One of my goals this year was to be better about carving out time for just me and because of this, I've been reading more, exercising at home more and unwinding at night in more creative ways than just laying in bed watching TV. Here's what I've been into lately:
Reading: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson. I'd seen a few people talking about this book on social media and the title obviously intrigued me enough to look into it a little more. I have to admit I buy the occasional self improvement book and lose interest in it pretty quickly but this one seemed like it'd be different. I honestly thought both Jonathan and I could benefit a lot from reading this and I was pretty shocked when he was halfway through the book before I'd even picked it up.
We've actually had this sitting on our coffee table along with a few other books and I had to laugh when my sister-in-law was over and pointed out how funny it was that we had this book sitting right there with Jesus Calling, a daily devotional book we've been getting a lot of recently. I guess I didn't really think about how ironic that is but hey, we like to mix it up!
I feel like I should point out that the author of this book isn't necessarily recommending we not care at all about anything, but that there are only so many things we can care about so we need to figure out which ones really matter. It's a good read so far and to be honest, it makes me realize that the times I've been my happiest in life have been when I wasn't so concerned about things that really shouldn't matter to me.
Listening to: S-Town Podcast. I just started this at the gym earlier this week so I can't really give an opinion on it yet. I was pretty behind the times with the whole podcast craze. I finally listened to Serial while nursing Emma last fall and recently got hooked on Up and Vanished, which I highly recommend! I love listening while I run so if you have a favorite podcast, please share it with me!
Coloring: Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project Mini Posters Coloring Book. I'm a big fan of Gretchen Rubin and her books, but I had no idea this coloring book existed until recently. This kind of thing is right up my alley! It's fun to flip through and I love that when you're done with a page, you can rip it out and hang it up or even give it to someone who could use encouragement or cheering up.
Reading/Writing: Pressing Pause: 100 Quiet Moments for Moms to Meet with Jesus. I can't say enough about this! I was looking for something like this just for me. Something a little less intense than my bible study homework but I wanted something more than a reading each day and I wanted something relevant to my life right now. I wanted prompts with space for me to reflect and write out my response to what I read. This is exactly what I was looking for! I love it so much, I immediately bought it for my friend Jesse knowing she'd love it too.
I may not be a huge influencer, but I like writing posts like this! When I find something I like, I want to share it so I might do more of these in the future. I've discovered a lot of books, products, etc. through other blogs - it's fun!
What are you reading/listening to lately?
Oh I want that Gretchen Rubin coloring book!! I love podcasts and listened to the first few episodes of podcast, but after that I thought it got kind of weird. I know most people loved it though, so I'm thinking maybe I'll have to push through and finish it!
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