“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

– RW Emerson 

Oh, why hello there…

Come to learn a bit about little ‘ole me, didja?

Or did you click this by mistake looking for the Morning Sidekick Journal?

It happens, no judgies.

If you ARE here to check me out, then siddown... let's do this.

• I’m an Elder Millennial, though I prefer to be known as an Xennial. I don’t know if either of these is a true subset of my generation, but I know that people don’t much care for millennials and, well.. I NEED PEOPLE TO LOVE ME, OK?

• I speak Russian (но чуть-чуть)
  • I only learned Russian because my grandma is French-Canadian and my mom learned German and I so did NOT want anyone telling me I was speaking incorrectly. (See my sweet grandma, below.)
    
                                  
  
• Apparently, I have a stubborn streak.
• My birthday is 9/11 and I avoid media at all costs that day.
• I met my husband Clint when I was 16 on dial-up AOL (remember when you had designated minutes to use?). He and I have been together for over 20 years now and we like, LIKE like each other still.

                              

                                     

• Clint and I have SIX children, including twins and two teens that we adopted in February 2020.
  • I have (semi-successfully) tried to get each of our previous foster kids to refer to Clint only as “Clinters.” It makes me laugh like an idiot every damn time. He's a good sport.
    

• I hate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but adore brussels sprouts.
• I cannot survive a week without carne asada street tacos and that hot sauce that comes in suspicious bottles that should probably be refrigerated, but rarely are.
• Formerly, I was a professional blogger with my own humor parenting blog and, at one point, wrote for a Lifetime Network blog.
• I’m a published author and have a memoir or two in the works.
• I have met some random D-list celebrities as a blogger and my baby brother is a fancy-schmancy movie editor, so I get to live vicariously through his celebrity experiences.
• I was, for the past lotsa years, a clinic manager and CMA (basically, I got paid to boss some people around and stab others with needles) at a small family practice clinic.
• Though I loved my medical job (and especially my coworkers), I couldn't pass up the incredible opportunity to serve as the Chief Happiness Officer at Habit Nest  and am enjoying every gosh darn minute. Seriously.
• Sometimes, I reprise my role as CMA at the clinic when they need me. 💕 

OK, friends, are you sufficiently intrigued yet? Can I stop using those bullet points to keep your attention? I’m about to get personal and bullet points are just not going to do it.

Here we go.

I’m One of You

Once upon January 2019, in the midst of an epically difficult fostering season that often occurs post-major-holiday, I came upon the Morning Sidekick Journal. I have literally never been a morning person. For a long time, it was thought that I had a sleep disorder akin to narcolepsy. It wasn’t until fairly recently that my doctor began to suspect that I may have Bipolar II (the Emo cousin of Bipolar I) and the sleepiness may be attributed to severe depression.

In January, I had started medications and was realizing that, even amid this unique parenting struggle, I had a better mental outlook than previously.

I happened upon the Morning Sidekick Journal and decided to give it a shot. Honestly, I didn’t have much faith in myself actually completing it… After all, I had picked up and quickly dropped activities in the past. But this didn’t feel like a manic decision. This was, perhaps, the first decision I made after my new diagnosis and medication change that was not impulsive.

So, I started. And it was clunky at first. I herked-and-jerked my way to a week. I went from squeezing every last drop of sleep out of my night as possible to getting my ass up and out of bed by 5:30 am. I thought that it was certainly a phase.

More tricky parenting scenarios arose. I persevered…

I finished my Morning Sidekick Journal after those 66 days (and it took me much longer than 66 days, but the important part is that I DID it) and I started on the Morning Mastery Journal. Not only has it been great for motivating to be in charge of my day, but it has served as an excellent quick review of the seasons my life is going through at the moment. The progress I have made as a wife, mom, and employee since January is nothing short of incredible to me.

I’m one of you… and I’m here to help cheer you on!

What’s Next

Once upon another time, I was a runner… I’ve run two full marathons, 3 half-marathons, a half dozen overnight relays, and numerous other races. I burned myself out a few years ago and currently, running and I are in a fight and not talking. 

                       

Buuuuut… I feel like I am mentally ready to conquer it again. I’ve put on about 50 pounds and one of my kiddos likes to call me “squishy.” My mental strength is not showing in my physical body, but I’m really feeling ready to get this butt in gear again.

I’m flirting with the Weightlifting Journal and have the Badass Body Goals Journal as a side piece, you know, for flavor. I’m just beginning, but based on my success with Morning Sidekick Journal, I think ima kill it! I'm also an avid bicyclist and hoping to complete my third Seattle to Portland  bike ride in Summer 2022.

Best of all is that thanks to the Habit Nest "give yourself some grace" mindset, I’m not going into this hating myself and my body. I’m going into it loving every curve. I’d just like to feel more fit, is all!

Me @ Habit Nest

Partway through my Morning Sidekick Journal journey, Mikey posted on the Facebook Group that the team was looking for someone to answer customer emails.                       

People... I literally had no reason to apply for this job. I had an awesome job. Kickass coworkers. Tacos. 🌮

But I was intrigued. And I loved my Morning Sidekick Journal… I suspected I would love working with the authors.

And I do.

Even more than that, I adore working with the Habit Nest customers, interacting on our ads on Facebook and Instagram, and connecting over email. My favorite is when someone emails in, assuming they will get some lame automated response, and they’re all hella rude. Then, I empathize, I fix their issue, I engage them like a fellow human and suddenly, they’re human again, too. I love it.

If you have any issues with your Habit Nest experience, I’m your gal… If I can’t fix it, I know the dudes who can.

Until then, take care.

Lindsay McDermott
Chief Happiness Officer @ Habit Nest
lindsay@habitnest.com