1/4 Way There! Jan-Mar
Hey guys!
Since I didn't start my blog right at the beginning of this self-discovery journey there are quite a few things I've done that aren't on here. Also, there's a bunch of things that I'm doing all year long so I figured what if I did 3-month check-ins? So that's what I'm gonna do. This might be a long post, grab a coffee, or tea, or whatever and get comfy!
I feel like I've actually done quite a bit on my Love Life List these first three months, I'm really proud of myself. My moods and how I see the world have changed and it's surreal when I notice it. Something that would have previously set me off I can now just brush off. I still have off days where I feel like I'm back to where a started and just don't feel motivated, but I just have to remember that it's okay to have off days and bad days. Everyone has bad days. Everyone has bad moods. I'm not striving to be perfect because I mean who really wants to be perfect anyway? I just want to be a better me. I don't want to not have bad moods, I just want to find better ways to handle them.
So here's what I've done so far. It's not in chronological order but whatever.
On march 3rd I got my 4th tattoo. I've wanted this tattoo since October 29th 2018 because that's the day I put my cat down. I want to tell you a bit about her, first of all her name was Colours, I didn't pick it but it suited her seeing as she was a calico. She belonged to my sister's roommate's mother... That woman ended up passing away and the cat was passed down to her daughter (my sisters roommate) but she was allergic. So one day my sister texted me and said "Do you know anyone who wants a cat?" and I was like umm yeah, me. So I went and picked her up and she was beautiful. She was of course scared and peed in the box which then leaked in my car but she was perfect. There was grace in everything she did, she was more sophisticated than most people I've met. It was clear that she was definitely my cat. Once she came around she was glued to me, on my lap all the time, she would spoon me at night wherever I was she was.
My favorite memory of her is that soon after I got her I made a vet appointment, just a check up to make sure everything was okay I didn't really know too much about her at this point. So my boyfriend at the time was supposed to take her to this appointment since I had to work. But when I got home, he was sitting on the couch and very nonchalantly looks at me and says "I had to cancel the vet appointment, I can't find the cat." To which I'm like why the heck are you just sitting there if you can't find her??? So I immediately start looking for her, and I can't find her! I've looked everywhere, it's a pretty small place, and I can't fricken find her. So now I'm freaking out and looking in all the same places. When I look under the bed for the 7th time I notice that there is a lump in the boxspring. I can't reach though so I grab some tongs from the kitchen to poke this little lump and it moves. I found the cat. SHE ATE HER WAY INTO THE BOXSPRING. It was so not funny at the time, but I find it pretty comical now.
On march 14th I got new glasses, I haven't had an eye appointment since I was in grade 6. It's been a while, but I've purposely put it off because things close to or touching my eyes just freaks me out. I don't know how people wear contacts. Literal shivers just talking about it. Gross.
This is my everyday, all the time pair, I got another pair to wear for reading and screentime but honestly I just wear this pair to do those things...
I saved up $806, which is actually a pretty big deal for me. I have spent a couple years trying to pay off bills and debts, some of which weren't even mine but that's a whole other story. I went from having over $40,000 in debt to $11,000 (not just in the last three months though) I can't even begin to explain how amazing that feels and how fricken proud I am of myself. In the last three months, I've paid off a a $300 medical bill and $500 to paying off my mattress, all while working on my savings and living comfortably.
On February 19th, I sent a letter of appreciation to one of my best friends, she's been my rock for ten years now and I don't know what I would do without her. The letter ended up coming at a time when she really needed some words of love and encouragement, and it means the world to me that I was able to give those to her. I love you girl!
I only anticipated writing one letter, but I think I'm going to keep going and try to write at least one per every 3 months. There are so many people that I love and sometimes I forget to tell them that. I don't want to forget anymore.
I've read 2/10 books so far. Both of them are from author Jodi Picoult; 19 Minutes and Perfect Match. They are both incredible books but I definitely loved 19Minutes more.
I've watched 4 documentaries; The Standford prison experiment (By far my favorite), Abducted in plain sight, fat, sick, and nearly dead (helped with my juice cleanse), and Broken (Ep. 1 Makeup)
Listened to 4 Ted Talks;
I feel like this blog is getting a little lengthy so I'm just going to list the few things that don't really need an explanation.
Since I didn't start my blog right at the beginning of this self-discovery journey there are quite a few things I've done that aren't on here. Also, there's a bunch of things that I'm doing all year long so I figured what if I did 3-month check-ins? So that's what I'm gonna do. This might be a long post, grab a coffee, or tea, or whatever and get comfy!
I feel like I've actually done quite a bit on my Love Life List these first three months, I'm really proud of myself. My moods and how I see the world have changed and it's surreal when I notice it. Something that would have previously set me off I can now just brush off. I still have off days where I feel like I'm back to where a started and just don't feel motivated, but I just have to remember that it's okay to have off days and bad days. Everyone has bad days. Everyone has bad moods. I'm not striving to be perfect because I mean who really wants to be perfect anyway? I just want to be a better me. I don't want to not have bad moods, I just want to find better ways to handle them.
So here's what I've done so far. It's not in chronological order but whatever.
On march 3rd I got my 4th tattoo. I've wanted this tattoo since October 29th 2018 because that's the day I put my cat down. I want to tell you a bit about her, first of all her name was Colours, I didn't pick it but it suited her seeing as she was a calico. She belonged to my sister's roommate's mother... That woman ended up passing away and the cat was passed down to her daughter (my sisters roommate) but she was allergic. So one day my sister texted me and said "Do you know anyone who wants a cat?" and I was like umm yeah, me. So I went and picked her up and she was beautiful. She was of course scared and peed in the box which then leaked in my car but she was perfect. There was grace in everything she did, she was more sophisticated than most people I've met. It was clear that she was definitely my cat. Once she came around she was glued to me, on my lap all the time, she would spoon me at night wherever I was she was.
My favorite memory of her is that soon after I got her I made a vet appointment, just a check up to make sure everything was okay I didn't really know too much about her at this point. So my boyfriend at the time was supposed to take her to this appointment since I had to work. But when I got home, he was sitting on the couch and very nonchalantly looks at me and says "I had to cancel the vet appointment, I can't find the cat." To which I'm like why the heck are you just sitting there if you can't find her??? So I immediately start looking for her, and I can't find her! I've looked everywhere, it's a pretty small place, and I can't fricken find her. So now I'm freaking out and looking in all the same places. When I look under the bed for the 7th time I notice that there is a lump in the boxspring. I can't reach though so I grab some tongs from the kitchen to poke this little lump and it moves. I found the cat. SHE ATE HER WAY INTO THE BOXSPRING. It was so not funny at the time, but I find it pretty comical now.
On march 14th I got new glasses, I haven't had an eye appointment since I was in grade 6. It's been a while, but I've purposely put it off because things close to or touching my eyes just freaks me out. I don't know how people wear contacts. Literal shivers just talking about it. Gross.
This is my everyday, all the time pair, I got another pair to wear for reading and screentime but honestly I just wear this pair to do those things...
I saved up $806, which is actually a pretty big deal for me. I have spent a couple years trying to pay off bills and debts, some of which weren't even mine but that's a whole other story. I went from having over $40,000 in debt to $11,000 (not just in the last three months though) I can't even begin to explain how amazing that feels and how fricken proud I am of myself. In the last three months, I've paid off a a $300 medical bill and $500 to paying off my mattress, all while working on my savings and living comfortably.
On February 19th, I sent a letter of appreciation to one of my best friends, she's been my rock for ten years now and I don't know what I would do without her. The letter ended up coming at a time when she really needed some words of love and encouragement, and it means the world to me that I was able to give those to her. I love you girl!
I only anticipated writing one letter, but I think I'm going to keep going and try to write at least one per every 3 months. There are so many people that I love and sometimes I forget to tell them that. I don't want to forget anymore.
I've read 2/10 books so far. Both of them are from author Jodi Picoult; 19 Minutes and Perfect Match. They are both incredible books but I definitely loved 19Minutes more.
I've watched 4 documentaries; The Standford prison experiment (By far my favorite), Abducted in plain sight, fat, sick, and nearly dead (helped with my juice cleanse), and Broken (Ep. 1 Makeup)
Listened to 4 Ted Talks;
- "How not to take things personally." By Frederick Imbo.
- "How to stop screwing yourself." By Mel Robbins.
- "How to be happy every day." By Jacqueline Way.
- "Why you need to be a bitch." By Tabatha Coffey.
I actually watched a lot more than these four, but these ones really hit home. They changed something in me, or made me see things different. I highly recommend each of them.
Trying to be the best me also includes being healthier, my eating habits aren't too bad, to begin with. I don't eat much red meat, I never eat fast food, I love my fruits and veggies, I do pretty good on food front. However, I do forget to exercise sometimes. For long periods of time... So one of my items was to work out more, to tone up. I haven't really set a goal, I have one in mind, but I know me if I set a goal as soon as I get close to it I think "I'm doing great I can slack off." I don't want to do that. I've been doing pretty good with doing at least one kind of physical activity every day. Some days I miss but that's okay, it's an off day. So far I have gone to the gym 7 times (it's been closed here for quite some time now) I've gone on 8 runs, I've done 15 at home workouts and I've done yoga 17 times. Some days I just end up talking Jackson for a walk and that's my activity for that day, I haven't been tracking that though.
Another thing on my list is to hike the trails around here, so far I've only done one hike; the Oyster Dome hike. I just about died but the view was worth it.
I feel like this blog is getting a little lengthy so I'm just going to list the few things that don't really need an explanation.
- Feb. 22nd: Roller Derby Match
- Feb. 28th: Played pool in a bar
- Feb. 11th: Went bowling with friends.
- Feb. 9th: Went to an arcade
- Feb. 24th: Got a new job
- Mar. 20th: Started a blog
- Mar. 28th: Scrabble coasters
- Mar. 21st: Started my juice cleanse
- Mar. 22nd: Started my 7 days of Self Love challenge
I've also been trying to learn how to cook, I have a list of things that I want to make this year. I make my own food a lot but it's the stuff that I'm comfortable making, things I know I like and I don't vary from them very much. I didn't end up making much on this list during this time, but I made a few tings. I made: banana muffins, chicken parm casserole, kale chips, and chili.
Photography is one of my all time favorite hobbies, I usually just use my phone which has a pretty good camera. However, my incredible man got me a camera for Christmas. I'm still trying to figure out how to use it so on my list I also have 'practice photography'. I share all of my favorites to my Instagram, but I picked four to share. The little black poof is Mallory, my momma's dog and the picture of Jackson is at the top of the Oyster Dome hike.
That's it, that's all I've done so far. I hope you enjoyed reading it!
-Coco :)
