VISION FUELS SUCCESS

We are entering the home stretch of the first quarter of 2021. Some of you are thinking, seriously? Where did the time go? While there are others of you that are thinking, oh no! I am not near where I wanted, needed, or thought I would be by now this year. Not to worry, because today’s blog will be helpful in either thought process you may be struggling with!

I am sure like most, you set out with a plan for this year and it probably seemed doable, achievable, or at least like a good thought. Or, maybe you didn’t have a plan at all. Maybe, you are more the “let’s wing it” type and you just wanted to play your cards this year. Either way, the little tips today will give you the jumpstart you may have missed or have been waiting on to get started.

Without further delay, let’s get to it! What is it that we all want in life? The one true sustainable attribute that ultimately determines our happiness. You guessed it right, if you said, SUCCESS! When we are successful in life, we tend to be happier! That success can be in work, personal, emotional, mental and even physical success.

Now, I know what you are thinking. Easier said then done, right? I’m glad you asked. Today, I’m going to walk you through some strategies that have brought me success. The first step in preparing to be successful is having vision. VISION FUELS SUCCESS! I want you to let that sink in. If you do not take away anything from today’s blog, remember that sentence. The possibilities are truly limitless. If you can see it, you can achieve it.

At the beginning of each year, I , like most of you, start thinking about what I want out of the upcoming year. I have started adding a different perspective to that thought process. I know add the the question, what do I not want out of this year? And with that thought in mind how do I reverse engineer that into success? Let me give you some examples:

1.) I do not want negativity and I do not want bad health. I can equate those to multiple areas of my life and plan to make changes. I can work out a couple times a week and eat healthier options in meal planning. These changes will lead to happiness, which leads me to being successful.

2.) I do not want to ever forget that each day is a gift and should not be taken for granted. I’m only getting older, we all are. I will spend more time with my family making memories, traveling, vacations and holidays. This brings me happiness, which leads to success.

3.) Mediocrity will not be my legacy. I will take more school courses/career classes, read up on current literature, and browse forums. I will always be in a state of learning, which leads to success.

Once I have collected my thoughts, the next step in my process is creating a Vision Board. This activity is useful for several reasons. The main reason being, is that it creates a visual daily reminder for you to help you remember what your vision is. Another important reason is that putting the vision board together motivates you to want to actually fulfill the items on the board through the visual aid. I use Pinterest to create my Vision Board because it has a great search feature and literally thousands of results for you to choose from. When creating your vision board, keep in mind that you want to incorporate all aspects of your life, work, personal, family, etc. Don’t be afraid to be creative and have fun! I have included a link to my vision board below and also a screenshot as a reference tool.

Style Blog|fortheloveshe.com (fortheloveofshe.com)

I hope these tips have been helpful with your journey this year. My last bit of advice is to live each day to the fullest. Time is a gift that we can’t get back and there never seems to be enough of. Use it wisely! Take the time to do things that bring you happiness and you will find your success! Please do share your visions for this year with me in the comments, as I love hearing from you! As always, much love to you all, XOXO – SheShe!

Because Mom

Mother’s Day is just around the corner and if you are anything like me, your life is one gigantic moment. You literally are in constant motion. Do not fret though, today I am sharing some great last minute gift ideas that are sure to put a smile on every moms face and touch every moms heart!

I’m going to start with my favorite gift that I have come across this Mom’s Day season and I think the reason I like it the most is because it is the most sincere gift of all. One of the retailers I follow is:  https://walkinlove.com/ .  They actually posted a challenge on their blog, called the “#oneminutemomchallenge”. The purpose of the challenge is for you to record a one minute video to your mom and send it to her and then challenge others to do so as well. We all get so busy in our day to day lives that we lose sight of actually communicating with each other, so I love this idea! The video can be uploaded and saved by moms and replayed nonstop! I can only imagine the amount of tears of joy this challenge will be bringing this Mom’s Day! You can find the challenge through the website: https://walkinlove.com/  , or you can download the walk in love app from the app store on your smart phone, or you can find it on youtube at the link below.

The next best thing to your sweetness, is actual sweet stuff! That’s right, cookies! Mom is always cooking for everyone and never has time to make something sweet just for her. What better way to make her smile, then to send her something sweet! There are some great promotions going on right now at Cookies by Design and they do same day delivery! You can find everything sweet they have to offer on their website:

https://www.cookiesbydesign.com/

15% Off Mother's Day Gifts!

Every mom wants to be spoiled at least one day a year and what better way to spoil them then with jewelry?! It’s such a timeless gift that they can wear everyday or just when they want to think of you! One of my favorite places to get and give jewelry from is Kendra Scott. They are still offering shipping by Mom’s day if you order by today! They are also offering a few specials on their site today and have a variety of gift giving options such as this earrings and necklace set picture below! The link for their website is:

http://www.kendrascott.com

Sophia Earrings and Elisa Necklace Set in Rose Gold

Last, but certainly not least, for those of you that have completely run out of time and options, there is the good old fashioned gift cards! I myself, as a Mom, can attest that I LOVE receiving them! There are literally so many options you can choose from nowadays that you practically can’t go wrong with this choice! From your mom’s favorite Boutique, to Spa gifts cards, Visa cards, Starbucks, Craft stores, I mean you name it and there is a gift card for it somewhere!

I hope this helps some of you out with your last minute ideas and took a little stress out of your life, even if for a moment! I would love to hear about some of your mom’s day gifts, so feel free to leave comments! As always much love and wishing all my mom’s a happy and blessed mom’s day! xoxo – SheShe

 

 

The Dreamers

As a little girl, I always had a love for fashion. I would sneak into my moms closet and play dress up in her clothes as often as I could, because I loved her “fancy” dresses and heels! Then, as a teenager, my sister and I would frequent the many shops up and down Montrose and Westheimer looking for the most unusual items we could find to wear to make a fashion statement. After getting married, having my beautiful children and a career, my love for fashion has never faded. When my daughter reached High School, we opened an online boutique and we had sooo much fun with it! However, she went off to college, as they do and it was too much for me to manage on my own at the time, so sadly, I had to close it. Wanting to still be involved and constantly being asked where I shopped or for fashion advice, I decided to start doing a OOTD Post through my social media sites. This was very enjoyable, as I got to play dress up everyday again and share it! Still wanting more out of my platform, such as being able to share inspiration, charities and health concerns, I set goals to expand to a blog. IMG_3912

In January of 2018, I achieved that goal, and “For the Love of She” was born. Through my various media platforms I have been able to share many Heart shares, as well as my true love, that of fashion. I have had many highs and lows throughout my journey and it’s far from over, but I have never given up on my dreams. I’ve been given so many great opportunities and met so many other amazing and inspirational people through this journey that have sustained my purpose!

The most recent opportunity being, to be a Brand Ambassador for an awesome locally owned business, LHTX Brand! LHTXBRAND1I’m honored and excited to begin this journey with them and look forward to this adventure! They are based right here in the great state of Texas and believe in making their products here. Their line is both motivational and empowering, two of my favorite characteristics!  I am a huge fan of theirs and their story, which can be found on the website:

https://www.lhtx.us

 

 

The moral of this blog is to never lose that childhood enthusiasm, those dreams you made a promise to go after, go get them! IMG_0979

“ To the dreamers, wide-eyed believers, hanging on to hope by a thread. To the soulful, heart open, hopeful keep on charging ahead!” To all of the little girls playing dress up in their moms closets, to the little boys playing races on their bicycles, never stop dreaming!

DREAM BIG! Xoxo-SheShe

 

Not Going Down Without A Fight

Today’s Blog is my story of strength, of growth, of learning and of hope. For those of you that are new to my blog, welcome! I am so glad you picked today’s post to stop in on, as it will be one of my most important and valuable. My name is Shelia, better known to most as SheShe and I have Epilepsy. I was diagnosed almost four years ago. Epilepsy is a disease that affects the nervous system. It is usually diagnosed when a person has had at least two seizures that were not part of another medical condition. Six out of ten persons diagnosed with epilepsy will live their lives without a known cause. 1 in 26 people in the U.S will develop Epilepsy at some point in their lives.Epilepsy3

My journey with this disease began on an early January morning as I awoke in the back of an ambulance, not knowing where I was or how I got there. I was confused and very afraid. My body was sore and I had no idea why, as I had no recollection of anything leading up to arriving in the back of that ambulance. My husband awoke early that morning to me having seizures and he thought I was having a stroke. He had no idea what was happening and was frightened and called 911. This is what led to me awaking in the back of the ambulance and realizing that was the beginning of my life forever being changed.

I saw many doctor’s and had many tests ran over the course of the next few days. All with no answers as to why or how this could have happened. With no “conclusive” evidence of anything, the neurologist at the time, told me I was under extreme stress and I needed to “chill out”.  I can not make this stuff up folks, those were literally his words. I was confused and upset, but he was the doctor. Needless to say, not even a month later, I ended up wrecking my car , due to what we now know was a seizure while I was driving.  Then, the final straw was a road trip headed to visit our in-laws, I starting seizing in the car. My husband had to rush me to the ER, where once again I woke up not knowing how I got there or what happened.  At this point, we knew something was definitely seriously wrong and we went to see my neurologist, Dr.Phillip Blum, MD.

It was confirmed. I had Epilepsy. How could this be? I was a thirty something, that had never had any serious health issues before in my life. I worked out regularly. Lived a pretty healthy life style. We were in shock.

Turns out, anyone can get Epilepsy, at any time. It does not discriminate. It can be caused from blunt force trauma such as concussions, or you can actually be born with it. There is no true cause for Epilepsy.  And, sadly, there’s more, there is no cure. Once diagnosed, you will be on meds to reduce and or help eliminate the seizures. The meds are not guaranteed and the side effects are inherently awful. Epilepsy6The first set of meds I was put on made me lethargic. I felt depressed and out of it on a daily basis. I could barely get out of bed. After discussing the side effects, I was switched to another medication. This medication was definitely better than the previous but still had side effects. My dosages have to constantly be monitored or I get extremely sick. Any metabolic changes, weight changes, hormone changes, all effect my meds.

 

This may seem simple, but yes, there is yet another symptom which adds to this medication dilemma, making it all the while worse. Another symptom is insomnia. My neurologist has prescribed meds to aid in falling asleep, however they give me nightmares. My brain does not want to shut down at night. It literally thinks it’s time to run the New York marathon come bed time. This leads to lack of sleep, which is a huge seizure trigger. In addition, my metabolism never slows down so I struggle with weight loss.

Epilepsy11

 

Again, issue number one million and one with Epilepsy, it leads to other health issues. I have developed a heart arrhythmia since being diagnosed with Epilepsy. On a good day, my resting heart rate is 90, most days it’s between 100- 120 the whole day. If that is not exhausting, I don’t know what is. I have been prescribed meds to slow down my heart rate, however we have realized that if I take them daily, versus every other day, it slows down too much. For those of you keeping up with the med count, we now are at three different prescribed meds for three different issues all from one disease, Epilepsy.

Slurred speaking is a symptom that is both embarrassing and frustrating. The simplest of words, I stumble over and I will ask myself, why can’t I say that word?! It is extremely embarrassing and I will have to stop and literally slow down my speaking like I am learning the word for the first time. It’s always random words and always unpredictable when it happens. The most recent episode was yesterday and the word was “newest”. You would think, what is so hard about saying that, right?. I don’t know. I can’t explain it. It literally can not be explained.  These are part of my daily struggles, struggles that people can’t see or don’t know about. Epilepsy9

Memory Loss is another symptom of Epilepsy and is by far my least favorite. I would rather be nauseous every day of my life and get to keep my precious memories. This symptom saddens me to the core. I get in conversations with friends, co-workers and family and I don’t recall things. In the beginning, it angered me, to the point of resentment towards God. These were moments of my life completely wiped out from my recollection. Why would He do this to me? I know now, He had greater plans for me to be a light for others walking in the dark.  I began keeping a journal. I write down thoughts, important events, daily activities that happened. Happy thoughts, sad thoughts, trips taken. . .Memories. So, if the day does come when I can’t remember them, I can read them over and over again! Epilepsy2 (1)

I am a firm believer that everything happens in our lives for a reason. This disease has by far been the most challenging obstacle I have ever had to face. There have been times I have cursed and cried and felt like giving up. There are days when I literally can not physically function out of pure exhaustion, but I do. I go on. I have learned that each day is a gift, each memory a bonus. I am not promised today, or tomorrow, so for this moment, I am going to live it to the fullest. Enjoy all of it. Travel to new places, be kind to those who need it, give with everything I have and above all else love with all I have in me. I will advocate for my disease and for all of those who are sick with diseases of all kinds. I can not promise you easy days are ahead of you, but I can promise you that you will not have to face them alone.

Epilepsy7

My wish for all of you is that you educate yourselves on theses diseases. You can find out more about Epilepsy at:

https://www.epilepsy.com/

Help when and where you can.  Show compassion, care for each other and above all else, LOVE. Much love to you all – xoxo – SheShe

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. A saying as old as time, however as hurtful today as it was a hundred years ago. The sad reality is you would hope that with time and knowledge, would come compassion, empathy, kindness and love of people. This subject is one that is very near and dear to my heart, as I myself, have been dealt a few hands duirng my lifetime (and that’s more then anyone should). With that being said, it has taken me the greater part of my life to realize, it’s not me, it’s them. In today’s blog, I want to share some knowledge and understanding with you, that I hope will change your life in a positive way too!

Mirror Mirror– Make sure you are a reflection inwardly of what you want in return. The qualities you desire out of others, should be qualities you give in return. When you radiate good vibes, it’s contagious. If they don’t catch the vibes , hey – you still have a great aura about you, and isn’t that really what life is about? Happiness?!

Judge Less, Love More – There is only one judge and His day will come. It’s not up to anyone to raise judgment on anyone. Mentally and emotionally, this can break a person down to the point of despair. I have suffered from judgement on many different levels, none of which have been easy to handle on any of the levels. On a professional level, being a female has resulted in judements against me that were both hurtful and damaging. On a personal level, because I am not an extravert, I have been called hurtful names, of course all by those that don’t know me. It didn’t make the sting any less at the time, but  realizing now the negative equity it holds in my life have made all the difference.  This part is important, so pay attention… because this is where it gets hateful, dramatic and messy. People are so quick to “look” at others and cast judgment on their looks, their intelligence, their stature, their class and even their story, WITHOUT walking in their shoes, WITHOUT knowing their story, THEIR HEART.  What we learn from and take away from this is that their opionion does NOT matter. Ask yourself these questions, are these people important to you? Do they even know you? Hopefully the answer is no, because anyone who truly loves and cares about you, will not judge you, or be taking part in judgement of you.

Know Your Worth – I am a middle child. You ask, why does that matter? I have struggled the majority of my life to figure out where I fit in. I was not the first or the baby. I was placed in foster care at a very young age and bounced around from home to home before I ended up living with relatives for awhile. My mom eventually was able to receive custody when she was back on her feet and had remarried my stepfather. I fought for attention by thinking that if I was perfect at everything, I would be noticed and loved and wouldn’t have to be sent away. So, I made straight A’s, didn’t talk back, was in church every time the doors were open, and did everything in my power to be the perfect daughter. This carried over into adulthood. With my children, I was home room mom, team mom, you name it to be be the perfect mother (beacuse I was not going to have anyone accuse me of not being a good mother)! And because I eqauted perfection with love. I thought by trying to be the perfect mom, my kids would love me more. Yes, I know how wild that sounds because my kids love me to the moon and back and it has nothing to do with what I can or have done for them and everything to do with my unconditonal love for them. This also carried over into my professional life. Any job I have ever had, I have strived at being perfect. Good was just not good enough. I had to work hard, harder then anyone else to satisy my own fears of not being good enough. After years of mental and emotional abuse of myself, this took a toll. See, the thing is, I was good enough. I always have been. I love to learn new things and I don’t settle for being unresolved. Challenges are exciting to me and I am loyal as the day is long.  I know my worth, I don’t need anyone else to validate it for me. It was never about me being flawed or being imperfect. I let those negative situations around me direct my sense of worth. My resolution for you today is to know your worth and never take discounts. Do not let uncontrollable situations, negative people or unfortunate circumstances define you. Challenge yourself each day to remember that it is just a situation, or just a circumstance or just a mean person, honestly. It is not you or your fault or in anyway definitive of your work ethic, your personality, your dreams, or your character!

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Be the Light  It always saddens me how people think that blowing out someone’s candle is gonna make their light shine brighter. Take the workplace, for example. I am a firm believer in teamwork makes the dream work. (The ol’ there is no I in team). You are only as successfull as the team you have behind you. With that being said, it truly kills me to see people looking and I mean literally looking for dirt or fault or drama within the team. The negativity negates any chance of cohesiveness and therefore there will never be success. Think about this for a second. If you find a better way of doing something than your coworker (that is in their wheelhouse), how beneficial would it be for you to share it with them? Let me break it down for you. 1) You would be building a relationship of trust with that coworker by sharing it. 2) You would be contributing to the overall success of the company by providing a smoother process 3) You would be setting an example to your team of teamwork and success. 4) This is the most important – it’s the right thing to do.

The second scenario in the workplace is, say your coworker has been given a project and instead of doing it themselves, they delegate it out to you or have other coworkers basically piece it together for them and then take all the credit for it and literally do not mention you or the other coworkers at all. What do you do? Nothing. That’s right. You read that correctly. I’m gonna ask you to pay close attention to this part. Anyone that lacks integrity and thinks that they earned the praise honestly will eventually get burnt.  I know what you are thinking, yeah right. Trust me. If they did not know enough to complete the project they were asigned on their own to begin with, they will drown themselves. Now, with that being said, let me offer up a little further advice to you. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.  If you know this coworker is capable of such lack of integrity, do not entertain their reqest in the future. The main objective is to always give off the vibe you want to get in return. A positive workplace leads to employees wanting to be better and do better because they are happy and again, isn’t that what life is about? Aren’t we working to be happy?!

     beachBe You, Do You, Own You – You are you and that is your Power! Unique, diffrent and all together flawed is what makes us ALL BEAUTIFUL! For the longest time I had self confidence issues and would worry myself sick about what people thought about me. Was I too fat? Too thin? Was my hair straight enough or curled just right? And let’s not even talk about style. For those that know me, I have always loved fashion, but was always concerned about what others thought about my choices. Were they trendy, classy, trashy, old, etc? In the end…yesterday, today, in this moment or the next, it won’t matter what anyone else thought. What matters, is what makes me happy. True happiness comes from within. It’s not something you can achieve from anyone else. Who cares if someone doesn’t like your swimsuit! They don’t have to wear it and chances are, they won’t!(so it’s a win, win)! What i’m wearing does not define me, my character, my heart, my life. My clothes, my style, is something that brings me joy, and to me, for me, there is nothing greater in life then to have joy. Never be ashamed of who you are, the struggles you have been through, the struggles you will undoubtly go through, or the triumphs you have achieved (no matter the size).  True beauty is not what we see,  it is what we do. It’s our actions of kindness, empathy, giving, and above all else love for one another.

One of my all time favorite quotes is by Maya Angelou

“People will forget what you said and what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

If you don’t take anything else away from this post today, take this –  Kindness is free. Doesn’t cost anyone anything and yet it can literally change someone’s life. All it takes is a smile, a kind word, a compliment to completely turn someone’s day around, and you never know just how much it may mean to them. My challenge for you today is two fold.

  1. Be kind to yourself – the world is hard enough on you already
  2. Be kind to others – when you can’t find kindness, be the kindness you wish to see

Please feel free to share your stories and comments. I always love to hear from you! Much love – xoxo- SheShe

Journals are Life

Lights

Writing has always been one of my favorite things to do. Yes, I know how weird that sounds reading it and even saying it out loud. Most people think of writing as a chore and literally dread the thought. However, I would like to introduce you to a new way of thinking today on the blog.

Three years ago, I was diagnosed with Epilepsy. To say that it was life changing would honestly even be an under statement. I was scared, angry, sad, I literally ran through every emotion imaginable. To be fine one day and wake up the next in the back of an ambulance with no recollection of how you came to be there is a whole new way of life. To add insult to injury, with each seizure, I lost memories. Precious memories, important memories, memories. Until this happened to me, I never knew or even realized the importance of a memory, a moment, an action, a word, all of it. This new realization made me sad and depressed.

One day, at one of my many doctor’s visits, he said something to me that resonated with me. He recommended that I start keeping a daily journal (of course, his agenda was for a health record), but it turned on a light for me! I literally went home that day and started writing.  Not wanting to lose another memory from this disease, I began using writing as a tool, but it has become so much more for me. I have found that it brings me joy to write down the events of the day, stress relief to express my feelings and frustrations, and peace to know that I have captured it all in my writing. If there ever comes a day when I can’t remember, I will have these precious journals to go back and read! And, who knows, I may never “need” them in this way, but they will always be a great read in the future! Hope this enlightens you or brings you a new perspective on journal writings! Please feel free to leave comments on your writing experiences, as I always love to hear from you! XoXo – SheShe