My 2019 Message

One thing I’ve reflected on heavily in the beginning days of 2019 has been the aspect of regret, and missed opportunities.

We oftentimes take things for granted; people, opportunities, even material things. We think that people will always be there, that opportunities for growth and positivity will always come our way. We take our journeys through life, and sometimes we anticipate that everything will always go smoothly; however, the fact of the matter is we have to expect that life has a trajectory that we all are unknowing.

I have to say that while I haven’t experienced very many tragedies or traumatic experiences in my life, and I’m grateful for that, there are some that I do have regret. If the tables were turned and things were different, there are situations that I would have ensured I had done differently.

These experiences have taught me to never take opportunities for granted. If you love someone and feel the need to say it, then say it. If you want to do something that’s in your power to do, then do it. If you need to say something, then say it.

Never live with regrets. Try hard to live life without having too many “I should have” and “I wish I did” moments. Take advantage of the good things life gives and take the bad moments as learning situations.

That’s the message I’m taking through 2019.

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Things I Now Have Come to Learn about Life

  • There’s no age requirement on having purpose in life. Some people go their whole lives and not know their purpose. But find one, and hold on to it, no matter when you do.
  • You’re not always going to like the hand your dealt, the goal is to play that hand to the best of your ability.
  • Put more energy into your happiness instead of dwelling on the bad stuff.
  • Sometimes, you’ll be really low; lower than you’d ever imagined. But remember, you can only go up from your lowest point.
  • Smile more, frown less.
  • Do not put energy into things that won’t mean you any good. Your energy is too valuable to waste.
  • Tell people you love and appreciate them, even if it’s for the smallest things.
  • Don’t be afraid to be wrong. Being wrong is how you learn.
  • The strongest person in the room, most times is the person holding on with everything they have.
  • Take time to be still. Enjoy the present. Because this moment is only as good as you make it the first time.

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How to Forgive Myself

A few days ago, I listened to a guided meditation that provided a lot of perspective on what I have been going through these past couple of weeks.

It was in reference to forgiving yourself, and how often we forget that the most important person that needs forgiveness, is you.

How many of us on a given day, go through the day making personal mistakes; and instead of giving ourselves a little compassion and room to forgive, we unload on ourselves with doubt and major criticism? Why is this ok, when with other we continue to encourage the art of forgiveness?

Personally, I find it difficult to not hold myself to a higher standard in life, because I know better. When I make mistakes, I feel like I’m failing myself, because I should have never made that decision in the beginning. I’ve had to learn to tell myself that times will not always be perfect and will not always fall into place.

Meditating and reflecting on the concept of forgiving myself has been very eye-opening, as I realized there are several things that I find myself being extra critical about myself.

Today, I plan to take more time to forgive myself, and offer myself some benefit of the doubt in regards to situations that arise in my life. I plan to take advantage of the opportunities to be compassionate for my own actions, just as I am able to show compassion to others in their situations. I feel like maybe, this might make things better during the tough times. 🖤

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Dealing with Downs

Most times, I enjoy writing things that people could relate to.  I’m not like other bloggers; I don’t have a “niche” per se, I don’t have a specific thing that I want to talk about all the time on my blog.  But, if you could ball my creative side up and put it into a category, I would call it “Life.”  That’s what I enjoy writing about; sometimes my innermost thoughts, sometimes the things that you are thinking but just won’t say, but most importantly I like to write about the things that I feel the person to my left or right of me is going through also, but are too afraid to bring it to light.  I believe that everyone sometimes has similar problems or trials in life, and we all just need someone to sit down and talk to them about it.

So, with that being said, here is mine.  As I’m sure the greater 475+ of you have noticed, I haven’t written much in a period of about 2-3 months.  I haven’t been on my blog, I haven’t promoted anything, and honestly I haven’t even finished the projects that I intent to publish very soon.  Mentally, I haven’t been in the headspace to create anything that I feel people would care about, but I felt like if nothing more, someone could relate to this very post.  Emotionally, I’ve been on a roller coaster.  It’s something that I don’t want to put so much effort into disclosing, but just know that there are times when you can be at your lowest, and in a split second be on a high; eventually, you ride that high all the way back down to a low point, and that could last for a long while.  I feel just like that, like I’ve been riding an emotional wave between high and low for a while now.  Some days I’ll sit down and crank out 10,000 words for my book or have really good content to write for my blog, and another day I may not have the motivation to do anything and that could last for days.

Sometimes, I am at a complete loss on how to move past those down moments.  It’s really not a fun place to be in. I know there may be several people in the world, creatives especially, that may go through these moments of lows when it comes to doing what you’re passionate about. First and foremost, I have to say keep pushing. No low moment lasts forever, and with proper self-care and self-love, you can pull yourself out. Some of the things I enjoy doing are listening to music, meditating, working out or just basically having alone time and thinking about positive things. I re-read affirmations I have written and journal constantly to try and vent my feelings, but also bring myself out of said funk. I urge anyone going through something similar to find what hobbies and activities put you in your happy place, and build off of those.

For me, I am currently in “pull yourself out of it” mode, and with that will come more writing, more content and overall more happiness.

Stay with me, I’ll be just fine. 🖤

Whitney C.4 Comments

Self-Care Sunday: Nourishing Your Creativity

Most of us are in the world of creative entrepreneurship. We all have our own jobs and professional endeavors; however, we also have separate creative projects, businesses or projects that we are building upon in hopes of one day that being our sole means of income or separate and second business business venture.

Most of us spend countless hours at our 9-5, just to turn around and burn our midnight oils with our “5-9” dreams as well. If you’re going through the same things i go through, sometimes we can get a little burnt out, or the fumes tend to run low on the creative scale, when you haven’t had the time to really sit down and take quality time to put your best effort towards your creative goals.

One of the ways that you can stay on top of your self care is nourishing your creativity. Whether it is taking up a new hobby or revitalizing a new one, getting back into your creative nature is a good way to spark your creativity, and put yourself back into positive spirits.

On a personal note, I find myself in a more positive spirit, when I am at my creative peak. When I can put in time writing and creating good content for my blog or my writing projects, I find myself in my best moods. When my creaitvity is blocked, I find that those are the times when I feel I am not in my best of moods and I am struggling with finding my happiness. It definitely shows in my work and my attitude.

Some of the ways I try to nourish my creative juices are by getting good and sound sleep, meditating, exercising, journaling and even creating some reflective down time to sit with my thoughts so that I can play around with different ideas that I’ve had in the past. I find that taking the time for these things help to allow my creativity to flourish and I can be at my best!

What are some of the ways you allow yourself to be your best crestively?

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Take On Life’s Responsibilities One Moment at a Time

We all do this; we tend to believe we have eyes in the backs of our heads, multiple arms and legs, superpowers, the ability to correct the past, right all the wrongs and predict the future all at one time. We want to be able to change the world for the ones we love when we get hit with the hard unshakable truth; we can’t do all of these things, and we definitely cannot do them all at once.

Sure, we may be able to conquer one or two of these amazing feats (lol) for someone, but I’m sure you get my point. Handling multiple things in your life or in your loved ones lives at one time does not make for a productive person and it doesn’t end very well. You have to learn to capture one great moment at a time, which is more amazing than bragging about all of the things you attempted to accomplish at once, but couldn’t.

I know that a lot of times, we want to impress and show the ones we love that we care, so we’ll oftentimes say yes to all of the things they want us to do. Then, we’ll go to work and pile on the commitments and work projects we need to do because we want to impress our bosses. Then let’s not forget the things that we want to do for ourselves. So now, here you are; sitting in a corner with a mountain of responsibility on your shoulders and trying to do all of them at once! You are not a juggler, and I’m pretty sure if you tried to, you would fail miserably.

We have to get out of that mindset and learn to handle things one at a time. You have to learn to enjoy things and prioritize things one moment in life at a time, one milestone at a time, one deadline at a time. No one can learn to appreciate all the efforts you put into what you do for them, if they are hiding behind the million-and-one other things you did along with it.

Learn to set each thing aside and take your time. Some things do not need to be rushed, and everything deserves its own chance to shine.

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