{"id":11885,"date":"2016-02-25T02:20:22","date_gmt":"2016-02-25T07:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/verastic.com\/?p=11885"},"modified":"2016-02-24T22:30:22","modified_gmt":"2016-02-25T03:30:22","slug":"11885","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html","title":{"rendered":"I Want To Live For Myself, Too!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Heart Association<\/a>. All opinions are 100% mine.<\/p>\n

I told you in a previous post how my baby, Ada Verastic has evolved my why<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Having her lit up a special kind of fire in me to want to do better. She makes me feel like all my life before her, I was not living. When she wakes up crying and I go in to pick her up, she flashes me the biggest, brightest smile (with glassy eyes) before I even reach out to pick her up. It’s like she becomes happy and comfortable and secure and safe when she seems me. And I know she does not know it, but that smile is EVERYTHING to me. I have no words, none at all, to describe the kind of joy I feel when she does that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And that is exactly why I also want to live for myself. I remember when Ada Verastic and I traveled to Austin, Texas last month to visit Uju, and the flight attendants – on both flights – did something interesting. A flight attendant specifically came to me and said, “Mom, you have to put the mask on yourself first before the baby,” and I nodded in agreement without thinking much about it. But in retrospect, it makes all the sense in the world. If I don’t put the mask on myself first, I might be out of air before I am able to put it on Ada Verastic.<\/p>\n

Of course, the preferred scenario is to never be on a plane and even need to use the mask. But the analogy is apt. In order for me to be able to maximize my love for Ada Verastic, I have to do it for my own self first. That way, there will be more love to share with my baby (and everyone in my life) because I cannot give from an empty cup.<\/p>\n

Life Is Why<\/a>\u00a0the American Heart Association is committed to helping people live healthier, in heart and mind, which would mean a better life. They believe that the heart is where we feel life’s most precious moments, and the mind is where we relive them over and over. I could not agree more with this. I want a healthy heart and mind.<\/p>\n

As I get older now, I appreciate my youth even more. I watch my older relatives as they age and as their bodies change externally and internally, and I am even more determined to be as healthy as I can. Aging is natural and is a great privilege, but aging while healthy is not always guaranteed. I have decided to be intentional about my health, so that I can be healthy for myself, and I know for sure that my healthy self would have a better time taking care of my daughter.<\/p>\n

\"healthy<\/p>\n

To be more specific, I am trying to incorporate more green, leafy foods and less carbs into my diet, but as a Nigerian, I must admit that this is ultra difficult. What’s a girl to do without her rice and Agege bread? I am also trying to be intentional about resting my mind. When I go to bed, I try to actually go to bed, instead of pulling out my phone and updating my to-do list and updating my list of ideas for Verastic. Instead, I put my phone face-down and turn the light off because I need my mind to be fully rested. Another thing I have a lot of interest in is Yoga because it just seems so peaceful, and I’d like my mind to be in that space.<\/p>\n

By the way, February is American Heart Month, so it’s a perfect time to begin a journey to a heart-healthy you, and you can check out the\u00a0Pinterest<\/a>\u00a0board for more inspiration (and possible obsession)<\/span>. I’ll be raising my glass to a healthier heart and mind for all of us.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Visit<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of American Heart Association. All opinions are 100% mine. I told you in a previous post how my baby, Ada Verastic has evolved my why. Having her lit up a special kind of fire in me to want to do better. She makes me feelRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_14738191_14738191":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[560],"tags":[565],"class_list":["post-11885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-social","tag-sponsored-post","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nI Want To Live For Myself, Too! - Verastic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vera Ezimora\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html\",\"name\":\"I Want To Live For Myself, Too! - Verastic\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/AHA.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-25T07:20:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/AHA.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/AHA.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":750},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/social\/11885.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I Want To Live For Myself, Too!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/\",\"name\":\"Verastic\",\"description\":\"Recklessly authentic.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/2c1b7969fbea03a45b97d54a5228cc1a\",\"name\":\"Vera Ezimora\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/verastic.com\/site\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f6c1e19c23a08351aab97f35d3ca650f0b87e7e96937f85baf0faf6e0834bc51?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vera Ezimora\"},\"description\":\"I mean, I'm a lot of things - a Writer, Blogger, Speaker, Vlogger, Content Creator, Storyteller, Truth-Sayer, Milk-Lover, Yogurt-Addict, Entrepreneur, Daughter, Wife, Mom, & Nwa Jesu. 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