InJoy Magazine

InJoy

A Collaboritave platform for art, encouragement and loving life in the bay

November 2018

Talk to me about

Confidence!

Good Deeds, Great Love A new Column by Chelsea Harrison

Speak...Confidently

Eat Junk Food Confidently Just be...

Beautiful Confidently Cook Confidently InJoy Magazine, November 2018

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InJoy Magazine, November 2018

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Your business could be advertised in this space...

...but for now, we’ll include these visually stimulating pictures.

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Here is our advertising plug...

As business owners, we all consider options for a dvertising…including InJoy Magazine! How do we get the word out there and reach more readers? How do we interact with more women?

As our readership continues to grow, as does our business. Up to this point, InJoy Magazine has been strictly business exchange and unpaid submissions. However, our network is flourishing, and we are seeing a growing need for a small operational budget. We can achieve this goal by offering visibility and partnership for your business.

• InJoy Magazine has carried an average of 3,000 digital downloads each month.

• 98% are women in the local area

• 100% of those are real people in all walks of life

Throughout this issue of InJoy magazine, look for the dotted boxes (just like the previous page). These spaces are designated as available advertising space. Then we are trying something we’ve never seen before…including a base price point for 1 month’s ad rates. Discounts are available for 3 and 6 months contracts.

Contact me for a copy of our media guide and see how we can support eachother!

Crystal Smith cjsmith@injoymagazine.com

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INJOY M A G A Z I N E

...

art, encouragement & loving life in the bay

InJoy magazine is a digital publication distributed monthly.

We feature articles, short stories, poetry, reviews and all around encouragement.

We aim to grow into the largest local publication for women in the region.

All content submitted by local authors.

A new theme featured each month: December: Don't Stress!!

January: Self-Love (gifts over resolutions) February: Life After...

Visit our website for submission information and deadlines.

InJoy Magazine, November 2018 www.injoymagazine.com

Layout designed by Keeley Farkas

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Contents...what’s inside 10.....Speak...Confidently 12: Small Deeds, Great Love - Vote! A new Column by Chelsea Harrison

16.....Eat Junk Food...Confidently 22.....Beautiful...Confidently 22: You are Enough - by the ever-beautiful La-Anna Douglas

24.....Just Be...Confidently 25: At 28 by Gabbie Miner 26: 12 Power Words about Confidence by CJ Smith

30.....Cook...Confidently 30::Roasted Butternut Squash & Brussels Sprouts Warm Salad by Chelsea Harrison

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Before you read.... the thoughts and opinions of others, take a moment to dwell on this concept of ‘Confidence’.

What does it mean to you?

Why do you strive towards it?

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Who’s opinion matters to you?

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My thoughts on being confident As we grow older (I’m only 38) I don’t believe that confidence gets any easier. If anything, it balances out if not waning. Hear me out, without forgetting this is my own experience and perspective… when we’re young and 17, eagerly awaiting our real grown-up life to start, we are happy basically ignorant of the brutal realities of real life in the real world. Well, generally speaking of course. Flash forward 5 or 6 or 29 years, and as we finally feel more capable of handling these hardships of life… right? Absolutely true. Yet, simultaneously our bodies are aging. Post-baby bodies are flabby, and our relationships with our significant-others…ehhh, and so it goes. What I’m trying to say is, what we’re gaining in gray-haired experience, we are also giving way to some level of insecurity based on those same changes in the first place. It’s been a give and take.

What am I trying to say is…

Confidence is not a personality trait to achieve.

It’s not a; once this box is checked you will finally have that happier life. What do I believe it is? It’s a lifestyle to live, it’s a continuous growth in a repetitive self-renewal for the best and happiest beings we have the capability of achieving. I don’t believe I will wake up one day and say, ‘yeah, I used to be very insecure but I’m totally confident now.’ If you hear that, they’re lying. Because as we grow and gain knowledge and yes, confidence! However, throughout our maturity, we realize there is so much more to this life that we don’t know and we don’t understand, which in-turn leads us to absorb a sense of shakey-ground (insecurity).

How on God’s green earth are we supposed to navigate through this?

As you read through the following pages about our theme of Confidence, all the real-life experiences, tips and tricks, I want you ladies to keep this one underlined point in the forefront of your mind.

You are good enough.

And you can do ALL things through the inner-power that gives you strength (see bible verse for original verbiage)

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Speak...Confidently

I

’ve been listening to Brene Brown’s new book, Dare to Lead. Interestingly enough, in her introduction she tells a story about speaking to a C-level (not sea-level) audience. I know, you’ll have to read or listen to the book. Now this is a woman with an incredible scientific and researched based theory, she’s intelligent, educated and her very first TED talk went viral. You would think she doesn’t even sweat a speaking engagement, no matter who the audience is. But she does, and she describes how she feels so nervous during these events. Her trick? She communicated in her book, the trick is to simply remember that the members of that audience, no matter how far out of reach they seem, are still just people. People with problems, strife, real insecurity and vulnerability issues…just like us.

I’m going to absorb her trick, think about being put on the spot when the people your faced with couldn’t give you a speck of credibility, and remember…they’re just people too.

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Small Deeds, Great Love Chelsea Harrison

Allow me to introduce our new columnSmall Deeds, Great Love. The title of this column comes from a Mother Teresa quote, which is often paraphrased as-“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” When I first read this quote, I thought, well that’s awfully pessimistic, isn’t it? Who says we can’t do great things?

But on further reflection, I think she means “great” here as in grand, as in we can’t all write checks to charities like the Gates, or travel to the world’s orphanages like Angelina. Because of course we do “great” things every day- we run businesses, we push out babies, we wipe tears, we sacrifice, we innovate, we create- let’s face it, ladies, we run the world.

But it doesn’t always feel like it, does it?

As a mom, I sometimes feel like I’m stuck in that fourth circle of hell- the one where you’re constantly cleaning up after a party you weren’t invited to. It’s hard to feel like we run the world when the only visible accomplishment in our day is that the sink is only half full of dishes instead of overflowing. This column is an invitation to take back our productivity, in a small but collectively powerful way.

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

“We can do no great things.

Only small things with great love.”

Each month, we will propose a small action for you to take and an interactive element to let us know when you do. Each proposed action will make a local impact and have an interactive element with other InJoy readers, so you can share your experience and see how our “small deeds” play out. We promise to keep the tasks manageable for even the busiest among us. We also plan to keep each task in line with the month’s theme.

Enough prologue—you get the idea! We hope you decide to play along and we’re excited to see how much of a difference we can make with our small deeds done with great love!

This column is an invitation to take back our productivity, in a small but collectively powerful way.

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November’s deed:

Vote (and with confidence!)

The Quick-and-Dirty What: Vote in mid-term elections When: Tuesday, November 6 (or early voting- see below) Where: Your local polling place (or via absentee ballot) How: Do your research before heading to the polls! Fill out a sample ballot as you complete your research. Replicate your choices on the official ballot.

Why: Because your vote is your voice.

Interact!: After you vote, join us on the Small Deeds, Great Love facebook group and share a picture of your I voted! sticker. Was this your first time voting? Anything memorable happen at the polls? Did you take your kids with you? Feel free to share your story. *Please note-we are respectful of all political opinions here and we don’t need to know who you voted for- we just want to see you all out there exercising your right!)

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I

am super psyched for this year’s midterm election. I anxiously watched the mail for my sample ballot and tore into it once it arrived. I sharpie-d in my responses to the easy ones- the races I was already familiar with. I circled names and races I didn’t know in order to research later. On election day, maybe I’ll wear a special patriotic outfit. Maybe I’ll get some ladies together and tailgate beforehand. Maybe I’ll get a celebratory PSL on the 7th as I peruse the election results and do a pumpkin-spiced cheer for my candidates who made it. All of this makes it sound as though I’ve always been a politics nerd but I haven’t.

Something just clicked for me in the last couple years and I can’t get enough of it.

Perhaps elections don’t excite you in quite the same way. Perhaps the topic of politics actively agitates you because of the way it can complicate our relationships. And lord, don’t get me started on social media feeds. I get it. But I hope these discouraging factors don’t prevent you from using your voice and voting. As we’ve seen recently, elections can come down to very few votes and your voice and your opinion matter!

Here are some tips on voting (and doing so with confidence) this November.

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

-Make sure you’re registered to vote.

Vote.org has a comprehensive site to help you check if you are registered and if so, where your polling place is. If you’re not registered yet, the bad news is the registration deadline was October 16 BUT the deadline to request an absentee ballot is November 2, so you do still have time to make your voice heard. You can request an absentee ballot on the Maryland State Board of Elections website. The form can be completed online (with a MD driver’s license), printed and mailed, or completed at your local board of elections.

-Research! I know it’s tempting to vote party lines but do you really know who you’re voting for? You might be surprised at some candidates’ views. Also, there are a lot of promising independent party candidates running this year. Make sure your vote goes to someone who will represent your values, not some antiquated version of a political party norm. What is the candidate’s position on education, the environment, taxes? An informed voter is a confident voter. I know it can be hard to find a reliable, unbiased source when it comes to politics but we are lucky in this state to have a branch of the League of Women Voters (lwvmd.org.) Check out their Voter’s Guide for a personalized breakdown (based on your address) of the races you will be voting on, a profile of each candidate and even a description of each elected official’s responsibilities (now you can really find out what an Orphan’s Court is and what a judge does there.)

You can do a literal side-by-side comparison of candidates using the Voter’s Guide!

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Factcheck.org is another great non-partisan resource to check the credibility of candidates’ claims (though there may not be as much local coverage here.)

-Resist Facebook and other social media sites during your research. The saying “don’t believe everything you read” is truer today than perhaps it ever has been. Social media sites are great for sharing inconsequential information, but the nature of the platform is not suited to the complexity of many topics, including politics. Articles posted and shared on social media are often biased, incomplete, produced as clickbait, incendiary, or just plain false. There are actual people across the globe whose jobs (or sometimes just a fervent hobby) are to spread chaos on social media. Don’t be baited by the scandalous headlines, however tempting. Consider the source and keep on scrolling.

-Fill out your sample ballot. Once you’ve done your research and carefully chosen your candidates, don’t forget to fill out the sample ballot that was mailed to you.

Lost the sample ballot? The site Ballotpedia offers a ballot preview if you input your address. You can also head back to the State Board of Elections page to print another copy of the Certified Ballot, but you need to know your ballot number because it lumps all county ballots together in the same document. Your sample ballot becomes your cheat sheet in the election booth because, yes, you can take it with you.

-Vote your little heart out! Early voting tends to be less waiting if you can swing it.

Early voting for the General Election takes place Thursday, October 25 through Thursday, November 1 from 10 am until 8 pm.

There are 7 early voting locations in Anne Arundel County (Edgewater library and Pip Moyer Recreation Center in Annapolis area).

Otherwise, head to your voting location on November 6th!

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

-Join us on the facebook group and post your Election Day picture/story.

Let’s see how many readers we can get involvedI want to see at least 100 posts!

And finally, perhaps you are reading this after November 6. If so, I hope you voted and made informed choices. If not, don’t distress- you can take steps to make sure you don’t miss out again. Head over to Vote.org and they’ll get you registered and squared away for next time.

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1. Find our interactive group on Facebook!

2. Post an election day picture/story 3. Let’s see how many readers we can get involved!

*Don’t post who you voted for, only that you did

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Eat Junk Food...Confidently

No, really...

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T

his one time, in the not too distant past, I endeavored on this expensive yet successful diet. No really. It was one of those that sends you the food, you eat these very high protein prepackaged meals every 2/3 hours. It was great! I was energetic, focused and losing weight like one of those commercials. The problem? I love junk food. I love nachos, and wings and cheeseburgers. When I was craving foods, it was these. That was my huge problem, and after some success on my stellar diet, I quickly reverted back to the grease. It’s been heaven ever since. Now, I’m not a complete glutton, honestly trying to balance with a nutritious meal a few nights a week.

You’ll find absolutely

Then if you feel like

no judgement in this

dragging your butt to the

magazine for the love

gym, do so with enthusi-

of fries. But if you’re

asm. If you feel the need

going to do it, don’t

to eat celery for dinner,

take the societal in-

relish in how settled your

duced shame when you

stomach feels now.

indulge. Eat it, love it, embrace it and then brag about it.

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You Get It, Girl!!

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McDonalds Double Cheeseburger Meal with LARGE fries and coke.

And Ketchup. Lots of Ketchup!!! because french fries make everything better

Chick Fil A 8 Count Chicken Nugget with HONEY ROASTED BBQ Sauce because sometimes the smile and always-good food is totally worth it

Pizza (your brand of choice)

Chicken, Bacon Ranch with white sause

because on a friday night, after a long week, you need to sit on the couch and let dinner take care of itself

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Now, before you begin to wonder...why are we talking about junk food in a women’s enoucagment magazine??

Because we’re also funny.

Favorite Junk Foods...

Why it makes me feel good

Perfect Spot for a Restaurant Ad

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Beautiful...

Confidently Today, I am beautiful because...

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I am ALWAYS beautiful because...

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You are Enough\

by La-Anna Douglas

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A

t one point in my life I would be looked over and considered unpopular. It was a daily struggle to figure out how I could fit into the “in” crowd. Even though my bullies at my school called me ugly, made negative comments about my dark complexion while threatening to beat me up; I still wanted them to like me for who I was. Eventually I became depressed & had low self esteem. I just wanted to be accepted for who I was. My parents would tell me all the time that I was Beautiful and that I could accomplish anything I put my mind to.

But that longing to fit in, carried over into my adult years. But it’s funny how seasons change & life seems to become more important to you as you mature. As an adult, I started to see my worth and I began to love the skin I was in. My husband played a big role in this new found love for myself. It has been a daily process but I embrace who I am as I am. I honestly was not truly confident in who I was until my early Thirties.

I think back to that young girl and I know how sad she was. So I live today loving all of me no matter what. I realize that my skin, my nose, my lips and my body shape (no matter the size) was designed special by God. Lovelies, we are ALL fearfully & wonderfully made. Know your worth & while your at it; we must also take a stand against bullying. Be a voice for others who may not be strong enough to speak up. Today I don’t want to just fit in, I want to stand out! I am using my voice to fight against bullying and let others know...

“You Are Enough”!

Girl, let me tell you...it is your confidence that makes you beautiful

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Just be...Confidently

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At 28

by Gabbie Miner

At by you

I am 28 years old in 9 days on Oct. 22.

I am soooo grateful I am standing on a solid piece on metaphorical ground. I am done tip toeing on ground made of egg shell. I have been done.

I have flipped the switch.

I am confident.

I am doing the things I want and need, without influence from those I choose to share with.

If I share with you, then I value you. But I no longer try to cram my heart into your jar of perspective from your side.

I am a whole person, outside of every attachment to my heart. I am a whole person outside of being a wife, a friend, a sister, a daughter, even a mom.

My kids most definitely need to see my individuality as a person in being their mom in constant.

If there is something I want for myself, or need, it’s lack of importance in your eyes, be it unnecessary to you, or incorrect, or a waste, no longer shakes my ground. My ground is stable.

I am a whole, responsible, intelligent, reliable person. All of my pieces fit perfectly. My pieces of inspiration, dreams, goals, comfort, etc are not carved by you. They do not need to be shaved down. Inadvertently or purposefully placed influential opinions do not get granted my acceptance anymore. My heart is perfect. My mind is beautiful.

If I am wrong to you, then you are wrong for me.

I am 28 in 9 days. I am not 50 looking back seeing how I shadowed and back burnered myself, rising up in the light I turned on. I have risen now, at almost 28. I am lucky, to have decades worth of shaping and transformation take place in a shorter time. I have had all my silencers crammed into a painful, short time frame. But no matter your age, 50, 80, 22, move yourself to the front burner, the big one. Turn that thing on and fire up your passions.

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12 Power Words about

Confidence

by CJ Smith

I

can’t tell you how many times in my life, especially in my military career, I’ve been told I just need to be more confident. Yep, that sounds like a great idea! I’ll just get right on that, sir! As if it’s a simple operation to perform, pick up a box-put down a box. There’s simply more to that one 10-letter word than spelling it. It’s like ‘Love’, it means so many different things to different people and besides that, how would you address such a vast issue. Ladies, we are complicated beings.

I’m not an expert by any means, but as I began to consider this extremely personal and sensitive concept, I broke the definition down into some ideas that are associated with my idea of (not just confidence) but what it takes for me to be a confident woman. Here’s what I got!

Knowledge. They do say, knowledge is power. Learning is everything. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a scholar. However, be aware of just how important this is in (here’s the key) WHATEVER FIELD YOU’RE ENGAGED IN. What does that mean? If you’re a stayat-home-mom, then you are an expert and completely knowledgeable about feeding times, nap times, ect… and that is important. If you’re a watch maker, you understand the little gears and levers. However, as a mechanic then you want to carry the attitude of truly understanding how an engine works. The point is, it doesn’t matter what your engaged in…but whatever it is, learn as much as you possibly can. Become the SME (pronounced Smee; Subject Matter Expert).

Awareness. Not to be confused with knowledge, awareness is a sense of recognizing the atmosphere around you. Let’s say your in a meeting, multiple people lined up in a big conference room table with the leader seated at the head and others ranked down.

Are you so focused on just you, in your little world of responsibilities and position, poised for what you’re

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going to say when it comes your turn…or watching and aware of the others, the tone of the meeting, the mood of the boss, the passion the comes from your leader. Watch others and be aware of the little changes that occur between them that unconsciously create a new development. How was this decision made, why was this decision made? Why did your leader decide on such an unpopular policy? The more aware you are of what’s going on around you, the better your understanding and (ha!) knowledge will be.

Humble. Now, you could be the prettiest, skinniest, most powerful, most successful, smartest and most aware person in your social group…you could be the best of the best.

However, you don’t believe that. Being humble simply means you recognize that you are just as good and just as normal as everyone else in this world. Sure, you are proud of your accomplishments and you should be. But that doesn’t mean your better than anyone else. When you are humble, you recognize (just as we talked 26

about above) that you still have much to learn, much growth to accomplish and places still to go in this world. Only through humility can you actually grow.

Joy. Not happiness, notice the word happy is not on the list. The idea of joy is to find happiness in the little things. Enjoy your time at work because you always have the opportunity to be a positive impact on others. Enjoy time with your children because they need you. Enjoy time with your annoying brother-in-law because it’s important to your significant other. Am I making sense here?

Good. Now for the twist…sometimes I really do not find joy in things I simply must do, no matter how annoyingly positive I encourage myself to be. Sometimes grocery shopping is just crap!

So, how do you find joy in those things that are really and honestly unjoyful? In true Mary Poppins form, turn it into a game…of sorts. If you read the June issue of InJoy, you’ll see a little blurb about my life hack of hitting the little Mexican restaurant next to Safeway for a well-deserved margarita prior to the dreaded chore. No, InJoy Magazine, November 2018

I am not endorsing drinking alcohol every time you have to do something you don’t want to do (even though sometimes it totally works). Here’s my point; balance it out with something you really do want to do, or could gain from it, or could have a little fun with. Must sit in an annoyingly long meeting that’s 90% irrelevant? Bring your notebook and make a list of tomorrow’s to-dos, create a new recipe, make a list of how you’re going to be more confident (that totally happened). I promise you, that if you pick up small habits like this you won’t dread those meetings…you’ll look forward to them because that’s your opportunity to gather your notes and thoughts. (apply meeting scenario to any life occurrence) Tenacity. Ah ha! The bold steadfastness we’re all wishing for is right here in this word. Yet, as much as this is a truly positive thing, I want to caution you to balance your tenacity with some of the aforementioned words. Knowledge; know what you’re talking about before you boast it. Awareness; know the appropriate place and setting.

Humble; just because you’re beautiful does not 27

mean you should wear that, dear (with humor). But be tenacious, which simply means go after it and do it with determination and hold strong.

Courage. The idea of courage is not that you are not afraid…courage means that you are…lots of fear, it overwhelms you, keeps you up at night and brings you strife! Yet (and here’s the key) you do it anyway. When you’re so afraid to have that conversation with your child because you’re so convinced they won’t see your heartache, won’t love you anymore, when you’re so afraid that he will shut you out of their life and nothing in this world will be worse…but you know it’s the right thing and do it anyway. When you’re so afraid to take that leap, so many things counting against you but you do it anyway. When you’re so afraid to stand up for yourself because you know you’ll be shot down again… but you do it anyway. When you have courage, you push through your fears and accomplish what you know is right and true.

Belief. This one should fall right under courage because you have to truly believe in what you’re doing to make it meaningful. You must truly believe, to the bottom of your soul this is the right thing to do, this is where your higher power is wishing you to do, and this is exactly what you’ve been placed on this earth to do. When you hold onto those strong beliefs, and mix that with courage, I promise you will be unstoppable.

Investment. You are giving little pieces of yourself into this greater good of life, that is your investment. When you see your child struggling in school, he’s frustrated, emotional, losing confidence in his ability then you have to recognize the struggles and invest in his eventual success. Notice I said eventual. Adjust your homework schedule, allow them to take a break and come

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

back later. Encourage and reinforce positively. All of these things are your little seeds of investment into their confidence. Now place yourself in the struggle line. Give yourself a little encouragement, allow yourself some time to take a break and relax.

Keep that big picture of success in the back of your mind, and deposit little things along your path that will bring you there. Invest in yourself and invest in others.

Patience. Let’s add these four things together. You have courage. You believe in your cause. Then you make little investments into yourself (or others).

Now you must have patience that it will come to pass, and things have a way of working out once you put your ingredients into them.

Ladies, sometimes these things don’t happen overnight. If you’re like me, you want to see some results or at the very least a pattern of improvement to make your investment worth it. Here’s also where awareness comes into play. And if not, then don’t be afraid (courage) to change course a little and try something different. Yet through this entire pattern of give/take/ return/give/take you simply must have a little patience that the bigger end result is greater than the small achievements. Yes, I know…easier said than done. If you’re like me and really and truly struggle with this one, I have the utmost compassion for you. So here is my life-hack; look out for the small improvements and allow them to build momentum. Live and breathe these small things, celebrate and force (FORCE) your mind to focus and rejoice in smallish leaps that move you toward your goal. However, I will also caution you to be aware and mindful of those goals that are already dead or might not ever turn out how you want them to. If you see a continuous backwards slide, you may want to consider cutting your losses and focusing on another goal. You really and truly

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amazed at the things other women create. Really!

Anything from decorating a beautiful house, to making soaps or jewelry to true and beautiful art.

Those things we can all appreciate and be proud of, right? Then there’s the little things; A cleverly thoughtful reward chart for kids. The way you fold your towels just so they fit in the linen closet neatly. There is not a single person on this earth who does not display some sort of creativity, their own personal flair and style. Recognize the things you do and give yourself some credit.

Passion. I’m not talking about the sexual side

should see a progressive growth and not a slow downward tailspin…when this is happening don’t just change course…jump paths!

Strength. I’m talking about an inner strength here, not how much weight can you bench. When you know life is forcing you to push through a metaphorical boulder you already possess strength to simply put your hand up and slap it out of the way. I’ll be the first to tell you, girl, you have the inner strength to handle just about anything. Even if you don’t think you can, even if that boulder feels bigger than you and is crushing your soul…you will be ok. Next month leads to next year and you will eventually not only laugh at that tiny pebble that tried to take you down you will use it as experience, a stepping stone, to slap the next one away that’s even bigger.

Don’t be afraid of them. When you look at it this way, embrace them! Because they only make you better in the long run. And when you carry an attitude of overcoming, those boulders really do look like pebbles.

here. What I mean is, if you’re going to do something – anything – do it with passion. Do it because you truly believe in the bigger picture of whatever it is that you’re engaged in. This will give your even the most mundane activity meaning and importance. While working out, do it with enthusiasm and passion because it’s important for you and your health. While cooking dinner for your family, do it with passion because meal-time together is important for connection. While sitting down to write an article for InJoy Magazine, do it with passion and purpose because other real women like you are reading and growing from experiences that you’re sharing.

Creativity. The plug I have about creativity is this: It can be anything. You can be creative in your manufacturing job, or in your parenting style. I want to encourage everyone to not only embrace other forms of creativity but also give yourself credit for the areas in which you are creative. Honestly, I do not consider myself a creative person and I’m truly

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Cook...Confidently

As they say, we eat with our eyes first. That’s why this gorgeous dish is also the quintessential fall side dish; it contains all the lush colors of fall—orange squash, brown pecans, green Brussels and dark red cranberries. The Brussels sprouts take on a rich nutty flavor as they roast (the darker the better, in my view) and the cranberries offer a nice balance with some sweetness.

This side is great served alongside a protein like some simple grilled chicken or roasted pork.

Or if some of your holiday guests will have special dietary needs, this dish ticks a lot of boxes- heart healthy, vegetarian, and gluten-free. Believe it or not, this dish is also kid-tested and approved (I credit the maple syrup for that small miracle!)

Recipe adapted from Juliasalbum.com

Roasted Butternut Squash & Brussels Sprouts Warm Salad InJoy Magazine, November 2018

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Ingredients Roasted Brussels Sprouts: • 3 cups Brussels sprouts ends trimmed, yellow leaves removed, cut in half • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 1/4 teaspoon salt to taste Roasted Butternut Squash: • 1 butternut squash peeled, seeded, and cubed into 1-inch cubes (Approx 1.5 lb squash- yields about 4 cups of uncooked cubed butternut squash) • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 3 tablespoons maple syrup • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon Other Ingredients: • 1 cups pecan halves • 1 cup dried cranberries • 2-4 tablespoons maple syrup optional • pomegranate seeds, optional

Instructions

Roasted Brussels sprouts: 1.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease the foil-lined baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

2.

In a medium bowl, combine halved brussels sprouts, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt (to taste), and toss to combine. Place onto a foil-lined baking sheet, cut side down, and roast in the oven at 400 F for about 20-25 minutes. During the last 5-10 minutes of roasting, turn them over for even browning- the cut sides should be browned but not blackened.

Roasted butternut squash: 1.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly grease the foil-lined baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

2.

In a medium bowl, combine cubed butternut squash (peeled and seeded), 1 tablespoon of olive oil, maple syrup, and cinnamon, and toss to mix.

3.

Place butternut squash in a single layer on the baking sheet, spread apart as much as possible.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, turning once half-way through baking, until softened.

4.

Note: You can roast both Brussels sprouts and butternut squash on 2 separate baking sheets at the same time, on the same rack in the oven – that’s what I did.

Assembly: 1.

In a large bowl, combine Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, pecans, and cranberries, and mix to combine. *OPTIONAL: For more sweetness, add 2 or 4 tablespoons of maple syrup, if desired (add gradually and test for sweetness as you add.) *OPTIONAL: Another great way to kick up texture and sweetness is to sprinkle some pomegranate seeds on top before serving.

Tip: *If you’re going to make this ahead and serve later, don’t add the pecans or pomegranate seeds until just before you serve. *If you have time and energy, toast the pecans until lightly browned and nutty-smelling. for another layer of roasty flavor.

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

31

You, girl, are good enough...

InJoy Magazine, November 2018

32