"I believe that there's a big future out there with a lot of beautiful things. I want so much more."

✦

Hi + Hello

Happy Week 32! August has enveloped us in humidity and I have the frizz to prove it. Sometimes we can’t beat the elements, we just gotta roll with them. I’m not complaining; I wanted to feel this heat on my bare skin all winter… and spring… and since last summer. But I am reminding myself that as seasons change, so do the circumstances and conditions we experience. We have to be able to adapt, adjust, and make decisions within the present and/or appropriate context. It’s a lesson I’m still learning; I anticipate going outside in the fall or winter time at least once and complaining I’m cold because I dressed like it was warm for the sole reason that I wanted it to be. I’m a forever work in progress =)

✦✦

✍🏾 #RandomSessionNotes

1. You are capable of hurting other people.

2. Strategy ≠ smooth.

3. Don't take yourself too seriously.

✦✦✦

🔧 Tips, Tricks, and Tidbits

When we are problem-focused, we might hang out in "what's wrong here" — identifying, analyzing, dramatizing, catastrophizing, and not really moving on. The focus is on diagnosing rather than recovery. It's thorough, but doesn't fix. On the other hand, being solely focused on the solution looks like glancing at a situation without taking time to understand the root of the issue. A plan may come together quickly, but it may not address the right thing. When we take the time to accurately identify the issue - seeing beyond the symptom to the cause - we learn what the real issue is and where the problems are stemming from. From there, we can create a plan that addresses the real problem, not one that puts a bandaid over a wound that will keep reopening until we treat what's actually causing it. It’s important to be skilled at both: problem identification and solution finding. Being naturally inclined to either is neither inherently good or bad, but the skill of being able to use them together will get you the furthest.

✦✦✦✦

😏 Unrelated Musings

This morning I wrote in my notes “Let treats be treats.” I don’t know if we’re still in the “treat yo self'“ era, but I wonder if I overdo it sometimes. Never on a grand scale - I wish! I dream! - but on things that I inevitably find out in the world... on things that inevitably find me. You ever give up something and then somehow, it’s being offered to you left and right? This happens to me most Octobers when I give up alcohol in observance of Le Sober Tober. It’s very noticeable. I don’t think there’s a date I’ve been to more open bars than October 1. But the funny thing, this happens outside of October too. I’m sure this happens to you too: you are offered or given ‘treats’ out in the wild. If we pay attention, we’re probably treated more often than we realize. This person gifts us this, another person offers us that… our environment is not absent of serendipitous good, it’s just (often) absent of our (sustained) attention to it. For many of us, if we don’t treat ourselves, we don’t actually go without treats. I want to better train myself to see the good I receive even and especially when I’m not lacking in it. We notice the presence or absence of what we focus on. I want to focus on the good that comes my way because I don’t want to overlook or downplay what I want more of.

My favorite possible self writes another blog post in approximately one week! My mantra says I follow through, so I must! See you there!

xo janelle

ps. If you’re in the market for free custom workouts, I make them and update them every Monday here. For unrelated personal chaotic workout videos, random photos of my life and happenings, and more, come hang on IG =)

pps. If you want this in your inbox a couple days early, sign up here!

| Microdosing Wellness 32mg 💊