TimeRich with April Bragg

Does living life on your own terms sound, well, selfish?

Have you ever wished you had more time - but when you do get more time, others seem to ask more of you?

Ever wished you had more energy, but also felt like you were lazy because you could see others that seem to do more - and they never get tired?

If there's anything the Enemy is good at - it's at getting us to compare ourselves

And comparing leads us to either

1. feeling inadequate (because we see others as better than us)
2. feeling prideful (because we see ourselves as better than others)

UGGGHHHH!!!!

In today's episode, I created an acronym out of the word TERMS to explain 5 areas that we can focus on to make our life better.

Some may think it sounds selfish - I think it's just good stewardship.

But I will let you decide!

PS - I'd love to know: Which one could you use more of? Time, energy, money, better relationships, or the ability to relax and appreciate your success?  

go to https://aprilbragg.com/ for more.

Do you struggle with anxiety?  Ever wonder if it's a spiritual failing?

"If my faith were stronger, I wouldn't be fearful!"  That's a myth that I inadvertently picked up by growing up in a church that NEVER discussed issues of mental health.

Let's change that!  Today, I invited Christina Adrien, LMHC to come and talk to us about 

1. How prevalent anxiety is
2. What are the causes
3. Is it a spiritual failure
4. What we can do about it

I'm going to be real with you here - I struggled with anxiety long before I even knew the meaning of the word!  And then I made it worse by having Anxiety ABOUT my anxiety.  But, through God's grace and my mother's wisdom, I have learned how to "have peace in the midst of the storm".

And that's the Plan.  

So, enjoy these words of wisdom from Christina if you, like me, struggle with anxiety and would benefit from Creating an Anxiety Plan!

And for further help, you can find out more about Christina's work here:

Website - https://www.adrientherapy.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/adrientherapy/

FREE GIFT! Download Free thought journal - https://www.adrientherapy.com/thoughtjournal

If you had to pick one word to describe your marriage, what would it be?

If you chose one word to describe your ideal marriage, what woud it be?

Mine would be the same - passionate.  Even before I met my husband, I wanted to have a passionate marriage.

How does that saying go...Be careful what you wish for? LOL

The reason I wanted to talk about my marriage - and the pros and cons of our passionate natures and our passionate relationship together - is because of this - 

To dispel the myth that there is ONE PERFECT WAY for a marriage to look.  

The Bible is full of pictures of marriages - and God doesn't bother to hide the fact that NONE of them are perfect.

But, maybe we could just drop the goal of perfection, and instead aim for enjoying each other's company and supporting each other's dreams and helping each other in our unique creative way.  And maybe laugh at our little idiosyncracies and not make our mistakes mean that we're doing it wrong!

So, I'd call mine and Hiram's marriage PASSIONATE - and I share the pros and cons of that.  And I'd love to know - what word would you use to describe your marriage (or desired relationship)?

Remember, there's no perfect.  There's just better and better practice!

Are We Worshipping the HARD?

There's our goal. Then there's stuff we go through to reach our goal.

Some of that stuff is HARD.  HARD at first, until we get used to doing it, and then it gets easier.

Like walking, public speaking, advocating for others - all things that start out hard and then grow easier with practice.

HOWEVER, there seems to be a big, macho attitude towards "HARD" now.  "We Do HARD THINGS, BRUH!"  Just because they're hard and just to prove how tough they are.

Okay.  That's fine if that's what you want.

But beware of these 2 mistakes:

1. Goal swapping - making "doing HARD things" the goal instead of dealing with "hard things" as they come up in our progress toward our goal
2. Great Story Syndrome - comparing our life to someone else's great story of how they overcame a tragedy and making it mean we can't help people in a great way without a great story

Remember this - Life is as hard as it needs to be to teach us the lessons we need to know to make life better.

Anxiety, Mary & Martha Syndrome, the Enneagram, and Emotional Maturity -

find out what all these things have in common in this conversation that I have with my classmate from college days, former client, and amazing friend Stephanie Goldsborough.

In this episode, we discuss how we have both minimized our anxiety, our mutual appreciation for personality tests, and the benefits of being in our 40's.  

Have you ever had doubts about God?

His Goodness, whether He really loves you, or even His existence?

Well, you are NOT alone. 

In this episode of Bragg...About Life, I reveal the 3 step framework I use to deal with my doubts about God when they crop up.

As in, YES, I still have doubts.  And I don't think that makes me any less a child of God.  In fact, I use those doubts to DEEPEN my relationship with God.

Most of all, I want you to know this - you are NOT alone; doubts are NOT necessarily bad things; and even though it may not feel great (okay, it feels TERRIBLE) to struggle with doubts - that is NOTHING to be ashamed of or hide.

Don't hide your doubts - handle them with compassion and grace.  

Because, truly, the point of the Christian faith walk is not to KNOW everything, but rather to GROW in everything - love, joy, faith.

Be OKAY with not knowing, but rather GROWING!

And, if you'd like to continue this conversation - email me at [email protected]

Blessed are the BUSY, because they shall get to finally rest in Heaven someday.

That is NOT what the Good Book says, but for some reason, it has become quite acceptable in Christian circles to be rushing around from activity to activity, staying busy with lots of life events and ministry opportunities.

And I was the worst about this.  

In this episode, I share a snapshot of what I now refer to as "the BUSY years", how I got trapped in unnecessary busyness, and what I did to free myself from a crowded calendar and chaotic life.

I realized that, in my mind, Busyness = Important, and Busyness was how I distracted myself from my real work - facing my doubts and insecurities, and growing in grace, and living out my true purpose.

And, after you listen to the episode, I'd love to know - which reason resonated the most with you?  Let's talk about it!  You can email me at [email protected]

Enjoy!

Iron sharpens iron - that's what the Bible says.

Being influential on those around you was a THING before Instagram, lol!

In fact, we are called to be a light to the world.  

So, the next question is, how to be influential?  Or, how to be MORE influential?  

That's what I dive into in this episode.

Don't worry.  This is not "how to be Instagram famous" - but rather, how to be influential in the ways that are important to you, and that can have a life-changing, positive influence on those you love.

And, it all boils down to knowing a few things about ourselves, and then consistently living from those things.

I hope this episode encourages you and reminds you that you were meant to have a positive and loving influence on YOUR PEOPLE!

Nobody likes a crybaby.  At least, that's what I thought.

And as a sensitive child, I spent a LOT of time trying to prevent the tears, hide the tears, deny the tears.

I thought my sensitive nature was a weakness.

Until one day, when I realized, It IS NOT!

We all have aspects of ourselves that we might not have chosen.  Physical, mental, emotional parts of us that feel like they're holding us back.

Question is, what are we going to do about these "flaws"?  Are we going to go through life, apologizing for how we were created? 

I hope not.

I hope this episode encourages you to take a new perspective on YOU!  

And our "weakness" is an opportunity to receive not one, but 2 amazing gifts!

Listen to the episode to find out what those 2 amazing gifts are, and why I now see my super weakness as my super strength.

And then, I'd love to hear - what is your superweakness turned superstrength?

We're more digitally connected than ever.  And we're struggling with loneliness more than ever.

So bizarre, right?  But we've had enough time to prove one thing - likes and comments and followers are STILL not nearly as powerful as YOUR PRESENCE.

That's why I wanted to talk about 3 Simple Tips to Improve Any Relationship this week.  Because the ironic thing is - with people STARVING for attention, it really only takes a BIT of intentionality to make a difference in a relationship.

Think about it - you have the ability to POWERFULLY CONNECT with those nearest and dearest to you, simply by being present and intentional.

It's such a gift to share with others.  It's such a gift to share with yourself.

I hope this episode inspires you to BE the person who leads the way in your relationships!