What would you love to spend more of your time doing… What fills you up? 

And I want you to answer with your heart not your head.

When we focus our energy, we have to recognize what is most important for filling us up and what is not. It’s really about prioritizing the pockets of our lives that deserve our energy. Those areas that give the most energy back to us. If you are putting energy into those areas that really fill you up, you’ll not only be energized but you’ll stay balanced while becoming even stronger overall. Through all kinds of challenges.

It’s analogous to the balance talk I do in my coaching. If I notice somebody is not balanced, it’s easy to go up to the fall line and simply push them over. I work with them on that, of course. But when someone is strong at the line, it doesn’t matter what or who comes up to them, they can’t get knocked over. And life really works much the same way.

In the face of the current global pandemic, so many people are feeling knocked down right now.

So, what can you do right now to help build up your strength? Focus on what fills you up. Prioritize that. Expand on THAT. 

How are keeping your cup full at this unique time in your life?  

Sometimes we need reminding about this simple power we have to bring more joy to our lives. You always have a choice about how you focus your energy.

When I made the choice to take the leap into motherhood, I knew it would bring me so much joy. The timing was never “right.” We leaped anyway, knowing it would fill us up, and it did in more ways than I could have ever imagined. Prioritizing that goal was the Best. Decision. Ever.

As I’ve said many times before, I pay attention to how things make me feel and where there’s joy, I put more effort into it. Right now, I am really leaning into my family life at home. And this past week, if you’ve been watching my Instagram, you’ll know we even expanded our family by one! And it’s already bringing us SO. MUCH. JOY.

It’s been an eventful week because it was also my daughter Jersey’s 7th birthday. And she’s also the inspiration behind my husband and I deciding to bring home a new puppy.

Ever since Jersey was a baby, she has shown so much interest in animals and she just has this incredibly nurturing soul. Any time we went on walks and we saw dogs, she would always show interest. Then we moved into this house next to neighbors who have dogs. They were kind enough to allow over a lot to just play with the dogs and she would go on walks with them too. And it all just grew her love for animals.

One night, last November, I was putting her to sleep and I noticed that there was movement at my back basement door. I thought, “Oh, I wonder what that is because we have a fenced backyard.” It turns out it was a bunny. As it was hopping away, I showed Jersey and she thought it was so cute. And the next day I started thinking, maybe I should get a bunny? Maybe that should be the family pet? I was having so much mom guilt for not having a pet in our house. I have so many vivid memories of the dogs I grew up with.

So, I put the idea out there on Facebook to get some opinions on bunnies. And oh my gosh, the amount of people that feel one way or another about bunnies was astonishing to me! I did not expect so many people to have opinions on having or not having a bunny. Bottom line was there were way more people against it than for it and overall, it seems like bunnies are more work than I expected. And then a comment Bryan O’Keefe made (who’s a real big dog lover) sealed it for me: “let me know when you come home from somewhere and your happy bunny runs to greet you at the door because it misses you. Yeah, bunnies don’t do that…”

So I decided the addition to the family needed to be a dog. I just knew a dog would bring so much happiness into our home and our family’s lives. And then our kids would have these special memories with dogs growing up. I had been having this mom guilt of not giving my kids the chance to grow up with a pet and my heart knew it was time to fix that.

Over the years, we had kept coming up with reasons not to get a dog. The usual excuses were that I was allergic and traveling a lot, that John was working a lot or that our space wasn’t big enough. But now we have a three-level house so why are we still making all this up? There could always be an excuse. You can always think of why now is not the right time. But ultimately it just comes down to prioritizing and deciding… and then you figure it out. It’s kind of like having a baby. There was never the right time. We just did it and it all worked out beautifully. And so that’s how we approached the decision to get a dog. We just thought, “you know what? This will bring so much to our family. NOW is the only time.”

So I dove into researching choices during the last fews months because that’s what I do. I’m a big researcher, and I found us the perfect addition to our family. She is a mini Aussiedoodle, an F1B type, which is even more hypo-allergenic. That’s 75% poodle and 25% Australian Shepherd. She’s also a Blue Merle, which means she has really unique coloring — sort of a grayish black and white. They’re even harder to find. I had been looking for months. There were nine in her litter when we went to meet the breeder. When Jersey held her for the first time, she fell asleep in her arms. They instantly bonded. That’s when I knew in my heart we were doing the right thing…and had found the right dog to join our family.

Her name is Carmen, and she’s been home with us for a week now. We picked her up from the breeders when she was eight weeks. We’ve been busy loving her and making her feel comfortable. We have a lot of love to give and she returns it to us in joyful leaps and bounds (literally sometimes – she’s very sweet and playful). I think she has already transitioned to feeling like she belongs in our home.

They’re very, very smart as well. I have very high hopes about how we can train her! Maybe one day she can even ring bells to tell us when she wants to go out! After all, I’m always up for something that’s hard. 

I believe that my kids are at an age too when they’ll actually accept the responsibility. It’s our entire family’s pet. I am very motivated to get everybody involved in the training process. So it’s going to teach them to really care for a living thing that belongs to our family. They have already really stepped up. They take her out without me having to ask twice. They cuddle with her, and play.

So what area of your life can you pour yourself into that will fill you back up in return? What can you do now so that you’ll look back on this time with a focus on something joyful and that brought you strength?