Finding Balance

This post is not going to be my usual picture-filled ramblings about life on the farm.

Nope.

This post is going to go much deeper.  I am going to share with y’all some innermost thoughts and struggles in my quest for finding balance in this journey called life.

I recently received a free copy of the book “Oola For Women: Find Balance in an Unbalanced World” by Dave Braun and Troy Amdahl in exchange for my honest opinion regarding the book.  So, yes, this post will be a book review but it will also be about my plans and goals for achieving an Oola Life at the farm and making dreams come true.

What the heck is Oola you ask?  Well, simply put, “it’s a state of awesomeness.  It’s when your life is balanced and growing in the seven key areas of life: fitness, finance, family, field (career), faith, friends and fun.  It’s living an inspired life – one that you define.”  (You will hear me referring to the seven key areas as the 7 F’s of Oola.)  It’s pursuing your dreams and becoming the best YOU can be.  It’s finding the greatness within you.

This book is not the first time I’ve heard of Oola.  I was privileged to attend an OolaPalooza event last year with fellow oilers from Young Living.  Wow!  What a weekend!  Dr. Dave and Dr. Troy (the OolaGuys) were amazing!  They were so real, so down-to-earth, so inspiring and they walked us through two hard and emotional days of soul-searching for ways to find balance in our lives.  By the end of the second day we all walked out of there with goals written down in each of the 7 F’s.  Goals to help us reach a balance in this crazy, unbalanced thing we call life!

One of my goals for OolaField (remember I’m a homesteading housewife so that is my career) was to get bees this year.  Well, two weeks ago I got BEES!

Those of you who follow this blog regularly will remember this picture from a previous blog post…

Becoming a beekeeper has been a dream of mine for many years but writing it down during OolaPalooza and coming up with a plan over the next several months to make it happen was what I needed to actually MAKE it happen.

Dream Valley Farmstead is also a dream CountryBoy and I had and we worked to make it happen.  I am all about pursuing dreams!

So let’s talk about ‘Oola For Women’.

In my humble opinion… it is a MUST-READ for all women.  Young or old, new Mom or Grandmother, career woman or housewife, this book will be an inspiration to each and every one to find the greatness within them.  Seriously.  It seems that everyone I talk to or come in contact with struggles with balancing all the demands of life these days.  ESPECIALLY women.  Wow, the juggling act that most women do ev-er-y single day, is mind-boggling.  Kids, spouse or single-Mom, housework, career, special events, sports, whew, I’m exhausted just typing all that!  How does one find the balance in their every day life?

Here at the farm, my daily goal is to live simply and focus on finding ways to achieve simplicity in this modern world.  Most days, though, I find it extremely difficult to do.  I find myself doing thirty-thousand things; 90% of them being things that don’t have anything to do with living simply.  sigh.  Nor do these thirty-thousand things help me achieve a balanced life.  They’re just ‘things’ that occupy my day but don’t help me define my purpose or make life less -stressful.

It takes a balance of each of the 7 areas to achieve the OolaLife.  I find that most people are strong in a couple of areas but weak in others which causes an unbalanced life.  It sounds difficult to achieve but ‘Oola For Women’ breaks it all down and gives you tips to strengthen the weak areas.  ‘Oola For Women’  has inspired me to continue pursuing my dreams and achieving a balanced OolaLife.

Which of the 7 F’s do I need to work on?  Most of them.

• Fitness:  ugh.  phhtt.  hate it.  period.  I am going to have to make myself do some sort of physical activity.  Probably walking.  For now.
• Finance:  ugh.  There never seems to be enough money especially when trying to reclaim a run-down farm and farmhouse. I need to keep up with the budget – not just sporadically and save money somehow
• Field:  I need to set aside specific times to work on my Young Living business and farm ‘business/goals’.  I also need to define and be more specific on farm goals and how to achieve them.
• Fun:  my idea of fun is different than CountryBoy’s.  Fun, to me, is doing things that I enjoy and are productive such as crocheting, quilting or refinishing a piece of furniture. Fun, to him, is fishing or sightseeing.  While he fishes I crochet, read or cross-stitch, heehee.  I need to consciously tell myself that it’s OK to take a day to do some sightseeing and that it’s not going to kill me to NOT be doing something productive.

Areas that I am stronger and more balanced (but could always use some improving) are:

• Faith:  this is one of my stronger areas but I can always have more faith, pray more and serve more.
• Family:  I am so thankful to have an awesome family!
• Friends:  I have a lot of acquaintances but I am thankful to have a true best friend that loves me for who I am and wants nothing from me but my friendship.  I try to be that same kind of friend in return.

So there you see how the 7 F’s of Oola relate to my personal life.

But, wait, there’s more!

“In addition to the 7 F’s of Oola, there are habits, beliefs, and attitudes that will either hold you back or propel you forward.  We call these OolaBlockers and OolaAccelerators.”

You will have to get the book to find out what all the OolaBlockers are but let’s talk about a huge OolaBlocker for me… OK, there’s two actually…

• Fear.  Yep.  Fear of what people might think.  Fear of failing.  “There are only two innate fears that all human beings are born with:  the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.  Every other fear is learned.  And what can be learned can be unlearned.”  Oh boy.  I’ve got some un-learning to do.
• Self-Sabotage. wow.  That’s a tough one to realize about oneself.  But, I am my own worst critic. I am going to tell myself daily that I am designed by God for greatness!

There are several more OolaBlockers: things that will hinder you from finding balance and achieving an OolaLife but, like I said, you’ll have to buy the book to see what they are.

On the flip side of the OolaBlockers are OolaAccelerators.  Let me just give you a sneak peak at the intro to Section Four of the book which are the OolaAccelerators… “OolaAccelerators, the next seven chapters, are where the real fun begins.  You’ll learn new daily practices and proven success behaviors like gratitude, discipline, integrity, and wisdom that will help bring your life into balance – and lead to stunning personal growth – faster than almost any other way.  You’ll not only get tips to help you incorporate these daily practices into your life, you’ll also discover new insights from women who relied on these Accelerators at different points along their journey.  What do they say worked for them as they learned lessons and created new behaviors on their way to the OolaLife?  You’ll find out in this section.”

What an awesome, inspiring section!

The last section of the book is the nitty gritty – the 3 Simple Steps to Oola.  You will be able to determine where you are today in your OolaLife, where you want to be and how you are going to get there.

What I love about this book is that the authors don’t tell you what to do.  Instead, they give you tips, pointers if you will, on how to achieve balance in each area but you have to do the soul-searching and you have to do the work.  There are also stories from real women about real situations who did the soul-searching and the work to achieve balance.  I had my highlighter in hand throughout the whole book!

I can’t say enough positive things about this book.  It truly is a life-changer if you’re willing and ready.  Again, I highly recommend this book to any and all women who want to pursue dreams and find balance and achieve greatness in their lives.

Are you ready to find balance in an unbalanced world?

Are you ready to make dreams come true?

You can pre-order a discounted copy from

Barnes & Noble

or Amazon

before tomorrow, May 2nd.  You will save up to 40% by pre-ordering and you will soon be on your way to an OolaLife.  WIN-WIN!