Ouch My Finger

Sometimes the simplest things in life can have such an amazing lesson. Take my finger for instance. I was a happy girl the night of May 25th ,2012. Everything was normal around the house. I was chatting it up with my friend and cutting up some delicious mangoes for us to enjoy like good friends should. In the blink of an eye everything turned black and blurry. I was in so much pain I almost passed out, gushing blood was spraying BOTH my eyes. All I could think to do was to put pressure on the very deep wound on my finger. The serrated knife I was using to cut my delicious yet somewhat lethal mangoes was to blame (you're RIGHT who in their right mind uses a serrated knife to cut a mango? Me THAT'S who!)

OKAY. YIKES! I'm so dramatic. Yes I cut my finger, yes it was deep but it really wasn't all that bad. I've had a band-aid on it most of this week and it's been so annoying. I kept feeling like it was going to finally close up and heal but somehow something would snag on the skin and it would bust open again. It was painful and simply annoying. And today it dawned on me. What if I'm not letting it heal because I keep wanting the "dead" skin to repair itself and I'm just too scared to cut if off? Finally I bit the hard and calloused dead skin off my finger ( I do realize I could have been less discussing and used scissors or something but meeh) And guess who was surprised two alphabet letters- A.- It didn't really hurt as bad as I thought it would. - AND B.- the skin BELOW the dead one was already healed and it was no longer cut, nothing is snagging it and it feels 100% better. Who knew!

Well then I took it a step further and thought, WOW we as people can't ever completely HEAL from things if we don't cut our calloused hearts and make way for the nice blank slate one. (I hope you can see the analogy, I don't actually mean CUT YOUR HEART OUT, if you know what I mean...) I can't let the healing begin in my heart if I continue to put bandages over my past, my fears, or my future anxieties. I have to CUT the calloused dead skin to move forward with a brand new heart. I have to put my faith all in and yank that sucker out to make way for a brand new start. No pre-judgments. No fear of being hurt. No thinking of "what's going to happen later" without FAITH that everything will be okay. I know it's much harder said than done. But think of how relieved my finger is....

Stay blessed and stay saucy!

Working Hard Or Hardly Working

I don't know how much you know me but if you do know me at all you know that I have 101 ideas runing through my head daily about cool things I want to do. Projects I want to dig my teeth into, crafts I want to start, classes I want to teach. If you came up to me on any given day and asked me what "ideas" were jogging down my membraine, I could easlily rattle off at least 2-3 (I'm being a little more realistic here, see?).

With that comes a greater chance that the 2-3 ideas perusing in my mind, will never come to fruition. I really don't know why I do that ( I think I was just made a do'er) but sometimes it's exhausting in my brain! Sometimes I wish I could not have any ideas at all. But then again that wouldn't really be me.

Aaaany waaaay! I've been taking a hard look at the makeup of myself and seeing how I tend to like to do a lot of things, however, I'm not AMAZING at any ONE thing. Not that it's a terrible thing, but when I think of why, the answers always comes to me with "well I don't think I'm working hard enough" at the things I really do love. For example. I love to dance, I wasn't classically trained but I do love it. I can pick up choreography and dance like it's the last thing I'll ever do. BUT I can't say that at ANY given point I really worked extremely hard at getting really really good. I've lacked discipline.

WHY? Well I can't tell you easily that it just comes down to being a tad bit lazy and scared of failing. Because when I do something kind of half-assed, I don't run the risk of failure, or embarrassment, or hurting myself in any way. In other words I have to be willing to go all in and be okay with failing dramatically in order to say, I've worked hard at something. I'm not that kind of person. I don't want to "fall". I like to play it safe and stay within my comfort zone because there I can pretend that I'm this cool person that makes no mistakes right? Ha, even saying that sounds so ridiculous. People are always going to have some opinion about me. People are not always going to agree with me or even like me. So why do I get so hung up on not working really hard and falling really hard in order to get really good at something I love, for the sake of looking stupid in front of someone that probably doesn't even think that in the first place. They are probably just having a lot of gas that day and that's why their face looks weird and to ME it looks as if  they are in disapproval of what I'm doing! Ahhh that was a lot to get off my chest. I don't even know if this blog is making ANY sense AT all. So if you're reading this and a million of question marks are filling your brain, I do apologize but I'm feeling really good and vent-Y right now. And that's not even a word, so there!

I guess all in all, I want to work on not trying to "impress" the gassy man next to me and just live my life and work hard at the things I love to do. In the end, it's hard work that gets the results we are all looking for. You reap what you sow, don't cha know? I want to make a pledge to work on my talents in a way that is pleasing to myself. I also want to work on not being scared of falling, because when we fall it means we're going all out at something we really love. Believe it or not, I came to this conclusion by watching my toddler. She doesn't care what people are thinking of her. To her, the world is only a poke away and she is curious about everything. She doesn't stop when she can't get the cap off the stinkin' toothpaste. She continues on; even if it means sliping from the chair she dragged all the way from the kitchen to get a better view of our sink. After she falls off, she climbs back on the chair and by God she finishes unscrewing that cap! What resilience. Did she ever turn to look at my weird face? NOPE!

 Don't be scared to get back on that horse and gallop right into your dreams.

Stay blessed and stay saucy!

-Libier

When You Feel LIke You've Got Nothing Else To Give

Have you ever felt like you're on empty! Just empty empty empty!? I have been feeling that way lately. I know that I don't have it as rough as someone else, and I am 100% aware that if I were to count my blessings I would see how much I am blessed in life. However, there are times in life when you just feel empty and like you've got nothing else left to give. I have been feeling like this. Maybe because I'm just tired, or maybe it's because my allergies are horrible this year and I don't feel well. Maybe because of other things I'm trying to workout with the Lord. Regardless, I feel troubled.

God is faithful, if we seek him, He WILL make himself known to us, through people around us, through a beautiful sky, through things that just seem too good to be coincidences. If we want Him, He WILL come. He does not say that we won't have trouble in this life. And trust me that my trouble is different than your trouble, but it's trouble none-the-less. We WILL experience trouble in life, but He will always hold our hand. If you seek you shall find. What have I personally done in this time when I've felt like I've got nothing left to give? I have given my time to God and I have let Him give me His strength friends. That's all we can do. Trust that good will come from what ever our troubles are. TRUST

Stay blessed and stay saucy!

-Libier

FOOD: My Biggest Addiction Ever

I'm the type of person that likes to look at other people succeed in their fitness goals. I can go on Pintrest for hours and look at the fitness section and just wish that I could have the dedication and self control  the girls who have amazing bodies obtain. I got to thinking about why I always start some healthy eating plan or workout plan and when it starts working I get comfortable and then I always throw in the towel.  I've never "arrived" so to speak in my all time fitness goals. I realized that what I was dealing with here was something stronger than just a little craving here and there. I realized I am addicted to FOOD. I can workout with the best of them. I actually really enjoy working out. The eating is where I always falter. I knew two months ago that if I continued down that road it was going to lead me nowhere good. An addiction is an addiction no matter what it is for. After praying for some guidance I met a trainer at my gym that  offered to help me with a meal plan. Coinkidink? I think NOT!

I was told that the only thing I was to eat was vegetables, good grains and lean protein.  And I was to eat like so, until I reached my goal. I was to have ONE cheat day a week where I could eat what ever my little heart desired. So of course I knew I had to give this a try.

It has been over four weeks and I've never felt better in my life! I feel super healthy and in control of my addiction (for now). It has NOT been easy at all. However, it's proven to me that I do need to treat the way I eat as something serious. What is going to happen to me if I were to not be able to work out as hard or as often as I do now? I need to workout this addiction now before I get older and it gets so bad that I can't control it anymore.

After eating really clean (and I mean CLEAN, NO sugar, NO processed foods. NOTHING BAD) it was sort of eye opening. The few times I had my cheat days I would just go crazy for the foods that I thought I was being deprived of. And guess what would happen, I would get sick and actually not truly enjoy them as much as I thought I would. But like a shark around blood, my desire for these "good-bad" foods was greater than my concern for a belly ache. I'm not saying that I'm am cured and I'll never relapse. Here is the hope though, that I will treat this as a serious addiction because it is. And it really is sad that no one would ever know that of me. It's not like a cigarette, people can smell it on you, this is really an undetectable addiction that I'm sure has it's grips on so many of us and we can't really put our finger on it. If you feel like you're an addict to food, my biggest advise is, pray pray pray for yourself to be rid of the addiction. Find someone else that is and make a vow to help one an other. And get savvy about good nutrition. Change your attitude about cooking and start cooking yourself some yummy healthy food! Trust me there IS such a thing! Veggies can be so delicious when given a chance!

The most difficult part of eating healthy is being prepared throughout the day with your healthy snacks and food! The rest is just up to you!

I am always here. If you have any questions or something to share don't hesitate to reach out!!

Stay blessed and stay saucy!

-Libier