‘I think I’m going to freeze my eggs!’
Last year, I made that revelation to singer Monica while trying to confirm some information that was about to be posted on my website. At the time, she was 9-months pregnant with her daughter Laiyah, and we had been on the phone chatting for a few minutes about the new baby.
She said in response, ‘Girl, you don’t need to do that! You don’t know what can happen in a year! You save that money, and put it towards your nursery!’
I laughed, but I knew it was true.
We don’t know what our lives will be like in the next year, but we can definitely try our best to work towards what we want. I’m a true believer that the things we want, we can attract into our lives by constantly thinking about those things, visualizing them and living and breathing like they are already happening for us.
For the last few years, I’ve been subconsciously daydreaming about being in another country. Paris in particular. Living, amongst the locals. In my dreams, I would just up and one day leave the life I knew behind with no warning. Once I found myself daydreaming about this every day, I realized that being burned out was causing me to dream of an escape.
In September, I moved into a new place and there were two photos on the wall that I would wake up to every day. At the time, I didn’t pay much attention to those photos, but it wasn’t until I actually took a two week vacation this past December, to Europe, that I realized that I had been waking up to the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe every single day. Coincidentally, I spent New Years under the Eiffel Tower, and just the day before, I gasped at the beauty of Arc de Triomphe as my cab driver rode around the building on our way to a friend’s house.
It was amazing to me that for four months, I had woke up to these amazing attractions in my living room, that were over 5000 miles away, and now they were right in front of me. Look at God!

Anyway, before I get side tracked, I spent almost two weeks out of the country, and during that time I had very limited access to Internet, which became a blessing. You never really realize how much noise the Internet and social media brings into your life, until you shut it out, and suddenly you experience more moments of silence. More moments of clarity. You become inhibited. Unaffected by thoughts, opinions and the energy of others. Rejuvenated.
After about three days of this silence, I started to feel like a kid again. Innocent. Believing anything was possible. And so I wrote and doodled endlessly in my journal. On trains. On the plane. While sitting around the apartment.
I felt alive!
My spirit was broken when I stepped on the plane to fly away, but each and every day that I was on my break, it was being repaired, and my vision of what I’d have to do to continue to be fulfilled and happy once I returned home was so much more clearer.
There are a few things I’ve implemented in the New Year and it has made me so much more happier, so I’m passing it on to others. Especially, business owners and entrepreneurs.
Spend a few minutes a day visualizing the the things you want for yourself
You may have to get up an hour earlier to do this. Waking up in the morning before others in your household are awake, or your work emails start pouring in gives you those quiet moments to seek clarity. When you are waking up late, or with the rest of the world, sometimes your day feels rushed and you don’t have those moments to really sit, be still and listen to God, or even that inner voice that’s deep down inside of you.
Also, try to have a moment to just think or even pray, before logging in to social media, or your emails and and texts. Before you start taking in everyone else’s thoughts (through Twitter), peeking at other’s photos, or open an email that may not be so pleasant, make sure YOU have your moment.
Learn to say ‘No’
As a blogger, I have a million people asking me to post something a day and I get an overwhelming number of emails. If I had my way, I would respond to each and every email but there are only but so many hours in a day.   What I’ve learned is that no matter how many times you say, ‘Yes’ the first time you decide to say ‘No’ (for whatever reason), it will be like you never said ‘Yes’.  So if you aren’t feeling something, you might as well say ‘No’ to begin with.  It saves you the drama of having to force yourself to write about something you have no interest in, or participate in something you aren’t feeling.
Also, you have to learn how to manage your yeses.  Try to prevent committing to too many things at once because it will overwhelm you.
Don’t be afraid to take a break or vacation
Being burned out can be the worst feeling ever. It can cause you to lose passion in your craft or career, and when that happens, it can be a very miserable feeling.  Your health and well-being is so much more important than running yourself into the ground. I went on a two-week break in December, and I had way more to gain by taking a break then I did by not taking one. Although a ton of readers complained, the site didn’t lose it’s momentum in terms of traffic, and we were still able to bring in revenue, while cutting major costs (like purchasing photos, staff, etc) during the break.  I never really understood why the entertainment industry shuts down for two weeks in December, and most people who work at production companies and music labels are off, but now I get it.
In the meantime, I was able to take care of me, and come back with a fresh perspective.
Manage the energy you allow into your life
At the top of the year, I went through my music library and deleted every song that had negative undertones and replaced them with positive, upbeat songs that made me feel happy.  Each day, the music we decide to listen to, the books we read, sites we visit, etc are the bulk of what we are feeding our soul every day. Each and every thing we decide to read, listen to, discuss has an affect on us in subconsciously.
Also be aware of the energy that the people you surround yourself with brings into your life.
Late last year, before I took a vacation, I would carry really negative energy around. No matter how positive I felt when I first woke up, by mid day, I’d be in a sh-tty mood.  Then I realized, reading a few nasty comments a day left on my website, social media or in my emails was affecting my energy. Those comments wouldn’t even have to be directed or about me, but just reading them had a very negative affect on my spirit. By mid-day, I would be PISSED. As much as I loved to connect with my audience, correspond with them in the comments section, take in the feedback so that I can work on improving the site and giving the readers more of what they want, I had to take a break from reading that stuff.
I even created a private Instagram, and started following a bunch of fitness gurus, motivational speakers and moguls, so that when I scrolled through my timeline in the morning, I would see more of things that uplifted me and less of the things that would stir up emotion and get me angry.
It has definitely worked.
Change Your Environment
I move a lot. Each time I’m able to reinvent myself and create new energy for myself.
But, I understand that not everyone can do that.
Changing your environment can be as simple as painting the walls of the place you are currently living in. (Look up Feng Shui to see what colors match the mood and energy you want to bring into your life.) Rearrange your furniture. Get rid of the clutter.  These simple things will help create new energy and ignite your creativity.
Create a Vision Board and keep it updated
Just as I looked at those two photos every day, and I found myself in front of those attractions months later, that is the same effect a vision board will have on your life.  Take a stash of magazines, and cut out quotes, as well as photos of the things you want to bring into your life. Tape them to a poster board and hang it up where you can take a look at it every single day. Being able to see your goals and dreams laid out in front of you daily, keeps you focused on the prize. Eventually, you will start to live your life as though you already have those things, and one day, you will look back and realized that you have every single thing that you put on your vision board.  That’s the best feeling ever!
Also a blessing jar may come in handy.  I got this idea from  Pinterest [See examples here]. Every day, you should write down your blessings and things that you are thankful for and put them in a jar. At the end of the year, go back and read them all. Karen Civil told me she does this and it is helpful for reflection.  A blessings jar helps take the focus off of what you don’t have, may have lost, and disappointments, and really  makes you realize all of the things that you are thankful for.
In a nutshell, once you start counting your blessings, you get more blessings.
Hope this helps!