Everygirl’s Guide

This is humiliating to admit, but, I didn’t learn how to cook or clean until about two years ago. By the time I got to college I had never consistently made a bed, done laundry, or picked up after myself. Needless to say, my poor roommate was so mortified by my messiness that she moved out after the first semester. Over the next three years of college I became involved in several activities that kept me extremely busy. God blessed me with an angel for a roommate and she picked up after me, grocery shopped for me, did my laundry and sometimes cooked for me. She’s a Saint!

I got engaged my senior year of college and married shortly after graduating. You can imagine my shock (and that of my husband’s) when we moved into our first home and I had never used a vacuum (picture Jessica Simpson in “The Newlyweds”). The first three years of marriage I was completely overwhelmed with feeling inadequate in the areas of cleaning, organizing, cooking, career, finances and the list could go on and on. There was so much for me to learn and I didn’t know where to begin. I was struggling with what Anthony Robbins calls pain vs. pleasure in his book “Awaken The Giant Within.” He says, “Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure.” In this instance I believed that learning to clean a house and understand my finances was more painful than putting it off. The more I put it off the more overwhelmed I felt as the bills piled up as well as the dishes and dust. Eventually I reached my breaking point where I couldn’t handle the pain of ignorance any longer. At that point, I sought knowledge to help me navigate these uncharted territories.

My mom, knowing I was struggling, found a great book she thought would be helpful. The book is called “The Everygirl’s Guide to Life” by Maria Menunos. I started to read it and couldn’t stop. The book covers every area you could possibly think of that would be important to know as a woman transitioning into adulthood.  What the book did for me was give me a structure to follow to help me organize my life.  Maria makes the book appealing by putting in photo’s of her home, her friends/family, and her favorite products (many of which I have tried and highly recommend to others). Once I started applying the book I saw a big difference in the organization of my home as well as a major decrease in my level of stress. The process hasn’t been a quick fix but step by step I am gaining more control over the important areas in my life. I recently met Maria in LA and I told her how much her book meant to me. She beamed as she signed my book because she could see how used it was.

What area’s of your life are you putting off because you think it’s more painful to procrastinate then to actually take action?  Are you putting off going back to school because the thought of failing is stronger then the pleasure of graduating? In my experience my thoughts about something are always much worse then what actually happens. My mom always told me 90% of what you worry about never happens. Once I reached an extremely low point, I identified that the pleasure of learning how to take control of my life was way more motivating then the pain of feeling incompetent. I’m glad I made the decision to be empowered and so will you! Blessings.

Ps Once you read “The Everygirl’s Guide to Life” leave a comment below telling us what your favorite tips are! I am attaching one of her video tips from bing.com/maria Go check them out they are great!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT0HRzLAr9Y]