062- 10 things that I'm loving right now

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I got an email from one of the life coaches that I follow (Jade Boyd) titled, "10 things that I'm loving right now," and, well, I love the idea so I'm borrowing it. These are in no particular order.

1. Staying breast cancer free (coming up on 6 years!) : Here's the link to my breast cancer journey blog. PLEASE share with anyone that you might benefit. It seems like every week I hear of someone that's been diagnosed and anything that I can do to help others get through it, I will try to do. I feel like sharing this blog is helpful. I had my annual mammogram a week ago and it's all clear. Yay! (Picture below is from when my bestie, Sandi, and I got matching breast cancer heart tattoos. Shout out to her for that! )

2. My Kindle Unlimited subscription : I can't say enough good things about this. It's $11.99 per month and you can have up to 10 books at a time "borrowed" from Amazon. I also get three magazines- People, Real Simple, and Good Housekeeping. I'm not sure how many different magazines they offer. It's so nice to be able to read magazines and not have to deal with recycling them. There's also a HUGE selection of books to choose from. Not every book on Amazon is included so I do, occasionally, have to buy books, but not very often. I have the Kindle app on my iPad but it also works on the regular Kindle devices too.

3. These cute sneakers : I bought these before my Ireland trip because I knew we'd be walking a lot but I wanted something that were cute too. I like this color combination because it goes with everything. They are super comfortable. I normally wear a 7 1/2 and ordered that size. They are a tiny bit snug so I wish I would've ordered an 8.

4. Working with Ashley Machado : Ashley is a mental health consultant that I meet with weekly via zoom. I cannot sing her praises loudly enough. She works with a lot of women in agriculture and she really **gets** it, regarding the struggles and challenges of being in production ag. Feeding the world is a tough business. We talk about quite the range of topics from our dairy to property management to relationships to gratitude practice to personal to development to this blog, and much more. She's a great sounding board for me and has helped me work through a lot. One other thing to mention that I've learned is that you don't have to be in mental crisis to work with a therapist, counselor or mental health professional. Sometimes you just need to be able to talk through regular, everyday stuff that happens.

5. Podcasts : I listen to an inspirational or educational podcast every morning when I am getting ready. Most of them are hosted by someone with some kind of affiliation to agriculture or rural life, but not all. I have a regular rotation of the ones that I listen to. Some podcasters post weekly and some don't, but here are some of my favorites: Gather in Growth with Emily Reuschel, Ag's Most Okayest Farm Girls with Annaliese Wegner and Courtney Feigl, Emerging as Me (which I was a guest on a couple months ago) with Kaitlin Cox, M Well with Ashley and Manny Machado, Pioneer Mindset with Garrett Ruskamp, Business Minimalist with Jade Boyd, Goal Digger with Jenna Kutcher, Marie Forleo Podcast, and Beyond the Crops with Mary Pat Sass and Jenna Ochsner.

6. My Five Minute Journal : I wrote about it in a previous blog post HERE. Check it out if you missed it the first time. I've really been enjoying this. It has a place for morning and evening. I haven't really gone back and reviewed what I have written over the past couple months but I think I will once I get to the end. It's supposed to last 6 months. Its a really great way to do a quick, guided gratitude practice. You can find them HERE.

7. Poppi soda : I am a not a soda person really, but I really like Poppi Prebiotic Soda. My favorite flavors are root beer and raspberry rose. From Poppi's website, "Poppi is a modern soda that combines agave inulin, apple cider vinegar (ACV), and fruit juice to give you all the soda feels with 25 calories or less, 5g sugar or less, and prebiotics." I'm not sure if you can go as far as calling it healthy soda, but it's pretty close. I can't really explain it, but my stomach feels much better when I drink one each day. It doesn't always happen, but I try.

8. Pop open message cards- Live with Intention : I chose "Intention" as my 2024 word of the year and wrote a blog post about it HERE. Check it out, if you missed it. This word of the year has been a little harder for me, than the 2023 word of the year, "Experiences". I love these little cards because they remind me of my word. I've shared them with my staff members and occasionally open one, on a random day.

9. Bible verse : My favorite Bible verse of all time is Philippians 4:6 : Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. I can't remember when I first heard or was exposed to this verse but it is now my favorite.

10. This blog : creating the Make Yourself Proud blog is challenging at times, but this post was really fun to write. Of course this is a work in progress. I really want to reach more people and hopefully help others by sharing what I've learned, and am continuing to learn. I also want to share things that I wish I would’ve known when I was younger. I like sharing about books that I'm reading, things I have learned while travelling, and how to make life better overall. I'd love to hear from you what you'd like to learn or hear about.

Have a great week and make yourself proud.