Welcome back! …Some spring break this has turned out to be huh? I hope everyone is staying safe and well. Some of you all have reached out to me and asked if I was planning on posting anytime soon…which I had been! Today I woke up with a special message in my heart that I wanted to share with you all. Fair warning, I’m getting a little deep here if that’s okay with everyone. If that’s fine, let’s get to it. 🙂

The day that I found out that the college I attend got shut down for the rest of the semester was the day that the affects of what was going on really hit. Of course I felt sympathy for all those who were already dealing with this virus on the other side of the world, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for just how dire these circumstances would become. The day that I started hearing all these cities going on lock-down all around us was the first time I ever felt it since it all began: fear. I found myself staying up late at night terrified for my family, friends, even for people I didn’t know. The fact that I didn’t and still have no clue what could happen in a month or even just a week is one of the most unsettling feelings ever. It’s scary. I know I’m not the only one who feels like this…I know a lot of you guys experience this fear with me on the daily. It’s okay to be scared sometimes…but what’s gonna make or break us is if we decide to let this fear consume us. We have to be strong.

I’m going to be honest when I say that it has been so hard for me to keep my head up at all times since this has all began. Each and every day I find myself going through a whirlwind of emotions. I get scared. I get angry. I get sad, lonely, frustrated, stressed, restless, tired, you name it. But I refuse to let myself sit in those emotions to the point of letting them change who I am. I tell myself that I am stronger and then I DO something about it. I have to. WE have to guys. Loneliness is probably the easiest thing to feel during a time of literal isolation, but you’re not alone…we’re all feeling the same thing…we’re all still here.

When you’re sad and lonely, give your loved ones a call, video chat them, surround yourself with warmth, be stronger. When work or online classes are causing you to feel stress or frustration, step away for a second, breathe, and remind yourself that you are stronger. When you’re angry, tired, and restless all at once, please, let herself be human and feel...but don’t stay there. You. Are. Stronger. Strong enough to let yourself feel, but strongER when it comes to getting up when you’re down.

Today I want to encourage you to start doing something if you haven’t been doing so already. During this time in our lives we are being surrounded with destruction. Physical, social, and emotional destruction is happening all around us so what I want us all to do is the opposite: create. I challenge everyone to create something and let it be an extension of yourself. Make music, write a song or a book, choreograph a dance, paint a picture, knit a blanket, create a board game, build a fort, make a silly video, bake a cake, cook a dinner, design an outfit, start a blog! Anything that brings something that once didn’t exist, into existence. Make it you. Personalize it. Maybe something you create, is gonna help somebody who needs it right now. Give it a try.

We’re living through something that’s going to go down in history. How do you want to be remembered? In the future, when you look back on these times, who do you want to remember yourself as? Someone who let fear keep them down, or someone who got back up and fought? The choice is yours.

Hello and welcome back! It’s been a while, but I’ve returned and I’m ready to start sharing again. College really has been taking up most of my time, not to mention threw me in for a loop, but I’ve got lots that I’m eager to share with you all. 🙂 Let’s dive in.

First off, Happy New Year! Who would have ever thought we’d make it to the year 2020?! End of a decade, and beginning of a new one…did you achieve all your resolutions from this past year? Did you already make your new ones? This past year definitely presented a lot of challenges for me as I’m sure it did for some of you all as well. As of now, I’m changing gears and trying to look forward instead of behind me.

This year I’ve decided to, more than anything, practice self-care. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always going to be the kind of person who’s always there for my friends, but I’ve recently been reminded that you can’t begin to love and care for others, without loving and taking care of yourself first. This concept has always been something I’ve known about, but I never really knew just how much it can affect daily life if you aren’t taking care of your physical, mental, and emotional health.

Here’s the thing: It’s not that complicated to begin to do! From jotting stuff down in a positivity journal to going on daily walks, it is absolutely insane just how big of a difference that can make! I understand that sometimes our lives get so crazy that it feels like there’s just no time for “extra” stuff like that, but if you start off small by sparing a few minutes, you’ll begin to notice that your seemingly “crazy” life will begin to calm down and become just a little more bearable. Then maybe in a week, you try spending an hour or two a day taking care of yourself by going to a park or even by staying indoors and laughing while watching your favorite movie. Doing simple things like this goes a looooong way for self-care, but one of the most important things to remember to do is just BREATHE. It’s YOUR life. What’s the point in living through the busy hustle and bustle if you aren’t enjoying yourself? If you are not even attempting to be the BEST version of yourself?

Try it out at least for a week, I mean it. Go out and get yourself a cup of coffee, go shop and treat yourself to something nice, do SOMETHING this week for yourself. It’s so important…and if you want more ideas of things to do or you want to talk more about the affects of self-care, reach out to me. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

This is our year, guys. And I look forward to sharing it with you all. 🙂

Hey everyone! I hope everyone has been having a blessed week. I am currently writing this entry on the road as I head back upstate to college for the second semester of the school year. It is nearly 2AM and while I should be sleeping, I felt the urge to share something of importance that will hopefully pick at your minds a little:

The 5 seconds you take to utter 5 words to someone, potentially has the power to make or break someone’s day…

…potentially has the power to make or break the rest of someone’s life.

Take a few moments right now to think about the very last thing you said to someone. Can you remember? I don’t know about you all, but sometimes I forget just how much I can impact someone else. Usually, it’s because as we go about our daily lives, (TYPICALLY) we tend to assume that there’s nothing extraordinary about, say, asking a friend to borrow a pencil, or responding to a waiter when they ask, “Soup or salad?” Have you ever wondered how you could make someone feel simply by saying 5 words like, “Thanks for always being there” or “You have a golden heart”? But do you also ever wonder how it makes someone feel when you say 5 words like, “You are such an idiot” or “You look like a joke.”

We’ve all seen those movies where the misfit student is being called out by high school jerks, right? We typically boo them, see them as villains, and set ourselves apart of them..but what if one negative 5 worded sentence, regardless of it being a “joke” or not…causes us to cross that line that ultimately puts us in the same category of those villains? That small sentence, that is now long gone from your memory, might stick with someone for the rest of the day, week…life. And unless this person lets you know how it made them feel, you’ll never truly know how much you emotionally affected them.

Even when it comes to non-verbals such as a smile or an eye roll, you still hold as much power as you would with hundreds of words…isn’t that crazy?

Quick story time:

I first met one of my best friends in 8th grade and I had no clue what I was in store for as our relationship would continue over the years. See, I’m going to be real for a second, junior high was a pretty rough several years (as I’ve mentioned before in a past blog entry). I used to think that if I ever went at LEAST an entire day of being happy…that something was wrong. Yeah..pretty sad, isn’t it? I remember confiding in my best friend about how I felt and I’ll never forget what he told me. He told me that I deserved happiness…that if anyone deserved to be happy, it was me…and if I was happy for a day, then to let myself feel happy for a week, then a month, then  a year, then a lifetime. He put it so simplistically and matter-of-fact like.

Those words, five and a half years later, still live in my heart. And I still live by his instructions.

Words are so important. Words entice emotion…depending on how we utilize them. I’ve got a lil’ baby challenge for you guys this week, real simple. I challenge you to make an effort and tell at least two people in your lives something positive you’ve always thought about them, but have never actually told them before. The short amount of time you take to do this could literally stay in their hearts for the long run.

And who knows? Maybe in about five and a half years they’ll be an even better version of themselves then they are now because of it, all thanks to YOU… ❤

Hey readers! Welcome back and Happy New Year! 😀 I had decided to hold off posting this entry for a while just so I could enjoy and focus on spending time with my family, friends and loved ones as I hope you did as well.

As I stated in my last entry, my family and I have kept each other strong during a very difficult time even as we have entered the new year, but I thank God that we are in a better place than before everything started and that means the world to me, and to my family as well. We all held each other hand in hand, and with hearts full of love, took that first step into 2019 together. We did it.

A few nights back I had been going through my social media and I started to read quite a few posts that some of my friends had shared and it broke my heart to find out about how rough of a year 2018 had been for a lot of people…and how they hoped this new year would be theirs to receive an abundance of joy and love in which I pray that you all do indeed receive.

Then I stumbled upon one single post that I felt a special pull towards. This person spoke about how they wanted to be excited for this year to come..but that they were afraid because they knew that a new set of challenges would come their way and break their heart again…

This made me want to bring up a story and a discussion that I hope you carry with you throughout this new year.

I can proudly say that I was blessed to be born into a household with two loving parents and three strong, caring brothers. I grew up in a home where my parents dared me to laugh harder, love stronger, and enjoy life more and more with each day that passed and I am beyond grateful for it all. Once I hit the 5th grade though, that’s when the people who surrounded me, the ones who made up my young world, started to become aware of the smile that was always plastered on my face 24/7. Kids would come up to me and tell me to quit smiling all the time because it was “dumb” or “fake” to be that happy ALL the time. These negative comments and emotions directed towards me seemed alien to me at the time. All I knew was that it made my heart feel funny and for the first time ever I began to become aware of the soreness in my cheeks from all the smiling. I remember going into middle school clinging to my mother telling her that I was afraid to enter the new year because I didn’t want to be made fun of again for being happy…for being HAPPY…?

Imagine this real quick. Imagine a long piece of thread that’s being unraveled from a spool…and it keeps going and going for a few inches, then feet. Now imagine hundreds of other long pieces of thread doing the exact same thing. Then imagine trying to create a masterpiece with one of these long pieces of thread, unlimited possibilities and outcomes…then before you can even make a single stitch of art work, your thread is cut. Your thread is cut by a pair of scissors which represents every challenge that comes your way throughout your year. Do you give up on creating your masterpiece? No. Because guess what? You’ve got plenty more spools of thread to work with. When a problem comes, because let’s be honest guys, there will ALWAYS be hardships in you life, don’t be afraid of being cut off with nothing left to work with. Instead utilize your other spools of thread to help you keep creating the masterpiece that is your life! You’ve got family, and if you don’t have family, you have your loved ones, friends, even mentors, teachers, fellow students or co-workers, GOD. There is always going to be someone in your corner to help you keep creating.

Listen, I understand not wanting to start a new year all over in fear of going through emotional pain again…now more than ever I imagine that a lot of you all might have thought about this too. As I examine myself right this moment, I’ve come a long ways to allowing myself to be happy again…but I haven’t forgotten what challenges did come my way in 2018…and in 2017, and 2016 and so on. As a matter of fact, for many years at the strike of midnight every January 1st, I used to pray that no hardships or problems would come my way. But I had been going about it all wrong. I shouldn’t have been praying for problems to go away, instead, I’m here now praying for the STRENGTH to be able to overcome these problems. It’s easier said then done, yes, but you have to remember that even when you fall short in strength, you have people in your corner who are going to be there to help you get by. You’re always going to have more thread. Because I guarantee, in a lifetime of New Years that pass, you’re going to be able to step back and look at what you created…and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that all of this was able to happen, because you refused to be cut off by a pair of scissors.

Hey guys! Welcome back to my blog 🙂 I hope you all enjoyed my first entry, and thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging throughout the process and for your feedback that inspires me to keep going. It’s the little things that I take to heart, so let’s keep spreading the love together.

Speaking of love, what better time to spread it then during the holidays! I hope everyone has had an amazing year full of smiles and memory making…but today I want to get a little deeper with you all. I want to talk about a topic that I find on my mind pretty much everyday. Grab your needles (and watch those fingers!) Let’s dive in.

I just finished my first semester of college away from home. I’ve had the pleasure of making some pretty amazing friends. And while some of their homes and families are only 20-40 minutes away from the university, my home is 8 hours away. At first it was a difficult adjustment, but after a while I learned to mature a bit more and grow stronger in my independence. Now every time I do get to travel back home, I’ve noticed that my outlook on life has drastically changed. I take time to appreciate what God has blessed me with more often. If there’s one thing you should take away from this blog post today, it’s this: slow down…please.

When was the last time you caught your breath? Nowadays so much is going on in the world and in our everyday lives. Deadlines to meet, events to attend, schools, jobs, etc. Then we sleep with what few hours we have, and the cycle starts all over again…But what about when the deadline finally comes? What about when school ends? What about when CHANGE finally starts to happen? The places you go, the people you interact with…you never know when the last time you’re going to see someone is…Sometimes I find myself studying my mom’s smile when she laughs at something. Sometimes I find my fingers feeling the texture of the cotton t-shirt my father is wearing when we hug. Sometimes I stop dead in my tracks and take as much air in a room into my lungs as I can, and release it out along with all possible worries that could be on my mind…because you never know when what you are most familiar with, could change.

The day before Christmas Eve, I received some news that affected a familiarity that I’ve experienced every year for the past 18 years of my life. It was rough, and it kind of made me lose my balance a little since a crutch, of some sorts, was taken away from me… and if it wasn’t for my family there to support me, I wouldn’t have been able to find the strength I needed to walk without the crutch. Things are going to be okay now, God willing. But ultimately, it made me want to slow down and really enjoy the here and now. Because no “there” and “later” is ever promised.

I understand that we always want to try to get from point A to point B that way we can move on to point C, but remember that if you just plow through the process, you’re not going to know what even the heck to do once you get to point B, let alone point C.

This holiday season, make my wish come true and just hug your family a little tighter, laugh with your friends a little louder, love everyone and everything a lot stronger, and KEEP doing that even once after the holidays are over. Do it as much as you can before you reach the end of the race…do it as much as you can BEFORE you reach point C.

HEY ALL YOU PEOPLE! Thanks so much for being here to witness my very first ever blog post on my first ever blog. 😀

In case you don’t know what this blog will be about, I’ve decided to (hopefully) post a blog entry once a week and just share experiences on how life has shaped me into who I am over the years. True, I am only 19 and am far from being a wise owl, BUT I do hope that a few of my stories could be a blessing in disguise to those willing to listen.  After all, that’s my motive for creating this blog in the first place, to hopefully reach out to someone who may be going through some pretty tough things I did once. If you ever DO wanna swap stories, ask questions, suggest topics for future blog entries, or just talk about anything, shoot me an email on the ‘Contact’ page and I’ll get back to you!

Enough intro for now, let’s get started. 

Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but I’m very fixated on the metaphoric and symbolic meaning behind “patches.” There’s a reason for this. When I was 7 I remember running around in my backyard playing tag with my brothers. Me, being the only girl, always had to act big, tough and rough in order to fit in. After an hour or so of playing I fell down and scraped my knee and created a hole in my jeans. After, you know, crying for a good 100 years, my mother took my jeans and sewed on a square, cut out cloth of fabric; a patch. It was bright red and I remember looking down at it whenever I wore them and thinking to myself how I thought the jeans looked cooler than ever before. The red stood out against the light blue and I always found my fingers tracing the stitching around the patch…I found it so mesmerizing, so beautiful. Whenever my friends would ask how I got the patch, I took the opportunity to tell my story. Even years after I had outgrown the jeans, I went digging through a dusty, forgotten box in the back of my closet and found the worn in, familiar blue jeans with the red patch. Instantly, the memory of a stubby Leslie waddling around with her brothers came flooding back. Time may have long passed since then, but that memory is forever engraved in that patch.

I see our lives as worn in blue jeans. I see every rough situation we’ve ever been in as the holes in the jeans. And I see how we bounce back from those situations as the bright red patch to help mend those jeans…complete with our very own story to tell.

Guys, we’ve only got this one life. There’s no do overs, and if you tumble, you can’t just UNtumble, it already happened, it’s done. But you CAN decide to either throw the jeans out or just patch it up and get going again. I know it’s easier said than done, but tell me WHO do YOU want to be? Do you truly want to be the 7 year old who stayed on the floor crying, or do you want to be able to say “Hey, I stood the heck up, dusted myself off, and kept going?” Because guess what? That takes freaking guts. If you can stand back up, that should be proof in itself that there IS hope in your situation. That there IS a silver lining. The silver lining that is being threaded with a needle into that patch. Something microscopic has to happen before the big picture is revealed.. Then once all is said and done, you’ve got your story. How are you going to tell it? What do you hope to get out of it? Are you going to throw out the jeans, or are you going to teach others how to sew?

Thanks for joining me! We as humans love metaphors because it helps us better interpret the world. I assure you, in this blog you’ll see PLENTY of them. Starting now:

Tell the story of the mountain you climbed. Your words could become a page in  someone else’s survival guide. -Morgan Harper Nichols