Tag Archives: quotes

Feeling Good at 23

On Tuesday of this week, I turned 23. I have spent a lot of this week realizing that this is the best that I have felt about myself EVER. So I started thinking “what makes me feel this way?” “what lessons have I learned in my 23 short years to make me so happy in life?”.

These are the 23 things that I have learned and realize to help me feel good about myself and the world around me.

  1. Your real friends will tell you how they feel, but support you no matter what.

Everyone is different, includint the people we surround ourselves with, but the true people that are meant to be in your life, even if they disagree with you, will support you no matter what.

2. If you ever want to feel like a VS model, throw a short dress on and put on some black thigh highs.

Thank me later.

3. People always say “practice makes perfect”, but I disagree. I think I learned this in high school band and it serioualy apploies to every aspect of my life. “Perfect practice makes perfect”. 

4. Don’t stop yourself from doing something that makes you happy just becuase you’re scared of what people will think. 

I’ll use this platform as an example. When I started my blog and correlating Instagram, I was so scared people would judge me, and they did. I have lost hundreds of followers, including friends. BUT IT’S OKAY!! Not everyone will want to see everything you’re doing. It’s not their cup of tea and THAT IS OKAY. As long as you are doing what makes you happy, you’ll find the people that want to follow along on your journey, whatever that may be.

5. Avocados make everything better. 

Amen.

6. Learn to be comfortable with discomfort. 

I learned this one during student teaching. This world and society like to make us think and feel certain ways. So whenever something isn’t a part of the status quo or something of that sort, those topics are avoided. To grow your mind, heart, and spirit, I feel like it is important to talk about and experience the things that make us uncomfortable to ultimatly be comfortable in that discomfort.

7. The perfect shade of red lipstick is out there. And once you find yours, you will feel unstoppable. 

Mine is Estee Lauder! Revlon Ultra HD Matte is also a great one.

8. Never stop being curious. 

The more curious you are, the more you learn.

9. Learn to see the good. 

As difficult as this is sometimes, we have one life. See the good in it and I promise you will wake up everyday more excited to live this life. Also, learn to see the good in people, even the ones that make it difficult to.

10. Mental health is important. 

For a long period of my life I avoided this statement because I didn’t realize what it was doing to me and to others around me. When I started prioritizing it, I became a kinder person to other and myself.

11. Mile Cyrus and Lady Gaga are the queens. 

Fight me on it. I promise I’ll win. 😉

12. To show vulernability and transparency requires an unbelievable amount of stength. 

Being yourself and not apologizing for how you feel is hard, but worth it.

13. A fresh set of nails is telling the world you have your shit together and that you are FIERCE and READY. 

14. Everybody is different and every body is beautiful.

AKA fuck society’s standards of beauty.

15. Work out.

Even if it’s literally once a week, challenge your body and see it’s potential.

16. Never go out without feeling like a 10/10.

Even if it takes 3 hours to get there, you deserve to be insecurity-free and feeling like a DIME when you go out.

17. Collaboration over competition. 

Support each other. It gets lonely when all you think about is yourself.

18. It is okay to binge-watch a whole series on Netflix in one night while drinking a bottle of wine. 

DO IT. You deserve it.

19. Self reflection will seriously change your life. 

20. Pineapple belongs on pizza. 

21. Never lower your standards. 

You are priceless, so find people that treat you that way.

22. Everyone has a story. If you take the time to listen to it, you might find out some pretty amazing things. Even about yourself. 

23. Choose Joy.

That’s all I have for you today, friends 🙂

Always remember,

Stay curious & kind

–-TheBestSings 

 

Choosing Joy

Choose Joy

A lot of people have asked me in the past “Anna, what’s up with you and the word joy?”

I’m going to be completely honest, I used to want to barf when I heard that word. I thought it was one of those words that people that put up a front & wanted to seem like a good person used. I was skeptical and cynical. & that is totally fine because that is how I chose to live my life!

Whenever my mom said “Ania, choose joy today” I would just roll my eyes, take my coffee, & walk out the door.

The more that I thought about this word, because for some reason it always came up, the more I realized it was so much more than three letters.

There are many interpretations of it like, J. Jesus O. Others Y. Yourself, a word that has to do with Christmastime, a synonym for happy, etc.

joy

n the emotion of great happiness

Simply put, that is what joy means. Happiness, rejoicing, satisfaction, a culmination of all of these things, etc.

I view joy as a choice.

I have realized that to choose joy is the only way to truly feel it.

I know, I’m now one of those sappy people that I used to judge. But this conscious decision that I make everyday effects my life in ways I never thought imaginable.

To choose joy for me is to take any situation I am in and to try & see the good, to try & make the best of a situation, to try and realize that I am given one life, that I will never get this moment back, & that to choose joy in this moment will help me appreciate it for what it is.

It only takes one second, thought, or day to make a conscious decision to change your life.

Free Styled Stock Photos from SC Stockshop_18

Easier said than done right?

Well it’s a different way of thinking. You seriously have to completely reinvent how your brain & judgment works.

We live in a world today where it’s more comfortable to judge & complain instead of uplifting & showing gratitude. Instead of focusing on what kind of person the person on the screen is, we focus more on how good they look. Which don’t get me wrong, when I think I look good, I feel UNSTOPPABLE & receiving compliments lifts me up, & I hope you feel that way too! You deserve to feel good about the physical appearance you were given! But receiving a compliment on the person I am over how good I look moves mountains in the long run. Or at least that’s what I believe.

That’s my next point:

From the moment that I made a conscious effort to choose joy, so many opportunities of living an optimal life opened up to me.

I started being so much more grateful for the people in my life, I reminded myself that I am a good person and so are the people around me, even if they are different from me (meaning they think differently than me). I became so much less judgmental, I started empowering myself as well as the people around me because I started seeing the good and powerful people they are. Everyone wants to feel good, & I started believing that I can make an impact on helping that process.

Choosing joy made my life lighter, it made me start caring about my health both physical & mental, it made me appreciate my relationships, & so many more great advancements in my life.

WITH ALL OF THIS BEING SAID!!!

I AM NOT A PERFECT PERSON!

Last night I complained to George about how stressed & scared I am about my job that I got starting in January.

I was cynical and negative.

But do you know the best part about it was?

HE reminded me of all of those things that I try and preach & practice.

He said “I’m really trying to make the best of the situations I’m given”

Me being completely emotional, I shut it out.

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After our conversation I realized, I am GIVEN opportunities to choose joy & gratitude.

But I am too STUBBORN sometimes to take those & run with them!!!

No one is perfect, I am far from it, but, I am addicted to trying to live a wholesome & gracious life. Because I am only given ONE.

This is not an easy process to start.

Every day you will be given opportunities to abandon this process.

People around you will tell you that you make them wanna barf (as a joke, obviously)

You will feel judged at first because you used to be one of the people that thought this kind of stuff was sappy.

A lot of things will set you back, but you will make an impact in at least one life that isn’t yours.

This is how I started doing this (& it’s totally okay if you don’t want to do this. I just thought maybe it could help.)

Every morning for over a year now, I make a choice to tell myself “you will be kind, & you will be forgiving”.

There are a lot of ways to choose joy. There are a lot of ways to be gracious.

There are also a lot of ways to not be.

This statement helped me because I was resentful, & I felt as if I was very judgmental & I didn’t want to be that kind of person anymore.

From that statement, all of this sparked in my life.

No one is perfect. But every person has goodness within them.

Thank you for reading this if you made it this far!

& for the people that didn’t, that is completely okay too! You create your own reality and a 22-year-old college kid isn’t an all-knowing guru. Just a person trying to make the best of this one life I’m given!

This is just a blog to act as an outlet for me & if anyone wants to give it a chance & read it, you are more than welcome.

If anyone wants to have a conversation about this or ANYTHING! Reach out!

Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me. – Carol Burnett

Currently:

Listening to: Optimal Living Podcast

Watching: The Resident

Drinking: coffee, coffee, coffee, and lil bit of H2O

Excited about: reconnecting with an old friend tonight & getting some drinks!

Working on: planning for my upcoming job and student teaching!

–TheBestSings