Alone

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You Must Be Willing to Stand Alone!

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You Must Be Willing to Stand Alone!

The word ‘alone’ gets a bad reputation because a lot of people tend to associate being alone with being lonely; that is simply not the case. Being alone is a choice; being lonely is a feeling. A feeling that we have the ability to change on our own!

It has been a full year since I made the decision to move away from home, and in that time, the term ‘alone’ has taken on a much different, and very important meaning in my life.  

In this post, I share with you what I have learned thus far since choosing to be alone. When we are able to make decisions for ourselves, lead a life that fulfills us, and are able to find reasons to enjoy our own company, we quickly find out that being alone is quite the opposite of being lonely. In fact, choosing to stand alone just may be exactly what you need to figure out exactly who you are. 

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.  

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10 Lessons My Mental Illness is (still) Teaching Me

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10 Lessons My Mental Illness is (still) Teaching Me

My Mental Illness never fails to remind me that it has a key role in the way I live my everyday life. I still struggle with the fact that each day has its own set of challenges, but that is only because I still struggle to let go of what I cannot control. Having to accept that my mental health will always require a certain level of work has been challenging, because let’s be honest, mental illness can be exhausting.


In this post, I share TEN lessons my mental illness is still having to teach me about myself, or better yet, lessons I am still having to accept about my journey. We are all going to face our own set of challenges in life, and for a portion of the world, mental illness will be one of those battles. We cannot deny what we must face about ourselves, and the 10 lessons I talk about are just some of the truths I can no longer run from.
 
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.

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You are Allowed to Leave Anything Toxic!

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You are Allowed to Leave Anything Toxic!

If you have ever found yourself in a toxic relationship, then you know the daily battle of what it takes to recover from a period of destructive behavior. Whether done unto us or self-inflicted, the way we treat ourselves when involved with toxic people is what can leave us with the most damage. It is often times easier for the abused to put the blame on themselves for how they are being treated, and by justifying the behavior of the toxic person, we are silently granting them permission to keep treating us in a toxic manner. You are allowed to change this. In fact, YOU are allowed to leave ANYTHING toxic!
 
In this post, I hope to restore the fact to everyone that we have always had control over our choices. When we can take a step back, and reevaluate how it is we are being treated, we can get honest with ourselves and recognize if we are giving much more than we are receiving. You do NOT have to settle for anyone who happens to cross your path, especially if that person is toxic to you in any way. It is important for all of us to remember that we are allowed to leave ANYTHING toxic!
 
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you!    

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On Life, Loss, & Learning That One Cannot Happen Without the Other!

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On Life, Loss, & Learning That One Cannot Happen Without the Other!

The idea for this post didn’t come to me because of good news I received, but because of the opposite. The news of an old friend passing caused me to take a deeper look into loss and what it has meant for me over the years. Although this is a much tougher topic to cover, I always feel that it’s necessary to explore both the ups and downs of life, because like my title says, with life comes loss, and we must learn to accept that one cannot happen without the other.

In this post, I talk about loss in a way that hopefully offers you a lighter way of looking at something so dark. Not that we should become numb to it happening, but instead, we should live our days moving forward believing that our life is for something greater than the pain we experience. If we allow the darker times to consume us completely, we take the risk of forgetting just how beautiful life can be when we are able to learn from it!

This post is not only dedicated to my friend who is now in peace, but also, to any, and all families that have been impacted by the violence that has been occurring...everywhere quite frankly. We live in a scary world, but we cannot allow the world to make us afraid to live!

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you. 

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(Please) STOP ‘Looking’ For Love…It Will Find YOU!

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(Please) STOP ‘Looking’ For Love…It Will Find YOU!

Now that February is here, I wanted to start off strong with a ‘love’ post, since that tends to be the common theme this month, with Valentine’s Day right around the corner. This can stir up a mixture of emotions within people depending on their current relationship status, or situation. Regardless of if you are currently in a relationship, boycotting them, or wanting to be in one, the message within this post is for anyone!

In this post, I talk about ‘love’ and the injustice we are doing ourselves by looking for it in all the wrong places, settling for it because we think we need someone, or hoping for it because we believe it will fill a void. I talk about the differences between loneliness and being alone, and hopefully, you will leave this article with the important message of self-love, and why we should ever only focus on that kind of love in the first place.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you!

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It's A Hopeless Time to Be A Hopeless Romantic!

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It's A Hopeless Time to Be A Hopeless Romantic!

Dating in this day and age has become much more complicated than it needs to be, and it certainly has changed drastically in the last 10 years alone. Whatever happened to being able to strike up a conversation with a stranger, or letting someone know how you feel about them without playing games? With online dating apps becoming the social norm, it has become a difficult time for 'hopeless romantics' to find that good old fashioned story you now only read about, or see in movies. 

In this post, I talk about some of the frustrations I have come across with dating apps, and I provide a positive perspective for those who may be feeling a bit hopeless. 

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.

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Setting Boundaries Is Not Selfish; It's Survival!

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Setting Boundaries Is Not Selfish; It's Survival!

One of the hardest challenges we must face in life is learning how to set boundaries within our relationships. What makes it so hard is the fact that we have grown so used to being a certain way, that it can feel like we are learning to walk again once we decide to put our foot down. Unfortunately, most people will never learn to set necessary boundaries, and I do not want you to fall into that category.
 
In this post, we will talk about recognizing when we need to take a step back and reevaluate some of the unhealthy boundaries we have in place currently. It is not selfish to value the relationship you have with yourself and to notice when you may be giving up too much of who you are. Creating boundaries is essential to your happiness, and it is a means of surviving this often, cruel world.
 
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you.

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Two Years Sober & Learning How to Love Myself Again.

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Two Years Sober & Learning How to Love Myself Again.

I never thought this day would come, because, like most addicts, I never wanted to admit that I had a problem. Nobody grows up knowing that one-day sobriety will become their fate, nor does anyone plan to self-destruct their way to ‘rock bottom’. But here I am, at day 731, and still choosing to climb up the wall of recovery.

In this post, I talk about the struggles I have faced in my two years of sobriety, as well as the beautiful things I have learned during the process of this lifelong journey. This post is less about sobriety and more about becoming who I was meant to be. Regardless of if you are sober, we are ALL having to heal from something, and this is just a story of my recovery thus far.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you. 

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You Were Whole Before Someone Made You Feel Broken!

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You Were Whole Before Someone Made You Feel Broken!

Out of all the messages I receive, the most frequent question I get asked is, “How were you able to heal a broken heart?” It is no secret that I have felt “broken” before since my journey with writing started when I was in a very depressed state from the loss of someone I never intended on losing.
 
When I started sharing my words with the world three years ago, I was just a sad girl who was only looking for a way to heal her ‘brokenness’. What I learned in the process was something I never expected: I discovered that I had been a whole person all along and that it was up to me to brush myself off, repair the damage done, and find the love I had lost for myself while giving it to someone else.
 
In this post, I remind those out there who are suffering from feeling broken that they have always been whole; it was just ourselves that convinced us of anything different.
 
Thank you for reading. I appreciate you. 

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10 Reasons Why I Will Never Regret the Time I Spent Alone

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10 Reasons Why I Will Never Regret the Time I Spent Alone

I have spent the past couple years ‘alone’, and if you ask me, they have been the most beneficial years of my life. Somewhere along the way I think we were convinced that we must have someone to feel important, and I have learned that no one should validate our own existence except for ourselves.

In this post, I share with you 10 reasons why I will never regret the time I spent alone, and why we need to stop being so afraid of figuring out exactly who we are when no one else is around.  

Thank you for reading. I appreciate you. 

Being alone is not synonymous with being lonely.

Being alone is not synonymous with being lonely.

Being alone should never scare you, in fact, it should excite you. For so long, I thought worth was something you found when loving someone else, but this is just not the case. What I found was loneliness, and it was because I didn't know how to be alone, and what that truly meant. So I tried it, and what I learned through this process was how to make myself happy. Too many people think that their existence is validated by another person, but I am here to tell you that you are the only person who can define your worth. You need to know the difference between being alone, and experiencing loneliness. One can hurt you, while the other will heal you. Get to know who you are, and find out that you were so much more capable than you ever thought possible.