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About Brandi Kennedy
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Blog postMy life in the last few months has been even more stressful than usual - which for me, as a disabled single mom with C-PTSD, is saying something. PTSD is like constantly living with a charlie horse in the back of your knee; you have to be very careful in your movements, your stretches, your activity. All to prevent activating that horrible, painful cramp, because once it starts, your in complete misery until it lets up - and there aren't a lot of ways to make it go away.
The end of -
Blog postVision boards are still a relatively new thing for me in that I've only made about four of them during my lifetime. That being said, I am still very familiar with the concept of having a vision for your life, an idea of where you're going, where you want to go, and how you might intend to get there.
Actually, that is the one part of this that isn't at all new to me - the part where you form that vision of what you're hoping to get out of your life.
But putting it all on -
Blog postIt has been maybe two solid years since I started taking the time to actually sit down and write out my quarterly goals, inspired by Jenna Moreci's now-retired video series sharing her own successes and failures with her goals. Over the time I've been making these lists on my own, I've seen my own fair share of both failures and successes, including one quarter when I was one hundred percent expecting a major fail and still ended up coming out on top.
One thing I've learned fro -
Blog postWhen I wrote my last Friday Feels post, I mentioned my maternal grandmother still being alive. I talked about being discouraged because chronic illness sucks especially when it's painful, and I talked about how depressing it was to think that with the longevity of my grandmothers, I would likely be looking at a solid 50 more years of dealing with my health as it is before I'm finished with this life.
Ten days later, my family's matriarch took her last breath at 83 years old, having -
Blog postLong time, no speak, right? I went from last year's crazy momentum and thrilling growth to ... well, nothing. Radio silence.
I couldn't blog. Couldn't write. Couldn't keep up with my calendar, my social media, my doctors appointments, my kids' health problems, my struggles and insecurities, the needs of the people most important to me.
I was trying really hard though.
And then a few days before Thanksgiving, my Grandmother died. Her journey through Alzheime -
Blog postI can't believe this is actually my first post of this month! Things have been pretty crazy for me lately - and while I know I say that pretty much all the time, I've also come to accept that the frequency of the twists and turns in my life doesn't negate their existence.
November has been an adventure for me because certain things are finally starting to play out and I feel so much like I'm in limbo. My van is truly on it's last legs; when I drive it, it literally sounds like a tod -
Blog postThe last time I did a tag post using my books to decide which of my characters would be most likely to do certain things, I had so much fun, I've been really wanting to try it again - but with a tag of my own making. And what better time to try that than now, right?
This post will be focused on all things Halloween, twisted in with the various quirks and idiosyncrasies that make my characters so rich and unique as people despite their various similarities. My oldest daughter helped m -
Blog postClick here to watch on Amazon!
Starring:Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt
Directed by: Lee Unkrich, Adrian MolinaReleased: 2017Length: 1h 45m
One of my favorite things about my city is the way the whole place comes alive in the fall and winter months. There are loads of festivals and events, and I love that when I'm feeling up to it, I can take my kids out to do something fun without wrecking my back or my wallet. This past week, we were able to see a gr -
Blog postThis has been a long week, a long month, a long year. I've had ongoing car troubles, ongoing legal issues, ongoing ... everything. Even our moving plans are dragging on and on, creeping along so slowly sometimes I'm not even sure we're moving forward despite the evidence right in front of my face. I have days when I'm just a little bit hopeless, overwhelmed with all the change, all the weight of the burdens I'm struggling to carry with grace and composure despite the barriers around me.
< -
Blog postIt's funny how life changes, isn't it? Sometimes it happens so slowly you barely notice your life leaving behind what it is now in favor of what it will be some distant day; other times the change washes over us so quickly our lives become almost unrecognizable, almost overnight.
For some of us, the balance of life is pretty stable - you're born, you grow up, you take or leave certain opportunities. You do your best to succeed in your own way, to leave some small mark on the world and the -
Blog postA few months ago, I saw a video on YouTube, pieced together with clips from the video creator's favorite songs - one song from every year of their life. I sort of kept that topic in mind, letting it marinate in the background; it kept coming up, but I knew it would be a huge endeavor that would likely take a while, so I put it off and put it off and put it off ...
But then I tacked it onto the end of my to-do's in my bullet journal, knowing that I wouldn't allow myself to simply delete it. -
Blog postRecently, I've talked a bit here about my journey with journaling, with a focus on bullet journaling and why it hasn't worked well for me in the past. I've shared a bit about the app I'm using now, why it didn't work before, and what makes it so perfect this time around - and I've even shared screenshots from when I first set my journal up.
But that was in August, and I've adjust things just a bit since then, taking things out that weren't working, adding things I needed in. I've been havi -
Blog postLast quarter, I said the previous quarter was the hardest I've pushed through since I started listing and posting my quarterly goals. Apparently, I hadn't yet realized the complexity with which 2018 was going to level-up my life. If this were a game, I'd be tripping over bosses and battles almost constantly, and I'm pretty sure I'd have a record number of respawns by now. (Pretty sure all it took was that one sentence for real gamers to be able to tell I'm not part of that particular club.)
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Blog postMy life lately has been a whirlwind of happenings, with another flare-up of one of my daughter's symptoms coinciding perfectly with another hospitalization with my mom. I've been doing my best to keep up, but sometimes things get to me and I end up dropping the ball - and I hate to see that this time, the ball I dropped was the blogging ball.
Still, I'm trying to straighten things out, but this is real life with chronic illness, single parenting, and mental health symptoms. So this -
Blog postIt's funny how much writing this series has made me look differently at how I love myself - not just in the way of how much I love myself, but in how I get the job done. Over the course of this series, I have, obviously, talked quite a lot about self love and the importance of finding ways not only to value yourself, but to express that value to yourself in the right way.
Applying self-love to the concept of love languages takes this whole premise to a new level too, because love la -
Blog postLife has been really out of control for me lately, and I hate that it's showing here in lack of content. I've been working behind the scenes on getting things together for our move (still waiting on our place to open up, which is so frustrating but also a great lesson in trusting God's timing), getting various health issues dealt with (or at least, attempting to), and juggling the everyday disasters of a disabled single mom living a really complicated life overwhelmed with chronic illness.
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Blog postSorry guys, my daughter is having some flare-ups with her health, and I'm trying to focus on her right now - that's why I missed posting on Friday (we were in the ER most of the day) and why I'm missing today. Right now she needs her mom to be a mom. I'll be back on Thursday.
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Blog postIn honor of the fallen ones, the heroes, the fighters, the rescuers, and all of those still aching with loss over loved ones no longer with us. In remembrance of a tragedy that brought a nation together, a pain that will never quite heal, and a pride that will never fade. My country is not always perfect - but I'm so proud to be an American, so thankful for my hard-won freedom ...
And still so incredibly fucking pissed at the animals who perpetrated the 9/11 attack in 2001.
Today I c -
Blog postIt's funny how I've been writing this series lately, mostly because of how much I've been needing to learn the lessons I've been sharing here. Loving myself is something that has never come easy for me, because I have never been an easy person for people to love - at least, it seems, not for long.
I'm good at collecting people because I'm open and friendly and outgoing, because I tend toward people-pleasing, because I'm fiercely loyal, and because I'm always willing to give everything I ha -
Blog postIf you've been following along lately, you'll know we've been exploring what happens when we combine the idea of self-love with the genius of Gary Chapman's "love languages." (Introductions to this series, part one and part two.) In the last post, we talked about how we can use words of affirmation on ourselves just as powerfully as we can with our other loved ones, and while I didn't give a lot of concrete suggestions (because I wanted you to be able to relate in your own way), I
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Blog postRecently, I've been working my way through exploring the concept of self-love in a deeper way. (See post one here, and post two here.) I mean, we talk about self-love all the time in our society - we remind ourselves to treat ourselves, to spoil ourselves. But sometimes we get caught up in the minutiae, and for some people, a pedicure isn't an "I love you" gift at all. And even among those of us who are familiar with the idea of love languages and the way everyone speaks an inherently
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Blog postIn the first post of this series, I talked about the various love languages defined by Gary Chapman, but then I took the concept and applied it to the idea of self-love, and the common opinion that you can't truly love others - or accept love from others - until you've learned to love yourself.
And I know I'm not the first person to have thought about it in that way - I'm certainly no love expert in any form. I can write a romance novel because as a woman, I can share what appeals to women -
Blog postI was supposed to write the next post in my series about using love languages to learn about and explore your self-love practice, but I'm putting that off for the moment, because I want to tell you a story. Actually, I'm gonna tell you two stories, so bear with me if this gets a little long.
You might want to go grab a drink for this one. Maybe a sandwich. We're gonna be here a while.
Story #1:She pulled up outside the pain clinic, ashamed to be there but thankful to have made i -
Blog postHere we are again, on a Friday - and that means it's time for another Friday Feels - the second this month! As always, I'm thrilled to be taking the time to sit down and explore what I've been feeling lately and why I've been feeling it. And I've definitely gotten my fair share of practice, since I've been using feelings as prompts in my daily bullet journal spread! But since I just use the same ones every day in my journal to help inspire the memories I take note of, I'm still looking
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Blog postI've had Gary Chapman's 5 Love Languages book on my to-be-read list for longer than I'd care to admit. I think reading it would give me a lot of insight into myself and the relationships I've been in over the years, including not only why they didn't work but why they did - and the only reason I haven't made it to this book is that my reading wish list is simply so long.
Still, I've made a point over the years to learn a little about the five love languages how they work, not o
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