If you are reading this, you survived 2020 — Congratulations!

Many people have this attitude of “new year, new me” every time a new year comes around. I’ve never been that type of person, but I have created new goals I’ve wanted to achieve each year. The other day, one of my mommy blogger friends shared a poll on her story asking about our word for 2021. I jokingly replied “me”, as only I could do. The thing is, there’s a lot of truth to my response.

We as women tend to lose ourselves in our children and families. We forget the person we were prior to evolving into our roles as wives and mothers — and society makes us feel guilty for wanting to remember who that person was. I know life isn’t fair, but these standards society places on us come in a very close second. That’s why we need to take our lives back in 2021 ladies. We are more than moms and wives, and it’s time for us to act like it!

Last week, I shared with you all that I just didn’t have it in me to make sure everything was in order for the new year. My house wasn’t clean, we didn’t have our traditional new year’s meal, and my vision board materials were still in the bag I brought them home in. I just felt really bad— inside and out.

I’m happy to report that my vision board is finally complete. Rather than go into all of the components of the vision board in this blog post, there’s one overarching theme — intentionality. I’ve been intentional about communicating what I want, what I need, and everything in between. Though it’s still early, I can already tell how much of a difference this mindset will make for me this year. See, I was in a place to where I viewed being a stepmom as being a second-class parent. This was viewpoint was a learned behavior, and it’s one that’s hard to break— especially when biological children don’t seem to be part of my life plan. However, a Clubhouse chat I had earlier this week showed me that being a stepmom isn’t second-class. It is actually a calling!

I’ve found that when I can’t find the words to communicate how I feel, I tend to find a good statement piece that helps me to get my point across. That’s where Ipsetic comes in. Ipsetic was founded by Jennifer Philogene in order to help women recognize that we are more than the labels society places on us. Her vision for a world where women continue to break barriers and shatter the glass ceilings that have been placed above us is one that I can really identify with. Working in public health for the past 10 years and being the older sister to a physician-to-be, I’ve seen firsthand how damaging these labels can be in our career fields. Our late maternal grandmother, who was a nurse for 26 years, has always been intentional about making sure her girls were “good”— just as her mother did for her and her six sisters. She lived out this mission even in her last days, while she encouraged the younger nurses on her care team to continue pushing until they reached the top. That’s why I’m intentionally incorporating Ipsetic apparel into my wardrobe.

Ipsetic is a brand modeled after the ancient Christian belief of ipseity— which is the manifestation of what a person was created to be. See, I’ve always dreamed of having lots of children. This has been my dream for longer than I can remember. I just knew this would come from me physically birthing these children I dreamed of having. However, that expectation clearly is not my reality. Sometimes I wonder if my story took this turn because of the degree of emphasis I’ve placed on biological motherhood. I’ve been so obsessed with the version of motherhood I’ve longed for that I’ve completely ignored all of the other things I am. I’m a boss, entrepreneur, and super dope content creator in addition to being a mom and wife. That is the essence of ipseity friends.

While I might not be able to carry around my vision board and wear it like a necklace, I can rock some amazing threads by Ipsetic that communicate my mindset. I am more than a mom. I am more than a wife. I am more than a model employee that represents our program locally, regionally, and nationally. I’m making a choice to embrace the innate qualities about myself that make me who I am— and I want to help you do the same! You can learn more about Ipsetic by clicking here or by following them on Facebook and Instagram.

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