You're Not Perfect (Neither am I)

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You're Not Perfect (Neither am I)

News flash, you’re not perfect.

“Ouch. Really, Erin?”

I don’t tell you this to be mean, I remind you of this fact to set you free. Since you aren’t perfect, you don’t have to be perfect. It’s okay for you to have a bad day, or a bad week. It’s not okay for you to treat other people poorly because of it.

It’s okay for you to not be everything to everyone, but it is important that you take care of yourself so that you can also take care of the others that you elect to allow into your priority circle. That might mean that your make your husband and your kids your priority, but Tammy from the office will have to pick up the monthly birthday cake herself (or get someone else to do it).

You’re not perfect, and you can’t do everything.  This is something I’ve been telling myself on repeat over the last few weeks.

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1st Year of Marriage- Relationship Check-Up

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1st Year of Marriage- Relationship Check-Up

Monday is our 1 year wedding anniversary. And you know what? Marriage is hard. Like really, really hard. To quote one of my favorite authors,

“All due respect to the Resurrection, but two-becoming-one might be the greatest miracle ever.”  (Thank you Jen Hatmaker for keeping it real in your book For the Love)

Don’t get me wrong. It’s also amazing, and exciting, and a whole lot of fun to be able to see your favorite person first thing every morning… but I feel like the movies give us enough of that stuff. What I find lacking in the conversation about marriage is real, honest accounts of how tough marriage can be, but how it’s totally possible to still make it work. We hear the really great stuff, or the really bad stuff. But rarely do I hear people talking about the in-between stuff (except Jen, who I mentioned earlier has a fabulous chapter devoted to it in her book, For the Love. If you haven’t read it do yourself a favor and pick up the audio copy, because listening to her read it will have you laughing out loud).

So while our first year of marriage was far from perfect (what even is perfect?), we did pretty okay. And I thought I’d share some of the stuff we did to navigate the in-between in case you need a little inspiration in your relationship.

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Quotes to Make you Think

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Quotes to Make you Think

I don’t remember when I got my first diary. I do remember it was white and it had shiny colored objects on the cover, but I don’t remember what the objects were. What I DO remember is that it had lock. Looking back on it, it was a cheapo lock, and I’m sure one jab of a bobby pin would have let any would-be-intruders (aka little sisters) in on my secrets in 3.5 seconds. That’s why I also cleverly hid it under my mattress.

Bless my 9-year old self.

When I was a little older I started collecting quotes. I wrote them everywhere. In notebooks, on scraps of paper, and the very special ones… in a special notebook just for my favorite quotes. I’m not sure what it was that triggered my love for quotes, but I even asked for a quote thesaurus for a gift once. Yes, quote thesauruses exist. And I got one. An entire big, beautiful book of quotes… about music.

I still love a good quote. I love how a few sentences can inspire, make me laugh, or put me into a tailspin as I ponder everything I’ve ever believed about the world (no, I’m not dramatic at all. Ever.)

These are some of my current favorites. They challenge, inspire, and push me. I hope they can do the same for you!

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19 for 2019 Goal Check-In

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19 for 2019 Goal Check-In

So here we are.  Halfway through April, which is honestly absolutely bonkers. How the heck did that happen? I’m not entirely sure, but it did happen, and here we are.

A couple weeks ago, I started reflecting on my decision to give my money away in January to participate in the Happiness Project with Gretchen Rubin. I talked about what’s been working for me, what hasn’t, and what I’ve been learning in the process.

As a whole, it’s been pretty good. March was hard since I couldn’t do much “outer order” work since we’re still working on the house. However, I was able to really focus on some specific items such as my make-up and bag and my email account that I don’t know that I would have gotten to if I was able to do the rest of the house. I’m looking forward to putting the whole house back into “outer order,” but unfortunately, that’s still going to be a while.

In the process of reflecting, I realized that I hadn’t given much thought to my 19 for 2019 goals, so I decided I would pull them out to start working on them. Which I then promptly forgot to do… until now.  I know you never do things like that, so forgive me, I can be easily distracted.

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12 Easy Ways to Reduce Waste (and improve your health at the same time!)

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12 Easy Ways to Reduce Waste (and improve your health at the same time!)

Planeteer Erin here, what do YOU do to save the planet?

Here’s a fun fact about me, I can’t ever remember a time when I didn’t want to “save the planet.”  In fact, I remember begging my parents to let me buy 50 Simple Things Kids Can do to Save the Earth at the school Book Fair. Spoiler alert- they let me buy it. In fact, I remember loving this book so much that I re-purchased it three years ago. Don’t worry, I bought it used- Reduce, reuse, recycle friends. I also loved Captain Planet, and was beyond psyched when Subway had the Planeteer rings as the toys in their kid’s meals.  

I’ll be honest- I have no idea if Subway still has kids’ meals, but I do know this. Earth Day is April 22nd, and in honor of Earth Day, here are 12 super-ridiculously easy ways to reduce waste and make an impact.

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Accomplish Things Faster & Better

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Accomplish Things Faster & Better

Back in January I mentioned that I was giving my money away for a happiness project (clarification, it wasn’t all my money. It was totally reasonable in the grand scheme of things, but still, it was something I knew I had to do).

Now that March has come and almost gone, I’m reflecting back on that decision (to purchase the course), and what I have accomplished over the last two and a half months. Not only that, but what has, and hasn’t worked for me.

First, I’m not at all sad about my choice to go through the course. For me, it’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of time. However, by focusing on the topic of the month, and happiness in general, I’ve found that I’ve grown faster in areas of my life than I have before. I’ve been into personal development for years, however, the speed that I am accomplishing in areas that have seemed to drag has been mind-blowing. I never would have guessed that I could do so much “work” in so short of time.

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Giving Up Negative Self-Talk

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Giving Up Negative Self-Talk

I have a confession to make.

The other day I looked in the mirror and I made a face at myself. And it wasn’t a nice face. I don’t feel good making this confession, but I have to be honest with you, because it’s true. And it happens more than I’d like to admit.

I make ugly faces at the image looking back at me. I pull on my clothes, and I complain about some or other part of my body. Sometimes I say things out loud, but 9 times out of 10 the voice is only my head. Sometimes when I say these things out loud I’m overheard. But again, 9 times out of 10 the only person who “hears” is me.

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