Category: Self Awareness

Becoming The Person I Want To Be

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As my 29th birthday is approaching my brain and emotions have been all over the place. The excitement and fear for the big 3.0 are starting to creep in. Soon I will no longer be in my 20s. I can no longer blame mistakes on my age. As some would say, “I’m good and grown” now.  But as I approach this next decade of life I can’t help but think about the person I want to be. The person I have always dreamed of being.

I want to healthy and happy.

I want to live life free of limits

I want to travel and go on great adventures

I want to explore my creativity

I want to be more forgiving

I want to love myself and others

I want to be the best me I can be

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Where I Am vs Where I Thought I Would Be

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As a kid reaching age 27 seemed like light-years away. I had all these ideas on what being 27 would be like. I can remember playing with my imaginary friends (#onlychildproblems) pretending to be a grown up who was slowing approaching 30. At the time, I thought this age would be magical. And honestly I must say its really not THAT bad, but its far from what I imagined.

You see 10 year old me thought:

I’d be a famous singer
Reality: I work for an insurance company
 
I’d be married
Reality: Not even close
 
I’d have 2 kids
Reality: (see above)
 
I’d own a 2 story home
Reality: I live in a house (Does that count?)
 
I’d live in Florida (Don’t judge me, I wanted to live close to the Backstreet Boys and Disney World)
Reality: I live in Tennessee (PS You couldn’t pay me to live Florida.. no offense Floridians)
 
I’d drive a Camaro
Reality: I drive a Kia
 
I’d have great friends
Reality: Well I guess some things do come true!
 
As a kid, where did you think you’d be at your current age?
 
 

Getting Back to Happy: My Dream Bedroom

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Earlier this month I decided to do a little spring cleaning when I stumbled across an old copy of Elle Decor. This wasn’t just any copy of the magazine it was the Fashion Issue.  It had an inside look at Ralph Lauren’s fabulous Manhattan apartment. Costing about $5 a copy obviously I couldn’t just throw it away, so I opened the magazine and staring directly at me was this quote:

 If you’re happy with your life, your space will reflect that.

–Designer Rafael de Cárdenas

That got me thinking, “does my space reflect a person with a happy life?” As I was pondering the answer to my question, I glanced at a horrific site. There it was, my awful chipped monstrosity of a dresser with mis-matched and missing knobs.

 

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I had to turn away the site was disturbing my spirit.

But things didnt get better, on the other side of my room were those God awful teal tween satin curtains that I’ve had since I used to be a Spice Girls superfan.

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Then just off to the right was the awful multi-toned borderline tacky nightstand I’ve had since birth.

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My lovely antique Jenny Lind bed was dressed with this blasé quilt and above the bed was my lame attempted at adding art to my rather bare walls.

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This room was not a reflection of someone with a happy life. It was a collection of a bunch mis-matched randomness with no clear objective.

Hmmm sound familiar… Maybe my room was a reflection of my current situation but not anymore.You know how they say you should dress for the job you want to have, well I decided to decorate to the room I dream to live in.

Being that I don’t have the money to create my dream bedroom, I set out on an incredible d.i.y journey to create a fabulous space that was shabby chic yet still contemporary.

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Finding New Music Makes Me Happy

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I have really enjoyed reading about what makes all of you happy on Facebook. Its so great to see the diversity of the answers. Some people are happy when they hear a certain song or when they are around friends and family. There are no two answers that are exactly the same.

I find that what makes me happy, isn’t a certain object or person but a distinctive moment. Its that moment when you discover something new and immediately fall in love. Specifically, when I find a new artist or song that I love. I’ll never forget the moment I discovered the group Sam and Ruby my freshman year in college. I had signed up to work the Tin Pan Alley Music Festival specifically at The Basement, a small venue in Nashville. A week before the show I decided to Google some of the artist that would be performing. First on the list was Sam and Ruby. I found there Myspace page (myspace was still popular back then) and heard the song The Here and the Now for the first time.

I was instantly obsessed. I just remember feeling so much joy and eager to hear more of their music. That same day I bought their EP and played it non-stop. Seriously y’all, I was totally geeking out over them. I’m sure my roommate Jillian was sick of hearing me play and talk about Sam and Ruby.

The joy I feel when I discover new music is a feeling I never want to lose. Witnessing the talent and creativity that artist put into their work truly inspires me.

Here are just a few of my current new musical obsessions

Jordan Rakei

Alex Isley

Ari Lennox

Who are some of the new artist that you are currently listening to? Comment below!

P.S. Don’t forget the Getting Back to Happy giveaway!! You have until May 6th at 6pm to enter.

Getting Back to Happy Month/ Giveaway

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As many of you may know recently I had an emotional breakdown earlier this week. During that time happiness was the last thing on my mind, but today is a new day. Actually its a new month! So I decided to make the month of May all about getting back to happy.

During this month I will be celebrating all the things and people who make me happy. Join me in this journey of springtime bliss!

To kick things off I decided to do my very first GIVEAWAYYYY (in my Oprah voice)!!!!!!!!

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This month I will be giving away some of my favorite things each week. Yes, that correct, a month full of giveaways, how exciting!!!

The first item I am giving away is an Ellen Tracy Blue Baroque Journal with pen. Anyone who knows me knows I love a good journal to jot down new ideas or to make a new to-do list. I got this exact same journal just a few weeks ago and I love it! It has a great hard back cover with a handy attached pen. I love not having to dig around my handbag looking for a writing utensil.

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If you would like to win the Ellen Tracy Journal all you have to do is follow the simple instructions below.

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1. Like The Floundering on Facebook

2. Leave a comment on our Facebook page about 1 thing that makes you happy.

 The winner will be chosen at random & announced on Sunday, May 6th

Getting Over My Fear of Taking Risk

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I have never been a big risk taker. For the last 26 years, I have always been the one to play it safe. It was my mindset that I was better safe than sorry. When it came time to apply for colleges, I only applied to the ones I thought I would have a good chance of getting into. When people ask, “whats the craziest thing you have ever done”, I always draw a blank. I haven’t done anything crazy. Now I am realizing, that behavior hasn’t gotten me very far in life. There have been tons of missed opportunities because I was too scared to take even a simple risk like asking a question.

Last month when I turned 26, I made a promise to myself that I would take a few risk every once in a while. Nothing too crazy or that would result in death, but risk that would be beneficial to my well being and make me happy. I am happy to say that I have stayed true to my promise. Unexpectedly just a few days after my birthday I quit my job. It was of bit of a rash decision. When I went into work that day I had no intention of quitting, but within a few hours that toxic work environment reared its ugly head again. Although I’ve wanted to quit before, I constantly told myself that I was lucky to have a job and I shouldn’t quit. However, that day it dawned on me that somethings just aren’t worth it if you go to sleep every night dreading the thought of waking up. Every moment I stayed in that place I was missing out on the opportunity to find something better.

I may not be in the position that I thought I would’ve been in at my age, but I’m at peace, and that’s all I can ask for. Now when I go to sleep, I’m thankful to wake up feeling hopeful. Taking risk isn’t as scary as I once thought. The burden of status quo weighs a lot heavier on your conscience than the result of taking a risk.

Top 3 Reasons I’m Proud to be a Late Bloomer

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Yesterday, as I was browsing the internet I happened to runs across this article from The Daily Illini. The article focused on recognizing and embracing your flaws. Although I read it rather quickly and skimmed some of the 600+ word essay, I couldn’t help but continuously re-read this one paragraph,

“Flaws are interesting — they make people seem more exotic, more unique. But admitting your flaws shows confidence and even a degree of maturity — and it may take some critiquing to get there.”

She’s right, flaws ARE interesting, with out them we would be Stepford Wives a.k.a boring and the same. The first step to any issue is to acknowledge that it exist, then to embrace it. But the third step, society has only recently started talking about it, is flaunting it. That’s right, flaunting the one thing that many would be embarrassed to discuss.

I am ridden with flaws most can be seen with the naked eye but the one that has troubled me for a while is being a late bloomer. No one can tell someone is a late bloomer just by looking at them. I started this blog as a way to acknowledge and embrace being a late bloomer but today I am ready to flaunt it. Here are the top 3 reasons I am proud to be a late bloomer:

1. I Have Yet to Reach My Full Potential

Every good story has a climax or peak, so do our lives. There are a large number of people in this world who hit their peak in high school or college. Life from there on out is just a downhill battle. Just like every teen movie in the 90’s its the late bloomers that are successful by the time the credits are rolling. I’m proud to be one of those people, my life is just beginning. Plus if I remember correctly its the hare that wins the race, right?
2. I Really Can’t Get Any More Awkward Than I Already Am

On top of being a late bloomer, awkwardness just seeps from my pores. I have a feeling this is a problem a lot of late bloomers probably struggle with. Should I be ashamed of my inability to thrive in social interactions? Maybe. But I realized today, I am so unfortunately awkward that it really can’t get any worse and for that I am proud. I have fully embraced being awkward. At this point its fairly comical. Just like hitting rock bottom, things can only go up from here on out.
3. I’m Not Jaded by Life

So many of my friends and acquaintance have this jaded outlook on life. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I am sure they have learned valuable lessons from the situations they have encountered. However, I’m seeing that because I am experiencing so many things for the first time my outlook is exceedingly more open-minded. Now that could also mean I am being a bit naive but I choose to be more optimistic.