When I was younger, talking about myself embarrassed me and I didn’t like to talk in front of a lot of people at once. It was a process, and I eventually grew up and realized that there’s no reason to be so ashamed of things that have happened in my life. Bad things happen to everyone so why not just laugh about it, yanno? So my advice for this blog is for you to open up to people. Talk about those embarrassing moments when you were little or even the rough middle school days (yes we all had them we just try not to relive them). I’m going to talk about those moments now!! I’m hoping it’ll help bring you out of your shells as well!

Allllllllrighty so some of these stories are just hilarious to me now. I’m laughing just thinking of how sheltered I was as a kid.

So my first story, I was three years old, so don’t judge me too harshly for this. I went on vacation for the first time with my family to Ocean City MD. I love it there, people from home like to call it Ocean Shitty but I don’t believe in that. So anyway, we’re in the lobby of the hotel and I see this black woman and loudly ask my mother, “Mommy why is her skin brown?” -_- please forgive me I was three need I remind you. Naturally my mom apologized to the woman and everything was fine. BUT….the next day comes along….and I said the SAME THING TO THE SAME WOMAN. I am the worst I really am. I hope the woman didn’t take offense to that I really do, I’m not that kind of person really.

SECOND!! Hahahaha I just love remembering these stories of myself. So when I was probably six or seven-ish I tried something new! My brother and I always spent the entire day outside playing any game we could come up with. We hated being in the house, especially during the summer. So my brother, as boys do, stood towards a tree at one point because he had to pee. And ambitious little me thought “wow that looks easy let me try!” I won’t get too into detail, but I obviously don’t have the same “parts” as my brother so this ended up being a challenge for me. Instead of simply unzippering my pants like he did, I had to completely strip down where my lower half was concerned and try to pee. You can probably guess that the pee never really reached the tree, but rather went all over my underwear and shorts. I learned that day that girls can’t do everything boys can do. 

Oh my goodness this is a good one, we’ll end with a good old middle school embarrassing story. So we’re sitting at lunch in fifth grade. I sat at a table with my crush and of course we flirted by messing with each other just like any tween would do to show their affection. Everyday at the end of lunch they turned the lights out to quiet us so we could walk back to our rooms by class. So my crush, his name was Austin lol, were messing around and he took my history homework that I was doing during lunch and I got super mad (but in a flirty way of course, you guys know what I mean) and I smacked him on the back. Not like a little nudge or anything, a full on thump that everyone heard because I did it right when the lights were shut off and everything was completely silent. The librarian, who was there for lunch duty, approached me and told me I’d be spending a week at the bad kids table (which for anyone who doesn’t know it’s just an isolated table where all the really bad kids sit so they are separated from their friends during lunch). I was so embarrassed, my face looked like a tomato for real. My friends were cracking up and Austin later on told me he was surprised at how hard I could hit…in which he was totally flirting with me guys like it’s totally obvious. But anyway the next week was very lonesome for me, but I got to hang out with the bad kids in the grade, and it made me feel pretty cool. So don’t mess with me, this is a formal warning. 

Alrighty well I hope you enjoyed these terribly embarrassing stories of mine, please if you have a funny story of your own, comment about it. I would love to read about it.

How to Get Over an Embarrassing Moment

Tips to Save Yourself from Embarrassment

It’s O.K. to be Embarrassed

Three weeks in and I’m already struggling with finding a topic to blog about. I still want to give advice to my readers but I thought I’d get more personal with my life while I’m at it! Today I want to talk about some regrets I’ve had throughout my life.

1. I regret fighting with my second grade best friend. Courtney, if you’re out there somewhere (she moved schools after fourth grade) I just wanna say I’m sorry for fighting with you over Hannah Montana songs. After years of thought I agree that Nobody’s Perfect is way better than If We Were a Movie. (Y’all are probably laughing at me but seriously that tore me up for years). 
2. I regret quitting basketball. I began playing basketball when I was four. I went through travel teams as well as the middle school and high school teams. I had the same coach from grade 7 to grade 10 and after sophomore year I was so fed up with her. She was a terrible coach and pretty much ruined my love for the game. She resigned after my sophomore year, but despite that I still quit. I didn’t even give the new coach a chance because I was so done with the sport and today I regret it because I have been told so often that I am crazy for quitting. I had so much talent and skill and it sucks because it’s been so many years and if I went and tried playing again I’d probably enjoy the hell out of it.
3. I regret dating literally all but one of the guys I have dated so far. Boy am I stupid when it comes to love lol. For those of you that don’t know, I am a very caring person. Here’s how my relationships usually go: I start dating them because I really like them and they seem to really care about me. Time goes on and they show their real colors and usually turn out to be jerks. When they are a jerk to me I get mad and want to end things, but then they come to me with a problem and tell me I’m the only one who’s there for them, so I get guilted into staying with them. I’M DUMB. Plain and simple.
4. I regret not hanging out with my family as much before college started. I love them dearly, and I think I really took advantage of them being around me all the time. I was so busy with work and school that I don’t really remember spending much of my summer with them. That makes me sad; this summer will be different for sure. I miss them so much. 
5. I regret not working hard enough my first semester. I consider myself a very smart woman. I did very well in high school and I really sort of slacked off my first semester, and my grades showed for it. This semester I am trying to be more focused and put school work before clubs and social events. In the end, my grades and knowledge are going to get me employed when I am looking for a job.
6. I regret not being healthy. I used to eat right and workout with my mom and go to the gym and lift and stuff, and when college came around I just kind of cut that out of my life. I miss working out and feeling good after running and building muscle. I miss being sore. I joined a club here at Penn State that will hopefully change my perspective of that.

So yeah some of those sounds pretty stupid. With all the big regrets there are of course small ones as well. And yes I seriously regret fighting about Hannah Montana that isn’t a lie. With all my regrets, I have also made a lot of great choices, like choosing this amazing college with infinite opportunity, to choosing my friends here and choosing the things I want to be involved in. Don’t get me wrong I’m really happy with my life right now. I don’t often think about my regrets but when I do I know they’re in my past and thinking about them will get me nowhere. The future is wide open as Tom Petty (I’m incredibly sad that he passed I’m literally tearing up right now) once said and I like to live by his wise words. Life is all about making mistakes and learning from them. Try not to worry about regrets because they’ll just drag you down!!

How to Get Over Regret

How to Overcome Serious Regrets

Forget Regret

Do you ever lay in bed at night staring at the ceiling and wonder what your life is going to be like after college? 5 years from now? 10 years? I’ve been thinking a lot about my future lately and it results in my head spinning and tons of self-doubt. But still, I dream. And I have been thinking that I don’t really want these dreams of mine to only be dreams. I want to live them and follow through with my goals.

Yes I have a lot of the typical dreams that most teenage/college girls also have, with a few adjustments probably. I’ll try to just list the big ones and maybe add some of the little ones later.

1. HAPPINESS. Okay so this might seem broad or vague or however you want to see it, but this is the biggest dream of mine honestly. No matter what troubles I go through in my life, I want to be happy with what I have. Throughout middle and high school I sort of relied on other people for my happiness, whether it was my friends or a boyfriend or my grades or even my family, and I realized how terrible that way of life was. If someone in my life was sad or mad, I would feel the same way, and I would usually blame myself for their problems, which was ridiculous. I mean sure I should feel sympathy for those people, but I shouldn’t have let their issues consume me. Since the summer after graduation I realized that I had to make my own happiness, and I had to understand that I was allowed to be happy even when others weren’t. So since then I have taken all the things in my life and turned them into positive things, and I still try to do that every day. To achieve any of my dreams, I need to be happy first.
2. Family. I want to keep my family close for as long as I can. I don’t show it a lot, but I am so lost without my parents and my brothers. My parents have spoiled me with love since the day I was born, and I dream that we remain close to one another and that one day I can care for them like they did for me my entire life. I owe them the world, and I know it would feel so rewarding if I could help them when they are unable to help themselves. But for now, I just want to make them proud. I also dream that my family will grow someday. I don’t have a lot of family, I have 5 first cousins and only four sets of aunt and uncles. What I’d really like –that of course will happen years from now– is to have children of my own so my family grows and with that our love grows as well. I want my parents to have grandkids to spoil and babysit occasionally, and I really just want to be a great mother to them.
3. Wholehearted. I could explain this in a lot of ways, but basically I dream to always give more than I take. I know throughout my life there will always be people that need love more than I do, and I dream that no matter what path I choose in life I never forget to put others before myself. When we were younger we were taught to share and to be kind and to love unconditionally, but as we get older, I think those traits slip away from us. I dream to always be happy, but with that, I want to make others happy as well.

There are many other things I dream of, such as a great job and a beautiful home and all that, but the three I just discussed are most important to me, and with happiness, support and love from my family, and a wholehearted mindset, I can accomplish truly anything. So my advice to you is to dig a little deeper when thinking about what your dreams are. Do you want a big house and lots of money? or to be happy and rich with love? or maybe both? The possibilities are endless, you can never dream too big. Also enjoy life and try not to make it all about yourself and work, step outside boundaries and make fun memories while you can, especially during these college years!!

How to Dream Big 

How to Motivate Yourself to Reach Your Goals

50 Small Ways You Can Help Make the World a Better Place

Hey guys! I decided to keep my passion blog going for this semester because I enjoyed finding stuff to write about every week that made me (and hopefully some of you) happy!! I am hoping to have some great material for you this semester!

After having a long time to reflect on my first semester here, I feel like I had a lot of troubles, a lot of fun, and a lot of happy times. Most of all I feel like I learned so much, not just in class but in life lessons as well. Annnnnnddd I also found some things that I can change that will really improve my study habits and my procrastination.

I don’t like saying they’re my “New Year’s Resolutions” because I mean those fail more times than not, am I right? I see my life changes as things that just need to be altered in my life. I’m not making these changes just so I can bail on them by February like the rest of the world. I want to better myself as a person and a student, and I’m not changing simply because it’s a new year, but just because I know I’m not doing the best that I can be and I caught myself in bad habits.

So, here are my changes that I would AM making as we speak and I am sticking to them.

College students, as well as most teenagers and adults love to watch Netflix. I mean, it’s a pretty amazing thing. So many good shows, and movies, just a way to relax and “chill” for those guys that hope to get lucky when watching it with a girl. Lol. Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Netflix can take up a sh*t ton of your time. Time that you could easily be using to read over notes or work on homework assignments, or even go to the gym! I realize how sucked in I have gotten to Netflix and it is really unhealthy. I don’t go to the gym anymore, my grades sort of suffered last semester, and I just became a lazy bum and it sucks. I just think about all the time I have wasted watching The Office (which I GUARANTEE you I can quote just about any episode. WHICH IS PATHETIC I KNOW)

as well as other shows and movies. I feel stupid. Truly stupid.

Anyway, so I am forcing myself to delete my Netflix account and find another way to spend my valuable time. I know it won’t be hard if I just get rid of it completely, so there ya go. I really just need to focus on my classes more, and I absolutely need to start going to the gym again. I may have a high metabolism now, but when I’m older I will start to gain weight and keep it on and I know if I don’t get into a routine of working out now it’ll be close to impossible when I’m older.

Next, I am also unhappy with the amount of time I spend on my phone. It’s insane. I never put that thing down! Like why is Snapchat so important honestly?? For this change, I am going to go on social media less, and get into the habit of not always needing to have my phone in my hand. Answering snaps can wait. Like it got to the point where I would be on my phone in class, and I promised myself before school that I wouldn’t do that. The stuff on my phone is not nearly as important as the lessons being taught right in front of me in the classroom.

So if you can take anything from this, please just know that no you don’t have to make a New Year’s resolution. If you are happy with how your life is, why change it? And if you do want to change some things around, don’t just do it to say you made a New Year’s resolution. I think the real reward is when down the road you are still making positive changes for yourself and just making yourself the happiest you can be.

Also, life is way too short to be watching Netflix and being sucked into your phone. Go out with your friends and have a good time! It’s okay to check your phone and see what other people are doing, but don’t live your life through other people’s snap stories or insta posts, go out and make your own stories and just have fun! I can’t wait to see all the happiness that comes from the changes I am making, and I hope you all can carry out any changes you want to make in the future!

I’m including some links on activities you can do instead of watching Netflix and being on your phone, and they are really helpful for me so far!

25 Productive Things to Do Instead of Binge On Netflix

43 Things You Should Do Instead of Looking at Your Phone

Going Screen-free at Home