Happy to have you here today friends! My Monday mental health themed posts are often the result of something that pops into my brain at the last second. I don’t sit down with an editorial calendar for these. Why? Well, because, these are my most heartfelt sentiments. I enjoy writing these the most because they’re the easiest. Thank goodness they’re well received. Today’s post has been niggling in the back of my mind lately and at church yesterday our pastor shared this quote. It spoke to me!
Are You Headed in the Wrong Direction
It has taken me almost 10 years of blogging to come to some realizations. First, I started this blog with a friend for purposes of a creative pursuit that would yield extra spending money. I’ve always been a girl with a side hustle often working more than one job – in college I had 3 at a time! The idea of being my own boss appealed to me because unlike my 9 to 5 job, in this space I had control over my compensation. Hard work means more money.
Although that sounded easy enough, I have realized how hard I am willing to work for extra money. It’s become abundantly clear that I don’t want to work 7 days a week. It’s also become abundantly clear that some of the things I thought I wanted to do have turned out to be things I don’t actually value. It’s why I have not been excited and willing to do whatever it takes to reach what I thought I wanted.
This is where the ladder comes in. Here I have had may ladder leaning against someone else’s wall, not mine. So yes, I am taking steps but there’s a reason I am not fulfilled. There’s a reason I’m not enjoying it and there’s a reason I feel like there has to be more. I once thought that having the blog allowed me to tap into that other side of myself that liked fashion. Now I realize that there are not separate parts of me – I am a WHOLE.
These are my values, in this order:
- faith
- family
- honesty and integrity
- supporting and lifting up others
Faith will always come first and it’s not because I don’t value my family. I do. If anything ever happened to my family, I would be destroyed and heartbroken but my faith would get me through it. My family can be taken from me, I have no control over that but I do control my faith. No one can take that from me. It is at the very core of my existence.
I also value honesty and integrity. These are so important to me that I just don’t want to have people close to me that deceive and lie or cheat. In fact, when I let someone get close to me and then their dishonesty is revealed, I feel so hurt and let down.
Finally, I get so much joy from supporting and lifting up others, no strings attached. Whether it’s helping someone believe they can achieve something tangible or something that seems so superfluous like an outfit I get excited.
So while I have tried over the years to leave the counselor in me behind and forge a new path as a blogger/influencer I realize that the two are not mutually exclusive. My ladder has been leaning against the wrong wall!
I was looking at the success of others and thinking that was what I needed. I wondered why when I reached certain milestones I didn’t feel like celebrating. Now I know, they didn’t align with my core values.
I share this with you so you can also look at where you are headed. What is it that you want to achieve? What goal do you have? If you are headed in the wrong direction you’ll feel it and know that it never too late to change course.
The one thing that I have always believed is that how we present ourselves to the world says so much about what is happening inside of us. This has been very hard to express on the blog and other forms of social media but I am getting there. I know I do not want to be an online catalog of fashion from retailers – and I not knocking those who do that – it’s just not me. I wish to empower women to prioritize their happiness, to see peace, to wear clothes, hair, and make up for themselves not to gain approval from others. More than anything, I want women to know we can thrive in midlife and beyond. Our best days are not over.
What wall is your ladder leaning against? Are you headed in the right direction?
Thanks so much for stopping by today, I appreciate you being here. Please consider signing up to receive my posts by email and following me on Instagram and Pinterest.
- Are You Headed in the Wrong Direction?
- These Blue Me Away – Friday Favorites
- Camo Comeback – There’s No Hiding!
- I CAN But I Don’t Want To
- Currently Obsessed – Friday Favorites
I have been a Licensed Mental Health Counselor since 1997. I do not currently practice as I work in school counseling but I’ll never let my license expire. My Monday posts have a little more of a mental health theme designed to help you think a little differently. While I am certainly not dispensing advice or treatment, I do hope these posts help you. Initially I started blogging as a creative outlet and as a way to empower women in midlife and beyond to dress and feel like the best version of themselves everyday. I have come to realize that a big part of that is how we feel about life circumstances. Hence the reason for these posts!
