Happy two thousand - YAY- Teen
January 16, 2018
Happy two-thousand-YAY-teen I saw that lil gem somewhere when I was down the rabbit hole, known as Instagram, and had to use it... YAY-TEEN, gotta love it!
I can truly say I am thankful that 2017 is done. It was a year that was incredibly challenging for me. Between running Sun Lovin’ Roots and trying to balance that with my personal life… things got messy really quick and the mess didn’t just fade away. It’s such a blurred line when your business is you. Everything about SLR is an extension of who I am. Every design, every post, everything and when you wake up and you just aren’t feeling it, it makes it extremely difficult at times. Especially when your soul is craving it and you simply just don’t have the creative drive, it’s a tough one… and it makes you feel like a fraud when you are going through the motions. It's not the best feeling in the world, and when you know you are the only one that can fix it, but just can't pull yourself outta the dark hole, it gets a little tricky.
So, as most of you know, in 2017 I decided to take another leap of faith and try out another city for a fresh start and to grow my brand organically. So Dallas to Austin I went, with some hella good intentions … but we all know change is hard and every time I sat down to write a blog post or do something related to SLR, crazy things would happen that would delay me or would leave me creatively wiped out.
What kind of things you ask? Well, I will tell you:
A dog attacked me! Yes of al things, the biggest animal lover out there, I was attacked by a dog that put me in the ER for roughly seven hours and my right hand was kinda on the fritz for two months. You can imagine packing up orders and answering emails was a tad challenging….
Moving! The living space I had originally started out in Austin just wasn’t working out so found another space but two days prior to move-in (and three days before I had to be out of my current place) the lease fell through and I ended up putting everything into storage and living out of a suitcase for a month. Luckily, I have some pretty amazing friends that let me stay with them during this time. But little did I know that I would be moving two more times within the next two months. So yes, since I have moved from Dallas to Austin in May, I have moved a total of six times… all while running my biz, lot’s of stress for sure and my creativity just was buried by real life sh*t.
Facial Mishap. I know, I know, sounds silly to even put this one here... but I swear to you this wasn't just a minor thing. I went in for a facial and had a bad reaction to it, which left me with a not so fun infection on my face, which took about two/three months to fully heal. If I showed you pictures you wouldn’t believe it, I still can't believe that it happened, but thankful it healed.
I was tired. From moving to just not knowing what direction I wanted to take SLR, I had so many ideas floating around in my head, that I got overwhelmed and just did nothing, and only did the things that I absolutely needed to do. Which was packing up orders, doing in person trunk shows, answering emails and social media. And I'll be the first to admit, being tired was probably a combo of a lot of things. Thinking I made a mistake moving to Austin. not being where I needed to be ( whatever that means) and not taking enough ME time. Self care is vital y'all!
These are just a couple of things, and yes I know they aren’t earth shattering (although moving six times in seven months could put anyone over the edge) all these things really made for a rocky last part of my year. But on the flip side, Sun Lovin’ Roots grew and I am still able to live out my passion, so as glad as I am that 2017 is over, this year taught me a lot of things about myself and what I want to do in 2018....
Being grateful for the crappy times. Yes, you read that right! It's so easy to be grateful AF when everything in your life is going amazingly beautiful. I honestly used to think that happy people were the ones that were the most grateful but now I think it's all about your mindset. That when you are grateful for all the times in your life ( the good, the bad, the ugly) that is when you will be the happiest. Grateful people are the happiest of them all and with the tides of your life, you have to learn to be grateful for each one, no matter how crappy or how amazing they are... only then will you start to see the why behind each of them.
I am more confident than ever in myself. I feel like all these challenges that were thrown my way (as big or little) were there to build my confidence up. To know that I can do whatever it is I set my mind to and that even though I am growing and learning things aren’t always rainbows and butterflies, that life happens to us all. It’s how you react to those not-so great moments, and what you take away from them.
Moving six times was not only hard but it showed me that I am tired of carrying so much around with me. I have talked about minimalism on the blog before and now more than ever I am moving towards that kinda lifestyle. I am ready to let go of all the unwanted items, that quite frankly weigh me down. So this month I am purging and really aiming to get down to a simpler lifestyle (more to come on this subject and what I'm currently doing). But it feels good to purge and let go of things that just don't serve a purpose in my life anymore, and this includes relationships, not just material things.
And with all the things, all they are doing is keeping me rooted and I want to have the freedom to travel and wake up wherever I choose to. And this one was a big one for me. I have been manifesting for the last two years that I want to travel around, grow the SLR brand and I guess be kinda like a gypsy. I want to experience the world out there and going through the detours and road blocks that the last part of 2017 brought, I know all of these things happened to teach me patience, not only with myself but to have patience with the timing of my life. I am a firm believer in that things happen for a reason and looking back at all the moves, I think it was to teach me that I can travel and that I don’t have to be so rooted to situations/ belongings. And even though you don’t know how things are going to turn up, the good always out weighs the bad and that challenges are there to teach you something about yourself.
I want to live more in the moment. I will admit even though I am a planner, I don’t like things planned out for me all the time. I like the unexpected, the unknown. And this vibe is going to flow into the brand- when it comes to blog posts, they are going to be more in the moment, and more in-tune with what Sun Lovin' Roots is all about ( so a lot on my life, plant based eats and drinks, and just those feel good, healthy livin' vibes). I’ll admit the blogging has taken a backseat since I have been focusing on designs, packing orders, website etc. but writing is something I crave and I want to bring back the lifestyle part of the brand.
Where's the food? Lots and lots of plant lovin’ recipes will be headed your way. Again, food is a big part of who I am and the brand. And sharing my love for all things plant based and helping someone feel better is something that makes my heart so happy. So you can count on seeing more recipes and just more health related topics on the blog this year. All things that I do in my personal life and most importantly how you can be healthy and balanced and no, you don’t have to be 100% vegan/plant based to partake.
Let's connect! I want to open back up taking on clients that are looking to go more plant based. I did the 30 Day Free Smoothie Challenge last month and doing so really brought me back to where it all begin, why I started SLR to begin with. More details to come, but you will see more downloads and more programs on the .com very, very soon.
Dive deeper into my spirituality… aka manifesting, setting intentions, and astrology. I have seen how manifesting works in my own life and it’s crazy when your thoughts align with your attitude, how you can heal your life from the inside out. It does work and when you see it working your mind will be blown. And it doesn’t take a lot of time and it’s not hard. Just need a little time every day to set aside to work on it and you will start to see how the universe works when you are putting good vibes out there.
So there you have it… a little lengthy yes, but now you have an idea where the brand (ME) are headed in 2018. I am feeling more creative and more inspired that even before, and this my friend has all happened in the last week or so. I’m not sure how or why, but it’s a good feeling to have the creativity buzz back. Next week I will be sharing my personal intentions for 2018 as well as, how I manifest and set intentions for myself and why I think intention setting beats goal setting every time.
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