Tag: #liveandlearn

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Contact me at: EmyMinzel.AdventureSister@gmail.com

Stacy Crep ~

Photo Credit – Emy Minzel – Slim Lake, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness – Ely, Minnesota

Habit Tracking Helps!

July 7, 2019July 6, 2019 emyminzel

Tracking my habits and keeping a food log has really helped me to see exactly where I need healthy improvement. It’s helping me so much that I’d like to share it with you! I have created a simple grading system that lets me see how I’ve done during the day and for the week. This trick helps to hold me personally responsible for my grade and the outcome.

After a short time of skipping some parts of my self-care schedule, I see it’s time to get back to making healthy changes in my dieting and fitness routine. Taking this healthcare hiatus has served the purpose of a potent reminder that I feel much better when I am consistantly taking care of myself! I found that I do have healthy habits, and I eat wholesome food for the most part. Yet without more scrutiny and habit tracking, I was not meeting my goals.

Writing down what I eat every day and counting calories help me to be more accountable, especially when I see it down on paper. Keeping a food log helps me plan healthier dinners and stops me from snacking when I’ve reached my calorie limit. It also helps prove that If I am a solid C student, I see that I get C results! Viewing my first week’s grades makes me want to improve my habits to get my desired results.

I won’t go on and on about how to eat or what to do with your fitness routine. Those things are all personalized and really none of my business! I am going to share a picture of the Habit Tracker I use, and if you are interested, I would happily send you an email with the excel file attatchment. My Habit Tracker is not fancy, it’s simple and does the job. I hope you find it helpful too!

Here is my personal email for you to send your request for my spreadsheet, making it easy to copy, paste, and customize.

Send request to: EmyMinzel.AdventureSister@gmail.com

After using my habit tracker for a few days, I felt that I needed to add some things and change some of them too. I’ve shared my Habit Tracker with Adventure Sister Stacy, who added more relaxation and meditation habits, while I added more activity requirements. You know what you need to improve, so do it up!

Are there any healthy tips, tricks, or advice you’d like to share that may help our Adventure Sisters community? Supporting and learning from each other helps us nurture the world around us and ourselves. We all have wisdom that will help someone, so don’t be afraid to share yours!

Sending you love, blessing, health, and happiness!

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

EmyMinzel.AdventureSister@gmail.com

www.AdventurewithEmyandStacy.com

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

Decisions, Decisions…

April 9, 2019April 8, 2019 emyminzel

It’s no secret that our life path is just made up of decisions we make along the way. In our careers, family, friends and even our health, the path is a product of decisions we’ve made prior. How my life looks today is directly because of the things I chose in the past. Sometimes we make bad decisions because we just don’t know, what we don’t know yet!

We must not kick ourselves in the butt when we do find out. It is then that we can use that opportunity to make an even more informed decision and move on from there. Who I am now, recognizes that in my younger years I would sometimes try to blame others for my failings instead of taking responsibility for my decisions. I had to get out of my own way and grow. I had to learn it was all up to me and my decisions to get the life I wanted.

Even when my decision was to be lazy and unproductive with my time, affecting any progress, the old me would think “Well if it’s meant to be it will be!” When really, it will be if I decide to make it so!

When Stacy posted her blog Let’s talk about Desire yesterday on stacycrep.com she hit the nail on the head talking about desire and distraction. I wanted to share my expericence of chosing destractions over what I truly desired and how I changed my thinking to prioritize what I truly wanted.

This thinking ‘if it was meant to be will be’ was justifying behaviors and decisions that were not getting me anywhere! I just didn’t see that it was me, standing in my way to the life I really wanted. It took years before I was ready to admit that my dissatisfaction was my own fault. That the decisions I made each moment of the day was the product of how I felt about life. Then, I had my “Ah ha!” moment and realized that nobody can change my life but me!

After this awakening, I started experimenting with mantras and found one that I loved and motivated me to take responsibility for my decisions. I still have it on a post-it note on my bathroom mirror. It says “I deserve the best! I take charge of my schedule and my life!” This simple yet powerful mantra moved me to get off the couch and start making progress towards the career and life I know I wanted but wasn’t making any progress getting too. I finally saw it because I stopped procrastinating and started doing what I knew I needed to do.

For years I knew I wanted to be a writer, yet I just did not believe in myself. So, I did not even attempt to write. When I did, it was in my journal and for my eyes only. I complained about it a lot because I was so unhappy with my lack of progress. Instead of taking the initiative to write something worth sharing, I would nap, clean, veg on the couch or anything at all besides write. How in the world did I expect to be a writer if I wasn’t confident enough to even try?

It was one small, yet life-changing decision several years ago, that got me fired up about my life goals again. Adventure Sister Stacy had encouraged me to start writing and she decided she was also going to write too. This sister solidarity gave me just enough support that I was willing to give it a shot. When we started writing, Stacy and I set a small goal of 500 words a week to keep us accountable. The best surprise was that we both ended up blowing the doors off that goal and had a great time while doing it!

We kept writing and writing and now have three books waiting for us to publish! As it turns out, editing is not cheap, and we needed to find a way to pay for the next step of making our publishing goals happen. A year after we got just our book proposals edited and paid for, we still needed the money to edit the rest of the books. We sat on this conundrum for a while and together made the decision to start putting together women’s retreats to help raise the funds to bring our books to fruition!

This is a very exciting next step in our writing careers, and all came about organically from our decision to keep making progress towards our goals and dreams. When it occurs to me that I wasted several years of my life because of my decision not to believe in myself, it can bum me out at times. Yet I know I cannot get down on myself too bad, because you don’t know, what you don’t know until you know! When you do, look at the progress you can make!

I am so thankful that I made myself take initiative to make one of my dreams come true. I did this by taking responsibility for how I was spending my time and energy and changed it to what I needed. These small decisions added up to big changes in myself and my life. I do my best to make good decisions and take responsibility with this life I’ve been blessed with. Doing so has increased my self-esteem and motivates me to keep moving forward with my goals and dreams; one small decision at a time.

Wishing you love and blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

http://stacycrep.com

*Photo taken at Candie Kitchen in Knife River, Minnesota

Oh no! Your flights canceled…

January 30, 2019 emyminzel

On my way home from our Adventure Sisters Retreat in Florida. Stacy and I both had some delays getting to our destinations, when it was time to go home. My connecting flight home was canceled which left me stranded in Chicago at the airport. The airline I was using said they couldn’t get me home until the next day or maybe not until Friday! It was Monday morning and I want to get home to see my boys!

What was funny is that I had been thinking on the way to Florida, instead of complaining about the length of my travel, I need to focus on saying to God/The Universe “What a blessing that I get to travel all day!”

As the Universe/God does, it gave me more of just what I had asking for. Silly me. I guess I need to be much more specific when manifesting thoughts. I really did want to get home to my fabulous husband and my wonderful life. But as life does, sometimes your plans get changed for you.

Stacy and I had spent the whole weekend practicing to raise our vibrations and vowing to hold ourselves accountable for the energy we bring into the world. We even posted a video to the Adventure Sister’s Facebook page about trusting in divine timing and bringing your “best self” to circumstances that may not be so happy. So, I figured, this was my test from the Universe to see how I would handle this exact situation and change of plans to my own life.

Sure, I could be mad, plenty of other travelers were! I could even complain to everyone I saw or make a ruckus. Yet it would not change the fact that the flight was canceled due to the weather and the workers at the airport are not responsible for that.

My husband decided to purchase me another ticket from a different airline, that was based in Minnesota; so, we were fairly certain they would get me home. Yet it wasn’t scheduled to leave until later that night and it was still morning. The weather cleared up, but I had another 7 hours to wait before I could check back in for my 6:00 flight. I worked to do my best to keep my thoughts positive and my hopes high. I was not happy about having to purchase another ticket though, not cool. Yet, I knew I had to keep my thoughts positive.

I was working on trusting that this delay was for my greatest good. I decided I was going to just embrace the fate of my long wait and hunkered down to write. I now had the whole day to work from the airport! I did my best to take some deep breathes and bring peace to myself. After all, I love having time to write uninterrupted! Although, I would prefer more comfortable seating. I decided to write for a couple hours and had to take a bathroom break. As I walked past the ticketing counter, I thought to myself…

“Maybe I should just try and ask if this new airline happens to have a flight going back to Minneapolis any earlier? The worst they could say is no.” I told myself.

Guess what?! The ticketing agent was not only very kind and helpful but got me on a flight that was leaving in just an hour! “OH JOY!” I was so happy I almost cried. It felt like such a weight was lifted off my shoulders; that I was going to get home soon. After all, there is no place like home and I really wanted to get there.

This event just confirmed what I already knew. It is my job to take responsibility for my attitude and my words; even in times of stress and confusion. I can choose to work myself up in anger, or better, I can choose to just work! I decided to seize the day and write about all I had learned about myself this weekend. While the Universe gave me the opportunity to practice my new/refreshed knowledge. So, I figured, I would share my synchronistic Monday morning lesson from the Universe with you too.

I have learned to trust what happens on my journey through life.

I have learned that I am okay in my own skin; even when my experience isn’t matching my expectations.

I have learned the energy I bring makes all the difference to myself and my situation.

I have learned to be more specific when manifesting travel!

I have even learned I will now take direct flights because they are worth it to me and I am worth it!

There are a lot of things that go through your mind when derailed from your path, but it’s up to us to rise above any negative thoughts.

I mean really…. The Universe/God just has a sense of humor in the way it sends it messages sometimes, doesn’t it? Today, I did do my best to keep a smile in my heart while I trusted the wait. I held onto hope that the Universe/God would get me home to see my husband very soon.

And it did. All I had to do was ask!

Wishing safe and timely travels adventurers!!! Keep your chin up and you let your light shine while you trust divine timing!

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister

*Photo taken in Orlando, Florida

Should have, could have, would have…

November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 emyminzel

Most people have times in which they think; “If I could do that over again, I would have done things differently.” However, this is only true because… you only know what you would do differently, after you’ve already done it! It was a learning experience.

I believe most of us do the best we can in the time and space we are given. If we were to attempt to repeat the same situation, of course we would do it differently, because we already had the experience of the first go around.

To beat ourselves up with should have/could have/would haves, is just plain self-abuse. You probably tell your friends in similar situations; “Hey! It’s okay. You did the best you could!” So why not yourself?!

We tend to be much harsher on ourselves when it comes to judgements.

Hindsight is 20/20 because of experience. When you know better, you do better, or hopefully try to anyway. As I age, I am trying to be a better friend to myself. Nobody is harder on me, than me. I bet many of you reading this are the same.

If I can think about, dwell on it or stew in it, you know I will. For days, hours, months even years if I think I should have done better, no matter what it is. The thing is, these feelings do have a purpose. We are supposed to learn from them!

So try to give yourself a break for doing the best you could in the time and space you were in. This is life, you live and learn.

I like to beat myself up about working so much through my daughter’s childhood. I tell myself “I should have/could have/would have done better if I had only known what I know now.”

I call BS on this train of thought.

First; she was my first child and is my only child. The only way I could have done better is to have had experience, which I did not. I love her more than myself or anyone on the planet, yet that does not replace the failings all parents go through at some point and time.

Second; I was single mother with a mortgage to pay and a child to feed. During those years (I missed out on) I was in no position to stay home with her as much as I would have liked too. Honestly, I was a very young mother who was not nearly as ‘woke’ or evolved as a more mature mother may be. So, to say I could have done better, most likely would not be true.

What I have learned from this experience is to enjoy every single second of the time I get to spend with her now. I try to make our moments together full of quality, since we do not have quantity. We are learning more about each other as we grow and age together. I am very much enjoying the woman my daughter has become, even if she grew up with a working mom.

My point is, what we do and experience in our lives, happens as it should. I believe our life experiences are divinely guided to teach us what we need to learn. The only way we can mess that up is to not learn from those experiences.

So, to those of us who like to get down on ourselves about things we could have, should have, and would have done differently, give yourself a break. Know that you most likely did the best you could in the time and space you were given.

I hope this blog has helped you in some way or given you a different perspective on self-doubt. You are doing your best and I believe in you!

Wishing you an abundance of joyful blessings!

With love,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

Follow the Adventure Sisters on Facebook!

Stacy Crep ~ Adventure Sister