Mortgage Thoughts With a Twist

Look at yourself right now and think about this: What are the clothes you are wearing saying about you?

Clothing....what you wear and how you wear them, speak volumes about you. Do they accurately represent the authentic you...or are you giving off a vibe that is not innately yours?

Think about the social clues you give even before someone speaks to you (they might be right or wrong, but it still happens). You are speaking to others before you even say one single word. What do YOUR clothes say about you?

Someone sees you and can subconsciously and consciously detect how you feel about yourself, your current mood, what you might do for a living, the amount of class that you have or don’t have, your sexuality, your gender, how old you are, your judgment, your personality, your beliefs and possibly even your viewpoints.

So my question to you is this: Do your clothes represent your true self? Or are you wearing someone else’s clothes?

Day 1 of Quarantine: Got dressed, did my hair, put on makeup.
Day 2: Got dressed, kinda did my hair and decided to forgo the makeup.
Day 3: Sweatpants came out, sloppy hair, no makeup.
Day 4: Another pair of sweatpants, no hair done, no makeup.
Day 5: I basically just gave up. Went from having daytime PJ’s to evening PJ’s.

A very quick and swift degradation of the “Jennifer” I know. It was almost too easy.

Found familiar? I know that I can’t be the only one.

What I did notice though about my degradation of my self-care was this: I just didn’t feel as good about myself as I did on Day 1. The more sloppy I dressed, the crappier I ate. The less I wanted to work out. I just kinda started to feel a little lazy for a lack of better words. Ick.

This week, oh this week....it is going to be different. I am going to get right back into my routine as if I am actually going to the office versus just the few steps that it takes to go to my home office. I am getting dressed (not in a suit though) d…

I turned 44 yesterday and needless to say, it was a very different birthday. Very quiet. Very chill. Good workout, vitamin IV, food shopping, picked up some sushi from my favorite place (Uni’ko at the Elon btw....definitely the best sushi in SA) and then we sat and watched movies on Amazon. It was a very nice day...just different.

Right now, I feel like I am in a movie and I bet that you do too. Like we are in the beginning part of a I am Legend or Walking Dead type movie where some shit is about to go down but no one is quite understanding it yet.

Cacophony of chaos. That is what I am hearing. Feeling. Seeing.

People are scared. Worried. Unsure. They can no longer live the lives that they had become accustomed to. Anxiety. Worry. Depression. No one knows what is going to happen next or what to expect. Many people have begun to act badly, as I have seen many instances of the bad parts of humanity come roaring out of them...panic, looting, stealing, crime. This is only the beginning.

S…

I am sitting here this morning, feeling both grateful and guilty...thinking about how lucky I am to have a job that I can do from any location on the planet. Mary, Ryan and I are set up in my house...me in my office and them at
my kitchen table. Doing business as usual sans meeting out clients. Oddly enough, we have found ourselves getting even more work done in our overloaded day.

Then I start thinking about the millions of people who are about to go through a horrible hardship that, I believe, hasn’t even started yet. Small businesses will be devastated by closure...Service workers who live off of tips...people who live paycheck to paycheck...people with young kids that can’t go to school...I mean, you name it. I believe that the after-effects of our social distancing is going to throw our world into a tizzy that has not even begun. I believe that aftermath will affect every single person on the planet and it makes me sad.

Our resilience will be tested and we are going to have to co…

Now, and throughout time, a woman’s beauty is one of her most prized possessions. Us women look in the mirror ever day and we criticize ourselves, we tend to look at the things that are wrong with us...the things we want to change...we compare, we wish ourselves to be different in some way. We look at others and wish we could be more like “her.”

I want to challenge you to do something different today.

When you look at yourself, I want you to find the GOOD and BEAUTIFUL parts of your external self and concentrate on accentuating those parts.

Have great eyes? Make them up ever day even if you are at home.
Great butt? Get some jeans or pants that show that booty off.
Nice legs? Wear things that flatter them. Go get yourself some power shoes.
Great lips? Get some badass lipstick and wear it proudly.
Great teeth? Make sure you are smiling a lot.
Do you love your hair? Make sure it is done every day.

Every single person has something that is extraordinary about them. If you haven’t discover…

I think that we can all agree that each of our lives becomes the shape of the days we inhabit...right? Each day goes by- one at a time- and then all of the sudden, BAM...you are 40, 50, 80...

One of the greatest sins is to have a live that has been “un-lived.” We were born into this world with a million possibilities and it is a shame how many people will express regret about not living the life they should have lived when they are on their deathbed.... “If I only had one more year, I would have done.....”

Why do so many people do that? They let the days go by, one after another, and never live the life that they dream they could have. They listen to the barriers in their heads that limit them and tell them, “no.”

If you are reading this, pause for a minute and think about the dreams that tug at your soul...the thoughts that come from your heart. Recognize the innate gifts that only YOU were born with. The wants that you have and the endless possibilities  before you that are meant to…

My Gratitude Journal asked me a question yesterday that really got me thinking. The question was, “What is an experience that you are grateful for in your life that has shaped you into who you are today?”

Dang, Gratitude Journal, that is some deep shit to ask a girl at 4:30am.
I sat there and thought about it, and overwhelmingly, the things that I thought of were due to some of the darkest moments in my life. 
Failure. Disappointment.  Suffering. Distress. Tough times.
These times in my life, even though they sucked while I was going through them, shaped me into who I am at this very moment...and for that, I am grateful.
It is through these uncomfortable moments, that I was able to grow the most. Being pruned, so to say, so that I could flourish.
My friends, failure is a GOOD thing. It means you have courage, guts, grit....and when you are going through hard times, remember that they are most likely temporary and that they WILL pass. When the difficulty is over, you are going to have …

It is hard for me to admit this, but I used to smoke. Now, I wasn’t a huge smoker...like a 2 pack a day person...but I did smoke consistently. I was the “at the bar, after a meal and with coffee” kinda smoker. 5-6 of those stupid things a day. I enjoyed them even though I knew they were bad for me. I looked at them as a stress reliever.

I started when I was young...I used to swipe my dad’s smokes when I was a kid...and that evolved into smoking for pleasure (as I used to call it) as an adult.

Now, if you know anything about me from either knowing me personally or from my prior posts, my life back in my 20’s and early 30’s was completely different than it is now when it comes to my health and fitness. I used to eat like crap and not really take good care of myself. I guess smoking just added to my lack of truly caring for my body. I just didn’t put any credence into how important it was to take good care of the one body that this should was gonna get! Looking back, I want to go and sma…

Join me in imagining a little here....

How different would your life be if you were born to different parents? In a different place and time perhaps. Somewhere else.

Imagine that you were born in a different country...maybe the Middle East. Your soul housed in your temporary body on this earth...but with different parents. Weird to think about, right?

Do you believe in destiny? Do you believe that you were born in the time and place you were supposed to? I do. Mainly because I would not be here if I had been born, say, in the 1800’s. My blood clots would have already killed me back in my 20’s.

I believe that God makes no mistakes when it comes to our perfecttiming. We are fearfully and wonderfully made...remember? We were each born with unique gifts and we are here to live a life that is distinctly different than anyone else on this earth. Our souls are granted temporary housing in this body that we were born with and what we do with it is really entirely up to us. Really.

There are s…