The Influence I Want To Have
I want to influence you to build a beautiful life right where you already are. Not the life you will have someday when things are easier, but this one. There is so much good already sitting in front of us, and I want to help you see it.
I want to help you mend your relationship with yourself, with food, and with movement. So many of us treat food like the enemy and exercise like a punishment. I want something gentler for you. Eat in a way that feels good, move because it makes you feel alive, and talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you love.
Plant something and watch it grow, both literally and in every other way. The parts of your life you tend on purpose grow the same way a garden does, slowly and quietly, rewarding whoever keeps showing up.
Read, create, build, and sit still every once in a while. A full life is not only the doing. It is also the pages you get lost in and the things you make with your hands.
Laugh more. Let yourself be silly and delighted by small things. It is one of the easiest joys we have and the first one we set aside when life gets busy.
Be still sometimes and do not beat yourself up about it. Rest is not laziness, and slowing down is not falling behind.
Notice the beauty in the life you already have. Not the highlight reel, not someone else’s version, but yours. The morning light, the familiar faces, the small routines. It has been there all along.
Create family traditions your kids will remember. They do not have to be big or expensive. They just have to be yours, and consistent enough to become part of the family story.
Do something hard just because it is hard. There is a kind of confidence that only comes from doing the difficult thing and finding out you could.
Through all of it, trust God and His plan. Hold your life a little more loosely, knowing you are being led even when you cannot see the whole path.
More than anything, I hope I influence you in a way that makes your life better. That is the only kind of influence worth having.
