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. …
Your Fears are Big. Your Purpose is Bigger.
Public speaking used to be my biggest fear. Now it’s my career. It’s crazy to think about how we end up where we end up. My mom used to beg me to take a public speaking course, and I finally took it just for her to stop talking about it. I left that class thinking “phew, thank God I will …
Being Exactly Who You Are Is Liberating
by Ivy from Beautifully Simply You Some of the best advice my coach ever gave me was to “Just be Ivy, because Ivy’s pretty great”. He told me this during my junior year of college and it has something that has stuck with me ever since. But even when he told me, I never really knew who Ivy was. My …
A Dream Turned Reality
Do you have a dream? I mean a dream so big, that it keeps you up at night because you are so excited for the possibilities? A dream that you can’t stop thinking about, no matter how big or scary that dream is? Well my dream that kept me up at night is to speak to students, coaches, teachers and …
It’s Okay If You Don’t Have It All Figured Out
It’s okay if you don’t have it all figured out. It is okay if you are not sure what your next move will be. It is okay if you are just putting one foot in front of the other and trusting the process. The truth is, most of us don’t have it figured out, some of us are more prepared …