living a life of ease

For the past few years, I’ve just been in survival mode. Faking it til I make it, being God’s toughest soldier and just going through the motions. Recently I feel like life has plateaued. I’m content and at ease. The peace was pretty disturbing at first and I didn’t really embrace it. In the past, anytime life was calm it was just the eye of the storm and challenges were on the horizon. I realized for so long I didn’t think I was worthy of living a life of ease. I thought a life of ease was an unattainable privilege. I thought had to always be on go and life was just valley after valley. Yes, I would fill my cup, but I was never at peace and never took things slow. However, over the past few months I’ve become comfortable with embracing the stillness and being intentional with adding ease to my life. I realized that a life of ease is attainable. I deserve this season of peace. I’ve been mindful of my habits and falling in love with my routine.

In this blog, I wanted to share a couple things I do to add ease to my life.

The Apple watch has an app called “Mindfulness” and you can set reminders throughout the day to just take one minute to reflect or breathe. Having these minutes of mindfulness keep me grounded throughout the day. Sometimes I truly just need a second to breathe and I don’t even realize. And often I don’t even notice the tension I’m holding in my body or that I’m holding my breath. I think it’s so important to practice mindfulness routinely so when you do experience tense moments you automatically have something to ground yourself or you’re able to control your reactions better in tense moments because you’ve been practicing mindfulness and gratitude throughout the day. If you don’t have an Apple watch you can set alarms/reminders on your phone for this as well!

I LOVE a good morning walk. It’s the perfect serotonin boost, I noticed I don’t need caffeine before work anymore, it’s just great. Taking an hour to just be by myself in fresh air, moving my body, listening to a podcast or my gospel playlist truly centers my soul. I also like to read my Bible or some type of devotion in the morning. Spending time with God is a great way I center myself. Imagine not eating all day. You would be lightheaded and low energy. That’s what we do when we don’t feed our spirits on the daily. We’re not centered, we’re low energy and our reactions and decision making are not at their best. Remember to feed your spirit. Another way I ground myself in the morning is by affirming myself. While doing my skin routine I’ll say a few affirmations or go through this list and reflect:

• one thing you like about the way you look

• one accomplishment I am proud of from yesterday

• five people in your life you are thankful for

• one thing you are looking forward to

• positive things about your personality

If it’s in my control I always try to leave early for timely things. Living in New York, outside inconveniences literally come out of thin air. Instead of being in distress about things I can’t control (the train that has a mind of its own lol) I focus on what’s in my circle of control — leaving early and giving myself time for those random inconveniences. I feel like this is common knowledge, but so often we focus on and stress over what’s not even in our control. Instead, implement those small habits that will add ease to your routine. I also like to do this when I make an outfit in my head but I’m not 100% sure it will look right on lol. Instead of being stressed and running out of time, I give myself time to try on a few outfits, FaceTime my boyfriend for his opinion, send pics to the girls chat, and still be on time.

Adding ease doesn’t have to look like some crazy ordeal. For me it has been habit stacking things with my normal routine. We are literally in control of creating the life we want. So fall in love with your journey, fall in love with your habits that are elevating you everyday. Be intentional with adding ease like your life depends on it. There are so many factors against us in this world, make sure that you can at least rely on yourself for some ease. Being intentional with adding ease has made me fall in love with my life. My life is proof of God’s love and that has been my prayer for so long. Adding ease and romanticizing has also brought me an extreme amount of gratitude. I literally be thanking God for the birds y’all! I’ve also noticed that I control my reactions so much better now. Routinely practicing mindfulness and gratitude allows me to be more aware of my reactions and emotions in tense situations. No I am not perfect. Perfection isn’t even the goal. But my progress feels great and I’m truly proud of me. So I say, find what brings you ease and implement it in your routine everyday. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.

Had to leave y’all with some affirmations 🙂