You NEED a vision book!!

Looking back and reflecting on my life, I have always been sort of a lost soul.  I wandered along aimlessly though life with absolutely no hope of finding any kind of direction.   That’s how I felt most of the time, anyway.  Even up to the point of having my son, I felt this way.  I started seeing a therapist and that’s when things started to change.  Now, do I fully feel in control of where I want to go and have a direction set in stone yet? No, I don’t. But I know that finding a great therapist has changed my life beyond measure!  My therapist introduced me to a documentary from  2006 called The Secret.  You may or may not have heard of it.  I hadn’t seen it or even hear of it for the 1^st time until 2011.  It definitely changed my perspective in many ways and it helped me to realize the power and potential of my mind.  We all have this power.  I’m not going to delve into that, though because I could go on for days and let me tell you, you definitely don’t want to get me started!  Besides, in my opinion, life is open for interpretation and for me to give you my FULL opinion on this movie before you’ve even seen it isn’t fair.  So if you want to, watch it.  It’s available on Netflix or I’m sure you could purchase it on Amazon or possibly rent or stream it online somewhere for a fee.  If you decide to watch it (or if you’ve seen it already), I’d LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear opinions!  Love it or hate it!  I want to know!!  The documentary was based on the book written by Rhonda Byrne of the same title.  I own the audio book and it’s fantastic!  There are snippets from the movie and Rhonda Byrne narrates the audio book and does a wonderful job!  So the next part of this entry will be understood better if you watch The Secret.  By the way, “the secret” is “the law of attraction.”  Go ahead and Google it for a detailed explanation.  Here’s my extremely compact explanation!  Whatever thoughts and feelings you emit from yourself are the life experiences you will get in return.   This law is why negativity creates only more negativity.  This also can explain a “lucky streak” in whatever it is people tend to get lucky streaks in!   

In the movie The Secret, an entrepreneur named James Ray talks about something he made called a vision board.  I do not know where this idea originated, but this was the 1^st time I had heard of anything of the sort.  For those who do not know what a vision board is, it is a collection of pictures, words and sayings that you put together yourself in a scrapbook manner (or whatever creative manner you chose) that puts you in the mindset to start manifesting those things you truly want in your life.  Most people will make a vision board and hang it someplace where they are going to see it daily.  It’s a great way to keep your predominant thoughts on what it is you really want.  I love the idea of a vision board because it can put you in a place of “having it now” (as talked about in the movie) and your imagination can take you to the places you need to be mentally and psychologically to bring those dreams to fruition.  It makes you feel great and that, my friends, is what’s MOST important when it comes to attracting into your life exactly what you want. 

I’m no entrepreneur and I definitely ain’t rich, but I am happier right now than I have ever been in my entire life.  It’s all a work in progress, of course, but I honestly don’t feel like I’m wandering aimlessly anymore!  I now have the tools to make things happen for myself and you best believe that I am going to follow through.  Starting with this blog!

The last idea I want to talk about is a variation to the vision board.  A vision book!  I do not know specifically where this idea originated from either, but a great friend of mine brought this idea to the table once and I thought it was fantastic!  You can make it as many pages as you want and organize it in any manner you see fit.  The best part is that you can take it with you!  How about looking at your vision book and visualizing yourself in that new car or with that perfect significant other or spouse instead of playing Candy Crush on your phone?  Much more productive, in my humble opinion!  But that’s just my 2 cents!

Here’s a little bit about me

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I am 32 years old and married.  My husband and I have been married 7 ½ years and together 12 years.  We have 1 son who is 4 years old.  That little boy is my world! My husband means the world to me as well!  We have an amazing relationship with an extremely strong foundation of friendship.  I can’t begin to express how important that is to have with your significant other or spouse!  We’ve been through a lot as a couple before and after our son and I’m convinced that our friendship foundation is what got us through our tough times.  He is truly my best friend and my favorite person on the PLANET!!!  As far as our parenting philosophy goes, we have always been on the same page and it’s beginning to pay off now that our son is getting older and we are able to communicate more clearly with him. 

We believe that our son needs to feel out his independence (which he has a TON of!!!!) and be able to express his opinions where it’s appropriate.  We also believe that as he gets older he needs to have a variety of experiences in life that will hopefully lead him to appreciate his own life and maybe even help him to choose a path for himself in life.  Doing things like volunteering and learning different types of trade work at an early age, as well as sports and extracurricular activities in school.  We will never force him into something he doesn’t want to do, but at times he may have to do things he’s not 100% happy about!  What I want to instill in him early on is a sense of adventure for trying new things and not being afraid to get a little dirty to learn new things or have new experiences.  We will nurture his talents and help him to figure out what direction he wants to go in life. 

Now…  I’m going to come back and read this 5 years from now and see how I’m doing with him compared to what I expected to be doing based on this blog!  He’s been a challenge thus far and I don’t see that changing anytime soon!  There will just be a new set of challenges around every corner that will test me in different ways!  But I’m ready!

Being bipolar and ENJOYING THE JOURNEY of life!

So one day I had a thought.  I wondered how many moms are out there who suffer from bipolar disorder and have to deal with the day to day struggle of juggling mommyhood and either the severe mood swings of type II bipolar disorder or the ups and downs that are associated with manic depressive disorder (type I bipolar).  I’m sure there are plenty mommies out there who are in this scenario.  Being that I am one of them, I decided to start this blog to let you all know, you’re not alone! 

Even if you’re a mommy who doesn’t have bipolar disorder and you’re reading this, chances are you know someone who does have it.  Number 1, because my blog caught your attention (maybe because you either know me or know someone else who’s suffering) and number 2, because according to WebMD, 5.7 million Americans suffer from bipolar disorder.  While the disorder typically affects men and women equally, women tend to have it more severely and deal with more episodes than the men who are diagnosed.

I’m not here to spout out statistics, though.  Well…  Sometimes statistics are necessary and helpful in getting a point across, but I’ll keep it to a minimum!  What I want to do is share my experiences being a mom and dealing with this disorder in hopes that at least someone will benefit from reading about it.  I’m not gonna lie, I’m nervous about putting myself out there in this way, but while my main objective is to enjoy this and have fun, I want to also aide in the awareness of mental illness and give those who care to look, a glimpse into my world.  If you can relate, great!  I hope you’ll follow!  If you can’t, please at least be cordial and tactful enough to keep your comments to yourself if they aren’t nice and just move on.

No worries, though, it’s not going to be 100% serious all the time!  So come along on my journey with me and let’s have some fun along the way!  Because life is about ENJOYING THE JOURNEY!