“Oh goodness! I just don’t have enough time in the day! How am I going to take all of these classes needed for my certification AND work out AND do whatever else I need to do in the evenings? This just isn’t going to happen. Something has to give. I have to figure out how to make the most of my time. I am not productive at all. I am just overwhelmed!”

Just a few hours after speaking those words, I would pick up my daughter who was now in the car listening to her YouTube videos, which I would normally tell her to turn down or put on her head phones. This particular day, I decided to turn down the radio and listen to whatever it was she was listening to so intensely. “Sarah, that isn’t a video game YouTube video you normally listen to. What is she talking about?” “She is teaching me how to bullet journal mommy.” I am now thinking, “Oh goodness what is this new thing she is into and I hope it has nothing to do with slime!” But instead I just say, “Oh that sounds interesting. If it is anything like regular journaling it should be good to get your thoughts out on paper. Actually, is that what you filled up the Amazon cart with for your Christmas gifts? Things to journal with?” She looked at me with excitement, “YES! And I need all of those items because I am going to write in calligraphy and everything in it. It is going to be so much fun. I need a desk too so I can get organized.” Now I am thinking, “Oh goodness, just another way to spend money she doesn’t have. Yay.”

Approximately one week later, I decided that it was time for me to get my life together. I had so many goals and not enough time to think of how to achieve them or even how to remember which ones I set and why. My mind was all over the place! My first step was to just delete my FB page from my phone. I thought about deactivating it altogether but I wasn’t ready to jump all the way off the cliff just yet. I had to keep it just in case I really wanted to see what was going on. After about a week of leaving it off of my phone and never going to check it via my computer, I decided that now was a good time to deactivate it. No more temptation! It was funny because just after I made the decision to declutter my social media life by deactivating Facebook, I also started decluttering my closet…again! I know I feel like I just did this last year, but here I am again with a whole lot of STUFF that I don’t need. It took me about a week, at minimum of an hour a day, and two of those days I was cleaning out everything the entire day. I took breaks to eat, but that was it. I had a mission and it was to get rid of things that were no longer needed so I could clear my mind. It is funny how just having too many options on what to wear or what foundation to use can clutter your mind in other ways. It felt really good getting rid of things that I knew I wasn’t going to use ever again. But now what? What do I do now?

By this point, I made the decision to start exercising at home in the morning, because me getting to the gym in the evenings were just no longer an option. I started waking up around 4am, depending on how I was feeling and if I needed a little extra sleep or not. I was also getting a lot of my coursework done for my certification completed at night, so something was working. I still had this nagging feeling that I still wasn’t living up to my capabilities. I had just listened to an Audible book called “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins that had already pumped me up and bought back some of my inner strength, but I didn’t want to just stop with a feeling, I needed to DO something. I had already made some very necessary adjustments, but I was still missing something and I couldn’t put my finger on it. So while I was taking a break in between some of my nightly coursework, I decided to surf YouTube. That was another one of my past times, looking at skincare and make-up videos. This time I logged in and decided to look up…you guessed it, BULLET JOURNALS! Could this be heaven sent? Is this what I need to get all of my crazy, jumbled thoughts down on paper? Is this going to help me organize my life and my goals and my daily activities? *Me watching a video* “OH SNAP! I can use this to budget my money. Lord knows I need help there!” Sarah was on to something and apparently it was meant for me to hear her video because otherwise I wouldn’t have known to even look up this not so new, but new to me journaling method. I log in to Amazon and decided to just buy whatever Sarah had in her cart twice. Well I did choose a better quality journal but she doesn’t care about that yet. Let’s get started!

I have had my journal materials for a little over a week and I have worked on it everyday in some capacity since receiving it. Mainly just trying to figure out how to design the pages since, well…I am not very artistic and my handwriting sucks. I probably should’ve went to med school. LOL! But that doesn’t matter, I am going to get this journal thing together. I start with my budget journal first because that is where I need the most help. I have a few pages done because let’s face it, I still have other things I need to do at night. I am trying to squeeze in reading, coursework, eating, meditating, journaling, and anything in between in a few hours tops after work and commuting what seems to be about 3 hours in the afternoon. I have the method I know is going to help me, but how can I fit it in. This is where you insert more internet searches on how to Bullet Journal because of course, in order for me to do it efficiently I need to do more research. Well I come across one site that is very in depth and she also references a book, “The Miracle Morning” that I am sure may too help me along my journey to be more productive and live up to my potential. I put it in my cart on Amazon to purchase later, then something hit me. I think I bought this book last year when I wanted to be more productive but never got around to reading it. I look through my books and voila! There it is! I pull it out and decide to put it to use. I read the entire book in two days, would’ve been one, but I started very late the first evening and got tired.

So here I am, day 2 of my Miracle Morning and I am already full of thoughts, productivity, goals, aspirations, and any other positive trait you can think of. I have done more before 8am than I have done since boot camp. Anyone who knows me would attest that I was just not a morning person. At work, they would just wait until I had a coffee or at least some food before talking about work to me. Most people would say 8 hours of rest is needed, but I was confident that if I didn’t get at least 10, it wasn’t enough. I have been operating better off of 4 ½ to 5 than I could have ever thought. Even when I was getting up at 4am before starting the Miracle Morning, I would turn off my alarm and get back in the bed and dread actually getting up to exercise. Granted, I know it has only been two days thus far, but I have literally gotten up to turn off my alarm clock and STAYED OUT OF BED! Not to mention, my alarm clock is going off even earlier than it was when I was getting back in bed. I feel invigorated! Like I can take on the world and win!

I won’t say my new take on life is because of one thing specifically, but it has been a combination of the events and how they transpired to get me to where I am heading right at this moment, which is exactly where I am sure I am supposed to be.

If you get nothing at all from this rather long post, take away these things:

1. Listen to “Can’t Hurt Me” by David Goggins – It is a sure way to realize that you can do anything you put your mind to. You have it within, you just have to tap into it.
2. Read “The Morning Miracle” by Hal Elrod – Get more out of the time you have by using it wisely. Using the time you have to get more in tune and taking care of those areas we tend to neglect due to lack of time is imperative.
3. Start a Bullet Journal created by Ryder Carrol and get her book if you’re just learning like me – This has allowed me to be more present and in the moment. Yes, I am thinking of things I need to do later, but at the moment that I am getting my thoughts on paper, I am just present right then and there and it feels so refreshing.
4. Declutter every area needed – When one area is cluttered, it spills over in other areas of your life. Clean out what is no longer needed. Rid yourself of things that no longer serve you. In order to receive, you have to give and let go.
5. CHANGE YOUR LIFE – Self-explanatory. Do it NOW! No need to wait until tomorrow.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the beginning of my new and improved journey and I hope you will come along with me for the ride! Hey, if you want to be my accountability partner for The Miracle Morning, feel free to shoot me an email at keyonnawallace01@gmail.com or a DM on IG @_lovingmefit_ because I am not on FB so those groups do me no good. I hope these things help you as much as they have been helping me!