2018 has really been a year of growth for me, both personally and professionally. I want to take a few blog posts to really focus on that growth. This one is an introduction to what I am going to call LIVING WITH PURPOSE. For me, Living With Purpose is about having focus and drive in all aspects of my life. Its about not just drifting from point A to point B without any sense of need or desire. Below I have a list of how I started living with purpose. Use it as inspiration for your own list!
This one really seems too obvious, but its really sad how many women don’t take care of their health. Self care should be number 1, because if we aren’t taking care of ourselves then we can’t take care of anything else. If we are not healthy it spills over into all facets of our lives. I’m not just talking about changing your diet or going to the gym, although diet and exercise are super important. I’m talking about being healthy physically and mentally. Im talking about being able to run through a sprinkler with your kids without getting winded, about not raging out over trivial things. Find that thing that makes your heart beat. For me its my daughter and husband. Whatever it is us it as your motivation. The catalyst for my change was surmounting stress at the end of 2017 that culminated in a nervous breakdown at the beginning of 2018. It started with the death of my grandfather in the late fall. That stress was worsened by a tumultuous environment at work, and a stressful period at home where my husband had to travel a lot for his job. It finally came crashing down when my husband was out of town. I missed a week at work, and I finally talked to a doctor. I discovered that I have General and Social Anxiety Disorder, and I finally felt like I had some answers to why I had been feeling the way that I had been feeling most of my life. I have no shame in admitting that I have a mental illness. I am medicated for that illness, and I am certainly a better wife and mom since getting the help that I needed. So, do whatever you need to do to be healthy. Get help if necessary. Once you get healthy it will be easier to live the rest of your life with purpose.
I know, as a mother this one is tough! Once I became a mom everything else took a back seat…including myself. Take some time and put yourself first. I promise you will be a better wife and mom if you do. This was the point that I focused on some of the more superficial things. I say superficial only because, for me I was working on the outward during this step. Of course, the end result was so much more than how I looked. I gained confidence that was noticeable to everyone around me. People were coming up to me and telling me a looked healthy and happy. They didn’t tell me that I looked like had lost weight, which I had, but they were telling me that I looked HEALTHY AND HAPPY. No one had ever told me that before. The boost to my self esteem was amazing, and I kept the momentum moving forward. I revamped my beauty routine and focused on quality of products instead of quantity of products. I focused on learning to love the things that made me, well, me. I embraced my curly hair. I revamped my wardrobe to compliment my body after becoming a mom and my weight loss. It felt good to figure out who I was again. I’m going to have a few blog posts after this one to discuss how I found purpose in my personal style and beauty routine, and I am so excited to share it with you guys! So, all you Mamas out there who are lost in the day to day, take some time for yourself!
Find you passion and PERSUE IT! For me that was fashion. I have always loved clothes and shopping, but growing up we didn’t have a lot of money. Also, I was from a small city in North Georgia. I didn’t have the money or location to have access to shopping big name brands or trends. Y'all, Dalton didn't even get a T.J Maxx until, like, 2008. I had Walmart and Thrift Stores. My love for bargain hunting and thrifting came from necessity. As a teenager I stocked up on fashion magazines to see what the upcoming trends were, and I found affordable versions that were easily accessible for me. Now that I do have the means I still love shopping for good deals, and I absolutely love thrifting. As a hobby I started listing vintage clothes that I would find that I loved, but weren’t my size, on Etsy. I sold some things here and there, but I never really made any money at it. It was just fun for me to hunt for vintage and share my finds with a few like minded individuals. I started this blog as a way to share my finds, but it was never enough. I wanted something more. I wanted to build a business, a brand if you will. I decided to shift my focus from solely vintage to sharing my personal style with the readers of my blog. I got into Poshmark to sell clothes from my closet that I didn’t wear anymore. Let me tell you, Poshmark was the platform I had been searching for. I started listing my vintage on there as well, and I found that I was selling more and actually making money. I started sourcing and listing what I was finding in my Closet as well. Long story short, I found something that I enjoy and turned it into something profitable for me. It was a fairly organic process that evolved as I did. I no longer talk about by reselling as a hobby. I tell people it is my job. Sure I work a 9-5 job in Graphic Arts, but I also have a style blog and resale business. Finding my passion was the final piece to my personal path to purpose.
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