Tag: happiness

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About Those Goals…

Educate Yourself

I am where I’m supposed to be.

A few years back, I’d decided to become an RN. And as it often happens, life had other plans. After years of doubts and allowing myself to be my biggest obstacle; I decided to go back to school and pursue my dream.

Last year was tougher than 2020. The amount of pain and frustration I have endured it’s no joke. I have sacrificed so much and worked so hard in the last months that just looking back gets me tired. I feel anxious. I am mostly anxious because of the tremendous resilience I have displayed and the extraordinary determination to fulfill my goals. I don’t recognize myself. Perhaps, I just didn’t know what I was capable of.

I am amazed at how much I have endured and overcome. If 2021 taught me anything it’s that we humans, are amazing beings. There’s so much we can do and accomplish when we set our minds to.

I don’t know where you are in life but, if you have a goal or dream, go for it. Life goes by so fast and before you know it, it’s over. Life is not about how much money you have, but rather about how much you have accomplished. Have you been a good person?, do you help others?, are you good to the environment? Have you taught others? Have you shared your wisdom and experiences? Have you loved or have you been loved? These are just a few questions to ponder and review as you get older.

Remember, be kind to yourself. Life is what you make of it and you are in no competition with anyone else. Dream it. Love it. Live it.

Take care,

MJ JONES

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Clarity and Late Nights

The power of thought at night is clarity

Reality is here.

I know that in one of my past blogs, I mentioned being separated from my husband and willing to fight for our marriage. Well, things have changed. I was under the impression that both of us would be “working” towards repairing our marriage but, I was wrong.

It seems that he, the husband is not willing to put in the work, in this case, attend counseling sessions or even try to change some of his negative behaviors. Basically, I am aware that he would change temporarily but not permanently. And I need more than a season, I need life commitment.

There are many reasons a marriage may not last. Lack of communication and commitment are two major reasons. In addition to that, we need trust and loyalty. I had overlooked some of his toxic behaviors because I genuinely thought (fool that I am) that I would change them, that I could be the one to shine a light into him and help him become a better partner. Let me tell you, it does not work. You may be there to emotionally support your spouse day in and day out but nothing will truly change, all that will happen is that he/she will take more from you. In time, your own light diminishes, and your own goals get pushed to the back of your head.

This author has come to the sad and very real conclusion that, no matter how much one loves, or invests in a relationship, the other party has to be equally active in attempting to make things work.

A relationship is not made of one, its consists of two willing individuals trying to do right by each other.

If you are in a one-way relationship, you may want to re-evaluate your position and determine if it is healthy to stay where you are. Live life for you, not for your spouse. We will never change a person who does not want to change. That is the bottom line.

Til next time, do what is best for you. Do not harm others and be positive. 

MJ Jones

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Sun Kissed by Self Love

Love Thy Self

Summer is almost here.

Are you getting ready? Are you anticipating the warm summer nights and hot, hot summer days? The warm sun kisses that summer brings or the heat wave it guarantees?

I am and I am ready. As you may have read in my previous posts, I went through Gastric Sleeve Surgery in order to bring my weight back into the normal healthy range. I have lost 70 pounds in about 15 months and I am loving it.

I love that my knees no longer hurt, I love that I no longer snore and I love that I can climb up the stairs without going into what it felt was a mild heart attack. I love the physical benefits my body now enjoys from being less heavy and I definitely love the mental benefits that also come along with it.

Is my body perfect? Absolutely not. I have some saggy skin, I have lost some muscle tone and have a little wiggly thing under my chin. Guess what? I still love the transformation.

I am trying to get my body a little more toned so I have been working out diligently and slowly but surely my body has started to change. I see a little definition in my arms and thighs now. The point being that it’s my body and only I can take the steps to make it better.

Now that I have come to love myself and my body with all its imperfections, I feel that I can finally begin to enjoy myself the way I always pictured it. What do I mean? I mean that I have finally become a woman with more than one bathing suit! Yes, I have joined that fabulous group of people that just can’t have one bathing suit but multiple. In different colors and styles.

I am over 40 and this is a huge deal for me. All the years of yearning to love myself and be proud of my body have manifested into the woman I am today. Happy and with a positive outlook towards the future.

I wish everyone out there took the time to care for theme selves, life is but a fleeting moment, a blink of an eye. Do what makes you happy today and work towards to an even happier you tomorrow. Don’t give up don’t give in, keep pushing until you find that happy little point in your life that makes you smile, like my joy of having different bathing suits this upcoming summer. It’s the small things that sometimes give us that push, a glimmer of hope into what life should be like.

Take care,

MJ Jones

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Lil Money, Big Goals

Plan, Plan, Plan…

Long time no post. Yup, I’ve been missing in action. Too much going on, life has been busy. Im lying, I’ve been working like crazy. Too much. And it’s taken a toll on my mood and hobbies.

I’m not sure what your life looks like but let me tell you, mine has been crazy. And not only crazy but stressful. Ever since I became separated I’ve been focused on setting and achieving my goals. And now I feel overwhelmed. Extremely overwhelmed because I am trying to accomplish alot with very little.

My goals? Higher credit score, debt payoff and a better paying job. Oh yeah, and finish school. And all of this while keeping up with my bills and sanity.

Im currently debating whether I should invest on a resume writter. I feel like the chances of landing a better job rest on a good and updated resume. What do you think? Is it worth it?

I consider this an investment because it’s the only way I can justify such an expense. I am not joking when I say that I live by my budget. I’m not playing about my goals and so every penny counts. But Lord, it’s hard. Im sure I’m not the only one going through this so if you’re on a budget then you know how difficult it is to justify the expenditure of unplanned costs. It’s a pain.

Because of this stress, I have been focused on working and saving my money so as to be able to deal with unexpected costs (investments). And due to this, I’ve been away from my blog. Plus, I get tired of the random messages about follows/creepy requests so I kinda stayed away from the scene.

Tonight though, it felt like a night to type a few words together and let my mind speak for itself. My brain is overworked and tired. My body is tired, hell my soul is tired.

I don’t know where you are on your journey but let me say this: you got this, we got this. The trick is to remain focused and positive. While there’s alot to deal with, there’s still alot more to be thankful for. So just take a deep breath and get it done.

Til next time, stay safe and kind.

MJ Jones

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With or Without

Feeling broken after a marriage separation is ok

Well, last night was tough.

I literally had a breakdown while trying to wrap a few presents for my adult children. I was in a good mood or at least I thought so, little did I know that the gift wrapping and christmas music would be my undoing.

As I have mentioned before, my marriage is not doing well and its been a hard last few weeks. I am trying to stay positive and still can’t manage it. I love my husband and leaving our marriage was a hard decision but a necessary one. Our fights were becoming more frequent and over simple issues. I was feeling unappreciated and taken for granted. So I left.

However, this has been a tough pill to swallow. Even though I am aware that this change was needed it still hurts. And it hurts terribly. I do hope he seeks therapy, so that he can fix his issues and possibly fix our marriage.

We are blessed to be able to communicate and still spend time with each other with out fighting. There’s no animosity just pain, from both sides. I know he hurts for the loss of our marriage and hope he will find help and put the work into fixing himself while I do the same. We both need professional help.

Last night though, I felt so empty and almost like I was in mourning. I felt a huge sense of loss and despair. I was angry and feeling defeated because this situation was not what I had planned for, especially right before the holidays. I got in the shower and cried it out. I felt my heart breaking and physically hurting from the pain. I was a mess.

And thats another thing I have to acknowledge; my pain. It is ok to feel this bad after a marriage separation. No one gets married thinking that they will divorce. No one. So this is very hard to deal with, especially because I love him and I know he loves me.

So, we will try to get help and gets this mess sorted out but in the meantime I will allow myself to feel, to cry and to plan for tomorrow. With or without him. I pray my life makes a turn for the better and soon. Take care.

MJ Jones

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The Weather and its Moods on us

Fire is always nice on a cold day

My oh my! What lovely weather we have in Central Texas today. As many of you know, Texas is known for being hot so when we get anything under 70 degrees we ENJOY it. Earlier today, I noticed the temperature had reached 66 degrees and we are now 48 degrees. So in true Texan spirit I had to make something nice and warm for dinner. I decided to make Caldo de Albondigas with spanish rice as a side and a few homemade blue corn tortillas. Ooops, I almost forgot to mention I also made a nice homemade salsa to give it some heat.

The husband and kids loved it. So of course, I was happy because what mom doesn’t love hearing her family praise her cooking right? I know I do, and my mom does too as my grandmother did when she was alive. It’s a right of passage I think, bragging rights to the kitchen.

Even after my bariatric surgery, I have managed to continue enjoying my cooking. I love to try new recipes and more often than not, while I work from home at my desk I plan dinner depending on my mood or source of inspiration. I can’t eat the same amount of food I did before but that the whole point right? It is why I chose to do this surgery, to lose and manage my weight. Having bariatric surgery doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy my food, it only means that I have to choose wisely and manage my portions.

I’ve come across posts on social media about people that have this type of surgery and can’t wait to go back to old eating habits. It’s strange, because I wonder what was the purpose of doing it in the first place right? I think there’s some misconception about what this surgery does to us and what the expectations are afterwards. Anyways, that whole different subject for another day.

Back to this beautiful weather and how it makes us feel. I don’t know about you but cold weather is definitely my favorite. I do believe it is because we have so little of it here though, some folks up north might hate it and that’s because they truly experience cold weather unlike our mild temps down here. It sort of how we like curly hair when we have straight hair right? and vice versa. We want cold temps here and they want hot temps up there…ha!

Currently, since dinner is over and done with I am now sitting on my bed writting this post and looking out the window. I can see the breeze moving the trees and the grey clouds saturating the sky. Not a peep of sunlight can be seen, just thick grey clouds over us.

Do you prefer cold weather or hot weather? Why?

I will continue to stare out the window and hope this cold weather will last us at least a few days before we go back to our normal 80s. With this, I bid you good night.

Take care,

Mrs Jones

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Selfcare on a Sunday Morning

Squash and Peppers

Good and blessed morning! I hope your sunday started off fine and continues that way. We’ve had very hot days here in Central Texas and wanting to go outside has been a struggle. However, my vitamin D levels are very low and the sun helps me with that so I braved the heat and went to work on my vegetable garden for a little while today. Two hours to be exact.

Let me first say that working on my garden brings me peace. It allows me to focus on my peace of mind by giving me the time to sit there and enjoy nature while tending to it. I am not a pro in gardening but I am trying to do my part in learning how to grow my own veggies, herbs and hopefully frutis too. I do have a beautiful squash growing and have been tending to it for a few months now.

As I sat there I was able to enjoy the sun, even though it was already hot at 8 am, it made me feel good. As I have mentioned before, I had bariatric surgery early this year and theres a chance that vitamin deficiency might occur. Well, vitamin D is low so I am currently deficient. My doctor prescribed me some and suggested I went out and got some sun while making sure I took care of my self by applying sunscreen and wearing a hat for my face. This is why I went outside today and decided to take care of my physical needs while also taking care of my emotional and spiritual needs.

While I gardened I made it a point to thank Mother Nature for her blessings, and assured her that I was not destroying the grass but rather bringing in more plants to enhance its environment. I know it sounds crazy but I do like to communicate with nature as much as possible. I pray for it and try to do my best not to harm it.

I ended up with a nicely weeded area and with two of my pepper plants from my indoor pots planted firmly in their new outodoor spots. I prepared the regular soil with food and good top soil while also covering them with mulch at the top. I feel satisfied and look forward to the next opportunity I have to transfer my tomatoes and my basil. Doing these things make me happy and cleanse my soul from negativity.

I hope you find something to do today that will allow you to take care of yourself physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Find something to do and immerse yourself in it. Pray while you do it and release any negative energy you might be carrying with you. Take a deep breath and know that you have the power to make yourself better, only you can affect the outcome of your day. Happiness is a choice, and that choice is yours.

Seize the day and be productive in your selfcare. Tend to your needs, to your soul and live your best life. Til next time.

MJ Jones

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FAMILY AND YOUR HAPPINESS

Hey hey!

Long time no read! I’ve finally sat down to write down my thoughts and share them with the world. So, first things first; I’ve realized that I will be blogging about not only my life after weightloss surgery but also it’s effects on my own family. Lets begin with our choice and it’s effects after surgery.

Enjoy yourself and your family!

More than once I’ve come across pages or posts about folks complaining about not being able to be around their family during preop or after surgery. Lets start with: Why not?

I believe that the first step in truly understading the process is to know that life goes on. Meaning? People should not stop eating around you because you have a restriction. The truth is that if you decide to do this, than you have to be ready to live with food around you.

I know that its hard and that it may seem impossible but it isn’t. Its ok to miss food but its also ok to move forward and adjust your mind to the new you. Its not fair for your family to be deprived of your company. It’s not fair for you to miss their company.

The only way to be successful after surgery is to embrace the new you and your new way of eating. Be happy and know that change is good, remind yourself of why you chose to do this and why you should stick to it. It is possible to reach your goals and enjoy your family at the same time. Its all about how you look at life and food. Dont miss on memories because of your own weakness. Go out there and enjoy yourself. Mingle, cook, whatever! Be with family and love yourself in the process. You’ll feel better at the end and have the struggles to push you forward. You got this 😀

Hope you are well and safe. Take care. Love yourself!

With Luv,

MJ Jones