tipping point^{/ (ˈtɪpɪŋ) /} noun: the crisis stage in a process, when a significant change takes place (courtesy Dictionary.com)

Who’s tired? Who’s stressed? Any takers?

Who feels like they desperately need to take time to take care of themselves, but each day gets filled up with work, kids, chores, “have-tos,” and the general chaos of life?

Who feels like there’s never enough time in the day, so you keep doing the daily grind and wind up at the end of the week with nothing left to give and have to start the new week and do the same thing over and over again with an empty tank?

It’s a vicious cycle, and it’s easy to get stuck. I think it’s safe to say most of us have been there.

Did you know that it’s still possible to get self-care and get rid of some stress, even with a full schedule? Just a couple minutes can give you the rejuvenation and calm you’re craving. Best part? Most of them won’t cost you a dime.

I posted an article a while back about natural deodorant and my quest to avoid all the harsh, cancer-linked chemicals in normal store deodorants, and all the considerations when you decide to make the switch.

I’ve been trying to spend less time on social media lately since I have other responsibilities which are more important, and social media for me is a time vampire. I usually start perusing my feed under the guise of checking up on my friends around the country and their various children, artistic endeavors, and funny memes and gifs, but inevitably I end up spending way too much time scrolling my feed and getting nothing meaningful accomplished. What if…

This was my internal dialogue a few nights ago: “When are you going to realize that small, halting steps are just as good as giant leaps, so long as they both take you in the same direction – the direction you want to go? It’s not how fast you get there, so long as you finally get there.”

It’s time for another progress report. Life has been BUSY lately. The crazy illness going around had us all knocked down for a couple weeks, and we’re finally digging our way back out. It makes me extremely thankful for the good health we enjoy most of the other times.

Okay. I didn’t want to write a to-do list today. Or more accurately, I didn’t want to follow the to-do list I wrote this morning, and I procrastinated and wrote my to-do list this morning instead of last night. Today seemed like little things everywhere were not going as planned and I have felt anxiety most of the day, especially about my to-do list, which is supposed to lessen my anxiety. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it?

So let’s talk about health and fitness.

Yes, two days before Christmas. I’m not going to lie, I have hesitated to write about my story because it’s very raw, personal, and I have to get pretty vulnerable. So what the heck, why not share it with the world, right?

I went on a trip by myself this past weekend for the first time since having kids. It was the first time I had flown in over ten years, so I was a little nervous, but excited. I like flying – the airport people watching, the convenience, the ability to sit and rest or read or listen to music while launching hundreds of miles per hour toward your destination, shimmery city lights glistening in the inkwell below, orange and pink cotton candy clouds with nothing but blue sky above. There’s nothing quite like witnessing dark, jagged mountains silhouetted against a radiant sunset or seeing chains of lakes which resemble the water droplets leftover on the sink after brushing your teeth.

There’s a really popular book out right now for women, called Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis, and it’s definitely on my reading list. The book addresses being proactive and going after the goals you want to achieve in life, and I’m all about that in my quest to live intentionally and authentically. Maybe you have read it, maybe you haven’t, but odds are you have heard or read a little bit about a “darker” theme in the book as it pertains to the author’s insistence that not following your diet means you don’t have integrity and that you shouldn’t be trusted. Have you heard about this part? At first blush, this seems like fat shaming and character attacking, but would you like to know something interesting? It’s not either of those things – she’s right.