This is the Facebook status that started my morning. 

10:30 p.m. was when I finally wound down from a 13-hour work day. It would've been later had my little sister let me go to the gym like I planned. She sent me a firm "you need to sit down and stop doing so much" text message that re-routed my destination from Planet Fitness to my bed. 

"Life is more than work" is one of the first things I read this morning - right after I sent an e-mail regarding a freelance job opportunity. I've been hustling and bustling, lately. I've been building myself up and weighing myself down with blessings and an overload of work. 

I've been battling with decisions of picking and choosing what's most important to me: money or my sanity. Is working more hours at more jobs to ensure my financial stability, worth losing my peace and increasing my anxiety? 

Is going from one job I'm not passionate about, to the next, worth my happiness? 

Are a few extra dollars worth time being taken from building this foundation? This meaning DEAR QUEENS.

Then there's the money. The money I need for hosting events and merchandise designs. The money I need for promotional materials and to get me to-and-from unpaid speaking engagements. 

The money that I need to keep fueling this. This, still meaning DEAR QUEENS.

"Life is more than work." I kept reading it. I continued to recite those words as I sat at my computer screen and glanced over at my to-do list for the day, full of passionless assignments and mindless tasks. And I'm still sitting here trying to decide if wishing away work hours is the way I want to spend my summer. I'm here trying to figure out if working seven days a week is how I choose to enjoy the 80 degree weather.

Because life is more than work.

It's love and friendship.

It's late nights at the beach with wine and your best friends. It's putting on the cutest dresses to enjoy brunch at your favorite rooftop restaurant; or strapping up your blades to skate across the boardwalk. It's road-trips and sleeping on each other's couches. It's laughter and get together’s. It's barbecues and ski trips. It's date nights and girls nights. It's birthday memories and engagement celebrations. It's about connecting with people who teach you to fight and inspire you to keep going; to keep pushing. It's about surrounding yourself with love and support so you won't have to endure alone.  

Life is more than work.

It's growth.

It's enjoying the good, the bad and the boldly beautiful. It's about accepting the obstacles and welcoming the process. It's about using your discomfort to develop your character. It's about self discovery and self love. It's about losing yourself and being found again. It's about progression. It's about evolving. It's about becoming the woman you'd always hoped to be. It's about constantly recreating yourself, your thoughts and your existence. It's about making each day better than the last, so you can be better than you were yesterday. 

Life is more than work.

It's about being. 

It's about laying in the grass and listening to life happen around you. It's about soaking in the sun or watching the snow fall. It's about traveling and experiencing new things. It's about breathing and existing. It's about creativity and expression. It's about peace and

 freedom. It's about forming opinions and enjoying the things you like. It's about joy; doing, believing and experiencing the things that make you happiest. It's about jumping in the lake or enjoying the scenery of your hike. It's about tearing up the dance floor or reading a good book. It's about being shaken and stirred; because life does happen.

Life is more than work.

It's about God.

It's about us striving to become what He created us to be. It's about hope; believing in bright tomorrows and even brighter futures. It's about leaps of faith and trusting His word — with more money or less. It's about purpose, figuring it out and fulfilling it. It's about passion. It's about gifts. It's about being led by God and knowing you're never alone in this world. It's about basking in His presence and calling on Him when you think He may have left you. It's about finding time to enjoy Him fully.

Life is more than work. It's more than waking up each day to go to a job you dread and rushing home to nothing else, because of it. It's more than wasting away for financial gain. It's more than blowing off engagements and time with friends for a few extra overtime hours. It's more than watching the minutes of the clock before you punch in, punch out or counting down the days before retirement. Life is more than working more hours, for more money that you can't even find time to enjoy. 

Life is beautiful. It's refreshing. It's exciting. It's challenging. It hurts. It burns. It stings. But, it's certainly more than work. I'm praying you find time to stray from your to-do list - or your overwhelming work schedule - to experience it.