1. Wake up early for daily quiet time.
2. Develop a house cleaning schedule and stick to it.
3. Read more books!
4. Live in the moment.
5. Eliminate negativity in thoughts and words.
This summer, I started strong waking up early, going to bed early, and generally accomplishing more throughout the day. I developed a schedule to get house work done and usually kept things under control each week. I surprised myself by getting through four books this summer! There were plenty of awesome moments to live in and for the most part, I steered clear of negativity.
As the summer wore on, I started sleeping later... My cleaning schedule started falling behind, with necessary "catch-up" days, which, of course, took-over some of our weekends. At night during my designated reading time, I started playing a phone-game. The "moments" were starting to seem daunting and negativity definitely became the default in my thought processes.
Last week, the Fall Semester began in most of our activities (lessons, church, etc.), and I welcomed the structure with open arms. I recommitted to my desired goals and must say that when I get that first one down (paired with adequate sleep), the next four generally fall in order. Not always, but very often.
One author whom I love to gleam inspiration from is Jennifer L. Scott. I discovered her in 2012 from her first book, Lessons from Madame Chic: 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris. I devoured the book (along with all of the secrets) and started following her blog, "The Daily Connoisseur." I was excited for her second book, At Home with Madame Chic: Becoming a Connoisseur of Daily Life, which came out last year and can hardly wait for her latest book, Polish Your Poise with Madame Chic: Lessons in Everyday Elegance to come out in October.
In honor of Jennifer's new book release and as a thank you to the inspiration she has provided me in my life, I will do a type of "Book-Review Countdown" over the next two months in anticipation of her new book, set to be released on October 27, 2015. August's book review will be Lessons From Madame Chic and September's review will be At Home with Madame Chic.
Click on any of the above links to purchase either of the books and join me in reading them this month and next. Both of these books provide great encouragement and inspiration in living well and living in the moment.
I would love to know how you react to the start of a new semester. Are you energized by all of the organization and schedules or deflated by deadlines and activities? How do you find inspiration to keep a good attitude and live in the moment? Please share your comments below!
