Importance of physical and mental health

It's been a while since I've updated with another post. Man oh man has the world been falling apart.
We've got the pandemic, almost having World War III, and riots this week from the anniversary of George Floyd being murdered by a white cop.

My heart just bleeds out for everyone affected in our world today. It's completely heartbreaking, every time I use any social media app, I just see more heartbreak. Justice has been made though, with the cop finally being arrested. It's crazy this will all be in history books someday.













As for me, I'm hanging in there and being forced out of my daily habits. Like I mentioned in the previous post, purchasing unnecessary things for immediate satisfaction has only led me to be disappointed in myself. It's forced me to evaluate bad habits in my life and build healthy ones. Not only that but the reasons behind my bad habits. I still stand by my decision to be the strongest, healthiest version of myself this year in 2020.

Here's the importance of being healthy physically but also emotionally

There's a correlation between having hobbies and reduced cortisol levels and depression, just check out this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2863117/
I've heard about this in the past, and while it's hard to pick up a hobby when you have a general disinterest in activities, I've noticed if I force myself into it, sometimes it becomes enjoyable along the way. So that's another thing I realized about myself, hobbies are so important.


and to add to what I said earlier about working out, I find that working out in itself doesn't make your life great. Although one healthy habit can lead you to have a healthier mindset, which could lead you to have one healthy meal, or inviting friends to hangout. It's basically a domino effect, and I strongly encourage people to get active. For me it doesn't matter what I do, I just enjoy the relaxed feeling after a hard workout. But if your the type of person who needs to enjoy the activity itself to stick with it, find that activity you love and stick with it. It's an investment in yourself, and you'll never tell yourself "why did I waste my money" when you're doing something to take care of yourself.
One final thing I learned is having a strong WHY when working out. Don't make it about looking hot for a crush, fitting into that dress next week when you go out with the girls or any other reason that doesn't involve you improving for yourself.

Some good examples of strong WHY reasons could be: To be a strong example for your family and living a long and healthy life.
Although that's not to say you can't start changing your life and moving your body because you want to look good for a guy/girl, because along the way your goal could change and evolve.
For me personally, I want to live a very long and healthy life, in my life so far I've seen people passing away as early as 50, and people making it to 100. I also use food and moving my body as a medicine when I'm going through hard times mentally. I'm not perfect by any means, I'll still get that sugary filled Dunkin Donuts coffee every once in a while, but everyone has to start somewhere! I try to at the very least start my morning off having a healthy breakfast. Currently, I'm thankful I have the funds to make myself a green juice every morning. I also find it's important to surround yourself with friends with the same mindset and even following people you admire through social media with that same mindset too.

So my main point is to find ways you can strive to be happy and stay healthy. This is still an extremely hard time for everyone but if we made it this far I'm personally so proud of you. We are so resilient, and I've truly felt this while going through this time. if you can get through a frigging pandemic along with everything else going on in this world you can get through anything! 

Have a great afternoon❤

A time for stillness

Here I am again with another Covid 19 post, I am going insane.
One small tidbit about me is that I have to keep busy in order to feel sane, the busier I am the less I nitpick my own life. This virus has forced me to stop all patterns of what I was doing previously and just sit with myself, day after day.

I'm not alone in this either.

I feel like a majority of people are feeling hopeless, depressed, with emotions running high. If you live with others, you may all be driving each other crazy at this point.

Although there's weird comfort in the fact that we are all going through this together. I don't feel left out when I'm not hanging out with friends because everyone isn't hanging out. I can't look at someone's recent trip to Europe because a majority of us aren't traveling right now.
I read a post this morning about how America will gaslight us once this virus has slowed down and business returns as usual. Here's the post if anyone is interested:
https://forge.medium.com/prepare-for-the-ultimate-gaslighting-6a8ce3f0a0e0

I've already seen it with businesses, for example retail, starting up more sales than usual. I get so many emails about free shipping, 50% off loungewear, 20% off deal today only, etc. I think we are all seeking normalcy and if we can just buy some new clothes or get that new iPhone, it'll make us feel better for a while.

Although this isn't normal at all, and I think it's so important for me, along with society, to remember this event. I hope this does change us in a way, maybe to appreciate the smaller things in life more. To carefully pick the politicians next time, to focus on the feelings we felt during this time to help us in the future.

This time has been hard, but it's been like therapy to me. It's forced me to look inward and make changes to bad habits I've had for so long and to truly focus on what I want out of the next 5 years of my life. I'm 25 and I try to ignore the fact I'm getting older. Although I should be focusing on what could I do to improve so that I fall in love with life. That I'm so passionate about my life that I'm too busy to think about the dread of getting older, not meeting my goals, not living life the way others do. To just be happy.

I think this is a good time in a way, and although it's heartbreaking, I think it's teaching us valuable lessons that we shouldn't forget.

It's a rainy Monday for me, I've got my coffee in hand and I think it's time I finally get around to finishing my statistics homework.

Have a great day everyone

Thoughts about Covid-19

I'm currently at my boyfriend's house trekking through this virus we call Covid-19
I have not left the dining room table for 4 days straight lol
Lots of online shopping has been done, and feeling like days have been repeating.
Although going on daily walks has definitely helped.

They say things will get worse before they get better, China has started to recover but they went by very strict guidelines. You were not allowed to leave your house without a paper saying you can walk the streets.
Here we are still able to go to Dunkin Donuts drive through, go to grocery stores, post office, and other necessities. We are seeing a pattern similar to Italy if we don't make more restrictions.

Here's a chart of how things are right now and how they potentially will be in the future. It's the worse around May 22nd. It shows 3 months of social distancing compared to China's style of a lockdown and the outcomes of it.

I have a great summer job I'm looking forward to and will be moving on property, I know we will probably end up moving later on in the summer which is sad but things happen and you can't really prevent it.

Anyways, I'll see you in my next post.

Goodbye

I see your smile as I close my eyes
you're in the warmth of my family around me
I find you in the things you once enjoyed
and the memories I hold so dearly

I once shed tears of regret
but now I will shed tears of happiness
as I laugh with my brother and dad
rolling through the mountainous new Hampshire roads
and walking through the Vermont streets with family.
while you are gone
you left a legacy of giggles and happy moments
I'll see your smile as I laugh with cousins
and bond with my aunts.
while you may not be here
and oh I will miss you so deeply and dearly
I thank you for everything you have done for me
and everyone around me
you gave me a loving family to call home
to give me peace of mind
and know I'm not alone.

The Search for Inspiration

As I sit here in an empty study room in my university, I had so many thoughts dwindling it was hard for me to focus on homework. Actually, I had been thinking a lot today in particular about this subject.

How do we live a fulfilled life? what does that mean to us? What makes us happy and what makes us get out of bed in the morning, with such excitement that we just can't wait to start our day?
A friend recently told me she was moving to Ohio, a place I've never been but the thought excited me. She found someone she connected with and thought it was a choice she wanted to make in the upcoming year.
I began thinking, where I'm living right now hasn't been inspiring me lately. Don't get me wrong, I love living in a place where the seasons are changing, each beautiful summer transforms into a bright and lively fall. Air feels crisp and the smell after it rains is so sweet. But the nights are longer than days, and I can feel my body reacting in a negative way. Suddenly I don't have the same motivation and energy I had during the summer.
Granted, I'm only 23 but the thought of visiting a new place with new people and new challenges is exciting and inspiring.
Who knows where I'll be a year from now, and maybe I will be in a new state.
But why do I feel the need to move? Do any of you feel this way?
To pick up everything you own, pack it into your car, and be on the road by tomorrow at sunrise?
Is it the physical act of moving that excites us, or are we trying to run away from our problems?

It's an interesting thought, one I'll probably be contemplating a while. But what does it mean to live a fulfilling life where I am right now? What does that mean to us? and what makes us happy each and every day?

For me I feel like a fulfilling life means surrounding myself with friends and family, laughing so hard tears stream down my eyes. It means helping others in a way that is meaningful, that really impacts them in a positive way. It means being creative, having the time to connect with other creative individuals and create something that's beautiful. It means being stimulated intellectually, because most likely when I'm feeling uninspired it means I'm not stimulating myself.
I'm still working on all the aspects I've mentioned, I think everyone is. But what I'd like you all to think about is what does it mean to live a fulfilling life to you?
Start with your current situation, where you are right now. And just think about what that means to you, I hope you take something away from this post and I hope it made you think about what it means to be truly happy.
I hope you all have a great evening:)

Friendship

How do we find true friends? What are your friendships like? Have they changed over time? mine have.

When I was younger, I thought your best friend was someone who you knew the longest. Someone you've known since birth and because you both shared life's earliest memories, it meant they would be in your life forever. I thought that if you shared identical interests, you were meant to be best friends. Oh how times have changed since those days.

I had one friend who I grew up with. She was my best friend, someone who always made me laugh until I cried. We shared the same music interests and hobbies. We would hangout almost every day and our families were close. We shared memories of growing up and figuring out puberty. It was an incredibly awkward time, but it was nice to have someone going through all the same things, I could always trust her and lean on her.
Although as we hit our early teens, things changed. Honestly we grew apart, and it was the first time I truly felt sad. It hit me hard but I knew our friendship just wouldn't work out. She wasn't the friend I needed, and being the young naive me that I was, I trusted anyone and everyone. It was the first lesson I learned that sometimes when you give, you don't always receive.

As I grew older and went into my college years I partied an awful lot. I gained so many friends and it was incredibly fun while it lasted. I'd get out of class by four, eat dinner by six, and party until dawn. But after a while it got old for me, I wouldn't want to drink all the time. Suddenly my friends started to dwindle. Then when summer came around and I traveled back home, very few friends texted me. It suddenly dawned on me that some people will build friendships based on convenience. I wasn't a couple doors down anymore, and because of this some people made the decision that the friendship wasn't worth the effort. But that's not to throw shade at anyone, people decide who they feel the strongest connections with and will decide upon that who they will continue to be friends with no matter the distance, or other obstacles that may happen.

in my personal opinion, friendship is about give and take. But it's also about having a strong connection with someone.

When I came back to school a year later, I found a friend who I had known for years but hadn't really gotten close to. As our friendship grew I saw just how much she cared for me, and went out of her way to help me with anything I needed. We just got each other and had similar mindsets. We grew so close over just one semester and I just felt like I had known her my whole life. We went through a lot together and I didn't give up on her, it was a friendship that was all about building each other up and just spreading positive vibes. I realized my idea of friendship has changed since I was little. It's not about sharing the same identical interests or knowing someone the longest, it's about being there for each other. Through this crazy life we need someone on our team, someone to build us up and take care of us when we're down. True friendship is rare and when you find it, hold onto it with everything you have. Call them to catch up, send them a text and show how much you care. Never take someones friendship for granted, always wake up thankful for what you have every day.

I am beyond thankful for the group of friends I have, I feel like I finally have a group of confidence, caring, intelligent, beautiful girls and it took me a while to get here. But I'm so happy for the friends I now have.

Have a great Thursday! until next time:)

Understanding People

First of all, hello all! It's been quite a while since I've written in this blog. Honestly I forgot about it for a while.

I'm coming back to you with a post about understanding people. How can we pick up on what others are thinking? what they are feeling? and how to communicate our ideas effectively to others?

Just like anyone else, I've learned with age how to pick up on people. It's such a basic instinct if you let yourself feel the emotions and feelings of others. Silently watching as you notice body language, eye contact, and speech. It's amazing once you decide to hide yourself in an imaginary cabinet and looking forward to the person in front of you. Asking questions in your head such as, "what struggles have they faced today?" "Do they have any demons they are hiding?" "how do they perceive themselves?"
Living with an outlook of love and compassion for others; loving your enemies, now that's hard to do.
But here's why its important: it gives yourself peace.
Although I believe there is a limit, when someone in your life is causing constant pain. It's okay to let them go. When all they do is bring hardship, it's okay to step away. I think many people hold onto relationships or friendships because they love them, they would do anything for them, and believe that love means never giving up. There's a fine line to walk with those statements, and at the end of the day you have to decide for yourself, what is your limit? But more importantly, are you giving more than your receiving in this relationship?
It doesn't make you less of a person, it doesn't make you weak, and it sure as hell doesn't make you a lousy relationship partner or friend! There is only so much you can give before it starts to affect you both physically and emotionally. In other words, it's okay to walk away.


Communicating with others involves understanding others body languages, their facial expressions, and basically nonverbal communication.
Another point is understanding what is behind their words.
Whether their trying to hide their hurt, their disappointment, or their sadness. To maybe hiding their embarrassment, their anxiety, or their impatience. It may take a while but if you train your mind to look into other peoples worlds, you'll be surprised what you can uncover.

The act of understanding people can be hard but with experience, dialing in on the emotions of others, and serving to help others. You can be surprised by how it can enrich your life, and provide a peaceful mind not only for yourself but for the people around you.

Have a great Saturday, stay safe and until next time!