“I Don’t Live Just To Work”: Jovian Zayne On Using The Weekend For Self-Care
As a part of our Friday Nights, Saturday Mornings feature, we're talking to some of our favorite boss ladies about their weekends, their way. How do they relax, recharge and refuel? As we all know, life shouldn't be all about work. It's what we do beyond business and career that help keep us motivated and able to dominate for the week ahead.
Meet Jovian Zayne - an international speaker, coach, and founder of the OnPurpose Movement®. Here Jovian reflects on why self-care is so important and why taking time to fill ourselves up will allow for blessings to overflow in other areas of our lives.
This is what she had to say about her weekend, her way.
The perfect Friday Night:
"I see why growing up, my mama would tell me to just go take a nap somewhere. At the end of a long week, that's all I want! I believe naps, a good meal and some prayer can truly change things! It's also my belief that my greatest act of self-care is honoring the purpose over my life so I consider self-care to be any act that I can do to edify my spirit, mind, body and soul.
"I use the Self-Journal as a great tool to reflect on lessons learned, and progress I've made for the week. On any given Friday night, you can catch me cuddled up with my husband for our weekly date night (We - don't - miss - it!) eating at a new restaurant, watching a movie or falling down a YouTube rabbit hole."
Courtesy of Jovian Zayne
"My greatest act of self-care is honoring the purpose over my life so I consider self-care to be any act that I can do to edify my spirit, mind, body and soul."
How she powers up on Saturday Mornings:
"As my friend, fellow wife and entrepreneur Desiree has said, 'The ministry of home is REAL.' I try to hold my weekends sacred, doing little to NO work and prioritizing activities that keep my house in order, my marriage front and center and my spirit relaxed. I know that I can't give what I don't have, so I use my weekends as my time to replenish for the week ahead. I sometimes think about them as mini vacations and live by the 'Must Do vs. Nice to Do' rule.
"If it's not a 'Jovian, you absolutely have to do this' type of thing, it'll have to wait until next week. I want my Saturdays to feel fun and unbothered by the agenda I follow during the week. If it keeps me energized and moving towards my best, then I'm doing it on a Saturday. If it's wearing me out, I'm not. This mindset helps me prioritize important things like taking a nap, hitting the gym and [spending] quality time with family and friends."
Courtesy of Jovian Zayne
"I try to hold my weekends sacred, doing little to NO work and prioritizing activities that keep my house in order, my marriage front and center and my spirit relaxed. I know that I can't give what I don't have, so I use my weekends as my time to replenish for the week ahead."
The ideal Girls' Night:
"I LOVE MY GIRLS! With us being spread out all over the world, we love a good group FaceTime and are constantly talking on group texts and GroupMe. We share weekly wins every Wednesday aka 'WINSday' and prayer requests. My recipe for a great girls night: comfortable ambiance, good food, wine and intimate conversation.
"We'll celebrate any and everything together: promotions, new haircuts, cheekbones and breakups. For people looking for fun ways to spend quality time with their girls, I suggest inexpensive trips to new places in the US, watch parties at someone's house, themed dinners, brunch parties and worship circles."
Courtesy of Jovian Zayne
"My recipe for a great girls night: comfortable ambiance, good food, wine and intimate conversation."
How recharging helped her business:
"I've been reminded that I work to live the full life I want to experience. I don't live just to work. My life is only as full as my commitment to honor the purpose I see God has put on my life. I know that my purpose extends far beyond my career. I'm grateful that I love my work. I see direct connection to my purpose in my current career, but I also recognize that spending time with my family and friends, developing new healthy habits and exploring the world are a part of how I can honor God with the life that I have.
"It's important to remember that you can't give what you don't have. In order to give my best to my business, I must give my best to other areas of my life. That ultimately allows me to show up more present and connected in my business. I've learned from my mentors, sages and older guides that this mindset is critical to owning and living my definition of success."
Connect with Jovian on Instagram @jovianzayne.
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Rana Campbell is a Princeton University graduate, storyteller, content marketing strategist, and the founder and host of Dreams In Drive - a weekly podcast that teaches you how to take your dreams from PARK to DRIVE. She loves teaching others how to use their life stories to inspire action within oneself and others. Connect with her on Instagram @rainshineluv or @dreamsindrive.
Exclusive: Dreka Gates Talks Farm Life, Self-Mastery, And Her Wellness Brand
Dreka Gates is making a name in wellness through authenticity and innovativeness. Although we were introduced to her as a music manager for her husband, Kevin Gates, she has now carved out her own lane outside of music as a wellness entrepreneur. But according to Dreka, this is nothing new.
In an xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
Courtesy
If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But COVID hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
"I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots."
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
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Quinta Brunson Says She Feels ‘Complete Freedom’ After Big Chop
They say a woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life, and judging from Quinta Brunson’s resume, it’s only up from here.
At the 76th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, the Abbott Elementary creator and star, hit the red carpet rocking a whole new look: a pixie cut.
Brunson discussed her new short hairstyle with style correspondent Zanna Roberts Rassi, in an interview that aired on TODAY with Hoda and Jenna.
"I’ve been planning it for a really long time and I kept getting cold feet and I decided it was time to stop getting cold feet and just cut it off," she shared.
Quinta Brunson rocking a pixie as she attends the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards.
Kevin Mazur/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
The actress, 34, was asked about her initial reaction to the haircut, and she replied, describing her feelings as, "shock, but then complete freedom."
She added:
"Like, I have never felt better. I just feel very much like myself. It’s like a piece of me that I was trying to get for a long time."
In a May interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Brunson explained how she used hair to reflect the evolution of her on-screen character, Janine.
“I spoke with our hair team. You know, they constantly wanted to make the hair look better, and I so often was like, ‘Guys, I get it but there’s a story that I really want to tell with Janine,’” she told the publication. “It’s really important to protect the evolution of a person learning to take care of themselves, love themselves, and know themselves.”
In July, xoNecole spoke with Moira Frazier, the Emmy-nominated Hair Department Head of Abbott Elementary, about how Janine's hair evolution mirrors the universal experience of growing into oneself. “She's a young teacher in her early 20s, just graduated college, and she's trying to find herself,” she told xoNecole. “We've all been there, trying to find our look. She's coming out of that awkward stage and trying to get into adulthood and womanhood.”
Watching Brunson's journey over the years, it's clear that her new doux is just a glimpse of all the greatness she has in store.
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Featured image by Kevin Mazur/Kevin Mazur/Getty Images