Fit to a Bit: The day I took my Fitbit off

May of this year, I decided to really grasp onto my health. I decided I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was tired of aching. So I charged up my Fitbit HR and put it on my wrist and away I went. I re-downloaded MyFitnessPal and started logging my foods.

Each day I tried to reach my goal of 9,000 steps.
Each day I tried to make sure I was taking at least 250 steps per hour from 7:00 a.m. through 4:00 p.m.
I participated in Workweek Hustles.
I participated in Weekend Warriors.

It was hard.

I work a 9-5 desk job (ok more like 730-5) and then go home and relax from that work day with my dogs who just want loves and snuggles.
There were a slew of days I slept in on weekends.
There were numerous days where I got knocked down (endo, migraine, sick).
There were days where I just didn't feel like moving.

I didn't always hit my 9000 steps per day.
I didn't always hit my 250 steps per hour.

I felt like a failure.

I counted steps like some count calories. I would push myself to sneak in as many steps on a bathroom trip by stepping in place trying to get the last of the 250 steps before the time changed to the next hour. I was a slave to technology.

So, on Saturday October 13, my Fitbit was low on battery, I took it off like normal to charge it. And haven't put it back on since.

I went dancing that night and didn't worry if I got more steps in than my friend dancing next to me. I slept in Sunday morning and didn't worry about the first 3 hours not having enough steps. Monday, I didn't worry if I made my 250 steps per hour of my desk job. I just worked and did my day. Tuesday was the same.

I didn't know how freeing that was, until I didn't choose to wear it.

I know I average 5000 steps per day with this job. I know abs are made in the kitchen. and I know without that Fitbit, it's been the most freeing time since I decided to take it off. Now I know that some people really need the help of the Fitbit to get them moving and to lose weight. But I am not one of them.  I'm going to keep it, in case I decide to wear it again (I wonder how many steps I'd get at Disneyland or Disney World...) but I think for the most part, I'm not going to need it.

How many other things in my life am I a "slave" to without realizing it? My phone, I realize that. Food? Perhaps. Friends? Perhaps. I'm interested now to pursue breaking chains and being freed of unconscious slavery.

What are you a slave to? What do you need to be freed of? Comment down below and let me pray for you.


Amen and Amen.

Working for the Weekend or Working for the Wonder

Are you just getting through the hum drum of the day? Or are you working for your maker?

Are you counting down the minutes until you're free from the workday? Or are you cherishing the moments to minister where you are?

I've had a number of jobs prior to the current career I'm in.

1. First job I had was babysitting, which I think is a job we all have. I babysat mostly prior to finding Jesus, so I can't use that as an example.
2. My first real job, with all the W-2 paperwork goodness was working for Hallmark (no, they did not invent Valentines day). I worked there for 3 months in Las Vegas, then when I went back to college I was able to transfer to a store in Reno.  I had Jesus in my life back then, but didn't fully know the extent of what He could do, or what I could do as a believer. I was still very self focused at the time. I ended up  leaving that job because I think I couldn't get time off to go see my family in Las Vegas for Christmas.
3. My second real job was working as a Resident Assistant in the dorms. Oh how many lives I could have impacted if I prayed for all my residents. There were a few I'd pray for here and there, but over the 2.5 years I was an RA, that could have been 30+ students who had another stepping stone. (We could also talk about all the kids in my classes too, but that's for another time)
4. The third job, after I said goodbye to ResLife was a brief summer job in Vegas working at a photography studio (school pictures). It was a small downstairs staff of 5ish people. Again, how self centered was I to just think about me and my circumstance, rather than those around me I could have been praying for! This summer though, I was starting to fall away from Jesus and do my own thing. This was the start of my not so great few years walking independently of Jesus.
5. Following that was working at Ann Taylor (Job 4). It was there I met a friend who later calls me out on my lifestyle choices. There, I really got to see humanity. There I developed an appreciation for leaving clothes better (or as best I could) than I found them. There, God began to work on me. There, he provided a temp job which turned full time. There he provided me the foot in the door to where I am now.
6. After a year in retail, and the last couple months working that part time and the new full time job, I said goodbye to that and fully embraced the full time career where I've been for 5 years now.
7. Once summer hit however, I itched somewhere to work retail again, so for about a month I worked at a Coach outlet store.
8. A short time later, while still working the fifth job, my seventh job was working as a Daisy Duke line dancer, which I did for 2 years and quit this past June.

All that to say, look how many lives I've interacted with,  whether one time customers or repeat ones, talking Jesus (when I could), acting like Jesus...


Romans 12:2 states, "Do not be confirmed to this world". We are called to be different. Let us stand out from being the complainers and the gripers, from posting about how much Monday sucks and how the weekend is gone too soon. We are where we are for how long we are became God put us there. Let him use you.


Do not worry...there are many verses that address this, so pick your fave, but do not worry about your job/your career (also preaching to myself here). You're where you're at to serve a purpose.


I'm learning to embrace where I am and show Jesus when I can. I'm not in a place where I can necessarily talk about Jesus all day everyday to anyone I come in contact with, but I can read my Bible on my breaks or Lunch in the break room. I've left my bible on my desk between those times.


Work for the Wonder, don't necessarily work for the weekend. There have been so many times at my current job where I've hated every minute of every day. I've wallowed in the slowness, felt frantic and crazy in the busy times, gossiped, talked behind people's back. And after the first couple years, I wanted out. I also did not like nor get along with my supervisor for 2ish of those years. I looked for other jobs, somewhere I could be more free, wear jeans rather than business casual. But something kept me there.

God. 

There never was another job posting I saw that I liked. I never got interested enough to set up a job interview. I just stuck it out here, wallowing to myself "At least the pay and benefits are worth it." Man, what kind of life and perspective was that?

I have a purpose here, and in the past 2 years, I've worked real hard to change the way I talk to and about my coworkers. I've really tried to bring Jesus with me into the work environment. I'm still not great at counting down the minutes to the end of the day. I'm still not great at taking upsets and frustrations and looking for the good. But I've been more conscientious of thinking, "If someone didn't know, would they figure out I'm a Christian, would they figure out by my actions I love Jesus?" In a customer service field where most of your interactions are "scripted" so to speak, it's hard to talk about the day to day, especially when my time with the public is more limited these days, as I don't interact with the public like I use to.

As of today, I'm switching my mindset. I'm letting each day be a renewal for my mind to work for the wonder, "Jesus, I can't wait to see what you'll do today". I still get excited for the weekend for other reasons, but at least now it isn't, "I can't wait to leave this cruddy place."

What are you struggling with in the day to day? Comment and let me pray for you <3

God is so good and faithful to answer. Go into the rest of this work week asking God how you can work for the wonder instead of working for the weekend.

What it means to be a friend

What if I disappeared for a while?
What if I hid from the social media sphere
and didn't post
and didn't go to events
and didn't have pictures to share.
Would you even care?


What if I didn't answer your call,
your text,
your direct message,
Would you even care?


What if we stopped hanging out?
What if we stopped going out and about?
What if you never hear from me?
Do you even care?


What if I never said Happy Birthday
Happy Thanksgiving
Merry Christmas?
Do you even care?


Do you know my favorite color?
Do you know my worse fear?
Do you know how I feel
when the wind is all I hear?


Do you know my husband's basic story?
Do you know about my pups?
Do you know how I feel
about misplaced lingering cups?


Do you know what holidays I love
and which I like the least?
Do you know how I really feel
about a Thanksgiving family feast?


Do you know what songs I love
to sing in my car aloud?
Do you know what I did
that has made me most proud?


Do you know what I do
when there's nothing to do?
Do you know
that I want to know you too?


Do you know what I keep track of
and what I let fall to the side
Do you know about my writings
my gratitudes, my thoughts inside?


Do you know what I know,
that you're sometimes fake when you speak?
Do you know that I care for you
very much, as high as a mountain peak?


Do you know that when we make plans
and then you don't follow through,
that not only am I said
but my heart breaks for you?


Do you know that when you don't share
those awesome exciting moments in your life
I celebrate for you anyway
whether its the excitement of a baby, or becoming a husband or wife?


Do you know that when you post a picture
but don't send a text
I'll "like" it, but sincerely
unlike some of the rest?


Do you know that when I bring a grievance,
that when I confront you on something you're doing
It's not because I hate you or want to tear you down,
I want to build you up, friendship isn't a state of being.


Do you know, that poetry is a heart's cry?
Do you know I wrote this for you
whether you're a new friend, an old friend,
someone fake or someone true?


Do you know that in a crowd,
I often feel alone?
Do you know that recently,
I no longer have a heart of stone?


Do you know that at work, I often bust my butt,
and often do a lot?
I try to talk and befriend my coworkers
but to do the same to me? They'd rather not.


Do you know that sometimes
I want to talk behind your back?
"Have you heard what (your name here) has done?
Wasn't that awesome and good!" It's not about what you lack.


Don't you know I value you
and the time you give to me?
Don't you know it's love I have,
that I want the world to see?


I wish I could be a talking mirror
so you could see your worth.
I'd crack a few jokes
we'd enjoy healthy mirth.


I'll admit a truth
I've been a cruddy friend.
But I vow to get better
until the very end.


I will fail
but I will keep trying.
Trust me I'll still be there for you
it ain't my bridge you're frying.


So if you wanna try again with me
Let's see where we go.
I'll do my best to be honest and fair
and tell you everything that's true.


And even if you don't,
If you decide to walk away from me.
Know that you're still gold,
Someday that's what I hope you'll see.

I can see clearly now, the veil is lifted

 So this week, I couldn’t think of anything to write about for yesterday. I was struggling to think, “What is worth the time to compose a post that people would enjoy reading?”

 

And then I got my windshield replaced yesterday. Then, inspiration hit.

 

A few years ago, I was driving in the slow lane after merging from one freeway to another. I wanted to make my way to the fast lane. I moved to the middle lane behind this big semi truck. I checked my mirror, checked my blind spot, and then 2 things happened at the exact same time. The first, some Speedy Gonzales came flying up in the fast lane, blocking me in the middle lane. More slow cars had filled in the slow lane. The second, a huge gust of head wind blew, informing me that the construction style semi truck in front of me, was a gravel truck, without a cover over the gravel. My windshield got splattered with gravel. Ok, so maybe this was more than a few years ago, I think it was a year or 2 after I got my car, which was 2009, so perhaps since 2011 I’ve been driving around with a windshield missing minute chips.

 

The crack. You can see the curved part and then where it begins to straighten out across the windshield.

So after this crack appeared, I’m assuming one of those gravel chips evolved into the nearly halfway across the windshield mark, I was ecstatic to get a new windshield. I was thrilled to be able to start fresh. Last night I picked up my car and got in and looked out at a fresh windshield for the first time in years.

This was taken this morning. No crack. No chips. No dent. Just frost.

 

I didn’t realize how distorted my windshield was. I didn’t realize how “fuzzy” I had been seeing. For those of you who wear glasses, you know that moment where you clean your glasses after looking through dirty ones and all of a sudden everything is bright and clear as day? For those of you who don’t, you know when your phone camera gets dirty and you realize in your camera preview things are fuzzy, then you wipe it clean and all of a sudden everything is bright and crisp?

 

It’s also like, that moment when your life is chaotic, messy, perhaps dangerous and life threatening. It’s that moment when you realize that you’re spinning and lost and dizzy and you don’t know which way is up. It’s that really dark scary moment where you’re ready to give up and let go. And. Then. God. Then God comes into the picture. Then He saves you. Then He shows you what a good life looks like, what true unconditional no strings attached love is. Then He shows you that all He wants is you to love Him and follow Him. Then He tells you that you need to do NOTHING but believe.

 

It’s THAT moment, when you feel free. It’s THAT moment, when you can finally see clearly. When all of a sudden, your vision is bright, clear, crisp, focused.

 

I was reminded of that yesterday. I was reminded that we have THAT moment, every morning when we wake up, a chance to start fresh with God.

 

Oh yesterday was such a good day.

 

Amen and Amen.

Book Review: Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives,

Disclaimer: I received this book free from Birchbox for their Birchblogger book club.

I don't remember exactly when I received the book, but I do think I tried to start reading it a few times before I finally put my brain to it and started reading in June. I got pretty into it and was reading fairly consistently, until I wasn't. Life got really busy (new puppy, bought a house, life itself) so the reading dwindled. And finally, yesterday, I finished it. Oh what a sweet relief to finish a book.

As far as the book was concerned, it was only OK to me. I definitely had a struggle to finish it the more I read through it. The text just seemed to get a little repetitive. I think the information was well presented and very thorough.

If I could have made a change to the text, I think that once I had laid out the 4 tendencies, I would have then broken the rest of the book down by those tendencies and how habit forming works best for them. As an "obliger" (according to the mini test at the back), I don't really care about how Rebels and Questioners and the 4th category (Which I can't remember the name) form habits. If I needed to interact with them to form a habit, then I would indulge in that section.

If you're interested in reading this, click here for the author's page about the book.

I'm not a huge fan of Self Help books. I feel they're not quite as helpful to me as they may be to others. While I did highlight a few things in the book, I'm not sure it's one I'll be going back to read again and again.

I'm thankful for Birchbox to have been able to receive it and read it.

I know this is probably one of my less thought out reviews, but I just don't know what to say about a book I didn't love.

So I'll call this good here.

Until next time.

-S