Driving from race to race I can be on the road for lengthy time periods. I generally spend at least 10 hours on the road a week during the hot time of my race season. As traveling in a car has a sense of vestige, it has a tendency to wear off after your fifth straight week of being away from home. So how do you keep your sanity through this crazed “travel life”?! 

If I’m on the road on my own (so I end up doing all the driving), the task becomes a lot harder to keep myself entertained, but I have a found a couple tips that really do help. 1. I try to wait to eat till I’m actually on the road because that can use up a good half hour or so. 2. I create a fun upbeat playlist to keep my mind flowing and my heart racing so I don’t get so drowsy. I’ve found that creating a playlist is a lot better than just scrolling through all my songs, because that can get tedious, and very discouraging when you suddenly feel like you've failed at purchasing hip songs… queue drowsiness and depression... -- Which brings me to 3. Find an in-depth audiobook. Listening to someone read to you, sparking thoughts, uncovering what you believe, keeps your mind engaged and upbeat. 

If I am riding with someone else in the car, so I am not driving. Its obvious that you have a friend or family member to unravel conversations to entertain both you and the driver. If not talking though, I have a tendency to bring a stack of magazines to read up on. It is fun to read a handful of articles, but not have to get super engaged in an entire book (I've never been a huge reader). Also, for myself, I have quite a bit of social media to take care of on a regular basis, so times like these are a great opportunity to catch up on replying to lost messages and fan pages. 

Regardless if your travel weekly, or once in a life time, it’s always a better trip the more prepared you are. Pace yourself, laugh a lot, encourage yourself, and enjoy your downtime!! :) 


Living by Faith,
Mianna

Over the past month it has seriously been a Throw Back Thursday everyday. To kick off such a unique month, my extended family came in from out of town for my Pop’s (grandpa’s) birthday. There was over thirty of us- CRAZY! It was so great to see everyone, fellowshipping and reminiscing about old times. It brought back so many good memories. I hadn’t seen some of them for close to 9 years! Aside from that, I have been so blessed with my career opportunities, being able to break down walls I never thought I would, as I am also reminded of the most cherished times of my past. I have recently been able to purchase a 1996 Lola Indycar with the same team that gave me the freedom to test an older Indycar of their’s close to 3 years ago. Even more astonishing, the exact Indycar I now own today was parked beside the car I drove those almost 3 years ago. I am truly blessed. I could go on all day telling you my latest “deja vu’s”, but I am going to finish up with the knowing that even if not all of the circumstances that through me into a month long of TBT’s, it has given me the chance to look back on such a blessed life, and moreover, recognize how the Lord Jesus Christ has blessed me with new blessings that exceed previous heartaches, even if today is met by past encounters. 

Happy TBT! - 

Living by Faith,
Mianna

Life it’s self is hard to describe aside from the many complexing tasks in our hands. There’s the “to do list”, the wants and self dictated tasks, and then of course, all the expectations of others. I’ve never been one to reject a persons desire for setting an accomplishment for me. Rather I should say, to dissatisfy their anticipation of a certain belief; but then again, who is? Life is so much more complicated than being able to please the everyone who surrounds me. There is an edge, a statement to be made, a dedication to envelop, a stigma to live out, real feelings involved, and those days that the rain just pours. 

Have you ever sat through a storm so big and heavy, just watching out the window, seeing your world slowly disappear under a smoggy tide? Some like the rain and it’s particular weight on the world, maybe they like it because they understand a bigger picture. But most when they think of a storm and it’s rain, they tie it to sorrow and unkindly circumstances, to pain and suffering, or a disliked situation. I suppose that if not carful, this drudgery would contaminate a mind as if life was distressing. It became know to me, however, when watching a torrential down pour out my front window a few months back, that its more than just a down pour. Each drop touches a part of the earth and as each plant, soil, and all things created are soaked with a muggy wetness, becoming more and more blurry, when the rain stop, they have grown and flourished into something greater than before. 

I believe that our life, our rainy days, can be the same day if we look at it with the correct perspective. When I have rainy days, it is a very difficult thing and has a way on pulling on my heart strings, but I also have seen some great days. I know that eventually the rain will stop, the water will reseed, and life can be more than it ever had potential to be before- you just have to out endure the storm. Keep a positive prospective even when it rains.  

Living by Faith,
Mianna

“Without belief you’ll never get there, so believing that you can is crucial to the process. Doubting yourself and whether or not you can do it means that you’ll only give half-hearted effort, and that won’t be nearly as powerful as you could be. Belief can do it all, just believe that you can accomplish the first step in getting there.”- Alexa Jean Brown via Instagram @alexajeanfitness


In life there are many obstacles and unknowns, many uncertainties and doubts, and all those of which can repulse us from achieving who we are truly created to be. Alexa Jean Brown quotes how those doubts relay into a lack of effort. She so finely points out how if you don’t try full heartedly to get there, than how can you state you can never do it. We all have our dreams, missions, longings in life no matter how big or risky they may be. From becoming a winning race-car driver, to hiking Mount Everest with your children or loved ones, or maybe knitting a shirt for a new baby. What ever that image of your imagination pulls on your heartstrings, don’t let the obstacles in the way detract you from even starting that wonderful journey. 


The wandering can be so much more beautiful than the prize. Getting lost in the journey is an unexpected love. Once you decide to grasp on to determination of accomplishment, the first step, you can uncover a new side of your own person that you never knew was there. A goal or accomplishment is nice and satisfying for a few moments, but the wandering in the journey, the moment you start to create your memory of how special your accomplishments are, that is a memory that will last forever. 


Don’t sell yourself short. You are amazing. All you have to accomplish is that first step until the unraveling reveal of the special, self-satisfying moments. Go, push, believe- just do it. 

Living by Faith, 
Mianna