Category: Uncategorized

If I sit and think I can come up with an excuse as to why I shouldn’t move forward with anything. For example, there are about 1.2 million bloggers in Dallas and another 200,048 self-published authors. Okay, I made both of those numbers up to give context for this blog, but you get the point. 🙃😂 I will say the number is pretty high for bloggers and authors in Dallas and tremendously even higher if I look at the state of Texas.

The majority of us know someone who has started a blog and may even know an author. If I looked at the number of bloggers or self-published authors it could be intimidating if I allowed. I could easily give a lame excuse that the market is saturated and not share my own stories via a book or a blog. But…saturated or not in the words of the great Toni Morrison “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

A saturated market can be both an excuse and a fact at the same time. Due to this,  I could hope for others to write about my experiences, or I could do it myself. Of course, y’all know me, I will do it myself. No one else has my voice or my distinctive personality which God gave me.

My friends often tease me, all in good fun, and say “Wren Logic” when I share a story. Lol. Even my logical way of thinking is unique to me. It’s the way God made me and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

All of that to say, you can either make a “lame excuse” or do what you have been called to do.

Because it is Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought I’ll share things that bring me joy! I know oftentimes similar lists are shared and entitled self-care activities, but I was reading a book last week and it referenced activities they enjoyed as a joy list. The idea of calling it a joy list, made me smile, so here are my top 15 joy list items.

1. Spending quiet time with God.
2. Reading a book in one day.
3. A hot bubble bath with candles and relaxing music.
4. Sitting outside on the patio (with nice weather), enjoying a nice drink to relax.
5. Going to the pool and or beach.
6. Reading greeting cards from friends and family.
7. Receiving a note or email about how my book and or blog encouraged someone.
8. Publishing a book.
9. Turning on my out of the office because I have a trip booked.
10. Watching a comedy show.
11. Game night with friends and family.
12. Lying in bed binging a good series on Netflix.
13. Teaching others and seeing them have their aha moment.
14. Take nap midday!
15. Enjoying my favorite snack!

While I could go on and on about some of the things that bring me joy, I want you to think about something on your joy list. In addition to thinking about it, try to practice it tonight or even this week!

What brings you joy?

“Strength and honour are her clothing; And she shall rejoice in time to come.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭31:25‬ ‭KJV‬‬

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I know there’s a buzzword called mindfulness, but I wanted to share some of my self-work.

I heard this quote recently and I was compelled to share it.

“We don’t fail, we reach our capacity!”Antoinette’s Corner

One thing I’ve tried to be mindful of is my feelings, my emotions, and how I process things. The quote posted above spoke volumes to me because of society’s preconditioned idea of “failure.” I’m working on becoming more mindful of my feelings, emotions, the things I tell myself, and even how I decide to process information.

While I may have initially labeled a task that didn’t meet my expected outcome as a possible failure, I can now say I reached my capacity for that task. I may have more capacity to problem solve, try it again tomorrow or even ask someone else for assistance, but one thing I’m not going to say is I failed.

Also, on my mindfulness journey, I’m conscious of my emotions and try not to let them control me because I know they fluctuate like this Texas weather. For example, before I react because something may have been an initial trigger I’ll have a conversation with a trusted friend or chat with the person. Being mindful for me means just because an action may invoke an initial emotion, it doesn’t mean that emotion is valid. I have to weigh my emotion against what I know about the person, is it a repeated behavior or maybe it is something that needs greater clarification. I’ve learned you can chat all day, but if you don’t have understanding – the words are meaningless.

Listen y’all, we are products of the things we say to ourselves, what we consume, and the people we hang around. What you verbalize you become. What you believe about yourself you become. Being mindful of these things may be the mental health break you need.

As someone who has lofty goals and ambitions, I’ve come to realize the importance of asking for help. I know so many of us including myself hate asking for help, but let me assure you it’s normal and the way God designed us. He wants us to live our lives within a healthy community of people who can do life with us. So of course like most of my blogs, I have an example for you of when I had to ask for help.

Storytime: On Easter Sunday, I had on a beautiful dress; however this dress had a long zipper down the back. I practiced the night before zipping the dress up successfully by myself. Now Easter morning comes and I’m attempting to zip my dress by myself and I can’t finish it. I even looked up YouTube and TikTok hacks and it wasn’t working. So, at the point I’m frustrated and on top of this, I’m running the risk of being super late for church with a half-zipped dress. I decided to grab my purse, keys and run to my car with my half-zipped dress and figure it out in the church parking lot. While this was not ideal and I don’t recommend this for anyone else – as soon as I pulled up to the church I found a single woman, ran to her car, and asked her to help me zip my dress, which she kindly obliged in assisting me.

I know this may seem like a small ask, but if you can’t ask for help for small things – it will be harder to do when the task is larger. Think of all the ways you could benefit from something someone else knows which could be beneficial to you. It’s nothing wrong with stating, “Hi I need help with… can you assist?

I recently boarded a Southwest flight and l noticed their napkin. The napkin stated,” Southwest Airlines was born on a napkin in 1971.”

While, l was on my flight I sat and thought about all the ideas of others scribbled on a napkin or in a notebook and because of fear and doubt the idea remains just that – faded words on a page. While this blog may be short,my prayer for you today is for God to help you develop a plan and for you to implement the idea, thought, or dream. Shed some light on that scribbled vision that’s on a sheet of paper tucked safely away.

For me, blogging all started with a 60 – day challenge. What’s your story?

“A dream is only a dream until you decide to make it real.” – Harry Styles

“Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” Habakkuk‬ ‭2:2-3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

First off, I surpassed writing 200 blogs! 🙌🏽This is currently blog # 202. Thanks for being a part of my blogging journey! I appreciate every one of you. ❤️

I have a question for you, have you ever had a tough conversation with anyone? At some point, someone you have a relationship with will say something to offend you, whether it is intentional or not. I can admit I’ve been offended quite a few times through various relationships. I’m learning the key is not to allow the offense to become a fence in any relationship. It’s imperative to have tough conversations with others in professional and personal relationships.

I’ve had my fair share of tough conversations in which sometimes I handled them fairly well and other times they weren’t so great. I’ve realized my biggest issue with having tough conversations is sometimes I ramble. I start with good intentions and points and then, I add too much unnecessary context.

My mentor recently shared that the key in any conversation is conciseness. His quote was, “Say as much as is needed to get your point across, but no more than you have to say.”  I always feel like when I learn something new there is a testing experience. 😩

I will have to say, this time I wrote down what I had to say before the conversation. I ensured I acknowledged my feelings and ended my thoughts concisely with what I would like the result to be going forward. I’m thankful to report the conversation went well. While I’m sure I will have more conversations with others, I’m glad I now have a working blueprint of how I can be concise and handle the conversation gracefully.

How do you handle tough conversations?

“Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Colossians‬ ‭4:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬