Books, Beauty, Fitness, Lifestyle,and Musings of a 19 year old girl trying to find the right path in this world.
Contact me at beyourownfirststep@gmail.com
Often times we don't appreciate the little things that can make you happy throughout the week. Here is a small list of things that made me week this week:
A neighbor offering to let me hitch a ride on her taxi free of charge.
Going out to dinner with my family, and having the waiters hand out roses.
Realizing a life goal for myself.
Volunteering with the lovely NYC Have a Hart Day Crew at a nearby soup kitchen.
Making new friends at the event, who were especially sweet.
Continuing my bullet journal.
Taking a mental health day without feeling horrible about it.
Starting my fitness and being consistent about it.
Falling asleep on the sofa and waking up in bed.
Having a first date not go horrible.
A promise to receive a letter from my best friend
What are some things that made you happy this week?
I have never really learned the skill of accepting a compliment gracefully. If someone compliments me, or gives me a positive affirmation, I cannot bring myself to look up and into their eyes and confirm that I am listening to their kind words. I'll laugh, respond with an ugly face (to make them laugh), or I might just concentrate really hard on the ground and tell myself to breath to get through it. For me it is an awkward experience filed with unnecessary tension. It doesn't matter if it is coming from someone I love or not. I can't seem to get myself use to this interaction.
This is why I love Hannah Hart's new video. She challenges her friends to a game, where they have to tell each other positive affirmations without laughing. I would probably never be able to get through a challenge like this without dying but I like the idea of making this challenge popular. Even if you are just telling yourself these affirmations. Kind words make positive impacts.
Not only does this type of video encourage positivity but if we could get to a point where positive affirmations become a norm, we won't need to make things like these a game. It will happen naturally in every day conversation. Now imagine how much of a happier world we could live in if we could spread more confidence and encouragement like this!
Next time someone compliments you, I challenge you to take it to heart. It could make your day so much better just by letting someone in.
: a person who shares a room, apartment, or house with someone else
We started out as ROOMMATES, we didn't know anything really about each other. But for some reason our admission counselor thought it would be good for us to share a room. We met once for ice cream and after rejecting me as your roommate, weeks later you hit me up and asked me to be yours. We started to plan for our ideal room.
friend·ship
ˈfren(d)SHip/
noun
the emotions or conduct of friends; the state of being friends.
a state of mutual trust and support between allied nations.
Somehow a FRIENDSHIP started to bloom. I guess it was unavoidable. We didn't really know anyone else and we were stuck with each other for the next year. Hesitance turned into trust. And how could it not, we were with each other 24/7. Same major, same dorm, same music taste. We grew closer than I thought possible, which was weird at first. But it was cool to experience our roommate honey moon phase. Meaning, you waking me up, me making you coffee and us putting in so much effort in our experiences as we trudge through the slipper ice and annoying snow to get to our 8am biology class (which I may or may not have spent it all on tumblr).
Somebody on the same team that, no matter what, won't quit on you, will always defend you in front of non-team members and is there for the team.
Team mates are always there for each other
And when you finally let me drag you into rugby, something we both love and hold dear we became TEAMMATES, not that we weren't already. But at least now we were "official teammates" in a sense, so you weren't just my roommate or a friend, you were a teammate. A prop. Someone who had my back to make sure no big rugby players tackled or destroyed the scrum too easily. Sometimes, my life was literally in your hands.
plan
plan/
noun
1.
a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.
And then we both made difficult decisions and decided to move on from our initial PLAN,
change
CHānj/
verb
1.
make or become different.
"a proposal to change the law"
2.
take or use another instead of.
"she decided to change her name"
we literally decided to CHANGE the direction of our lives.
I'm so thankful to have you in my life. You literally are like a sister to me. We can't see each other every day now, but just know that I support you in everything you do and that you will go far in the world. I love you roomie and happy birthday. May the odds be ever in your favor and cheers to a new beginnings and lasting friendships.
~Cielo
P.S. Roomies who pray together stay together. Roomies who slay together stay together. Roomies who survived the crazyness of eco house will move out to a whole other state :) (inside joke).
P.P.S. I am a sap, but if anyone asks, I never did this :P.
I was trying to explain to my sister about using they/them pronouns...
and I was literally shocked at how much anger and aggressiveness was in her response. She said that it didn't make any logical sense to use they/them in english and they should either choose between he/she or make up their own pronouns (which I know exist). I literally sat with her for an hour trying to explain to her why, if someone prefers it and it makes them comfortable that she should for decency sake just use they/them. But she kept arguing that if they are one person she shouldn't have to use plural pronouns to describe them and she would only do that if they had multiple personalities disorders. And that reading stories about them would be difficult and not worth it.
I just feel like we are in no place to judge how others express their genders. Yes we are assigned sex at birth through our sexual organs but gender and gender expression are completely different things.
It just turned into this whole thing about other issues that my family has with the lgbt communities and brought in my gender expression. Is it wrong that I felt a tiny bit attacked? Like my heart was beating way hard in my chest and I can literally see the aggressiveness in her eyes ever time I blinked. I just don't understand why she acted in such an angry and fearful way. Like I get that as humans we are scared of things we don't understand, but being non-binary is something that she says she gets. So why is being uncomfortable for a while in conversation while getting use to someone's preferred pronouns so horrible. She got super loud and tried to figure out if I wanted her to refer to me in that "unlogical" way because of the way I want to express myself. I just didn't expect that from her and had no idea how to better explain/handle the situation. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions with how to handle the situation next time? ( I doubt she will let it die)?
