How to have a "Me Night", a Guide

Hello Lovely humans!!!! I'm finally back with my blog. I'm so excited and will be once again updating weekly, so I hope you'll check out the website and enjoy my posts, EVERY THURSDAY. I also started my section for my original characters and cartoons here on the site, and it's a section that I've been wanting to include for awhile now so I hope you'll check that out.

This week's post is about the importance of having a "Me Night", and the fact that it can be an amazing tool for renewing your light energy, calming nerves, and resetting your headspace to a neutral and positive place. Every once in awhile, time for ourselves is absolutely necessary in this hectic day and age, and we are ALL deserving of time to ourselves to not only relax and replenish, but also it is SO important for staying in a light state of mind and headspace. So, here is my guide on how to plan our your "Me Night", and the reason that it is such an important, powerful (AND fun), activity for us as human beings.

Step One: Do Some Proper Pampering

To start your "Me Night", do something that will put you in a relaxed state of mind and remind yourself that you are deserving of that. A long hot shower, maybe some meditation and breathing in some incense for a few minutes, a bubble bath....you catch my drift. Personally, I like doing foot-baths in the sink sometimes followed by a pedicure. Sometimes I just sit there thinking for awhile about things....whatever you choose, don't rush the experience. Basically, just think of activities that will get you relaxed, feeling ready to unwind, and pampered like we all deserve sometimes.

Light Energy Tip: Doing soothing activities can help re-connect us with the feeling of comfort and the care we felt as children when we would be taken care of. Even as adults, we all deserve to be cared for sometimes, and there is no reason that we can't be the ones to care for ourselves. 

Step Two: Get Cozy

After a long work day or week, there's nothing better than getting changed out of your work clothes and into something comfy. But I really want to challenge you all to find your happy place here. Get changed into something that puts you in a happy and comfortable mindset. Maybe a t-shirt that you love that connects you to a specific special memory, or your favorite pajama pants. It doesn't have to be your ACTUAL pajamas per say, but anything that you can change into to help you feel ready to unwind but also promote a positive feeling for you. Only you know what that is! For instance, I changed into this unicorn constellations t-shirt I got from my second home Target (WHAT a surprise there, Kelly), and these super cute and comfy new shorts. Also there is nothing better than clean laundry, so maybe go to the laundry basket to find your "Me Night" outfit of choice!

Light Energy Tip: We ALL need time to just hang out casually. It's so important. In a world built around always feeling the pressure to keep our image polished, remember lovely humans that bumming around in sweatpants sometimes is a luxury we all deserve on occasion, and we are all still beautiful either way. 

Step Three: Get the Essential Chores out of the Way 

Now cartooning and video editing are two of my FAVORITE things to do and biggest passions, so they are by no means chores at all for me. But by "essential chores", I mean that at the end of a busy day we do all still have final tasks that we need to complete or would like to. So now that you are feeling cozy and relaxed and ready for your "Me Night", take a few deep breaths and get done maybe one or two last minute tasks. Send those emails, work a little more on that project, only for an hour tops. It'll be easier to get these things done after you've started to unwind a little and get cozy because you'll already be in a more positive headspace to begin with, so your work might go by even faster, or you'll feel inspired!

Light Energy Tip: Changing the setting around you can make end of the day tasks more enjoyable. I will ALWAYS suggest candles or incense, or both! 

Step Four: Manifest or Use some Affirmations

Before I wind down at night, I like to practice my positive affirmations or manifest some things into my life. It's a great thing to do when your mind is still busy from finishing your end of the day tasks, and you aren't quite ready yet to just "chill out". Ending my day by either meditating with positive affirmations or manifesting my dreams always makes me feel accomplished and ready to fully relax, and also feeling like my day was successful. So take a few minutes, sit where ever you feel the most comfortable, and choose one of these two options.

Light Energy Tips:
Positive Affirmations 

-Breathe in and out. Breathe in for four seconds, hold your breath for four seconds, and breathe out for four.

-Think of kind positive affirmations as you do so, such as "I am loved", "I am deserving of happiness", "I can achieve anything", "I am at peace", whatever feels right for you, as you do the breathing.

-Repeat your favorite affirmation three times, and after each time breathe in and out. When you release your breath, imagine yourself projecting light and positive energy unique to you, out into the world.

-Do this as long as you wish.

Manifestation 

-Set an alarm or timer for two-five minutes

-Get comfortable and sit with your legs crossed and palms, resting, upwards towards the sky on your knees, facing a window or a direction towards the outside of your room. Close your eyes.

-Think of ONE THING to manifest into your life.

- Breathe in and out slowly and steadily at a calming rhythm. See yourself in the situation that you want to happen to you. As you close your eyes, imagine and envision your dream as a reality. See it playing in your head almost like a movie.

-Start to conjure up the feeling of this. How do you feel? Excited? Elated? In love? At ease? Pumped with adrenaline? Really FEEL this feeling as if it were really happening right now!

-Repeat to yourself as you imagine this and continue to do so, "I am deserving of this." "This will happen in my life." As you do so, feel a positive, powerful and unique energy flow out of you and out into the universe.

-Do this until your timer goes off.

Step Five: Get Creative 

Let your creativity flow. I find that doing a relaxing activity that also increases your creative abilities is great for positive energy and reinforcement as well as self confidence and a good way to unwind. For me personally, that's experimenting with cooking. Making homemade hummus among other recipes is a way for me to do something that makes me feel happy in a private setting, where I can do something that I enjoy on my own time. So find something semi active and creative that helps you unwind, feel at ease and also get imaginative. Creativity is good for the soul, even if you don't necessarily consider yourself a "creative person". I really do believe that we can all be creative if we choose to give ourselves that chance. Just make sure that your activity for your "Me Night", is one that won't make you feel stressed or pressured. Some examples would be: Playing music if you're a musician, coloring or drawing, writing or typing something creative, cooking as I mentioned, doing any kind of homemade arts and crafts....to name a few.

Light Energy Tip 

I'm sure not EVERY person that reads this blog is a hummus fan, but I definitely am, so I wanted to share my original recipe with you all for my zesty lemon hummus. Remember, never be afraid to try new things that you haven't done before, lovely humans. You may just surprise yourself! 

Kelly's Zesty Hummus 

-1 can of chickpeas
 (Preferably, without the skin. It takes a long time to take the skin off of each chickpea, but when making homemade hummus, it really does make it creamier and smoother and in my opinion is totally worth the effort and time.)

-1 tbs of freshly squeezed lemon juice

-1 tbs of olive oil

-2 tbs of water

-1 tbs of cumin

-1/4 tsp of celery seed

-1 tsp of parsley

-1/4 tsp of garlic powder

-1/4 tsp of black pepper

-1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

-1 tsp of salt

*Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Then refrigerate until cold.

Step Six: Chiiilllllll Out 

The final step of your "Me Night" should be doing whatever you want to do, as long as it's relaxing, makes you happy and keeps you in a good headspace. This also should be an activity that will keep you feeling relaxed physically, so that you can properly end your night and wind down in a relaxing way. Watching your favorite show, or something new that you've never given a chance before, reading, maybe talking to a friend or loved one on the phone, journaling....these are just a few suggestions. Just do something that doesn't take much "brain power", and gives you the relaxing alone time that you deserve after a long and busy day. As long as this activity keeps you happy, relaxed, and increases your light energy, you're doing it right and ending your "Me Night" on a relaxing, positive and well deserved note. We ALL deserve time to ourselves to just enjoy the things we like, lovely humans. Remember how worthy and special you are of that love.

Light Energy Tip: Sometimes something will surprise you. If you can't think of a show to watch, maybe try reading a book instead. Try coloring for relaxation, or playing a video game (some of my personal favorite choices), or even stepping outside of the box! I found the adorable show pictured above called "Aggretsuko" that is an adorable mix of anime qualities, cute characters and relatable adult humor, while scrolling boringly through Netflix and just taking a chance on it. (I know I'm a geek with this kind of stuff but it's awesome, I highly recommend it.) Be open to trying things unfamiliar to you. 

So, those are my steps to having a successful "Me Night", that will help recenter you not just energy wise, but anxiety wise and increase your positive energy. The important thing we all need to take away from this is that we all deserve alone time sometimes to simply take care of ourselves in ways that are SUPER easy to do, and we often forget that we all need that. Hopefully some of these tips can be useful to some of you, and remember, to make them your own! Find your own way to have your own special "Me Night", because it will be yours after all.

Until next time, Lovely Humans!

Kelly 

5 Tips for Starting the Week in a Light Mindset

Hello Lovely Humans! It's the start of a new week, another Tuesday, and therefore it's time for a new blog! I've been thinking a lot lately about how we tend to go into the weeks ahead of us, feeling anxious, anticipating stress, and basically dreading having to get back on the "daily grind". But the beginning of our week doesn't have to feel that way, if we know how to harness the right light energy! So here are 5 tips to help you start the week off in a light state of mind, and recharge your light energy batteries before the stress of the week starts to interfere!

Reflect on Your Weekend 

Many times, when the weekend is over, we tend to get a bit melancholy and sad. We are sad that our time to relax, maybe have some fun, try new things and be with others who are dear to us is over, and that the work week is beginning once more. But this does NOT have to be the case! What if we looked at our weekends as something to be grateful for? How different would we feel? Probably COMPLETELY different! Take a few minutes and reflect on your weekend. What did you do? Who did you surround yourself with? Did you make a fun, new memory that makes you break out into a goofy smile? Maybe you had a good time catching up with an old friend, or you had a date night with a lover. Maybe you went out to a cool new spot! Or maybe you just stayed home and snuggled with your pets. (I know I did with my puppy). Remember your weekend FONDLY, and smile at the memories. They were great experiences that helped harness your light energy, and remind yourself that there WILL be more of them! Many more. 

Light Energy Tip: Taking pictures to remember the good times always helps bring up those good feelings. Snap away! 

Set a Personal Mantra for the Week 

Come up with a mantra that means something important to you! This doesn't have to really specifically be a mantra per say, it can even be a goal that you would like to meet by the end of the week. Come up with one thing you want to accomplish OR remind yourself to be mindful of. This can help you start your week with a sense of purpose, a drive to do good things that enhance your light energy, and also just help you feel confident in your abilities! I suggest repeating this goal or mantra to yourself each morning before you start your day, and I suggest doing it near a natural light source, such as a window. There is nothing better than the natural rays of the sun to set a personal intention. So come up with your own each week, and reinforce it every day. 

Light Energy Tip: Good ideas for mantras are as followed, (Just in my personal experience), : "Today, I will live my life in a light minded headspace." "Today, I am worthy of this soul and this body." "Today, I am happy to be alive." "Today, I will fight for positivity." 

Do One Little "Hard Work" Task Towards your Goal 

So there are two parts to this tip. The first part is, with your weekly goal in mind, do ONE small task a day towards making that happen. This task will be one that is progressive in nature, towards making your vision or goal become a reality. For instance, if your goal is to get in better shape, work out once a day. If your goal is to plan for future endeavors or things you want to invest in for your future, do research for an hour a day. If you want to find a new job, or discover a new hobby or calling, do some reading once a day, and brainstorming. But don't OVER DO it. The main key to this tip, is telling yourself that you are allowing a certain time period of your day to be dedicated towards this one main goal. It can't all be accomplished at once, but a little a day goes a long way, and is also WAY healthier for our emotional and mental energy, and keeping that light state of mind in tact. 

Light Energy Tip: Writing down in a journal or planner what you plan to focus on in terms of how to achieve your goal can help you feel more organized and also visualize it as becoming more of a reality in the future. For example: "I plan to research this topic I'm interested in every day for an hour, and take notes on what I find!" Writing this down will help to further motivate you to stick to the idea! 

Do One Little "Light Energy/Love" Activity 

To counteract the previous tip, this next tip is the opposite but EQUALLY important. Just as you should schedule your daily attribute towards achieving your weekly goal, you should also schedule a relaxing "light activity" that is MANDATORY to your daily routine. This is an activity that makes you feel good. It makes you feel relaxed, happy to be yourself as a person, and is unique to you. Also this activity should be healthy in nature, so I'm not talking "partying" to take the edge off. This is an activity that isn't harmful or mind altering to your mind or body, that doesn't make you anxious and more so makes you feel at ease, and is something that is special to you PERSONALLY. You can have as many of these activities as you'd like! That's the best part. Some of mine to give examples, are blogging, making videos, playing video games, watching cartoons and shows I like, doing yoga, meditating, writing, playing with my pets, cooking, taking a bubble bath...I have quite the list. But allow yourself to enjoy a light activity of your choosing every night, after you finish your "working" activity towards your weekly goal. It's just as important, you DESERVE it, and it's the main asset to keep resetting your light minded mindset to get through the week without losing it! 

Light Energy Tip: If you have trouble with decided on light activities, simply take out a pen and piece of paper and write down anything in your life that has consistently made you feel comforted or smile. This list can help tap into the part of yourself that will help you to discover what your light activities are! 

Remind Yourself To Fight the "Beginning of the Week Demons" (Yes, I made that up) 

Don't lie, it's SO COMMON to start the week off, expecting the worst. But really when it comes down to it, why do we have to get anxious and negative when preparing for the week? Yes, in this world we live in, we all have to work. We work hard, we study, and sometimes we get overwhelmed. But by telling yourself inside, "Oh, man, it's another Monday, here we go again", you are already starting off your week with a pessimistic mindset! Anything can happen at any time, and I've found that when I wake up and tell myself "Today, anything can happen, and I'm happy for today", I feel a lot more open minded and just...different...than when when I wake up with a mindset dreading my week. Remind yourselves, lovely humans, that the beginning of a new week isn't THAT bad. Nothing is that bad. It's only as bad, stressful, and overwhelming as we give it to be! So let's try to start our week off, reminding ourselves that, "Nothing is that bad". Because it isn't. and just taking a few moments to do so really makes a difference. It's all about headspace, mindset, and what we allow ourselves to run with. So run with an open mind, and an open heart. Don't run with predetermined expectations, run without knowing, and being AT PEACE with that. Happy start of a new week everyone! I hope some of these tips can help some of you harness that light energy this week, when you need it the most! 

Light Energy Tip: OKAY, So, I don't know EVERYTHING about salt lamps, but I did invest in one and I find it to be quite calming. When you need to center yourself, I really do suggest finding a light source (this time an indoor one), that makes you feel safe and inspired, and using it to reflect on things. Sometimes I use candles, and sometimes I use my salt lamp. But when you find one, you'll know when it's the right one for you, and I highly suggest looking into it! Let your imagination run wild! 

Stay lovely, Lovely Humans, 

Kelly 

Learning to Love myself at 8 Different Stages in my Life

Hello lovely Humans! I am back with a new blog post, and I'm very excited because I am going to be doing a new one on this site every Tuesday, so feel free to check it out each week. This week's post is about my journey towards loving who I am as a person, and how I slowly got to that point, because trust me it took a long time and it was NOT easy. But I feel like this is something that we all go through in our youth growing up, and if sharing my story can help anyone who might still be struggling with being who they really are, well then, I'm more than ready to share it. So here is how I went from being a starry-eyed little kid, to a shy anxious teen, to like 3 different fake versions of myself, to finally well...me. I'm letting it all out so let's go!

Stage One, Childhood: Fearless Little Dreamer

When you're a kid, anything NATURALLY seems possible. This is because we aren't yet exposed to the realities of the world yet at this point, especially the harsh ones. Life seems exciting, magic feels real and anything seems possible, because we all have one thing as children, IMAGINATION. (Don't act like you also didn't just think of Spongebob with the rainbow over his head.) Well trust me, I was a child with an imagination. I was always playing pretend out in my backyard, putting on "plays" with my younger sister and best friend who lived across the street (well, they were more like home movies, my mother video taping us acting out scenes on our giant black 90's video camera), and speaking of the camera, being in front of it was where I yearned to be. I wouldn't even hesitate to say as a child I might have been a little "out there", as there are countless video recordings my mother has of me running around pretending to be characters and telling a story to no one in particular. Long story short, I did not care about what anyone thought about my actions. I would say, and do whatever I felt like. I would even dare to say that I was pretty outgoing as a child, at least from age 4 to around 8...but we will get to that soon. But really, I don't feel like I was alone in this behavior. As children, we all feel like we can be anything, go anywhere and do anything. There is nothing and no ONE telling us we can't, (Well, unless we are being bad and upsetting our parents). The thing is, at this age you are in your truest and most naturally confident stage. The things you are drawn to are your deeply rooted passions. The joy you feel is REAL joy. This is the stage that we need to train ourselves to go back to as adults in terms of feeling confident and positive, because as we start to grow, it goes away. And trust me, it did for me. 

Light Energy Tip: If we can channel what made us "light up" as a child, before fear and doubts and insecurities, we can channel what we have always truly desired and how we should always feel about ourselves, life and it's possibilities. 

Stage Two, Elementary/Middle School: Insecure and Afraid, What is wrong with Me? 

By the time I entered around first or second grade, I began to get bullied and teased at school. I don't really remember why...I don't remember what even started it. But I know that I began to get made fun of, usually when I was being myself. I liked nerdy things when I was a kid. Pokemon, video games, cartoons....well I shouldn't say when I was a kid, I still like those things. And as open and confident as I was at home, playing pretend with my closest friend and sister, making plays, being silly...I would act the same way at school. That WAS until I started getting bullied. "Geek", "Nerd", "Baby", and many others were names I was called in second, third and forth grade when I would be expressive about my personal interests. I also wasn't very good at sports...and for whatever reason, at the Catholic Elementary School I went to at the time, all of the "cool kids" were good athletes, so this didn't help my confidence either. Before I knew it, I had developed a severe case of social anxiety. I went from being one way during my home life (imaginative, silly, outgoing and fun), to a completely different way at school (totally quiet and closed off). I was able to make maybe one or two friends here and there with the equally shy kids, but the funny thing about this time period was that I wasn't ACTUALLY a shy kid. I became shy because the bullying made me feel ashamed, and "weird", so I felt that if I were to be myself...well, I would be terrified. My social anxiety got so bad that it developed into actual panic attacks. My heart would beat so fast, I wouldn't know what to do. One day I remember sitting in the car with my mom in around 6th grade, crying and screaming that I couldn't walk into the building because I would have a heart attack. It wasn't a time of my life that I'm fond of, and it's one that I'll always remember the pain from. 

Light Energy Tip: We shouldn't let other people's opinions scare us out of letting our true selves shine through. At the end of the day, harsh words are only harsh words, and shouldn't be a reason to hide who we really are. 

Stage Three, High School: I'm Cool Now (On the Outside)

By the time I hit 8th grade, around age 13 or 14, naturally I started to become interested in normal preteen types of things. But one big change I made was in my appearance. I started to care more about trying to look nice. I started to wear make up, I traded in my glasses for learning how to wear contacts, (Which for me was HUGE, because my glasses always made me feel like such a "dork", and I envied all of the "pretty popular girls" who didn't need them), and I just in general changed my entire look. Now this is a normal thing that people DO when they enter their teenage years. It's natural to want to start wearing make up and looking pretty at this age, but the big difference for me was, I was still just as anxious and terrified of social interaction. I was the same person inside with the same nerdy interests, comfortable home life, and HUGE fear of my peers at school, but I looked different. I began to get more attention from people at this age, especially boys in my classes. This made me BEYOND terrified, because being someone who developed an issue with social anxiety, all of the attention wasn't something that made me feel comfortable. I also started getting into modeling at this age, by choice because it was something I was interested in. This DID help raise my confidence, but if I am being completely honest, all that I was confident about was the way that I looked. The glasses came off, but the heart palpitations never went away, all the way until around my sophomore year of high school. 

Light Energy Tip: Outward appearances don't mean anything when it comes to who you ARE as a person. Changing something on the outside won't completely increase your love, confidence and acceptance of yourself on the inside. 

Stage Four, Late High School, Early College: I'm Doing What I'm Supposed to Do....FIT IN

But probably around my senior year of High School, I was finally beginning to come out of my social anxiety and shyness. I had a small group of friends, I was a little more social and felt more comfortable around other people (but not completely), and I had found a passion and love in Musical Theater. I will always be grateful for Musical Theater and my experience of it in High School, because it really DID help me to feel more confident in more of a real way, and like I was accepted by a community. But even during this time period, I still remember being shy in all of the plays I did to a point, and the most attention I would receive was still over the way that I looked. This followed me into my first two years of college. Without thinking much about what I wanted to do, I figured, "Well I might as well go to college for theater!" Naturally that is what happened. I studied Musical Theater for two years at a small college in Pennsylvania, and this was a very um...interesting part of my life. Confidence wise, I had somehow developed some odd sense of "fake confidence", and it wasn't a good thing. I was terrified to be away from home for the first time, plunged into an entire sea of NEW peers, still not being sure of how to act around them completely. I had this weird obsession with trying to be cool, and I gravitated towards girls who seemed "cool and pretty". I ultimately for the first year, didn't make any REAL friends, because I didn't really have much in common with these girls I thought I should be hanging out with. If anything, my peers kind of just thought of me as vain or not having much of a personality, and well, that's because I wasn't letting mine show and I wasn't thinking with my heart. I was thinking very superficially and it got me into many situations that resulted in me feeling hurt, STILL made fun of, and still alone. No one really cared, and this is exactly how I felt. I knew I needed a change, and I began to reconsider my path. 

Light Energy Tip: Let who you are as a person, deep in your soul, determine who you gravitate towards. Don't create a character for yourself that you feel you "should" be. 

Stage Five, College: I'm Doing What Everyone else is Telling Me to Do

I ended up transferring into a new college to study classical singing after my sophomore year at my original one. I honestly was interested in this more specifically at the time than I was in Musical Theater, I was good at it, and it felt like the right choice. Plus, after the pretty bad social experiences I had at my first college, a new start sounded perfect. I felt really good when I first started at music school. I was studying something I felt good at and noticed for. I was still a bit shy, definitely, and hesitant about letting people see the real me, but I did feel genuinely for the first time, feel good about myself in ways. But, I felt that my need to please others during this time period was blending in with my need to excel at music, to the point of giving me anxiety. I did feel passionate about starting music school, but over time, I started to realize that classical music specifically, wasn't something that I felt passionate about  enough on it's own to dedicate my life to. I started it because many people encouraged me to. My parents were proud, for once I felt noticed...it was similar to the modeling. I was making people happy and proud and look at me, but was what I was doing making ME happy? Eventually, I began to realize that I was simply trying to do what I felt I should do, but not what I WANTED to do. After re-developing my panic attack episodes among other mental health issues arising, I realized that I needed to figure out what I, myself actually wanted. I made the difficult decision to leave music school and change my major. 

Light Energy Tip: Always do what YOU love, not what others would LOVE you to do. 

Stage Six, College, The"Best Years": I'm Finally Finding out Who I Really Am (and KIND of showing it) 

If you let out a giggle over the top picture, I don't blame you. During this time period I WAS one of those people who referred to myself as a "hipster", and thought that was cool. But this was like around 2014 people so, come on now. Once I changed my major (to a BA in Theater Arts and a minor in Music), I began to get involved in student run theater around the school. I started to express myself in unique ways in my own sense of fashion, and wasn't focusing so hard on trying to look like a "hot party girl" because I thought that was what would make me feel like I fit in. I was more comfortable trying to express what made me, well, ME, and I started to feel drawn more towards people with actual interests similar to mine. During this time, especially in the theater shows I was involved in, I met some of the best friends I have ever made in my life. I began to have experiences with other people who really opened my eyes and made me think, and I began to feel genuinely appreciated and even loved by peers, for literally the first time ever. It was a great time of growth for me, because I was slowly realizing, "Wow, I can...actually kind of be myself and let that show through a little bit...and that's OK?". It was a scary (in a good way), silly, and beautiful time period for me. However, I definitely still wasn't TOTALLY comfortable with who I was. I would still go home and play video games and secretly feel ashamed to tell anyone, and I would still hide little details and quirks about myself that I thought would make me seem less "cool". I mean I was in a sense still trying to BE cool, but, I was a little tiny bit more cool with being me. 

Light Energy Tip: Finding out what makes you unique is super important. And once you accept that about yourself, you'll slowly start to find similar people to you, who accept you too. 

Stage Seven, The End of College: I'm in a Dark Hole, But You Don't Know That 

Sigh....The dark times. Well, I actually want to do an entire blog post on this time period of my life eventually, because it wasn't a good one but a HUGE reason I am who I am today. Towards my final stretch of college, due to some personal obstacles and situations, I began to use dangerous negative habits. It got to a point that the habits were so bad that I didn't even realize how bad my choices were. But that's what happens when you spiral into a depression and lose a sense of hope...You don't care enough to realize when something in your life REALLY needs changing. So how did this state of mind and these bad decisions effect my confidence? Well, I was still doing well in my classes, and I was genuinely almost completely comfortable with who I was, what makes me, me, and just in general letting other people see that. The issue here was, I was being blocked of my true potential for happiness due to the demons in my life. I was acting outwardly "okay" to the world, even so much so that I was convinced that I WAS okay. I was so "fake okay", that after awhile I kind of felt nothing at all...and that was when I noticed that I was gone. I had lost myself. I knew something needed to be done. I needed to get myself back! You can be confident, and love yourself, and finally know who you are, but if you aren't treating your mind and body right....well, none of that means anything after awhile. Because negative forces in your life make you lose a sense of self, and your true self and happiness can only be activated when you are practicing self love and making the choices necessary to do so. By the end of my college career, I had made the choice to finally work on banishing my demons. It wasn't easy. I had to make a lot of lifestyle changes, but it had to be done. And, it's the best choice I've ever made. 

Light Energy Tip: Once you find yourself and truly love and are okay with your TRUE self, you need to treat yourself with love BACK. Demons and negative energies will always prevent you from being your true self if you don't banish them. 

Stage Eight, Post-College/Now: I am Happy being ME, and I am TRULY HAPPY 

After making the changes I've needed to make to beat my demons and bad decisions, I finally graduated college last January. I can't believe it's already been more than a year. Man, did I learn a lot. But if I can say one thing, the biggest lesson that I've learned is that the journey to self acceptance AND true happiness, starts with actually accepting yourself, loving who you are and not being afraid to let that person be shown to the world, and then giving yourself the love you deserve. It's been a really long road for me to learn how to actually be confident in who I am and realize that who I am and have always been naturally is awesome, and worthy of love and acceptance. It's also been a long hard road for me to realize that taking care of my mind and body is equally as important as loving who I am. I truly do know the choices that I need to make in my life now to be happy. I am pursuing passions that truly do and always HAVE made me light up inside, and I'm pursuing them because I want to, I believe in myself and I don't care what anyone else thinks about my choices. I choose to surround myself with people who really love me, who I know I can depend on and who make me actually FEEL loved. And lastly, whenever I feel tempted to go down a dark path, or feel anxious or insecure again, I remind myself of all that I've learned. Is it really worth it? Going backwards after learning and experiencing and growing from all of this? I ask myself that simple question, and doing so keeps me right here, right now in this moment. I'm not perfect, because nobody is. But I've come a long way, and honestly if it wasn't for these experiences I've just shared, I don't think I would feel the way that I do now. I'm happy. I'm content. I feel enlightened and I feel free. And I just wanted to share my journey, for anyone who may have been curious enough to listen. Because speaking out is the best way to remind us all, that there is always a way, and a chance to love yourself and live a purely happy life, as who you are. 

Light Energy Tip: You are a beautiful soul. Stay Lovely, Stay Vibrant and never give up hope.