PATIENCE. PERSISTENCE. PERSEVERANCE. 

Happy February! Hope your weekend was a peach! We spent some time at the beach shooting stuff for our biz, which typically turns into a date for us. We work long hours and weekends, and you'll never hear us complain because we feel incredibly grateful to still be growing on our entrepreneurial journey which started in 1991, the same year we married. In truth we've never felt more grateful than now, or clear about us and what is takes to keep moving forward no matter what. So much patience, persistence + perseverance it's almost mind blowing. We've been through loads of skinned knee, beaten ego, shame-oneself, scared-to-pieces-hard stuff. The stuff that makes you dig so deep you wonder if you'll ever find the other side. But you have no choice...so you keep going.  Along the way...after you see inklings of light...you realize this is how you find yourself more, love yourself more, love and appreciate your life partner more. The hard stuff while painful + not something you'd wish on anyone, is where you learn the most, about pretty much everything. So, if you're deep in or going through hard stuff...hang in there my love. Believe in yourself no matter what you might feel like on the hardest days. Love yourself to the ends of the earth...to the marrow of your bones...the edges of your soul. I'm waving your flag + sending you love from the countryside xxx

A FEW TIPS TO KEEP MOVING FORWARD THROUGH THE HARD STUFF

• Practice patience. Sounds easy, but it's not. In fact it's incredibly challenging unless you work on it daily. Patience with yourself, with others, with waiting for the feelings you want. Try to practice being patient with everything you are challenged by or waiting for. Try it once or twice a day and work up to more moments until you feel you are super patient. Then keep practicing. It's a never ending thing...growing ones patience.
• Envision goodness. This might sound like a bit of silliness, but it works for me. Try it. Close your eyes and be still, then see yourself moving through things with ease. See conversations that are usually challenging as peaceful. Watch yourself doing things that may typically stress you out, with grace. I have done this since I was a teenager, it helped me so much with everything from sports to relationships. I still do this all the time. It's a daily thing I find great comfort in. 
• Find tidbits of inspiration all around you. When things are hard it's often the smallest specks of light that are necessary to lift us. Do all you can to find them. I look to books, podcasts, Pinterest. Build a toolbox that you can go back to time + again. 
• Routine helps. I have always found having little things in front of me that I look forward to help me get through tough days. Going for a walk is a big one, no one regrets getting outside and moving. Nature is so healing. Find an inspiring podcast to listen to while you walk or just practicing breathing, I only breathe in through my nose when I walk, then exhale through my mouth. It's super calming. I also find so much comfort in warm beverages, tea is my go to. I look very forward to my next cup so I try to go low caffeine when possible. Sometimes just hot water and mint leaves is perfection.