ONE YEAR

Saturday, January 18, 2020
It feels just like yesterday, that I was sitting down in the college library writing my blogpost explaining that I was recently divorced by my ex-husband. I remember the anxiety that filled my chest and the nerves that I was feeling right before I clicked "publish." I remember how amazed I was, that a simple signature, automatically meant that I was no longer married anymore. I remember the anger and guilt that I felt when my ex-husband announced he wanted to leave me. I remember.... I remember all of the emotions, pain and freedom I felt from no longer being married. I remember.

It's been exactly one year since the judge officially signed my divorce papers, stating I was officially a divorcee and single. I all of a sudden blinked and now it's been one year.

A year to the day the judge signs the papers you sit and reflect. You think about all the crying you did, all the times you consoled yourself because you knew it was going to be hard, all of the fighting and bickering about dumb things, all of the hatred you felt from your ex, how many times you thought your ex might want you back, and two days later, you remembered how much he used to love you.

THE ART OF LOVING YOURSELF

Thursday, January 9, 2020
Why is it that we can fall head over heels in love with a perfect stranger, in a heartbeat, yet when it comes to loving ourselves, we can endlessly struggle?

Self-love is something I personally battled with for the majority of my teen years. I was uncomfortable in my own skin. I couldn't help but compare myself to all the girls I encountered daily, and believed were prettier, smarter and more popular than me. I often wished I could wake up as somebody else. Anybody else. And it breaks my heart that I just wrote that. I wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone.

Today, you'll be able to meet with a bubbly, positive, and confident young woman. But the journey to get to where I find myself now has not been an easy one. I didn't wake up one day, and miraculously feel like an unstoppable Goddess. It took years of changing bad habits, practicing new ones, confronting my fears, and learning to believe in myself no matter what.

I want you to know that if I can learn to love myself, I believe with all my heart that you can too- and you must.