5 Things (A Playlist, Easy Green Juice Recipe, Comparison, Graham's Birthday, + Fasting During Lent)
Hello! Happy Friday! I thought I could share a little casual "5 Things" post with a few things that I've been thinking about and loving. Maybe these will be fun things for you to try and think about, yourself! I went into this week feeling really overwhelmed, to be honest. We have a lot going on as far as personal life goes... I realized just the other day that I'll be considered "full term" with Baby Girl Yates in just 4 weeks plus some other changes happening really fast that I'll share soon! I was, honestly, dreading this week with everything I had on my mind that I had to do. Maybe you've felt this way too... like your mental load is so heavy and unbearable.
But, a thought came to me...I've had busy weeks in the past and I always get through them.
Crazy simple, right?
I mean, I have never had a busy week that killed me. This little simple reminder really was encouraging to me. And I really practiced just taking it day by day, giving myself lots of grace, listening to worship music on repeat, and even letting myself sleep in and take naps.
I realized that the worries I had were really more just anticipation for all of the changes happening soon. And simply by doing a combo of listing out my "to-do's" and top priority tasks that I needed to get done (and letting everything else happen only if it worked with how I was feeling) plus giving myself lots of grace, I got through!
Do you ever have weeks like this? I've found a couple of things really help me, personally, on busy weeks.
HELP FOR BUSY WEEKS + A PLAYLIST THAT'S BEEN MY LIFE-BLOOD
Making a plan and "brain-dumping" all of the things I have going on + things I need to do at the beginning of the week (plus being realistic with what I can actually accomplish--this is key!)
Waking up before my little one gets up for some intentional "me-time" where I can ease into the day (and actually drink my coffee warm!)
Limit social media time and listen to uplifting music and podcasts (THIS ONE, in particular, has been my life-blood lately)
Ask for help. My husband has been absolutely amazing this week and made dinner one night and did all the dishes. I could not have done it all by myself. It's really hard, still, for me to ask for help (something I'm working on) but this was such confirmation that we just can't do it all!
THE MOST AMAZING NON-JUICER GREEN JUICE
I think it was last week that I was craving green juice and thought to throw a few things in the blender and see what happens. Let's just say, world's most amazing and EASY green juice was born.
Here's how to make it:
Ingredients
1 apple (slice & remove core)
1 handful of spinach or kale (I've used both and both are amazing!)
1 inch of ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)
2 celery stalks
handful of parsley
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 cup of water
Directions
Throw all ingredients in a high-speed blender (I've made something like this before with a Ninja blender and now we use a Vitamix). Blend for 30-45 seconds on high. Set up either cheesecloth or milk-nut bag inside a large mason jar. Pour juice contents through cloth/bag and squeeze all of the juice into the jar.
And that's it! It's so refreshing and literally hit the spot for me this week!
A NOTE ON COMPARISON
I shared about comparison over on my Instagram feed a couple of weeks ago, but I know this is something so many of you struggle with (I'm not immune, myself). But one thing I've found that's so extremely helpful with comparison is to think about these few thoughts...
Just because she has (blank) doesn't mean I am less worthy.I have my own unique worth and value that I bring to this world... and she has her unique worth and value.I can appreciate what she has, and it doesn't mean I don't have my own things to offer.
These are just some thoughts that have helped me in the past with comparison. I also like to think about having blinders on, like the ones horses wear. When I find myself thinking comparison thoughts, I imagine putting on blinders and focusing back on my own unique gifts and skills and worth.
I hope this is helpful for you!
GRAHAM TURNED 1!
I can't even believe it...I have a one-year-old! We got to celebrate his birthday, which is on Valentine's Day, with family over the weekend. I made a little smash cake for him and we all had cupcakes. And he LOVED the cake. Specifically the frosting :) Here are a couple of pictures from the special day!
SHOULD YOU FAST FOR LENT?
We had this conversation come up with my girls inside The Nourish Lab and I thought it was such a great thing to talk about. Lent is a time where Christians typically give something up in preparation for celebrating Easter. The purpose is to ready our hearts for celebrating the big event of Christ dying on the cross and making a way for sinners to have a relationship with God.One thing we talked about in The Nourish Lab community was instead of giving something up they wanted to ADD something to their life. Oftentimes people give up things like sugar or alcohol or something else (which there's nothing wrong if this is what you feel convicted in your heart to fast from), but what I've seen is a tendency to turn it into a diet and giving things up out of guilt or feeling out of control in these areas. Especially if you have a history of an eating disorder or chronic dieting, I would just recommend being cautious if you are debating giving up something food-related.
But I loved this idea of adding something in. Some of the members mentioned wanting to do a service project or write down daily gratitudes. I thought these were great ideas and can accomplish the same thing which is to prepare our hearts for Easter.
Again, there's no right or wrong. It's important, as with anything, to test our hearts and our motives behind what we choose to do. Hope you have a lovely weekend!