I use pinterest for inspirations all the time. Please take a few minutes to read about a little journey I've taken over the last few months and the wonderful woman behind it.
The first time I was introduced to a
Whitney Johnson was reading her and her family's introduction in our church's monthly newsletter. I'm pretty sure my thoughts went from, "wow, Wow, WOW" as I read about her history. She really seemed to have it all together.
The first time I think we exchanged words was kind of embarrassing on my part. It was 2 weeks before I was due to have my second daughter Lyla and I was at church. I had psysched my brain up to have her 2 weeks early, just like her sister so I was very discouraged when I was at church instead of in labor and delivery.Whitney sat next to me and said, "Are you okay? You look kind of sad today." In my total lameness I say something like, "Yeah, I just want to have this baby." End of conversation. I felt like a total loser.
So, 2 weeks later enters my second, most beautiful little brown haired little daughter. One of the top 3 best days of my life! (My Lyla is really cool!)
The next few months, however, became a total BLUR. There was very little sleep, very much crying, oh and MOUNTAINS of snow that year. I entered a slump. I wasn't happy and I certainly wasn't motivated.
Finally spring came around and things started to look a little nicer outside, but little sweetheart still wasn't sleeping and it was really taking it's toll on me. My church held a day conference for the women in the Boston area and I was so excited to go! I carpooled with some of my best girl friends and it was awesome!
At the conference I attended 3 break out sessions.
1. How to Fight Fair in Marriage (don't remember much about that one)
2. If Mamma Ain't Happy Ain't Nobody Happy
3. Dare to Dream
2 & 3 were incredible. It was fascinating to get in the mindset from the Mamma one that it really truly is okay to have my own life/interests/passions and it will even make me a more incredible mom (because we all know I'm incredible.. haha..).
From there Whitney Johnson taught her Dare to Dream session. The wheels in my brain were all over the place. First Whitney asked everyone to write down their dream. I think I wrote, "Get a full night's sleep." Then erased it, because I knew that isn't even close to what she meant. I spent the whole hour honestly, truly trying to figure out what my "dreams" are. I have lots of dreams for my children, and even my husband, but not really myself. By the end of the conference, I still hadn't written anything down and I was NOT okay with that.
A few weeks later I was asked to give a talk at church. The night before, with tears in my eyes, I went to my husband with one word, "help." I don't feel like I am incompetent, but it wasn't happening for me that night. He patiently helped me for a few hours and we put together what we both agreed was a pretty decent talk; complete with his vocabulary, and my embarrassing stories. A few weeks later Whitney asked me if I would be interested in writing a guest post on her blog. Whoa. I'd read her blog, every Sunday to be exact, and I knew the genius that came out of her
blog. No, I was not capable of that.
She patiently and wisely told me to write for 15 minutes a day and see if anything came to me. Well I did, and I certainly did have a few ideas, but to my own loss, I never did write a guest post. I really should have. Even though I didn't post, her ideas continued to motivated me. I needed to make some changes. At 28 years old I really needed some dreams.
At first I had this idea that dreams had to equal $$. I spent months trying to figure out how I could make it rich. Eventually I got past that idea and thought if I become a bajillionaire that is awesome, but I needed to be more realistic.
Also, the logistics of "dreams" really bogged me down. It seemed like everything I could think of required time, moolah, and sacrifices on my whole family. I was pretty overwhelmed.
I finally decided to start small. From my journaling I learned that I was obsessed with the idea schedules. So I started "scheduling" my days. I found that most of the time I had plenty of time to get everything done I needed too. I also needed a new hobby. I love to craft and there are some women I go to church with who knit. I thought knitting would be a good new hobby. I picked it up and loved it. I loved my new friends and how kind, intelligent, and supportive they were.
Then I became involved with pinterest. It was incredible. Here are all of these things I could do to "date my dreams" like Whitney encourages. I can see how I like being a domestic goddess by trying all of the cleaning stuff. I can throw awesome parties with those kinds of ideas. It may sound like I'm joking here, but it was fun to think that with this fun little "pin" I can learn something new.
To date, the most influential group of "pins" I've had are my exercise ones. About 3 months ago I made a conscious decision that exercise was going to be my "thing" for a while. Basically my "dream" was to become in control of my body again. I used money I'd received as birthday gifts for a gym membership and started going whenever I could. It was a priority. Some mornings I would put my workout clothes on right away and tell myself I couldn't change until I'd exercised. (This kind of backfired some days because, really, who wants to change out of comfy clothes...) I would find motivational thoughts and pictures that would push me to keep going. Sometime a few weeks ago, really early in the morning, some of my running buddies and I thought it would be fun to run a half marathon. So that became a "Dream"for me. My family is incredibly supportive. My husband wakes up with the girls when I'm gone in the mornings and my parents talk to me about my progress.
As of today I have lost every pound I set out to lose and will be running my first half marathon next weekend. I may, just may, order the dress I "pinned" and titled 'weight loss reward'. I am happy so very happy these days. I am proud that I'm accomplishing a goal and am excited to see what kind of dream I can come up with next.
Thank You Whitney for being such an inspiration to me. Thank you for writing your blog each week and now for your book.
