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Focus on the Good

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What goes up must come down. Have faith, tides change. Tough times don’t last, tough people do. Fall seven times, stand up eight. I can continue if you’d like, but I think you get the point…

We are exposed to an influx of inspirational quotes on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I love quotes and do find them very motivating during hard times. But the quotes that really stick with me are the ones I have experience with. The ones I make my own and apply to my life. The ones that put things into perspective.

“Focus on the good” is something that was ingrained into my large head since birth. My mom has always been the positive voice in a house of sarcastic and usually negative people. Whether it was school, sports, relationships, etc., she always found the bright side of the situation. If I’m being honest, it wasn’t until the past few years that I actually took her words to heart. After my rough transition to college I relied on this quote to get through the day. Sometimes my “good” was as small as going to yoga. Sometimes it was a realization that I’m receiving an incredible education (something not everyone gets to do).

Source

Source

What I love about this quote is that you actively have to participate for it to “work.” You are taking action. You are deciding to be happy regardless of external circumstances. I know well enough that some days/weeks/months, for lack of a better word, suck. They are just exhausting emotionally, physically and mentally and at times never seem to have an ounce of “good.” Last week I had one of those sucky days and nothing seemed to go right. I didn’t do well on a test, I missed a meeting with my boss, I didn’t have a great run in the morning and I barely slept. Now my bad day was obviously not bad compared to that of other people in the world, but it was rough for me.

As I was complaining venting to my mom via text, she again brought me back to reality:
“Not every run is good, but at least you ran” (<– Duh, why can’t I think like that?)
“Good thing you have a later class tomorrow so you can sleep in!”
“One test won’t kill you and it’s only a grade.” 

There it is…the good. I’m still growing up and often need my mom’s reminder that life really isn’t so bad. In fact, it’s pretty darn great. I’m getting better at recognizing when my thoughts turn negative and reversing them by myself. But it’s a conscious, active reversal. I don’t know if it’s something that will ever become natural for me, but is it for anyone? Maybe one day I can hope to instinctively find the positives, but for now, I’m proud of myself for just trying.

A few years ago I painted this quote on a canvas and it rests on a shelf near my bed. A nice reminder when I wake up and go to sleep. 
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There is so much good in your life and in our world, some days you just need a different prescription of glasses to find it. But it’s there, I promise.

When Stress Strikes

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Hello there. How’s your week been? I wish I could say mine’s been great, but that would be a lie. See, I’ve been dealing with this thing called stress. I’m sure you’ve come across it a time or two every week, so you know that it’s not the most fun. Whether it’s work-stress, relationship-stress, school-stress, health-stress (oxymoron?), we all face it every now and then. At the moment, my every hour has been preoccupied with school and work obligations and it’s taken a toll on my body. When start falling asleep in my favorite class, I know something is wrong.

Now I’m not going to preach “how to get rid of stress,” because frankly, I have no clue. If you do, hit me up. But dealing with stress is something I do often and I’ve boiled it down to a routine so I can turn to it in times of need. Oh how I love routine ;) P.S. sorry for the lack of pictures…

When Stress Strikes…

1) My priorities shift and immediately my health/sleep/nourishment becomes my main concern. I know that if I don’t sleep well or eat well, nothing else will get done. Enter a grocery run at 9 p.m. because I knew I wouldn’t have enough food for the next day. Being hangry is not my thing. In addition, I usually run to relieve stress but I know too well that running adds extra stress to my body. So I take it day by day and assess how I’m feeling mentally and physically.

2) I take one day at a time. This is something I pretty much always try to do, but I prioritize it more in times of stress. Why worry about tomorrow’s events when I’m not there yet?

3) I accept help. Admitting to being wrong or messing up is not something I love doing, however, there’s only so much I can do at once. For example, I missed a phone call with my boss yesterday because I misread an email and thought it was today. Normally I would have triple checked the email and put an alert in my calendar, but that was not the case this week. My mom reminded me to not waste my energy beating myself up for these types of things.

Everybody has rough weeks and when things fall through the cracks, it doesn’t mean you’re a mess. (<– I often refer to myself or my life as a “mess” until my mom sets me straight and reminds me that’s not the case.) So just keep doing the best you can right now and have confidence in your abilities. Don’t worry, I see a well-deserved break in your future.

How do you handle stress?

Three Years Later

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On Wednesday my sister took her senior yearbook pictures and I was instantly brought back to that time 3 years ago. In a sense, it feels like yesterday that I was in her seat, eagerly anticipating the first day of senior year. But on the other hand, I feel so far removed from it.

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A shot from my senior pictures (left) and behind-the-scenes at my sisters.

Senior year of high school is a big deal for everyone. However, at our all-girl, Catholic high school with 100+ years of traditions, we had senior privileges and events that were extremely special. More than that, our school somewhat defied the “drama” stereotype of an all-girls school. While everyone had their friend-groups, we all got along…it was sisterhood. All of the underclassmen looked forward to the senior year experience, and I was no different. I had never been so excited for a school year to start and despite the stress of college applications, I maintained that excitement and happiness throughout the year.

It’s weird how much has changed since then. At times I feel like my life has gone “downhill” since the glory days of senior year. Like that year was my prime (I know, silly thought).

But since then I… 

-Ran 1 marathon and 3 half marathons

-Became a certified Spinning instructor

-Changed my career path…twice

-Fell in love with yoga

-Joined a sorority

-Learned to cook

-Became a little KINDer (aka I now work for KIND Snacks)

-Discovered Grey’s Anatomy (yes, I consider that important)

-Experienced Miami nightlife…and confirmed that I don’t like it

-Handled multiple car issues on my own

-Started a blog

-Interned at a major company

-Maintained a high GPA

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I’d be remiss not to reiterate that there were many lows in between these personal successes. Weeks and weeks of tears, homesickness and stress. Yet while there will always be difficult times in life, it’s nice to look back and reflect on how far I’ve come. Recalling my journey gives me the same “excited” feeling I had while sitting for my senior pictures. As I unwillingly prepare to return to school next week, I’m trying to keep that feeling and envision all the possibilities ahead. I’ve come so far since senior year and sometimes I just need a little reminder that I’m doing OK and the best is yet to come.

If you’re still in college, when do you start school?

What’s your favorite memory from high school?

Overthinking

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The freedom that comes with vacation means ample time for thinking. In my case, overthinking. One minute I can be happy-go-lucky just surfing the internet and the next I’m worrying about my schedule this semester. Worrying so much that I stop what I’m doing and search for different classes on my school’s website.

Additionally, I tend to dwell upon past experiences and wonder what life would be like if I did things differently. For example, I often wonder what life would be like if I went to a different college. If I hadn’t moved so many times. If I joined a certain school organization over the ones I’m in. If I didn’t cut my hair yesterday…OK not really dwelling over that, just wanted to share a picture ;)

Haircut

Short hair, don’t care ;)

I have no doubt that overthinking is not healthy. In fact, I feel like it’s the source of a lot of my “problems.” Looking back at past worries, I see that 95% of the time, the reality was not as bad as I imagined. Even in the 5% case where the situation was actually bad, why did I have to put myself through the “suffering” beforehand? Why did I want to make myself miserable before the situation? Sometimes I think it’s a coping mechanism so I can prepare for the situation, but being unhappy now won’t make the future any easier. I think it might make it feel worse than it really is.

stop overthinking

Not sure if any of my rambling makes sense, but I guess what I’m getting to is the importance of concentrating on today. I need to live with past decisions and just make the most of them from here on out. I want to redirect my attention to the present moment and occupy my mind with something other than the past. As for future (non-life changing) decisions, for a Type-A planner like me, it might be best to just calm down and go with the flow (<– Which is way easier said than done).

That, or I could just go for a run. Somehow, running solves all. 

How do you ease your worries?

Any plans this weekend?