JerBear Fam, 🐻

First of all, thank you for sharing how you’re doing each week and for being with me on this journey. It truly means so much. I am always a work in progress and try to be intentional about how I approach life. Reading and reflecting keeps me grounded and has helped me move forward even when I was just crawling to stay moving. This is why I write and share.

I want to reflect on my last couple weeks because they were a lot in a great way. I went from a quick trip to NY with my second family to the most incredible Lake Tahoe getaway that felt like out of a movie. I’m not even sure I have fully processed the gift of all my new experiences. As if those trips weren’t already the icing on the cake, I got to take my big sis to an epic Lakers game experience and one of my little sisters to watch future Olympians at an elite gymnastics meet. Is this real life?

Here are a few pics of me with my sisters:

Coming back to LA gives me time to pause and think through what’s next. I center myself by making sure I go the gym and church as much as possible. That is where take deep breaths and reflect on how I want to make sure my decisions align with who I am. While this is a different kind of pause than making daily decisions, I feel like all pauses are important and impact how we approach things.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.“ - Viktor E. Frankl

I love this quote because it reminds me that we always have choices no matter what the situation. If you are stuck between two choices, I have a trick. Flip a coin and just assign your choices to heads or tails. If it lands on one and you are disappointed by the outcome, you know you really wanted the other choice. Someone shared this with me so I can’t take full credit for it but I’d love to know what you think.

Alright, let’s get to it!

Speaking of pausing… have you ever reacted to something someone said or did and wished you could take it back? Words and actions can’t be reversed no matter how much we apologize after. The verse I want to share this week focuses on controlling how you react when you feel misunderstood, rushed, disappointed… all the feelings.

Pausing doesn’t always look dramatic. Sometimes it’s just taking a few breaths. And sometimes it’s choosing silence instead of impulsive words. It’s a reminder that our strength often shows up in restraint, and being thoughtful instead of reactive which helps us make decisions we can be proud of later. And it creates room for God to lead instead of relying on pure emotions.

Mindset by Carol Dwek - Watch my review here

Explores how having a growth mindset helps you learn, adapt, and keep going especially when things feel hard or new.

This book was so good I sent copies to several of my friends. Highly recommend.

Are you loving the new pink hoodie option? Pre-orders are going out soon!

After pausing last week (yes, I am sticking with our theme :), I have made the decision to make this a biweekly newsletter so I can make sure my content is rich and not rushed. In the meantime, please pass this along to someone who could use it. Subscribing is always free!

So grateful you’re here.

Until next time.

- Jeremiah