You Do YOU

I’ve been lurking in the corners of Petit Elefant for a few months, here and listening, but not participating in a way you, as readers, can see.  I’ve been going through some health stuff, privately, and I’m ready to be back here in this great community, better than ever.

I have a lot of feelings about a lot of things, almost all of them completely happy and joyful and peaceful, totally wonderful.  I’ve hesitated sharing anything quite yet, but I think it’s time.  Not the difficult details of my journey, but the good stuff.  The life stuff I’ve learned in the process.

If this doesn’t interest you, no sweat.  Skip to the stuff you like the most.  I’ll still be posting random videos of Jimmy Fallon being awesome, and sharing makeup tips, and how-to’s for your style life.  In fact, I’ve expanded team Petit Elefant a bit, and you’re going to be lucky enough to hear from a whole host of new and amazing writers I’ve hand selected to give voice to a lot of different areas of life: beauty, style, travel, parenting, life.  It will be very “LIFEY”, (to quote my brilliant, dear friend Laura Mayes) in the best way possible.

In all this stuff, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can be the best possible version of me, and you know what that includes?

Me doing me.  You doing you.

What on earth does that mean?

To me that means,

You Do YOU.

I’ve got me and mine, and you’ve got you and yours.

I couldn’t tell you how to become the best you any more than you could do the same for me.  But maybe, hopefully, in all this, I can share what things are making me the best ME, and it might inspire you to be the best YOU.

Today being the best me meant waking up when it was dark outside, feeding my kids a healthy breakfast (this is very big in being the best me), driving them to school and sending them both off into their days with a declaration of my love.  It also meant doing dishes, preparing dinner for tonight (healthy), and going for a 2-mile walk in the sunshine, uphill, both ways. (Literally)

All of those things were hard today, but they were a good hard, the kind that’s making me better in the end.  More joyful.

photograph by Alexa Zurcher

As I was scrolling through my Petit Elefant Instagram feed the other night, I came across this photo by my new friend Alexa Zurcher.  The words Alexa layered on top of this beautiful photo really resonated with me.  The quote is by David A. Bednar, a leader in my church (I am a Mormon) who often speaks kindnesses about life.  I love his words.  Some days a tiny, eensy, infinitesimal amount of better than yesterday is all we’ve got.  I believe it’s enough.  You’re enough, and so am I.

We’ve got this.

Allison

Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!