To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

To Serve Well

Airplane mode: ON

Happy July y’all.

It’s July 2, and therefore the perfect time to throw on the airplane mode feature on our phones, and (as much as we can) implement that idea into our lives.

I’ve been writing the blog now for four years. Two years ago, I decided not to write during the month of July. The downtime creates space to think, pray, read, reflect and hopefully be inspired in my writing. That is the intention I’m setting!

This year I am going to push out some inspirational messaging that I heard recently on Peloton. I purchased one of their bikes not too long ago, and it has been an incredible experience. While I won’t blog – although I’m sure I have plenty to say about the great content – I will focus on what I feel is a simple and powerful message during my regular posting days. I hope it will add a bit of fun to your summer.

It is such an honor to serve you all with these short thoughts and I am so grateful for your support. My prayer is that you too will go on metaphorical airplane mode. Look around and savor the joy in this season. What a gift we have been given to live out what God has provided us with.

Have a wonderful 4th of July celebration this week! Go America!

We have the power to choose

Today’s post is a throwback from 2017 that offers a simple reminder: We have the power to choose.

Choose a chaotic or calm approach? How do I really want my home and life to feel? To look?

Choose to make this a terrific summer, or choose for your days to be the same?

Choose to create a plan to make a difference, or not?

Choose to take action to achieve your dreams, or watch them pass you by?

Choose to save for that great trip, or keep stripping away funds via Starbucks runs and too much frivolous spending?

Choose to look up and smile more, enjoy the beauty, or walk around with your head down looking at your latest text/Instagram post/Facebook feed?

This is just a reminder that you get to choose. I love that… I for one welcome the reminder, and I hope you do, too! Cheering you on!

Leveling up: Time to take the difficult path

13.1 miles of me v. me a few weeks ago. Good news: I won.

Hey there, friends! Ashley here. I am the lucky one who gets to help Lori with To Serve Well. You heard from me once, back in 2017. It’s funny, because I only vaguely remember the woman who guest blogged that post about self care. In fact, for a while, I lost her.

I’ve been on a journey for years now – mostly physical health. You know that vicious cycle where you lose the weight and gain it back (lather, rinse, repeat).

But right now, I’m on a different journey – a journey to grow. A journey to level up. I’m on a journey to discover more about my own capacity to learn, to become more patient, kind, innovative and effective. I’m on a journey of evolution, watching the rewards trickle out into every part of my life, from the office to my dating life (a generous term, but we are rolling with it).

There’s absolutely nothing special about my ability to accomplish this over anyone else. It is sometimes messy and always hard, but it’s worth it.

Critical to my success these past three months is my willingness to have an open mind and heart to the messages of other people. Which brings us to a quote that I picked up recently that resonated:

I say no to a lot of stuff so I can have bandwidth and energy and dedication to the difficult path.

Robin Arzón

Please tell me that touched your soul the way it did mine. I mean, wow. It came from Peloton VP and instructor Robin Arzón, who Lori mentioned in a blog last week. I’ll include the podcast below if you’d like to take a listen. Her mindset about growth and persistence is really amplifying what I feel in my bones right now.

How often do you watch people around you take the easy route? They wander back into a relationship because it’s comfortable, or stay at the job they see no long-term opportunity in despite having a grand vision of starting a business. I hate to suggest it, but maybe that’s not just someone around you – maybe it’s you?

Let me bring it home for you. I devoted an alarming amount of bandwidth for months about whether I was in the right job and whether those around me thought I was capable in my role. Instead of letting that be a fleeting thought, it consumed me, and everything that was happening around me was, in turn, validating that negative mindset. But my gosh, friends, do you know what happened when I finally decided to take my version of the difficult path that Robin’s talking about? My life changed in a matter of months.

Between a mentor, a therapist, a financial planner, daily journaling, personal development books and podcasts galore, I feel armed and dangerous with a better understanding of what it means to be a strong woman here to serve myself well so I can be a better servant to those around me. And I was previously shut off to all of those resources and people, though I still don’t understand why.

I share a piece of my heart with you today, in the context of my girl Robin’s quote, in hopes you give the bandwidth, energy and dedication to whatever difficult path awaits your attention. Trust me. Come on in. The water’s fine.

Memorial Day: A day to honor

Memorial Day is about honor.

As we kick off this week, focused on honoring those who have served our country and lost their lives, I pray that we will all consider the impact this sacrifice has had on our lives. In America, we experience freedom of every possible type. This has come at a price. It will personally be a great joy to lift up to God my many thanks for this gift. My gift in return will be to not only live a life of excellence, but to inspire others to do the same.

Let’s focus this week on honor, because we need to keep it front and center.

Have an amazing long weekend. I pray that you will be refreshed and that a spirit of honor will fill your heart and home.

I want to also take a moment to recognize not only those who have left us through their service to our country, but to all who have gone ahead of us. We are who we are because of their impact on our lives.

(Rewind — this is a throwback post to 2018).

What deserves your highest honor?

Honor. It’s one of the best words on the planet. It’s what we really do to serve well. But, serving ourselves well is also an important part of that.

This post can go in many directions…

Who have I not honored as much as I should have this year? Someone I really want to honor every day, but for some reason life has taken hold and I haven’t done so. Perhaps someone I know I want in my life indefinitely.

What have I not been honoring? Is it my attention to community service? Or could it be a distant friend that – although you don’t need to see each other weekly to know you are there for one another – you really want to spend more time with. It could be all manner of things: maintenance needed on your home or car, for example. What is it that requires your attention?

But back to where we started this post. What about how you honor yourself? This message is strong. Attention goes where energy flows, after all.

How can we focus on personal wellness? Some members of my team were having a “water” contest on Monday. I thought that was a great start. What about taking that next call outside while walking? Healthier choices when ordering food? Heck, maybe you combine a couple of these broader ideas and get moving with an old friend… or even get moving with some spring cleaning. I know my garage is a winter mess.

If you would like some professional input on all things wellness, I highly recommend Dr. Michelle Robin. Her podcast, books, etc. are terrific places to start because they are easy, practical and profound.

I hope you all are having a fantastic week! Let’s wrap it strong and go out with high honor for all those people, places or things, that are so important in our lives.