Hope & Habits

It's about lifestyles.

Hope Matters

Resolutions, vision boards, blah, blah, blah. Here we go. A new year is upon us, and EVERYONE is going to be talking vision boards and resolutions. Have mercy! Don’t get me wrong. I’ve done vision boards (They were cute, too.). And even with hoping and praying (‘cause that’s all I did), nothing I ever put on them got accomplished. Let’s look at why that was.

A few years ago, maybe in 2019 (?), I decided that standard vision boards didn’t work for me. And since setting resolutions never did either, it was time for me to try something new. One thing I love is a yearly planner, to be more specific, a Happy Planner. So, that particular year I decided to do something different. Yes, I cast vision but with goals, and I placed it in the front of my planner so I could see it anytime I wanted, and my “vision board” wouldn’t get stuck behind my bed midyear as it did in years past. 🤦🏾‍♀️

That year was one of my most successful to date, because I set goals with action steps, checked in with myself regularly on them, and did some tall hoping and praying about some things. I was disciplined. As a result of that discipline, I developed some...

Now, let’s talk about habits for a second. Repetitive behaviors. We all know it takes as long as it takes to form them, healthy or unhealthy. We all have them, whether we realize it or not. Some of the most mundane things we do are habits. For instance, if I have my coffee before I work out, you best believe that workout is not happening. Coffee is a signal to my brain and body that I’m about to chill for a second, talk to the Lord, and do some reading before the chaos of my day ensues.

Okay so, if you’ve been with me here for at least the past few weeks, you know that I have a health challenge I’m working through and fully believe that I’m healed. However, as the medical bills roll in and I reflect on 2019, I remember that year being the healthiest year of my life, because…habits.

Now some habits, especially the healthy ones, feel so hard. Ugh! And honestly, I just don’t want to do them. But here’s what 2019 taught me…they work 🗣️ when I do them. 🙄 As I approach 2024 and am goal-setting once again, I began to think about what those 2019 habits were and what I want to redevelop as well as add to that list. Since y’all are my Hope Buddies, I’ll share a few of them with you.

Parthenia’s 2024 List of (some) Habits:

• Daily Bible study and completing devotional plans

• Rising at 4:30 a.m. to work out 🙄

• Reading more books

• Logging my food and living keto

• Drinking a gallon of water a day

• Regular visits with my therapist

• Writing out my monthly budget 🙄

• Regular visits with my chiropractor

• Setting my savings to automatic withdrawal 🙄

Can you tell I’m not excited about some of them?

Well, since I’ve shared them with you, that means they have to happen, right?

WRONG!

It’s all about the intention, discipline, and consistency I put behind them AND some tall hoping and praying. I’m interested to see what’s going to happen next year, and maybe I’ll share some of the results with y’all. (🤷🏾‍♀️ We’ll see.)

Before moving on to coffee, I want to be sure to address this. If you took a good look at my list, you’ll notice that not all of my healthy habits have to do with my physical body. So, when I write ‘healthy habits,’ I mean holistically healthy…mind, body, financial, spirit, etc.

Hope Buddies, my hope for you in 2024 is that you’ll intentionally form the habits that best serve you and help you serve others.

Hope in developing and maintaining healthy habits. ☕️

Coffee Matters

Alright, Coffee Buddies, your turn. Last week, while doing some early morning shopping and getting the oil changed in my car, I realized I was out here fooling with people and had no coffee on board. (No wonder my attitude was a little undesirable. 🤦🏾‍♀️) So, before I continued on with my day, I stopped by the nearest local coffee shop and fixed that right away.

While I was there, I saw a bag of coffee and did a double take. It read, “Jam’n Gypsy.” 🧐 Y’all know I couldn’t resist. Of course, I bought it. When I tell y’all it’s a peanut butter sandwich in a bag, you’d best believe me. Now, the taste notes on the bag are: Berry, Peanut Butter, Syrupy. But, all I could think upon my first taste was peanut butter sandwich with grape jelly.

If you’re new here, I take my coffee black (on drip) with a bit of organic stevia. So, for those of you who like creamer, I don’t know that creamer would do anything for you with this one. I believe you should drink this one only with sweetener, if that’s your thing, or just black.

Grin Coffee Co. did their thing on this one, and I will be back at The Bean very soon to buy more. (I will also be buying their gluten-free brownie. So fudgy. 🤤)

So, tell me…

What are you hoping and sipping this week?

I appreciate you taking the time to read this hopeletter about my life and coffee. Please share with a friend who could use a little hope or coffee recommendation.