I'LL BE HAPPY WHEN...

Do you ever find yourself "some-day-ing" your life away?

When you're in high school, you're looking forward to college. When you're in college, you're looking forward to starting your career. Once you start your career, you look forward to buying a house, then getting a promotion, then having a baby, then having a second baby, then renovating your kitchen, it goes on and on and on...

I know I have been guilty of this so many times. It's human nature to look ahead, and planning is a great skill to have, but it becomes a problem when you realize that you're wishing your life away, never living in the moment.

I think that one of the most important things we can do in life is to find joy in the everyday. Right here. Right now. Today.

I say "joy" rather than "happiness" because I think that it represents more of a way of looking at life, rather than a fleeting emotion. Living a joyful life is a choice.

That means whatever situation you're in, take a look at it, and find joy in it. I know that it can be really hard. Maybe you're working at a job you hate, or you're not happy with your body at the moment, or you're living in a less-than-ideal apartment. It's really tempting to just ignore the present, and focus on the dream-land fantasy of how amazing life will be when you finally have that "thing", whatever that thing is for you. But I promise you, once you have it, you will set your sights on something else. That's the way it works.

My personal trick to be at peace with the way my life is right now? I practice having an attitude of gratitude. Being  a Christian, all it takes is a simple prayer thanking God for everything that I have to make me realize how blessed I am and how amazing and beautiful this imperfect life of mine is.

Try it - pray, or make a list in your head (or on paper) of what you're thankful for every day. Or at least when you're feeling anxious about your current situation. I promise, it works. xo!

DELETING MY EMAIL APP

A few weeks ago, I came upon this blog post by Lara Casey and it really spoke to me. She talks about the importance of setting boundaries for yourself and your time, and the cycle that you can fall into if you don't. I realized I was definitely in that cycle of working inefficiently all the time, rather than working efficiently during the week day and relaxing / spending time with family & friends during the evenings and weekends. 

While I haven't completely made all of the changes she recommends (I still like to post pictures on Instagram over the weekends), the one major change that I made was taking the email app off of my phone. It surprised me how scared I was to do this, but you guys...

this has changed my life.

I was worried that I would miss important things without email, but the truth is that with email on my phone, I was missing everything! Even though a lot of my emails are junk, just hearing that beep go off a million times a day caused this tiny bit of stress that just accumulated. I would check my phone when I was at restaurants with Wes or playing fetch with Chester or trying to design something for the shop. It was just a constant distraction. 

Now, I check my email for the first hour that I'm working in the morning (around 8-9am) and the last hour (around 5-6pm). If I'm waiting for an important email, I may check it from the computer a couple of additional times, but that doesn't cause the same reaction in me as that demanding BEEP on my phone. And clients don't expect instant messages back if you don't set up that expectation. 

Now, when I'm working I'm working. When I'm at the gym, I'm at the gym. When I'm eating dinner with Wes, I'm engaged and focused on the conversation.

I highly recommend taking email off of your phone, even just for one day, and seeing how you react. I bet that, like me, you will feel instantly more relaxed and have an easier time focusing. It's a small change that makes a big difference in your efficiency at work as well as happiness with your family.

PS. 6 Signs your smartphone is stressing you out