Mrs. PIE

5 Keys to Success in 2025: Pray, Plan, and Prosper | Christian Inspiration & Tips

• Shelley Jeffcoat • Season 3 • Episode 91

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Tired of setting goals that fizzle out by February? Discover how you can turn 2025 into your year of breakthroughs, using the power of intentional goal-setting across health, career, finance, spirituality, and personal development. Drawing from my own journey of managing GERD and stress, I'll share insights on stress management and the power of gratitude. Learn how adopting healthier habits and using tools like journaling can help you cultivate a more disciplined and fulfilling life.

Join me as we unpack the secrets to aligning your career aspirations with business objectives. Take charge of your professional path by setting clear, actionable goals and obtaining necessary certifications. We'll also tackle the art of financial discipline, highlighting strategies like creating wishlists and sticking to structured budgets. Discover how you can manage your spending effectively while also enjoying the small luxuries that self-care offers, all without accumulating new debts.

Lastly, we'll explore the spiritual dimension of goal-setting, focusing on aligning our lives with God's promises. Through maintaining a disciplined spiritual practice and engaging directly with scripture, we can deepen our relationship with Jesus and receive guidance. Let's embark on this journey of self-care, personal growth, and divine alignment, nurturing every facet of our lives with hope and gratitude as we step into the new year.

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Speaker 1:

All right, y'all. Welcome back to another very quick, unedited vlog. This might be a little chatty and, yes, I'm still wearing that H&M combo with the top, but this time I'm wearing shorts and it is just the most comfortable thing. So it's the day of, it's the 31st of December, and a lot of folks are preparing for New Year's Eve. If you're going somewhere tonight, I'm going to pray that you're going to be protected and God's going to bless you, but I want to share just some things that I'm going to be focusing on five key areas that I'm going to lean in believing in God, trusting God for and so what I usually do is what you see me doing on the on the 31st is I just start um, planning ahead, if you will, before I do. I don't do vision boards, but before I even start thinking about goal setting on any of those things, there are five specific areas in my life. I'm gonna ask god to help me and I'm looking for breakthrough and blessings next year, and I believe you are too. So stick around if you're looking for something to encourage you, if you're just not sure where to start or what are some of the areas you want to kind of work on y'all. That's what we're going to talk about today, and I'm just going to show some real quick things. I am going to make my real quick coffee, though, because I can't actually I don't know what I can't function without it, and this is my home version of Starbucks. I love Starbucks, but I don't actually go there very often. And also, finance is something that I'm working on for next year, so I'm not trying to spend a whole lot of coin on coffee houses. So this is my home version of coffee in my Ralph's cup, if you, you know, you know, and that's what we're going to have with the rest of breakfast. All right, so the five areas that we're going to focus on next year. First of all, you know we are still closing out 2024, but, like I said, if you, if you're trying to be successful next year, you know this is kind of where, like, even if you're in business, if you're a corporate girly like me, you know that we start preparing and forecasting a couple months back for next year. So it's okay for us in our personal lives to start doing something similar.

Speaker 1:

This is my Smythson journal. I get them every year. This is the mid-year, so this runs through next August, I believe. So I won't be giving an update, but clearly I use it. But this, to me, is one of those. I call them little luxuries that has just been, for me, life-changing. I love it because it keeps my daily schedule, but obviously there's tons of notes. I'm not trying to do an ad on it right now, but y'all know that I love this.

Speaker 1:

But regardless of what you have, you have to have some kind of journal. You know in the word, how, uh, you know, every, every year around this time, we hear the right of vision make it plain. You got to write it. Some of us type it, uh, some of us have been canvassing it. There's something about writing it down on paper. Um, that you know, I don't know. Just, it's just a different level. You have to take time to do it. You're not just looking for how to say it. You're more focused on what to say, how to say meaning. You're not looking for, like, different images to make it pretty. You're looking for what specifically you need to write down.

Speaker 1:

So the five areas that I'm going to be praying and asking God our theme for next year 2025, is discipline, and you need discipline in every one of these areas to be successful. So these are general. So the first one is health. The second one is our career and our professional. So, whether you're an entrepreneur, a business owner, you know, a corporate girly, whatever right, whatever your career, your professional development, professional growth. The third is finance. The fourth is our spiritual walk. So we're talking about our worship and going to church or whatever, serving or, you know, having our relationship with Jesus. And the last one is personal, which is around our mindset, our relationships and self, what we call self-care. So so I'm going to send a prayer that you'll help all of us as we're looking for a successful year next year, that, even as we, all of us, as we're looking for a successful year next year, that, even as we're closing out 2024, we're so grateful for all the great things that have happened for us. Some of us have missed the call, some of us didn't get what we wanted, what we hoped for, but we're excited about what's to come and we know that 2025, that you'll give us your grace and your favor. Help us to exceed and be disciplined in every one of these areas. Amen. All right, y'all. So here's my five.

Speaker 1:

So I'm gonna start with health, and this is going to just be a chatty vlog, y'all, um, I have just maybe a few things I want to share with y'all, but in terms of material things, but health-wise, um, I don't. You know, I have been on a health journey since, well, really all my life I had something called GERD gastro esophageal reflux disease and it means that my digestive system for really all my life has been a hot mess. But I was and it's. There are episodes that you get triggered. It's it's like acid reflux, but like 10, 10 times that and um, but I was not supposed to be eating fried food, not supposed to be eating bad stuff that's bad for you for many years. And then it also gets triggered by stress. And just to share a personal journey, I started I lost my mom in 2018.

Speaker 1:

That was hard. I bottled up all those feelings and then in 2019, 2019 I started a very stressful job and I was like it felt so alone for a long time. Things have changed now, um, and then 2020, my body just kind of gave way. I was like, I was just, it was a lot, and I was also eating, um, like late eating, junk, drinking soda, you know all the things y'all. I was doing all the things, and I ended up having to have this really intensive surgery in December of 2020, during the pandemic five days in the hospital, and it took me a year to recover, meaning just like being able to walk without a drip bag. Y'all know what I mean and I had a part of my spleen removed, part of my pancreas removed and my gallbladder removed. So what that did is for the rest of my life, y'all my eating, my stress, my lifestyle has to change.

Speaker 1:

A few months ago, though, it started to trigger and get like you know, it wasn't GERD, it was GERD, it was good, it was, because girl could come back right, even though they remove body parts and I don't have enough for them to take back out anything. It started to um, trigger. I started to get really sick again and, sorry, y'all, that's my, I'm doing the dishes, that's my, that's my thing. Making the noise, um, but stress, and I was again back to eating, like eating late there, you know eating, um, I my dietary restrictions, like I can't eat anything that has any trans fats. So when I look at packages of food on the back, y'all, um, it has to have 0% trans fat, and I can't go above a certain amount of total fat. So if you ever look on the back of them packages of the stuff that you're buying and eating the saturated fat, like I don't go, I think it's 6% or 8% total fat, and if you ever look, you'll see the amount of fat that you're eating.

Speaker 1:

I am not a doctor. I'm just trying to share my journey, because what has truly helped me then is after I had another kind of Jesus moment, because I really was like, oh no, I'm gonna die. But I had to add that I do a health check-in with my gastroenterologist, and so some of the things that I've had to do are some of the things that I know is gonna extend my life. So health-wise. You know, for me is really focusing on eating healthy. You, you know, again, zero trans fat is just my thing, you know. I want to encourage you, though, to go to your doctor. Don't, you know, don't, please, don't do the TikTok doctors when you find like a diet and you jump on that.

Speaker 1:

My health, my dietary changes, is not about weight loss. It's about what my intake is and how our body breaks our food down. So you might've just come off the holidays and you had all the fried everything, or you gave yourself the reason I can eat the grandma's lemon pound cake and I can again. You know we'll go. You know we want a year as our first tenant in 2025,. We want to be healthy because, no matter what it is that you're dreaming of, the things you want to do, you know you have to be healthy. You got gotta be healthy for your children. Um, for me, like, a sign of wealth is your health. Okay, a sign of wealth is your health. So I want us to be healthy next year.

Speaker 1:

Um, looking at how we take care of our bodies, even down to like, y'all vitamins, are you taking your multivitamins? Um, so these are a couple I'm gonna share real quickly. I was taking the ritual brand of multivitamins. I ran out. I thought I had a backup, but I didn't. I came off the subscription, but I have these as my backup. These are the ollie women's multivitamins. I am a I love a gummy, so you know, gummy, anything I'll do it. So these are the women. And then, don't forget your kids, especially ladies, are. Are girls, right? If you have a mom of a teen girl, please don't forget. So they also have the teen girl multivitamins. So go pick these up. I got them at target. Um, they were the for the price of these two um products right here, these two multivitamins um, they were about 34 was the price of the ritual vitamin. So so it's a little bit less expensive.

Speaker 1:

But regardless of what brand you get on your health list, make sure that you you're getting your multivitamins and getting a doctor check, look at the back of your food and see how much fat you're taking in. That might mean, like some things like you can't eat, like you can't eat the fried and dyed, okay, but again, I want us to be healthy. So we're asking God to help us have a healthy lifestyle next year, cutting back on some of the stuff. Now, I know I'm saying this and y'all know this, right, so I'm just echoing what you know. Right, we want to have again, we want to be a blessing for our family, but we can't be a blessing if we're not there, right? So healthy that's the first thing.

Speaker 1:

The second thing is around career and our professional development, and again we are getting ready to go back into the workforce. Let me take my sip of my coffee. It's the Ralph. This is the Ralph Lauren cup and saucer y'all. It was going crazy on the TikTok and I got caught up in it. I love it all right, but I do always drink out of a cup and saucer anyway, so, uh, so there's that.

Speaker 1:

So the second area, career and performance. As we're getting ready to go back into work, so, when you think about your career, start thinking about where you see yourself, not where your boss sees you, and your approach should be trying to align. In January is when companies start to lay out they should lay out the goals, but you should have your goals aligned back to your business goals. So when I am on the job, I'm always talking about business performance. I'm always aligning to where the business is going blah, blah, blah. So my career, then, is where the business is going blah, blah, blah, so, um, so my career, then, is tied to where I want to go and not necessarily where my boss wants to go. Um, I left, uh, an opportunity, a couple of companies back where they wanted me to go into HR as a business partner, and that is not my thing. Um, it is amazing, incredible, awesome feel. But for me it was like, was like I love people, but not that much so y'all. So I didn't want to go that route, but I had to know that for myself.

Speaker 1:

So you can't expect your manager to tell you they don't own your career. You do. So you have to have a good understanding of where you want to go with your career. So, as you're going into next year, you're thinking about what are some of the things like where do you want want to go? Right Cause, if you don't know where you want to go, no one's going to know. People can't just jump up and help you and give you a promotion if you don't know where you want to go. Right Cause, as you think about, as you line out like layout, like here's where I see myself in the next year, or two years, if you're, if your goal in the next two years is to retire, then what are some of the things that you're doing now to get you ready for retirement? Right, if your goal is that you want to take on more global projects, then do you need certifications? Does your job offer those things? Those are some of the things that you start to build out and that's what you include in your goal.

Speaker 1:

You own your career. If you're a business owner, I mean, all I'm saying is things that you already know you start forecasting. What are the clients that you're going after. If you're a speaker, are you changing your speaker fees? What's the value you bring? You might have to take a look at your value proposition, but just take a beat, y'all, to think about where you want to go.

Speaker 1:

What do you want to do with your career? So that's the second. First was health. Health we're going to take care of our bodies. The second is career and performance. We're going to be intentional about, um, really, uh, defining for ourselves where we want to go. What do you want to do, and then then we can start building the vision boards and the goals and all the things. The third area is finance.

Speaker 1:

So, um, there is a trend going on right now on the social media streets which I actually like, and it's called Low Buy 2025. Part of the reason why I like it and I'm not a no buy person, because I'm just not Like I ain't got that kind of discipline. I just don't. I love beautiful things, I love, I just love it. But, um, to tell myself that it's going to be like I know, by year is it's not going to be honest for me, and the Lord knows me, you know that I'm not going to be able to do that. But there's a trend going on right now called low buy. So what I've done is um, um, I'm going to be um, looking at where I'm spending the majority of my money and the biggest buys. So instead of like spending, I was doing like big buys, like once a month or what I would consider a big buy. Once a month, um, sometimes every other week, because I'll be at target, feeling stressed out, buying stuff I don't want or need. Okay, so moving that to um to quarterly, so every quarter, once, once a month, during that quarter, it means that gives me time to save up, so maybe you think about doing that, uh, every quarter, once, once a month, during that quarter, it means that it gives me time to save up, so maybe you think about doing that every quarter. So the quarters are um, january, february, march. So in the month of february, maybe that's your big buy month, or maybe march is your big buy month and that gives you time to save in january and february for that thing in march.

Speaker 1:

Something else you can do to kind of trick yourself from not buying, not spending, is you can put the things in the wishlist and not the cart, and if it's a website that doesn't have a wishlist, because now it commits you to sign up for an account. Just leave it in the cart and tell yourself to go back. And a lot of times I found myself when I put something in the wishlist I forget about it and it's not that impulse to. And if I leave it in the cart, sometimes it disappears on its own because it's no longer there and I don't feel like I'm like, ok, good, I really need it, but just parking things that way. You know, I do a lot of wish list shopping. One of my favorite sites to to my favorite sites to do this are Nordstrom, because I get a lot of my stuff from Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus and I will drop it in a wish list and if it's something that I'm thinking about for the end of the next month, then I'll like park it in a cart but I don't go back to it. And then when I come back to it right I, you know, I think about how much that item's going to cost and I'm budgeting towards that. And a lot of times by the time I go back to it, I don't even want it, because then I'm realizing like that's overpriced, like I don't really need that, or I've found a cheaper alternative that I could get. So low buy 2025, just break it out in quarters and just pick a month and just say, okay, these are big buys I'm going to have.

Speaker 1:

So, for example, for me, my big buy months, my first quarter, is always a restock of beauty products. It's usually what? Because because that's my year over year I overstock on my beauty, my things that I use on my, my skincare. Um, I am a kitchen beautician. I do my own hair. I, you know, I go to super cuts every now and then have them trim the back if I can't reach it. I'm growing my hair out right now, so I don't have to worry about that at all. But I, um, but this is where I restock my shampoo, conditioner and all of my skincare, and I do that in the first quarter of the year. Sometimes there's like those after those new year's sales, so I even even some of those the sales aren't sales in, so I don't waste my money doing that.

Speaker 1:

I just wait, save my money and then, you know, around February time frame, I would restock and then that's it, like I don't waste my money doing that. I just wait, save my money and then you know, around February timeframe I would restock and then that's it, like I don't buy nothing else that you know. That falls into that line, that area. That's usually when corporations gives out bonuses. If you're gonna leave your job, stay and wait for your bonus, don't be crazy, okay, but I wait. So my technology spend is usually in the in the second quarter. So I'm waiting for that bonus and that technology or house, you know, things that you do with the house.

Speaker 1:

And then third quarter is more like travel. And then fourth quarter at the beginning of fourth quarter, that's October, is when I actually start doing my Christmas. It's my Christmas, it's my daughter's birthday, it's my birthday and it's my anniversary. So there are four big things that happen in November, december. So I actually start buying things in October. That's my biggest spend month. That way I'm not broke in November and I'm not broke in December, coming into January. So that's my biggest spend month. That way I'm not broke in November and I'm not broke in December, coming into January. So that's. I hope that helps. So that's, that's an idea of how you could do low buy.

Speaker 1:

Just think about the things that you need. If there are items that you think there might be a more, a cheaper alternative, then get that. Be careful though I've been, I've done that so many times with my, my skincare, trying to find a cheap, cheaper alternative and end up like wasting my money. Don't waste your money. Skincare, this is an investment. I want to take care of my skin, my body, inside, outside, all the things. So think about a low buy also.

Speaker 1:

Another thing for finance is look, just hang on, just I know I'm giving some tips now I hope I'm helping y'all is finding a credible debt consolidation company to help you Debt consolidation. They don't give out loans, they literally consolidate your debt. They are lawyers that they go out and they negotiate lower rates, but you pay one fixed rate and that will save you a lot of money too. Um, but that also means that you need discipline. It means that you know when you do debt consolidation you can't just go out and just start, you know, grabbing credit cards and because now, all of a sudden, your credit status changes, don't you know you people are going to come to you, offer you all kinds of things.

Speaker 1:

Don't do it. Don't get the store credit cards. I, you know, I have my debit card, which means like if I don't got it. I can't get it. You know what I'm saying? Um and um. And then I have like one other credit card which is like it's, you know, it's like gas, you know. But, um, try to be very disciplined in where you're spending your coins.

Speaker 1:

Um again, sit down with a budget, you know, and I have an Excel spreadsheet. I have it break it out by month, and I always pay my bills first and then move some money to, you know, my kid, to the house or whatever, do the things. And then what's left over. I treat myself and I also feel like when I pay my bills, if I don't have like a ton left over, then I still feel so good about it. I'm grateful to God for the job and grateful to God for the income, but I still feel so good about it when I, you know, you feel that feeling when you're like, yeah, but I paid my bills. I think you know I might eat ramen, but I pay my bills, so, so that's the finance area, right. So be very thoughtful about how you're spending money. Think about having a low buy year this year. Break out your big buys into once a quarter. That way you don't feel like you're being cheated. I work really hard and I work hard so I can afford my lifestyle, but I don't want my lifestyle to take over my finances.

Speaker 1:

Right, the Gucci bags and the louis bags. You can find great designer luxury items on the second hand market. I'm not a spokesperson for fashion file, but that's a place where you could go if you're interested. There's a lot. Especially here in the georgia atlanta area there's a lot of consignment places. You can get luxury items marked down secondhand. I I have bags. I have Louis bags, burberry bags, gucci bags. I've had these bags for decades. I can actually say, well, before they were cool, okay. And so when you make an investment in these bags, hold on to them, take care of them, get them cleaned and use them right, use your stuff. So then I don't feel like I got to go out and buy the new thing because I've got the vintage, all right, or what's called vintage now cause it's old, all right. So that was the third area of finance. All right, I'm getting there, y'all, hang on, hang on All right.

Speaker 1:

The fourth is our spiritual, our spiritual. So this, this is really simple. This is just um worshiping. This is making sure that you're spending time with the Lord. Again, I know people have built amazing prayer closets, but I'm also one to remind you that you got to come out of that closet at some point and live life right. I tend to get caught up in worship and I become very selfish with my time with the Lord and I don't want to connect with people, which is not good, y'all. It's really not good. But it's really more about having a dedicated time and if it's not, like you know, try to be consistent, like our, our live prayers are consistently. The people know where to find me Mondays, monday mornings and Tuesday nights right, or Thursday mornings or Saturday mornings some Sundays. They know where to find me is I'm in worship, inviting you into worship.

Speaker 1:

But something I want to challenge you to do this year is to actually read your Bible. Um, and part of why I want to want to urge you to do this, I mean read it for real like and again, no judgment if you have it on your phone. I used to come at people be like look, you need to get like the actual Bible there is. I still, I I'm still a paper person. There is still something that makes it less convenient, which means that you have to. You have to um, make the time to sit down and open your bible with your journal and uh, you know, really allow the holy spirit to speak to you. But there is something that's really convenient with having your app on your phone. I use bible gateway, so there are times when you just like especially if you're in church and you didn't bring your bible you pop open your app on your phone. I use Bible Gateway, so there are times when you just like especially if you're in church and you didn't bring your Bible you pop open your app and it is what it is. But more than anything, overall that is, I want to encourage you to read your Bible.

Speaker 1:

I'm going to show you something real quick. In the Word, it's not related to. It's not related to what it's not. How do I put this? It's not about, like it's no, it's about you reading your bible, matthew 2. So every every Christmas they have the nativity scenes and they have the wise man at the manger with the Lord, and I've heard a pastor say this and I was like why don't people know this? It's because we don't read our bible. And if you don't read your bible this year, you're going to get swept up in all kind of crazy prophecies that the Lord ain't never said about you.

Speaker 1:

I want what God says about me to come true for me. I want his promises, I want my lifestyle, I want my health, my career, my finance, my spiritual walk, my personal life I'm saying thing all those things. I want all five of these areas to align up to God's promises to me, because I want him to bless me you hear me and my family and for generations to come. I need things to change. I don't know if you're in that season where you're just like listen, I need things to change. I don't care what's going on in this country or this world, but I need things to change for me and my family for the better. I need breakthrough, I need stability, I need all the things. I need all of the things and I need to align what God says about me.

Speaker 1:

And if he's telling you that it's time for you to be faithful in your health, taking care of your body you can't eat anything you want. If he's telling you that you know it's time to think about your career and how you build your professional business in a different way, if he's challenging you with your finances that you can't, you know you're going to be broke If you're asking me for a million but you can't take care of 20,000, right. If he's calling you into a deeper walk, right, if you're here watching this, he's calling you in a deeper walk. Okay, you didn't just land on my video by accident. Okay, he's telling you to come closer. He's calling you to a deeper walk. And then the last thing in the personal area we'll cover, right. But all of that you need discipline and how you get that discipline. You have to maintain that discipline through his word and you meet him in his word.

Speaker 1:

I say I like to say that there was, uh, there was this pastor and he was talking about how every year, people put out the nativity scenes and you see it played out at churches, schools, everywhere and talks about how the wise men um, you know, they show the wise men following the star and they find jesus in does not say that they came to the manger.

Speaker 1:

So I want y'all it's just little things like that, because we get, we get so tripped up and what other people have said for years and years. I was believing it until I went back and was like now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem. That's why I'm going to contextualize them, go to Matthew 2. In the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came and it says where is he? Who has been born? It tells you all of the things. When Herod heard this, he was troubled.

Speaker 1:

And then, when you come down to verse 7, it talks about Herod summoning the wise men secretly and ascertaining from them what time the star had appeared. So they were using astrology at that time, y'all, but please don't worship stars, okay, um? And it says in verse 9, he sent them to bethlehem, saying go, search for the child and, and when you found him, bring me word. And after listening, they went on the way, behold the star they saw when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was not is when the child was not, is that's verse 9. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And, going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, and so they didn't go into the manger. They went into the house. Then, opening the treasure, they offered the gifts, being warned of a dream, they went to their own country. Okay, so we have misinterpreted this, based on the nativity scene and having three wise men show up at the manger and that's not what happened.

Speaker 1:

Why is this important? Y'all I'm going to tell you why it's important. The misinterpretation of even what we think, oh, it's not a big deal. It's a church play and the kids love it. We, you know, we do the play all the time. What are you worried about? Misinterpretation of the word of the scripture, even in small doses, y'all. It creates so much doubt, like when God, you know, when he wants to show you the mysteries, when he wants to show you big things, if he can't even trust you to read and hear what his word says, y'all come on right. So that's why it's so important, it's important not to get caught up in the action in the choir, in how amazing the pastor, how charismatic the pastor is, and he says the word, he says the, the thing.

Speaker 1:

I want you to have the kind of spiritual relationship with jesus himself that he speaks to you directly. You hear from him. I don't need, uh, you know he will send. He will send confirmation through his chosen ones. He'll send them through apostles, pastors. He'll send them to you. He'll send them to the, the craziest of ways. Sometimes he says the confirmation through people and I'm. You don't even know what you just did, but that was a confirmation. But I know that because I have a relationship with the Holy Spirit, because he reveals it through people, through circumstances. He revealed it through his word, through scripture.

Speaker 1:

But you have to be able to have that relationship with Jesus, one that is a two-way conversation. Prayer is going one way right, but you need to be able to hear from him. So this year our discipline is going to be in worship so we can hear. We got it down, we can read and we can do the things right. We go to church, we play our part, but we got to be able to hear. We have to have that discipline so we can hear from him this year, so we know what we're supposed to be doing. All right, that's how you know when you're on track.

Speaker 1:

When he starts to play things out, he starts to confirm things. You start to see these incredible open doors. If you miss the open doors and you miss the opportunity, then I don't want you at the end of next year to say you know, I had these on my board, I thought I had the vision and it wasn't playing. I didn't hear from god. None of that is true. I want us to have discipline so we can hear everything that he has to say. But you got to have a relationship and you got to read your bible. You got to read your Bible. The last area y'all I'm so glad you're still here, are you still here? You still here? The last area is our personal life, and this is three things our personal life when it comes to relationship, our personal life when it comes to our mindset, and our personal life when it comes to our mindset and our personal life when it comes to our self-care.

Speaker 1:

Relationships are tricky. I went through a period at the end of this year so really October through early December, where I was watching the Lord move some things and people out of my life, and it wasn't like some of them. He had to do it in like a like. I told you, don't you leave it alone, right, but some of it was just. Sometimes you outgrow relationships, you know, go to the same places you used to. I don't eat the same food I used to. I don't, I don't really, I just don't. You know, I'm not that person that I used to be, because I have grown like you, have grown right. So so relationships, those that he's putting in your, in your path.

Speaker 1:

However, if it's a season, a reason or a lifetime, my mom used to say that you honor them while you have them. You honor them while they're here, but you honor them when they go and um, so I'm even asking god to help me with the relationships that are that I have now, that he'll continue to help me to bless the people around me. Bless me, lord, so I can bless the people around me and, um, bless, bless, uh, you know the relationships that I have. You know how do I uh, pour back into those relationships? Y'all? I haven't.

Speaker 1:

I used to be that lady who I'd like plan all the lunches and get the people together and I would do the things at my house. I used to do all that and all of that disappeared. I would say, probably around 2019. It just kind of was like and then the you know the pandemic and you know everything, right, so I stopped really doing that. But I'm looking at relationships like even relationships with our kid, with my daughter. I told her something I want to do in 2025 is for us to go out and eat together more like me and her, you know, spend time with my daughter, going out to dinner with my husband and, you know, doing the things right, doing this, pouring time back into relationships and with your, your nephews, your cousins, your you know, really investing time in the relationships, your friends, all of my sister circles, all that really investing time, quality time. It might not be like I don't talk to my mentors every day but I do catch, I do, you know, check in consistently so that I can tap in and hear from. I have a spiritual mentor, I have a spiritual mother. I have business mentors right, you know, folks on my job in corporate girly land right, I have, and I check in with them. You know I pour back. But I girly land right, I have, and I check in with them. You know I pour back, but I want to make sure that I maintain those relationships.

Speaker 1:

The second thing under personal is our mindset. We got to get our minds right. You can't see yourself if you can't see yourself owning or really being that person that you really want to be. That's the visualization. That's why people do the vision boards. They put up the picture of the cars because they want to visualize themselves driving the car. They put up the picture of the house because they want to see themselves living in the house. That's all, it is y'all. And then what happens is that they're in their mind. Because they're constantly seeing that image, their mind starts to work that way.

Speaker 1:

I deserve that health. I deserve good health. I deserve that health. I deserve good health. I deserve a great, a successful career. I deserve healthy relationships. I deserve good things coming to me and my family. I deserve generational wealth. I deserve like. That's what happens, and the more you start receiving it, you start doubting that God is going to open a door, and then you start to see these opportunities and these open doors. These doors start to open for you because you put yourself in a position to start receiving all these things.

Speaker 1:

So our mindset, though, has to change. If you have a poverty mindset, where you grew up poor and all you can think about is how broke you are and how you're going to be broke next month and how listen my mindset and I think this is because of how I was raised we weren't raised with a poverty mindset. We were raised really believing that whatever we want will come, we will achieve and we'll be successful in everything we do, it's not being, it's not just about being positive. It's like we would truly believe that if you told me tomorrow that I'm going to Shelly, you're going to be an astronaut, I'd be like, yes, girl, I'm going to be the best astronaut there is right, that's just my mindset. I used to be a worrier long, long time ago, but I realized that when I was in that, when I had that worry mindset, I was surrounded by people who worried all the time, who constantly were doubting things and I don't know how it's going to be in the law of my health. Oh, my, my, you know my family, all we did, and I, literally, I was getting just drawn into that negative space of poverty, thinking I don't think that. I don't think that. I know that my life is blessed. I know that everything I touch is productive, is blessed. I know that I'm a generational uh, uh, I have generational. What like? I start pulling on these things according to god's promises for me. So that is a mindset shift and change that you're gonna have to do now. It is going to cause some, some, some issues in your life because, uh, there's gonna be folks who don't agree with that. Right, that's not their path, that's not your business. You let people do what they got to do, but god didn't call you to be broke. That's all I'm saying about that.

Speaker 1:

The last thing on the personal is self-care, and again I touched on this a little bit on health, but just little things, like I call them very small luxuries, little luxuries that I have for myself that I consider self-care. I don't I do my own nails. I do that kind of stuff that is myself that I consider self-care. I don't I do my own nails. I do that kind of stuff that is actually part of my self-care. Cleaning my house is part of my self-care, because I love a clean space.

Speaker 1:

So, before you even go into the new year, take time to declutter, get rid of stuff you don't need. Y'all I'm, I have stuff in my shower and that's my, the last place I have left to declutter and like like body wash, it's like I don't want to use that. I'm not taking anything into 2025. I'm taking yes, let's do it Everything I love and enjoy. That's what I'm taking. I want to start the year how I want to finish it right.

Speaker 1:

So little luxuries, like I'm showing you, like this is just a hand lotion and I have hand lotions. I keep them by my bed, I keep them in my purse, I keep them in my car, I find the ones that I can afford me, right, and then that's what? And I just keep it and I just love it. So it's a little luxury. That's considered a little bit of self-care. I open it, I rub my hands, it smells good and I feel good. Right, little luxuriesuries, little things like that. That's part of my self-care, um, but being able to afford it is also my self-care, right? Having a healthy bank account so that I can actually afford my little luxury, that's a part of my self-care. So you figure out what yourself. It could be exercise, paying for an exercise program or signing up for a gym. You actually go to free taking up a hobby mine is reading.

Speaker 1:

So I have one more book that I really wanted to finish before january 6th because my mindset is going to change. It's back to business, right. This is my week off, if you will. Um, I am going back to work in a couple days, but it's more of like getting back into the group of things. This is being recorded on the 31st it's tuesday, just so y'all know what day it is. So those are the. It's the thing. So I thank y'all for sticking around.

Speaker 1:

Here are the five areas that we're praying god to bless us in this year. It's our health, first of all health, our career and professional growth. It's our finance. It's our spiritual walk, and it's not personal in our relationships, our mindset and our health care. So, father, we thank you so much for this day. I thank you for this vlog. I hope that this blesses someone and encourages them. We're gonna do great things in 2025. I thank you for the grace and the favor that you're gonna give every person under the sound of my voice. That you're gonna get them excited about what the future holds.

Speaker 1:

Lord, those of us who didn't get our needs met this year, those who are still looking for jobs and opportunities in business, lord God, I ask that you will bless and open the doors, but help them to create the discipline and to work with you, not against you, lord, father, we receive all that heaven has for us. I thank you for all the success and all the breakthroughs and the blessings that's going to come for every person under the sound of my voice. That they will be healthy, lord God. That they'll be blessed in health. That, Lord, god, that their careers and their professional whether it's they own a business or they're working for someone else, that they will blossom. They're looking for jobs. They'll find the right fit this year. You'll give them the right opportunity.

Speaker 1:

If it's a financial thing, that there'll be generational wealth and health built up this year, that you show us, lord God, the discipline to be low by this year, so we don't just spend everything that we receive, father, building up our spiritual walk, so we meet you in the word more, and that we hear from you more, lord God, and in our personal lives our relationships are stronger and healthier, that our mindset is more positive and set on you, lord God, and that we will adopt a good self-care. Everything that is good and acceptable and pure comes from you, jesus. So we thank you and receive that now. Amen, all right, that's it. That is my vlog. I hope that blesses y'all. It really blessed me. If nothing else, I needed to put this thing down. Sometimes, you know, come on here and talk about you, know all the pretty stuff y'all, but sometimes I gotta come on and share other things with you. So I hope that vlog helped y'all. Have a good rest of your week, happy new year and I will see you soon. All right, love y'all. Bye.