How To Spend Your Me-Time

Thank you Thirty One for today’s tips…

The kids are off from school this week and maybe you will be able to grab a few minutes of ME TIME.  The ever elusive “me-time” is the key to great self-care. Even 15 minutes per day doing something just for you will go a long way toward keeping you mentally strong and healthy so that you can give your all to your family and career.

Depending on what you enjoy, how much time you have or even the kind of day you’ve had, me-time can look different from day to day. But one thing’s for certain: Me-time will help you rest and recharge both physically and emotionally. Here are five fun and easy ideas to try for meaningful me-time this month.

1. Write in your journal

Taking some time to write in a pretty journal (like our beautiful Keepsake Journal) is a great way to reflect on your day, express gratitude or plan out your intentions for the day, week or month. If something is troubling you, try writing about it. It may help you let go of the problem or come up with a better solution.

2. Take a bubble bath

A nice hot soak with your favorite bubbles or bath salts will have you feeling relaxed in no time. Add in a fun novel to top it off. To make things even more relaxing, fill a Double Duty Caddy with beauty essentials like a facial mask, scented moisturizer and some nail polish to indulge in an at-home spa treatment afterward.

3. Treat yourself to lunch

Head to your favorite coffee shop or restaurant to enjoy a peaceful lunch all by yourself. Have fun people watching while you’re there – and why not order dessert, too? Choose a restaurant within walking distance to get the added benefit of some fresh air and exercise.

4. Dance to some great tunes

Dancing is fun, therapeutic and great exercise. Put on some songs you haven’t heard in a while and dance like nobody’s watching! Besides being a great mood booster, dancing on a regular basis can help improve your physical fitness.

5. Get your craft on!

There’s just something about losing yourself in a crafting project – maybe with your favorite movie playing in the background and some yummy snacks – that can be oh, so satisfying. Grab your Get Creative Carry-All packed up with your knit or crochet project to amp up the fun and relaxation!

One way to give yourself more freedom to indulge in me-time is to control your own work schedule. If you’re interested in a great work-from-home idea, consider starting your own business with Thirty-One Gifts! Working YOUR way as a Consultant means choosing your own hours, enjoying the flexibility to earn on your own schedule and having a blast sharing innovative and stylish products designed to make life easier – and more fun!

Whether your idea of relaxation is spending time alone at home or getting out and meeting new people, it’s important to choose something you thoroughly enjoy. Taking some time for yourself every day will help you feel happier, have more energy and experience less stress. To find out how you can enjoy me-time while meeting new people, setting your own work hours and the opportunity to earn some extra income through direct sales, check out our Consultant program today.  Have some questions, I’m an open book….. send me a message and I will answer your questions.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!.

How to Be Enough, When It Feels Like All Eyes are On You

Thank you Sharon Jaynes for today’s message:

One evening, while on a getaway with my husband, Steve and I splurged at a fancy restaurant, complete with a four-man band playing music from the ’40s and ’50s. We had taken a few ballroom dance lessons, and Steve was itching to see if we could remember the foxtrot.

“Come on, Sharon,” he urged. “Let’s take a spin on the dance floor.”

“No way,” I said. “Nobody else is dancing.

I’m not going to be the only one out there with everyone staring at me. And suppose we mess up? I’d be embarrassed. It’s been a long time since we’ve practiced, and I don’t remember all the steps. Let’s wait until some other people are out there so we won’t be so conspicuous.”

After a few moments, the first couple took their place on the parquet. They squared their shoulders, pointed their toes, and framed their arms. In one fluid motion they graced the dance floor with perfect dips, sways, turns, and twirls. They looked good, and they knew it.

Nope. I was not going to embarrass myself. I hunkered down in my seat with renewed resolve. I was stuck there. I refused to budge. Then couple number two joined couple number one. Their steps weren’t quite so perfect, but they looked pretty good too.

“Okay, I’ll go,” I said. “But let’s get in the back corner behind that big ficus tree so nobody can see us.”

Off we went to try to remember the slow-slow-quick-quick of the foxtrot. The whole time I was hoping all eyes were still mesmerized on the polished artistry of couple number one.

As I dared look at the crowd, I noticed they weren’t looking at couple number one, number two, or even wobbly kneed number three. All eyes were fixed on a fourth couple approaching the dance floor. The husband was in a wheelchair. He was a middle-aged, slightly balding, large-framed man with a neatly trimmed salt-and-pepper beard.

His dapper attire included a crisp white shirt, a snappy bow tie, and a stylish tuxedo. On his left hand he wore a white glove—I guessed to cover a skin disease. With a smiling wife by his side, the couple approached the dance floor with a graceful confidence and fashionable flair.

Suddenly everyone else faded away, and they seemed to be the only two people in the room.

As the band churned out a peppy tune, the blithesome wife held her love’s healthy right hand and danced. He never rose from the wheelchair that had become his legs, but they didn’t seem to care. They came together and separated like expert dancers. He spun her around as she stooped low to conform to her husband’s seated position.

Lovingly, like a little fairy child, she danced around his chair while her laughter became the fifth instrument in the musical ensemble. Even though his feet never left their metal resting place, his shoulders swayed in perfect time and his eyes danced with hers.

My heart was so moved by this love story unfolding before my eyes that I had to turn my head and bury my face on Steve’s chest so no one would see the tears streaming down my cheeks. As I did, I saw person after person dabbing linen napkins to dewy eyes.

This portrait of love and devotion transfixed even the band members, now misty-eyed as well. Finally, the music slowed to a romantic melody. The wife pulled up a chair beside her husband’s wheelchair, but facing in the opposite direction. They held each other in a dancer’s embrace, closed their eyes, and swayed back and forth, cheek to cheek.

Surprisingly, I no longer worried about whether anyone was watching me.

I didn’t care if my steps weren’t perfect. I wasn’t even concerned about being compared to and falling short of perfect couple number one.

The Lord spoke to my heart in a powerful way. Sharon, I want you to notice who moved this crowd to tears, He seemed to say. Was it couple number one, with their perfect steps? Or was it the last couple that had no steps at all? No, My child, it was the display of love, not perfection, that moved the crowd. If you obey Me, if you do what I have called you to do, then I will do for you what that man’s wife did for him.

As Paul said, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

God isn’t looking for perfect people with perfect children, perfect marriages, and perfect lives. He is not searching for men and women with perfect steps to do great things for Him.

He is looking for courageous believers who will rely on His power to work in and through them to accomplish all He has planned for them to do.He is scouting for followers who will obey Him regardless of their present fears or past failures.

He is looking for men and women who know they are good enough because of His power working in them and through them.

Simply put, God had sent a lame man to teach me how to dance.

God chooses to do extraordinary work through ordinary people who will bring glory to His name.

Men and women who know they are not good enough in their own strength but are incredibly powerful in God’s strength slay the giants of this world.

Today, I’m thinking that’s you.

Have a ThirtyOne-derful day!