The Best Way to Break Bad Habits

The other night I was watching a documentary on a female chain gang at a jail in Arizona. It was a really eye-opening look at what it means to be on a chain gang, and how these women dealt with life in jail each day. The leader of the chain gang was a young woman who landed in jail because of her addiction to Methamphetamines (sadly, the majority of the women on this chain gang were in jail for meth-related crimes). However, she was thriving as a model inmate, and she took her job as chain gang leader very seriously.

So when she was released from jail everyone had high hopes for her - even the guards. Her mother made arrangements for her to live in a halfway house that would help her get her life together. Unfortunately, the halfway house wouldn't admit people on the weekends, and she was released on a Sunday. This meant she had to wait an entire day before she could begin the program at the halfway house.

When she showed up the next morning, she was high. She was so belligerent, the halfway house had to call the police to have her removed from the property. With nowhere to go, she taunted the police until they finally arrested her and brought her back to the prison she had just left a little more than 24 hours before.

When asked how she could fall back into the trap of drugs after having come so far, she said simply, "Stay away from your old friends and your old hang-outs."

This seems to be one of the best ways to avoid succumbing to our old bad habits. We need to stay away from the familiar. It's very rare that we're strong enough to resist temptation when we go back into environments that surround us with the things we're trying to stay away from. It's also extremely difficult when the people we are with are participating in those bad habits.

If you're trying to turn over a new leaf or to make some positive changes in your life, remember to "stay away from your old friends and your old hang-outs." You're fooling yourself if you think you can break a bad habit any other way.

Nicole

Monday Mantra - 8/10

Hello My Dears!


Happy Monday to you! Sorry for the delay with the Mantra, but this week is a crazy one!


"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself." -- Robert Collier


This week, imagine how much you could achieve if you fully believed in YOU!


To receive our Mantras in your inbox every Monday morning, click here.


Love,
Nicole

Monday Morning Mantra - 08/02

Happy Monday guys!

As this baby gets bigger, my energy is dwindling so I looked for a Mantra that would help us tap into some much-needed energy this week, and I found the perfect one:

"Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you."

Oprah Winfrey

Have an awesome week!

To receive our Mantras every Monday morning via email, please click here.

Nicole

Flexibility: Unpopular but Good

Yesterday we confirmed that little Naya is breech. She's been this way for quite some time and despite our hopes that she would wiggle into the head-down position, it doesn't seem very likely. So the verdict is that I will have to have a procedure to turn her and to induce my labor in just two weeks. And I know many of you think I'm crazy for this, but I'll have to get an epidural, and I was hoping to have her natural.

So there you have it. My birth plan and my vision for Naya's birth have pretty much disappeared! So what's the lesson I'm learning from all of this? Flexibility.

This isn't how I pictured things going, but in the end, the most important thing is that I have a healthy baby. That is much more important than my birth plan and my huge fear of needles (yikes!). And it's a little dose of something called life. Things seldom go exactly as we plan, and it's easy to get frustrated by that reality instead of remembering what is most important. This is a difficult concept for planners like me!

Flexibility is a good thing. It keeps us sane. It keeps us focused on what is most important. And it embraces change....

Nicole

Monday Morning Mantra - 7/27

Good morning guys!

This weekend the family and I visited the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History in Baltimore, which I highly recommend if you're in town. We learned about the role that Maryland citizens played in the Civil Rights Movement, the history of the city, and more. As I walked through the exhibits, I was reminded of how important it is that we stand up -- and speak up -- for what's right. Our country would be a lot different if it hadn't been for the courage of so many...

"He who does not have the courage to speak up for his rights cannot earn the respect of others."

~ Rene G. Torres

This week, remember to speak up and fight for what you believe in.

Love,

Nicole

A Picture Says a Thousand Words...

Hi all,

I thought I'd share this awesome photo with you this Friday afternoon to remind you to dream big and remember that anything is possible. It's a promotional picture for Disney's movie "Up."

Have an awesome weekend!

Nicole

Monday Morning Mantra - 7/20

Morning everyone!

I took my first dip of the summer yesterday (sad but true), and it was great. I hope all of you are sneaking a little time at the pool. You deserve it!

I searched for a Mantra this week that celebrates swimming, and I found one that does that and more:

"Be a fish swimming against the current, and be a tree swaying against the breeze." -- Anonymous

This week, don't be afraid to swim against the current (i.e. don't be afraid to be DIFFERENT!).
If you'd like to receive our Mantras via your email every Monday, please click here.

Have an awesome week!

Nicole