Life Too Noisy? Take Time To Focus

Well Hello There Friends!

Season 1 Episode 4

I hope you all had a great week! I had a really good week. I started my garden! It is a lot of work and I am sore! All that bending and reaching and lifting heavy bags of soil. LOL. I think it’s good for me. But I woke up the next morning and I was so sore! I planted peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes. I also planted some herbs. I planted sage, lemon thyme and rosemary. I am starting out with a deck garden. I have terrible clay soil so I didn’t want to plant in the ground and I wanted the garden to be convenient. If I do ok with this garden, maybe I’ll have my husband build some raised beds. I’ve watched lots of videos on container gardening and I used to have a flower patio garden when I lived in a condo and I really enjoyed it. That was my introduction to flower gardening. So I knew that I would enjoy patio or deck vegetable gardening. I also started some celery from the celery that I had in the refrigerator. I think I talked about that last week. It’s really neat! It’s called refrigerator gardening. I cut all the stalks off of the celery and then I placed the base in a cup of water with water just touching the bottom of the celery base. New stalks of celery are already growing! It’s really fascinating to watch. There are a number of vegetables that you can do that with. I’m experimenting with some sweet onions that way now. One onion grew roots overnight and the other onion isn’t doing so well. I remember the person that was filming the YouTube video had trouble with some of his onions. 

Now is the time to grow vegetables. It’s never a bad idea to grow some of your own food. I didn’t really like tomatoes until I tasted a homegrown tomato. The tomatoes in the grocery story have nothing on a home grown tomato. I used to live in a neighborhood where two of my neighbors had gardens. My next door neighbors  had an incredible garden and I was often amazed at what they grew.. I also had a neighbor that lived just one house away from me and she grew different varieties of tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes. She would start them from seed inside her house under  grow lights then move them outside to the garden when it was time. They were the best!!! She would often share with me and I looked forward to it every summer. I make a Hershey Chocolate cake that she loves and I would make her and her family a cake and she would give me a big bag of tomatoes! We had a great arrangement!. 

I’m going to post some pictures of my deck garden on the blog. I am learning as I go so I hope I have luck with my garden. I’ll also be sure to post pictures on Instagram and Facebook so be sure to check in every once in a while. Today I am going to plant some seeds and finish planting my tomato plants. I found some gardening YouTube channels that I really like and I’ve been following their tips. You really don’t need a lot of space. Even if you live in the city, you can have a patio garden. 

You know, when people plant seeds and grow flowers or vegetables, they prepare ahead of time. They know when to plant certain flowers and vegetables. They make notes about techniques they are trying, what worked, what didn’t work. They also repeat the methods that worked for them. What are you doing to prepare? What are you preparing for? Gardening is like life. If you are ill prepared or you don’t think things through, then the outcome you were hoping for may not be what you expected. If you plan, take notes, repeat what went well, you will have more success. 

Now is the perfect time to plan and set goals. Think about what you want to accomplish for the rest of the year. Do you want to start a business? Get a new job? Start a side hustle? Improve certain skills? Travel more? Make lifestyle changes? 

Many of us are moving at a slower pace now because of the  Stay At Home Order. This is not the time to get sucked into the stress cycle. Sometimes we tend to focus on what we can’t do because we feel restricted and it stresses us out. You know what I mean? For example, we feel stressed because we can’t go to our favorite store  or get our hair colored or go to the grocery store and buy what we want when we want. But what I’m proposing is that we think differently and focus on what we CAN do. What can we do  and what can we focus on right now? It’s the perfect time to set goals and prepare ourselves for the time when we are no longer under restrictions. It’s the perfect time to get things done. 

I also think we should take this time to self reflect, to get to know ourselves and think about what we really want. What do you really want? This time has really benefited me because I have taken the time to get to know myself better. I have never been happier. My creative side is coming out even more. I am living my true authentic self. Are you? Are you taking time right now to think about what you want out of life? Or are you focusing on what you can’t do and that we are currently in a situation that is uncomfortable? That’s what I mean when I say don’t get sucked in. Let’s continue to work on ourselves. This too shall pass. When it does, will you come out better than you were before? Will you be happy? Happier than you were before? It’s so important to get in touch with yourself and not just move through life on autopilot. We have to enjoy ourselves. We have to enjoy every moment because tomorrow is not promised and we may never have this opportunity again. 

Some of us are trying to work from home and we have kids that we need to homeschool or teenagers that are dying to get out of the house and socialize…it’s hard. It’s stressful. I have adult kids so I don’t have that issue but at the same time, I could sit in the house and worry about what is going on and not focus on meeting my goals, growing and getting to know myself. I spoke to a friend the other day and she told me how bored she was. There are things to do . Seize this moment everyone, it may never come again. I really can’t say that enough. Sometimes we have to be silent so that we can just listen. There is a quote that I love. Let us be silent and hear the whispers of God by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Be still and listen. What is it that you need right now and in the future? Take time to prepare and tend to your soul like it’s your 

garden. When you tend to your soul, you will grow in ways you could not ever imagine. Tune out the noise. Concentrate on what you want to accomplish. Plan for what you will do when life returns to normal and you’re busy.Busy with work, busy with life, busy with family.  What will you do to accomplish those goals you set for yourself?

I am encouraging you to take some time to think about what I’ve said and make a list. Start with the question, who am I? Write down some of the things you love about yourself. Write down some of the special characteristics that make you YOU. Then make a list of things that are important to you. From the list of things that are important to you, make a list of things that you would like to do or improve upon. Now make a list of what you would like to focus on in order of the things that are highest priority to you. Decide from there what you are going to focus on and make a plan to accomplish your goals. Do you want to make more time to spend with family? Do you want to learn a new language? Or make a plan to keep your house clean? Write down a plan for how you intend to accomplish your goal. Take it one step at a time. Don’t forget to make a plan of how you’re going to keep working towards your goals when things return to normal. Will you take a certain day to work on your goals? Will you get up extra early in the morning to spend some time working on your goal? Will you give up your favorite tv show or  one of your TV shows? 

I’ve already started my list. This time of self discovery, decompression, self reflection has taught me alot about myself and what I need to be happy. Let’s work on our goals together. Feel free to comment or email me to let me know what you are working on and how you’re doing.  

I just want you to prepare and take some time to think so that you will come out of this better than you were before. I want to be better than I was before. Happier than I was before. Wiser, less stressed and more prepared. We are in this together. I’m a work in progress. I tell you, I try everyday. It’s not always easy but I try! 

 I love hearing from you. Let me know that you are listening and if you are enjoying what you are hearing. You can message me through Anchor. Go to  anchor.fm/happylifewithangelam. Just click on the message button to record your message.

You can also comment on the blog. I am trying really hard to post the show notes on the blog. My website has been redesigned and we are still working on it. I’m learning how to use the blog feature so hang in there with me. If you would like to leave a comment, please go to angelamonica.com and click on the blog tab. There, you can comment on the blog posts. I look forward to hearing from you!

I’ve got some exciting news! I have a preview of my Motherhood Collection up on the website, Instagram and Facebook! I worked closely with my designer who is also my daughter, Maya Palmer of Maya Palmer Designs. She is a joy to work with and not just because she is my daughter. She does a wonderful job, she works quickly, has great ideas and Maya was great at  understanding what I wanted on my website and with the Motherhood Collection. I have t-shirts that are beautiful and soft. If you would like to place an order, you will need to order today or tomorrow in order for it to be delivered by Mother’s Day. Covid is unfortunately slowing things down. If you order after tomorrow, you will receive your order after Mother’s Day. I hope you love the designs as much as I do! I wont say too much about too much about it so that you can go to the website or my Facebook or Instagram page and check out the t-shirts that I have as a tribute to us mothers. 

I hope you are enjoying the podcast and I hope I am encouraging  you to take some time to think about things that perhaps you haven’t thought about before. Or maybe I have encouraged you to keep going and doing what you are doing. 

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I hope you all have the best weekend!! I love you all. Be safe and be happy. Talk to you next week!