Time & Energy

Hi everyone-- It’s been a while! Sorry I’ve been so MIA lately, I’ve just been trying to figure this crazy, unpredictable, exciting thing called LIFE out. It’s a process, as we all know. I have needed a reality check in quite a few areas, so I was taking some time to do so. I took a social media break, which I do somewhat often-- for me personally, it’s necessary. If I find myself mindlessly scrolling, if I can tell that it’s affecting time with my daughter or my family, or if I’m spending time comparing or looking at things or people that don’t bring me positivity or a sense of joy, then I realize it’s time for a break. And if you haven’t ever done that (if you’re someone who is on social media quite a bit), YOU SHOULD. Maybe you have it all under control and don’t need to take a step back. But it’s seriously so refreshing to just be present and worry about who or what’s in front of you. Which leads me to what I want to talk about in this journal post--

How we’re spending our time and who/what we’re putting our energy towards.

I thought with it being a new month, it’s the perfect time to bring this up. And I’m going to say this again, just like I do in each post-- I am speaking from experience, so everything that I want to talk about is super personal and relatable to my life. No judgements here; just real talk.

First let’s talk about PEOPLE. There are some beautiful, kind, encouraging humans in this world-- I don’t know about you, but I’m lucky enough to have a number of friends and family members who fit those characteristics. We all know who those people are in our lives and we all know how GOOD they make us feel. They make us feel valuable and loved. Those are the people we should be investing our time into and those are the people who should consume our energy or our thoughts (when it comes to relationships/friendships). But we all know there are also bad people in this world and around us as well-- people who are negative, disrespectful, judgmental, disloyal, manipulative, just to name some of the possibilities. And maybe some of you have been lucky enough to only see those types of behaviors from a distance, but for the most part, we have all dealt with those people in our personal lives. They may have hurt you or broke your heart, they may not care about you or what you have, they may judge you for every little thing you do, they may have betrayed you or lied to you-- but I’ve learned it does you NO GOOD to let that person consume you. You can obviously be upset about it, cry about, get mad, whatever it is that you do-- unless you’re a stone cold person, I’m sure it’ll affect you. But all I’m saying is, you can’t let them consume and control your life. They obviously aren’t worried about you or how they’re affecting your everyday life, so why let that happen?! Why let them consume your thoughts throughout the day or cause you so much stress you can’t sleep at night? I know that everyone reading this has at least a couple of uplifting, honest and caring people in your lives (probably more than a couple)- people that want good things for you, people that want to see you succeed and celebrate with you when you do, people that encourage you through difficult seasons- THOSE ARE THE PEOPLE that should be consuming your time and your energy. Yeah, you may have lost a good friend, or a relationship failed that you thought was the one, or someone is trying to damage what you have because they want it, or someone at your job is always judging you, or another parent is shaming you for how you’re raising your child… whatever they case is, those people don’t deserve another second of your time. They WANT to see you unhappy and they want to see you struggle, as sad as that is. Some people just thrive off of seeing others hurting and failing. And it may seem difficult at the time depending on your situation, but don’t give them that control over you. Those are the people that you keep at a distance-- you don’t have to be hateful or rude to them, but just know that it’s not in your best interest to continue thinking about them or letting them consume your energy (physically, emotionally or mentally). People like that always end up with the same energy thrown at them as they’re sending out to everyone else. But your time is TOO precious and this life is TOO short to let negative people consume you.

Now let’s talk TIME and what we’re doing with our time-- I’ll be the first to admit, I need to do a WAYYYY better job of what’s consuming my time and energy. Just being real- I watch too much t.v., I’m on social media more than I want to be, I focus on people and things that upset me way more than I should, I don’t work out as much as I need to be, the list could continue but I’ll stop there. Like I mentioned earlier, I took time away from social media because I felt like that was consuming too much of my time. And that honestly put quite a few things in perspective to me. Instead of spending my free time scrolling on instagram, or worrying about what other people were doing, I took time to focus on things that I KNOW I should have already been making more time for. But I also have just been putting a lot of focus towards my overall purpose and what I want my life to look like. I’ve made a few changes in my photography world, which I’m so excited about-- I feel refocused and refreshed in that area. I’ve been spending more time with the people who bring me positivity and joy and LIFE. I’ve been making it a priority to take some time each day to do something I know will bring me a sense of happiness or peace, regardless of what’s going on. Reading, praying, listening to music, going on walks, eating chipotle (lol, but seriously), and working out, just to name a few for me personally. I recently bought a prayer journal and I have seriously loved it. It’s kept me accountable, as far as sitting down and truly spending some time in prayer, not just a real quick prayer before bed without much thought or energy. I’ve shared the journal on my instagram already, but I’ll explain it a little bit for whoever is reading this. So each week, it focuses on one verse-- with each verse and new week, it has a reflection page with journal prompts/questions, an area where you write down what you’re grateful for that week, an area where you write down what you want God to “teach you” that week and areas you want Him to “guide you”, a place for you to write down anything that’s on your heart, and a place for prayer requests. I’m going to admit-- I have went through a season of my life where I felt extremely distant from God and my overall faith. I stopped going to church as often (or not at all), I wasn’t praying, I wasn’t seeking Him during difficult times… I just let my challenging circumstances get the better of me in a time where I should have been turning towards my faith the most. I was letting whatever challenging situation I was in consume my time and my energy, instead of my faith, my blessings and my strength. BUT I’m back and I’m feeling extremely grateful that I now have something to lean on when I’m struggling rather than trying to take everything on by myself. I am nowhere near perfect when it comes to these areas I’ve mentioned, but I’m trying everyday to become better.

So I just challenge you to take a step back and ask yourself these questions-- Am I spending too much time and energy on the wrong people? Am I spending too much time doing things that don’t make me feel positive? Am I putting energy towards things that make me feel good? Am I spending time focusing on the negative things in my life, and not enough time feeling grateful for the positive aspects and people in my life?