Why I Make My Bed Every Day

Disclaimer: I am a human being, which means I’m not perfect, and I don’t keep up with this every single day. Days when I have to wake up super early and rush out of the house are generally days on which I do not make my bed (actually, none of my morning routine gets done on those days). But, in general, I do make it a point to make my bed most days of the week, and this is why.

Even if you don’t spend a lot of time in it, your bedroom is still a place that holds the things are the most important to you, and therefore is a reflection of your state of mind. If your bed is unmade, you’re going to lack concentration and motivation, because there is no transition between your time for sleeping and your time for being awake.

It’s a small thing, and may seem trivial to others, but we don’t make changes in our life by changing huge things and expecting them to just stick by themselves. We change small things every day, over and over and over again, until one day they become habits. And habits are the key to changing our lives.

Follow Your Heart (And What’s Wrong With That)

Follow your heart.

A saying we’ve all likely heard. Most people would agree it’s a good idea, if not always completely practical.

Following your heart seems like a good idea when you’re on the road to finding happiness. And oftentimes, your heart makes good decisions. One problem with following your heart all the time, however, is that the heart doesn’t have the whole picture. This is something I’m currently finding out. Your heart only looks at what will make you happy. At that moment.

People change, you will change, and sooner or later, what made your heart happy at one point may no longer do so.

Following your heart is like always going back and retracing your steps to find new paths every couple of miles or so. The heart can help us get started walking, but you might find yourself walking backwards and even the wrong way if you are always following your heart.

3 Ways to Make “Going Natural” Easier

Recently, I have made the decision to work towards making my entire beauty routine completely natural. Starting in 2017, every beauty product I use on my skin or hair will be 100% natural. I have gotten a lot of different reactions to this, ranging from laughter and disbelief, to amazement and encouragement. Either way, I am firm in my decision and I’m loving the idea more and more each day. The change is going to be complete starting January 1st, 2017, which means I have to start developing my natural products right now. Here are three ways I’ve made that easier for myself in the past few months.

1. Use Coconut Oil.

I can never stress enough the impact that coconut oil has had on my life and my skin. Coconut oil is natural, smells good, and has a multitude of uses. Incorporating coconut oil into my life was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. And it all started with a college assignment (more on that in a later post). I use coconut oil for the majority of my natural products so far, and I’ve been using the same $7 jar for months. My uses for coconut oil include: eye makeup remover, shaving cream (sometimes), and it’s an ingredient in my deodorant as well.

2. Get on Pinterest.

If you do not have a Pinterest, you’re living your life wrong. I’m joking, but seriously, there’s no way I’d be able to live without Pinterest. You have an infinite amount of information at your fingertips, and it’s all displayed in easy to see blocks of attractive colors and designs. I use Pinterest as my google search engine, (a.k.a. for everything) but specifically for this project, there are tons of options for me to find a natural alternative to every chemical-laden product I own. I simply have to type in the product I want to find an alternative for, and Pinterest offers me tons of variations I can try. If you’re looking to make your beauty routine more natural, I would definitely recommend getting and/or using your Pinterest account.

3. Change your mindset.

I know, I know. Easier said than done. But it really isn’t impossible. Being open to trying new things takes time and effort, but it can be done. Most people balk at the idea of changing to natural products because their mindset is stuck in the consumer mold that is American society. We are used to having the things we use made for us and sold to us pre-packaged in attractive bottles. We’ll pay more money, and eventually more of our health, just to have everything in our showers look pretty, smell the way we want them to, and to not have to do any work. And believe me, I know how appealing that is. Going natural is just not something everyone is going to want to do. But we should all try to be open and willing to at least consider reducing the amount of chemicals we put on and in our bodies.

If you have any suggestions on how to make going natural easier, let me know in the comment sections.

Love,
Madison

 

How We Started (the Idea) of Our Business

Confession:

Our business is still taking off. It’s in its baby stages (probably not even baby-more like a fetus), but it’s our baby and we intend to give it its best life possible.

I should probably start, though, by saying what our business is and what we hope to accomplish by it. So, here goes.

A month or two ago, my mother and I were talking about her hobby of creating jewelry out of recycled products like soda cans and plastic bottles and such, and my experience at the Farmer’s Market that I work at with my boyfriend’s aunt. Suddenly, out of my entrepreneurial spirit, I drew inspiration. We would combine our forces (her crafty passion, my spirit for independent employment, and our collective desire to make a positive impact on this world), and create a small-but powerful-footstep on this earth. All while, hopefully, making a small profit for the charity we support (more on that in another post) and ourselves.

So, that’s the revelation that started this idea.

Let’s make this a fun chapter of our lives, shall we?

~Madison