THE SHIFT STARTS WITHIN

LET'S CHAT ALL THINGS NERVOUS SYSTEM

Understanding what’s happening within your body, learning to recognize what it needs, and what I’ve created to help you feel more supported through it all.

The nervous system has become one of those things I can’t unlearn about.

The more I’ve learned about my body, my stress, my habits and the way I move through everyday life, the more I’ve realized how much starts here.

And I think for a long time, I assumed stress was just… stress. You feel overwhelmed, you push through it, you get to the other side and move on. But our bodies are paying attention to so much more than we realize.

Your nervous system is constantly taking in information and deciding: Am I safe? Do I need to be on alert? Can I rest here?

And when your body spends a lot of time in that go-go-go, always-on state, it can start communicating with you in ways that are really easy to brush off.

YOUR BODY IS ALWAYS TALKING TO YOU

This is something I’ve had to learn for myself: our bodies give us signals.

Sometimes we’re so used to pushing through, being productive, taking care of everyone else and moving onto the next thing that we don’t actually stop long enough to listen.

And no, I don’t think the goal is to analyze every little thing your body does or somehow live a completely stress-free life. That’s not realistic.

For me, it’s been more about learning to recognize when my body is asking for support – and having tools that help me respond instead of continuing to push through it.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM + LYMPHATIC SYSTEM CONNECTION

This has been another really interesting piece for me.

Our bodies aren’t made up of a bunch of completely separate systems doing their own thing. They’re connected. And when we start supporting one area, it can have a ripple effect on how we feel overall.

Your lymphatic system plays an important role in fluid balance and immune function, and unlike your circulatory system, it doesn’t have a heart pumping things along. Movement, breathing and muscle contractions all help lymph move throughout the body.

This is one of the reasons I’ve become so intentional about simple practices that support both my body and nervous system.

Things like walking, deep breathing, getting outside, gentle movement, creating slower transitions in my day and giving myself actual moments to come down from the constant stimulation.

Nothing groundbreaking. Nothing that needs to become another 47-step wellness routine.

Just small things that tell my body, hey, you don’t have to be “on” every second of the day.

THATS WHERE 'WHAT BROKE ME, BUILT ME' COMES IN...

And really, this is a huge part of why I created What Broke Me, Built Me.

If you haven’t heard me talk about it yet, What Broke Me, Built Me is a course I am launching (very soon) all about understanding your nervous system, recognizing the patterns that keep you stuck in survival mode, and building simple habits + routines that help you feel more supported in your everyday life.

Because so much of what I’m sharing inside this course came from things I had to learn myself.

There were seasons where I was living in survival mode without necessarily realizing that’s what it was. I could keep going. I could get things done. I could show up.

But being able to function and actually feeling supported in your body are two very different things.

The course is about taking what I’ve learned through those seasons and turning it into something practical that you can actually bring into your own life – from understanding your nervous system to looking at your routines, habits and the little things you do every day.

This isn’t about creating a “perfect” routine or giving you another list of things you should be doing.

It’s about understanding yourself better, noticing what your body is telling you, and building habits that actually support the life you’re living.

Because sometimes the things that break us open end up teaching us the most about what we need.

And for me, that’s exactly where so much of this began.

AN EXCITING UDPATE FROM THE RANCH

JOIN THE WAITLIST

Want in before everyone else? Join the waitlist and be the first to know when 'What Broke Me, Built Me' officially drops - plus, you’ll get an exclusive bonus just for being here early. I seriously can’t wait to share this with you.

Click Here

Okay, enough nervous system talk for a minute because we have some ranch updates to get into – and somehow there is always something going on around here.

THE THREE AMIGOS

If you’ve been following along, you know it all started with Lil Wayne. Then came Popeye, our donkey, and right now we also have Ella, my brother’s horse who is essentially vacationing with us before heading back to his home.

And the dynamics between these three have been… a journey.

When Ella and Wayne first met, they fought like crazy. Ella was NOT interested in being Wayne’s bestie, and things actually got bad enough that she kicked him multiple times and left him with a pretty good wound. We ended up having to separate them for a while because clearly, friendship was not on the agenda.

Fast-forward to now and somehow these two have the sweetest relationship. Like… who would have thought?!

And I honestly think we have Popeye to thank for some of it.

When Popeye joined the crew, he wasn’t exactly intimidated by Ella’s moods. He would test her and push her buttons in a way Wayne never really did, and over time it almost seemed like Ella just learned to… chill.

Now the three of them are basically the three amigos, and watching their little dynamic together has been one of my favourite parts of having them around.

One of the funniest things about them is Wayne’s attachment to Ella. He LOVES her. If she goes somewhere, there’s a pretty good chance Wayne would also like to be there. Considering where those two started, it makes their friendship that much sweeter.

AND THEN THERES THE TRAILER SAGA...

And with our little crew growing, naturally came the next conversation: trailers. And let me tell you, I have learned A LOT.

The more time we’ve spent around the horses and figuring out what we actually need, the more I’ve realized that a trailer is definitely one of those things I don’t want to compromise on. Safety, quality and having something that’s built to last matter so much to me.

Which brings me to HART Trailers.

If you know, you know. Their quality is honestly unmatched, and the more I’ve learned about their trailers, the more I understand why they have the reputation they do. When you’re hauling animals you love, having something you can genuinely trust and feel confident pulling down the road is a pretty big deal.

So yes, I have officially become someone who researches trailers, notices trailer brands and gets excited about trailer features. Ranch life has changed me.

The trailer search has definitely been a process, but it’s also been really fun figuring out what makes sense for us and this little crew we somehow keep adding to.

I’ll keep you posted on where the trailer saga takes us next…

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September 11, 2023February 8, 2024

Decluttering for Smiles: Tips on Organizing Your Home & Mind

You may have heard me talk about “Decluttering for Smiles” whether on Instagram, Facebook, or my newsletters. What I mean by this is when we are intentional about decluttering certain areas of our lives, not only are we more organized, but our minds are more at ease, our anxiety is relieved…we smile more.

One area of your home that may need some decluttering TLC at the moment is your bathroom, specifically your countertops and drawers. That is why I’m sharing this with you, and you’ll understand more as you read this post. The item I’m sharing for your bathroom organization is truly a huge overall roll for so many of your needs.

It’s easy to throw all the things in the drawer and close it shut, items getting lost in the depths, maybe never to be seen again. Then, when it does come time to get ready, we open the drawer and are completely overwhelmed and that negative energy can carryover into our day. Not to mention, the time that’s wasted hunting and rummaging to find what you’re looking for. Does this sound familiar?

A few months back, I did a deep clean of my bathroom and I was introduced to these drawer organizers. They’ve helped simplify things so much! Again, you’ll see why I use these throughout my home now.

Let’s take action! Are you ready to start organizing?

1. Checking expiration dates is huge! Skincare and sunscreens don’t have a huge life span so using what we have and knowing expiration dates is important. Instead of buying a ton of different kinds, you can use me as a resource to help narrow products down. You can find a lot of my favs on my Current Hair Care & Sunscreen Guide blog posts (click the titles to be taken to each post).

2. Having a place for everything and everything in its place is huge. If there is no space for it, it does not belong. The organizers I shared above are crazy helpful in creating that space. I also have great deeper drawer ones if you’re needing more.

3. Create specific spaces for each category. If you don’t, you will forget that product even exists. Use a label maker, if needed, to help keep track of the areas.

4. Ditch the makeup bag in the drawer and go for more shallow organized container like the link I shared to organize in this newsletter. Those organizers make it so grabbing things doesn’t waste your time and you know exactly what you have, freeing your mind and space.

5. Bathroom hooks and a cabinet above the toilet are great ways to get things to have a space that makes sense. Have a robe? Hang it. Toilet items around the toilet? Put them in a cute case and on a shelf above the toilet.

Let's dive a little deeper.

Your makeup bag. Be honest – how is that thing looking? Is everything bursting at the seams or are you looking to expand? As some of you may already know, I’m a huge fan of Seint makeup because everything from your foundation, contour, and bronzer to your blush and eyeshadows get effortlessly organized and stored in one easy to use compact. Your makeup bag will be transformed!

Here are some of the ways Seint can help organize your makeup – they are ideas and items that truly step it up a NOTCH.

Magnetic Compacts

Seint has a variety of sizes and styles to best meet your needs. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, clicks right into place. These can easily be stored or travel with you anywhere. Having your foundations, contour, blush shades, and eyeshadows all in one place is a gamechanger. It will get you excited about doing your makeup and you can easily swap out shades for the season, keeping them fully customized. I also love that they have mirrors within them. The Demi palette and hard Isle palette have especially big mirrors making it easy to apply your makeup in other places than just the bathroom. These compacts are a great way to get organized with your makeup!

makeup case and travel bag

The makeup case is larger than you think and can hold everything from your compact, brushes, skincare, hair care, and more. It keeps it all in one easy to use space and since it has a firmer exterior, it holds up well in suitcases and carry on bags.

The travel bag is another great way to stay organized with your makeup. It can hold your IIID palettes, brushes, and some other essentials. It fits nicely into your bathroom drawer so you can just grab, put it on the counter, do what you need to do, then put it all away in one organized spot.

Simplify your makeup brushes.

There are a lot of benefits to using Seint, one being their brushes. These are hands down the BEST for applying cream foundation. And what makes them extra special and helps organize your makeup bag is the fact that they are DOUBLE ENDED. Two brushes in one with well thought out purposes to make your makeup game easier.

I needed to provide you with helpful information when it comes to brushes. So many people say to me that they already have brushes; usually the people who tell me this are the same people who have issues when working with a CREAM. When before, they were using a liquid or powder. It makes that big of a difference; they are completely different products even if they’re still known as “foundation.” It truly makes a difference in how and what the brush was made for. Here’s some tips to get to know your brushes and some of my favorite Seint brushes as well if you want some recommendations.

I hope you find this post helpful in beginning to organize and declutter any areas of your life you feel it’s needed. Believe in yourself and your abilities. Remember that every failure is an opportunity to learn and grow, and every obstacle is a chance to become stronger. Embrace the journey and trust that everything will work out in the end. You are capable of greatness, and the world is waiting for you to shine. So go out there and make your dreams a reality!

April 25, 2023February 8, 2024

Gift Bundle Ideas 2023

My love language is gifting and not just any gift, but those that are tried and true by me. I love to give the things I love and in that I’m literally sharing the love with others – below is a guide of great gift box/bundle items that could easily be paired together to create your own custom gift box for someone you love too. Whether it’s a gift for Mothers Day, Fathers Day, a new graduate, etc. these are all gifts that you can’t go wrong with – take a look!

Below you will find a numbered list. They are numbered so you know what link goes with what picture but also so you can create your own basket with ease. Below you will also find a numbered guide of some bundle ideas you could piece together for others. These are just ideas though – the sky is the limit! I wanted you to be able to mix and match however you want and for what suits you or your peoples’ needs.

1. Bobo’s Oat Bars

2. Honey Heel Glaze

3. L’Occitane Hand Cream

4. Honey Chai Hand Cream (travel size)

5. LMNT Electrolyte Drink Packs

6. Laneige Lip Mask

7. Power Up Trail Mix

8. Coquette Uggs Slippers

9. Almond Milk Body Cream

10. That’s It Fruit Bars

11. 3-step Body Sampler

12. How to Be a Wildflower Book

13. Honey-Chai Steeped Milk Lotion (full size)

14. Simple Modern Tumbler

15. TriPole Mini Fan

16. Whipped Honey Body Scrub

Here are a few examples of gift bundles/baskets you could easily create whether it’s for Mothers Day, a birthday, or simply just because you want to do something special for someone you love. These are favorites of my own that I truly feel you and your people would love as well and make for some of the most thoughtful gifts – what bundle would you create for someone?

Speaking of mixing and matching, one of the number one things I’m being asked about right now is eyeshadow combinations. It dawned on me that I actually use a lot of the same colors but sometimes I wear them differently each time. Check out these ideas below and I made sure to link all the colors in one palette under the looks so keep scrolling for those details!

eyeshadow bundles

One of the best things about shopping online with Seint is if I give you an eyeshadow palette with all the colors in it already, you can still customize it based on what’s in your personal inventory. So if there are any colors you see that you already have in your current collection, you can remove them from the palette so you don’t get any duplicates or replace them with another color you’d like to try. Below is the link to shop the palette with all the colors from these looks included!

You might wonder why I paired gift bundles and eyeshadows together in a blog post and part of it is gift giving is one of my love languages and I love sharing the things I love with those I love. But another is that eyeshadows give you the chance to tell your own story each day, to INTENTIONALLY show a piece of who you are! I hope you’re able to pull some great ideas from the guide above and gift more intentionally and thoughtfully, but I also hope you feel inspired to be creative and truly show yourself through the eyes you can create. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, so don’t be afraid to intentionally show off how beautiful yours is!

August 15, 2022February 8, 2024

Balance

I want you to envision the things in your life & all the aspects you want to hit or do every single day; is there a balance? How heavy does it feel? Now, I want you to envision a scale – the one where you can put a weight on one side and one on the other – and see how much balance there is. Balance is key!

What if you took all those things you just envisioned & tried to spread them onto the scale evenly – could you do it? First, I want you to pick 3 things you NEED to make a priority out of all the things you said needed to be done in a day; make those 3 things a priority over the others and put them on one side of that scale.

Next, I want you to pick 3 things that make you feel better, breathe better, emotionally stabilize better, or something we talked about last week. Make those a priority in your life!(Something like, a bath, deep breathing for 5 min, or something you feel you’d like for yourself in that moment.)

Now put those all on the scale – the needs on one side, the things that make you feel better on the other. What happens? Is there balance? Did everything just get easier? Balance is key in making it all work out & it looks like you just made it all make sense. Congrats! You succeeded and should be proud of yourself – but what happens when a new day comes and we let life back in, forgetting all about the balance we created?

See, we like to take all those things and put so much pressure on ourselves for them. We try so hard to load up our worries, our must-haves, even all the technology. Let’s talk about the 3 things on each side of the scale that we chose; both sides have the same importance. Did any of those that scale include technology as a must? Did surfing the web come before anything else?

It didn’t. Did anxiety make it on that list? Self hate?

It didn’t.

Do you put so much pressure on yourself that you try to force other things into the top 3 things you want sitting on that scale? If you’re trying to overfill the scale again and again, what happens over and over?

The balance becomes LOST.

Remember to tell yourself this every day when you’re trying to throw something back onto the scale that doesn’t belong there:

“Does this matter more than my top 3?” (think of the things that outweigh your mind)

“Does this bring value to my life today? Does this thought serve me? Does what I’m thinking about truly matter? Is this important right now?”

If the answer is no, it’s time to balance the scale. More than likely the answer is “it’s not” and you need to keep it away from your much needed balance. Whether it’s negative energy or something that isn’t as important that day, if it doesn’t need to happen, don’t force it to! Have you ever tried anything like this? Ever thought of this type of balance? If so, please share with me in the comments – did this help you?

I can’t wait for this to help focus your life and bring you the balance that’s key. If you were working on these habits but sidetracked from summer, now is the perfect time to step back up to the plate and balance your scale!

Balance truly IS KEY! It starts with a B and ends with an E – once you put it together and find your balance, you can just BE.

You got this! xoxo

Joce

January 5, 2021February 8, 2024

The BEST Fitness Program!

Red and Purple Motivational Quotes Blog Banner

Happy New Year!! With 2021 finally here, I’ve gotten asked so many times about my fitness regime and so on. The BEST fitness program to date has to be from my girl Jessie Hilgenburg!

I found Jessie over five years ago and her approach to fitness. As someone who has always had stomach issues, I had a hard time gaining weight. I spent a lot of time looking for the right personal trainers for me. So many of these trainers would just talk about losing weight but I needed somebody that could actually understand gaining weight. I’m sure the other trainers did, they just didn’t talk about it. My very first time meeting Jessie, I traveled from Texas to Boise on my first solo plane ride. She was teaching a group of amazing women all about form, nutrition, macros, and her fitness plans. I hadn’t ever tried one of her plans but once I met her, I could never go without her programs. I haven’t done any other programs by trainers ever since. Jessie has completely changed my world!

I bought the Muscle Building 1 program to begin with. I felt like a beast, but I was ready to try a different program after some time and so then I tried the Home Edition program and fell in love. I’ve completed all of her programs except the Prenatal Edition, which I wish I had during my childbearing years. A fitness lifestyle is just that: it’s a LIFESTYLE. It’s not a short term gimmick and it is utilized forever.

I went into Jessie’s fitness programs planning on just working out and instead became a whole new person. The whole reason behind what I do and who I am right now is because of what I learned throughout the process of being a “Jessie’s Girl.” She has taught her girls well; not only did I receive amazing fitness programs, I realize now that it’s okay to have the snacks that I want to have. I can STILL get amazing results as long as I’m paying attention to what I’m doing. This truly is the best fitness program!

Jessie's Fitness Plans

I wanted to give you a bit of info on the programs she has now. I do have a code she has graciously shared and it allows you to receive $10 off any program which is an amazing deal. There are a total of 9 programs to choose from and they’re ALL truly the best fitness program you’ll find. I want to share what my favorites have been so keep reading to find out more! **I haven’t yet tried the Foundations training but I’m stoked to soon!

Muscle Building 1 & 2 – If you’re looking to cut out those fad/cookie-cutter diets, this program is amazing! Jessie teaches how to burn fat and gain muscle while letting you choose what to eat based on a nutritional macros guide. You will train and build lean muscle the right way in this 12-week edition. This program is great to train you how to fuel your body in all the right ways!

Home Edition – This is seriously the best at-home guide you can get! If you can’t get to the gym but you still want to get that workout in, this is for you. The program also includes a nutritional guide to go along with the workout plan. It lasts 12 weeks and is her most popular edition yet! Don’t be fooled though – it may be a home edition, but it’s just as intense as the rest of Jessie’s programs!

JG40 Gym & Home – I love this program because it includes workouts for at the gym AND for at home. What’s more is these workout can be done in just 40 minutes! The JG40 program lasts 12 weeks and focuses on both muscle building and fat burning. It’s the perfect program for those with a busy schedule and you only work out for less than 3 hours a week. You can’t beat that, right??

Bodyweight Beast – The Bodyweight program is amazing because you need ZERO equipment. It can be completely done at home and lasts just 4 weeks. It includes a nutritional and macros guide while teaching you to workout using only you body weight as resistance. This is great if you’re looking to switch up your training style between programs!

Foundations – I haven’t yet tried this program but after looking it over let me just say I can’t wait to! Jessie always stresses the importance of form and used to hold camps teaching all about it. This program can last 6-12 weeks and you’ll gain knowledge needed to squat, deadlift, overhead press, perform pull ups confidently and so much more – it’s amazing!

Again, my code is Joce10 to get that $10 discount off any program. Check out Jessie’s Instagram below as well to keep up with her and the Jessie’s Girls community! If you aren’t ready to commit to a workout program, make sure to check out Jessie’s Girls Daily. This offers online gym and home workouts as well as exclusive access to the Jessie’s Girls Facebook group!

I can’t say enough about Jessie Hilgenburg and the journey that she had before creating her business and what she has always wanted to help women see. She continues to teach them to love who they are, take care of who they are, eat all the food, and work your butt off! If you or someone you know is looking for the best fitness program out there, Jessie is your girl!

Tag: Lifestyle

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