Thursday, February 13, 2025
2025 Word of the Year
Thursday, February 01, 2024
2024's Word of the Year and a 30-day Sleep Journey
Every December I go through a ritual that I've come to look forward to. I begin reflecting on the past year: what went well and what could have gone better. Being an Enneagram 3, I'm constantly evaluating situations and processes and looking for ways to improve upon them. While part of this ritual includes developing a business plan, a fair amount of it includes examining my personal life and scrutinizing what I can do to become better, achieve more, and reach a higher level of my best self.
2023 was such an incredible year for my family and business. I had the pleasure and honor of helping 13 families buy and sell homes. What made this even more of a proud moment for me was that of the 13 families, 11 of them were close friends and family. Building my business has been one of the most demanding things I've ever had to do so it was incredibly confirmational to have so many friends and family entrust me to help them with this process.
One of the things that separated 2023 from previous years was even though I was working hard and putting major effort INTO my business, the business I generated seemed to be effortless. By sticking to processes and systems I had put into place in previous years, business naturally flowed to me. During my time of contemplation, it occurred to me... what if the rest of my life could be so effortless?
Enter my dragons. I've been battling one of them for as long as I can remember. The one that I battle on a nightly basis is going to bed at a reasonable hour. Now, I KNOW how important sleep is. I know how much better I feel when I go to bed early and how much more productive my days are. EVERYTHING is much more effortless when one has had a good night's sleep. I have actually been doing research on this one subject for many, many years. Falling asleep was troublesome for me, even as a child. While I now have medicated assistance to help me drift off, I whole-heartedly put off actually going to bed as long as possible, making for extremely challenging 6:00 A.M. alarm calls.
It's not that I dread sleep, it just seems that whenever I'm watching a show I enjoy or am scrolling through my friend's daily activities on social media, that trumps the good intentions of a good night's sleep. I didn't say it made sense, I'm just telling it as it is. Using my word of the year as my lens, how can I make evenings and getting to bed effortless?
I know anytime I personally have to challenge a bad habit, it starts with a mindset shift. Thinking about going to bed needs to become a completely positive activity that I not only look forward to but also crave to the point where it beats out anything else I could be doing with my time. What better way to reframe my perception of bedtime than by including all five senses? By creating a fully sensory experience, my hope is to change my mind and habits towards those of a productive sleep schedule.
Taste:
Sipping on a hot beverage helps the coziness of the evening. I switch between hot teas and Beam Dream to help me wind down. I will only drink non-caffeinated teas such as herbal teas or sleepy-time teas. Beam Dream is a wonderful night-time hot cocoa treat that I've recently discovered. It has natural sleep-inducing properties that helps me wind down, fall asleep, and stay asleep!
Sight:
While I rarely have the overhead light on in our bedroom, it is especially important at night. I turn on my bedside light when the sun starts to go down to help set a mood conducive to unwinding and relaxing. Additionally, keeping a good book that I look forward to getting lost in can always be found on my nightstand!
Smell:
I save my favorite soy wax candles for the evening and enjoy local vendor's scents. Southern Wix ("Alive in Roswell" is my favorite scent!) and The First Burn ("Dream Weaver" is my favorite!) are two of my current favorite brands and I always keep them on hand!
Hearing:
Keeping the volume down, I generally opt for instrumental music while getting ready for bed.
Touch:
Nothing says, "It's time to wind down" like a hot bath. Keeping a variety of my favorite bath salts, oils, and bombs in stock adds to the excitement of the winding down time. I recently have gotten into sheet face masks (I know, very late to the party!) and try to incorporate one of these weekly.
Excluding the times I was pregnant, the longest I've been able to keep a healthy sleep schedule is approximately 5 days. It will be my goal over the next 30 days to follow a sleep regimen that consists of going to bed by 10:00 P.M. I am excited to see the results and especially to see if getting the right amount of sleep magically helps other areas of my life become more effortless.
Thank you to all of the Amazing Artist for their beautiful photography!
Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Starting Over: Lessons I Learned from Changing Careers - Part 2, "Chris' Support"
October 10 was the day my Real Estate studies began. Forever a student, I eagerly began! The online course I had purchased allowed 120 days to complete not including the course exam which was to be taken in person. I mapped out my plan to complete the lessons, allowing margin for lessons that might take longer to complete. According to my estimations, I was poised to finish WAY before the deadline. I scheduled studies into my day, sometimes during the time the children were at school, but mostly evenings after they went to bed. I diligently took notes and completed units. And it took me the ENTIRE allotted amount of time to complete the course. I scheduled my course exam, took it, and failed. Wait, WHAT? Yes, I failed.
Pulling myself together, I slowed down and miserably finished the test. I left the room defeated and handed my paperwork back to the man behind the desk. He asked me to sit and started printing forms. I quickly looked at my phone camera to make sure I had wiped all of the streaked mascara away. The gentleman handed me my forms and started to give me instructions for delivering them to my broker. I was so confused... "I PASSED?!?" I asked, astounded. "Yes, you passed." Was his dry reply. I joked that I now understood why they took the license picture before the exams.
"Chris," I said. "I truly appreciate all of your verbal support. It means the world to me for you to have my back as I chase this new dream. But I need more than words. To me, support looks like helping out a little more around the house. Support in words is great, but I need actual, physical help." (As a side note, this is why communication is so important in relationships.). Chris looked as though a lightbulb had just gone off in his head. Suddenly, he got it.
Thank you to the following Artist for their art:
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Starting Over: Lessons I Learned from Changing Careers - Part 1, "The Social Shame"
Monday, October 23, 2023
30's-Something Ponderings
Today was a rare day. For the first time in as long as either of us could remember, Chris left for the office and I stayed home. On any normal Thursday, I would have a morning full of emails and to-dos and an afternoon of showings or playdates. Today, however, I had very little work and zero appointments. I found myself tackling projects around the house that hadn't been touched since my "stay at home" days: organizing the linen closet, deep cleaning the library, bleaching and ironing shower curtains. Little tasks that so easily get thrown aside in a busy household but the same tasks that used to bring me simple joy. As I neatly folded the towels and arranged them Ralph Lauren-style on the shelves, I was suddenly overwhelmed with so much grace and compassion for early 30's Ashley who so diligently kept her home as though any minute Martha Stewart's magazine journalists would be knocking on her door for an editorial. Early 30's Ashley who managed to keep house, juggle preschool carpool, instruct a full piano studio, AND have the self-discipline and willpower to maintain a fit physique. I have so much admiration for her and for all of her grit. She fearlessly lead her household and, above all else, was a fantastic mother. Always planning fun things for her beautiful children, always making sure they knew how much they were loved.
As I round out my last year in my 30's, I wonder how much compassion the "Then-Ashley" would have for "Now-Ashley." Would she have been able to stomach the fact that for the past THREE weeks, present-day-Ashley went back to bed every single time after morning carpool? Would she have extended grace to the now-me mom who definitely allows too much screen time and too much junk food? Or would she have agreed that after doing all-the-things for so long, it was OK to slow down, just a bit, and go back to bed after carpool without guilt?
Georgia has had the absolute pleasure of experiencing a true fall this year with chilly mornings and warm afternoons. As we've heard many times, nature has a way of showing us that letting go can be beautiful. In her book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Maria Kondo talks about expressing gratitude towards things before letting them go. As the last autumn of my 30's breezes in, I'm reminded that it's ok to fondly gaze on the incredible woman I was in my 30's while still having gratitude for where I currently am.
Wednesday, January 27, 2021
In Pursuit of Habits for 2021
![]() |