The 3 Wise Things to keep you calm/sane this Christmas season

Lately on social media I've been seeing so much stress, commotion, and fear. It's hard not to get caught up with all of the crazy things going on in the world, especially when our lives provide us with enough stress to begin with. I love the Christmas season because something happens that just makes me more observant and reflective about what is going on and I'm able to look back on the past year of my life from a different perspective. However, Christmas time can also become a very stressful time if we let it. Things like finals, travel plans, Christmas shopping, and making plans to reconnect with old friends and extended family definitely put stress on some people. So I figured I would list the top three things that I have found make me feel tranquil and content during all of the end of the year chaos.

1. Listening to/making music. I have no idea how people get tired of Christmas music. I do a lot of driving for work, but I never even bother to plug in my own music. I always search the radio for the Christmas hits. A few nights ago, a slower, more spiritual song came on as I was driving home from work late at night. I was so surprised because all of a sudden I just started crying. It was one of those peaceful cries though; I felt really happy and touched. No matter how lame you feel at first, making music is so much fun. Whether you actually try to sound good and in synch with the rest of your family, or are making fun of your little brother's excessively loud singing, you're bound to feel content while caroling. Every year, I play the piano while my family sings Christmas songs and it's one of my favorite traditions. I used to play harp when I was younger and just recently pulled out all of my old stuff and am starting to practice playing Christmas songs. What Chid is This? (also known as Greensleeves) is my favorite song of them all. Christmas music is definitely my #1 go-to to calm me down and make me happy during the holidays.

2. Even while my mom is in school, she has always made time for this little tradition in our home. She makes cinnamon tea everyday, "canela" (cinnamon in spanish) as we call it, and every time I get home I can expect the aroma. Any friend who has come over to my house has probably been offered it about 5 times until they finally budged and said yes. It's so good. Just sitting down, chatting, and sipping on my favorite tea calms me down and helps me unwind after my day. Even my dog likes it!

It's super easy to make too, just go to the store and buy those really big cinnamon sticks. All you have to do is stick one in a pot of water and let it boil until the tea is a deep red color. Then just add sugar (I add one tbsp.) and milk (I like mine without) to taste.

3. Spending time with my pup! Lately I've been giving lots of attention to my dog Nala, and I think it benefits me more than anything. Dogs have a way of making you feel like the most special person in the world, even if all you did was take them to get groomed or play fetch with them for a couple of minutes. My family has always been big on keeping dogs outside (especially because Nala swims so much), but we can't help but budge and let Nala hang out with us. Even though she's crazy and has so much energy, she has such a calming presence that makes us all so happy.

Sunday Glam Session

So I've been sick for the past week, and my boyfriend is in town, so we've been forced to stay in. While we were cooped up I remembered that for the longest time I wanted to make a video of Josh attempting to do my make up; mostly because he's seen/been with me so many times while I've gotten ready. I was curious to see what he could remember. Down below is a fun little video, but I must say my little brother Sam steals the show! (Make sure to scroll up and hit pause on my blog song before you watch!)

1.0

I've been waiting a really long time to write a personal blog post like this, mostly because I wanted to wait until I was completely comfortable with sharing some of my stories.  I am going to make several posts instead of one monstrous one, mostly because there are a lot of pieces to the story and I don't want to throw it all out into the open at once.  Since January of 2015 I have been living at home while working three jobs, and taking some classes here and there.  I live in North County San Diego, California and I work as a soccer coach and retail sales associate.  Before making this decision to stay home, I attended BYU Hawaii for a year and a half.  Some people reply to this information with a concerned sigh and respond, "Oh well, I guess working is fine for the time being" or something of the sort; as to say that I made the wrong decision to take a break from being a full-time student away from home.  Part of me would get really peeved by this and wished that I could blurt out everything that has gone on to lead me here, but I know that anyone who is that quick to judge my decisions is someone I shouldn't pay much mind to.  So I'll be talking about one specific time that has impacted me a lot.

Going all the way back to high school, I felt like I was in my element and was extremely social.  I hung out with friends, played sports, and school was fairly easy for me.  I did very well and things seemed to go my way.  Then came junior year.  I do not believe that there was one main cause for my initial signs of anxiety, but I noticed it when I began to lose my appetite.  I spent every day playing sports, so for me to not want food was absurd.  I was confused when my self-esteem plunged; but I was able to talk myself through most of my negative thoughts and was able to remain happy most of the time. Without the stability of my family and peers, those times would have been a lot harder.

As a result of my anxiety and stress, I became very extreme with my exercise and eating habits.  I would work out a ton on my own outside of the sports I already participated in, and would only eat snacks or small meals here and there.  It was easy to get away with because I spent half of the day with my peers, and half with my family. When I decided to open up to some friends about it, I was caught off guard because only a couple of them actually believed me and were proactive to assist or talk about the situation.  I am not and was not at all upset with any of my other friends.  I have been in situations where I have not known what to believe about a friend or how I could possibly help them. At the same time, this made me glad because I didn't want to be a charity case to my friends and wanted things to remain as normal as possible.

Finding peace through my religion, remaining positive and motivated, and with things working out with school and sports, I was able to get better and feel happy again.  Now when I'm having a tough time, I think back to this period of time and remember how important it was to keep a positive mindset, as cliche as it might sound.  I don't necessarily mean "positive" in the same context that someone else might.  It can be so difficult to tell yourself that the struggles you are going through are only temporary and that everything will be totally fine.  So instead of going that route, I fed myself positivity by saying things like, "You're strong, you're good enough, you're loved".  One thing I noticed when I told my friends about my eating habits is that they would reply, "But you look great!" or, "You don't even need to worry about how you look".  These habits didn't result from me hating my body, they resulted from my anxiety.  Although I did have those feelings about myself sometimes, that was not that main cause of my problems.  It is so important that we are very very careful when we have friends going through these same problems.  Something like this messes with your mind, and as a result your logic doesn't quite match up to other people looking in.  At that time, I didn't need to hear people say that they approved of me, I needed to hear it from myself and believe it.  In hindsight, this experience was beneficial to my emotional health; I know how to talk myself out of bad thoughts and how to release anxiety in a healthy way.

Alright, I'm cutting it off right here! More to come.

What's up?!

Okay, to be quite honest, I completely forgot I had this blog. I was was binge-watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix when I realized, "oh hey, I have that blog thing." So I checked it out and decided it needed a make over and a new post asap.
Quick update: I am back in San Diego, taking a class, working a few jobs (2 jobs coaching soccer and a retail job) and am spending lots of time with family (and a boy maybe). It's been going so well that I've forgot to fill you guys in!
I am feeling a little bit of pressure regarding the topic I should write about since it has been so long! So, I'm actually just going to post pictures of new places I have been the past few months with a little bit of a description.

I love this picture because of the trees. Eucalyptus trees always remind me of home; and why we can never get fruit on our trees but it's ok. This suspension bridge is located in such a beautiful secluded area in San Diego.

This actually is a very familiar view; it's the view from the deck at my house. I've looked at this view tons of times, but something I've never done is yoga. I've been trying it out and my deck is my go-to spot because of this beautiful view. I can't think of a better place to try to bend my body like a pretzel.

For my birthday I took a trip to the Bay Area where my boyfriend lives and he took me to an FC Barcelona game. They are my favorite team and the crowd was so lively. Soccer is a huge part of my life and not many things beat watching some of your favorite sports heroes play.
















I'm going to try to start posting more. I just ask one favor; PLEASE comment or message me with questions or something you would like me to blog about (I love hearing your feedback).