Anna Wintour is Everything

Watch and learn ladies.

Moving On

The summer of 2014 is almost a memory, and as I sit down to reflect on the lessons that I have learned about living in "the real world," I feel complete gratitude for the transformation that I have undergone over the past 10 weeks. It all started after I graduated from college and moved home to rural New Jersey. Living with my family again, working in Florida for several weeks, spending time with my grandparents who are another year closer to the end of their lives, letting go of unhealthy relationships, taking a vacation to the beach in Rhode Island, continuing to spend time at Lake George—all of these experiences have given me opportunities to grow closer to the people I love and to appreciate the beauty in the world that I had forgotten to simply enjoy.

It occurred to me that in order to move on with the life I had into a new life that I love even more, I needed to do a little soul searching. What I found deep down was that I was scared. Fear is a natural part of the emotional realm that humans experience, and without fear, most of us would likely be dead. Fears develop as a defense mechanism to change our behavior, preventing us from doing things that could hurt or kill. Oftentimes, we develop fears of emotions because we have had our feelings hurt in the past and that experience caused us to suffer. I, for example, have been terrified to open my heart and love. This fear of feeling the emotion of love with a man is the result of being emotionally abandoned by my father. My fear of being hurt caused me to build walls around my heart that served as shields to the love that was being given to me and preventing me from openly giving my love.

Ultimately, however, observing my fear and understanding it completely has taken me out of the fear. When I can view it from the outside, it is no longer the force that drives my thoughts and choices. Once I got out of my fear, I started to see how much love I have in me. All I want to do now is share my love and find it in others. This has made me an incredibly happy human.

I have realized that being unattached to everything and letting myself just be present in the current moment is the most freeing sensation I have ever felt. It feels like everything I do, everywhere I go, and everyone with whom I interact is showing me that life is meant to be lived in happiness and love; and fears are just a part of life that arise to protect us. Being scared is not the way to live life, so we must not allow our fears to control us. Instead, we are here on this planet to feel what it is like to be alive. There are so many things to be grateful for in this world, and choosing to fester in fear is merely a habit.

I have decided to quit living by my fears; rather, I want to make loving memories that stay in my heart forever.

I absolutely love the natural world, I am crazy in love with these creatures similar to me called human beings, there are interesting animals sharing their lives on this earth with us, and the most amazing thing is when it all comes together to make beautiful moments in time.

It is time for this gal to stop being scared to sink and to simply hold on to the hope that my purpose on this planet is to find love, beauty, and happiness among all of the fear, pain, and suffering that exists.

Quick Inspiration

Read: 

• Gabourey Sidibe’s Wonderful Speech From the Ms. Foundation Gala

and

• The Most Revealing, Honest Moments from Chelsea Handler’s Speech at the Gloria Awards

Watch:

Listen: 

Fear - Why To Let It Go

The following quote is a powerful message delivered by this short video about fear.  After hearing it and reflecting on its meaning, I have decided to let go of my fears.  Instead, I want to view challenges as exciting adventures to embrace, love, and pursue rather than as scary obstacles to run from.  I will encourage myself to push the walls of my safety box until they break and fall down.  In this moment, I can no longer hide from my fears, but they must simply be faced and overcome. 

“Fear is just imaginary. Fear is just anticipated failure in your mind of the event that hasn’t even occurred yet.  Fear isn’t real.  Fear isn’t a thing.  Fear isn’t a person.  Fear isn’t an object.  Fear is all you.  It’s in your mind, and it’s self-created.  Instead of thinking about the 70 years, 28,000 days on this planet as something scarce, limited, as something that’s running out of time­­ – instead of thinking about it that way, think of it as a gift.  Think of it as an opportunity for you to do what you have to do on this planet.  And let this massive, infinite galaxy and universe – let that awestruck you.  Let that inspire you to do things differently if possibly.  So I leave you with a question.  I leave with you a challenge on this beautiful autumn fall day.  And that’s to create your own environment instead of being a product of it and that starts from you understanding how irrelevant fear is.  Because once you understand how irrelevant fear is, your capacity is limitless.  You will understand that you are the one in control of your life, you are the one that creates your environment and that you are the one that uses this system, this resource, as a tool and not to be a tool in this system.  Because in the end, it’s all about pooling our natural talents together and creating massive value for this world and leaving your legacy on this planet.  How’s that for perspective.”

QUICK TIPS

The link to the blog post below will take you to an insightful list of tips to help guide your decisions and feelings while you are in your 20's.  Even if none of this is new to you, it is always great to refresh your mind with words of advice.  Think about copying and pasting it into a document and adding or removing anything you want.  Then, print and hang it in your closet to remind you of these important lessons each time you start and end your day.  Or, simply store it somewhere that you can access anytime you need a boost of inspiration.

70 Things I Learned in My 20's

Musical Inspiration

Daft Punk is a classic electronic band.  The robotic duo's latest album is called Random Access Memories, a reference to the storage capacity or "RAM" on a computer.  I love the videos that feature the people who collaborated with Daft Punk on this album.  You can watch the videos by going to their website randomaccessmemories.com and clicking on the link in the upper right corner that says "Watch: The Collaborators Series."  There are eight clips to watch, but the one below is my favorite.  Enjoy!

Get Lost & Be Found

Happy New Year!

I hope this will remind, inspire, and give hope to you all.  Have a very happy new year full of peace, love, and happiness.

xoxo

Take What You Want

When you know what you want, take it.  Do the things you want to do.  If you don't want to do something, stop doing it...you may want to do it again later, but let time tell.  Eat chocolate, if chocolate is what you want.  Spend money for things you want to have in your life and remember to give love to the people you want around you.  Take the job you want and accept the praise you deserve.  Your life will be empty unless you take it and make it yours.