How to Get The Most Out of Your Journal Session

Unsplash | Gabrielle Henderson

If we are going to carve out time in our busy day to sit down at our journal, we have to make it worth it.

Our time is valuable and we want the work we put into our journal to pay off by helping us become more present, confident, and able to dream bigger.

While there is no right way to journal, here are 4 strategies to get the most out of your journal session.

Create an action item for yourself.

You may find yourself writing out a lot of feelings or problems that you're dealing with. Many of us use our journal for that.

While writing down these feelings or problems can be extremely beneficial when processing them, following this up with an action item can allow you to put what you're working through in your journal into practice in real life.

Action items could be:

• An affirmation you're going to start saying to help you change your mindset

• A task you're going to complete to help you get closer to fixing the problem or going after your dream

• A conversation you're going to have to gain more understanding or support in a situation

This can be a challenge to do and can take practice, but many more things happen when a plan is put in place.

Give Yourself Plenty of Time

It can be a challenge to find any time in a day to journal. However, if you were to pick a time, try to pick a moment where you won't feel rushed to get through the entry because you have to be at the next thing on your schedule.

Try to find a moment that you can be in the present and not in the past or future.

A strategy you can try is to give yourself 10 more minutes than you think you will need to journal. This can give you time, space, and permission to work through more thoughts if you want to.

And if you don't use it, you have that extra 10 minutes in your day to breathe.

Limit Distractions

To help you really be able to dive deep into your journal session, try to limit the chance for distractions as much as possible.

Maybe this looks like trying to find a time to be in a room by yourself. Maybe it is having your phone in the other room.

Both of these can seem like a long shot with someone always needing something from us. Try to create an environment for yourself that allows you to tap into thoughts, feelings, and ideas, whatever that may look like.

Not in Same Spot Where You Do Work

This is key. When you journal at the spot where you handle your work responsibilities, your brain is in work mode.

This can mean different things for different people. Journaling in the same spot where you work can lead your brain to see journaling as a task you have to do, something that needs to be a certain way, or needs to be professionally or properly written.

Journaling is a place to do something you want to do and in any way you want to do it. Imperfection encouraged.

Watch the instagram Reel

Watch Here

How the Pandemic Made My Journaling Practice More Important Than Ever Before

Unsplash | Tonik

It has been 1 whole year since we entered the pandemic. I agree when people have said it has been both the fastest and slowest year of their life.

I've noticed how much my life has changed, I have changed, and my habits have changed.

My journaling habit has stuck though and this past year has showed me exactly why to keep going with it.

Here are 3 ways the pandemic re-enforced my journaling habit:

Something constant when many things were changing.

I remember the second week of March 2020 very vividly. I showed up to my journal each morning amazed at how fast things had changed from the day before.

We've heard before that change is constant, but it had never been more true that week or even the months we had ahead.

We lost the sense of predictability and certainty.

I had my journaling practice going, but I had really gotten steady with it right before the pandemic. It is like the universe knew I needed to prepare to have something constant in my life.

Journaling became one of my only constants and gave me some sense of predictability and certainty. I didn't know if I was doing anything else I planned to do, but I was certain that I was going to show up to my journal.

Became a safety net when things went wrong.

People say that when you enter new challenges or life transitions, it is smart to have a safety net of people to support you through it.

While I was thankful to have supportive people around me during the pandemic, I know those people were having a tough time too.

Finding the energy to support ourselves was hard enough and didn't leave us a lot of energy left to support others.

Journaling was always a support for me, but it really became my safety net. My safe space to let out every feeling I had for this thing none of us had been through before. It was the outlet that served me most during this tough time.

Kept record of key events, feelings, and happenings during that time.

I knew when this started happening that this was going to be a very important time in history.

I started writing down all the little things I could so that I could remember what it was like down the road. I attribute so much of my memory to writing things down in my journal.

Although there may be sad things we may not want to remember, I've tried to remember the good things that made this time in the pandemic so unique: having dinner with my family every night for 7 weeks, designing a work from home space, doing yoga outside to get out of the house, and more.

--

I'm feeling extra thankful for this journaling practice right now. This past year encouraged me to keep it up and ensured me that I have an outlet to go to when next challenge comes my way.

4 Strategies For Creating A Consistent Journaling Practice

Unsplash | Jess Bailey

Starting a daily journaling practice is one thing, but creating a consistent journaling practice is another challenge.

Some days we don't feel like it. Some days we forget. Some days life gets in the way.

How can we ensure we show up to our journal for even 5 minutes?

I journaled for 2 years before I would say my practice became truly a consistent one, so I know it isn't easy.

Here are 4 strategies I used to create a daily journaling practice that stuck.

Plan a time you're going to journal.

If you don't put it in the plan, your journaling practice is likely to get lost in the day.

Plan out the night before when you're going to get in your journaling practice the next day.

Everyone is different on the time of day they like journaling, but if you've never journaled before, I recommend adding it to your morning routine. Journaling in the morning makes it less likely for it to get overshadowed by other things that pop up throughout the day.

Do it before or after something you already do.

Adding a new habit or practice to your day can seem challenging. If you link journaling to something you already do, it can make adding a new thing to your day seem a little more manageable.

Place it before or after making your morning coffee. Maybe you do it before you kick off your work day. Maybe it is before you go to bed every night.

Put it somewhere in your day where it feels good and you can see yourself making it happen.

Use daily journal prompts.

Journal prompts can be a question or statement that you answer in your journal.

Having a daily question or statement to answer can make you more likely to show up to your journal. It can make journaling not feel like such an open-ended task, but a rewarding task that can be accomplished. It can also be a great way to kick off your journal entry if you don't know what to write.

You can think of answering a daily journal prompt as an accountability partner to showing up to your journal.

I have created some daily journal prompts you can use here if you want a place to start.

Look at is as a "get to do" instead of a "have to do."

There are probably a lot of things that you have to do in your day. It is a long list, and yes, planning out your journaling session may feel like it is adding to the list.

How long is your "get to do" list? Do you have a "get to do" list? Adding your journaling practice may be a good place to start.

It may not feel like a "get to do" when you first start journaling as it can still feel challenging, but viewing your journaling practice as something that you get to do for you will make you more likely to show up to it each day.

Watch the Instagram Reel

Watch Here

3 Ways Journaling Can Help Elevate Your Career

Unsplash | Damian Zaleski

When we think of journaling, we may think of it as a place to process feelings or ideas that we have. It is a very personal process and the words we write aren't usually shared with others.

The thing about journaling is that what we do behind closed doors affects what we do when we open the door to the world. We can use journaling as a tool to help us understand who we want to be and what we want to do.

This can include in our careers. Journaling about our feelings or ideas about our current or future careers can help us show up in the way that we want to.

Here are 3 ways journaling can help elevate your career.

When you have a big meeting or hard conversation coming up, journaling can prepare you to present concise points confidently.

There can be a lot of anxiety leading up to a big meeting or hard conversation. Journaling can be a place to let all the feelings out.

Letting that out can give you a clear head and get you ready to take on whatever may come.

When it comes to preparing for a big meeting or hard conversation, you can journal out the key points you want to get across. This can keep you on track and away from using too many filler words.

You can think about what kind of tone you want to speak in, as well as the tone you want to respond to people in.

Most importantly, journaling this out can give you the confidence that you're capable of delivering the message and the vision of the meeting or conversation going well.

When you’re facing a tough decision or reoccurring problem,  journaling can encourage you to take action or change your perspective on it.

Sometimes we let decisions or problems sit on the backburner for a little, which can be good for processing them. However, if we let them simmer too long, often things will boil over and create a bigger mess either for us emotionally or externally.

If you're facing a tough decision or reoccurring problem, your journal is a safe space to let the feelings out. If you find yourself writing these feelings out day after day about these decisions or problems, it becomes clear that not much action is being taken.

Journaling can help you switch from being problem-focused to solution-focused. If the decision or problem is still bothering you, you can brainstorm how you could take action on it. If things are completely out of your control, you can decide if and how you're going to change your perspective on the situation.

Your journal is a space to diligently work through your decisions and problems and possibly lead you to a more fulfilling and successful career.

When you are deciding the next steps in your career, journaling can help you get clear on what you need to be doing & who you need to be talking to.

Journaling is a great place for a brainstorm session. Whether it is a bunch of jumbled sentences of a bulleted list, your journal is a great place to let out all the ideas, even the ones that may feel crazy.

If you're contemplating the next steps to take in your career, your journal is a great space to brainstorm all your ideas. Maybe you want to grow on the team you're on.  Maybe you want to move to a different department in the company you're at. Maybe you want to take a totally different path. Get all the possibilities out there.

As you brainstorm, you can start seeing what becomes appealing to you. You may also start figuring out what career moves might best fit with your interests, compensation expectations, family-life, etc.

Once you have an idea of what you're aiming for, you can gain some clarity on what you need to be doing and who you need to be talking with to help you get there.

Watch the instagram reel

Watch Here

---

How To Create A Morning Routine

Unsplash | Jeremy Yap

You may have heard from many successful business leaders, motivational speakers, or other impactful people how a morning routine can make a difference.

After 2 years of having a morning routine and adjusting it in a way that serves me, I have come to agree. It is a way to accomplish a lot early on in my day and start it on my own terms.

So how do you create a morning routine? Here are 7 steps:

Pick an activity you want to add to your morning.

If you want to start creating a morning routine, I recommend starting with why you want to. Is it to start the day feeling productive? Make sure certain things don't get lost in your day? Get some exercise in? Bring a moment of quiet? Pick an activity that contributes to what you want to get out of your morning.

Place it before or after something you already do in the morning.

It can be hard to start a new habit or routine right out of the blue. By attaching it to something you already do, it makes the new activity feel a little more manageable. Placing it before or after, say brushing your teeth, can make the new activity feel like it fits more naturally into your morning.

Figure out what time you need to wake-up.

You are adding things to your morning, so it usually warrants an earlier wake-up time. Give yourself more time than you think you need the first couple of days you try your routine, and then adjust based on what you learn. Also, consider if your wake-up time is now significantly earlier, therefore, you may consider going to bed earlier the night before.

Do the morning routine

You did all the planning, now make it happen. Try to do the morning routine without any judgement and just see how you feel.

Evaluate if the new activity made your morning better.

Whether it succeeded the previously intended purpose of making you feel productive or creating a moment of quiet or not, ask yourself if the activity made your morning better. Plain and simple. If you're in-between as to whether it made it better or not, give it a try for a couple days and you'll likely get some more clarity.

Adjust your morning routine accordingly.

Based on what you learn, adjust your morning routine accordingly. Do you need to give yourself a little more time and wake-up earlier? Do you need to leave that activity out all together? Do you need to do the activity in a different room where there are less distractions? Do what you need.

Add more activities over time.

If you find yourself getting a good grip of the first activity and it is motivating you to add more, go for it. Morning routines can really be a game changer for your day if they're done in a way that serves you. Give yourself permission to evolve your routine over time as you learn more about what you like in different seasons.

Watch the instagram reel

Watch Here

---

How creating downtime could be the difference-maker in your day

When I look back at different times in my life, the amount of downtime I had and what I did with it made a difference in how happy I was. 

When I was in college, I would have told you I didn't have a lot of downtime.

Looking back now, I had a lot of downtime, and I spent a lot of it drinking and partying. I didn't really have any outside interests and was kind of lost.

When I graduated from college and started my post-grad life, I had a lot of downtime after work.

I was excited about this because I felt like I had a clean slate and I got to choose what I wanted to do with those hours I wasn't working. This is when I really started digging into my personal development interests with creating my podcast and starting to take yoga.

Now, about 2.5 years post-grad, I have a lot of interests and do a lot of different things.

I do this thing that when it comes to the weekend where I make sure it is a full schedule. I squeeze things in between other things that are already scheduled. I make plans with myself or with others to fill the free time I do have. I want to make the most of the weekend after all, but I have come to the point where I no longer have any downtime.

Often, I have said that having a full weekend like this is productive and makes me happy. That would be considered a successful weekend.

However, I've noticed that although it may be a "productive" weekend with a lot of things scheduled, I'm not necessarily happy. For me lately, it has left me empty.

When I try to fill every hour of my day with something, whether its something I want to do or other people want me to do, my energy gets diminished. I spread myself too thin. I can't be fully there because I just don't have enough energy left to be there. My cup is empty. I don't feel good.

Is there a balance in all of this?

Is there a way I can be productive and still do a lot of things, but do it in a way that feels good, make me happy, and fills my cup up?

My answer: Creating downtime.

Creating downtime to reset. Time to explore. Time to fill my cup back up.

Time to do whatever I feel like doing. Maybe it is napping, checking emails, watching a movie, starting a hobby, calling a friend, or exercising.

Creating downtime can be the difference between a productive day and a productive day that feels good.

Creating downtime, and using it wisely, can be the difference between living a life of burnout and monotony, and life of happiness and growth.

Here are 3 ways creating downtime could be the difference-maker in your day:

Keeps your mental capacity in check.

There is a lot of times where a friend will say, "hey want to do this thing?" It would be during the only 4 hours in my weekend that I have free.

Or a co-worker will send a message saying, "hey sorry to schedule this meeting during lunch, but it was the only time you had open on your calendar."

While I could physically be there for these things, I know mentally I probably won't be.

It took me a lot of times figuring it out the hard way to realize that we all have a capacity point. It is the point where our body and mind tells us we can't do anymore without a little rest.

Downtime can be a tool or boundary to keep our mental capacity in check. It can be our time that we set to reset and recharge so that we can do the other things we want to do.

I realized it is not about how many activities I can get in my day, but how many activities I can fully be there for.

Teaches you what you like, dislike, need, and want.

I'm the rare person that says they enjoyed post-grad life more than they enjoyed college. Don't get me wrong I loved college, but I think I loved post-grad so much because there was a lot of downtime after work to do whatever I wanted and there wasn't some obvious thing I felt like everyone was doing.

That time was mine and mine to learn a lot about myself. My interests, likes and dislikes, and how I really wanted to spend my time.

I noticed that when we have downtime, we get the chance to take ourselves off of autopilot and really look at what we want to do.

We learn what and who makes us feel good vs. what doesn't.

We learn what we actually desire to do vs. what we are just going along with.

We learn what our body and mind actually need to function vs. just accepting that we are going to feel run down all the time.

We learn what sets our hearts on fire vs. what doesn't, and get clarity on how we want to be spending this life.

Having downtime can remind us what keeps us sane and what to keep coming back to.

Allows you to find new things that are going to push your growth forward.

There are periods of times that I feel stuck. The days start looking like work, sleep, work, sleep. The same thing day after day.

These are the times I want something new, even if I don't know what that is. These periods of time can be frustrating and lead us to feel discontent with life.

I've noticed that I usually get in these moods when I'm just following along with the schedule and don't have a lot of downtime.

New things come out of downtime. New people, new activities, and new ideas emerge out of downtime. We don't have time to give any new things attention without downtime.

The new things are usually what push our growth forward. It gets out of our comfort zone and into the place where we can grow as a person.

Even though it feels like the things on our full schedule are going to help us grow, creating downtime accelerates the growth forward.

--

I'm noticing that it isn't necessarily how many things we can do, but what we do and how we do them.

Are we going to spend time doing things we actually want to do? Are we going to bring our full energy to them?

It is interesting that the downtime that usually happens behind closed doors could be the difference-maker in how we do things out in the world.

Downtime could be our tool, our boundary, our resource, our check point, or even our secret weapon to creating a life we are proud of.

Why 2020 Wasn't a Waste

Kelly Sikkema | Unsplash

When we look back at 2020, a lot of people's reaction will be ugh.

Ugh sums it pretty nicely.

You could also describe 2020 as unpredictable, stressful, or a pure wild card.

My fear is we will look back at 2020 and see it as a waste.

We may say that 2020 happened TO us, but there are ways that 2020 happened FOR us.

---

Here are 6 ways 2020 happened for us.

We got creative.

2020 showed us things didn't have to be a certain way in order for them to be good.

For a long time, we've been stuck in our same old routines, but 2020 has made us look at everything we do from a new angle.

How can we work from home? How can we still stay in shape without going to the gym? How can we continue to connect with others when we are locked up in our houses? How can I take advantage of this extra time I have?

Maybe it's possible that you like the new way of doing things even more.

We didn't make so many plans.

2020 was not the year of the plan; we all know that.

We make plans so we feel like we have control, can plan ahead, and worry less that things won't work out.

2020 showed us that life is not about having everything perfectly planned out. It is about being adaptable enough to enjoy and live in the present moment.

Life has changed every day. We don't have to wrestle with deciding or planning right now.

2020 showed us that we can take things day by day and trust ourselves to plan when the time comes.

We saw that people on social media are real too.

During the early lockdowns in March and April, we saw a lot less perfect and a lot more real popping up on social media.

We saw our social media idols without make-up, what their life looks like at home and not in the spotlight, and that they were going through this hard time too, despite the money or fame they had.

2020 gave us a reminder that the people behind the screens aren't perfect and their lives aren't something we need to compare ours to. They're trying to get through the hard times too.

We were reminded that everyone is going through something.

A lot of times we don't think other people understand. We don't think they understand the boat we are in.

We won't ever completely understand everyone, but 2020 showed us that we are in a similar boat and everyone is going through something. 

Whether that was unemployment, fear about getting the virus, anxiety about giving it to others, frustration that we can't go out places and see people, or loss of hope of when this will be over. 

Everyone is struggling with something. Maybe that means we can give ourselves and others a little more grace.

We learned how to pause.

A lot of us were running around tending to our full schedules before the virus hit.

2020 showed us how to pause.

How to take a moment to reflect. How to take a moment to relax. How to take time to re-evaluate how life looks for us. How to be thankful for the things and people we once took for granted.

2020 taught us that it is ok to take a breather, and sometimes that might be the best thing we can do for ourselves.

We learned how to keep moving forward.

2020 was a tough year. It challenged if, when, and how to move forward.

Even though we were in a moment a pause, 2020 showed us that we can still move forward in the tough times.

We can move forward right now and we don't need to wait for everything to be back to normal. Because as we've seen, what if things don't go back to normal for a while?

We may need to move forward in a way we never have before, but we can do it. It's just up to us to choose if we are going to. 

---

Sometimes we don't know what we need. I have a strong feeling that a lot of us didn't know we needed these lessons this year.

2020 had some aspects that we definitely want to leave in the past, but it also prepared us for the future.

It’s up to us to decide what we are going to take or leave in 2020. Take the good and leave the bad.

It's up to us what we are going to do with what we learned.

2020 was not a waste, but a stepping stone for the better things to come.

Are You Willing To Experiment?: 3 Affirmations When Trying Something New

Andrew Small | Unsplash

We want things out of this life. We want things to be good and we want them to be good now.

It is the perfectionist and go-getter in us.

We say we are willing to take the steps to learn how to get there.

But are we? Are we willing to change in order to get a different outcome?

More than anything, are we willing to experiment?

In life, we can experiment in many ways.

We can experiment by dating different types of people throughout life to help us eventually find our person.

We can experiment by taking different job opportunities to see what we like. 

We can experiment by trying out new hobbies and personal projects to see what feels the best.

But experimenting is hard.

We are hesitant to let go of the old things.

We can be closed off to new, unfamiliar things.

We beat ourselves up for not getting things right the first time.

We grow impatient when things aren't working out.

We become jealous of the people that seem to have it all figured out.

We believe we won't ever be good enough.

We become unmotivated to keep moving forward.

We feel like we are wasting our time.

We don't give ourselves grace.

I don't have experimenting all figured out, but here are 3 affirmations we can use to get us through:

I am figuring it out.

We often beat ourselves up for not getting things right. It is important to remember that we are all, and always will be, a work in progress. No one has it figured out, even if we think they do. We are all good enough at the place in the journey that we are at. Just by you stepping foot into the boxing ring, you have already conquered more than you or a lot of other people have.

I can detach from the old stories in order to find new ones.

A lot of times what is holding us back from getting to bigger and better places is holding onto the way things were before. The old stories keep us from creating new ones. It isn't easy, but we can find a way to get out of our own way and live better than we could have ever imagined.

If I'm putting my whole heart into it, it is not a waste of time. I will learn something no matter what.

When things don't work, we feel like we wasted our time. You may not know it now, but the things you did before will come back to benefit you in the future. If you threw your whole heart into something and gave it all you got, it was worth your time because you will learn from it. This is a reason to always keep moving forward.

--

Here are some resources I really love that also talk about experimenting:

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown

FFTs (F*ing First Times) podcast by Brene Brown

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

What is a Personal Project and Why You Want One

A personal project. It is that idea that keeps knocking on your door and is waiting for you to answer.

I answered the door and started exploring personal projects right out of college. It is what made my transition from college to adulthood one of my favorite times of my life.

My personal projects were starting a podcast, developing a daily journaling practice, starting a blog, and enrolling in yoga teaching training.

But a personal project can really be any project, hobby, or habit. It can be anything from taking a photography class, to organizing your basement, writing a book, or developing a steady workout plan.

A personal project is a project, hobby, or habit that you do for your own self-fulfillment.

A personal project is that "other" thing besides work or family. It is that thing you don't do for someone else or as your sole income, but for yourself and your freedom. 

You find it by leaning into your curiosity and interests, and pursue it by laying out an action plan as to when and how you're going to make it happen.

More than anything, personal projects are a way to commit to your self-fulfillment and happiness, and not have it get lost in the craziness of life.

When you hear personal project, you may also think passion project.

I call it a personal project because I think the word passion scares people. When people are asked, "what is your passion," I see them get stressed, especially those who have no idea what to say.

I think this is because our society has put pressure on each person to find their "thing." We all need a niche or one thing we are good at, interested in, and maybe even extremely passionate about.

But what if we are good a lot of things? What if we are interested in a lot of things? What if we don't have a strong interest for anything? What if we want to spend time on one thing now and a different thing later?

Is any or all of this ok? Yes.

Our interests change, the world changes, and we change. We don't have to have one specific passion that we earnestly seek.

It is important to see that there is something distinctively unique inside of us, something personal, that we are meant to discover and explore.

That is what personal projects are for. We can have many small or big ones over many years. It's about pursuing whatever is inside of you in this season of life. 

What is a personal project and what is it not?

It is your box, not someone else's box

We have all these different boxes in our life: work, family, friends, significant other, other responsibilities, etc. A lot of times we try to fit ourselves or spread our time amongst the boxes. But where is our box? Where is the box that we don't have to fit ourselves into? Where is the box that is dedicated to spending time on you?

That is what personal projects for. They give you your own box to spend time putting your smallest and biggest ideas.

A timeline for when something will be pursued, not something that gets put on the back-burner (again)

We say a lot how cool it would be to do "fill in the blank" someday. Well that someday can be today.

Personal projects allow us to make what I call a "growth, but graceful" timeline for completing something. We can create a deadline that is close enough that it motivates us to work on the project, but far enough out so it is realistic and attainable.

An action plan for how you're going to do something, not a forever winding road to the destination

A lot of times we say we want to do something, but we just aren't sure how to do it.

Personal projects allow us to think through and lay out the steps for what we want to do. It allows us to have a glimpse of where we are going, even if that requires a few U-turns along the way.

Time spent on something fulfilling and happy, not something unfulfilling or boring

Our lives are meant to be lived to the fullest, whatever that may look like for us.

Personal projects are a way we can check in on what is actually fulfilling to us. We can be more intentional on doing things that are going to bring us the most amount of happiness, and leave what isn't serving us behind.

Why you want a personal project?

Puts less pressure on receiving happiness from somewhere else

We've all heard, "don't put all your eggs in one basket." It is the same with our happiness. Sometimes we can put overwhelming pressure on 1 thing such as our work or romantic relationships to make us happy. That can be self-sabotaging at times and actually make our relationship with those things worse.

Having a personal project allows us to have another outlet for our happiness and one that we have a lot of power to be creative in. It is often that I notice that my relationships with the other things in my life have gotten better due to being able to pursue my personal projects.

Get to use your downtime how you actually want

When we finally get to have some downtime in our day, we sometimes don't know what to do with ourselves. Our go-to ends up being what the great marketers of the world have told us to do: social media scroll, binge Netflix, and online shop.

While there is nothing wrong with any of those things, personal projects give us the opportunity to consider what we actually want to do. Is it relax and watch Netflix, or make a recipe from the cookbook you've been wanting to open? Neither is right or wrong, but personal projects help us to make the choice of how we actually want to spend our downtime.

Allows you to explore a new version of success

Our forms of success could be what job we have, what house we live in, who we are dating, or how much money we make. What if we measured our success on how happy we were doing something? Not the destination or the result, but the actual journey to doing something?

Personal projects give us the opportunity to explore the activities, practices, and habits that make us the happiest, sometimes guiding us to a better destination than we could have even imagined.

So the question is, are you going to answer the door?

I'm Surrendering So I Can Win: How I'm Navigating Uncertainty & Anxiety

One day at a time.

That is the only way I've made it through this year.

I'm a planner. I make plans to be strategic, have control, think ahead, coordinate with others, and lessen the worry that things won't work out.

Well things haven't worked out according to plan this year.

There has been so much uncertainty and it has given me more anxiety than ever.

I never realized how sensitive I was to uncertainty, but I also have to give myself grace as there has never been more anxiety in one year than this year.

My reaction to the constant uncertainty and anxiety is to isolate myself. Not talk to anyone and say I'm going to figure it out myself. That is my safe space.

However, the uncertainty and anxiety has become so overwhelming that it has become too heavy to carry.

I feel like the little middle schooler again that is carrying too many books around in her backpack. I have been carrying around all the uncertainty and anxiety about the future for many months now and I am worn down and tired.

I have come to the point of surrender.

I'm surrendering…

To the plans.

To things being a certain way.

To people being a certain way.

To things being the same as last year.

To not knowing what is going to happen.

To things that are out of my control.

I thought surrendering meant I was giving up, but it really means I've won.

Surrendering means I've won in the fight against the uncertainty and anxiety. I don't have to fight anymore. I've let it all go and not let it take over my life.

And I can BREATHE.

I'm in the place now where I've let it all go, but where do I go from here?

I feel like 2020 slapped me in the face and said…

1. It's time to be adaptable

2. It's time to put the work in to take care of yourself

So that is what I'm doing.

It isn't easy, but I'm trying my best.

For me right now it looks like…

Going with the flow

Thinking of plans as "tentative"

Having the hard conversations that are actually going to push me forward

Creating flexible options for myself for when things change

Respecting that someone may go about things a different way

Consistently showing up for myself, even on the hard days

I am surrendering, but I'm still winning.

Boredom to Creativity: 4 Keys to Kick-Starting Your Dream Project

Unsplash | Jess Bailey

One of my least favorite feelings? Boredom.

When boredom happens, I do what I can to get rid of it.

Some people say boredom is good as it forces you to be creative with your time.

However, in the age of technology and the world at our fingertips, we aren't always channeling that boredom into creativity.

A lot of times we channel our boredom into scrolling or going down the rabbit hole of social media.

Often, it happens that we are looking at things we don't really care about or don't add value to our life. We will just look for anything and everything that could stimulate us and counteract the boredom.

Whenever there is a season where it gets colder, there isn't as much going on, or you're stuck at home, a little more boredom kicks in than usual.

How can we channel boredom into creativity? How can we channel the boredom into things we care about and are going to add value to our lives?

A project or hobby.

I love a good project or hobby and I love supporting people in theirs.

I started getting into projects and hobbies right after college. I felt I had this new sense of time on my hands and I knew I wanted to do something with it. So, I jumped into projects.

In the past 2.5 years, I have started a podcast, a blog, yoga teacher training, and have a few more things coming down the pipeline.

I've found these projects to be fulfilling and made me enjoy not just the project, but even the other parts of my life more.

I've gotten asked a lot of questions around how we can find these projects or hobbies.

My initial answer is the projects I pursued just came to me. However, looking back to when I started projects, they wouldn't have been possible to find without a few key things.

Here are 4 things that led me to the projects I wanted to pursue.

Realized what I loved and kept doing that.

I think a lot of times in order to pursue a project or hobby, we feel like we have to do something completely new. When really the project or hobby could be something we are already doing.

I started paying attention to what I loved and kept doing it. Eventually, something bigger evolved from the things I was already doing.

I was obsessed with podcasts and listened to them everyday. I ended up starting my own podcast. I loved writing and journals. I ended up starting a blog. I loved yoga and connecting the mind and body together. I decided to sign up for yoga teacher training. 

We can take what we already love and already doing, and scale it up.

Started paying attention to what wasn't bringing me fulfillment & stopped doing that.

Sometimes we need to get rid of the old in order to bring in the new.

I realized that in order to have time to explore and pursue these projects and hobbies, I needed to get rid of the things that were in my way. There were things I was doing that weren't fulfilling and taking time away from something, like a project or hobby, that could be fulfilling.

I was someone who, and still am sometimes, uses excessive social media scrolling or Netflix watching to stimulate me. Don't get me wrong, I love both social media and Netflix, but an excessive amount isn't very fulfilling to me. I had to challenge myself to channel my boredom towards something more creative and fulfilling (which was not easy btw as these platforms are meant to be addictive).

We can challenge ourselves to take the things that aren't serving us and replace it with a project or hobby that is more fulfilling.

Gave myself permission to reinvent myself.

If we want to be something new or different, we have to do something new or different.

Before I started working on my first project, I told myself I was allowed to do something I haven't done before. Anything was possible.

This was key as sometimes we don't pursue projects because we don't feel like they're "us" or that people will think they're weird.

Each day, we can wake up and do whatever you want to do and be whatever you want to be. So much so that each day can be a new project or hobby.

Opened my eyes, ears, mind, and heart to new things.

Are you walking around with a closed heart or open heart?

In order to find new projects and hobbies, you have to walk around with open eyes, ears, mind, and heart. If you don't, you will only see, hear, think, and feel the things you did before and nothing new.

Being open allows you to receive the signs and clarity on what you're to pursue.

Most of the time, the clarity comes when you least expect.

Boredom can be hard and frustrating. It can be challenging to get rid of or even channel the way we want to.

It can take time, energy, and resiliency.

I've found that it is all worth it because we all have a project or hobby to offer the world.

What's yours going to be?

Why I've Been Journaling for the Past 3 Years

It's been 3 years since my first journal entry.

I remember the day I started journaling I was in such a hard place. I remember sitting in that spot for a very long time, doing nothing about it. Eventually, I couldn't do it anymore and would do anything to feel better.

I had heard time and time again from people I admired that journaling was an amazing practice to help you think through things. I was at a breaking point so maybe this was a healthy outlet to make things better.

You know when people ask "when did everything change for you?"

The day I tell them is the day I started journaling. And I'll tell you why.

First to be clear, I haven't journaled every day for the past 3 years. I didn't start steady right out of the gate.

At the beginning, I mostly journaled when things were hard, and I wouldn't when things got better. I relate this to when someone maybe stops praying when things go from bad to better.

Sadly, there are those times when things go back to being bad, and that is when I would always go back to my journal to let it all out.

A few months into journaling, I started writing not just about the bad things, but the good things too, like life milestones or trips I wanted to remember.

About 1 year in, I was started writing about the big ideas I had for my life.

About 2 years in, I noticed that I loved journaling so much that I wanted to make it part of my morning routine. 

Not long after passing the year 2 mark, I went on a long weekend trip and was so busy that I didn't journal. When I got back from the trip, I was shocked how lost I felt. I was shocked how much I didn't feel like myself.

I guess I shouldn't have been so shocked that I wasn't feeling like myself because I went from doing something for myself every day, to leaving myself out in the cold (but literally that trip was so cold). 

I got so used to journaling being…

my anchor.

my release.

my self care.

my getaway.

my safe space to grow without judgement.

where my biggest ideas first get written down.

where things are more beautiful when they're imperfect.

where the before, during, and after emotions are let out, then held for safe-keeping.

where I come back to myself to get re-centered on who I am and what I want to do next.

If one takes that away, you're bound to feel cold.

From arriving home from that trip to now at the year 3 mark, it has been 293 days. I have journaled every single one of them.

I tell people the day I started journaling was the day everything changed because it was the first time I chose to show up for myself.

For the first time, I chose to prioritize myself, commit to myself, prove to myself that I could put in the work, and that I could do something to take care of myself.

I chose journaling as my way to doing something for myself, while others may do this another way.

We could do it by going for a walk or maybe meditating. Or we could do it just by rolling out of bed and putting on something other than pajamas because life can be that tough sometimes.

Some days I don't feel like journaling, but I know now that those are the days I probably need to show up the most.

So I want to make sure I continue to show up for myself.

I want to show up when things are hard.

I want to show up when things are easy.

I want to show up when things are bad.

I want to show up when things are good.

I want to show up when things are boring.

I want to show up when things are busy. 

I want to show up for myself each and every day because I owe that to myself.

There is power in showing up and doing something for you to show that you are here and ready to conquer the world.

So on this 3 year mark of journaling, I'm letting myself be proud for how far I've come.

I chose to show up.

I chose how I was going to show up.

I chose when I was going to show up.

It may have taken me 2.5 years of journaling and 25 years of life, but I am choosing to show up to my journal each and every day. 

Because showing up for ourselves can be the difference between just existing and actually living.

Here's to many more years of journaling and showing up for me.

Lean Into What You Want To Do, Not What You Want To Be

I remember when I decided I wanted to be a podcaster.

I had listened to so many podcasts for a long time and really admired the hosts. They seemed like they were having so much fun and sharing some valuable content with the world.

I wanted to be just like them.

When I found out one of my favorite podcasters had made a podcasting course, I jumped right in.

To me, being a podcaster looked like…

Consistently releasing episodes once per week

Doing interviews with inspiring guests

Recording insightful solo episodes

Posting often on social media to promote your show

Having hundreds of listens on every episode

After over a year of doing what I thought a podcaster is supposed to do, I realized I didn't even like doing half the things it took to put on a podcast.

I didn't realize that being a podcaster also came along with hours of editing, making sure sound quality was good, coordinating time in your and your guest's busy schedules to record, and a lot of patience to build and engage an audience over time.

I found myself uninspired, burnt out, and unfulfilled.

Don't get me wrong, I loved creating and doing the podcast as it is one of the things I most proud of for myself.

However, I found the biggest mistake I made in approaching this project was I was trying to be like other podcasters, instead of exploring what I wanted podcasting to look like for me.

I realized I was focusing so much on what I wanted to BE instead of what I wanted to DO. This is what left me unfulfilled.

As I transitioned out of podcasting and started to look for next projects or new goals, I knew I had to approach the next thing with a different mindset.

what do I want to do instead of what do I want to be

When I started channeling this mindset of what do I want to do, I realized one thing I wanted to do was write.

I had always enjoyed writing when I was younger. I was an avid journaler. My favorite part of the podcasting was writing the solo episodes. I just found writing very soothing.

I didn't know what I wanted to be with writing, but that didn't matter because this was about doing.

I already had a website, so why not just starting writing a blog on there and see what comes of it. I didn't even consider myself a blogger, I was just writing.

I have been writing for 5 months now. I try to write every morning before the day gets away from me.

I found I was writing so much that I started creating a blog post every week.

I wanted to share my writing with others so I started talking about it on Instagram and Facebook. I felt like I wanted to share even more so I started a weekly newsletter.

I started to see some traction with people reading my content so I started tracking my growth. I was curious as to how many people were reading my content and where they were getting it from.

Despite all the things I was doing with writing and evolution of it, here is what really happened when I made this transition from what I want to be to what I want to do.

Tasks became fulfilling

When I was focusing on what I wanted to be, I would make a checklist of all the things I needed to do and maybe one of them was fulfilling. When I started focusing on what I wanted to do, the tasks, even if they weren't the most exciting, felt so aligned to who I was and what I wanted to do that they became fulfilling.

Creativity was allowed

When I was focusing on what I wanted to be, I felt like there was only 1 path and it was the path I watched someone else take. When I started focusing on what I wanted to do, it really opened up my mind to all the different paths I could take. It showed me that I didn't need to be afraid to take the road others hadn't. I could channel my curiosity and interests, and take the path that was best for me. Sometimes this took me down unexpected paths that I didn’t know were possible.

Goals seemed manageable

Sometimes having a goal of "being" something can seem overwhelming and almost impossible to achieve. It can be hard to even know the first step to take. When I set my sights on what I wanted to do, I could break things down into smaller steps to complete the task. I found myself so much more motivated to go after the task or goal now that it seemed manageable.

My own path and pace of growth was defined

When I was striving so hard to be something, I got impatient with my growth. I was wondering why I wasn't getting the results I wanted or results as fast as I wanted. When I started focusing on what I wanted to do, I saw growth happening in the direction I wanted and a pace that felt right to me. I've found sometimes the continual, slow growth is the most rewarding.

Making the mindset shift from what do I want to be to what do I want to do has been a game-changer for me.

It has led me to something I'm passionate about.

It has led me to feel like I have new purpose for my life.

It has led me to believe that all the things I want to do will lead me to a person I'm proud to be.

For When You've Given Up on Self-Love

Unsplash | Dan Freeman

"We have made our happiness conditional."

I went to a yoga class not too long ago and they started off our session with this.

This made my brain wake up a little bit as I was trying to get it to relax.

We have made our happiness conditional in so many ways.

We make it depend on our jobs, our significant others, what we look like, how much money we have, and so many other things that we seek happiness from.

They went on with the session to say how we need to start making it unconditional.

My mind starting exploring how one might do that. How do we make our happiness unconditional, not changing based on the external world?

I have actually explored this for a long time, but hadn't really had this specific question asked before.

My answer?

We love ourselves for who we are. We love ourselves before bringing anything else into the mix.

I look at loving yourself as growing the roots of a tree. We need to grow strong roots, a strong us, so once our trunks grow and flowers bloom, we can weather the storm no matter what comes our way. We work on building ourselves so we can build our life.

Even when things are going well, the storms come. They always do.

Work gets frustrating, you go on some bad first dates, you gain a few pounds, you feel like you don't always have the money to do the things you want to do, you get some unexpected bad news.

How does one love themselves and make their happiness unconditional when the storms hit?

We always hear the answer "love yourself, love who you are, love every strength and flaw." I almost get frustrated or confused sometimes when I hear this because if it was that easy, we would all be doing it, right?

There are so many books, podcasts, and social media accounts promoting self love, and I've read, listened, and followed a lot of them. You can't help but think that self love must be something people are struggling with if this many people are talking about and people, like me, are consuming it.

Maybe it feels confusing and we continue to talk about it because self love looks different for everyone. We are all just trying to figure it out how it looks for us.

I have experimented with a lot of different ways I can love myself more, but this is what self love looks like this to me.

I am complete, everything else is extra.

It took me some time, but I realized that we are complete on our own and everything else just adds or doesn't add value to our lives.

When we see ourselves as complete, we can let go of things we are holding onto that aren't adding value to our lives.

When we see ourselves as complete, we can stop feeling the need to seek out things that are going to complete us.

When we see ourselves as complete, we can have reassurance that we are capable of weathering the storm.

You, me, us are already complete, everything else is just extra.

And those extra things can be absolutely wonderful and enhance our lives. A significant other, a big house, or an impressive job title.

They can make our lives greater, but they also could not.

It’s up to us to decide if they're adding value. Hold on tight and don't take for granted the parts that are adding value, and let go of the things that are not.

It all comes back to knowing that we are complete. It all comes back to loving ourselves. It all comes back to making our happiness unconditional.

Unlearning Perfection: Will We Ever Unlearn?

Part 6 of the Unlearning Perfection series, a short blog series exploring where I first learned about perfection, my 10+ years of gymnastics, and the lessons I’m unlearning now.

I've been writing about unlearning perfection for the past 6 weeks now.

I noticed how much of my perfectionism came from being in the gymnastics world and how much of the tendencies have carried over into my life today. There are times that perfectionism is an asset and I love myself for it, and times where it has been my own worst enemy.

I can't help but think as I'm writing these stories, will I ever actually unlearn perfectionism?

The short answer is probably not. But let me give you the long answer.

When I started podcasting and blogging, I really had a hard time describing in a few words what my topics were or the type of person I was writing to. I had a picture in my mind the type of reader I was writing for, I just had trouble describing them.

I found myself writing about the things I was struggling with: people-pleasing, judging myself, having unrealistic standards, and getting stressed contemplating the right thing to do.

It took me a year and a half of podcasting/blogging to figure out how to describe the person that struggles with these things, how to describe me. After a lot of hours behind the microphone, in front of my computer, and a lot of quarantine walks to clear my mind, the light bulb went off.

I was a perfectionist.

Having a name for what I was feeling felt like a weight was lifted. It is like when you're sick for a really long time and you don't know what is going on, and the doctor finally gives you a diagnosis.

Now perfectionism is only a sickness if you make it one, but I was a proud perfectionist.

I felt like I understood myself finally. I felt like I could explain to others all these feelings that I had and all the things I was struggling with.

Once I named myself a perfectionist, it became part of my identity. I attached myself to it and used it to describe a lot of my tendencies.

I really started noticing how it showed up in my life today. The times it was an asset and the times it wasn't.

When I get upset that I can't make everyone happy when I have to choose between movie night with friends or date night with the boyfriend.

When I would be writing a blog post and hesitate on hitting submit because it wasn't just perfect yet.

When I would beat myself up for doing something wrong at work that I didn't even know was wrong when I did it.

By noticing these times perfectionism was popping up, I was becoming more aware of ways to cope when it was being my own worst enemy.

I started paying attention to what I wanted and not letting others opinions overpower me.

I started letting go a little and accepting that things didn't need to be a certain way for them to be good.

More than anything, I started giving myself a lot more grace.

I have come so far in my perfectionism. I am not the same perfectionist I was 4 years ago and I won't be the same perfectionist 4 years from now.

So will I ever unlearn perfection? Probably not. Will my perfection ever change? Yes.

I think I will always be a perfectionist, but it will show up different in different stages of life. I will always be me, but I will evolve and my perfectionism will evolve.

It will be a continual practice to learn how perfectionism shows up in my life. It will be a continual practice to learn how I can love myself for it. It will be a continual practice to learn when it is my own worst enemy.

While it feels good to name myself as a perfectionist, I try not to get too attached to 1 story of perfectionism.

I can let me and my many stories evolve into what they're meant to be, perfectly mine.

Unlearning Perfection: Perfection is Expected

Part 5 of the Unlearning Perfection series, a short blog series exploring where I first learned about perfection, my 10+ years of gymnastics, and the lessons I’m unlearning now.

Unsplash | Drahomír Posteby-Mach

As kids, we had expectations put on us.

Whether they were told to us straight up or indirectly, we knew what we needed to fulfill expectations to get love, attention, or praise.

In gymnastics, the expectation was to be perfect.

Fulfilling the expectations meant success.

So being perfect meant success.

Or if I'm doing the math, my brain was working like this.

Expectation = perfection

Fulfilling expectation = success

Perfection = success

That is how I did the math outside the gym too. If I was perfect, than I would be successful.

But as I've gotten older, here is what I've learned about perfection.

Perfection is boring.

Perfection makes you not relatable.

Perfection means you have it all figured out when really we will never have it all figured out.

Perfection means complacency and no more growth or evolution to be had.

Perfection is unrealistic because it doesn't exist.

If perfection doesn't exist, than why are we reaching for it? If perfection doesn't exist, than why are we making it our expectation? If perfection doesn't exist, than why are we defining it as success?

Maybe its time to redefine what success means to us. That can be hard to answer when you don't know it as anything else other than perfection.

I want to unlearn that the expectation is perfection, so I can learn to define my own version of success.

If you look back at the math problem, redefining success starts with redefining our expectations. If we redefine our expectations, we can redefine what success means to us.

Here are some questions we can use to help redefine our expectations:

What is a benchmark that you have met before +1 step further?

This is a question to help us keep growing, while also giving ourselves grace. You don't need to be perfect and you don't need to do exponentially better every single time. Meet yourself where you're and see what you can do to grow from there. This makes growth and success feel more manageable and realistic.

Are your expectations coming from you or someone else?

Did your mom tell you that you need to get your masters degree? Did your favorite person on social media tell you that you should be hitting the gym every day? Did society tell you that you need to hurry up and get a boyfriend right now so you can start on the marriage/family/kids path? It is easy to think that our expectations are ours, but sometimes they do come from an outside source. We need to make sure we are setting up our own expectations so we can find our own version of success.

What aspect of your expectation can you control and not control?

This is important to recognize so that we can hold expectations at different weights. If I set the expectation on myself to run 50 miles this month, that is in my control and I can work to achieve this. If I set the expectation to run more miles this month than my friend, that is out of my control because I can't control how much my friend runs.

This can also apply to relationships. If you set the expectation to be a supportive girlfriend, that is something you can control and put effort towards. If you set the expectation for your boyfriend to give the same amount of support, that is out of your control because you can't control a person. You can choose whether you would like for them to continue being your boyfriend or not , but you can't change them.

If something didn't go according to your expectations because things were out of your control, that doesn't make you a failure. We have to be aware of what is out of our control, and do our best with what is in your control.

What would make you proud?

At the end of the day, what does success look and feel like to you? What expectations and work does it take to make that happen? What would make you proud of yourself and your successes?

I still catch myself making perfection an expectation all the time. It has been my view of success for so long that it is hard to re-wire my brain. I know that I want to unlearn that the expectation is perfection, so I can learn to define my own version of success…and that success will be sweeter than ever.

Unlearning Perfection: This is a competition

Part 4 of the Unlearning Perfection series, a short blog series exploring where I first learned about perfection, my 10+ years of gymnastics, and the lessons I’m unlearning now.

Unsplash | David Hofmann

In gymnastics, it was very clear where you stood.

There was you, your performance score, and where you placed.

You were first, second, third, or maybe even last.

And that place was everything. It was the first thing you were asked after a competition.

It was how you compared to the rest of the girls in the competition. It was how you compared to even your own teammates. It was how you were compared to perfection.

The idea of comparison was locked in our brains. It almost became an unhealthy form of competition sometimes.

On one side, you wanted the other girls to fall and look bad just so you could look better.

On the other side, if someone did better than you, your self confidence was out the window.

In gymnastics, we put so much self worth in being better than the next girl.

This ended up spilling over into my life outside the gym.

Growing up, I remember constantly comparing myself to other girls. Was I prettier than them? Was I better at sports? Did I have more friends? Was I more mature than them?

While competition may have served me as a motivator in gymnastics, the constant comparison now can tear us down.

We compare who is doing the best at life based on if they're married, have kids, and/or has a good job.

We compare who looks like they're in the best shape when we see people for the first time in awhile.

We compare who looks like they're living the best life according to social media.

We keep comparing. And for what? Does it bring us self-fulfillment to be better than the next person or them be better than us?

I don't know about you, but I haven't seen a "doing best at life" ranking come out lately.

I think the comparison is driven from the need to be perfect. We feel that if we have a leg up on someone else than that makes us more perfect than them, better than them.

But no matter where you look, there is always going to be someone more perfect than you and less perfect than you.

So how do you know who wins?

The way to win is win for yourself. If you're in competition with yourself, you can't lose. If you're in competition with yourself, you will always be worthy. If you're in competition with yourself, it becomes about doing your best and your best is enough.

So I'm unlearning to compete with others, so I can learn how to compete with myself.

Here are some questions I'm using to help me do that:

What does my self worth depend on?

Sometimes we rely on someone else's metrics to evaluate how we are doing at life: how much money we have, if we have a significant other, or how nice our car is. What really matters to you? What metrics are a real identifier of your happiness? Maybe it’s how much effort you put towards going after your dreams or taking care of your health.

How can we stop looking at it as worse or better and look at it as a different?

A way we can get away from seeing us or others as worse or better is looking at all of us as different. We all have different experiences and backgrounds, and that creates our different versions of what our best looks like. If we are all doing our best, than what is there to compare?

What does being my best look and feel like?

This is so important so you can go after what you want and live a fulfilling life. For me, being my best looks like putting forth the effort I know I am capable of, plus a little bit more to push myself to grow. It looks like striving for the things that are important to me. It feels like going to bed at the end of the day knowing you did everything you could to be your best self and make the world a better place. What does it mean to you?

What would make me proud?

What do you want your life to look life, taking comparison out of it? How do you want to design this one life you have? At the end of the day when it’s just you, what would make you proud of yourself?

In Don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements, he says…

"If you do your best in the search for personal freedom, in the search for self-love, you will discover that it’s just a matter of time before you find what you are looking for."

I think what we are looking for is to be happy. I think for me to be happy, I need to unlearn to compete with others so I can learn to compete with myself, and know that my best is enough.

Unlearning Perfection: You Don't Have the Perfect Body

Part 3 of the Unlearning Perfection series, a short blog series exploring where I first learned about perfection, my 10+ years of gymnastics, and the lessons I’m unlearning now.

I didn't have the ideal gymnastics body.

I was too tall. I had lanky legs and peaked at about 5'7''.

I wasn't naturally flexible. I often was threatened to be sent to the rhythmic gymnastics mats where the girls stretched for half the practice.

My most common critique was "suck your ribs in." I had an unusually concave chest since birth that made my ribs stick out a little too far for the ideal gymnast look. Who knew at 11-years-old you had to be conscious about what your ribs looked like.

There were girls that had the body. They were tiny, flexible, strong, powerful, artistic. I saw them as talented because of the body they had.

That meant I had to work a little harder. I needed to train a little harder to get the ideal body. I needed to train a little harder to get my body to flip on a 4-inch piece of wood, hurl myself over a large stationary object, and have the image that the judges wanted.

I always I had it in mind to stay in gymnastics shape and have the ideal body for it.

Even as I continually reached for the ideal gymnastics body, I didn't feel like I had the ideal teen body either.

You know the cute, pretty girls that were on TV and in magazines. These girls didn't have the arm muscles like I did and that led me to being self conscious. I cringed at every school dance picture I saw because I thought my arms were too big.

I was an expert at picking out the things that were wrong with my body.

But I also knew that I wasn't the only one.

As I watched social media come more into our lives in late high school and into college, I felt like a lot of girls were experts on picking out what was wrong with their body. They didn’t have the same belly or legs as the girls as they saw on Instagram every day so they knew what to pick out as wrong.

The most common phrase I heard in a dressing room or when a friend would try on a cute outfit was "I look huge," before they would ever say anything good about how they looked.

Between gymnastics and being surrounded by this mindset, I'm surprised I didn't have more body issues than I did. And I feel so incredibly thankful for that.

I'm thankful that even though I was in environments that didn't promote the best body image, I wasn't harder on myself because I watched other girls rip their bodies apart.

I'm thankful social media didn't come into play until very late in my teens, which I predict would have created more emphasis on the "ideal" body.

I'm thankful I allowed myself in elementary school to eat a sleeve of Oreos before practice because that is what being a high-metabolism kid is about right?

I'm thankful that gymnastics gave me the tools to know how to train my body and build and tone specific muscles.

I'm thankful that from going through these years of picking out my flaws and watching other girls do the same, I now know that there is no perfect body.

There is just my body that is uniquely mine. A body that has curves and marks that are different than the next girl. A body that is strong and beautiful. A body that is capable of more than I can probably imagine.

Fast forward to now, and while I still catch myself picking out my body's flaws, I'm trying to learn to love what I see in the mirror.

Here are some questions I'm using to help me do that:

Do I give my body the credit it deserves?

Our bodies have been through a lot. Our bodies have worked hard to balance our busy lives while still trying to take care of our health, and that is not an easy feat. Yet, the first thing we see when we look in the mirror is our flaws, instead of how far we've come. Sometimes we don't give credit to making time for workouts or eating foods that give our bodies energy. Sometimes we don’t give love and grace to our bodies that have been through pregnancies, surgeries, injuries, or times of high stress. You have put in the work to take care of your body one way or another, so why not give yourself credit for that?

Am I letting external factors determine if I love my body?

I think sometimes we let the outside world determine if we are going to love our bodies or not. We give power to the number that is on the scale, the jean size we wear, and whether we look like the models on Instagram. If we had none of those external factors, would we still love the bodies we're in? Makes us consider what we, ourselves, love about our bodies instead of what society is telling us to love (or not love) about our bodies.

Is the way I talk about my body the way I would talk to someone I love about their body?

If a loved one said they looked bad, you most likely wouldn't say "yes you do." Instead, you would probably say something to make them feel better or provide a suggestion that would lead them to feeling better. Whether that was suggesting a skin treatment they could try to clear up acne, a different way to wear an outfit that makes it look more flattering on them, or a workout you know of that could make them feel good. What if we were as kind to ourselves as we are to others?

What would make me proud of this body?

Most of the time, I think we feel most proud of our bodies when they're feeling good and functioning properly. We feel like we can take on the world when our body is feeling its best. So what can I do to make my body feel best? That might be is hitting the gym, getting more sleep, seeing a doctor, or having more positive self talk.

I'm realizing that we have this one unique body and this one unique life, and it is just too short to not love it.

I am on the journey to unlearn how to pick out my body's imperfections, so that I can learn to love what I see in the mirror.

Unlearning Perfection: You Have To Go By The Book

Part 2 of the Unlearning Perfection series, a short blog series exploring where I first learned about perfection, my 10+ years of gymnastics, and the lessons I’m unlearning now.

In gymnastics, there is this thing called the code of points

It tells you how you're going to be judged: what is expected of you, what is considered unacceptable, and the degree to which is it unacceptable.

It includes a code for not just the skills you perform, but how you should look and act before, during, and after the routine.

This was helpful in creating your routines, practicing them, and preparing yourself for the competitions. You knew exactly what was acceptable and how you could get the highest score possible. It told you how to be the perfect gymnast.

But if you wanted to get a little creative and go outside the box, like wear nail polish, that was a big no. It has been written out clearly what you're supposed to do and you will be docked points if you waiver from that.

So I didn't waiver from it.

Outside of gymnastics and still in my life today, I think I try to look for life's code of points or rule book. What am I supposed to be doing? How am I supposed to act? What is considered acceptable to others?

I think I look for a rule book because there is this inner fear to go against the grain. If I had a rule book, than I would never mess up. I would be perfect.

But there is no code of points or rule book for life and I can't convince myself that there is.

I try to tell myself that societal norms are the rule book. I need to follow the societal norms so that I can be perfect and not be considered weird or "gone off the rails."

For the things that aren't super written out in the book, I try to dig for the answers that may not even be there just so I don't take a step that could be considered unacceptable.

I look to the book when it comes to romantic relationships. What order am I supposed to do things in? Will my family or friends accept that I'm doings things in this order or in this amount of time?

I look to the book in my career. Should I be doing the stable corporate job or going after the entrepreneurial track? What would make my family and friends proud?

I look to the book in how I spend my time. Should I be productive or should I be resting? Should I spend more time alone or with others? What would be the most acceptable to those around me?

I have found that following the book may have served me in gymnastics, but it isn't always serving me now. Living life based on what is acceptable to others can lead to living a life that isn't yours. And it is unacceptable to be living a life that isn't yours.

I am unlearning that I need to do things by the book, so that I can learn how to write my own rules.

Here are some questions I'm using to help me do that:

If no one else's feelings or opinions were taken into account, what would I do?

This isn't to say be inconsiderate of other's feelings, but sometimes we cloud our brains with the opinions of others that we have a hard time seeing our own. I found it helpful to first identify what you really want and then if the decision affects others around you, take their feelings into consideration. See how you can forge a path forward from there.

Whose book do I want to give power to?

I catch myself on this a lot. I give power to other people's rule books that I don't really care about. If I'm going to take anyone's book into account in my own, it is going to be from a person that I truly value their opinion, knows me best, and wants the best for me. I feel as if this is a very select few people, otherwise, there are too many cooks in the kitchen, or running your rule book.

What would make me most proud?

I always come back to this question. Asking myself what would make me most proud allows me to come back to myself while also pushing past complacency. It allows me to ask myself when I look back, will I be proud that I did the hard or scary or safe thing?

Even though I'm being conscious about not always going by someone else's book, I still find myself people-pleasing at times.

I've come to find though that if you're happy, those that care about you will be happy for you. If you aren't going to go off the typical rule book, those important in your life would want you to go off your book.

So what does your book say and are you following it?

Unlearning Perfection: Where My Perfectionism Came From

I am a perfectionist.

But how did that happen? Where did it come from? Was I born a perfectionist or are molded into one?

Maybe this comes down to the typical nature vs. nurture debate.

It always seems to be a little bit of both. However, I'm noticing perfectionist tendencies popping up in my life that I can't help but attribute to the nurture side, or my upbringing.

My upbringing being gymnastics.

There was practice. Sometimes 20 hours a week. 20 hours a week of being told to do it again because it wasn't right. Being told that that isn't what the judges are looking for. Being told to suck in your belly, and for me my ribs, because mine stuck out just a little too far.

There were the competitions. Competitions of who could be the most perfect really. Competitions where the long hours of preparation came down to 2.5 collective minutes you had on the floor and there were no do-overs.  Competitions where you were judged quantifiably by how perfect we were and a flexed foot could keep you from being .025 less perfect than the next girl to step onto the mat. Don't worry, you were already less because the better girls always got to perform last.

I spent 10 years in the gym, in the competitive arena, in the perfectionist world.

You may be asking why my parents let me be in that environment or why I wanted to be there. Its because I loved gymnastics that much. I absolutely loved it. The grueling hours and every blood, sweat, and tear. I was good at it and it felt like the place I got to shine.

There was so much more to it than the perfection. It taught me so much that I'm not sure anything else could have. It has molded me into the person I am today.

It taught me:

Self-motivation

Self-discipline

Self-confidence

How to get my body in shape

How to present yourself

How to be a leader

How to support others

Body awareness

Mental toughness

Physical toughness

Perseverance

Hard work

Dedication

Practice pays off

But practice doesn't always make perfect, no matter how bad you want it. Even though I learned so much, I have to recognize that one doesn't just shake that perfectionist mindset that I carried around for 10+ years.

I have been out of the gym for 6 years now. I still see my perfectionist mindset show up in my career, romantic relationship, friendships, hobbies, and use of social media. I fully embrace being a perfectionist. It is a part of who I am. There are a lot of positive attributes to it like being detail-oriented and driven.

However, it is important to recognize when perfectionism isn't serving me anymore. It is important to notice when it leads to negative self talk, comparison, and anxiety.

Perfection may have served me then in my gymnastics days, but it doesn't always serve me now.

So in this short blog series, I am exploring unlearning. Unlearning perfectionism. Unlearning the things that don't always serve me now. I'm unlearning that being perfect is everything, so I can learn that being me is enough.