February is often known as the "month of love", so at the beginning of the month I embarked on a month long journey of self love! My goal was to take time for myself, celebrate myself and do things that made me feel good. 

As a wife, mother and solopreneur my needs are often met last because I'm so busy trying to make sure my family and clients are taken care of. But at the end of 2015 I was feeling burned out and knew I had to make some changes.  I chose February instead of January because I wanted a chance to decompress from the holidays.

Here is how it went down:

My first order of business was to get a full body Swedish massage to get rid of the stress, sore muscles and toxins that had built up over time. I went to The Woman's Earth and was divinely pampered. After an hour session, I felt like jello! Lol! But I also felt renewed and focused.

​Another seemingly small thing I did on my self care journey was commit to regular pedicures even though it's Winter and most time my toes are covered. . .there is nothing like the feeling of smooth heels when playing footsie at night with my husband. I also made sure to get my bi-weekly eyebrow wax.

I also committed to reading for pleasure. I'm an avid reader but I wasn't reading nearly as much as I had been in the past. I committed to reading one book per week. I read in the car pick up line when I was waiting for my kids to get out of school and in the evenings before bed. I was able to read Tuesdays with Morrie, The Gifts of Imperfection, One Plus One and I'm almost done with Coffee Will Make You Black. I plan to do book reviews on two of the books, so stay tuned!  

It felt so good to exercise my mind and read something that touched my soul and made me realize there is more to life than deadlines and social media engagement. Books have always been my "go to" source for a good escape!

I'm a Instagram addict. And I'm not ashamed. Perhaps I should be. . but I'm not. I've discovered so many new venues and restaurants in my city scrolling through Instagram. I usually screenshot a spot or a dish and I put it on my "one day" list. You know that list we all have, that one day we're going to go there or get that. . .well during my self care month I did it! I compiled a list and visited all the places on the list. I went by myself to a couple of places for lunch and my husband and I were able to visit a few as well. 

I've been wanting to update my branding and get new head shots and kept putting it off but I finally just made the appointment, paid the deposit and did it! Just like that. And WOWZERS! So glad I did! They turned out amazing!

For Christmas I got an upgrade to my Fit Bit and was determined to put it to good use! For at least 20 days in February I put in over the daily 10,000 steps! Woohoo! I also became more cognizant of what I was eating PLUS increasing my water intake. And it felt so natural, I didn't force it or make a big deal about. I just wanted to start being good to my body since it's been so good to me all these years.

And the biggest bonus is when I went in for my annual physical I had lost 5 pounds. . .now I'm not saying I lost all the weight in February but I am saying I wasn't walking or watching my calories in December and January.

Finally, my biggest goal was to spend more time with my family and to be more present. I really feel like I did this. Avoided being on social media as much, put down the phone when my husband was talking, focused on my kids more. We had a family picnic in the park for my husband's birthday (Valentine's Day) and it was beautiful. 

I feel February was just a starting point. I'm ready to do a complete lifestyle change and I'm committed to making myself a priority all year long!

If you're in the Houston/Katy area on Saturday, February 20th. Stop by the Cellar Door to support local authors and get some great books!

​Nope, I'm not having legal problems, Sorry if the post title was misleading. I'm just sharing a snippet from what might be my next book (due out in summer 2016):

​Most of my morning was spent preparing for my meeting with Arthur Jacobs but three hours later, I found myself pacing my office while squeezing a foam stress ball. He was late. I had been waiting on him for almost forty minutes.

One of my biggest pet peeves was tardiness. Just as I was about to ask our office administrator, Lauryn, to call him, Mr. Jacobs appeared in my doorway. My eyes widened at the sight before me. It had only been two months but he looked drastically different. The once stout, balding man with pasty skin was totally transformed. He was much thinner, tanned and obviously wearing a hair piece. I tried to mask my surprise at his appearance but refused to tone down my anger.

"You're late," I remarked. I motioned to the chairs in front of my desk as an invitation for him to sit down.

He cleared his throat. "My apologies, Miss Regina. I had an appointment that could not be missed," he said as he sat.

I glared at him. "Well, there will be many missed appointments in your future if you go to jail. Keeping your freedom should be a priority," I knew I was being harsh but I couldn't understand what was more important than meeting with the one person who might be able to keep you out of jail.

He smiled faintly and avoided my gaze. "You are right, it will not happen again,"

I sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, I just- I've been reading over the new information from the D.A.'s office and I'm a little upset that you didn't tell me everything. It makes it hard to represent you properly if I don't have all the facts,"

"Ah, so what did Stephanie say?" he asked referring to his ex-wife.

"She said the person she caught you with was another man," I said plainly.

He arched an eyebrow. "I see,"

I see? Seriously? "Is it true?" I asked loudly.

He cleared his throat again. "Yes and no," he replied cryptically.

I did not have time for his evasive bullshit. I stood and walked around my desk to close the door. I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down before taking a deep breath.

"Look, I don't think you get the severity of what's going here. You were released last time not because you were found innocent but because there wasn't enough evidence to find you guilty. Now that your wife-,"

"Ex-wife," he corrected.

I ignored him. "If I do not have all the facts, I can not win this case. Period. I think you need to start talking. From the beginning,"
​

One month has passed since the New Year started and many people have already gotten off track from the goals they set for the year.  It's hard to change old habits and let go of our comfort zone especially if you've lost the motivation to make changes.

Here are three tips for staying motivated to reach your goals:

1.  Adjust as you go- Sometimes you have to change your approach to reaching your goal. If what you've been doing is no longer working tweak the process.  Change your exercise times, use a new social media tool, break the goal down into smaller goals, change the completion date, etc. Think outside the box and find ways to stay excited about reaching the goal. 

2. Find an accountability partner- Find someone to hold you accountable. Someone who will hold your feet to fire and make sure you do what you say you're going to do. You can do the same for them. When someone is counting on you to make something happen you try harder because you don't want to let them down and you end up not letting yourself down either.

3. Reward yourself- When you complete a task or hit a milestone, reward yourself. Plan a larger reward or celebration for the completion of the goal but celebrate with small goodies along the way. A cupcake, a pedicure, a new tablet case, etc. ​ Don't wait until the goal is met. Celebrate along the way to give you incentive to keep going.