It’s Monday again, and I’m here to update on how the past week has gone regarding my 8 Areas of Life Improvement.

 

Every Monday I try to post my 8 areas of Life Improvement updates and I tentatively plan to do this all year! Sometimes “life improvement” simply means, keeping first things first! You can find these posts in my Mentor Monday category.

 

Keeping first things first is my life-motto and a common sense approach that anyone can adopt. What’s most important in your life?

 

Fitting in my work (I’m referring to the stuff I do from home to bring in a little income) has to defer to my first priority of running my home, caring for my family and homeschooling my boys. While some moms may have extra time on their hands to go out with friends a lot or work out at the gym or scrapbook regularly… I work. And, the bummer is, a lot of it is unpaid. The pay aspect goes up and down. That’s the nature of blogging though.

 

My affiliate links are in this post.

Keeping first things first.

My first priorities involve the things that I recognize God has called me to be mindful to take care of. My relationship with Him, first. My relationship and responsibility to my husband and kids, next. And then, ministry to others. Do you know Jesus personally?

 

FYI, I do view my work as part of my ministry to my family and ministry to others when it helps meet needs or blesses.

 

For example, some of the things I write about can directly impact a reader’s life and make a positive difference when the information I share meets a need. My online work also brings our family discounted and free family-fun opportunities that we would not otherwise be able to enjoy. The key is to keep my blogging work in it’s proper place. My blogging work is not the be-all, end-all of my purpose and existence for living 🙂 .

 

Still, the bottom-line: If we didn’t need the extra income, I wouldn’t put as much time into this work as I do…and I feel the time I do put into it is still minimal considering how much work it is, all-things-considered.

 

Where was I?  Oh, First things first….

For me it looks like this: I spend time with the Lord reading His word and in prayer almost every morning before I get too far into my day. When I know I’ve sinned (happens throughout the day) I try to confess it to Him immediately and stop doing what I know is wrong.

 

Being faithful to be reading and studying His Word gives me wisdom as it contains His thoughts and directives for me and my life. I learn what pleases Him, because the Bible tells me and I believe it is His words.

 

I take care of my family and home by buying the groceries, cooking, cleaning, training my boys to help around the house and be more independent. I homeschool them too, which not every mom feels led to do. Spending quality time with my husband and boys by watching movies together and having family game-nights.

 

We also minister to others as opportunities arise or we seek them out by inviting people over to our home on occasion.

 

And, working from home.

 

Thinking about Healthy Choices

So, one area on my mind lately has been meal planning for good health with an emphasis on preventing disease. I do my own research from time to time on this. I’ve been watching some interesting videos on alkaline vs. acidic body environment, ways to increase alkalinity and preventing cancer.

 

I do believe in natural remedies over Rx drugs when that is possible. I’d prefer my family and I not get into an diseased condition requiring emergency drugs if we can avoid it by preventative living. I’ll go into more detail in an upcoming post about what I’m educating myself on in this area and where I’m getting some of my info.

 

 

One thing I do use and have been for awhile now is Young Living Essential Oils for good health and hopefully to prevent disease. I’m not a doctor and can not diagnose disease. I’m just telling you about my experience. Always do your own research! And, you should have an essential oil user guide book. <–I use this one.

 

With that said, I have enjoyed seeing my own skin tags and skin growths shrink / or disappear, I feel it has shortened some of my family’s cold symptoms, I believe it has helped me get over headaches without needing over the counter drugs at times…just to name a few positives. I love diffusing oils in my home, I use some of the oils in my cooking and in my drinks: like here and here. I can’t make any claims that the oils will do the same for you, I’m just telling you why I like them.

 

By the way, the Young Living starter kits are 10% off for the month of February which means the typical $150 kit is only $144 before shipping and tax! If you’re interested in more info you can leave a comment and I’ll email you back. I can help you get signed up under me.

 

If you are comfortable signing up without asking for help but want to sign up under me be sure to put my name/number on the form: enroller/sponsor name is Tracy Zdelar 1590280. If you do that, I’ll get credit and earn some affiliate money and you’ll be signed up under me. I’ll also get a notice that you did and I can reach out to you! Sign up as a Member here.

 

This post has gotten about twice as long as I wanted it to so I’ll continue sharing some of my favorite healthy tips in another post! Subscribe here if you’d like to know when that post is live.