Transforming Chaos into Clarity (Without Losing My Marbles)

Welcome and Introduction:

Hey, hey, Bliss Friends! Thank you for visiting my space. I’m Mali. I’m a full-time mom of two—a teen and a tween—whom I affectionately call Thing 1 and Thing 2. LOL! I currently work full-time and am also a writer and entrepreneur.

As you can see, I wear many hats, and I’ve only listed a few. After experiencing myself fall down a rabbit hole of aimlessly getting through each day (more about that later), I discovered ways to pull myself out of the chaos by creating simple, intentional habits.

I started this blog as a creative outlet to hold myself accountable because, let’s be honest, it’s way easier to stay curled up in our comfy-cozy shell of avoidance, stagnation, and scarcity mindset than it is to be purposeful in our thoughts and actions.

While holding myself accountable, I’ll be sharing my systems and practices with you. Together, we’ll increase productivity, stay motivated, and practice gratitude. So, let’s transform our daily habits into powerful tools for success through small, intentional steps!

The Purpose of My Blog:

Stay tuned for tips and tricks on Routine & Organization, Discipline & Mindfulness, and Reflection & Growth. I believe that by creating a purposeful and intentional lifestyle, we can heal and transform our lives—much like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. You’ll hear me say this over and over, so hello record player… meet your broken record! LOL!

Story Time!

I promised you more about my journey, sooooo… Story Time!!!!

In retrospect, I realize I’ve been on this path to creating an intentional lifestyle for about three years now, but let’s cut to October 2024. I was working three jobs, pulling out all the stops as a mom—family game nights, home-cooked meals, sporting events, you name it. Naturally, I became burnt out and fell into a routine of hitting snooze on my alarm, sleeping right up to five minutes before my clock-in time. My workout routine fell off, and so did my clean eating. In a nutshell, I was tired, dehydrated, and grumpy at all times. As I like to say to my kids, I was close to losing my marbles. My marble-filled glass jar was fragile, baby! It was one touch away from breaking and sending my marbles scattering for everyone to slip and slide on.

If all of that wasn’t enough, I began losing my side hustles. In case I need to set the scene for you, friends: A single mom in this economy losing access to her additional income is all one needs to go batshit crazy. It’s interesting, though, how Divine intervention works. I had been stuck feeling like my side hustles were taking more of my time away from my kids than they were worth, and yet, I was living in fear and wouldn’t let them go. I couldn’t bring myself to quit out of fear that we wouldn’t have enough—Scarcity Mindset over Gratitude and Abundance. Keep in mind, I just said that I had been feeling like the money wasn’t worth the extra time.

About a week or so before Thanksgiving, I felt a strong urge to do a fast. Yes, y’all heard me correctly. If you’re thinking I’m a madwoman, well, I don’t blame you. Stick around to find out if I followed through.

Now, I’d practiced fasting plenty before, but mainly within the safe walls and structure provided by a professional. My past experience was child’s play compared to what I planned to challenge myself with. Never before had I embarked on a journey of creating my own structure and purpose for fasting and prayer. Once again, fear tried to convince me of reason after reason as to why I couldn’t do this on my own, but thank God for community. My sister gave me guidance, and during our conversation, for every excuse I had, she had a resolution. Ha! So, I began my fast. I chose to fast from eating during the time the sun was out. And y’all, I love eating, and I am a snacker through and through! But for 10 days, I committed to no eating after sunrise and before sunset. Instead, I would fill my time with meditating, reading motivational books, and journaling—a combination of prayer, gratitude, and reflection.

So, why am I sharing this with you? Because it was during this time that I became familiar with how an intentional and purposeful lifestyle can release anxiety, create growth, and inspire an abundance mindset. To keep my promise to myself and successfully complete my fast, I had to plan out my day-to-day. I had to create and stick to a routine in order to have time to eat, journal, meditate, and get ready for work by the time of sunrise. Likewise, I still had a few weeks before one of my side hustle contracts was to end, so I still had to balance motherhood and two jobs into my routine. Girl math would not work in my favor this time around!

I am super proud of myself because I successfully completed the promise I made to fast, even through the Thanksgiving holiday! Y’all, this. was. hard. work! The first few days, I searched for a loophole daily. Then, amazingly, I slowly began to feel empowered and found myself taking on new opportunities and completing tasks that would normally have stunned me into such a frozen state that my brain couldn’t figure out how to problem-solve.

Now, are y’all ready for some transparency? Of course, you are! After successfully becoming an empowered routine boss, I decided that I “deserved” to cut myself some slack. Well, friends, let me tell you where that attitude landed me… right back into snoozing my alarm and feeling anxious. I felt hurried, tired, frustrated, and unfocused—more than before. I barely wanted to brush my teeth—in fact, the act of brushing my teeth felt like having to do bathroom chores. I simply didn’t want to, even though I knew it was necessary.

Now, before you begin wondering why you should continue reading instead of running away, let me explain how I pulled myself out of my funk. First, I let my side hustles end and began focusing on my main source of income—my full-time job. I started a gratitude journal, taking the time to write down things I was thankful for to reduce anxiety and worry. I took a few days off from my full-time job and began a new routine incorporating some of the practices from my fast. Even though I was off, I didn’t sleep until late morning. I didn’t lay around watching TV all day and eating junk food. I filled my off-time with intentional actions. I created a vision board, worked out, read, and wrote down a list of what kept me motivated and pushed me through during my fast—especially on those days I wanted to give up.

Here are three simple things that help me avoid unhealthy avoidance, stay motivated, and continue to be intentional with my actions and thoughts—and honestly, what inspired this blog:

• Routine: A pattern or system that is regularly followed. It’s putting yourself on a program. If you plan out your time, there are no pockets of empty space to fill with more comfortable habits—like watching TV or scrolling on social media.

• Discipline: Simply put, discipline is training. It’s what will keep you going when you lack the motivation to do so.

• Reflection: This is where you can see your progress, even when it feels like you’ve made none. Remember, small progress is still progress! It’s also a way to assess and implement opportunities for growth. Think about how you started a new diet and it doesn’t feel like you’re seeing results, but then you look back through your photos and you can actually see the small changes.

My Vision for the Blog:

My goal is to build a community rooted in encouragement, guided by reflection, driven by clear goals, and uplifted by mindfulness. It’s about creating a space where inspiration and intentionality meet, empowering us to grow and live with greater clarity and joy.

I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to drop a comment or send me a message—let me know if any of these topics resonate with you, or if you have a story you’d like to share. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out via email. And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for daily inspiration and updates on new posts!

Blissfully, Mali 🦋