Why I Live Intentionally
Have you been able to check out our podcast? That is right! My sister, Alanna & I decided to dive into the world of podcasting together & we just shared our second episode. Why do the podcast? We all know I love to write & share my story, well so does my sister. However, we come from two very different lifestyles.
For me, I share our now 5 year marriage story dealing with infertility, homemaking & all things living intentional. Alanna is single & shares about her struggles with that, living alone & being a creative bursting out of her shell. Kind of the perfect mix for our generation, don’t you think?
Disclosure : This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I make a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links at no cost to you.
As I share more & more each week, every topic seems to compliment what I share here at Our Blue Abode. I plan to take those conversations & write about them in this space as well. Below you will read our conversation & interview on what living intentional means for me & how I got to this point.
It’s deep, it’s personal & it’s probably too much to share, but here I am. Sharing away!
What Does Intentional Living Mean for Me
I struggled for a long time & still do to be honest, to find motivation or purpose. A lot of it is directed towards our struggle with infertility, but to an extent I think we all kind of have this road block. I think that if I were a mom already, then I would be too busy taking care of the kids to care about pursuing any kind of purpose. Now, think that is a lie though. I know that we all crave that kind of belonging & fulfillment.
Although being a mom is very much at the top of the list, I believe that this time of waiting is meant to be filled with learning, adapting, & pursing so that the Lord could use my life to one day teach, shape & lead others. It was about two years ago that I started really trying to navigate a new focus for my life. I had a pretty low point from about 2016-2018 that I felt the most unhealthy, most alone, most lost that I ever felt in my whole life. 2014 was a rough one for me, but these two years span after really forced me to make a change.
It was like I was watching my life roll by with no feeling or movement or progress. I knew I needed a different mindset or a new motivation to be able to get myself out of it. This is when I realized I just wanted to be more intentional with life. More intentional with my time, how I loved others, how I thought, how I took care of myself. Everything.
What got you started down this path? What resources can you share?
It seems weird & some won't get it, but this is honestly how this all came to be for me. I am a new year's resolution girl. I won't sit here and defend why I think they are important or tell you why you should do them. It is something that not everyone is into & that is okay! For me though, they bring me a lot of encouragement & hope.
So January 2018 I made a resolution to use the things I had in my house before buying new things. Sounds odd, I know. However, I had so many random things from supplements to different teas, crafting supplies & a sewing machine. I just wanted to use up the random things filling my cabinets.. My box of essential oils was one of them. I got this box in 2015 & hardly used any of it. Other than one hormone oil, I really didn't do much at all with this stuff. But this was my chance to change that! It all pretty much went downhill from there. I don't mean down hill in a negative way though.
From then on I have used oils for every. aspect. of. my. life. It was kind of the start of my new "intentional lifestyle". One, using them was more intentional, but the purpose of them & what they do for me was also intentional. Because of the oils, I have been able to live more toxin free which is so important with PCOS. I have been able to use a lot less plastic. I have also been able to make fun gifts or help others with them! Honestly, this is not an ad for essential oils, it just literally the fuel that helped me & helps me currently live out my goal of being more intentional. This has made eo an extremely helpful resource for me.
How have you seen change in your life since you started?
I just gave a whole spiel about essential oils so there is that. But no, I have noticed a lot. Living a more toxin free life encourages me to be more mindful of the products I am using not only for my own health, but the health of anyone that enters my home as well as the environment around me. It has helped me take more time into researching & understanding what I put in my body & around it & know more about my PCOS.
Having PCOS has affected me in so many ways especially with infertility, so doing what I can to combat that is so important. It helps with my anxiety & depression, my weight gain, hair loss, mood swings, it has helped with so much. Being more intuned with myself has helped me feel better in social settings & has given me the energy to pour more into friendships. Between the years of 2016-2018 were incredibly difficult, as I stated before because I just let everything about PCOS overwhelm me. Something that a lot of people don't know or don't realize is that with certain hormone imbalances, it makes it incredibly difficult to be around anyone. You let insecurities take over & the only safe space is under your bed sheets.
This was me for two years & in those two years we lost or put on pause a lot of friendships. Friendships that even now will never be the same, but I am trying to do better. Without the goal to be more intentional with my life, I honestly would never have the motivation to even pursue happiness. It sounds so sad & for me it is PCOS, but there are so many reasons & causes out there that make people into loners.
We were created for community, so now I just make it a point in my life to do what I can for myself & to help others be more intentional with their life so they can take care of some of their underlying struggles & work harder at being the kind of people they want to be.