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Unleash the Diva in You!
Exactly what is a diva? For different people it brings up different connotations – positive and not-so-positive.
For me, being a diva is not about dressing in the newest styles or being flashy or sassy. For me being a diva has nothing to do with my external appearances. My “divatude” is an attitude. A way of living, thinking and being.
Driven.
My divatude starts with me being strongly motivated to succeed in my personal, professional, and spiritual endeavors. To want to be better then I was the day before. To learn from and build upon the mistakes I’ve made in my past. To be a role-model for those around me by sharing my experiences and knowledge when possible.
Inspired.
To be inspired is to become passionate about something. To truly care about a group, an ideal, a cause, etc. Helping and empowering others is what inspires me. I am who I am because someone cared enough to sprinkle wisdom and love on me – many times not even realizing they were offering me a life line.
Victorious.
I don’t claim defeat. I walk in victory and the knowledge that I know who I am and I know WHOSE I am. When life throws me obstacles (and believe me, it has and is!) I keep a smile on my face, focus on what I can change and keep pressing forward. I try not to worry or dwell on things I cannont change because it won’t change the situation. However, by focusing on what I can directly affect – often other issues are solved or alleviated as a domino effect.
Action.
Words are great. Dreams are wonderful. Action gets things done! I strive to not only talk the talk, but to, also, walk the walk. I admit my shortcomings and try to commit to changing those things that need to be worked on.There you have it, Divas! That’s what my divatude is all about and I encourage you to discover and embrace your inner diva, too!
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Birthday Reflections
Happy Birthday to Me 🙂
I absolutely love birthdays! The chance to celebrate the blessing of another year; to reflect on the successes of the previous year; to think back on the hurdles I’ve overcome; and assess where I want to be when my next birthday comes around.
Last year this time I was 6 months preggers with my little diva and seriously wishing the days away. Love my babies – totally dislike the pregnancy experience. This year when I opened my eyes this morning – her smiling face was the first to greet me – full of love and joy. I believe those two words epitomize what I want to embrace this upcoming year – love and joy. Life is short and there are quite a few people I love that were here last year but aren’t this year.
I’ve had quite a few successes this past year – my daughter, our new home, definitely in a better place emotionally, physically and spiritually, my newest business venture, the list could go on and on. I am one BLESSED DIVA! There have been some hurdles and I’m thankful for those, too. They help keep me grounded. Those experiences I learn and grow from. I’m thankful for where I am, what I’ve experienced and learned, and the wonderful things in store.
Blessings to you all 🙂
Budgeting Conversations
Good Morning Divas! I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and have a chance to rest and relax today. I urge you all to remember the reason behind today – Memorial Day – and keep the families and comrades of those that have made the ultimate sacrifice for us, our country and our freedoms.
This past Friday I was able to host my first budgeting get together with an awesome group of divas. My intent is to have this become a bi-monthly or quarterly get together to help keep us on track, learn from one another, and have some much needed girl-time!
One of the topics we discussed were the budgeting pitfalls many of us face and how to overcome them. Many confuse budgeting with balancing their checkbook or just keeping track of how much they spend and where. This is a key step in creating a budget and sticking to one, but it is not the same thing.
Budgeting helps you to spend wisely, pay down debt and plan for large or special events.
Some of the pitfalls we discussed were:
- Negative attitudes or buy-in to importance of having a budget – budgeting is a dirty word for many because it means being more disciplined about your finances and sometimes not being able do the things you really want to. I urge anyone in this situation to focus on the long-term rewards. I sacrificed for a year to pay down debt and improve my credit score so my family could purchase a home. There were some rough moments, but now that we’re in our home they were sacrifices well made.
- Lack of motivation and/or support – whether it be from a spouse, other family members, friends or yourself
- Unrealistic expectations – believing as soon as you create a budget your financial outlook will instantly change
- Not being able to “afford” being on a budget – we discussed how having a budget can actually help you have more in the long run because you can allocate funds for entertainment
- Not knowing where/what you spend your money on – taking the time track your expenses can help you see where you are spending your money and what things you can trim down or eliminate
- Comfortable living paycheck-to-paycheck and/or in constant overdrawn status
It was a great dialogue and I believe we all were able to learn and take something away from it that can help us in our trek to financial independence.
Have any of you successfully overcome any of these budgeting pitfalls or others?
Guest Post: Speak Life Always
As an inspirational speaker, Sherika V. Washington has a desire to share the tools our young people need in order to be heard, understood, and respected.
Through a spoken presentation that includes practical application exercises, our young people will leave on fire; ready and equipped to make a change in themselves and in society.
Speak Life Always is an interactive presentation that teaches participants how to transform LIFELESS words into LIVING words that will sustain them for a lifetime.
As children we all had dreams just like most of us continue to have today. So why haven’t those dreams manifested yet? As children we believed those dreams would come true, each and every one of them. But we grew up, life happened and we placed those dreams in a little box in our minds and labeled them: DREAMS.
A dream is defined as: 1. Pictures or events in the mind of a sleeping person. 2. Daydream or fantasy. 3. Ideal; aspiration. 4. Beautiful or ideal person or thing.
In our youth our dreams are defined as #3. As we grow they become definition #1. That should not be the case. Today, I admonish you to reach into your dream box and pull one dream out at a time, rename it IDEAL or ASPIRATION and make it a reality. It’s time to lace up your vision sneakers and start dream-chasing!
Before you assume this is just another ‘you can do anything, pep rally type blog, I want to be clear. I am quite practical and realistic. And the reality happens to be that times have changed so much since the days of our youth. The resources needed to accomplish our most far-fetched childhood imaginations are now right at our fingertips. We simply haven’t revisited those dreams lately. Therefore, we have no idea how easy it would be to make the dream a reality today.
Another reality is you’re wiser. Whether you decided to embrace growing older or if you’re fighting it every step of the way you are wiser than you once were. With this new wisdom you can bring your dreams into perspective and into fruition.
It is time to make a move, that move that life has been nudging you toward ever since you spoke the dream/ideal/aspiration out of your mouth the very first time.
Believe in your dreams again and watch them come to pass!
Speak Life Always!