Wellness and Encouragement

Hello, Saturday!

Here in the dirty south, it is a gorgeous day! Full of lots of adventures awaiting to happen and hope on the horizon.

Both of my beautiful and talented yoga teachers are featured on the cover of the Jackson VIP this month!

Scotta and Tara are both very dear to me and are just as much mentors to me as yoga instructors. They have helped shape the person I’ve become and I am beyond grateful to them both!

I’m working on a post about yoga and what it means to me and why I practice. Stay tuned;)

On another really encouraging note, I found this manifesto of encouragement on a friend’s blog, Leigh Pennebaker. Well, I don’t actually know Leigh in person but I do know her Dad and her Brother and I absolutely LOVE her blog! She is so creative and beautiful and sheds so much goodness in the world! Her blog is Marvelous Kiddo incase you want to check it out! Which I highly encourage you to do so!  I just had to repost this one because it really touched my soul! Thank you, Leigh for sharing! 

The Manifesto of Encouragement was written by Danielle LaPorte. It totally made my day better, so I had to share:

Right now:
There are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.
Someone you haven't met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.
Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.
Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God's children.
A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, "nourish them."
Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you. Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favourite food is, and treat you to a movie. Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you -- for free.
Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.
The next great song is being rehearsed.
Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.
Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.
Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they'll be thriving like never before. They just can't see it from where they're at.
Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to ARRIVE, will get precisely what they want -- and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it's reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all "So worth the wait."
Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche -- this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.
Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.
Someone is fighting the fight so that you don't have to.
Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe. Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.
Someone is regaining their sanity. Someone is coming back from the dead. Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable. Someone is curing the incurable.

You. Me. Some. One. Now.

Happy Saturday, Friends! 

Couch Potato

Yesterday I did something I haven’t done in awhile.

I took a day off from Life.

I had all these grand plans of jogging and yoga and getting back on track with good food……

But,

I got in from school and decided that I just needed a day to myself.

I have discovered something very interesting about myself this past year,

I really like to be by myself.

Like, a LOT

Most people assume that because I am  “so outgoing” (a phrase I hear ALL the time)  , that I like to be around people all the time.

But sadly, this just isn’t the case.

I do love people, but for as much time as I spend with folks, I equally need that same amount of time to myself.

So, like I said, I took a day off.

What does a day off from Life look like??

It looks like this:

 I laid on the couch for 8 straight hours watching Criminal Minds, playing around on the computer, and eating an entire pint of Ben and Jerry’s Americone Dream.

Yes, you heard me. THE ENTIRE PINT.

WOWZERS.

 Recently I have been more observant of the fact that not only do I not have a husband or children, I don’t even remotely have a crush on anyone.

That kind of makes me sad.

Good crushes make the world go round.

  (well, i do have a little crush on cutie Dr. Spencer Reid)

but who doesn't?!?!

But then I thought about the fact that if I did have a husband/children/or even a significant other,

i probably wouldn’t be able to lay on the couch all day and eat an entire pint of ice cream.

So I guess when it boils down to it, I’d rather lay on the couch;)

Oh well, back to Life for me!

Week in Review

I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday again.

Whew. What a whirl-wind of a week!

I’ll pick up where I left off from my previous post (if you missed the last post, click here).

After failing my Physics test and the mini-meltdown that occurred after that, I knew exactly what I needed.

My family.

Fortunately for me, my family had scheduled a weekend trip to Tennessee to be with my grandmother on her 88^th birthday (My dad’s mom).  So, I jumped in my truck and headed to Memphis!

I had the most amazing time with my family. The only person missing was Clint. He had to stay and study. But it is very rare that all of us are ever together at one time. This time, we got pretty dang close.

Our “vacation” started off with a family trip to Whole Foods. I don’t think anybody loves Whole Foods more than the Nanneys do!

by the way, have i mentioned how much i adore my nephew?!?!

We all enjoyed a family lunch at Panera Bread.

We then all loaded up into our family’s suburban (that is 15 years old, by the way) and headed to Jackson, TN to our hotel. All of us children (including the baby) stayed in 1 room. It was just like old times.

We drove over to Dresden where my grandmother lives and got to visit with her before heading out to eat with the majority of the Nanney family in Martin, TN.

After eating, we went back to my grandmother’s house and ate cake and watched her open her gifts.

My grandmother is so precious. She is so patient, gentle, kind, and loving. My dad reminds me so much of her. She always has a smile on her face. always.

It was such a lovely time. I am SO glad that I got to go and be with my family.


I even got to spend an extra day in Memphis with my youngest brother, Brian. It was so good to spend quality time with him. I honestly can't remember the last time just he and I got to hang out.

Of course, the biggest high light for me was getting to spend 3 days with my nephew. Words can not express how much this little fella means to me. He’s growing so quickly. Already crawling and attempting to walk.  

Upon returning to Jackson, I hit the ground running. Monday was a full day of school and then yesterday I had my interview for OT school. I must say that it went better than I expected. I will hear in 3-4 weeks whether I get in or not. The results are now out of my hands and I actually have a lot of serenity about the entire situation.

I also signed a lease yesterday in Belhaven. I will be returning to my favorite neighborhood very soon.

So much change in the past week.

So much to process.

So much to be grateful for.

I am blessed.

Fear of Failure

Yesterday was a really bad day. In fact, pretty much the worst day I’ve had since I’ve been sober.

I experienced a lot of emotional pain, the details are unnecessary, but boy oh boy did I want to change the way I felt. Almost every time I feel pain, it feels like the worst thing in the world. Like the sky is closing in and the entire universe is about to crash on my head.

Yes, I’m a tad dramatic if you hadn’t noticed that before;)

On top of that, I failed my Physics test.

Yes. I typed that correctly.

I FAILED.

Made a 50 to be even more precise.

For those of you who know me personally, this is both shocking and unacceptable. Jennifer Nanney does not fail things (except for the decade in which I was majorly failing at life). Not only have I never failed anything, but I’ve made it this far with only one C on my transcript. And that C was in Epistemology, so it really doesn’t count;)

I emailed my professor and told him that this totally blew my dream of becoming a Physics rock-star.

He replied, “ Don’t let one test grade deter you from that dream!”

and then I thought about it.

and then I tried to quit thinking about it.

and now I’ve just accepted the fact that I failed. I actually faced the fear of failure. and it didn't kill me. in fact, it will most surely make me stronger. 

The entire time I’ve been writing this blog, this one quote from a Tom Robbins novel keeps coming to mind,

So you think that you're a failure, do you? Well, you probably are. What's wrong with that? In the first place, if you've any sense at all you must have learned by now that we pay just as dearly for our triumphs as we do for our defeats. Go ahead and fail. But fail with wit, fail with grace, fail with style. A mediocre failure is as insufferable as a mediocre success. Embrace failure! Seek it out. Learn to love it. That may be the only way any of us will ever be free.

But you know, although yesterday was hard, it wasn’t really that bad. The feeling of impending doom and complete and utter failure didn’t last that long.

 I went to dinner with one of my favorite people ever-- Rachel. And I was reminded of something while spending time with her. That people love me no matter what my test grades are. That people love me even when things get ugly. That people don’t expect me to be perfect all the time. And by “people” I mean my friends. I am truly blessed to have some of the most amazing friends in this lifetime. Friends that have my best interest at heart, Friends that feel my pain, Friends that feel my joy, Friends that love me no matter what.

Thank you, Friends! You make my life so much fun and meaningful. and beautiful and delicious!

Today is going to be a better day. I can already feel it in my bones.

(While I was winding down last night, I decided to go on a journey and look at some of my favorite images. I’ll share them with you here. It amazed me how much peace and serenity were brought by looking through these images. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did).

Happy Weekend!