Spending Time.

Have you ever truly taken the time to search deep within yourself in order to make sure you are on your right path in the whirlwind we call life? Time goes by incredibly fast and before you know it, our hourglass is empty.

Do you really know what you want to do with your time here on earth?

If so, are you living up to your goals? Or did you create empty plans and promises to “follow through” with when you have “time” in the future. Guess what? If that is true, you need to readjust your path because you may never get your chance to reach your goals. Not one single person knows how long they will be here. So why not start living the way you want to now, when you have countless grains of sand left at the top of your hourglass and immeasurable opportunities at your fingertips?

I have done some soul searching this past month and these are a few things that plan to spend my time doing and what I want from life:

• I don’t want to just survive through life, I want to live it.

• I want to make a difference in someone’s life.

• I want to make sure those I care about and love, know it every single day.

• I want to make those around me better.

• I want to always keep my hunger for knowledge.

• I want to learn and grow from those around me.

• I want to challenge people to produce the best version of themselves.

• I want to help others do some soul searching to find who they really are, who they want to become and what they want to do with their time on earth. 

• I want to be that uplifting smile or person to brighten someone’s day when they are feeling low.

• I want to always be excited about the little things.

• I want to encourage those around me anytime a situation presents itself.

• I want to be that person anyone can come to when they don’t know what to do when a difficult event arises.

• I want to be someone that others can feel comfortable opening up to.

• I want to be known as a person who keeps an open mind, one free from initial judgement and doubt.  

• I want to be there for as many people as I can.

• I never want to lose the lust for life.

• I want to always look at the world with optimistic eyes full of wonder and excitement for what is to come.

• I want to, “Inspire people. I want someone to look at me and honestly say, ‘Because of you, I didn’t give up.’” 

• I want to live my life in such a way that people remember what I was able to teach them and how I made them feel. 

• I want to be spontaneous and try new things every day.

• I want to be continually test my limits and get outside my comfort zone.

• I want the American dream of traveling the world, being healthy, falling in love, and one day having a beautiful and happy family.

Look inside yourself and figure out what you truly want from life. Are you spending your time the way you really want to?

Stop This Train

I’m not a fan of who John Mayer is as a person but there is something so incredibly impactful about his lyrics. Nothing makes me happier than finding songs that have lyrics that make you think far beyond the melody itself. I feel like most of his songs are that way but this has been a personal favorite for a long time. I find myself thinking about the verbiage a lot; it’s brilliant and worth both analyzing and truly listening to. 

I guarantee that at least once a day, we think about how fast time flies and how old we are getting. It is a cycle that truly can't be broken and I have never heard it put in a metaphor the way John Mayer does in this song. It is incredible.

"Stop This Train" - John Mayer

No I’m not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but…
I just can’t sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can’t take the speed it’s moving in
I know I can’t
But honestly won’t someone stop this train

Don’t know how else to say it, don’t want to see my parents go
One generation’s length away
From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train
I want to get off and go home again
I can’t take the speed it’s moving in
I know I can’t but honestly won’t someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I’m only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find away to say that life has just begun
Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you’ll renegotiate
Don’t stop this train
Don’t for a minute change the place you’re in
Don’t think I couldn’t ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly we’ll never stop this train

See once in a while when it’s good
It’ll feel like it should
And they’re all still around
And you’re still safe and sound
And you don’t miss a thing
'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.

Singing stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can’t take this speed it’s moving in
I know I can’t
Cause now I see I’ll never stop this train

(think I got ‘em now)

Random Thought of the Evening

There’s something truly majestic about the sky and it is honestly my favorite thing… 

The way the sun produces terrific blends of colors that are unique to each day, across clouded or clear skies as it rises and sets over the endless horizon. The infinite shapes and patterns of pillowing and pure white clouds floating across the air or the heavenly strands of golden light that break through the massive clouds after a rainstorm passes. The simplicity of being able to let all of your thoughts drift away and gaze up in awe at the stars twinkling above during the darkest and coldest of nights.

It’s a shame that people do not take the time to look at the stars and enjoy the night sky or watch the sunrise/sunset or even step outside for a bit. Too many people are caught up in today’s fast moving and technology driven society. 

Find a minute to take a deep breathe, slow down, open your eyes and enjoy the world around us because you are truly missing out.

Growing Up

Each one of you can remember being a young child who would consistently dream about the future with optimistic and anxious eyes set on growing up as quickly as you could.

Every time you entered a new school of higher education, you looked upon the oldest grade as being incredibly mature and they became your idol. At the end of my seventh grade year, my older sister graduated high school and planned on attending college in the following months. I remember being so jealous that she was already grown up and about to attend the ultimate place of education while I still had a long ways to go. Now, I am finally at that same pivotal point in life that I was once so jealous of my sister being at.

 It has only been a couple weeks since I first moved onto campus and began classes here.  I have loved every single minute because I am getting involved on school grounds, finding amazing friends, and figuring out who I am and who I want to be. Even though growing up and being in this new and exciting stage of my life has brought me immense joy, I have also gained adult responsibilities that are not something I am fond of; i.e. worrying about money and managing my time between three jobs, going to class, prior commitments, studying, my health, having fun, my family, my friends and household chores (not particularly in that order). It's the bittersweet part of growing up and is not what you dream about or ever what enters your mind as an innocent kid.

You go through childhood wishing nothing more than for life to speed up so you can become an adult. Once those short eighteen years go by, all you can think about is re-living your childhood and wishing you could have slowed time down.

Growing up is such a complex idea. We want it but don't always enjoy it once we have it.

What our society understands "growing up" to be, is something that needs to be changed.  Some say we enter adulthood because of the knowledge at our disposal or simply because we become a slave to money. To me, growing up means taking on more responsibilities but in a way that allows you to learn and evolve from those obligations by keeping the optimistic, open and wondrous mindset of a young child. If you simply marry the two perspectives, your younger self and adult self, of growing up, then you will be content and keep that lust for life that is too often shirked somewhere along the line because of adult responsibilities and the pains of "growing up".

Who says we have to grow up? 

Why can't we look at life the same way we did as a child; full of wonder and excitement for what is to come? 

Painting Happiness

This post is not at all like my previous ones but I just wanted to share what has filled me with joy- my paintings...

I am starting to sell them and will actually do custom orders if you have a design in mind (: So please comment below or email me if you are interested. I have a variety of canvases from mini to normal!

The first four paintings are large canvases the rest are mini (:

 

Fear of the Unknown

I was shooting the breeze with a dear co-worker during the closing hour of our shift last night and our conversation ventured off into a pretty involved yet inspiring topic...

It had been a while since I had worked with my friend so we had a lot to catch up on but the majority of our chat was about my plans for college because it is such an exciting time in my life right now. The countdown until I open my next chapter at college seems to be rapidly dwindling. It brings such a rush of melting pot feelings; this burning excitement for what is to come, a hunger for knowledge yet a strange, nervous kind of worry about the unknown ahead of me. The powerlessness of not being able to know what I am really in for, what class will be like, who I will meet, and how I will grow as a person is a bit frightening. But why should something so simple as going to a new school and starting the next part of my life scare me?

Why is it that the unknown is so feared?

You can't go through life backing out of opportunities because you are fearful of trying something new or testing your limits. My co-worker explained that when she was in college, she had been asked if she was willing to become a speaker for a club. Being in front of a crowd and speaking with a microphone was one of her worst fears but she decided that she was willing. Willing to not only try it out but to conquer her fear and see where this might lead her. It opened up so many doors, networking connections and actually brought her joy. She could not believe that something she was so nervous about turned into a passion that would have never evolved had she not tried it. After finishing her story, she said three powerful words,

"Do it afraid." 

There are countless times in life when one has to face daunting obstacles but once you get through it, you look back and question why you were ever so worried to begin with. I can recall many once scary occasions that I can look back on and laugh at because I don't know why I was ever so fearful; going to my first day of elementary school in California, or my first day of middle school and high school, my first volleyball tryout (which happened to be the first time I ever really played volleyball), learning to drive a car, moving to Texas my senior year and living in a whole new place, or graduating high school. All of these events were terrifying and extremely nerve-wracking but also somewhat thrilling because I had to venture a little further into the unknown.

Maybe discovering a piece of that unknown gives reason as to why there is always that tinge of excitement mixed in with the fear.

What are you so afraid of the unknown for? 

Life is short. Take the chance to be stronger than your fear and worry.

It is amazing what can blossom when we do explore the unknown even if we are overcome with fear.

(It has been quite a whirlwind the past few days so I apologize for the lack of posts lately. I do however,  have some exciting news. I am starting to sell my paintings. Anything on my previous post is for sale and I am more than happy to do custom orders. I have anything from mini canvases to regular sized ones. Please email me if you are interested or have any questions related to pricing or designs. I will be posting some of my paintings in a new entry in a few days!)

Rare Souls

I've been extremely blessed to have shared the last few years with two truly incredible, inspiring, strong and caring people in my life. These two mentors and role models have opened up my eyes to the world in front of me and made me into a better and more well-rounded individual. It is seldom to come across people outside of your family or circle of friends that genuinely transform your life and impact you on such a level that surpasses comprehension. People who are composed of this type of nature are what I call a rare soul.

I believe that those of us who are lucky to come across a rare soul, only do so once or twice in a lifetime and when they make their appearance, they do not often stay in our presence for long. So it is important to take a moment during that seemingly transient amount of time, to acknowledge their impactful existence in our life as frequently as we can.  They come into our life as a blessing for a reason and one should not be sad when time together is cut short. As the infamous quote by Dr. Seuss says,  

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"

Please remember...

• To always be grateful and appreciate the time spent with those who make a difference in your life no matter if it is family, friends, or a rare soul, etc. 
• Make every moment count with those individuals because once it comes time for them to move on to a higher place, memories and lessons learned will be the only thing remaining. 
• Never go a day without telling someone how much they mean to you because you never truly know how much time anyone has left. 

I hope each of you reading this post will come across a "rare soul" or two that will make a phenomenal difference in your life because it was a remarkable period of time in mine, one that I will always cherish and take with me wherever my path leads in this world.  Everything that these two individuals taught me and the memories we share together will never leave me. I hope and pray that one day I can return the favor by being someone else's rare soul. 

I have to ask, 

Have you had the privilege of meeting a rare soul?
If so, who and how did they change your life?
Are you telling those you care about just how much they mean to you as often as you can?

"How lucky we are to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

You have taught me immeasurable fortitude and self-worth, to never to give up on myself, others or my dreams and to always "Believe".

I love you Kim and Robe. May you Rest In Peace. 

"It's the Journey, not the Destination."