How to boost your motivation at work!

We will all agree with that, sometimes we better stay under our blankets and do nothing than going to work. It happen to everyone to hate their job & have an hard time finding motivation.

In my country, I used to have a job at customer service that I truly hate, but I had a big salary, good benefits etc... I had to find a way to stay motivate & love going there 40 hours per week or I wouldn't be able to survive. Now I am lucky I have a job that I love & I'm working from home but sometimes I still need some motivation!

Let me share what It really work for me :

Bond with your colleagues!

It is the first thing to do. I don't tell you to love everybody, but find at least one person to be friend with, to have good conversation at break time, someone you can talk to when you think you are not able to do it anymore.

Stop complaining

Yes your job suck, yes you are tired, yes you are not pay enough, yes your boss is a jerk ...all the reasons are there when you want to find negativity! Stop complaining & having a pity party. Put your big pants on and handle every situation with a big smile & positive vibes. Even if you are complaining every seconds about everything, it won't change, you will still be there until the end of your shift.

Have a passion outside work

Have a passion outside work that make you feel like you are doing something with your life. Whatever it is, do something you are passionate about & make you feel good to be alive. It will keep you in a good mood to handle life at work.

Take a breath of fresh air

At least one time per day, go outside and take a breathe of fresh air. A short walk or just sitting outside will make you feel like you are enjoying the day & will provide you the energy you need to keep going.

Have pictures that remind you your life "outside"

Surround yourself with pictures of your people, your cat, your dog or everything that make you happy. You work to pay a trip to Bali ? Put some pictures of Bali on your desk & focus on this. When you have a hard time, look at your pictures or things that remind you "your life outside work". It is just a job, not your whole world.

Make something special

Once per week, make something special. Something like : every friday we are eating out, every friday morning you buy yourself a coffee & a donut at the coffee shop.. Something that will make you look forward to that day & will make you feel like you did it!

Be a better employee 

Ok this one seem weird but it is true. If you are trying to be better at your work, you will find that you like it more. Sometimes, all we need is a little boost of self confidence to kick us & give us the motivation back. You think you need more training to improve ? Ask for it.  I bet your boss will be happy to know you want a be better. Do the best that you can, everyday so at the end of the day you can enjoy the fact that you did good.

Don't bring your problems at home

It is ok to talk to your people about your struggles. But if you come back home everyday super moody, complaining about everything, they will be tired of earing you. Manage your stress and your hate & if you really need to talk about, do a 5 minutes of complaining & then get over it.

Get over it

There is no perfect job, there will always be at least one colleague that will get on your nerves, there is always phase when you want to quit everyting and say fu....that sh... but get over it. Brace yourself, chin up & be an adult. Yes working suck sometimes but this is part of life. We can't be all hippies doing nothing all day & living from the homemade soap we did every full moon ..

You can do it !
Make a huge coffee and face the week!

If you are running after happiness, it's time to stop!

We all know that one facebook friend that have the perfect life. Perfect home, perfect lifestyle, perfect job, perfect husband, perfect kids.... And as an human being it is prove that we are all attract by that kind of life.

Why  ? Because we were raised to be. Marketing make us thing that we NEED certain type of products to be happy. We all have our own idea of success but most of the time it is associate with money and stuff.
Someone once told me, if you are really happy in life, do you really need to show it on social media? That makes sense... The grass look always greener on your neighboor side...
Why are we obsessed to show on social media our happiness & our cool lifestyle?

Let's do something :
I want you to remember your own memories and note it. Take a step back to think about these moments

-The happiest moment that you had with your parents ?
-The happiest memory with your boyfriend / husband ?
-The best memory of your whole life?
-The best moment that you feel that everything was right and perfect?

Now, tell me if it was associate with money or material?

I bet the best memory you had with your parents was NOT when they bought the new egyptian carpet for 1000 $.

The best memory with your husband was probably NOT the moment that the two of you bought a new car.
The happiest moment of your life was NOT the perfect big TV you bought....

So why material and money would make us happy? Because we think this way.
If we stop and look around, we will found beauty and happinest in simple thing :

Play chest with your child, reading a book, walking hand in hand with your boyfriend, watching the stars at night,  listening to your favorite artist while you are cooking... This is simple, this is happiness.

Yes it is an inside job, yes it is something you have in yourself.  Because you may compare everything you have and everything you are to someone else, it won't make you happy. This is not how you are gonna feel happiness.

Maybe you need to change some things, maybe you need to look inside yourself what you want & really need. But I guarantee you that is not in money & materials that you are gonna find it.

You want to find happiness?  Stop, breathe and look around. I bet it is just in front of you and you miss it!


And you, what make you happy ?

How to beat Stress & Anxiety

It's not a secret, I am person who deal with stress and anxiety since i'm a little girl. But now the difference is that I can deal with it, I can control it and it didn't ruin my life anymore . I can manage my stress and it's a huge change in my life.
There is no boundaries like it used to be.

I am the kind of girl  who tried everything ! From the happy breathing books to hynosis, here is the things that really work (for me ) to reduce stress & anxiety.

A panic attack is maximum 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, your body relief natural signal to your brain to calm down. If you are in a huge panic attack thing about it, it will be over in 45 minutes. I CAN DO IT !

Inhale & Exhale 

Yes this is simple but inhale for 7 seconds, hold 5 seconds and exhale for 7 seconds. It's magic.
It's natural and you can repeat that as long as you need it.

Be in nature 

Nature is really special. When you spend some time outside looking at god creation, you know there is a world bigger than you & for me is always have the effect of calming my soul. Hearing the birds, the leaves, the wind, it's a good way to relax.

Happy thoughts & happy activities

A lot of people don't believe in the power of happy mantra but it really work. Speak to yourself in a gentle way. Remember that you are enough, you can do it and there is nothing that will destroy your inner peace. Identify the activities that you are doing that relief your stress and do it as often as you can.

Read on that subject 

If you want to beat the ennemy you have to know the ennemy, right? Yes that is right, read about anxiety and Stress. Take the more info you can about it & It will help you fight it.

Your brain is the strongest

Yes, it can play with you sometimes but your brain is the big winner. So tell your brain that you are not allow it to destroy your peace and be stress. When you are soooo anxious tell yourself out loud that anxiety is not gonna win , your brain decide and he choose peace

Distract your mind

When you are anxious you are overthinking and focusing to much. When it happen, distract your mind doing something or chewing something. If you are at work, chew a piece of gum and focus on your work the more you can, you will see, it will go away.


Identify your stress trigger & expose yourself to it. 

Exposure is a part of the therapy. I know it's hard but you have to expose yourself to realize that you are strongest than your fears.  You will keep the memory of that time that  you were able to do it and it will improve your self confidence

Talk about it 

Don't be ashame of dealing with anxiety. EVERYONE is expose to stress but it's different intensity for every person and that is ok. If you open yourself about your stress, you will see how much people feel  you & are compassionate about it.

Go find help 

If stress is ruining your life and you can't deal with it anymore, go get help. There is something out there for you. For some people it is medication, therapy, hypnosis, acupucture, yoga etc.. there is something for you. Try something ! If it's not working, try something else, until you found the right thing for YOU.
We are all differents after all.


You are not alone

Don't hide yourself at home. Let people see you the way you are, even if you are deep in your anxiety and let people help you. You are not alone in this. Remember that everyone experience stress, stress come and go. It's never a permanent situation. So no need to think you will never beat it. You can do it I believe in you!


Hope this text help you! Please leave a comment!

The hygge lifestyle

When I was in Canada my mom ask me what I want for my birthday, She won't be there and want to make sure I bring something back with me for that special day. 

Because French is my first language , when I really want to relax, I want to read a french book. Here in Mississippi they are hard to find so a book was the perfect gift idea!

We were at the bookstore , looking for everything & nothing at the same time. Then I found a book call : The little Book of Hygge. I was super interested by the pictures and the quality of this book. So this was my choice! 

I didn't expect to found a true calling in that book & lifetstyle and I want to share it with you!

First Hygge is pronounce Hou-ga (my boyfriend is tired of hearing me singing houga houga everytime I found something related to it!) 

It is a super lifestyle that came from the danish people, prove to be the happiest people on earth. I learn a super lifestyle that related with everything I already love : the slow life. 

It is not super new, I mean, It remind me a lot of lifestyle that already exist : call it hominess, comfort life, the good life,slow life, dolce farniente.... this is the principe of the Hygge. Living in the moment, in total comfort with all the simple stuff. 

Here is some concrete things to make you understand the hygge :

• Reading a book, coffee in one hand, candlelight all around you in a bed full of pillow : This is the ultimate hygge! 
• Cooking a long mijote while you take a sip of wine with really close friends, this is hygge.
• Well wrap in your favorite blanket, with wool homemade socks, your favorite pull watching TV for hours, this is hygge.
• Spending less money and more quality time with your closest squad: this is hygge.
• Stay home playing chess and drinking warm tea or coffee, this is hygge.

This is simple, it's all about the lighting, the atmosphere,the ambiance, the slow life style, taking time, collecting moments, enjoying the now and creating a lifestyle without stress. 

You want to learn more here is the great, so pretty book that it inspire me : 

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Book-Hygge-Danish-Secrets/dp/0062658808

This is not the last post I will do about that subject, be sure!

What is the hygge thing in your life ? It speak to you?

From a Canadian City to Deep Country in Mississippi

I was born & raised in a 100 thousand people  city in Québec, Canada. My whole family speak french, they all live in the city too. So my experience with the dirt and the mug of the country was quasi non-existent.  A few visit at a farm… and that is it.

By destiny  I met an american online and after months of relation, I decide to take the big step and move with him in the deep country of Mississippi.

Maybe one day I will talk to you about all my cultural shocks but this is not what this is about today. Today I want to talk to you about the evidence that we are made for a certain lifestyle and we just don’t know it.

I never thought that at 30 years old I will move from my hometown and I will live in a place where the closest shop is twenty minutes of car away. I thought this lifestyle was absolutely NOT  for me.

I couldn’t stand to think that I will be bored like he.. l in a town where nothing happen. But I was motivated by love and probably a lot of hope.

You can imagine how surprise I was when I first saw a cow in the backyard. I was like : Wô, this is cool (and that stink too), neighbor's dogs running everywhere without a leash, a bunch of goats in a front yard and all that stuff I haven’t seen yet.

It took me two months to realise that this was my life now  and I have to stop “grieving” my old city lifestyle.  And then it happen : I realise that I love country. I love that everyone waves hands when they see you, the breath of fresh air when you take a step outside, the absolutely amazing view and the calm of it. The calm of not having the pressure of a social status, the calm of being who I am, the calm of a walk outside with my boyfriend looking at the cows playing with each other. Having the chance to have a nature lifestyle.

I thought that I was a city girl cause I haven’t experience anything else. Now that I took a step out of my comfort zone, I realize that I was made to be a country girl. I raise and feed chickens and it make me happy and alive. I’m proud that they were just baby chicks and now they are big and ugly. I’m proud that I contribute directly to nature. I slept every night without car or motorcycle sounds!

I have the feeling that I am in communion with myself here and it’s amazing. I saw a sky full of stars for the first time without buildings, house and everything. Just a dark sky and thousands of stars. I was almost in tears. What a beautiful life is out there that I knew nothing about.

I always been a nervous person in the city and here, I am more in peace. I found calm and beauty everywhere. Why ? Cause I decide to take a step outside my comfort zone. I decide that I will try something else, I will learn, I will live and I will maybe enjoy it.

Now I know that I am not just used to it, I am happy in it. I am happier in this environnement.  I still enjoy going out in the city for a couple of days, but I am happy to see my stinky chickens and come back in this small town.

You know when you read something like you are just one decision away for a complete different life. This is it. I took the decision to follow my heart and It lead me to found the real me.

This is what life is about, experiment, take a chance, step out of comfort zone, make mistakes, try, learn, assume your choice and then found happiness.

Love,

Vé

Are you a city or a country girl and why ? Leave a comment

Have a dream, Get a plan, Make it happen!

I am the kind of girl who like to have many projects on the table at the same time. When I don’t learn or work on something I feel like my life don’t make any sense. One of my hobby is writing. I love writing but for some reasons I don’t pursue it in day to day life. I write some stuff, let it in my computer and nobody read it.

I was watching a TV show the other day and they were talking about action. When you want something you have to make it happen. This is so true. I want to write. In 2017, I want to write and be read. This is my goal.

I was a little bit overwhelmed by the idea of creating a blog. Will I be able to interest people? Will I be able to write good english (because my first language is French) ? I told myself that If I never try i’ill never know. So pardon my french when I make some mistakes and I will live with it, sometimes it will probably make you laugh but that is the fun part.

Cause making mistakes and not reaching perfection, well it’s human!
So Now I decide to get a plan, to make it happen. I’m now taking the bulls by the horns and writing on this blog. I have the chance to share my life experiences, my tips with other people around me and everybody told me : you should write a book, you should do something with it. I was : well, one day… Now this is the day. I’m doing something wih it.
Because life it’s too short to do it later or one day.

Hope you will have fun reading me, can’t wait to hear about it.
With love,