2017: It's Time To Be Happy Again

“True wealth is having a healthy mind, body, and spirit. True wealth is having the knowledge to maneuver and navigate the mental obstacles that inhibit your ability to soar.” -RuPaul

Despite all the wonderful things that transpired the latter half of last year, I'm not going to lie: 2016 was not the best year for me. During the early months of 2016, I struggled with some long lingering health effects of anorexia, putting me in and out of the hospital for testing, blood work, and further observation of the ailments I had been suffering from. So needless to say, the months of March, April, and May were not very pleasant for me; for both physical and mental reasons, which is what lead me to take my blogging hiatus last summer. However, during that break, I feel I experienced a substantial amount of personal growth and having a break from everything (including but not limited to the stress of blogging, toxic relationships, and of course a hospital room) really gave me some prospective of how I wanted to live my life. Without all of the chaos from being sick, cutting the toxic people out of my life, and having a little time away from here really put into prospective of what made me happy. Obviously, I liked being happy, so much so I decided it was time to practice some radical self love.

I am sure if you gazed at Pinterest, Twitter, or Facebook during the year 2016, in the midst of all the negativity, I'm sure you've come across at least one or two articles about the power of positive thinking, body positivity, and self love--seems as though social media has had enough of this negative nonsense too, right? Well with that being said, I did too, and I became intrigued. Because to be honest, I hadn't liked myself much since developing an eating disorder in high school, let alone loved myself. So while reflecting and recovering over the summer, I actually made a pretty hefty Pinterest Board filled with beautiful self-love and body positive quotes, and I even started keeping a small journal to write three simple things down in everyday, which are as follows:

A daily affirmation
One thing that I love about myself
A daily quote about self love, just as a little reminder

And though doing these thing didn't take much effort, throughout the summer I was surprised to find that I actually began to feel a change. I became less caring of what others thought of my appearance, I became more fearless in my approach to life (e.g. how I met John at Warped Tour after crowd surfing to Sum 41's "Fat Lip"), and I just simply started seeing the beauty around me again. It was an absolutely wonderful feeling, like a weight being lifted off my shoulders. I began to realize that my past does not define me, I am not broken to the point of no repair, the number on the scale is just that, a number (though this one is still a little tough for me, so I just quit weighing myself period--and that is perfectly okay!) and I am lovable and worthy of being loved by everyone, but that I am especially worthy of loving myself. The only thing I was missing was my outlet for my creativity, which obviously returned when I stepped back on the blogging scene last September, and I've been owning it and the other aspects of my life ever since.

With that being said, think it's more than safe to say that in 2017, I will continue practicing self love to the fullest and plan on filling my little journal's pages to the brim with quotes, daily affirmations, and compliments! And what are today's you ask?

I am a successful young woman and I am proud of all my achievements. I know my future holds great things and I cannot wait to see what all the universe has in store for me.
I love the tiny bunch of scars on my left foot from when I accidentally had hot coals spilled on it. They remind me of one very fun night with some of my closest friends, and why you probably shouldn't drink wine while smoking a hookah.
“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” -Marilyn Monroe

How have you incorporated self love into your life? Let's chat about it in the comments below and keep the positive vibes going!

Xx, Bree