Bookstore & Macarons on a Saturday in September

This is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 8.


Today I took an adventure to a newly-opened bookstore. The owners had posted pictures throughout the building process, so the anticipation had been growing, especially after I had seen some of the bookish-loving things that would be for sale.

As I walked down the main street, I looked from left to right, wondering where it was. And then I saw Books & Mortar etched into the glass, and books arranged in the windowsill. A smile spread across my face and I started in that direction.

I walked in, looked at an assortment of vegan cookbooks, and knew I was in a bookstore I would love. I wandered more, looking through books on topics ranging from feminism to fiction. What impressed me even more was their assortment of social justice picture books for children. I have seen them online, but never in a store and have always thought that making children aware of social issues from a  young age could cause immense positive change. This place had it all.

Except one thing that I really thought they would have: POETRY.

Being an independent, hipster-ish bookstore made me assume they would have the one thing that I enjoy most. I was disappointed when I found a very small section (I have more in my collection than they had on the shelf), with mostly classic poetry (which I'm not really into). They had two contemporary poetry books, both of which I already own.

Overall, I was impressed. I found two books and a card to buy: Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and the card says "Happy Birthday to my favorite introvert. Hopefully everyone leaves you alone so you can enjoy it." that I got for my boss.

After adventuring through the bookstore, I indulged in macarons next door. Delicious! My favorite: pumpkin.

What benefits do you get from an adventure once in a while? A fun change of pace, the opportunity to learn something new, and the luxury of taking a breather after a week full of busy. Take an adventure, big or small.

Take action, even if it's imperfect

This post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Post Challenge Day 7.


If you're ever going to get anywhere, you need to start somewhere.

And you know horrifyingly funny image just popped into my head when I wrote that sentence? When my elderly journalism professor quoted Drake saying "I started from the bottom, now I'm here." Let me tell you, that memory still haunts me, but the saying is right on. You have to start from the bottom before you can grow and evolve into something bigger and better.

Don't let perfectionism cause procrastination.

I have to admit, I tend to get pulled into this behavior. But if I start small and incorporate one imperfect action into each day, I could see immense change in a short amount of time.

One action I could do every day that would bring me closer to my goals is take at least 30 minutes a day to write. I want to push for more, but 30 minutes is a good starting place that I know I can maneuver into my day.

If I were to have done this for the past year, I would have page upon page of content and ideas. I can only imagine what I will have in a year. The important part is to stay strong in the conviction to follow through with the task. This is truly something I want to do, so I should be amped and motivated every day to make this improvement.

Stay motivated, and take that first step. You'll see results as long as you stay true to your goals.

I Want to be All of You Combined: Four People Who Have Inspired Me

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 6.


When I think about the people that have opened my eyes to a freedom lifestyle, I think of four ladies. Not only are they rad travelers, but brave creatives. These women are: Shay Brown and Cassie Torrecillas, Christine Gilbert, and Megan Falley.

My introduction to living a traveling girlboss lifestyle started with Shay and Cassie of Bucketlist Bombshells. I gave more of a backstory in this post, but long story short, they work from their laptops giving them the ability to live anywhere at any time. This excited me and that's when I took their Work Online and Travel the World Course. I still haven't completed it fully, but I am chugging along every day.

What inspires me about Cassie and Shay is they had the courage to make the steps toward the life that they wanted: to travel around the world. I have always wanted this, but never thought it was possible because of the "typical" path to success: go to college, graduate, and get a job at a company. Not work for yourself like Cassie and Shay do. So they listened to their dreams, set out to Mexico, and started freelancing. They've traveled to Thailand, Bali, and so many other beautiful places.

As for Christine, she amazed me as I read her book Mother Tongue, where she told her story of jetsetting around the world with the goal to learn three major languages by immersing her family in each culture. Christine, her husband, and her son went to China, then to Beirut, and finally to Mexico where they studied Mandarin, Arabic, and Spanish. Each journey had its ups and downs, but my goodness, what an awesome experience!

Like I said in this post, I started studying Russian after two of my coworkers from Ukraine began teaching me basic words like thank you and please. To be honest, it's hard! Thinking of learning three languages seems overwhelming, but also extremely exciting. But like Christine, I have always had a pull to experience the culture of countries around the world. So Christine took the dream out of my head and lived it. But her doing it has showed me it's doable and with enough courage, I could do something similar.

And then there's Megan Falley, a powerful poet. I saw her perform last October and fell in love with the way she could illuminate problems in society and call them out on their bullshit. She is the author of Red Head and the Slaughter King and a few other books of poetry. After the reading last year, I was able to meet her. She told me about packing up her car in New York and traveling across the country performing in venues all the way to California. As a Write Bloody author, it is required to do 20 shows, but Megan decided to make a real trip of it. Lucky for me, she still enjoys it and I was able to experience what a difference she makes through her words.

Not only is she brave because of the topics she writes about in her poetry, but also with her ability to pick up and go for it - reading around the country. She is truly an inspiration for a poetry lover like me.

So what would I ask if I had one question for these four ladies? I honestly don't know. Maybe something as generic as What is your biggest piece of advice? or maybe something like What do you tell yourself to stay motivated when you're getting tired? or What was the biggest and most influential step you took to live the life you dreamed of?

How to push through and be productive

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 5.


What makes you most productive? For me, it starts with getting myself centered and grounded. If I am missing one or both of these, I tend to have a wandering mind that causes procrastination and lowers my productivity.

Today Natalie asked to set up a daily routine that would bring optimum productivity to your career or passion. Here's what I came up with --

• Start by doing a centering and grounding meditation
• Grab a cup of tea, glass of water, or something to stay hydrated
• Go to a place where you feel you will be most productive. Sometimes it's at your house, other times it is at a coffee shop. Feel what is right and do that
• Once settled, write down the intentions for the time period dedicated to the project
• Begin working, trying to stay away from distractions (social media, I'm talking about you)
• When feeling anxious or mind starts to wander, close eyes, take a deep breath, and let it out. Analyze if it can be pushed through or if a break is needed
• Take breaks when necessary. Don't overstretch because it will lead to burnout
• When time is up, or the tasks are done, pat yourself on the back and be proud of what you did and how you focused
• Celebrate these times dedicated to productivity, passion projects, and enhancement. They are pushing you toward your dreams!

Rev up that superpower

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 4.


Natalie had a hard question for today: What is your superpower?

My answer would have to be being an empath.

I didn't even know what the word meant a few years ago. For those who don't know, an empath is a person who takes on the emotions and energies of others. You intuitively feel what others are feeling and are unconsciously influenced by it.

So how did I learn about this? It all started when I decided I wanted a psychic reading when I was in California. She revealed that I was an empath, but she wasn't the only one. I was told again in Washington state, and once more in Michigan.

That's three spiritual people from separate parts of the U.S. saying the exact same thing, and I'm sure it will happen again.

With that information, I took it as a sign that I needed to understand what this meant. I am constantly learning, but I have come to understand the signs of overworking my superpower. Some include getting tired when I've been around a lot of people and having social anxiety. I understand my limitations and how meditation is like medicine (even though I need to do it more often).

But most of all, it now clicks why I can get a feeling and just know. It's interesting to look back at times that I intuitively felt a certain way and it turned out to be correct.

I think my superpower goes even further, though. Even though I am an introvert, I have been told that I have the ability to have deep, meaningful conversations, which supposedly isn't as common as I thought. But I do have a disclaimer to that statement. I can feel when someone is genuine and will have a perspective that will change my outlook on life. If I can tell that someone isn't going to open up, be raw, or will try to manipulate me, I will not waste my time. That's my superpower at work.

So if I were to live the freedom lifestyle that I imagined in day 3, I know I would use my superpower to shed light on those who would change the views of those who read, watch, or listen to the people I interviewed. My purpose is to help others and give them a new viewpoint on situations in the world - and I couldn't do that without my superpower.

A fulfilling day as of 2:00 p.m. 9/13/16

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 3. You can also view my prelude, and responses to day 1 and day 2.

Natalie's challenge for today was: visualize and write about a perfect day in detail. What do you do, see, smell? Here we go -

I wake up to the sun beaming through my window. I turn over and there's my guy, sleeping. I smile and can't help but give him a kiss on the cheek, which rustles him enough to wake him. He looks at me, smiles, and cuddles close. 

When I get up, I go to the refrigerator and pull out a lemon, cut it in half and squeeze the juice into a cup that I then fill with water. I take a few sips and walk into my meditation room. I sit on my yoga mat and do a few head rolls, hip rolls, shoulder lifts. I go through a centering and grounding meditation. I stretch my muscles and get ready for my daily kriya to start my day.

I take a shower, letting the warm water soothe the muscles I just stretched while doing yoga. 

Once I am dried off and dressed, I make myself a bowl of fruit and spend at least a half hour free writing. This lets me get my brain moving. I let whatever comes to mind be expressed. It could be something creative, something that revolves around work, or something personal.

When I get to a stopping point, I make a list of my intentions for the day. What do I need to accomplish for work today? Is there anything that others need from me today? What do I need to accomplish for myself today?

I have been interviewing a woman (this is part of what I discovered about freedom in day 2), and I will be talking to her again today. She lives just a few minutes away by foot, so I get my bag together with my laptop, camera, and notes, then head out.

When I knock on the door, she opens it like she couldn't wait to see me. We've grown close through the process, the interviews morphing more into conversations. She asks me if I want some tea and I agree. She pours me a cup and we catch up a little before she begins her day. I will be following her around, trying to be more in the background as an observer.

We go through her day. I record my observations, begin to write phrases that will morph into sentences describing how she lives her life. At the end of the session, we sit down for a discussion about her day. I have questions, I always have questions. I want to understand how her actions can be linked back to her experiences in the past. She tells me about her culture, her actions, and how she feels as a human. I listen, record, and analyze.

On my walk home, I wander to a garden full of blooming flowers. I sit down in the grass and take a deep breath. I let myself settle for a moment before I head the rest of the way home. 

When I get home, my guy is scooping ice cream into a bowl. He asks if I want some and I agree. I come close and he gives me a kiss. He hands me a bowl and we sit on the couch together. This is my favorite part of the day as we exchange what we are grateful for. He tells me about peak and pit (the highlight of his day and something that could've been better) and I do the same. These are the times that I cherish. 

After a bit, we settle into our evening routines. Maybe he watches TV, or reads, or works on something else. I either get some words on the page or read my newest book. We sit there, each doing our thing, but together.

** Note: I'm not sure I could ever imagine a "perfect day" because perfect days are usually the ones that happen out of nowhere and you look back and think how amazing it was. This was my version of an ordinary day that would fulfill me. I could've written about a jam-packed day of traveling around the world, sky diving, and much more, but that's not a sustainable vision. This is a day from where I'm sitting right now in this exact moment. Even after writing this, I feel like I could make one that suits me way better. I guess what I'm trying to say is, there are so many perfect day scenarios, and this is what came up today, but I could write all day about all the different scenarios that I would love and they would be just as valid.

Listen to your soul. It knows the way.

This blog post is in response to Natalie's 10 Day Freedom Plan Blog Challenge Day 2. You can also view my prelude and response to day 1.

Freedom. What an interesting and complicated word to analyze. In this day in age, I sometimes get the sense that people view freedom as either having total freedom in all areas of their life or they have no freedom at all and are totally restricted. I've fallen into this mindset in terms of trying to find a career, finding a location to live and start a career, and in committing to relationships. 

This mindset has mutilated the true meaning of freedom and not served me on my journey toward the life that I want to live. 

I think the opposite of freedom is fear. You probably realized in my first response to the 10DFBC that I've realized fear tends to dominate my actions. I'm working on it, OK? If you're like me, our journey needs to be about catching those fears as they pop in our thoughts or out our mouth (usually in the form of excuses), take note of them, and try to analyze why they are burdening us.

I was looking around online for something relating to the word freedom, and I discovered a quote by Andrea Balt that really made me think: Freedom is not about the size of your cage or power of your wings or non-attachment to a person or thing. Freedom is about being so truly, madly, and deeply attached to your soul that you can't bear - if only for a moment - a life that doesn't honor it. 

Balt sums up what I've felt and known about freedom but couldn't put in my own words. It always comes down to soul. When I think about what would make my soul most happy, I think about seeing and experiencing cultures I have not before. The human condition and learning about the lives of others is what drew me to study both English and journalism. 

When I push all the restrictions of what people should or can do as society has set them, push the restrictions of money and fear of logistics aside, freedom to me looks like traveling and interacting with people around the world, learning their life stories and struggles. I would follow them around and see their normal day and share that with the world. I see so much truth and beauty in the normal lives of people and I think having others see it too would ground them.

It didn't hit me until right now that I was obsessed with a book as a child that probably planted the seed to write about the lives of ordinary people around the country. I loved DK books when I was younger, but I used to look at Children Just Like Me all the time. The book celebrates children from all over the world, telling about their families, what they eat, what types of homes they live in, their hobbies, and so much more. I would look at their pictures, read about them and it made me sit and wonder how people around the world can be so different, but yet just the same. 

Wow. Sometimes connections just hit you and leave you in awe. 

I was always drawn to this page the most. Funny thing is, I recently started studying Russian, which is where these two girls were from.

I wonder where these children are now.