Choices

I am a firm believer in choices and that everything you experience is the result of a choice that you make. From the moment we wake up in the morning, everything is a choice. Do I get up or hit the snooze button? What do I wear? What toothpaste do I use? Am I going to be crabby to my kids and influence their day in a positive or negative way? Will I pay my bills on time? Will I put aside 10% for my savings? Will I follow God today? Will I accept Jesus as my Savior? Will I hold the door for a stranger? Will I do my best at work? Regular or hazelnut coffee? Treadmill or reality show? All of those examples are choices, right?

So what if you knew that the choices that you make today would determine what your future looks like. You could be financially free. You could raise great kids, you could have a healthy heart, and you could retire when you are 50 years old. It’s your life….CHOOSE WISELY!

I Don't Wanna!

My treadmill is calling. I pretend I don’t hear it. I should go, but I don’t wanna! Let’s put this all into perspective:
1. It’s necessary for me to be stronger and have better endurance.
2. I’m not getting younger and thinner.
3. It’s helpful for healing the ruptured disc in my back.
4. I promised I would commit to better wellness.
5. I’m setting a better example for health and wellness for my family.
6. Putting in my 30 minutes will get me 1 step closer to my goals. Baby steps, right?
7. If I don’t go, how easy is it for me to just go eat something instead?
8. Hmm, what should I choose? Yes or No?
9. Following through on what I say I am going to do is something I value highly.
10. Character is the ability to follow through on a decision, long after the emotion of making the decision has passed.

Sooooooooooooo…I hear you treadmill. I am coming! :)

Preconceived notions about working from home

You start a business, it costs you nothing and you can make tons of money. Sounds like a great idea, right? NOT!!!!! Are you serious? Why do so many people think that just because they join some home based business that they will be rich without lifting a finger? It’s a sad world that we live in that so many people have that mindset. Sure, many companies lead you to believe that it’s easy and you will have great wealth for little effort. Run, run fast and run long!
The reality is that a home business takes time, energy effort and dare I say it….talking to people, EEK! Your job is to promote, okay yes, even sell. You are selling, although not products per se, but yourself. What would you rather do, put your kids in daycare and go off to work, miss the important moments in their life because you owe your day to someone else, build a business for someone else or spend that time building your own legacy? Is it worth the time and effort? Absolutely! It means so much more when you create your great life by getting dirty and working hard. So stop making other folks rich and start a plan to build your future today and get to work! 

Sunday

I am so thankful for family time and our usual Sunday traditions. It’s a pretty simple day, we wake up, Mike makes us breakfast and we get ready for church. Our service at the 1st Missionary Baptist Church is always inspiring and truthful and the words come straight from the Word of God. I appreciate that so much, especially living in the sad, dangerous, Godless world that we live in now.

After church we come home, have dinner, and just hang out. The kids sometimes go skating and we go and watch, or we just hang out and watch TV or read a book . Sometimes Mike’s Mom,Sylvia, our friend Sharon, and his brother Gerald and his 2 kids come over for dinner with us and it’s a great day. I love that we have such a close family. It’s pretty cool that I have 3 teenagers that want to hang out with their old Mom and Dad on Sundays. A few years from now, I will look back on these days and wonder why I didn’t appreciate them more. The kids are 13, 15, and 17 now, and in a few months, Mikey will be off to college and our life will change. So as I sit here thinking, what we should be doing, I realize that we are doing the best thing that we can and that is spending time together. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I Hate Selling!

Selling makes the world go round. You do it hundreds of times a day; you just refuse to admit it. My husband, Mike and I are trying to decide what’s for breakfast. I want pancakes, he wants eggs, and so do I have to plead my case? That’s selling. My kids need to clean their bathroom and my gentle suggestions for them….selling. My kids want me to go watch them ice skate. Are their invites not a sales pitch? Absolutely! Anytime you are explaining the benefits of why someone needs to do something, you are selling. Telling a friend about the latest movie you just saw or about a great meal at a restaurant…selling. When you answer the phone at your office, you are representing that company, AND you are selling. What about the dry cleaner that ruined your dress? Everybody hears about that. Negative press is still selling. Anytime you give your opinion, you are selling.
What we really are doing is helping! You are helping your friend get a good meal or see a great movie. You are helping the restaurant gain business. You are helping the movie industry make money. Are you gaining financial reward for that? Nope! My gentle suggestions ( or nagging) help my kids to be healthier through cleanliness. You are helping your friends and family learn about your great new company. Why on earth would you keep that a secret? If you started a restaurant, you would tell all your friends so they could come and try it out, wouldn’t you? So get over yourself about that dreaded word, sell! You probably do more selling daily than anything, so OWN IT and be the best darn salesperson you can be.

My name is Wendy and I have a home-based business

Sounds like the start of a meeting for addicts, doesn’t it? I guess you could say I am an addict, but I am addicted to a great life and I think being your own boss, setting your own hours and having no ceiling on the amount of income that you earn is addicting. Creating a life where you can go on field trips with your kids, be a room mom, the PTA president and a Brownie leader is pretty cool IF you don’t take on all those things at once, like I did (oops). I love being able to watch the kids in their sports games and not have to answer to a boss. But guess what else? Nobody tells me how much I am worth or if I can get a quarter per hour raise. I determine my value and if you could earn what I earn and have the time to play like I do, you would be an addict too.

Blogging

What an interesting idea. You take your personal thoughts and you publish them on the internet for the entire world to see. How crazy is that? When I was a kid, my mom worked at the local paper. Nothing was safe! We got our names in the paper for all kinds of things and I hated it. I’m kind of a behind the scenes kind of person, so that kind of thing always made me a little uncomfortable. But yet, here I am! It’s 2011 and I am told I need a blog. So just remind me about my childhood when I start embarrassing my kids will you?

What does 4Total-Wellness mean to me?

I chose the name because it represents a goal that I have for my life. Am I there now? Not by a long shot! I am overweight, have a blown out disc in my back, I grind my teeth when I sleep so I wake up with migraines and I am a breast cancer survivor. I haven’t always lived within my means, so my financial situation could use some improvement. I know, though, without a shadow of a doubt that I can and will be healthier, and I will lead my family down the same path.

4Total-Wellness is not only about physical health, but financial health and having personal balance. Taking the baby steps by putting in 30 minutes on the treadmill daily, watching my pennies and planning for our future. It’s about taking time to smell the roses and play with the kids, give my husband some quality time and watch what I eat and what I do, all while staying true to myself, my family and my God. Success is about the journey. Come along with me, it’s a wild and bumpy but super fun ride.