Are you growing together?

One thing I love about my relationship with my kids dad is this: we are a great team. We show each other support (*I hope* as I said in another blog), but more specifically for some reason, we tend to work well together under pressure.

We have a foundation for our life together. We have very similar core value systems and believe in what we try to convey to our children. At times, I think we are totally out of sync if we’ve disagreed or we’ve had a tough time connecting. Later, something happens to take any ounce of doubt away because we rely on that foundation. We somehow seem to communicate on a deeper level of understanding without speaking because we don’t need to.

I see this happen a lot with our children because we trust each other to have their best interest at heart, no matter what. We also don’t always discuss our plans, underlying details or adult themes in front of them. We tend to rely on that trust in each other in order to keep our limits consistent.

I am writing this as I’m realizing why things happen so often.

If you are reflecting on your relationship, how your choices affect it and if your fundamentals align, then it sounds like you have it figured out right?

Ha! Totally.

Just one thing – life isn’t perfect and no couple on the planet is void of a single problem.

I’m also realizing I need to be more mindful about showing love to my partner. There’s many ways that we show our love but I think if one believes they’re showing it enough, they’re being naive.

We can always improve in everything we do. This includes being a loving and supportive partner. I’m seeing life as an ever-changing, forward-moving process where you’re constantly growing as a person. Opportunities are presented daily and it depends on your reactions and choices to all that surrounds you whether you continue to grow or you’re stuck in a stagnant place.

xoxo always!

Reader POLL!

I’ve been corresponding with a site for moms in my home state about writing as a guest blogger! I’m excited about the potential opportunity for growth as I have been introducing in my recent blogs and now I want to pose the question to all of you: what is the most important area of focus for my audience? I desperately need feedback on this topic!

What contributions are most valuable to the mom community? Or to fellow working moms? What is most helpful or informative to you?

I have yet to share my latest blogs on the topic of recovery and specific information about my profession so if you’ve read my overall message as a blogger, I think you’re more than qualified to have an opinion, and I’m super interested in what you have to say!

If you don’t want to leave a comment, feel free to email me! My contact information is on this site but I wanted to post it here for easy access.

I’ll be sharing an update later this evening so stay tuned!! I appreciate all of my readers and for those that have given me feedback, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart! I’m so excited and motivated to continue down this path to see where it leads me! Without readers I’d be journaling which is awesome but limits my potential as a writer. Again, thank you all for reading!

Email

Family & Focus!

I am planning to explore some lucrative options and more ideas so I’m choosing to make some changes on my website! I’ll be making it less private. Now that I own my name/domain, it won’t just be a blog – eventually it will promote me! I’m currently learning how marketing yourself can be valuable for your business.

By age 45 I want to be completely independent of community mental health. There is lots of great opportunities for me to continue learning and building my value right now. I don’t want to be unreasonable or have unrealistic goals with my young son only two years old. I think it’s a practical path as he grows more independent to watch his mom become more financially independent as well! I want him to know that his mom didn’t have to be totally traditional (and completely rely on his daddy) to provide the best possible life for him! There’s so many ways that working moms can earn a living! I dream about these ways! Now that I’m writing and externalizing ideas, I have a higher chance of following through. THIS keeps me accountable. I’m not the type to say I’ll do something then NOT do it.

So since we currently have influenza A for the second round this season (😢), again I’ve been home with my son and even managed to fight the germs myself this time. I hope to see all of this yucky sickness out of our hair officially by May, the season that tends to get warm and actually stay consistent! But hey-you just never know in this area…

I’ve also been in the process of writing about different topics and have more blogs that will be dropping soon! I’m so excited for all of the different possibilities that amyphelpscraig.com brings! The most exciting part is getting to share the whole process with y’all!

Here’s a few recent pictures from our time together before our latest illness and during our snuggly priceless moments together:

Xoxo 😘

Amy

Thank you all for reading!! Stay tuned as I venture into the world of “publishing”! More details to come. ♥️

My ♥️

Relationships (or marriage) aka learning to live life together as one is probably the absolute biggest challenge one can experience, next to parenthood.

It honestly depends on the day whether I feel like I’m failing or succeeding. Sometimes weeks go by as a success. Sometimes I look back on our years together and realize we’re closer than we’ve ever been! Then other times we have many tough days in a row. Or we struggle to get back on track and feel truly connected. The best way to describe the struggle of disconnect is like hitting a speed bump, then a pot hole, then trying to outrun a train and hitting a dead stop in traffic all at the same time after some silly argument we never really understood the other side but kept going in effort to avoid conflict.

I have no idea if any of that makes a damn bit of sense.

——-

How about this?

I’m in deep love with my man of almost five years! Deeper than I’ve ever felt. I’ve been in love with him basically since the moment I met him. He’s protective of me, of our children, of others even! I watched him try to step in when he saw an altercation between a couple at a bar. I had to remind him that he can’t save everyone. It doesn’t always stop him from trying!

I am also proud of the man I love. He works hard to do everything he sets out to do. He started a business years ago and like I said, he works hard to be successful in every facet of his life so he makes me proud that he’s a great provider.

No matter how bad life gets, or the tough times I go through – I don’t doubt that he’s going to have my back. He gives me the support I need when I need it. Sometimes after I have to tell him I need it. *wink*

Focus.

Life has given me lots of great lessons as it’s always a huge learning process. One important lesson is that your individual focus determines your path. Your focus could be traveling the world, seeing as much as humanly possible! It could be solely raising your children or your focus could be dedication to your career. It could be a combination of different convictions!

Watch your focus for a day. Watch how quickly and easy it is to lose focus from one task to the next. It’s possible to lose your overall focus when you’re faced with a new idea. It’s even noticeable how quickly your focus changes when you reach a challenge. Then look at your mood. How quickly does your mood change? Is this change influenced by others in your life?

Say you’re intent on being mindful today. Your focus starts out in the morning in a positive direction, you say a morning prayer to prepare your mind for any challenges you may encounter. Yet you are thankful to have been able to wake up! Not all others are so blessed with LIFE and it’s an exciting thought process when you get to be thankful to be LIVING. Not existing. But living.

Be mindful when your feet hit the floor in the morning. Feel the physical feeling of your carpet or tile. Immediately pray to God that you’re living. If you wake up thankful for your life, your focus will inevitably be positive.

Now throughout the day, when you are challenged or reach obstacles, be mindful. Purposeful. Why is this happening? How do I respond in the most positive way? How can I help? I am thankful for my life. I am thankful that God gave me my children and blessed me with the purpose of motherhood.

I cannot control anyone but my own choices. This is a tough one because if I could just control what the challenge is or others reactions, I could avoid the obstacle altogether, right?

No no no! Can you imagine the feeling of overwhelming, intensity of control around you? Of others choices? Oh no no! That’s way too much. It’s exhausting to even imagine.

So knowing that all you can do is control your own choices, reactions, thoughts and feelings in relation to the entire world around you – might help simplify areas that become overwhelming. This is one of those topics that I expertly direct my clients as a therapist but have difficulty practicing the same approach in my personal life. Ironic, huh?

Eh, it’s the nature of the beast I suppose.

Now if you’re practicing mindfulness and being purposeful throughout your day, you will probably notice more control of your mood changes and exact triggers to your thoughts and feelings. Becoming more aware of changes and stressors allows you to control your focus and attention to your tasks.

This is one of my downfalls because I tend to lose the focus I’m so intent on having. By the end of the day, I’ve lost a lot of my focus and although I’ve managed to accomplish many goals, I’m intent in becoming even more efficient in life – in all areas while also controlling mood and being more purposeful (in thoughts and feelings) continues to be quite the feat!

This is ultimately my personal goal. It’s the hardest to accomplish but continues to motivate me! One day I want to look back and say, “I’m doing it! Maybe not every single day, but most days I’m knocking it out of the park!”

I am a mother, a therapist and a wife. I do a lot of juggling. I intend to make my children a priority above anything, but because of how much responsibility I have as a therapist, it’s very important to do my very best to help and provide support to my clients and their family when necessary.

What about you? I’m so interested to know about your personal convictions to your focus. How do you do it?

What steps do you make daily to achieve your daily goals? Your future dreams? I’m interested in learning ways to make the best possible progress in my journey as an inspired therapist and mommy!

Xoxo