Checklist To A Healthier Me

I recently walked through a very difficult time, both emotionally and spiritually. It began a long overdue healing process in me, and helped me to see that my heart and soul were not in as healthy of a place as I had previously thought.

I realized for the first time that I needed to actively make changes in my life. That old quote "If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got" does in fact have some weight to it.

I'm going to share some things I've started doing to get my heart in shape. This is not a how-to post. It's just me sharing my heart on some things I've found that are helpful to me. ❤

1. Listening to worship music. And by "listening" I mean drowning myself in it! I listen to music all day at work and for the past few months, the majority of what I listen to is worship. It may sound cheesy or like I'm trying to be ultra-spiritual, but I can FEEL the difference in me. The lyrics remind me that God is good, that He loves me, that His plan for me is good. It reinforces what I know but what I may not be feeling in that exact moment. It strengthens my soul and builds my faith. Hillsong United and Elevation Worship have both been constantly on my playlists.

2. Reading better books. I've always been an avid reader. Part of the reason is a healthy love for books that I would not change for anything. But there's also been a bad side to it that I'm just becoming aware of: for years I used my love of reading as a coping mechanism, escaping reality by losing myself in a good story. There's nothing wrong with novels; they can speak truth in their own unique way. But for me in my current season, I'm craving books that speak to my soul, that help me to grow. I'm especially in need of books written by women of faith who have walked through their own personal broken and now use it to glorify God.

3. Subscribing to every inspirational blog that exists. 😂 Of course I'm exaggerating, but I have begun reading and following blogs and articles that speak life into me. Propel Women was a great place for me to start because it introduced me to so many individual women that I now follow and gain so much wisdom from. My outlook on life has changed dramatically just by doing this simple step.

4. Most important: living in my Bible. I actually started this last year, when I did something I had never done before...I allowed myself to write in my Bible. That freedom has been revolutionary to me. I write what I feel God is showing me through a particular verse, I write what I know to be truth, I write what I'm hoping to learn. I call this "living" in my Bible because it makes it personal to me. It makes me pause and think instead of what my quiet time used to look like:  openning the Bible, reading and maybe underlining something, and then closing it and walking away. Writing in it allows me to apply what I read to ME, to chew on it more than I would otherwise.

...These changes are helping me to grow. Have they solved all of my problems? Of course not. If only soul work were that simple! But it's a start towards a healthier me. It's not an easy process, but I'm learning to value the journey more than the destination. I'm learning that focusing on myself is not a bad thing if it leads to positive change. I'm learning that God is unbelievably patient with me as I learn, and that He's much more forgiving of my flaws and failures than I am. I'm learning who I was made to be. ❤🌸

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