I am back from a lovely trip to Thailand with brief stops in the Philippines and Hong Kong :) It was beautiful and I loved visiting the temples, eating the flavorful and spicy food, and meeting the gentle people that inhabit the country. I spent quite some time on airplanes - so I read a book that completely changed my way of thinking, and I wanted to share. ♡ At it's core, we experience pain because we let our egos work overtime knowingly and in most cases, unknowingly. We

I've been troubled when it comes to people I thought were my friends lately, and even people I continued to hold close despite their lack of effort to truly be one . I'm not someone who likes to sit with their negative feelings admittedly. Though I'm not proud of it, I have been known to be a "ghoster." We all have our things that work, and for awhile, this worked really well for me. It allowed me to rip the band-aid off and start fresh in a matter of seconds... almost like i

These past two weeks have admittedly been miserable for me. The harsh realization that no one really cares about a degree, only years of some fancy work experience, threw me into an early life crisis, making me question all the stress and tears I went through. I'm still struggling with this, but I'm trying to be more forgiving of myself and accept the things I cannot control. What I came on here to discuss is what these past few days have shown me in terms of the misplacement

As someone who spends a majority of their days in the clouds, I believe this is something I could speak on credibly. :) Nothing brings me more joy than savoring the little things and doing everything with love. If any of these musings bring you a bit more happiness, then this post has served its purpose. Enjoy. ♡ Lean into what makes you yourself I think in all this focus on self-improvement, we often forget that what we consider to be our "flaws" or eccentricity are actuall

One of my favorite ways to make a person feel comfortable around me is through self-deprecating jokes. I think it's the way I've broken the ice with pretty much anyone I've become friends with. While admittedly they can be pretty funny, it has been very damaging to the way I not only view myself, but the way others view me as well. I don't want people to see me as insecure, unsure, and constantly underselling my value, but if I continue presenting myself this way, it’s no sur

This has always been a hard concept for me to grasp for some reason. I honestly never really knew what forgiveness meant and I still struggle to come to terms with it at times. Thinking back on people who were cruel to me when I didn't deserve it or even thinking back to things that I have done have always made me feel strong emotions. I think about things from my past and wince, or I feel anger, sadness or shame. I wonder how someone could take advantage of my good intention

"To truly know him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap..." Philippians 3:8 🕊️ Last night, as I prepared to settle into bed, I randomly opened up to this chapter, which prompted reflection on my journey from where I once stood to where I stand now. There was a long period of time where my circumstances would provoke tears of frustration; trapped in a quiet town with little activity, I often felt overwhelmed by anger. Y

My birthday was toward the end of January and I wanted to connect to my lore. Ballet season is in the spring and Christmastime, so I opted to celebrate by instead visiting an art museum and indulging in some wine tasting. I live in the boondocks of California, so the vineyards are conveniently close, but it did require about an hour's drive to reach a museum that had classical art. I ended up going to Stockton's Haggin Museum along with my parents. I spent the most time in t

I watched a video a day or two ago about a girl's glow up journey and it was depressing. It was also scary, because it reminded me a little of myself - constantly chasing after something that made me a completely different person than who I was in the moment. Even during my proudest moments, I still couldn't be completely happy because there was still something about myself that I felt needed to be tweaked, or as I preferred to put it, "improved." Towards the end, she talks

These past several months have been a struggle for me. Coming home to my simple life again from an eventful year in Sweden and nearing the end of college has brought up a lot of intense emotions for me. The uncertainty of where I would end up and the itch to prove that I am noteworthy led me to things out of needing external love and validation. So this morning I had enough of it. I like to use these cards that give me a message and a bible verse as a sort of foundation to my

Hello sweet friends, long time no see! I hope each and every one have you been holding up as well as you can. I must say I just have not been very inspired to write these past few months, but here I am! Today I am coming to you all with a lesson that really stuck out to me from this book I have been reading. It is called Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom which is about the sweetest little dying old man who has such genuine kindness and pureness, it warms my heart. He led a

For a very long time, God was someone I felt was real, but was miles and miles away; someone who watched over me but loved only from a distance. I never really understood who God was to the earth besides a supposed loving presence who created everything. I wasn't curious or committed because I simply didn't understand it fully. Eventually this grew into a bit of a spiritual crisis and I became so sick of not ever feeling safe or at home wherever I was. That was the moment I f

This year has certainly been surreal which is probably an understatement for some people, but for me, I was able to take away something much bigger than my current situation: I found a completely different way of looking at life. During my time at home, I was able to work more on myself and rediscover the things that I value. Because of everything that happened, I stopped taking peoples' presence for granted and I starting treasuring every little interaction that I had with p

A few minutes ago, I was taking a shower. I was looking at myself and absolutely ridiculing how I looked. My skin was too pale, my hair was too thin, my neck was too gawky... the list goes on. Why couldn’t things have just gone right? That was when I realized something about the concept of “right”. It’s completely dependent on where you are and what time it is. For me, it is the year 2020 in America, and the “beautiful” right now is tan and curvy with a sharp jawline and thic