of advice that I wish I had very early on in life is that you have to gain a solid sense of self in this world before you do anything else. You have to connect within and know what drives and motivates you. Self discovery is the internal exploration about connecting with your higher self and finding yourself without the influence of family, friends, religion or society.

The purpose for self discovery is breaking down all things that are not of your true self and rebuilding into a stronger, more solid version of you. Our wisdom and knowledge is only useful when shared or applied so put your growth to use! Our existence in this world is much bigger than ourselves and we’re all apart of a bigger picture. The purpose is to find your place in this puzzle of life. Unhealed trauma and suppressed feelings have a tendency to show up in other areas of our life when they are left
unaddressed and this will snowball into more problems to fix down the line.

This journey is a difficult one and is often brushed off because a lot of people don’t like reliving painful experiences or revisiting their childhood traumas because it means realizing their behavior and beliefs are be based on it. Too many people go through life pretending about who they really are, wearing the mask of who they think they should be. How can you ever find your true purpose if you aren’t real about your gifts and what makes you unique in this world? This path isn’t an easy road, but its so rewarding and essential to heal for personal growth.

I know there are some who are wondering how exactly do you do this? There are many ways to approach self exploration but the key for me was writing down my strengths, weaknesses, the things I loved and disliked about myself, my motivations, what fueled my fire and what put me out. I made a list of these qualities and spent time with them one by one. I did it this way so that I had a complete inventory of what I needed to work on and where I was starting from. Some areas required more work than others.
I thought back to what formed some of my opinions and beliefs and that reflection led me see that many of my negative experiences shaped my behavior and how I approached relationships, friendships and my own relationship with myself.

There is no time table as everyone’s self discovery journey will be different. It usually isn’t until people have grown tired, frustrated, or spiritually drained that one will seek self exploration as a way to change and transform their life. Who are you? This question is the essence of self discovery. Finding who you are at the core without being defined by the roles that you fulfill. You may be a mother or father, employee or business owner, friend ect but that is not WHO you are. I always like to say that I am an old soul with magnetic energy and a heart full of gold. An intellectual mind curious of all of the worlds wonders. A Queen who’s turned her pain into her power. This is who I am

Authenticity, travel blog

Travel Blog🔹️Las Vegas

January 3, 2019 Authentically_Mi 31 Comments

Viva Las Vegas was the destination for my 30th birthday this past March.

We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel, although I’m not sure I would stay there again (had no rooms available despite a reservation months in advance. The manager found us a room several hours later. Luckily we had friends who also had a room we could crash at in the meantime).

First place we hit was Mr. Mama’s for some food (awesome breakfast cafe!)

Once full and satisfied we set off for the liquor store and back to our hotel to change and freshen up. Our first real destination for the day was the opening day pool party at Liquid Pool Lounge, a club inside of the Aria Resort & Casino. The atmosphere was nice but the drinks were expensive and seating was reserved for vip only. We still enjoyed ourselves and then left a few hours later to walk the strip and enjoy the atmosphere. We had plans to go out for dinner but the 6am flight caught up to us and sleep took over.

Day 2 consisted of a little shopping on the strip

Lunch and drinks at the PBR Rock Bar

A pole dancing class at Pole Fitness Studios

My friend Kayla getting some ink at Last Chance Tattoo

Dinner at The Barrymore

Finally ending the night at Drai’s Nightclub for a Migos performance

Day 3 and our final day in Vegas began with brunch at the Wynn Buffet (awesome food, plentiful variety and bottomless drinks!, 🍹)

A bit of random casino playing and checking out the Phantom 😎

That evening we started with a happy hour in the sky at the High Roller

And ended the evening with a bar crawl across Downtown Vegas.

We had just enough time to come back to the hotel, pack and head to the airport. Walking through TSA burping Yeager will stay with me forever lol. Welcome to 30

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, please Like, comment and subscribe!!

Authentically_mi

Monthly Archives: January 2019