The Big Picture from Beginning to End

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one. (Oscar Wilde)

Now that we are coming to the end of the 2020 pandemic, many of us can relate to the quote above. So, we should be careful what we wish for, right? We may have hated our previous job and suddenly, it was gone!

Let's face it. No beating around the bush. Once we become single again, most likely we will need to either find an alternative income source or a regular job. Even if we have all the money we need (which may not last for long), sitting around with nothing to do is terribly boring, unproductive, and detrimental to our social life as we all experienced in 2020!

There are actually many benefits to taking a job or starting a whole brand-new career. Try a little exercise and list as many advantages as possible. If we have already been working for a while, maybe we are thinking of changing our job. That is not a bad thing by any means. We have to take pride in our work and if it's time to move on, we'll know it by the dissatisfaction we feel.

5 Perks Why Working Is Good for Us

• Our health and happiness will improve.
• Taking the risk will energize us.
• Gives us reason to become who we really are.
• Creates friendships with those in the same situation.
• Provides ways to find new interests.      

The Wrong Thing at the Right Time

All of this may seem scary at first, but even if we have never worked before outside the home, there are ways to get started with that too. One of the first things to do is to find our strengths. If accounting is not our thing, taking a job as a bookkeeper would be a disaster. If we hate baking, working as a pastry chef would drive us crazy. If sales give us hives, selling cars would be a joke. Get the picture? 

WHAT AM I GOOD AT? [Click Here to find out]

Next, we do not need to be told, education is important. If a degree is already on our shelf, then great--we need to get out the door and hit the pavement! If not, then, obviously, the key is to get educated in a field that is exciting for us. It may mean night school while we work elsewhere to pay the bills, but then what else do we have to do with our time? If we work hard at it, it will happen before we know it. 

Who is Directing Us?

Some of us are planners from way back. Organizing is at the top of our list. Others are definitely not in that camp! We need help for sure. What is really good to know is that we do not need to do this alone. There are support groups, counselors, and friends to call on when we are down in the dumps. 

There is also One who cares about us more than anyone ever could. God knows what we need (not want) the most and what is best for us. He sees the Big Picture from beginning to end. The best we can do is look at our life with blinders on. God is willing to direct our steps until we reach His ideal for our perfect life. Our part is just to ask!

“Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3 NLT).

 

 

Is Your Momentum Operating in Slow Motion?

Searching for Energy

Now that we’ve (barely) made it through another year, we might hear others say, "I just don't have any more energy to _____." Or, oops! maybe that was us! It really is a struggle sometimes to find that perfect balance of liveliness and peacefulness. 

We want to get up and go do things, but how? Of course, it's so much easier to just pull the covers over our heads or plant ourselves on the couch to watch the 17th episode of Grab All the Fattening Snacks!       

Never is it a good idea to sit back and do nothing. Not when we've worked so hard to finally get our lives on track. The struggling and striving to make things work out is behind us; we've done it! So, now is the time to begin a whole new journey with new adventures. Sure, every "new thing" has its challenges, but the horizon is golden, warm and cozy. A little corny? Maybe. But we can create whatever kind of life we want. We have the ability and now the freedom to do it. Now, we need the energy!

What’s Your Energy App?

The first thing we obviously want and need to create is more energy in our lives. One idea would be to go onto the “App Store” in our phones for literally hundreds of app/energy ideas. But that could get real annoying real fast when our phone “pings” several times a day to remind us what we are not doing! Admittedly, we may simply need to practice some new habits of our own choosing. For today, let's have some fun and see how many Fresh Start ideas we can come up with to keep the Momentum going. Ready? Set. Go.

1. Set the alarm on our smartphones to start playing soft music just as the sun is coming up. This “light” stimulation helps train our bodies to start waking up. The cat or dog will probably love this about the new "us" and help us out!

2. Ban the snooze button—it’s our worse enemy! It jerks us in and out of sleep and that will make us more tired than ever, using up valuable energy.

3. Program the coffee pot earlier to start spreading a delicious fragrance our way. It works every time!

4. Get our noggin' going first thing with brain food like berries, avocado, or coconut believe it or not. (No! this is not a recipe. Only eat them altogether if you aren't fully awake and don't know what is happening). Smile!

5. Guzzle some water! No, right now! It gets our organs moving on speed control.

6. Ready? It's time to put on that "Play It Cool" dance music by Monsta X to get the stiff muscles moving (okay, any dance music will work). Anyone can do three minutes of moving, right!

Invigorating Lunch

7. A green/spinach salad with nuts and seeds plus some avocado will supply us with all the protein we need for lunch and will keep us awake for the afternoon-long haul (p.s. no need for a carnivorous-type lunch that will clog our arteries) Smile!

8. Guzzle some water! Did we say that already? Good. This is a repeat.

9. Have a nice dinner with a friend. Talk a lot, it uses up the carbs!

10. Late-night eats only in bite-size pieces or suffer the bloat!

11. Don't hate this one just yet. . . it works! No screens on of any kind one hour before bed. Read. Use an adult coloring book. Do relaxation techniques.

12. Set bedtime and wake-up hours the same every single day. Eight-nine hours, no more, no less. This is the key!

13. Multiple choices: (a) stay up all night texting, so the morning music goes in one ear and out the other (b) keep guzzling water after 8pm and stumble to the potty five times (c) enjoy the amazing amount of energy our bodies are now used to getting.

Are You In?

We've heard the phrase, “Let go and let God.” But that's not what He said. True, the easy thing to do would be to convince ourselves to let God do all the work and give us all the energy we need. Simple, right?  

The right answer is God has a perfect plan and we have a part in that wonderful plan. Listen to these wise words:

“With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort” (1 Corinthians 15:58 The Message).

Sure, some days will be way harder than others. It's okay to take a break, but challenging work has its own rewards. So, let’s be strong. We can do this!

“Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame...Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder” (Romans 12:11-12 The Message).

15 Simple Ideas to Create Energy

We've heard others say, "I just don't have the energy to _____." Or, oops! maybe that was us! It really is a struggle sometimes to find that perfect balance of liveliness and peacefulness. We want to get up and go do things, but how? Of course, it's so much easier to just pull the covers over our heads or stay on the couch and watch the 19th episode of Excuse me--Pass the Potato Chips!      

Never is it a good idea to sit back and do nothing. Not when we've worked so hard to finally get our lives on track. The struggling and striving to make things work out is behind us; we've done it! So, now is the time to begin a whole new journey with new adventures. Sure, every "new thing" has its challenges, but the horizon is golden, warm and cozy.

Where’s the Energy App?

The first thing we probably want and need to create is more energy in our lives. Admittedly, we may have to "bite the dust" and be willing to practice new habits. But today, let's have some fun and see how many Fresh Start ideas we can come up with to keep the Momentum going. Ready? Go. . . .

1. Set the alarm on our smartphones to start playing soft music just as the sun is coming up. This “light” stimulation helps train our bodies to start waking up.

2. The cat or dog will probably love this about the new "us" and help us out!

3. The snooze button is our worse enemy! It jerks us in and out of sleep and that in itself will make us more tired than ever, using up valuable energy.

4. Instead, we can program the coffee pot earlier to start spreading a delicious fragrance our way. Works every time!

5. Get our noggin' going first thing with brain food like berries, avocado, or coconut believe it or not. (No! this is not a recipe. Only eat them all together if you aren't fully awake and don't know what is happening. Smile!

6. Guzzle some water! No, now! It gets our organs going on speed control.

7. Ready? It's time to put on that "Shut Up and Dance" music by Walk the Moon to get the stiff muscles moving. Anyone can do three minutes of moving, right!

8. Now, we'll really need that shower! And off to work.

9. Protein for lunch will keep us awake for the afternoon long haul (p.s. it doesn't have to be the carnivorous-type unless we've filed our teeth first! Smile.)

10. Guzzle some water! Did we say that already? Good. This is a repeat.

11. Have a nice dinner with a friend. Talk a lot, it uses up the carbs!

12. Late night eats only in bite-size pieces or suffer the bloat!

13. Don't hate this one just yet. . . it works! No screens on of any kind one hour before bed. Read. Use an adult coloring book. Do relaxation techniques.

14. Set bedtime and wake-up hours the same every single day. Eight-nine hours, no more, no less. This is the key!

15. Multiple choice: (a) stay up all night texting, so the morning music goes in one ear and out the other (b) keep guzzling water after 8pm and stumble to the potty five times (c) enjoy the amazing amount of energy our bodies are now used to getting.

Are You In?

We've heard the phrase, “Let go and let God.” But that's not what He said. True, the easy thing to do would be to convince ourselves to let God do all the work and give us all the energy we need. Simple, right?  

The right answer is God has a perfect plan and we have a part in that wonderful plan. Listen to these wise words:

With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort. 1 Corinthians 15:58 (The Message)

Sure, some days will be way harder than others. It's o.k. to take a break, but challenging work has its own rewards. So let’s be strong. We can do this!

Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame...Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Romans 12:11-12 (The Message)