You Come First

Life is busy. We have several responsibilities, obligations and tasks that need to be completed on a daily basis to ensure that our lives run smoothly. My day is action packed from morning until night. With two babies that are 2 and 1, I am going (seemingly non-stop) from the time I wake up (or am woken up) until the time I start winding down for the evening to rest. Most everyone, whether you have children or not, has other people depending on them. Whether it’s your family, friends, or colleagues, we all affect the lives of other people immensely based on how we show up in our own lives. There is a direct correlation to the quality and dependability which we can offer others and the time we take to nurture and care for ourselves.

Like the old cliché adage says “You can’t give to someone else what you don’t have to give”. I love metaphors and I would take this a step further to illustrate with these examples: How can a poor person advise you on how to get rich? How can an unorganized person help you organize? How can an unfit person help you get fit? Seeing a trend here? Those make perfect sense and I doubt could be argued, however we tend to not apply the same principle to the unseen intangible things. These range from peace, love, honor, satisfaction, reliability, commitment, consistency, contentment and so much more. These are internal factors that we need to maintain and work to achieve so that we can offer them to the folks who need us the most.

We tend to have the perception that we must put everyone else’s needs and priorities above our own, which is true when we are dealing with babies or children who are not self-sufficient. However, even then, we must take the time to make sure we are healthy, both inside and out to ensure we can offer presence that has quality, not just quantity. If I’m with my babies, but I’m on my phone not interacting with them, or engaged in other things besides them, what am I really offering them? If I’m tired and cranky and emotionally unbalanced, what does my interaction look like with my family, friends or colleagues? Am I showing up at 100% or am I just there filling space? Let’s progress to not just show up, but to show up with authentic, genuine, quality of presence that offers those that are exposed to us the best possible result.

I have implemented several ways in which I take time out of my schedule to honor and love myself so that I can stay at my best capacity in an effort to show up for the people who depend on and matter most to me. Exercising, meditating, eating healthy, making financial decisions that prioritize what’s really important in my life and getting adequate time to relax are among my top tools. Let’s all find what helps us be the best version of ourselves so that we can positively impact all whom we come into contact with.

With So Much Love,

Simply Megan

STFU

stfu

Or “Saint Foo” as I affectionately refer to this euphemism. It’s necessary, healthy and absolutely downright critical if we are to maintain our inner peace and joy. I can’t count how many conversations I overhear in passing during my daily routines that are centered around someone else. What they did, said, are going to do etc. Perhaps as we think over our conversation’s with our lovers, best friends, co-workers, family or even our children we may find that a big portion of our topics revolve around other people.

We’re discussing their relationships, their parenting skills, their choices, their life..just THEM in general. I have found that this creates unnecessary drama and distraction away from the very things that should be our MAIN priority. Ourselves and our life. Period! A lot of times we talk to entertain ourselves and others with the content. Talking is a sacred tool that should be honored and respected (after all, everyone is not blessed with this gift). It should be used as a true form of communication and by communication I mean effective expression of solving issues and/or filtering love through the universe.

I am a proponent of the theory that love and fear are the only two real base emotions. When we find or feel the need to negatively speak about others and sometimes even our own selves, I believe it’s rooted in an insecurity/fear. I believe we can always be striving to improve our own personal situations and keeping that in mind, how do we really have any time to do anything else? While you’re discussing someone else’s business, you could be improving your own. I have observed that people who tend to constantly focus on other people’s shortcomings are typically extremely unhappy and unfulfilled in their own lives.

We all need a vent session every once in a while, however “how you do something.. is how you do everything” – (T Harv Ekar). If it’s once in a while, it’s a fluke, if it’s constant, it’s who you are. Don’t be that person. Don’t be hypocritical and salty. It’s really not a good look. Keeping in mind that we are all sponges , let’s wring that nasty stuff out and start fresh.

With So Much Love,

Simply Megan

Squeeze Me! (Sponge- Like Chick Part Duex)

Soooo, just like we have to be aware and mindful of what we are absorbing, we also need to be aware of what’s already siting in the crevices of our lives that is no longer serving us. Sometimes, sponges need to be wrung out and purged of dirty, stale, old water. The initial thought that pops into my mind is: relationship. I want to clarify that when I mention relationship in this article I am referring to ANY type. Familiar, friend, associate, romantic, long distance, previous, current, whatever!

Personal experience has shown me that sometimes the most lengthy connections..you know the ones that provide “security, nostalgia and familiarity” are the very ones that need to be squeezed out of our lives to make room for new fresh, healthy and more supportive ways of being. Often times, we remain connected to toxic, unhealthy or “safe” dynamics out of a sense of obligated loyalty. “This person was there for me  when…x,y,z”. I am in no way discounting having the awareness to salvage or not totally cut off relationships that are at their core, worth maintaining. Certain relationships have no choice but to be maintained at some level, either because the person is literally related to you, or you share a child/children. This however, doesn’t meant the level of engagement needs to remain high. Squeezing ourselves and finding new spaces in our crevices is essential to growth and progress. This doesn’t mean that the sponge is completely absolved of its previous relationship, just that it has begun the initial release and over time, the connection will serve as a distant memory that assisted to achieve its current state. The standard of measure I like to use is one of reciprocity and emotional intelligence. These two questions can be asked. “Does my current relationship with this person(s) fill me with a sense of joy, purpose and well-being?” and “Do we share a reciprocal exchange of energy or am I being drained consistently during our interactions?” This requires a certain level of honesty with our own self and a self-awareness of how we operate in regards to another person.

Sometimes the crevices are filled not with relationship, but with habits, thoughts or behaviors. I quit smoking cigarettes almost 4 years ago and I used the same measure referenced above. The answer was “No! This does not bring me joy, purpose or help my overall well-being” The other answer was “No, we do not share a reciprocal exchange, cigarettes drain the crap out of me!!” There was a time where I felt that the answers may have been different to those questions, but as we grow and mature, the answers often change, and must be re-evaluated. Just like a sponge, we need it to be filled with soap while we scrub plates and forks, but once that purpose has been served, we want to rinse and squeeze that sponge out and fill it with fresh water so the old dirty soap can be released. I challenge you to squeeze yourself today. First take a look at your relationships, habits, behaviors, thoughts and activities and then measure them up to the questions. Be compassionate and caring with yourself. Sometimes we know that something isn’t healthy for us and we just aren’t ready to squeeze it out, and that’s alright. Understand that knowing is half the battle and as you seek transformation, turning “knowing” into “doing” is critical if we want an overall different result.

With so much love.

Simply Megan