13 Normal Things I Quit to Change My Life

I used to believe I’d always be a little reactive, a little overwhelmed, and just barely making it through each day. But over the past year, something changed—so much so that people who knew me before say I’m almost unrecognizable now.

Not because I reinvented myself, but because I let go of things I thought were just normal—things that were quietly sabotaging my peace.

If you’re feeling like you need a whole life reset, I hope this gives you some hope that it’s totally possible just by making a few changes.

A lot of this came down to learning how to regulate my nervous system—especially during high hormone seasons when emotions felt louder, heavier, and harder to manage. Every touch felt painful and every noise felt like nails on a chalkboard.

Regulating your nervous system doesn’t make life perfect—it just helps you respond instead of react. And for me, it changed everything.

So here are the 13 perfectly normal things I quit to become unrecognizable and completely change my life.

1. Daily Sweets and Constant Snacking

I used to snack all the time. I didn’t think much of it—just a little bite here, a few sips of something there—but then I learned about something called ‘eating events.’

Basically, any time you consume calories, your body has to do the work of digesting, and your blood sugar and insulin levels respond.

Most people think they’re eating 3 meals a day, maybe a snack—but when you actually track it, it’s more like 8 to 12 eating events. A bite of your kid’s toast, the coffee with cream and sugar, the handful of crackers at 10 AM, sipping a smoothie for two hours, finishing your toddler’s lunch—your body sees every one of those as an eating event.

That constant input can keep your body in a low-grade stress state all day long—especially if you’re already dealing with hormone shifts or nervous system dysregulation.

2. Getting Upset About Small Things

Guys, if I dropped something, banged my head, stubbed my toe—I would be sent into an absolute fit of rage. I would get SO mad about minor inconveniences. I would cuss, talk about how dumb that was, and lament about why these things happen to me all the time.

Part of my ability to stop getting upset about these small things was regulating my nervous system. I realized that nervous system dysregulation was contributing to my reactivity.

But also, just adding more joy and gratitude in my life. And catching myself when I would say things like—“That was so stupid,” or “Why do these things happen to me all the time?”—and reframe it to instead say something positive or make light of the situation.

3. Taking Other People’s Actions Personally

Even when someone’s actions affected me, I realized I didn’t have to take it personally or internalize them. I stopped caring so much about what other people did, even if I thought it was a bad choice or selfish and in some way negatively affected me.

Instead, I learned that I am the only person I can control and I get to choose to keep my side of the street clean and have better responses.

That’s a great segue into the next thing I stopped doing…

4. Justifying Bad Behavior

Even if someone did sin against me, I stopped excusing my impatience or emotional outbursts.

Now, when I start justifying something, that’s my red flag that I’m in the wrong—and it’s time to repent and reset.

For example, if I’m justifying yelling because this is the 50th time I told my children not to do something, I’m probably in the wrong.

If I’m justifying getting snippy with my husband for whatever reason—because whatever reason—I’m in the wrong and I need to repent and move forward in grace.

5. Living in Survival Mode

I stopped living my life in constant overwhelm, stress, and reactivity.

To do this, I healed my nervous system and made that work my priority.

If you’re in survival mode, barely keeping up, and wondering if real change is even possible, I highly recommend taking my free workshop. In it, I tell you the exact methods I used to heal my nervous system and stop living in survival mode.

I’ve had so many women tell me how this free workshop alone has transformed their home in 7 days and how much they are loving their life as a result of implementing the steps in the 7-day challenge.

6. Future-Casting My Struggles

Here’s a scenario: nursing my firstborn was so hard. I couldn’t imagine going another month or let alone another year enduring that kind of struggle.

But the thing is… I didn’t endure that struggle for another month. Yes, I would go on to nurse my baby for much longer, but it wasn’t as difficult.

Had I made a decision on my nursing journey based on my current reality about the future, I would have quit nursing my sweet baby and lost out on that experience.

Same with having more children. Had I made a decision on welcoming more life into the world at the peak of struggle, I would have stopped having children after one—but I’m so glad I didn’t.

So, I learned not to make decisions based on my hardest moments and to just endure trials with patience and counting it all joy.

James 1:2-4 says:
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

7. Counting My Quiet Time Minutes

Counting the minutes I was in the Word versus just craving the Word.

Now, sometimes it’s 15 minutes, sometimes 30, sometimes 45. Doesn’t matter.

8. Saying “This Is Just Who I Am”

I let go of the lie that says I just am a certain way and can’t change.

That is so counter to Biblical truth, and I allow myself to be sanctified now. Just because I’ve been reactive and a slave to my emotions in the past doesn’t mean I am a reactive person or that I need to continue that pattern.

That’s not my identity—my identity is in Christ and I’m becoming more like Him every day by the grace of God.

9. Rushing Through Motherhood

This is twofold.

Rushing through motherhood from a big picture—like, “Oh I can’t wait until they’re this age so X would be easier.”

But also in the short term. I stopped frantically rushing through my days and began savoring the time I did have with my children.

This helped to relax me—my nervous system.

10. Following Worldly Influences

I stopped consuming content that didn’t reflect who I wanted to become and instead curated playlists, podcasts, and voices that continually pointed me to Christ.

As a result, I consumed much less content.

11. Having a Discontented Spirit

Even little sighs or eye-rolls or noises that displayed a lack of gratitude—I let go of tones and language that didn’t reflect Christ.

It was about cultivating a heart posture of gentleness and gratitude versus entitlement.

I read that annoyance is a sign of pride. People who are often annoyed are being prideful because they expect that life should go exactly as planned.

The grumbles I made about my children spilling food was pride, the dissatisfaction with a broken down car, was all just pride…

Because why should I be granted a life void of any work, struggle, or roadblocks?

In fact, we are told to expect trials and count them all joy. Why? Because through those trials we are sanctified.

12. Letting My Thoughts Spiral

I used to let my thoughts run wild. Now, I actively take them captive and replace them with biblical truth.

This looked like memorizing scripture so my mind and heart were filled with the truth instead of the flooding lies in my mind.

It meant using that scripture from memory to replace negative thoughts as they came up and it looked like getting into the habit of showing gratitude so frequently that those lies rarely had the chance to rear their ugly heads.

13. Letting Emotions Lead the Home

I stopped letting my emotions lead the atmosphere I set in the home and started setting the tone with peace and intention.

Someone commented on my channel a while back and said that mothers are the nervous systems of the home, and our tone and mood affect how the whole house functions—and I couldn’t agree more.

If that’s you and you’re in a place where you think you can’t change, I want you to know that if I can do it, you certainly can.

You Can Let Go of “Normal” Too

If you’re stuck in habits or reactions you wish you could quit, I just want to say—if I can change, you absolutely can too.

God really can make you new.

And if you’re wondering how, sign up for my free workshop. It’s called From Survival Mode to Peace-Filled Homemaking in 7 Days, and it’s full of the exact steps that helped me become a woman I barely recognize—in the best way.