Adventures Of A New You

Throughout the challenge we will be talking about ways to attract positive energy and change our vibrations. There are times when we all become overwhelmed and we need to make a shift to feel like a lighter version of ourselves. Each day we will use one simple task to make the shift to overcome feeling overwhelmed and to feel bold and brave.

I decided to host this challenge because of my story. I went from living in straight survival mode. I was a full time single parent, working full time and literally just living to make it through each day. I’m not talking one day at a time. I’m talking literally living to make it to my head hitting the pillow each night. I didn’t want to live like that then and I sure don’t want to live that way now. There is too much to enjoy in life to let each day pass by like that. When we are living in a place of stress like that and honestly like many of us are now we just get lost.

Balancing work, school and home feels like this space sometimes so as I realized this I knew that I had to put a stop to it. I have done so much work to get from that survival space to the space that I’m in now and it infuriates me that a pandemic has put me back in a similar space.

The first part of this is the self awareness of realizing that this is not how we want to live. Then we need to decide that we are going to be intentional and make sure that this is not how we are going to live. Then we need to decide how to get out of that space. Each day we are going to take just one step - a very simple step - a five minute or less step to get out of that space. We are going to make a shift so that we feel better. As we feel better our overall energy and level of attraction will change. As we make these changes we will also become more and more self aware and honestly we will see others changing how they react to us as well.

So today’s task is to get dressed! I see you in your leggings, a sweatshirt and a messy bun. And we all know that I love a pair of leggings. I love leggings so much that I freaking sell them. (Shop my favorite leggings here) If dressing your leggings up makes you feel like a bad ass go for it. Throw on some booties a cute sweater but pull it together! Get out of your old tshirt or sweatshirt take a freaking shower and pull your life together.

Take a whole shower ladies you know what I mean! Put the effort in here. I know I said 5 minutes. You should take a shower every single day! Be intentional about what you put on. Before you pick out your clothes start with putting underwear and a bra on and not your crappy mom underwear and a sports bra. Put the good underwear on. Then throw together a cute outfit and put your make up on. Not just the mascara that we have been getting away with because we are wearing masks. Put all of it on. Now do your hair. All the way. Brush the dust off your straightener or your curling iron. Bust out your favorite lotions and potions and do it. Top it off with some jewelry. We all know a pair of hoops can totally change the day. But even if you pick one thing. Necklace, earrings, bracelet. Something put it on.

Dress like you are going out for date night or to make a great first impression. I don’t care if you aren’t even going to leave the house. You are doing this for you!

Let’s just say that if you attract a little extra attention from your dude that’s definitely not going to hurt! Take it! Run with it! Thank me later! Better yet have him message me and thank me!

I’m telling you though other people will notice this shift in you. You will notice this shift in you. Getting dressed for the day truly sets the tone for your entire day!

Come back tomorrow at 11:30 am in the facebook group or on instagram and see what tomorrow’s task is!

Hello and Welcome to the podcast; Adventures of a New You

I am your host, Jen Parke a social worker and fellow adventurer!

This is Episode 35 of the podcast and today we are going to chat about: 5 Tips to Regroup

I have been attending a training series for supervisors/ leaders and we have been talking about improving a skill or an area that we struggle with.

The area that I have been working on (trying to work on is patience)

I find that patience is something that I struggle with not just at work but also at home and frankly with myself.

In general there are a lot of areas of our day that require a great deal of patience. Driving in the car, waiting in line, trying to get our kids out the door, and then patience at work well that is another level.

For right now, let’s talk about patience more at home but know that you can carry these ideas over into all of the other areas of your life

One of my biggest triggers is getting out the door in the morning. I start to lose my patience here. First know that I wake up usually around 5:30. I like to have at least an hour to myself before the circus begins. Yes I call it the circus. The minute my eyes open a cat is crying to be fed, sometimes the dog is dancing at the door, other times I have to wake him up. Then I like to try to get all of my stuff done before my son gets up

Some days the second the circus starts I wish myself out of this place. I wish to be somewhere quiet. Somewhere calm. Somewhere that doesn’t have Old Town Road blaring from the bathroom.

Sometimes.

Sometimes I lose my cool.

Listen there are only so many times you can say put your shoes on before you lose your shit. But something that I have been working on is recognizing that I am escalating well before I lose my shit.

This is something that I am working on. The first step for me has been being more self aware. I highly recommend that you check out

Heather Chauvin’s podcast Mom Is In Control Episode #263, Red , Yellow and Green Zones

In this episode she shares a super basic traffic light system that encourages you to be mindful of yourself and how you are feeling. Green is basically that you are calm. Yellow means you are a little on edge and red... well that is when you lose your shit. So absolutely go check that out.

Being more aware has allowed me to just realize when I might be in a yellow zone and very close to teetering into a red zone. By being self aware I can try to prevent going into the red. But guess what we can’t prevent every episode that would push us into red. And honestly it’s ok to get in the red zone sometimes! We are allowed to get upset, we are allowed to get angry.

But now let’s talk about how we can get ourselves out of the red zone.

Now some of these are idea world situations. Not when you are literally trying to race out the door in the morning. But sometimes we need to be able to calm ourselves as we are running out the door because you don’t want to be that crazy mom that is yelling at her kids the whole way to school and then setting everyone up for a crap day. Trust me I have been there... some days are really hard... but you know what is harder? Working through feeling like a shit mom when we lose it.

These are tried and true tactics that I have used when I need to regroup, calm down and get out of the red zone. They are super simple and literally can take just a few minutes.

5 tips to regroup -

1. Get fresh air

2. Eat something&

Holly Curby is a motivational speaker, a leadership and life coach and a business consultant. During this interview Holly shares her story of overcoming a divorce, illness and loss and using her faith to create a business that nurtures her life.

In this episode we talk about:

*building relationships instead of trying to sell

*pivoting your business

*how to start a business

*avoiding the comparison trap

Holly shared her guide for women looking to start a business: Starting Your Own Business - What I Wish I Would Have Known and if you are starting a business this is an excellent starting point!

Holly recommends: 10 Seconds Of Insane Courage by Garrett Gravesen

Connect with Holly

Website: hollycurby.com

Facebook: Holly Curby

Instagram: Holly Curby

Podcast: Holly’s Highlights

If you enjoyed this interview I would love for you to leave a review and share this episode with a friend who might love it too!

Join the Adventures of a New You mailing list!

Connect with Jen and others on their adventures at Adventures of a New You on Facebook!

For daily inspiration and support visit Jen on Instagram at Adventures Of A New You

For inspiration check out Jen’s Pinterest

Want to be a guest on the podcast? Email me and let's chat! [email protected]

Do you ever take time to reflect on how far you have come? Last night I was working on a project and I remembered that years ago I was interviewed on a radio show, The Female Entrepreneur Radio Show with Kimberle Levin. This was back in 2013 and at that time I had a photography business and I had just started a maternity concierge business all while working full time as a social worker and being a full time single parent. Did you catch all that? Ridiculous right? Any one of those jobs was enough by itself. When I listen to this interview Kim asked me several times HOW I was doing all of the things.

When I hear myself describe some of the things I still completely agree and I use those strategies still to this day. Setting limits for how many clients I would see; meal planning; having an incredible village.

But then I hear some of the things that I said and I am screaming at myself that is completely unsustainable! And I’m right. It was!. You know what though? That year I did win an award for being the best Children’s Photographer in Bucks County.

But I wasn’t living back then. I was doing all of the things, I was “busy” like the real definition of busy! Don’t get me wrong I loved each of the things that I was doing at that point but I was also a hot mess in general. I hadn’t planned to be a single parent, I hadn’t planned on still being at my day job then (for the record I’m still there now) I had a plan to drive one or both of my businesses to the point of being the way to allow me to be a stay at home mom.

This is a little funny to me as a pandemic and that day job have actually allowed me to be a work from home mom.

I have learned so much since then and I continue on a personal development journey every single day. I have made so many shifts and grown so much so I am much better about holding boundaries and setting limits for myself and my schedule.

Some things have stayed the same though. I still have an incredible village and I absolutely could not do what I do without them. I am also lucky because my village has continued to grow and I have incredible support and encouragement from my guy and having someone by your side like that makes you feel like you can be so incredibly successful in whatever adventure that you chose.

So today I challenge you to take a look back at your past self and see just how far you have come! Sometimes we need a little reminder about where we have come from and how far we have come to see that we are doing just fine! We can always learn and grow and move forward but taking a little look back in the rear view mirror is so good for us too!

That’s all for today! As always thank you so much for listening!

Stick around because in November I will be celebrating my 2 year podcast-iversary and I am cooking up a little something special to celebrate!

Also don’t forget that you can still jump on the waiting list for my one on one coaching that is starting in November! Join the wait list for one on one coaching starting November 1!

If you have a friend or even a family member that would love to hear this podcast please share this podcast with them and encourage them to join us!

Connect with Jen and others on their adventures at Adventures of a New You on Facebook!

For daily inspiration and support visit Jen on Instagram at Adventures Of A New You

For inspiration check out Jen’s Pinterest

Jen can also be reached via email at [email protected]

Hello and Welcome to the podcast; Adventures of a New You

I am your host, Jen Parke a social worker and fellow adventurer!

We are approaching the last quarter of the year and if you take a look back at those goals that you set in January you might realize that you are not exactly where you want to be. Or maybe you are and you are already starting to look forward to next year. If you have heard of my girl Rachel Hollis and the last 90 days then this is the time to start planning for next year.

So the last 90 days uses the 5 to Thrive

1. Get up an hour earlier and use that time for yourself
2. Workout for at least 30 minutes a day
3. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day
4. Give up one food category you know you shouldn’t be eating
5. Write down 10 things that you are grateful for each day

I used to be the mom who picked up dinner and would sit and eat at the park. I lived in a crappy apartment that I loathed because everything about it represented everything that was wrong with my life. I wanted to have a house with a backyard for my son to play. So we spent so many nights at the park.

Now I drag the kid and the dog on runs at the park. They don’t always even want to come but it is so good for us to get outside and move!

I used to google how to fit a workout in as a busy mom. Actually I would google how to fit a workout in your busy schedule and a single mom.

As a full time single mom it can be very frustrating to not have time for yourself.

No amount of googling helped me find the answer. I’m not going to sit here and tell you to just find the time either. I’m going to tell you that you have to find your way and your time in a way that feels good for you. You have to weigh how you will feel. Some days the Mom guilt is all too strong and it won’t feel worth finding the time to work out. Other times if you don’t find the time to work out you will feel the mom guilt because you can’t show up for your family as your best self.

Working out is about self care and so is managing your mom guilt. Self care isn’t always about getting to relax. Self care is about literally taking care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself how can you truly take care of anyone else? For us to give the best to others we have to take care of ourselves.

For me the answer has always been to being my son along. Losing time with him or asking my tribe for one more minute of babysitting had always been hard to ask for when it was for self care. But why? We should be confident enough to ask for support to care for ourselves.

What if just once this month you schedule a time take care of yourself? Let’s start small and all grab our calendars and schedule time for ourselves and make sure that we show up for ourselves!

Ways to work out with your kids/when you have kids

• Bring the kids along
  • Use the gym daycare
  • Use a running stroller
• Get the kids busy too!
  • YMCA
  • Workout during your kids activities. Heck sign them up for an activity just so you can workout
  • Include the kids.... Kids yoga cosmic kids
  • Join activities together (karate)
  • Now we Bargain - if we go to the park he has to walk/run one lap with me and then he can go to the playground

** always be careful and monitor your child!

• Workout at home
  • Homeowner workouts
  • Barre 3 classes or other workouts online
  • Treadmill at home