Hi and thank you for reading my blog. I feel really excited about starting to write in  it again and to continue to more consistently.

I am currently visiting family with my daughter and husband in Maui, Hawaii (where my husband is from). It is a great opportunity for me to have more time to reedit my book.

I had an experience on this trip which made me realize I needed to change one of my chapters which focuses on being grateful for what you have in your life. My chapter conveys how being grateful for what you have in your life can get you through any challenging time in your life.This philosophy has always been very true for me even in the most challenging of times.

My first full day in Maui I began to feel like a weirdo. Here I was in Maui, tropical weather, on vacation, with family and I was feeling unhappy and frustrated.

My six month year old daughter has begun to teethe which equals more fussiness than usual due to her sore gums (poor baby). She also is in a big time “mommy” phase, where all she wants is me.

After feeding her that morning I was able to leave the house for a quick bit to go on a run. Usually exercising always makes me feel better. During my exercises if I am feeling overwhelmed at all I will begin to name off what I am grateful for in my life.

So that is exactly what I did. I said, “I am grateful that I am in Maui”, “I am grateful Ninel (my daughter) loves me so much that she only wants me”. “I am grateful I was able to have Ninel (as it was very challenging to get pregnant).” This has always made me feel so much better. Though this certain time it did not work for me.

In my mind I kept going back to, “I need more time to work on my book and I am unable to get it with Ninel only wanting to be with me”, “I wish I could go swim or go to the beach.”

I got back to the house and felt better but not all the way. I realized that the advice I gave in my book was not working for me. Which was that by being grateful for what you have in your life that you will feel better about anything challenging for you in your life. I definitely do not want to be an author that writes something that she doesn’t believe in or stand for.

So this is where the “and…” part comes from. After feeling a little better for being grateful for what I had in my life I knew I needed to do more to feel all the way better. I had to do something for myself that made me happy. I decided to not be a victim and say to myself, “You have no time to do something for yourself because you need to be with Ninel.”

So when she was napping throughout the day instead of doing anything else I wrote in my book and got back into the loop with my website. That was what I needed. It felt so amazing.

So the moral of this blog is…..yes I still genuinely believe that we all can get through any challenging situation in our lives by being grateful for what we do have in our lives. Keep in mind that if just being grateful isn’t cutting it, make sure you do the”and” part. Which is do something for yourself after being grateful that will guarantee make you feel happy.

For me it was writing in my book, for you maybe its watching your favorite show, going out to eat with a friend, going on a walk. Choose whatever will make you most happy.

Again thank you for taking your time to read my blog. I hope it brought some good and or happiness into your life today. Have a great rest of your day.