Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

I like to think that being wise does not associate with your age. My yoga instructor is about 24, a few years younger than me, and in my eyes, she’s the wisest person I’ve ever met. Being calm and collected are two things we think maintain our balance in life, and while that may be true, it isn’t always. What I mean is you don’t always need two things in your life to be calm and collected. If that was the case, we’d all be living our lives happily, just without all the many people and things that are supposed to add happiness to our lives. This New Year I made some lifestyle changes and decided that I wanted to be happy this year. Three months in and I find out that the key to being happy is making others happy. Everyone needs a little help here and there and if you can spare time to help them, they won’t judge while you Netflix binge in the living room for three hours straight. Just me? Ok. But going back to my lifestyle changes, I started waking up at 5:00 A.M. just so that I could have a slow morning, I started doing yoga more frequently, drawing more, cooking more, making people happier, and it was these small things that really contributed to my life. I had time for more things, I was happier in the mornings, I had a chance to explore new hobbies and really get to know myself, and I was eager to help people, all for the price of one or two hours. I’m not saying that my life has suddenly become sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows, but it has become at least one of the three. Prioritizing what you want is always important, but we’re incharge of that. It’s not like my kids will stop pestering me one day and never ask for anymore help and all my chores will vanish, but that shouldn’t be stopping me. So now I wake up earlier than them and I have three blissful hours of me time, with a coffee mug, a magazine, and the sound of silence. After three months of waking up early and feeling grateful to be alive, I realized that I had this time all along and I just wasn’t using it. Technically, humans always put themselves first but we also have trouble taking action towards our problems, and that’s when the blame game starts. Yes I blamed my job and my family for taking up time that I could be using to go to the spa or binge-watch Grey’s Anatomy, but thinking back I realize that it wasn’t their fault because I had time, I just had to use it well. You may be thinking, “How on Earth does she know all of this crap? Does she use Skill Share? Maybe I can join her class.” Haha, very funny. I’m not wise or a saint or anything, believe me. This all came to me in a dream where my therapist was a dream ghost and told me things I already knew but didn’t think about. Just kidding, but I’m not kidding about the things I already know. We all know that blaming people isn’t cool and we can tell right from wrong, but it’s hard to realize that it isn’t someone else’s fault. We all need to be empowered to choose between right and wrong, and sometimes life is tough, but there are things we can do to make it less rough. You do you, and believe in yourself, because as hard as juggling all of this seems, if I out of all people can do it, you can too. Just know that you have the support of so many people who want what’s best for you and start changing your life, it’s worth it. YOU’RE worth it. Take care of yourself and the rest will be a breeze. It’s Just Life, and life is so much better with Justine.