This article has been syndicated to Her Campus from Pearls & Twirls, an InfluenceHer Collective member. Read the full post here.
I love the internet and love the endless possibilities it provides. I’ve connected with people over the internet that I would have never connected with and I’ve found true inspiration from people that I would have never known about. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many amazing women though blogging and I’ve followed hundreds more that I would love to meet and connect with in person. One person I’ve been inspired by since this home tour on The Glitter Guide was Tori Hendrix. I’ve seriously been obsessed with everything she does, from how she dresses, how she decorates, her amazing travels, her event planning business and even how she dresses her kids! A true source of inspiration to me and I’ve loved getting little glimpses of this person that I’ve never met’s life on the internet.
Unfortunately sometimes these seemingly perfect people on the internet are battling something far worse than we could ever imagine. Tori was diagnosed with a terrible cancer a little over a year ago while pregnant with her second child and she passed away just this week. I’ve been obsessively checking her sister’s updates on Tori since they announced she was sick a few months ago and was so saddened by her passing. I never really intended to share any of this here but over the past few days I’ve heard great stories about great people doing great things (a local police officer and friend who raised money for a family that picked up his breakfast at the drive through) and have read other sad news (a friend I met through blogging lost his sister this week and a high school friend was recently diagnosed with lymphoma) so I just got myself inspired. Inspired about this little miraculous thing we call life that we take for granted every single day.
I’ll be the first to admit that I easily get down, annoyed, frustrated with the smallest things that really should not alter my mood as much. I get selfish sometimes and think my feelings are more important than others'. I get down about myself and think I’ll never be as good as so-and-so. And really, I just like to remind myself those things, those thoughts are just taking away your greats, your "happys" and all the wonderful things we’re given in this life.
So I’ve rounded up a few things that I know I waste way too much of my life on. Ten things I plan to stop wasting so much of my happy on!
1. Trying to Be Great at Everything
We’re all human. You’re never going to be great at everything. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be great at the things you love to be great at. You can be a great mom, a great girlfriend, wife, friend, sister, employee, business owner, blogger, Instagrammer, Facebooker, runner, healthy eater, whatever your cup of tea is or whatever you feel passionate about, go do it and be great at it! But don’t beat yourself up if you can’t be great at all those things. It’s okay if you’re not great at being both a business owner and a healthy eater…(cough cough, that one was to me).
2. Comparing Yourself to Others
This one is easily tied to #1. We think that it is possible to be great at all those things because we see other people do it. People seriously seem to have their shit together on Instagram, don’t they? Personally, I see so many people who constantly get up at 5:30 a.m. to get their workout in and get down on myself because I don’t do that. Well, reality is, I’m not a morning person. That doesn’t work for me. If you’re a morning person and a morning worker-outer, I truly salute you, because I want to be you, but me? I’ll just be here at 1:30 a.m. finishing blog posts because that’s how I work and that’s okay. So just because someone else can do it doesn’t mean you have to. You do you, boo.
3. Not Chasing Your Dreams
Y'all. I hear so many people say, “I wish I could be more like you and go after my dreams!” My response every single time? DO IT!!! Seriously. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the most stressful job I’ve ever had, but I can’t even describe how happy it makes me. You’ve got to be all in, though. All in. All the time. But it’s totally worth it! And if one day I decide my passion is hot air balloons and I want to start a hot air balloon business, you betta believe I’m going for it! Chase those dreams!
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