You can’t know who you are without knowing what you need.

Katie L. Wood

Katie L. Wood is one of my favorite trainers. She recently branched out of the business world and developed a series of training’s designed for specifically for women and their personal development. Her terminology of “Jourse,” which I can’t say without trying to sound like a white female rapper (and not a good one), is based on the premise that you must figure out what you need before you can discover who you are. The Jourse wants you to learn that sometimes we get caught of living our life backwards-we try to have more in order to do what we want. However, the opposite is true:

You must first be WHO you are and do what you NEED to do, in order to have WHAT YOU WANT.

Katie L. Wood

Perhaps the biggest takeaway I had from this first week in the Jourse is this concept of having 4 primary buckets we need to fill in our lives. If we don’t focus on filling the buckets it will lead to self-destruction. As women we tend to pour everything we have out of these buckets for the benefit of others and never take time to replenish them.

So what are those buckets?

1. Physical-What are you doing to keep your body healthy and strong?
2. Mental-Do you flex your mind, learn, and continue to grow?
3. Soul-How do you honor the higher power your recognize in your daily existence?
4. Relationship-Are you showing up meaningfully to those people that matter?

What are you doing to fill these buckets? I mean, really think about it. Are there one or more of these categories that are completely lacking in attention?

For me, I’ve done a pretty good job filling buckets one and two; however, buckets there and four have been getting neglected in a pretty major way. And you know what? I’ve felt it. I have physically and mentally felt a drain of energy, motivation, and focus in my life. I can’t even count how many times over the last several months I have said to my husband, “I’m drained,” “I’m spent,” or “I can’t put myself out there anymore.” My buckets are empty and need to be filled.

So this last week has been one of rejuvenation and reflection for me. How do I focus on my soul and my relationships? That, my friends, resulted in a pretty fabulous weekend with the family: quality time with the kids, date night with the husband, and Super Soul Sunday with Oprah. I mean really who else do you turn to when you Soul Bucket needs a refill?

The Jourse, Week 1, was a success in my book. Looking forward to the journey this course takes me on.