Every Little Thing by April Jeppson

 

There’s something about spring that makes me want to read and absorb all the knowledge I can. Let me preface with when I say I want to read, I don’t mean historical fiction, murder mystery or romance. I mean read to learn. Motivational, business, health … I want to read all the things that will help and encourage me to be the best version of myself.

So like I do every year when the snow melts, I buy a book … or three. I’m about half way through the first of my purchases and I already feel refreshed and ready to tackle any problems that come my way. The things I learn each spring aren’t necessarily new, but more of reminders. Things I know I should be doing, and possibly was doing at one time, but for one reason or another the habit was lost. Here are three of my current reminders.

Take care of yourself. It’s simple yet most of us aren’t doing it. The expression goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. If you aren’t taking care of yourself, how can you possibly take care of your family, home, job and any other responsibility you’ve said yes to.

Taking care looks different for everyone. It might mean you need to drink more water, eat more actual food and less manufactured garbage from a box, or get more exercise or more sleep. Maybe it means you need to schedule weekly date nights with your spouse or friends. Take a warm bath, get your nails done, read your scriptures or simply turn off technology for a few days.

Get up and keep going. No matter what your dream or goal, you will fail at some point. You will probably fail multiple times, and that’s OK. In fact the more you fail, the better you’ll get at dialing in exactly what you need to do in order to reach your goal. The difference between those who fail and those who succeed, is those who succeed got back up after they failed and tried again, again and again.

Be purposeful. It is so easy to be reactive in our society. Turn on the news in the morning and you could easily spend the rest of your day worried about something the president has said. Or, you could choose to wake up a little early and start your day with prayer or meditation, possibly even a good book or a little exercise to get those endorphins flowing.

The people you hang out with, how you use your time, the food you eat — all of these have a great impact on our health and wellbeing. It’s easy for us to get in a rut and then realize our days are being zapped away by energy absorbing activities we don’t even want to be doing. Step back, take a moment and visualize how you want your day or week to turn out. Then take the steps necessary to ensure that you get there.

Henry Ford said, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

Got a favorite book that inspires you or totally changed your school of thought? I’d love to hear about it. Stay young and keep learning!

Albert Lean April Jeppson is a wife, mom, coach and encourager of dreams.