31 days of self-love challenge: Day 11

How would you describe yourself in a loving way to a stranger?

Hmm, this is a tough one for me. I never liked describing myself, looks or personality for anyone… but here it goes. As loving as it gets for me at the moment

On the outside, I’m that awkward height that’s not short but not tall. It’s not a bad height, pretty decent. I’ve got blonde-ish hair that is at least 4 different shades and is pretty long and gets almost white in the summer. I have a bunch of different dimples that are visible depending on the face I’m making. They’re one of my favorite parts of my face. My eyes are a cool blue-grey color, but change to grey, blue, and blue-green, depending on my shirt color and the lighting. I always think its cool how they change colors.  I have 4 tattoos and, yes there are more to come and yes I love all of them.

On the inside, I’m typically a very kind individual, but I can have an attitude, but who doesn’t sometimes?. My sense of humor is 100% sarcasm and there is a 27599% chance that I’m usually kidding. I’m a very goofy human who loves making other people laugh. I also love doing things to help better the world, like volunteering, helping those in need, and I want to be a teacher so I obviously want to better the generations ahead.

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 10

 How can you set better boundaries in your life?

I’ve never been one to set boundaries well, in fear of backing down on them or hurting others but a friend of mine and I recently had a conversation about boundary setting so I’ll post her tips for this one.

  1. When you identify the need to set a boundary, do it clearly, calmly, and in as few words as possible. Do not justify, apologize for, or rationalize the boundary you are setting. Just set the boundary calmly, firmly, clearly, and respectfully.
  2. After setting your boundaries, you are in no way responsible for how others react to the said boundary. Do not back down on it just to make others happy.
  3. If you feel selfish or guilty about your new boundary, that’s okay. Keep strong with your boundaries.
  4. Most people are willing to respect your boundaries, but some are not. Be prepared for this and never back down.
  5. Setting boundaries can and will take time. Be patient
  6. Develop a support system of those who support your boundaries and keep them close.

How do you all set boundaries in your lives??

Alicia

 

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 9

What’s something in your life that you need to get rid of?

Something I NEED  to get rid of (but is SO SO SO hard to do) is negativity. I feel like everyone has quite a bit of negativity accompanying them, due to stress, our government, work, etc. However, I feel like mine is a bit more internal.

I want to be one of those girls who is filled with sunshine and rainbows, but instead, I’m filled with self-deprecating humor and past trauma.

It’s so hard, especially when it comes to loving myself, body and mind, not to be negative. However, I’m not actively trying to remove it from my life. I’ll sometimes just be like “haha I have no friends,” “why am I ugly” or “I’m a failure.”

I really want to try to live a more positive life but I really don’t know what to do or how to start. How do you guys try to maintain positive and keep the negativity in your lives at a low?

Until tomorrow

Alicia

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 8

Where in your life do you need to slow down & take your time?

I think my whole self at school needs to slow down. I am constantly go go go, going to events, class, the gym, work, doing homework, and making time to be social can be a lot. I sometimes forget to relax.

In San Diego, I relaxed too much, so my grades suffered so I made it a mission that when I came to Ohio I wouldn’t let the same thing happen. In all of this studying and making friends and everything else, I forgot to take my time and slow down a bit. This entire semester I watched maybe 30 hours of Netflix. I know this seems trivial, but I watched at least 5 times that in San Diego.

This semester, my goal is to create a balance. I need a balance of school, work, social, and downtime. I always seem to have 1 or 2 of the three, but never all of them and I’m really going to try to create a balance of them all, no matter how long it takes.

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 7

Name a thing you love about your body and your personality

This one also proved very hard for me to come up with. Something I love about my personality is my sense of humor. I am very sarcastic which can be taken wrong but it usually works in my favor. My sense of humor has always been a way for me to make friends/ make small talk or first conversations less awkward. People also always remark on my sense of humor and that they think I’m funny so it’s nice that others appreciate something that I love as well!

Something I love about my body is my hair. It’s soft and long and like 7 different colors which makes it look super cool when braided. I know that I sometimes complain about how it doesn’t hold a curl and how it’s so straight but at the end of the day, I’d take straight soft hair over a bunch of tangles and frizz.

What do you all love about yourselves??

Alicia

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 6

What do you need to forgive yourself for?

This is one that I’ve deemed quite difficult to come up with.  I’m not too sure how much this has to do with self-love but it is something I need to forgive myself for nonetheless.

Almost 8 years ago my grandma was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. We would drive down to my grandparents’ house every Sunday we could from the time she was diagnosed to the time she died, to get as much time with her as we could, however, at the time, I was unaware that this was why we frequented their house.

It was June, and we were having a party to celebrate the birthdays of myself, and my 2 cousins, whose birthdays are all within 2 weeks of each other. When it was time to go, we said our goodbyes and were heading out. I had already hopped in the car, buckled up, and was listening to some music on my iPod, when my dad came to the car and told me to say goodbye to my grandma.  I assured him that I’d done it already, yet he forced (harsh term but that’s how  I felt in the moment) me to go back inside and say goodbye again.

I sulked my way through the house to the back porch to where my grandma was sitting, lazily side hugged her, mumbled goodbye, and sulked back through the house to return to my seat awaiting me in the car.

It’s funny to me, at the time I thought I’d have thousands of more hugs from her, if not more, and that this one time wouldn’t be one of the last. Yet sitting here now, there isn’t one thing I wish I could do more than to hug her one last time.

I know this is something I may never forgive myself for, even though I need to. However, getting this out in the open is one step closer to forgiving myself, so all we can do it hope.

Until tomorrow

Alicia

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 5

What is something you need to start saying yes to?

Something I need to start saying yes to is hanging out with friends. Or more importantly not saying no.

I am one of those people who agrees to see people and then cancels last minute. However, later on, I feel bad about not seeing them and being alone and I wallow in self-pity.

I always get really anxious before hanging out with people (even my best friends haha no clue why) and I need to suffer through that little anxiety and see the ones I love or could start to love if I stopped bailing on them.

Until tomorrow

Alicia

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 4

What is a compliment that you struggle to accept about yourself?

A compliment that I always struggle to accept is that I’m pretty. Whenever people tell me that I’m pretty, I always brush it off with an “oh haha thanks.”

Everyone has an ugly phase, and mine started around 2nd grade and I’m not sure it ever really ended.  I endured years of bullying for how I looked, how I dressed, and how I acted. Naturally, my self-esteem took a turn for the worst and whenever anyone has ever complimented my outward appearance I’ve felt as though it were out of pity, even if they truly meant it.

That is one of the reasons I am doing this challenge. Self-love is a hard concept for me as I have created a life of self-hatred that stemmed from all of this hatred towards me from other people and due to this, I have never truly loved myself. Self-love is a life-long and challenging journey that we all must go through, and I’m really hoping that this challenge is the kickstart I need for a life of self-love for me and everyone else who reads this blog. 🙂

Until tomorrow

Alicia

2017 in photos

Good afternoon everyone, I’ve seen a few people post their year in pictures, and I really wanted to do it too!! So, here’s my year in pictures.


January

 

February

March

April

May

June

  

July

August

September

 

October

 

November

December

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 3

What good habit do you want to begin this month?

A habit that I want to begin this month is drinking 64oz of water or more daily. Water is so important to our bodies to function and have so many benefits other than keeping us alive and I’m really crappy getting enough of it. I’ve been trying to drink enough water and marking my cups I’ve had on a whiteboard in my bedroom.

I’ve read that it takes 21 days to make a habit, so I put this little sheet blow on what I filled out for my goal of drinking water. I’ve used it in the past ad highly recommend it if any of you want to make a habit or 2 as well!

What is your habit you want to start this month?

Alicia

17 things I’ve learned in 2017

Hi everyone, 2017 was one giant rollercoaster for me. I learned so much and I wanted to showcase the top 17 things I learned in 2017

  1. You are so so so so important
  2. The more  I know, the more I don’t know
  3. Podcasts are a gamechanger
  4. There is always something to learn
  5. Change is hard, but it is so good and much needed
  6. Always stand up for yourself and what you believe in, no matter how hard it is
  7. Time really does fly by, whether you’re having fun or not
  8. It’s okay to be emotional; even if that means crying in a public restroom at 10pm on a Saturday
  9. Reading is good for the soul
  10. Live music is even better for the soul
  11. There is always time to make time for yourself
  12. Goodbyes suck
  13. You should always put yourself first
  14. Being single sucks, but it’s also so liberating
  15. Procrastination can be hard to avoid, but sometimes you have to power through
  16. Photograph the beautiful moments in your life because you will want to save those memories forever
  17. There is beauty in every day, find it

31 days of self-love challenge: Day 2

Afternoon everyone, I’m back again for the 31 days of self-love challenge. Here is Day 2!

Get rid of a limiting belief that you have about your abilities

The phrase “I can’t” is a staple in my vocabulary. I use it day in and day out, whether it relates to running the extra mile at the gym, finishing homework, or being home on time. If there is a task that is even a slight inconvenience to me, I can’t do it.

Obviously, I can do most of the things I can do, I just say that I can’t.

There’s a quote from Confucious that says, “He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right.

When I say I can’t do something, I won’t and therefore I can’t. However, when I say I can do something, I’m going to try and more likely than not will succeed.

I need to start saying “I can.” There are some things I physically cannot do, yet. Instead of the phrase “I can’t” I want to start saying “I can’t do it yet,” because if I can’t do something today, or even tomorrow, eventually I will be able to say I can.

Alicia

31 days of self love challenge: Day 1

Hi everyone, so one of my intentions for the year is to take care of my physical and mental health. A very important aspect of both of those things is self-love. A few months back, I saw this 31 days of self-love challenge. I figured I would kickstart my year and try it because self-love is very important and it’s a great thing to practice. So here’s to 31 days of self-love and much more after that.

Day 1 What is your biggest struggle with loving yourself?

I think my biggest struggle with loving myself is that I am constantly comparing myself to others. And I believe this is an issue for many others. We live in a world where we idolize Instagram models and how many likes other get on pictures so in return we post pictures with filters and funny captions and the best lighting to see who can get the most likes.

I’m trying a bit of a social media detox. I have deleted twitter and facebook from my phone and will probably do the same for Instagram soon as well. I may redownload them when I want to post something or if my roommate says she tagged me in a meme. Social media is a great thing, I’ve discussed it before, we use social media to keep up with friends, keep up with politics around the world, and so much more, but social media is also a very negative thing. We thrive off of likes and comments, and how many followers we have. I think we all need a detox every now and again to remind us what’s really important in life and how superficial likes, filters, and followers really are.

 

If any of you would like to do the challenge as well, here are all of the prompts for the month. Love yourselves!!!

2018 intentions

Hi everyone, so happy 2018 again. Now I know most people make New Year’s Resolutions and usually I am one of them, however, this year I’m going to be making intentions. I’ve mentioned the organization I’m involved with at school, CHAARG; well the founder of that organization makes intentions, which inspired me to the same. Basically, you make an intention(s) you hope t do daily, weekly, monthly, and then for the year. She also puts a quote that she wants the year to be like, so I’ll do that as well. Here are my 2018 intentions.

EVERY DAY
> 1 hour of journaling//meditation//reading
> 64 oz of water
> Exercise: whether that be the gym, yoga, a walk, etc. Anything to get my heart rate up and my body moving

EVERY WEEK
> Coffee//Lunch//Workout with someone… Ideally, a different person per week
> Write: My goal is to write weekly, maybe 3 times, I would love to write daily but I’ll be a little less optimistic to start

EVERY MONTH
> Read one book: I got 6 for Christmas and I have many more on my TBR so let’s hope I can keep up with it.
> Discover a new podcast series

THIS YEAR
> Vacation: I’d obviously love to go more but I’m trying to save as much money as I can
> Take care of my physical and mental health

2018 QUOTE
> “She designed a life she loved”
> “I just really want to be the warm yellow light that pours all over everyone I love”
> “You just have to surround yourself with people that have the same heart as you”

What are your intentions for the year?

Alicia

2017 in review

Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting over the past few days and weeks and I really wanted to review my past year. It’s been quite a rollercoaster of a year and has simultaneously been the best and worst year of my life if that makes any sense whatsoever. So, here’s my 2017 in one post

January started off pretty rough because we had to put my dog down. But it ended on a good note because I had finally convinced my family to let me go to Peru.

In February I visited Ohio University for the first time and fell in love with all that Athens and OU had to offer. I immediately could see myself as an OU student and the day of my visit I found out I had been accepted and I was pumped. At this point, however, I still hadn’t made my decision although I sort of always knew I’d end up in Athens

In March I got to see my absolute favorite bands perform live, and was 10 feet away from Brendon Urie. It was a great night with great friends and great music and I am so thankful for one of the best nights of my life

The best month of my life and year. I spent the entire month of April in one of the most amazing places on the entire planet, Peru. I spent is the month with some amazing people, amazing food, amazing views, and some not so amazing sunburns but all in all, April was one of if not the best month of my entire life.

If April wasn’t the best month of life, May took the cake for that. During May, I went to Cusco, climbed Rainbow Mountain, went to Machu Picchu, decided on a university, and adopted my dog, Poppy. The entire month of May was a plethora of great news and amazing memories

Happy Birthday to me! In June, I turned 20 and had a great birthday weekend doing some of my favorite things, registered for my first semester at Ohio University, and went to a few great concerts with some great people.

July was a pretty irrelevant month for me. It was filled with more concerts, which are always fun, but all in all nothing too extravagant. We also started Poppy’s heartworm treatment and I spent a week sleeping on the kitchen floor with my sweet girl. It was rough for her but we made it through

August was my last month at home and filled with a lot of puppy kisses, seeing friends, and a road trip to Tennessee for the eclipse. The month ended with one final road trip to Athens to start school at Ohio University. It was a rough start but I had high hopes for my semester especially since I also got my first real job!

With classes in full swing by September, I joined CHAARG at OU and met amazing people and got a visit from my family. I also got some fish (RIP Adam and Adam the 2nd) with my roommate and we really started to get to know each other!

We got our final batch of fish (that are still living) in October. I also went home for a weekend which was nice to relax and see Poppy. I also donated blood (it was Olivia’s first time), started studying my butt off and got the chance to relax at the end of the month with Halloween.

November started off strong with a visit from my dad for Dad’s weekend, and OU’s first basketball game. I then was lucky enough to become the Treasurer of 4 Paws for Ability on campus, which is an organization that helps match service dogs with those who need them. Most of that month involved studying my but off so it was then nice to destress with a trip home for Thanksgiving. When we got back from break, my sink became filled with sewage and it took a few days, but finally, maintenance was able to give us a sewage-free sink.

What a weird time to meet new people. In December I think I met more people than I had all semester. It was also finals week which kicked my ass and then I was able to further my belief that men are trash (maybe not all men but the ones I attract sure are). Then was Christmas and New Year’s all here we are now,

That’s my 2017, and I loved a lot of it, even though it was one of the most difficult years of my life, it was also one of the best. Can’t wait to see what 2018 holds.