All posts filed under: words of encouragement

A Letter to My 20-Year-Old Self

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Originally posted on Am I Thirty Yet:
So tomorrow is the big day! The day this entire blog was written about. I turn 30! Turning 30 has made me think a lot about what it was like when I was turning 20 and saying goodbye to my teens. I didn’t handle it very well. There were panic attacks and I actually wet the bed the night of my birthday. (This is a true story and maybe I’ll tell you lucky people about it in another post.) For now, let’s go back to poor, little 20-year-old Liz. She was not excited about leaving her teens behind her and entering her twenties. Current Liz still isn’t 100% sure on what she wants with her life and the direction it is going to take. But 20-year-old Liz might as well have been on another planet. She didn’t even know what hairstyle worked best for her face or how to put on eyeliner. She was a lost soul who needed a lot of guidance. Now being a wise, almost 30-year-old (that…

Mindfulness: dig deeper, there’s more to just ‘I don’t care!’

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Originally posted on F R E E D O M:
When you imagine someone say, “I don’t care!”, what’s the first image that pops into your head? A spoiled child? A unreasonable teen? A heartbroken young adult? Or a middle aged paper pusher experiencing mid-life crisis? Whatever scenario came to mind, now think about this. What would the person in the situation do? The likely answer, in the case of a child and the teen, throw a tantrum, be reprimanded for said tantrum – the heartbroken young adult, tell him or herself to get it together, then move on – and in the case of the middle aged paper pusher, convince him or herself this is just how life is and keep it together for the sake of the ‘bigger picture’. However, if you look at all of these scenarios, what is it that they’re all missing? We could of course, throw the catch all phrase – ‘these people need self reflection’ – sure, but what does that mean? What if these people simply went…

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise.

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Originally posted on SHEU QUEN | THE RACONTEUR:
Image designed by Creator & Curator via http://www.canva.com. “Five more minutes, I promise… Zzz…” That’s what we always tell ourselves when our alarm rings at 9:00am in the morning, regardless of the day. That’s what we always say to the person who has been tasked to wake us up in the morning. And then you find yourself waking up at noon. OH NO! Half the day has gone! And I only have [insert hours] of time left before the black tie event tonight, and I need to do [insert chores]… Sounds familiar? Everyone is guilty of this, as do I. You slog all week, clocking in productive hours, preparing hunch-backed tasks for your boss, powering through presentations for clients, and brainstorming with your colleagues. Some of us work long hours. By the time we get home, it is too late to do anything else. All you have time for is a quick shower, an even quicker meal and then it’s off to bed for the next day’s work.…

Why I’m Ready to Embrace Being Single

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Originally posted on the hoe handbook:
In the 9th grade I broke up with the only real boyfriend I’ve ever had, he was heartbroken. Until he fell in love with another girl and subsequently cut me out of his life. So then I was heartbroken, I spent the next year and a half seriously messed up because for the first time I was really hit with insecurity. His new girlfriend was everything I could never be and he loved her for that (while at the same time hating me on her behalf). That’s when it started I think, my irrational fear of being a second choice and my downward spiral into single misery. Let me explain further. Around the 11th grade I fell in love with my best friend. He was everything to me and I knew that I could see us fitting well together. But I spent the next two years denying to everyone that I had feelings for him, because I figured that if he had wanted to be with me he would’ve…

Do What You Love, Even When It Sucks

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Originally posted on Ellie Hartleb:
Acclaimed sportswriter Red Smith said, “Writing is easy; you just open a vein and bleed.” As it turns out, Red was right — writing is a lonely, sometimes soul-sucking battle. Throughout my writing history, the main players have been myself, a pen, a legal pad and a laptop. After years of trying to master the craft, I have learned only a few things: Mastery is impossible, My best writing is first produced by hand in the middle of the night, and I love this, even when I hate it. On the eve of my fourth semester of college, I have realized that growing up to do what I love is more difficult (and more expensive) than I ever imagined. College has taken a lot of mental, physical and financial strain lately. It has both affirmed that my lifelong love of writing will one day be my full time job, and has made me question, more than ever, whether I really belong in this atmosphere. As it turns out, loving what I…

Liebster Award

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We were nominated for the Liebster Award by the wonderful Erika who runs, one of my favorite blogs, The Farm on the Hill. The Liebster Award is an award for bloggers by bloggers. The goal of the award is to encourage more connection and support within the writing community, as well as assist in discovering up and coming bloggers. The award focuses on bloggers with less than 200 followers. Though we don’t quite qualify in that regard, we’re happy to participate. When someone nominates you for the Liebster Award they ask you a series of questions. Here are the questions submitted by Erika. What originally got you blogging? Like many of my peers, I realized that adulthood didn’t come with a manual. As I wanted to share what I was learning as I learned daily lessons; thus the blog was born. What do you most enjoy about blogging? I love when bloggers comment and interact. I know we all have busy days, but it’s nice when someone takes the time to share their opinion or experiences. …