Are you GROWING? Tips for Living Up to YOUR Potential

Are you GROWING? I'm not talking about the new heels you bought, I'm asking are you really growing? Like are you mentally growing in your way of thinking, in your friendships, in your work, in your capacity? Are you living up to your full potential every day?  Honestly, I would love to meet someone that can say they do.  I think we can all aim to, but we definitely can strive to, and I believe that is more than half the battle. My goal for this year is to not waste time, clog my mind on pointless flicking of social media and be absolutely intentional about my days-as much as possible.  This is what I plan to do and what I believe will help us grow and live up to our potential (well at least half way) 1: INTENTION Wake up each morning and BE intentional on WHO you spend your time with. Friendships need to serve you both. You need to be happy around your friends and importantly both offer positivity, a little give and take, plenty of trust and mutual support. This is the making of a solid and long lasting friendship. Not only is our time precious and full but we must take a moment to sit, stop and see if the friendships we have around us are best for us now and moving forward. If you are intentional of who you spend time with, your days will be more positive, productive and efficient. 2: PLAN It may sound like a cliché, daunting and boring word, but it really shouldn’t be. Planning ahead whether it is for setting aside time for yourself to exercise, read a book, a date night with your partner, ensures that you are more likely to actually stick to it.  Planning produces consistency and consistency produces results. 3: CHALLENGE What’s the biggest challenge you have this year and how do you go about dealing with it? Don't wait for it to come around, start thinking how it can shape your year. Are you ready to ask for a promotion in your job; would you like to write, time to date more, meet new friends, run a 5K?  Each year we hear of all these new resolutions but what will be your changing gear this year? Let your mind start the process; write it down and get to it! Challenge yourself for the win! 4: EXPANSION Whether we like it or not every year we WILL change. We will grow, it will either be forwards, backwards or sideways. It’s OK if your path looks different than those around you-do not compare the direction they are going in to your own. You are on your own journey in life. You need to go through your own lessons and expansion. 5: NEVER COMPARE Don't allow yourself to scroll social media comparing the life you have with another person. Remember we all put up our show of the best moments of our lives and your time is valuable; its priceless. We all have our own purpose, our course and our own unique names. As the year rolls on promise that you won't let your imagination take over and think of being someone else. Who you are is more than enough and the level of influence you have on others will grow stronger as you keep on the bright road you're meant to travel. I promise you, if you can follow these steps, you will more than reach your potential and inspire others to persevere when attempting to achieve theirs. And as always, remember to #justkeepclapping Xo Gina

Perseverance = Inspiration

Inspiration is something I value and something that I sometimes struggle with. Not only to be an inspiration, especially to my boys and to others when I can, but to be inspired myself. I find myself challenged everyday with trying to achieve my goals; pushing myself, and always looking for ways to improve, versus just being in the moment and being inspired by it. 


Often, we create goals with the best of intentions. At first, we’re super motivated, then unfortunately, somewhere along the way, our shiny inspiration and tasks to achieve our goals become a little overwhelming or difficult to manage. We may falter, stall, fall flat or completely give up.


Sound familiar?

What I am learning is that inspiration can’t be something that we plan. Why? Because when we set goals it may become hard to achieve them, no matter how much we plan for them, what the execution is and especially if those goals rely on the help of others. We need to rely on our own healthy dose of perseverance. Goals can seem daunting and even unattainable without it.


It is our perseverance that becomes the inspiration.


So, if as adults we have difficulty persevering, how do we inspire our kids to stick through it when the going gets tough? How can I make sure I do my part to teach my boys not to give up during trying times?


First we need to make sure we have their full attention. We need to teach our children to persevere when it comes to their goals. Teach them what perseverance means.

This is what I believe it means:

Persevering means we don’t give up even when it’s hard.

We do not let obstacles get in the way of our goal.

We enjoy the journey and do not get discouraged even if it does not go the way we hoped it would.

We need to lead by example. If they see us working hard towards our goals, it will be easier for them to model it themselves one day, or even take our motivating advice when they need it most. As long as they can see that we are learning something new while persevering in a positive way, modeling is a great way to reinforce our message.


We also need to sit back and let ourselves be inspired by our kids.


The young and inspirational minds of our children can spark something inside our adult minds that reminds us to be a little more creative, (just like when we were kids) and take life a little lighter. Parenthood can be tricky but as much as we’re here to teach them, they’re also here to teach us. As parents, we could even say that we persevere through parenthood. Let’s face it, it’s not always easy and it can be really trying at times, but at the end of the day we all have the same goal of raising our children to be the best they can be.


Let’s hope that they keep the cycle going, crush their goals, adapt and adjust where they need to, persevere and inspire others along the way. Applaud themselves and their accomplishments and as always...#justkeepclapping

xo

Gina

Let's Cheer Each Other On!

Let’s Cheer Each Other On.

So it’s 2017 and I have to say I don’t have any resolutions this year. Just promises and commitments. 

I am embarking upon my 40^th year this August and while it scares the bejesus out of me. I also have been thinking, hopefully not morbidly, but more naturally about my life, my family and mostly the legacy I will leave.  Especially for my 3 boys.  I often wonder what they see when they see me.  What do they think of when they look at me, or describe me.  Recently they have watched me physically transform myself back into who I was mostly before they came into my life.  Baby weight and me do not get along well—for some reason it wants to hang on for dear life and overstays its welcome.  I have worked my a$$ off over the last 5 months to lose 50 of the 60 pounds I gained from baby #3, so I hope when they look at me, they see someone now that is determined, although exhausted, and on a mission to not only look better and feel better, but to just be better.  I want them to see me as strong and confident, versus who I have been for a while which was the opposite of that and it was not fair to them.

So now that that is out of the way.  I also want them to have something else to “remember of me”—(notice how I didn’t say remember me by, I mean I am turning 40 not 80).  But I feel like they kind of got short changed sometimes in the “mommy department”.  Not when it comes to love, because they know I love them more than anything and I would do anything for them.  But when it comes to the other little things, like cooking, baking, crafting, sewing…that’s not me.  I mean I can cook, bake, craft and sew, I just don’t do it well, something will burn, be crooked, warped, you name it. We may get a good laugh out of it but that’s about it.  I feel like someday they won’t have a book of my recipes or tell their wives and children how I was a great cook, or made a mean chocolate cake.  They won’t have a blanket I knitted for them to pass down, or whatever else those crafty types make.

Maybe it’s me, but this is the stuff I am thinking about these days.  So it got me thinking, who am I? What can I do to show them who their mom is or teach them who I want them to be? Recently I explained to my two older sons that in addition to my “day job”, I am intuitive and try to help others, coach them, advise them, but they really don’t fully understand what exactly that means yet. Heck, I still am trying to understand it myself.   

What I aim to show them is that I am trying to make a difference and help others, and it has provoked me to start to get them to make a difference, just in the small gestures we may take for granted on a daily basis.  For example, when you are out somewhere and someone compliments your hairstyle or shoes, it makes you feel good.  I have never been the type to openly do the same, it’s not that I don’t want to complement others, or don’t have a complement to give, I think I am just in some weird way worried about making them feel awkward maybe?  But recently I have decided to go out of my way to point out the good in others, complement what I like of someone’s outward appearance, gestures, achievements, etc.  Why? Because it just makes others feel good and offers something other than the mundane for a change, especially when there is so much negative out there.  Even more importantly, I started celebrating my own successes, even if small, like a pound lost, finally reading a book, etc.  How often do we applaud or cheer ourselves on? Not often enough.

This is what I want to teach and influence over my boys.  I want to show them positivity.  I want to teach them to point out the good in themselves, look for it because it is there, even if it is something small.  Hell even to celebrate and be okay with their defeats. 

Look for and cheer on the good in others, and furthermore-tell them, point it out, make them feel good.  MAKE SOME NOISE. Don’t be afraid if you are the only one to do so either.  You know that feeling when you are in a crowd, and you want to clap, but no one else is clapping yet?  Don’t wait—be the one to start! That’s what I want to teach them. To start it.   

If we start to cheer one another on, and others on, those people will hopefully do the same, and the people they applaud will in turn do the same…and it will start a ripple effect.  We will all be able to hear the applause.

This is how I was inspired to start what I hope will be a movement (even if it is just one among me and my boys)  #justkeepclapping.  It is my promise to do what I can to keep it going in 2017.

I am hoping that by starting this, we can all lift each other up, post the good we find in ourselves and in one another, using the hashtag #justkeepclapping and see it go around many times over.

Who’s in?!

I applaud you.

#justkeepclapping

Xo

Gina

Below is an explanation from my blog on my website www.ginaclapprood.com.

Just Keep Clapping. We are all a work in progress. We often place unnecessary pressure on ourselves to be better and do better.  For what? Who are we trying to impress? I say we take a step back and stop the madness. 

We need to first celebrate ourselves.  Applaud ourselves.  Celebrate the small wins.  Heck, celebrate our imperfections and failures too! Clap more.  Have you ever noticed the vibe in the room when you are in a crowd and there is applause? That electrifying feeling you get? It’s infectious.  Clapping for someone to show your proud of a job well done, they made you laugh, you are on board with their vision and message, or a concert performance that touched your soul?  

We need to feel more of that! 
 
We need to learn to applaud ourselves.  I am a work in progress. I am learning how to applaud myself, celebrate my wins and learn from my defeats.  Let’s applaud one another, complement one another, and lift each other up.  I will always applaud you, support you and encourage you.  

So let’s keep clapping for one another in this crazy little thing called life.  Stand up and make some noise.  Start a ripple effect.  #justkeepclapping

Thank YOU for Another Year of Friendship-My Pledge

If you are fortunate enough to have the type of friend that I like to describe as low maintenance, silent, always there for you even though you don’t see one another often, talk on the phone or even text often, but that when you see them, you can feel their love for you. That friend that no matter if you feel like you’re having the worst hair day, feel bloated and like shit, will always tell you how fabulous you look. Go the extra step and even point out and compliment your how your blush lights up your face (you know who you are) or how you are slaying that lip gloss.  Yep-that friend. That genuine I-get-you friendship.  The one you feel that somehow you just don’t deserve. 

Why? Because they are the ones that are there for YOU. The ones that go out of their way to make YOU feel good. To light YOU up, effortlessly, no matter what shit they are constantly dealing with in their own lives, they are wanting to hear about YOUR shit.  They are worried about YOU, not themselves.  They love YOU.  They put YOU before THEM.  Wait…. these friends exist?!  They most certainly do and I am blessed to have some in my inner circle. 

What prompted this post is actually a Christmas card I received in the mail yesterday.  From one of these special friends in my life.  It was what she wrote in the last sentence that struck me and made me shed a few tears and think for a bit about our friendship.  She wrote, “Thank you for another year of your friendship.”  She writes this pretty much on every card she has sent me and for some reason this year it struck me differently.  Maybe because I am getting older and looking at life from a different perspective? Or maybe because I have been having some stressful and shitty days lately that reading that really struck a chord with me. 

Someone is thanking me for being their friend?  When does that ever happen? I feel like I do not deserve her friendship, but I am so blessed and honored to call her my friend.  When is the last time I have thanked my inner circle for being there for me and for another year of their friendship?  After all, we choose our friends, they can drop us like hot potatoes at any time, yet real friends choose not to.  They stick by you through it all.

So I am writing this because I want to make sure that I let my friends know that I am thankful for their friendship.  I also pledge today to try to be a better friend no matter what else I may be wrapped up in at the moment.  

My Pledge: The Friend I Want To Be

I want to be that friend that when I see you, you feel welcomed, accepted and greeted in my presence. That means when I see you, I start with love.  

I want you to feel that you are enough.  More than enough. In fact when you are with me, talking to me, confiding in me, I don’t want you to ever feel insecure or judged in my presence.  I want you to see the best in me and I will always see the best in you.  

I want you to feel celebrated as my friend.  I want to be the friend that shows you gratitude for being in my life.  I want to applaud you and help you see your beauty, talent, power and strength.  

I want us to both see one another how we should see ourselves, realize our own worth, welcome it, own it and KICK ASS together.  I promise that the best in me will be here for all the best in you.  

Thank you for another year of your friendship. 

Xo

~Gina

#justkeepclapping

www.ginaclapprood.com

 

It’s Hard to be the Merry Maker…

Ok so here is where I’m at.  I have been thinking about these things all weekend and have had these thoughts circling around inside my head so figured why not write about it.  It may help to just get them out in this form.  While I really and truly try to stay positive as much as I can, heck I declare myself an eternal optimist and hell if I am going to post something that veers off that path—but it is what it is today.  Truth is, while I am as much as an optimist as I can be, sometimes it’s just exhausting and those rose-colored glasses can get really fogged up.

So I have been thinking about a lot of things as I often do around the holidays and as we come up on a new year that also brings a new beginning.  However, I am three and a half months already into my new beginning.  I just don’t publicize it.  I posted something on Facebook on my 39^th birthday this summer that this was going to be the beginning of my year and I meant it.  I didn’t go into detail, but I knew what that meant.  I was going to take time for me, as hard as it is, I was going to start to take the advice I often give to my clients, and make time for myself-guilt free.  Why? Because I was a ball of stress, miserable, exhausted, not-wanting-to leave the house-version of myself.  Yep.  I am sure I will post more on that eventually.

Every once and awhile you get to a point where it becomes hard to stay as positive as everyone thinks you are all of the time. Sure you can keep posting inspirational quotes and photos and hope that it lifts someone else’s spirit for the day. But what happens when no one responds? When there are crickets? Complete crickets? Or when we are afraid of putting ourselves out there and facing judgment? Let me share a couple recent examples of what I mean. 

This past Friday after a long week, I wanted to do something to kick off the weekend on a fun note for my coworkers.  I mean we all go to work, every day, and for the most part get sucked into the day and work hard.  I try my best to bring some fun to the workplace.  I created a couple “Elf Yourself” videos of our team and sent to the company and…crickets could be heard.  I mean really?  I was feeling like, I took the time to make you stop during the monotony of your day to laugh—to put a smile on your face and you don’t even acknowledge it? You didn’t have time to open it?  Really? Now I know you have probably looked at your phone over a dozen times.  So I started thinking, what am I doing and why? Was I having a rough week and I just needed the reprieve and laugh? Does no one else really need a break and a good reason to smile every now and then?  I’m at a loss.  I am the type of person that would respond so I just don’t get it.  All I know is that it completely de-motivated me. 

Also last week, I began a video journal to document my struggle with migraines and the decision to try Botox injections for treatment.  I decided to do this because I went into a panic the night before my appointment, and I found myself on YouTube looking at videos from others in similar situations as myself to learn my fate and what to expect.  They helped calm me.  I figured this would be a way for me to help someone else, as well as a way for me to document my progress for my own record.  Now unless you really know me, you may not even know I have migraines, because I very rarely complain about them-or complain at all.  When I was making the videos I must have recorded myself a ton of times because I hated the way I looked or sounded, my husband and kids made comments (mostly out of love, kidding with me) about how I was making a stupid video and no one was going to watch them anyway. So of course they think they are funny and mean well—but I did start to think maybe I shouldn’t bother and I started to doubt myself.  Feeling completely unmotivated and deflated in my hope to maybe help someone else that may be on the same path as me for a solution.

So here I am back to my original question, how do you stay motivated and positive when others just don’t seem to get where you are coming from? When you seem to be the one on a totally different planet at times? I have been pondering this all weekend.  After thinking more about it, I realized that I was doing this ultimately for me.  I was keeping a promise I made to myself.  I decided then that I didn’t care—I was going to continue doing things for me, even if I am the only one laughing with the rest of the crickets.

I know what I need to do-and it’s not to quit.  Don’t worry about being judged.  Let it just fuel you to work harder and out work everyone. I need to continue to focus on me and what will make me laugh and keep me sane.  What will make me happy and make me feel good about myself and my path.  Screw it if everyone else isn’t on board.  Just start taking it one day at a time. We should be more concerned with lifting one another up and supporting each other as much as we can.

I pledge to myself that no matter what I am going through, I will keep trying to make life just a little bit better for others. Because you just don’t know when you can change someone else’s life or your own life for the better. 

#justkeepclapping

Let's Rewind and Be Kind

“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.”Eleanor Roosevelt

It is important to take pause each day and rewind.  Think about a time when someone else truly made us happy.  When is the last time we went out of our way to make someone else's day? Being kind and happy is free and the emotion from giving and receiving is priceless. 

Spreading kindness is an easy thing we can do each day to make our own piece of the world a better place.  Sometimes we are just so busy that we forget about it or don’t feel comfortable sharing how kind we can be for various reasons. 

The other day I was reminded how a simple act of kindness can really change the course of the day.  I was in Target (where else would I be?) and I couldn’t reach what I wanted on the top shelf.  This gentleman must have seen the look on my face contemplating if I should attempt to step on the shelf and start climbing to try to reach it.  He came over to me and asked if he could save me the trouble and get it for me.  Now he could have just either ignored that he saw me in the first place, or amused himself and watched me.  Instead he chose to help me.  That small gesture really made me thankful and put me in a place where I was ready to also pay it forward for the rest of the day.  

A few things that I like to try to keep in mind that help me to try to be a kinder person are these:

§  You get what you give. While it’s sadly true that some people will be ungrateful no matter what you try to do for them, don’t let that get to you.  As long as you can rest your head at night without regret, that is what matters.  Most people will treat you as you treat them.

§  By being kinder to others I am more likely to be kinder to myself. It may sound a bit odd but my experience is that when I am kinder towards others then my kindness toward myself improves.

§  It creates a happier place to live in. Being kinder simply makes my own little piece of the world a nicer and happier place to live in.

So how can you start spreading kindness and happiness in your daily life? Here are some simple ways to do it.

1. Express your gratitude. 

Think about what you can be grateful for about someone in your life. Maybe that he is a good listener, that he often is quick to help out, do the laundry, get dinner started when he knows that you are coming home from work after a long day, or he knows that your time to yourself is at night to workout and take care of YOU-no questions asked.  

2. Recall how people’s kindness made you feel.

Just sit down for a few minutes and try to recall one time or a few times when other people’s kindness really touched you and helped you out.

Then think about how you can do those very same things for someone in your life.

3. Express kindness for something you may often take for granted.

It is easy to remember and to feel motivated to express kindness when someone is having a rough time or have just finished an important project.

But also remember to express kindness for how someone continues to put so much love into the dinners you eat. Or for being on time every day and doing their job well and keeping deadlines.

4. Just be there.

Listen – without thinking about something else – when someone needs to vent. Just be fully present with your attention. 

5. Remember the small acts of kindness too.

Let someone into your lane while driving. Let someone skip ahead of you in a line if he’s in a real hurry. Hold up the door for someone or ask if they need help when you see them struggling to reach an item that is way on top of a shelf and they can’t reach it.

6. Help the people in your life see how they make a difference in their lives.

When you talk to someone about his or her day or what has been going on lately then make sure to point out how he or she also has spread kindness and happiness. People are often unaware of the positive things they do or they minimize them in their own minds.

So, help them to see themselves in a more positive light and to improve their own self-esteem.

7. Pay it forward.

When someone does something kind for you – no matter how big or small – then try to pay that forward by being kind to someone else as soon as you can.

8. Be kinder towards yourself.

Then you will naturally treat other people with more kindness too. It is truly a win-win habit.

A simple way to start being kinder toward yourself is to each evening write down 3 things you appreciate about yourself and about what you have done that day in a journal. (See the Gratitude Challenge Post for more information)

 xo

Gina