Road to Success: My Goals for a Happy & Healthy Life

I’ll start this blog telling you it’s a little lengthy, but a lot from the heart. I met my husband my spring semester freshman year and I believe our relationship moved quicker than I intended it to. He joined the Air Force so we married on a whim to be together. (Going on six years strong with a small human addition four months ago).

A lot of things fell into place and a lot of things went on the back burner. My education, for example. I tried for years, swapping majors, going to different schools both online and in the state of ND, but I realized I didn’t just want a degree to have a degree; I wanted to learn in a field I was interested in–hold a degree that would get me a job I was passionate about. Motherhood ended up coming first.

Just recently I confided in my husband that something just wasn’t right. It was hard for me to get up in the morning. I was entirely exhausted (more than I should be for a blessed mama whose baby sleeps through the night). I couldn’t ever leave the house because the thought of it gave me too much anxiety. (What if the baby needs to nurse? She has a certain bedtime, we can’t be out of the house too late! It’s too cold in this frigid weather!).

We talked, and I definitely cried, and he suggested going to church in the morning. Church? Us? Out of his mouth? I hadn’t been to church in far too long. What good was it going to do now? Would the baby sit through the service? Would people judge us because we randomly showed up?

Somehow once the words were out of his mouth it was what was going to happen. So we did. We went yesterday morning. The baby sat through the whole service without any tears. We chatted with friends we hadn’t seen in quite some time. And wouldn’t you know it, it was the first week of a new series entitled, “It’s ok to not be ok.” My jaw literally dropped to the floor. How could it be possible my husband suggested going at such a necessary time and it just so happened it was exactly what we needed to hear?

Living in Minot has been very tough on me. Not only were my own goals pushed aside, I absolutely despise the cold. When you can’t leave the house for a majority of the year, it wears on you. Not only that, it costs a fortune to leave this place because it’s in the middle of nowhere. I hate it. I hate it so much it hurts. We’ve been stationed here for going on five years now and I think I’ve just finally had enough.

That festering hatred, the winter blues, and the baby blues all combined and created a huge mess. We are, in every sense of the word, isolated in this place. But I learned that it’s our fault.

It’s our fault that we don’t put ourselves out there to make friends. It’s our fault that we let the hatred of living in this place get to us so much we make poor decisions (ya know, like making way too many trips to Target and eating too much junk food).

My heart felt lighter when I left the service yesterday. One of the bullet points of our service was “Do the next right thing.” My husband and I had another deep talk and we’ve decided that enough is enough. Here are the “next right things” we wish to do in our lives.

1. Build relationships. Within our church community, within our military community, anywhere! We need to be comfortable leaving our house, meeting new people, joining groups and having baby playdates.
2. Incorporate more exercise. Everyone knows body image is related to happiness. More confidence equals being more proactive in many aspects of day-to-day life.
3. Eat more consciously. We’re veggie lovers so it’s always a challenge for us to find the right foods (especially somewhere produce is never too fresh). Cooking gives us something to plan, something to do together, and makes us feel much better than if we were to order a pizza.
4. Start our Plexus journey. Feel free to research “microbiome” and “gut health” and how it correlates with overall health and wellness. And then research Plexus and how it can help you in your life. A friend told me, “Everyone needs it. They just might not know how to take that first step.” We decided to take that first step by jumping right in.
   

   [updates will follow once we’ve had time to try the products long enough]

5. Never be afraid to say we’re not okay. This circles back to the service we attended and how it really touched us. Having faith in one another and having enough trust to not feel ashamed about a problem will help us have a healthier and stronger relationship.

We’re just beginning this new stage in our lives. If you’re feeling down about something in your own life, what would you do to change it? We all have the power to step up and take control of aspects of our lives. What’s stopping you?