Encouragement

You know the drill … “New Year, New Me.” For more years than I’d like to admit, this was my mentality each and every January. I’d create a long list of the resolutions I was determined to stick to (mainly ones involving less junk food, more exercise, and unrealistic expectations.) Like somehow by creating these resolutions I’d magically morph into someone I wasn’t. I’d get a few weeks into the year before realizing I had broken most, if not all, of my resolutions, and I’d give up just like that. Sound familiar? All this changed last year when I was introduced to a new way of thinking, and I ditched my new year’s resolutions forever. I first heard about the Cultivate...

Our world has changed so much in the past year. Nothing that we are used to is normal anymore but this IS our normal, for now anyways. I am a big believer in choosing the way your day will be when you wake up. We choose our attitudes and we choose how we will treat others. That being said, I feel like our society as a whole could stand to show a little more grace. SOCIAL MEDIA These days our worlds revolve around social media. The pictures, the opinions, the memes, the fashion, etc. If you really stop and look at the things on social media ... none of it is real. They are things that people WANT you to see....

I remember when my youngest child came home from the hospital and my mother was trying to convince me that I only needed a couple of sets of clothes and a couple of sleepers for her.  Her reasoning was that she was a newborn and that she would quickly grow out of everything.  Besides, I already had a toddler at home and I SHOULD be doing laundry at least twice a week anyway.  Also, I only need three or four bottles because I'm washing them daily. *insert eye roll* Now, my baby girl is my second child but nowhere near only the second child that I have had a hand in raising. As I look back, I can honestly say...

Motherhood is hard ...  … and while we have Google and endless advice from Aunt Karen, everyone ultimately has to figure things out on their own. The opinions of others are so accessible to the modern-day mama, that I genuinely believe our mental health suffers any time we pick up our phones throughout early motherhood.  It’s a new kind of struggle and one I’m having a difficult time navigating. I generally use my manners online, but that doesn’t mean I’m not affected when someone I respect chooses to parent differently and raves about it. It doesn’t mean I’m not affected when a stranger blatantly blasts the way I’ve chosen to go about teaching my child to sleep. It doesn’t mean I’m...

In February 2018 I just landed an amazing job, bought my own house, just turned 23, felt the most comfortable I ever had in my own skin, and recently retired from competing for Miss Louisiana. I felt like things had fallen into place until I found out I was pregnant. I was scared, but not for the typical reasons someone young and not married would be scared about having a baby. I had supportive family and friends. That was no issue. It felt like a death sentence. I was scared because of everyone telling me “just wait”. Everything I was told and read made being pregnant feel like a death sentence. I was generally advised to hurry up and get married, quit...