I was at a NAMI support group the other night as they always bring in guest speakers. At the end of the speech, which turned into more of a discussion, one of the attendees told me I should be a motivational speaker and another told me I should write. I chuckled because I currently do both of those things. The …
Remember to Be Your Own Superhero, Too
We spend a lot of our mental energy on others. We make sure that we show up over and over for those around us. We do this so easily, knowing the love we have for those around us is so important to us that we put their needs before our own. We do this over and over. And then we …
You Can Feel Your Feelings And Still Be Strong
Being strong doesn’t mean you are always happy or that you are hiding your feelings, appearing to the outside world that you are okay. Even though that is what society tells us being strong means, being strong actually means having the faith in hard times, but still allowing yourself to feel how you feel. Being strong means having the courage …
Find Your Peaks of Sunshine Through the Rain
There was a track meet we had in high school and I remember the day before freaking out to my teammates that it was going to rain, which in my eyes, would ruin the entire meet. The weather forecast said there was an 75% chance of rain. And I remember my teammate saying, “well there’s a 25% chance it won’t …
Practice Being Present
When is the last time you paused to be in this moment? How many times have people brought up stories to you that you just don’t remember the details, because you were there, but not really because your mind was elsewhere? Life passes us by so quickly. It seems like the days go by faster and faster as we get …
You Are Worthy of Your Tomorrow
I remember so clearly a question that was asked during one of my speeches. The question that was asked was, “Do you think you’ve won your fight?”. He asked me that question because during my speeches, I always focus on reminding each of us that we are worthy of this fight for our lives. And after sharing my story of …
Hold Onto Your Small Moments of Joy
Writing this blog post, I am sitting on the waterfront of Alexandria, VA, watching the life of Washington, DC right across the water and I thought about all the life happening all around us that we constantly watch pass us by. And then I felt sadness for all of those who couldn’t see the beauty of today, because they had …
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day
This famous saying of “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day” means so much to me. This is what my coach would say to me over and over and something that gave me some comfort and hope during my struggle, that my dreams could still be built. But it’s really hard to be patient while your Rome is being built when …
When You Enjoy the Journey, Magic Happens
My fiance and I spent some time joking around trying to learn a salsa dance to a YouTube video and I told him how stiff he looked. I told him, “Don’t try too hard, because that’s when you mess up. Just have fun with it.” In that moment, I said, “wow, what a blog post”, and now here we are. …
A Self-Love Letter to Myself
I have been going through a lot of changes lately, including a career change and moving into a new apartment. While moving, I stumbled across a letter I wrote to myself my freshman year of college. During orientation, we were told to write these letters to our future selves with our hopes and dreams and then my college would hold …