18. 💡 Write More by Protecting Your Energy [Journal Prompt]

Protect Your Energy: A Journal Prompt for Busy Moms

In this episode of 'Mom Writes First,' host Jen Larimore introduces a journal prompt designed to help busy moms prioritize what's important in their lives, particularly in the context of reaching writing goals. Jen, a mom of five and a life coach, shares her personal journey of writing her first book and how she manages her time and energy amidst her bustling life. While on a spring break trip with her family, she reflects on the importance of protecting one's energy to not only meet personal aspirations, such as writing, but also to fulfill roles as a mom, wife, and more effectively. The journal prompt encourages listeners to contemplate what it means to protect their energy and how it can lead to living a life that aligns with their true self. Jen concludes the episode by inviting listeners to share their insights and interact with her on Instagram, and encourages sharing the podcast and leaving reviews to help reach more listeners.

00:00 Ki ckstarting Your Writing Journey: A Special Journal Prompt
00:00 Introduction to Mom Writes First Podcast
00:10 Introducing Mom Writes First: Empowering Busy Moms
00:31 Unlock Your Mom Superpower for Writing Success
00:31 The Power of Leveraging Your Mom Superpower for Writing
01:34 The Journey of Writing from a Hotel Room
02:03 Embracing the Iterative Process of Achieving Goals
03:26 The Struggle of Prioritizing Writing and Personal Goals
04:09 Realizing the Importance of Protecting Your Energy
06:52 This Week's Journal Prompt: Protecting Your Energy
07:28 Sharing Insights and Empowering Each Other
08:04 Closing Thoughts and Invitations
08:04 A Call to Action: Share, Review, and Join the Community

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Mom Writes First Podcast
• 0:10 Introducing Mom Writes First: Empowering Busy Moms
• 0:31 The Power of Leveraging Your Mom Superpower for Writing
• 1:34 The Journey of Writing from a Hotel Room
• 2:03 Embracing the Iterative Process of Achieving Goals
• 3:26 The Struggle of Prioritizing Writing and Personal Goals
• 4:09 Realizing the Importance of Protecting Your Energy
• 6:52 This Week's Journal Prompt: Protecting Your Energy
• 7:28 Sharing Insights and Empowering Each Other
• 8:04 A Call to Action: Share, Review, and Join the Community

Transcript

18. Write more by protecting your energy [Journal Prompt}

[00:00:00] Introduction to Mom Writes First Podcast[00:00:00] Ki ckstarting Your Writing Journey: A Special Journal Prompt

[00:00:00] ​

[00:00:00] Today, I have a journal prompt for you that's going to help you really prioritize the things that are most important in your life. Let's go.

[00:00:10] Introducing Mom Writes First: Empowering Busy Moms

[00:00:10] Jen: Welcome to Mom Writes First, the podcast that helps busy moms reach their writing goals. I'm Jen Larimore. I'm a mom of five, a lawyer turned life coach, And I'm writing my very first book. I want to help you reach your writing goals too.

[00:00:31] The Power of Leveraging Your Mom Superpower for Writing[00:00:31] Unlock Your Mom Superpower for Writing Success

[00:00:31] Jen: If you're a mom who wants to jumpstart her journey as a writer, then you have to head over to my website, momfirstcoaching.

[00:00:39] com, and take the free quiz there. That quiz is going to show you How to take your mom's superpower, you know, that characteristic that makes you an absolutely incredible mom to your kids, and then leverage that characteristic so that you can reach your writing goals. Again, the website is [00:01:00] momfirstcoaching.

[00:01:00] com forward slash quiz. Now on to today's episode. 

[00:01:07] Hey, my friends. Welcome. I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to Mom Writes First, the podcast. I'm Jen and this episode is a journal prompt for you. Let me share with you a little backstory about how I came up with this journal prompt so that you can have that context and understand why I think that this is the right question to ask yourself this week and especially if you are trying to make time and space for your writing.

[00:01:34] The Journey of Writing from a Hotel Room

[00:01:34] Right now, my family and I are traveling for spring break. I am recording this podcast for you, not in my home office, not in my studio, but from the road, from my hotel room at a Holiday Inn Express.

[00:01:47] You might hear people outside of the room. You might hear doors opening and shutting. You might hear cars in the parking lot. 

[00:01:55] I want to make sure that you have this journal prompt because I think it's going to be really [00:02:00] meaningful and impactful for you.

[00:02:03] Embracing the Iterative Process of Achieving Goals

[00:02:03] my word of the year for 2024 is embodiment. For me, that means really living into my deepest and truest goals and desires and dreams. It means stepping into that future version of myself that I want to become.

[00:02:23] It is not easy. It is extremely challenging to have this word as my word of the year right now. What I am finding as I go through the first quarter of 2024 is that there is a lot of starting, messing up, learning. Resetting, starting, messing up, learning, resetting. It is a very iterative process, and I know that that makes sense, logically, that it would be like that.

[00:02:55] That I wouldn't just flip a switch and magically step into that future version of myself. [00:03:00] That there would be time needed to learn how to be that person. That I would make mistakes. That I would fall flat on my face. That I would go down the wrong path and have to turn around and start again. And, I know all that, and it also is extremely frustrating when I have this idea in mind of what I want my life to be like, and I keep messing it up.

[00:03:26] The Struggle of Prioritizing Writing and Personal Goals

[00:03:26] for example. I have a plan to prioritize my writing and work on it every day or almost every day, right? Not in a rigid way, but in the sense that I am regularly writing kind of way. And I don't always do that. let things that are lower on my priority list get in the way of that.

[00:03:48] And when I think about it, of course I do, because I have a lot of practice doing that. I have a lot of practice putting the wants and needs of other people ahead of [00:04:00] what I really want. Even when I carve out specific time to work on those goals and work on those dreams.

[00:04:09] Realizing the Importance of Protecting Your Energy

[00:04:09] Here's what I think I'm learning though, because I've done the time studies and the time audits and I really am actually very good at managing my time. I think I have to be. I work full time, we have a dog, we have two properties, my husband works full time, and we have five very busy, engaged, active kids.

[00:04:31] And so I have learned over the years how to really manage my time in a very efficient and optimized way. But that doesn't always lead me. To being able to still make my writing or my goals or dreams, whatever they are, a priority that gets the kind of attention that I want it to get. Here is what I think I am realizing.

[00:04:58] I've spent a lot of [00:05:00] time doing time studies, time audits, making schedules, planning days, doing all those kind of things like Prepping bags, prepping meals, getting everything ready for everybody. And it has led us to a very efficient life. A very optimized life. We get a lot done. And, it doesn't always protect my energy at the same time.

[00:05:30] There is a big difference. I am finding between protecting your energy so that you can do what is most important for you, so that you can show up as the mom that you really want to be, so that you can show up for yourself as a writer, so that you can make yourself and your goals a priority, not just the wants and needs of the many, many other people and humans and forces in your life, but the wants and needs of [00:06:00] you yourself.

[00:06:02] In order to be able to show up as the writer I want to be, and show up as the mom I want to be, and show up as the wife I want to be, and the employee I want to be, and the sister I want to be, and the friend I want to be, and the neighbor I want to be, in order to really step into that future version of Jen who has intentionally designed and created a life that works for her so that she shows up the way that she wants to be in all those roles.

[00:06:32] In order to be that person, I am learning I have to protect my energy. When I say that to you, when I say to you, you need to protect your energy. What comes up for you? What do you think of? 

[00:06:52] This Week's Journal Prompt: Protecting Your Energy

[00:06:52] That's this week's journal prompt. How can I protect my energy today? [00:07:00] What does it mean to protect my energy in this space?

[00:07:07] What does it mean to protect my energy in this context? What does it look like when I protect my energy? What will I get if I protect my energy? What won't I get? This week, we're all about protecting our energy. Journal on that. 

[00:07:28] Sharing Insights and Empowering Each Other

[00:07:28] I can't wait to hear what insights you have.

[00:07:31] I'll share mine. You share yours. Let's empower each other to really show up in a way that does actually embody our best, most highest self, that person that we truly want to be. And let's protect our energy in doing so. All right, my friends, I can't wait to hear from you.

[00:07:53] Let me know over on Instagram at mom writes first, all one word, mom writes first, [00:08:00] and let me know how it goes. Can't wait to hear from you. Take care.

[00:08:04] A Call to Action: Share, Review, and Join the Community[00:08:04] Closing Thoughts and Invitations

[00:08:04] AA Hey, it's Jen here. Listen, if this podcast resonates with you, then would you please do me a favor? Number one, share it with somebody else. It's up to each of us to empower each other on this journey, and that's one of the values that I am trying to Really hard to live into as part of this podcast. So please, if this podcast resonates with you, share it with a friend who it might help to number two, it would mean so much to me.

[00:08:34] If you would leave me a rating and review on Apple podcast or on Spotify, because that will help other people find this show to third. And finally, I want to invite you to get on board. Signed up for my absolutely free newsletter, not spam. It's not salesy. I just want to support you in your writing goals.

[00:08:55] Head over to momfirstcoaching. com and you'll find a link there where you can [00:09:00] easily sign up. Thank you so much for listening to this episode in case nobody has told you today, you are a beautiful, resourceful, whole, creative human being. You are not broken. You are an incredible writer. Keep on writing. I will see you next time.