Every Life Matters Q&A - Briana Johnson

I do this thing where I come up with a word for someone that describes them. One word. I don't know why I do this but after I get to know someone a word just stick with them in my brain. Briana Johnson = Exuberance. The definition of exuberance is "the quality of being full of energy, excitement, and cheerfulness". If you know Briana you are now saying "Yeah... She is exuberant." I told you. She's just a ray of sunshine with a side of spunk.

When I met Briana last summer she treated me like I had been her friend for years. There was a connection with her. And I knew that we were meant to be gal pals. So of course I had to ask such an amazingly awesome person to be a part of my Q&A series. Uh duh... I would be a fool not to.

So I give to you, the exuberant and awesomely wonderful Briana Johnson!

Tell us a bit about yourself.

Hello new friends! I’m Briana Johnson, a girl who loves way too many of any one type of thing to ever pick a favorite.  I am a living room dancer, lifestyle blogger, happiness ambassador, champion of the soul, seeker of the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary, momma to four littles, and wife to a MS warrior.  I love color, music, places of the world, art, architecture, flowers, but mostly people.  Luckily I've got a house full of some pretty amazing ones.  In our house its not a debate over who gets the remote, its who gets to choose the playlist.  I kind of love that my children love music just about as much as me, until I hear “Last Train to Awesome Town” or Journey’s “Separate Ways” for the millionth time.

Who matters to you?

I have been greatly blessed throughout my entire life with meaningful relationships.  I do not take that lightly as I know there are many out there who have not experienced such joy and security.  

Parents and siblings that love spending time together, usually resulting in laughing so hard you cry.  

A closeness to my Heavenly Father and Savior I have fostered since I was a little girl.  

A husband who is my champion and works hard everyday to lift me and show me how much he loves me.  He fights against the claws of this horrible disease each day of his life and I admire him so much for it.  

My 4LiveCrew, four active kiddos who keep me young.  They love playing together and are learning to work too as our family adjusts to a new life with mom at work.  

Friends of course.  We have had people from all stages of our life pour their love and support into us, especially over the past few years.  

And people... beautiful, beautiful, extraordinary people like you and you.

How do you show them that they matter to you?

Time!  I have heard it said that love in family is spelled T. I. M. E.  I have taken that to heart and have used that as a trigger word to help me remember to spend time with the people that matter most to me.  I have it written on a necklace and in lights in my kitchen.  It is so easy to fall in the trap of just assuming people know that they matter to you because you have told them before or that because they are family or you consider them a friend they will understand if you just need to give time to more ‘pressing matters’.  Of course we would love to spend trips, nights out, and nights in with people we care about, but sometimes time translates to mean a quick trip to the park, a bedtime story, sitting next to each other on the sofa watching funny YouTube videos, or a quick phone call or text letting them know you’re thinking of them. 

Tell us about a time in your life when someone has made you feel like you mattered.

My husband was diagnosed with MS in 2009 and since that time his health has taken a dramatic decline.  Our family dynamic has shifted greatly and I am now the sole provider while he is doing his best to rock it at home as Mr. Mom.  Every day I hear him in our family prayers say he is thankful for me for working so hard and being the best mom in the world.  My kids hear it and I hear them repeat it to me often as they run up and give me hugs after long days at the office.  My husband thinks I am a rock star and it makes all the difference.

Tell us about a time in your life when you felt like you have not mattered.

Comparison is a dangerous weapon.  It may disguise itself as research for betterment, justified jealousy, or it may even tiptoe in very quietly until it wedges a gaping hole in your self-esteem.  I have fallen into the comparison trap many times throughout my life.  

How did you overcome that?

Oh I think there are a lot of factors that help me escape when I find myself in a comparison trap.  Being surrounded by positive thinkers both in my personal and professional life who remind me of my worth.  Breathing and channeling my thoughts to be happy for the person to whom I have compared myself.  Forgetting myself and finding ways to help others.  Naming the good things in my life aloud.  Recognizing the small accomplishments I make and giving them greater weight than the things in which I feel I don’t measure up.

What matters to you and why?

Learning to live a happy life.  Learning to live a happy life despite all the crazy ups and downs, twists and turns, leaps and crashes, solo walks and the bits I’m being carried.  Some days life feels so heavy and I just don’t think I can handle one more thing.  My insecurities and fears creep into my relationships and I wrap barbed wire around myself to keep any feelings from getting in.  It is the greatest mercy that in those moments, I feel the fight within me.  My greater self clambering to get out, to overcome.  My true self, the one I want to free.  And when I am free from fear of uncertainty and self-pity because of that inner fight combined with an undeniable divine enabling power, I am light and I am happy.  These down times have been coming less, with periods of clambering getting shorter.  I am learning more with each triumphant episode how to live a happy life.  My sincerest desire is that as I share with others what I have learned, both through the struggles and the lessons through experience, I may help someone through their own journey.  This will bring me tremendous joy.  

Life can get pretty crazy and there are a lot of distractions and things to get us off track. How do you keep focus on what matters most to you in your life?

Oh this is at the heart and soul of my lifelong quest, how do I focus on the things that I want to give the most attention to instead of to those things that seem to scream the loudest.  I have learned and continue to remind myself that I have to take time for me.  Not just to sit down with my favorite ice cream and watch the latest episode of some BBC series, but to take the time to do those things that light me up, feed into my soul, and put me on the path of becoming who I really want to be.  In order for me to turn and feed into everything and everyone else that needs me, I have to be fed first.  For me that means doing “The Miracle Morning”.  {If you haven’t read the book, go grab it}.  My miracle morning involves investing time first thing in the morning to those things that enrich my mind, body, and spirit, as well as give fuel to my dreams.  Mine involves getting up a good hour before my kids, oh how I’m not naturally a morning person but I promise you I am a different person when I do this.  In that hour plus I pray, read affirmations pertaining to my goals, visualize myself attaining a goal, read my scriptures while writing thoughts in my journal, and then squeeze exercise into the remaining minutes.  The world seems so much lighter and brighter when I do this. 

If you could give one message to those reading this what would it be?

You have a story to share.  Your life may seem ordinary to you, but the life you are leading right now, the journey you are on, what you have gone through and how you have overcome difficulties and pressed forward is worthy of inspiring others.  You are extraordinary.  So many of you are saying right now, me?, not me!  Yes you!  You and you and you.  It does not serve yourself or anyone else around you well to see your life as anything else.  It does not matter your shortcomings, or mistakes, or status, you have a life of purpose that can feel fulfilling and be used to inspire and serve others.  So find out how to believe that {I’d start with investing meaningful time in yourself} and then reach out and share that message of belief with someone else.  We live in a world of extraordinary people that just don’t see it yet.  Imagine how differently your world would be if you did this!  

This is my passion and I am so happy to have shared it with you.  Now you know its unfair that you know a whole lot about me, and I don’t know anything about you.  So come say ‘hi’ over where I hang out, Instagram (@briana6) and my 
blog www.journeywithjohnsons.blogspot.com  Hope to meet you soon!