April Osteen Simons - Better Than Ever: Get Your Happy Back, Stress Less, and Enjoy Every Day

A POST HILL PRESS BOOK

Better Than Ever:

Get Your Happy Back, Stress Less, and Enjoy Every Day

2021 by April Osteen Simons

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-64293-994-1

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-64293-995-8

Cover photo by Meshali Mitchell

Interior design and composition by Greg Johnson, Textbook Perfect

The content within this book is intended to be inspirational and instructive. It does not promise any particular outcome. The author assumes no responsibility for the readers interpretations thereof.

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Post Hill Press

New York Nashville

posthillpress.com

Published in the United States of America

For Mama
The strongest woman I know.

Contents

By Joel Osteen

I m so proud of my sister April. Shes an amazing communicator and has a great gift to inspire people to reach their potential. Whether your life is going well or youre going through disappointments and things you dont understand, we all want to be better. We want to be a better parent, a better spouse, a better friend, a better encourager, a better coworker, a better boss or manager. God put something deep down inside us that wants to be more like Him, something that keeps pushing us forward and saying, You werent born to be average or ordinary; youre meant to increase and rise higher. Dont be satisfied with good enough. You can be better.

Many of us have become conditioned in our minds to thinking weve made too many mistakes, weve reached our limits, weve seen our best days, and were stuck. But the good news is that you can leave the negative mindsets behind and choose the path that leads to all you were created to be. What God has in front of you is more fulfilling and rewarding than anything youve seen in the past.

My father used to say, Find your sweet spot, and that is what my youngest sister, April Osteen Simons, has found with her speaking and writing on how you and I can become better. Ive seen April face her share of challenges, as we all do, and through it all she encourages us to find ways, both big and small, to make today great, and tomorrow even better.

Aprils words are filled with encouragement, humor, inspiration, and hope. With the right perspective on whats ahead, and the willingness to open your heart and mind to all thats possible, she shows you how to steer your life toward the positive and press into the next level. Im encouraged by knowing that the best is yet to come, and that our days and our lives can continually become better than ever .

W hat if I dared to tell you it only takes a few small changes and tweaks to make your life better? Would you be willing to explore that idea? My life is certainly not perfect. Ive had my share of challenges, but I can honestly say that, with a bit of extra effort, my life has progressively become better and better.

Life doesnt have to be consistently boring and mundane. We dont have to wait to enjoy it until our kids grow up, or the bank account gets bigger, or even until our waistlines get slimmer. We can make life better today! Our pasts may not have been all that great and our futures may look a bit shaky, but we still have today. And we get to choose what well make of it.

Better Than Ever is written from personal experience. It contains real-life stories and practical ways to make anyones day the best it can be. In this book, well explore family, mindsets, and circumstances. Together, we can walk away from settling and make our way to a better futureand laugh a bit along the way!

Were all on a journey to thrive. Being better than ever is about how we shape our reactions, responses, relationships, and mindset when things arent going the way we think wed like for them to go. Life isnt about staying put. Its not about, Okay, Ive grown to this age, so why try anymore? Life is about making each day better than the day before.

This is my mantra.

Each day, I focus on not allowing the chaos going on around me to override the calm within me. I strive to always look for the good because even in the worst situations, there is good. I want to seek out the positive and express gratitude.

I want every single day to be better than ever for me, and I want that for you, too. You can change the trajectory of your day, every day, steering it back to the positive and away from the negative. You can use your words to speak life and hope, even when times are difficult. You can stop repeating past behaviors and habits and choose a new, better direction for you and your loved ones. You can cease to embrace ordinary, opting to step out and capture the extraordinary that is waiting for you. Lets make your lifes story one worth reading. Lets be better than ever !

April Osteen Simons

Action is the foundational key to all success.

Pablo Picasso

M any years ago, my kids and I were coming home from a long, crazy day of school followed by basketball games. It was about eight oclock, way past our normal dinner time, and let me tell you something: my kids were tired and hungry. In fact, they were downright hangry ! I decided to do what any good modern-day mom would do. I hit the nearest drive-through, so we could hurry home and eat immediately.

We chose a new Mexican food restaurant that wed all heard was amazing but hadnt had the opportunity to try out. Now let me stop right here and tell you just how much we love Mexican food. I honestly believe that itll be one of the main courses for dinner every night in heaven. The drive-through lane, thankfully, was empty. I pulled up to the first menu board so that everyone could see the choices. After collecting the orders, I crept up to the intercom and rolled down my window. You need to know I have a hard and fast rule. When my window goes down everyone has to be quiet so I can focus. Its also important for you to know that I have to place orders for seven people, including many changes and special requests.

Immediately, everyone got quiet and I gave the first order, then the second. So far, so good, right? Except it was at that precise moment that my kids began to giggle. I raised up my hand, snapped my fingers, and whispered loudly, Yall be quiet. I have to focus. (Does anyone else do that?) The kids shifted back into silence. I gave the third order and then the fourth. I felt really good! I remembered all of the orders, got the cheese just right, and the jalapeos were exactly where they needed to be. I was on a roll and pretty proud of myself. Then, after a few moments, a thought occurred to me. Nobody was talking back to me .

Just to confirm someone was getting my amazingly perfect order, I looked right into that big intercom and said, Hey, are you there? Are you getting this?