The Unhurried Life

Whether overwhelm is easy or difficult for you to admit to, the chances that you've experienced or are currently experiencing overwhelm is extremely high. Especially in motherhood.

I hear from women all the time that they're dealing with so many different levels of overwhelm. I wanted to share with you my personal walk through overwhelm. How it tends to sneak in no matter how much mindfulness, screen-free living, or crock pot dinners I have going on.

There is not one person that is safe from the feeling of overwhelm. It happens to us all. It happens to the best of us. It doesn't mean you're any worse than the next person. And it doesn't mean that you're a failure.

Overwhelm happens when you're over consumed. So how do you backtrack, how do you get out of the consumption when you’re committed or in too deep!?

Listen in to learn how I personally handle my feelings of overwhelm! 

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/overcome-the-feeling-of-overwhelm/

It's possible that to live intentionally you have to first identify that you might be floating. For some reason it seems a little bit easier to live in a state of denial or misdiagnosis than to actually see where we might be sick.

Once you become diagnosed you can now start living in a different way. You can start living proactively. When it comes to living intentionally why do we have to wait to be diagnosed?

Aside from the busyness of life, aside from the distractions of always going from one thing to the other, can you take this moment and identify if you're living according to your values and beliefs or are you living situationally amidst your circumstances?

Tune in to find out how I implement living intentionally in my own life. 

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/how-to-live-intentionally/

These moments in your family's life are priceless. But let me ask you a question, where are all the memories of your kids? I'm guessing that if you were to pull out your phone right now you would find them all living on your phone memory! Maybe you've printed a few, maybe you've tried scrapbooks?

The idea of family albums is intriguing to you but it also sounds like 17,000 hours of work! Where do you even start when it comes to creating a family album? I'll tell you exactly where!

You start with today. No matter what today is it's the perfect day to start getting your photos ready to put into a family yearbook. I want to introduce you to a system that will allow you to go from overwhelmed thousands of photos on your phone to a beautifully designed family yearbook. You can hold it in your hands. Your kids can flip through it, not thumb through it and scroll and scroll and scroll, but they can see in print their life. They will know exactly where that book is 15 years down the road and they will be able to share it with their family.

Putting your photos into a family album allows you the chance to tell your story. It allows you the chance to share your story and everybody has a story to share but you just don't know where to start.

If you know anything about me, then you know photo organization is my passion! I know some people might have a passion like giving extra shoes to kids in Africa or working with an orphanage in Nicaragua. Although I love those things too they aren't my purpose in life.

My purpose in life is to help women, just like you, learn to live in the present. Part of learning to live in the present is learning to enjoy moments from the past. I know that sounds strange so let me explain a little bit more!

Are you like my old college friend? She had reached a breaking point. With two small kids at home, working full-time, and all the other things that come with motherhood she had been pushed to the point where there's no more messing around.

Maybe you've reached the point where you're just fed up with it, you're done. You just need the fastest and easiest way to accomplish the task. So here you are. Let's solve it. Are you embarrassed or overwhelmed at the shocking amount of photos that are living on your phone. Are you frustrated with yourself because you still haven't made your four-year-olds baby album? Just because they are the middle child doesn't mean their childhood needs to go forgotten! Spoken from a true middle child over here!

So you clicked over to listen to this podcast and you got a little fire in you. You're ready to finally do it. So let's do it. Let's get all of those photos on your phone organized and in the right spot. because that's one thing you really want to get checked off this year. You're tired of writing it and thinking it again and again and again 2020, 2021 and now 2022! Enough already.

Let me walk you through some of my best tips and tricks for photo organization!

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/photo-organization-its-not-just-for-your-phone/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlifeWell happy new year and welcome to new, fresh motivation! I’m so glad you’re here because this is a great way to start off.

Simplifying your life is an amazing way to start out this new year.

It’s no secret right now that simplification is a buzz word. You want less, you feel overwhelmed and overcommitted.

You look at your life and see busy and you don’t want to be there. Minimalism is a dream of yours. So your mind goes, how can I make this easier, how can I simplify alllll the things so I have a chance to breathe.

As I began this episode I did a simple google search. What I found made me laugh a little. 72 tips to simplify, or 25 hacks to simplify your life. How about 1 tip or 1 idea. How about the whole less is more approach?

Although a lot of those articles I clicked through had good ideas on how to simplify life and why simplifying your life was important I found myself getting a tad overwhelmed with all the things I would have to do to be able to do less.

It confirmed my hunch that we all need a little simplification from trying to simplify. So as the year kicks off I hope you read this and start to get the idea that you don’t actually need more ideas, more prompts, more motivation. I believe you are already motivated and you already have the ideas, it’s just getting the guts to actually see your life become something different than it is now.

Let me explain what I mean. Tune into this episode here to simplify your life (without 25 tips)!

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/simplifying-your-life-without-25-tips/

Now that our family looks a little bit different our family Christmas traditions have moved around as well!  I want to first start by taking the pressure off.

We’ve tried some traditions one year and then totally dropped them the next.  Our kids are still young so they don’t really remember but if your kids are older allow them the chance to speak up for traditions.

Since December is already in full swing at this point you may be feeling the rush and pull of the holidays.  Bless you.  Holidays can be such a double edged sword.

Family Christmas traditions are made to be fun but can wind up bringing in more stress.  So let’s look at how you can be more present (pun?) less distracted and create traditions that focus on connection rather than tradition for traditions sake.

Tune in this month to get some great new traditions to think about as well as hear about our meaningful family traditions that keep us connected and grounded!

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/our-family-christmas-traditions-wins-and-flops/

Those sleepy days of a newborn being in the house are upon us!

I thought nothing could top the birth story of our third! It was pretty amazing! But each child holds their own birth story and every woman has such a fun unique experience with birth. I just love hearing all the positive birth stories out there!

Life with children is so different for each one of us. We’re all on such a unique journey.

What’s so great about our generation is that we share. We share so much about our own experiences as well as encouragement for others in theirs. Some may even say we’re over ‘sharers’ but that’s another episode for another time!

I’ve loved posting on Instagram, Facebook, and the podcast, sharing our birth stories and adventures with you.I thought it would be fun to do a little real life Q&A as well as share the birth story of our 4th sweet baby.

Come join me as I share everything about he 4th Brazeal (including his name reveal) and answer some of your own questions on bringing a 4th home and the changes we’re seeing (and feeling).

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/4th-child-birth-story-qa/

With fall and the holidays peeking around the corner, what better time to talk about the best (and most helpful) iPhone photography tips!?

If photography is something that’s always interested you then I’m sure the thought of getting a few extra tips to take your photography game up a level, and especially photography with an iPhone, has got your creative brain lit up. You are definitely in the right place!

As you may, or may not know, I was a professional photographer for over 10 years. A wedding photographer. Which means I mastered lighting, angles and flattering strapless dress photos plus got really good at keeping thousands and thousands of photos organized for my clients!

Enter my children! My DSLR was a little heartbroken as my iPhone started to get way more love when it came to snapping memories of my kids!

I began the process of figuring out how I could get the very best photos on my iPhone, since it was way easier to edit and store those then it was to try and upload from a memory card, convert files, edit, and backup photos for my big girl camera!

This month on the podcast I’m giving you my best “iphone-ography” tips and even going a little beyond! Tune in to this jam packed (but only 15 min) episode to prepare for the holidays coming up!

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/tips-for-photography-with-iphone/

Seasons of life can look like the typical 4 earthly seasons. winter, spring, summer, and fall. But seasons can also come in day and night.

Seasons of life can also be similar to stages. A season with kids in diapers and a season when kids start school or move away to school.

Embracing seasons of life is going to be how you see change and that’s exactly what season represents.

“Life gets better, not by chance, but by change” John Rohn

Have you found yourself fighting to hold onto a past season or, if you’re in the newborn or diapers season, longing for the end of a season?

I feel like my season of life with little babies is never ending, with our fourth baby on the way any day now. It can be easy to let myself slip into a place of complacency or even complaint for the current season of life I’m in. But just like the 4 changing seasons of our earth, our life stages continue to evolve if we notice it or not.

Any more seasoned mom will tell you to hold onto the little years because they go so quickly. So why does it feel like they drag by slower than a herd of snails traveling through peanut butter?

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/embracing-seasons-of-life/

Have you ever felt like screens were creeping in and taking over? Need a little “bring it back home” talk when it comes to screen monitoring your kids and … yourself! Don’t worry, this is super duper common. Screens are not always the enemy but letting screens takeover can make life seem, chaotic!

When it comes to screens and technology you have to remember who is truly in control and the whole mindset of authority over the use of screens is a good place to start!

50 years ago screen monitoring was not a thing cause, well they didn’t really have screens in the home. But somehow everyone survived and if you think back to that life you can picture things being a little slower and more simple. Is that a coincidence or could there be a connection to less screens causing a simpler lifestyle?

A few years back, almost 5 years actually we went screen free and I’m about to share part of my story through some fun Q&A that I’ve gotten over the years from you. Some common screen monitoring, screen detox, and screen free questions that I'm totally open about.

COMMUNITY FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theunhurriedlife

THE UNHURRIED LIFE SHOW NOTES: https://jbrazeal.com/screen-monitorin…ur-kids-and-self/