Living with Intention

In my 20's I was riddled with anxiety, often overcome by my own thoughts. 

I remember waking up and what I needed to accomplish, what I knew I was capable of accomplishing would cause a physical reaction in my body. My arms felt like ants were crawling up and down and my heart would race. I would get an actual headache from my brain just working in overdrive. I took anxiety medicine, migraine medicine, and blood pressure medicine. 

This anxiety, and inability to control it, led to me developing what can only be ADD. I began trying to accomplish everything without a real plan or intention. I would start one task only to bounce to another, without completion. I'm not talking about BIG things; I'm talking about brushing my teeth. I would start brushing my teeth and notice I needed to make my bed so I would literally walk out of the bathroom, start making my bed, realize I needed to spit, walk back to finish brushing my teeth, never having finished making the bed. I would then rush to switch the laundry but instead of actually finishing the entire job, I would only get half way through to then notice my dishes needed done; then leave the dishwasher un-started because I knew I hadn't answered my emails. 

This is something I thought came with working motherhood and genuinely thought is was my forever future. 

Since "growing up" some and reading a lot of self-development books, I am learning to get to the root cause of this situation. 

I need to acknowledge my purpose in each day and be specific. I don't mean "My purpose is to love God and my family" of course it is. I mean more literal. I started a practice that has really helped me and I wanted to share. 

Now each day I wake up and write down my intention for the day. Sometimes it's a simple as, "Today I will be MOM." That's it. I won't be Kelli the photographer or Kelli the Thrive girl, I will be mom. Then I will write down what that means to me. What I need to do to live out that intention and purpose. Throughout the day, as I accomplish those tasks I highlight them to let me know I'm moving in the right direction. I'm attaching the guide I created to help you do the same.

Don't get me wrong, I still deal with moments, sometimes days of overwhelm and stress (yes, I'll be buying our new product Chill - shamless plug) but most days, like 90% of them, I have learned to control by being intentional with my time and realizing on no day can my intention be "Be the BEST MOM, BEST WIFE, BEST PHOTOGRAPHER, BEST VITAMIN DEALER." Nope, I'm not that big. 

I have to choose and in those choices, I have control. In that control, I have power. And in that power, I find peace. 

View my Daily Intentional Guide - 

Daily Intentional Guide