Woooooooooooooooosah.

Hi my friends. I'm having an impulse blogger moment & thought I would share a few thoughts with my readers tonight and do a bit of a life update.

First and foremost, IT'S ALMOST FEBRUARY. If you know me you know that February is my absolute favorite month of the year. I literally don't think I've ever had a bad February ::knocks on wood:: l o l. Not only is it my birthday month + valentines day, but it's BLACK HISTORY MONTH and you know I love AND KNOW my history!

With that being said, I'll drop a little spoiler for those who shop my organic beauty products and say I have a new collection coming for the start of Black History Month! I'll let you ponder on what exactly you think that is :)

Anywho, aside from my everyday Entrepreneurship/Webpage builder/Nursing Student/Dog mom/Motivational Speaker/Pinterest obsessed lifestyle **catches breath**,

2019 has treated me exceptionally well for this first month and in some of the strangest of ways.

That brings me to my impulse post.

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Life has a funny way of teaching you things. And by funny I mean crazy/unfair/mysterious/ironic/andsometimesliterallyfunny way of teaching you things. Closing the chapter of my life that we all know as 2018 was such a relief. I had a successful year as far as personal growth, business growth & prosperity in my personal/love life, but everything else was pretty much in shambles and grew worse as the year came to an end.

In all honesty. 2018 took everything out of me. It was supposed to be my year to transform into a lil ol butterfly after 2017 was my "caterpillar" year of growth. God said SIKE... & I realized that I somehow managed to subconsciously skip the part where the caterpillar transforms inside of the cocoon during it's season of evolution.

I promised myself that this year would be different and that I would genuinely flourish into my rare butterfly form, no matter how crazy things get (and believe me, they've already gotten a weeeeee bit crazy).

I say this to say that this first month has been more awesome than I could have every imagined. My business is blooming more than I can even have dreamed for. My friends and I are finding more time to dedicate to each other/plan trips and keep our circle even tighter. I'm in the gym DAILY. My hair and skin is poppin (shoutout to Lettia Organics). I have detached from social media unless its business related or a quick drop in and log off... I mean I REALLY GOT IT TOGETHER FAST.

More than anything, I've trained myself to build a wall of positive energy so strong that it literally cannot be broken. EVER.

In all of the goodness and prosperity in my life right now, I still managed to find myself in a few unfortunate situations, and in the strangest of ways I am/was almost instantly so grateful for the misfortunes and thankful that they occurred so early in the year so that I can redirect my energy to preserving my peace and placing my foot oh so subtly on necks.

(January was a great free trial but the year really starts over next month btw).

But really guyz, I got to a point where bad news only became bad news because I subconsciously interpreted the situation to be BAD.

Once I redirected my thoughts to even more positive + constructive thoughts, I found myself free of worry from the "bad/negative," because I interpret all misfortunes/shortcomings not as bad experiences, but as lessons to be learned from and then be transformed into something good/positive.

Maybe my wall of peace is just that strong these days....or maybe I have grown to become just.that.strong.

This year is a new year filled with new opportunities to meet new people, go to new places, eat new food, find new spots, buy new things, and live on cloud 9! As cliche as it may sound, I have made it a very high priority to live my best life this year no matter what or who it costs me.

It was the best decision I could've made for myself and my peace.

Now, before I end this long random post, I want to say that dedicating myself to my personal journal has helped me SO MUCH in the last few months, and even more so now that I've recreated an entirely new daily routine for myself. I write down e v e r y t h i n g. Ideas. Feelings. Experiences. Thoughts. Doodles. Book notes. Quotes. Facts. You name it. It's so cleansing for the brain and therapeutic for your mind.

If you have never been into journaling, I would highly suggest just trying it out. Especially if you need some peace and positivity in your life. The worst thing that could happen is you not like it.

Furthermore, I encourage everyone to make a list of 5 concrete goals/things you genuinely want to accomplish next month. It can be as simple as going thrifting or bowling or organizing your pantry, to as intricate as planning a trip to Punta Cana with the homegirls/fellas or jumping out of an helicopter in the middle of the Grand Canyon. Make a list. Commit to your list. Accomplish your list. And then do it again for the following 10 months.

I also suggest, for mentally soothing purposes, that each morning when you wake up you write down 5 things you are grateful for OR 5 positive affirmations (i.e. mine for today: I am fierce. I am resilient. I will reach all of my goals this month. I will be exactly who I want to be in my life. I am grateful for my family). These little lists in your journal will add up & getting to go back and read where you were at mentally over a period of months is extremely transformational.

So I've talked about maintaining peace and journaling, but I have to discuss my read(s) of the month! One of my resolutions is to read 12 books this year, one per month. This month I got the chance to finish Michelle Obama - Becoming AND read The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F by Mark Manson.

When I tell you both were absolutely amazing. First Lady Obama is so inspiring and resilient and A WHOLE INDEPENDENT BLACK QUEEN OUT HERE. She truly inspired me to always have my own plan. Always have my own goals. Stand firm in my standards and never give up your self love to please the people.

Mark Manson's book was suchhhhhh a transition after reading Michelle's memoir I had to laugh to myself. Mrs. Obama is so kind, gentle and classsy. One of the first things Mark Manson says in his book pretty much can be interpreted as "Get your f***ing sh** together, bro. You're holding yourself back". Very different, but an absolutely necessary and 100% RAW book that I will likely read over again and again during my lifetime.

I believe this concludes my impulsive post. I'm sleepy, Quavo is asleep in my lap and a neem + manuka clay mask is calling my name.

I hope you all have a super happy February and stay updated for what's to come :)