In a dark living room with just the fireplace lighting up the room, two best friends sit on their sleeping bags, drinking hot chocolate. The lights are out due to a bad thunderstorm happening outside, and everyone else in the house are sleeping. JENNIFER, a spunky, 15-year old red-head tomboy with a tough-as-nails demeanor, plays with the spoon in her mug while her best friend, MILO, an awkward, long haired, soft-spoken boy, tries to turn on his Sidekick phone. He fails.
Jennifer watches Milo, now frustrated, drops his phone on the ground and looks at the fire; the battery’s dead.
This was me. I sometimes like to call her “dumbass Liz” because, well, you’ll find out.
I’ve experienced 23 years of life, but I can only remember 19 of those years because who can actually remember anything significant before they are four years old? I’ve had my ups and downs every year, but 2012 was a different type of year for me. Five years later and I can say this was the absolute worst year I’ve ever lived. That’s not an exaggeration.
Lemme explain.
This was me on my 18th birthday. My birthday was on a school day, and for the most part, I had many people show love to me and wish me a Happy Birthday. After school, I went out with a person who was really into and infatuated with, and we both had an amazing time out and about around the city.
A week later, everything turned upside down.
I am not going to sit here and tell you what happened (it’s all on my Tuesday post on the Importance of Mental Health) but I am also not going to sit here and play myself as a victim, because I wasn’t. I will take responsibility for the things I’ve done, for the people I hurt, and for the lies that I’ve told. I wasn’t the greatest person in the world. Not only was I starting to become depressed, I started to make drastic changes without any second thought about it.
In March, I made this huge transition to being completely blonde for the first time. The process of stripping out my brunette hair color to this pale yellow/platinum blonde literally took my sister 6 hours to do. I came to school that next morning and had everyone turntheir heads towards me. I can’t lie, becoming blonde was something I enjoyed doing because it was something different and something new, and nobody in my grade had the guts to even put bleach in their natural hair. I started to stand out in the crowd, and shortly after, I started to be in more social settings.
Despite still feeling the aftermath of what happened earlier that year, 2012 was my senior year of high-school which meant “Senior Spirit Week” was a thing:
Since I went to a performing arts high school, I was also in the vocal program; a member of the highest ranking choir within the entire program: Performing Choir.
It was my third and final year being a part of such an amazing choir with amazingly talented people. (Fun fact: Ariel Tejada, aka Kylie Jenner’s Make-Up Artist, was a member of Performing Choir as well.) Performing Choir traveled around these different places and performed at different locations over the years. In 2012 specifically, we performed at Carnegie Hall, Temple University in Philadelphia, The Statue of Liberty on ABC’s Good Morning America , and in Connecticut to some place that I totally don’t remember where exactly. In the midst of my depression, Performing Choir was really the only reason why I got up in the mornings to go to school. It was my way of focusing on something that wasn’t my thoughts and problems.
Urban Word’s Brooklyn OpenMic Night @ Brooklyn Public Library.
In an attempt to cure my depression, I took on a new hobby, which was spoken poetry. I became apart of an organization called Urban Word NYC, a place where teens were allowed to go to workshops and express themselves through writing and sharing poetry. For the most part, my craft in poetry was improving a lot and I finally felt like I belonged. To this day, I feel like some of my greatest poetry came out of this era, and sadly it’s one of the reasons why I don’t write poetry anymore. It reminds me of the dark times in my life.
But like everything else, my depression and my need for someone to heal me took over. I made mistakes that hurt the very few people who still cared about me after all that happened, and I decided to leave. I haven’t been back since… I want to say October 2012.
Prom 2012. (PC: DSP)Graduation 2012.
High-school finally ended, which meant I was finally going to part ways with old and toxic friendships and head into college with a fresh start.
Boy was I wrong.
My first semester in college was horrific. This new stress piled on top of lingering old stress and issues made it hard for me to focus in school. Although I passed my classes at the end, it didn’t mean it felt good barely passing. By the end of 2012, I wanted to drop out. By the end of 2012, I let go of the little hope I had for myself and simply began to just be there in dead space. I wasn’t me anymore and by this time, I was still holding on to toxic and abusive friendships, and all the help people try providing for me began to vanish.
Central Park. (PC: Leona Lee)
The majority of my 2012 was me trying to simply fit into groups and places that I normally wouldn’t fit into and fake a smile along the way. 2012 was simply the start of my depression, and the start of one of the hardest process to live through. You see a smile on my face here, but this is what depression disguises itself to be. I look back at this and remember what I was going through this time of my life. I was on the verge of academic probation, the person who I was still infatuated with began to treat me like shit, my friendship with Obie was on its last legs, and I was still living in someone else’s shadow for my own protection.
I sometimes miss this girl because of how thinner, creative, and talented she was. But I know I don’t really miss her. I don’t miss spending my senior year of high-school crying on the bathroom floor when everyone else was out celebrating. I don’t miss seeing Obie, the person I was always secretly in love with, being with another woman and slow-dancing with her at Prom. I don’t miss the constant paranoia for my life. I don’t miss seeing myself as this awful person. I don’t miss the suicidal thoughts and self-harming sessions.
2012 was the absolute worst year I’ve experienced, but it’s the year that made me who I am today. Because of that, I am forever grateful to had experienced it that year.
“In order to help people survive, you must tell the story of your own survival.”
Five years ago on January 17th, I had a nervous breakdown. I went to school that day not feeling like myself. I remember my favorite sweater had little blood stains on the sleeves where my forearm was located. The previous night, I had self-harmed myself. I went to my guidance counselor that morning and was too afraid to return to my classes, and when he made me go back, I fell apart. This day was the first of many bad days, and the beginning of a downward spiral I called life.
During the first couple of months into that year, I was severely depressed. I pushed all of my good friends away from me, the people who I thought were my good friends all turned their backs on me, I had a bad reputation with the people I once cared for, and I was constantly fearing for my well-being.
All in all, I was a victim of severe mental bullying.
Because of my severe depression and paranoia over the things that were said and done, I began to make choices and decisions that not only affected me, but began to affect those who were scared for me, and trying to help me out. But even then the people who keep trying to help you, get tired of helping a helpless person.
By April, I felt what it was like to truly be alone. Shortly after that, I had constant suicidal thoughts. “What if I just let a driving car hit me in full speed? What if I drank the entire bottle of NyQuil tonight to help me sleep forever? Would anyone care if I was gone?”
It was my lowest point in my life thus far.
It took me a very long time to gain back control of my life. The constant fear and loneliness I felt always came back. The recovery stage of my life took years to complete. Sometimes I feel like I’m still at that stage of my life. In some sort of strange way, I can only imagine this is what PTSD feels like. But after it all, I came out of it a better person. Those traumatic events help define me because I am who I am because of them. It’s why I’m an advocate for proper mental health awareness and self-care.
Many people don’t realize that being mentally healthy is just as important as being physically healthy. People will live most of their lives with these problems; some are too afraid to admit that they might be mentally ill because of the stigma mental health has. “People with mental illnesses are dumb and stupid, they’re just damaged goods” is just one of the many things I’ve heard peopledescribe mental illness. Mental illness is just as important to treat, just how cancer, chronic illnesses, and physical illnesses are.
I was lucky to get myself out of my own depression. I know a lot of people who aren’t fortunate enough to handle their depression and get out of it. Depression is so much more than “just being sad”. People who have depression attempt and commit suicide more than any other diagnosed mental disorder. It constantly makes every feeling you have ten times worse; you feel lonely when you’re not, you feel hopelessness and unworthy when you’re not, and you feel sad even when you’re smiling.
All people heal differently. I know my coping mechanisms may not work on some people, and that’s okay. As a survivor, many other people’s methods of coping didn’t work on me. Find your own or tweak some of these universal tips that I most certainly found helpful while coping with depression:
Write down how you are feeling in a journal. Keeping strong emotions bottled up inside isn’t healthy for anyone. If you feel like your inner bottle is filled to the rim, empty it by writing down how you feel. Releasing that on pen and paper helps you organize the emotions that you’re really feeling. It puts those feelings out in the world, and not stuck in your mind.
Find a hobby. My hobby when I was trying to get over my depression was watching TV Crime dramas, oddly enough. I started to watch The Killing and interacted with the Twitter community that these two women created. That fandom seriously saved my life. Find something that will ease your mind. I know a lot of people who use art as a source of relaxation; so grab an adult coloring book and color. Draw/paint something. Relax your mind.
Go for long walks. Every now and then when I need to clear my mind, I get out the house and go walking for as long as I need to. Focusing your energy on walking and being naturally alert of the things around you will help you clear out any lingering negative thoughts you may be thinking or feeling.
Always talk to someone when you are feeling down.I use to bottle up my emotions because I always felt like nobody wanted to listen to my issues or problems. When I realized that the only way I was going to get a second opinion on things was to talk to someone else, that’s when I found my one person to always talk to when I’m feeling down. My best friend, Obie, is that person for me. Finding a person who will allow you to talk will be hard to find and trust at first and if you can’t find someone to talk to, there are communities out there dedicated to talking to you when you are down. Just know you are not alone.
Always know that this feeling is temporary and things get better. When you experience something that was traumatic or life-altering, at first it does leave an emotional scar on you that could take a really long time to heal; I’m still trying to let mine heal after all these years. Just because you can’t make the scar disappear completely, doesn’t mean you can’t overcome the effect of it. Look at your emotional scars as motivation to come out of things stronger and better.
Don’t be afraid to get help. Sometimes, your last resort is to finally go and see a therapist and have a professional handy to help you with any psychological issues. You are not weak for doing so, but rather really strong for admitting you need the extra help. The quicker you accept this and look past it, the faster you’ll feel better about yourself.
At the end of the day, your mental health is extremely important. If your mind is healthy, you will start making decisions that are healthy for you. Your mentality is your reality, so make everyday a great one by simply taking care of your mental health.
I made it my mission to get my mind healthy again. I survived it. You can too.
-Liz (:
*All images included in this post belong to the person who created these wonderful, beautiful statements about mental health and self-care.
This had to of been the longest week ever, and I have absolutely no reason why it felt that way.
Despite a little hiccups this week, the outcome of it was really positive and really set the mood for the rest of the month. I want to do these updates about me on a weekly basis by ending my week on a positive note, even if the majority of the week wasn’t. But that’s for future reference; this week was actually a good one!
Obviously, my birthday was this week! My birthday was a quiet one this year because it was too cold to go outside and it was on a Monday. Instead of wasting it by shamelessly refreshing my social media accounts for the “HBD” posts, I decided to be positive about it and make this blog my main focus of that day. Because of that, my birthday turned out to be one of the most positive ones I had.
TNTH was launched! A little fun fact about this: this blog was very last minute. I didn’t plan anything ahead of time, and this wasn’t something I wanted to do for a long time. I simply started the blog out of fearlessness; I wanted to do something different and instead of letting my anxiety tell me to not do it, I did it because I wanted to do. I’m glad that I did, because creating TNTH has allowed me to share who I am creatively through my own expressive writing. Grad school (especially my MA program) is very more academic-driven and lacks the importance of expressive writing, and my first semester taught me that I wasn’t gonna have time to do anything else but academic writing. I am learning to balance both of them out, and I hope that I can continue doing so when the semester starts. Finally, thank you guys so much who checked out the blog and who keep coming back to check out new posts. I am not only doing this for me, but for you guys too! I hope that we can build a community of readers on here one day.
I got my nose pierced. Speaking of fearlessness, I went to get my nose pierced one morning this week and I’m so happy that again, my anxiety didn’t get the best of me. I guess this week had this theme of testing out fearlessness, because I keep doing things spontaneously and I hope that I stick with it for the rest of the year.
I spent the weekend with Obie. For those of you who may not know Obie, then I guess you really don’t know who the hell I am. I’ve spent my birthday with him for the last 5 years, and although I didn’t get to spend Monday with him, we did a belated birthday celebration Friday night into Saturday. When I tell you that this man can cook… you wish your favorite could. Totally kidding, but it’s one of his many perks that I like about him. He made dinner for us last night, had a couple of drinks and just relaxed. That’s one of my many perks: you don’t need money to razzle dazzle me. Just feed me, obviously.
What’s to come: This next week will probably be a carbon copy of this past week, minus the celebrations and such. Classes start up in two weeks, so this week will probably consist of me pre-planning TNTH posts for the upcoming weeks and brainstorm more ideas. Of course, I’ll probably see Obie during the weekend. I know he’s putting on a talent show on Friday in Harlem. Next Sunday, my family and I will be celebrating “Christmas in January” as I like to call it (More on that during next weekend’s update).
Here’s to a new week, and here’s to making it positive and productive!
Sometimes, winter just isn’t your season. Your skin dries out, it’s too cold to do anything, and sunny days are rare to come. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t like the winter season for these reasons and get depressed during the winter, it’s completely normal.
Many people experience this actually. It’s called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or seasonal depression.
Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, is a self-diagnosed disorder that usually isn’t that serious. It only lasts for a couple of months, typically when the weather gets warmer. Once diagnosed by a professional, they are able to treat you if the symptoms are severe.
Instead of completely saying you might have a mental disorder, I’m just going to say you have a case of the Winter Blues.
It’s extremely important to take care of yourself during these next few months. Surprisingly, most suicides occur during the Spring season, the season that symbolizes rebirth and new life. It’s believed to be the reason why many suicidal people attempt it, but that’s a different story for a different post.
Just like any other type of blues, it is curable. Personally, I like the winter; my birthday is in the winter, I like winter clothes, and I don’t sweat like a pig. Sometimes though, I do feel the effect winter has with it’s long, ever ending cold days.
But, always know – the winter does not last forever.
Embrace the perks of what winter brings. Do the things that are socially normal to do at this time of year. Drink all the hot chocolate you want. Wear those baggy, fuzzy pajamas one of your family members got for you last Christmas. Sit under layers of blankets and binge-watch your favorite show on Netflix. If you’re not a home-body, don’t let the cold affect you from enjoying your time outside. Still have fun and beat the cold! Find something that you can only do during the cold season, like ice skating. If you live in older climates, go sledding or skiing.
Spend time with people. Don’t let the cold be the reason why you don’t spend time with your friends or your significant other. Why would you wanna watch movies and TV by yourself when you can do so with someone else? I like to spend my winter days with my S/O, relaxing and staying warm watching pretty much anything in bed. You’re spending quality time with the people you love without spending a dime on plans. That’s what I call a successful winter day.
If you’re home for the holidays, make the most of your time being home. I never went away for college, and even at 23 I still don’t think I’m ready to leave everything behind, but I know those who did and are still away for college, and my the time the new year rings in, those same people are wishing to go back to school to keep themselves busy. If I went away for school, I’d make the most of my time home. If you’re allowing the cold weather to dictate your catch-up sessions and stops to your favorite places in town, you’re not doing it right.
Enjoy the snow at least once this winter season. After awhile, staying out at home due to snow can get pretty annoying and repetitive, especially if you live in an area that always snows. Why despise it when you can enjoy it? If you have siblings or have neighborhood friends close by, have some fun with the snow at least once! Embrace your childhood self and have fun! It is only snow and you can go back inside whenever you want. If you’re not one to go outside in the snow (like myself), then just sit next to the window and watch the snow fall. The prettiest moments of snowfall are when it still continues to snow once the sun goes down, and the sky is this pink/purple color. Seriously so breathtaking.
Instead of feeling sad and boredom, occupy yourself with things you normally wouldn’t do. When you come to think about it, it’s pretty much impossible to have nothing to do at your house when it’s cold outside. People are so used to being on the move and going places that they never really spend quality time with themselves. Having “you time” is essential to fighting away the winter blues. When it’s too cold to go outside, color in an adult coloring book. Find new music to listen to. Clean out your closet and make room for the Spring clothes you’re dying to buy. Always try to do something to pass the time, and before you know it, your day will be over.
Most importantly, take care of yourself. Sometimes, the winter causes more than just boredom to occur. You’re cooped up in your own thoughts, which builds up anxiousness and sadness within yourself. If you’re starting to feel like the winter is tearing you apart, always remember that it’s only temporary and that seasons do change. In the time being, take care of yourself, both mentally and physically. You’ve made it through many other winters, and you can sure make it through this one.
No matter what season you feel your lowest in, these little tips can help you get through the three month period. I typically follow those tips during the summer because that’s the season I don’t always feel my best in. I still make it through every summer perfectly fine, with some positive things coming out of it. Your winter blues will take over you if you allow it to. Instead of automatically giving a negative stigma on the season, find some unique things that you like about winter! What’s your favorite thing to do in the winter? What’s your favorite thing to wear specifically in the winter time? What are some of your favorite places to go in the winter?
This was me. The awkward “just turned into a teenager” 2007 me.
I honestly can’t believe that 2007 was ten years ago. 10 years ago, I was this awkward little girl who thought being a teenager was going to change everything; boys would like me, I’d start actually doing my hair in pretty braids, I would wear lip gloss, and all the other possible girly, teenager things. HA. Transitioning from being a pre-teen to a teenager wasn’t all that easy for me; I didn’t know how to deal with puberty all that well, and despite being in an honors class all three years of middle school, 7th grade was the hardest out of them all.
I will say this though; 2007 was a special year for me because it was the year that I started to identify myself as a writer. I wrote in my journals like usual, but I also explored poetry. And the rest is history.
It wouldn’t have been such an awesome year to look back at if I didn’t experience the torment of 7th grade with these people:
Last day of Seventh Grade.They swore they were cool playing Yu-Gi-Oh cards all day, everyday.The Girls of 730.Bodies Exhibit School Trip.Totally bad-ass teens hanging out during Lunch.
Me and my group of friends were pretty inseparable. We always hanged out at lunch together and play stupid games like “Dare or Consequence” (it’s where my two best friends at the time had to kiss each other in Spanish class because one of them never wanted do any of the dares… ahem, Justin; it’s why he had to hump a tree in the school yard one time as a consequence and probably will never live it down).
New York Hall of Science in Queens, NY
We all pretty much went to the New York Hall of Science about 4 times that school year because it was seriously such a trippy place. (And I thought it was cool to take a picture of me in a cut Magic School Bus thing there… again, I was an awkward person.)
My friends meant the absolute world to me. We pretty much spent all hours of the school day hanging out and being immature and silly teenagers. Of course though, like every teenage girl, I never really had one best friend at the time. In fact, this was the first time I had two:
Why were they so interested in this bag of chips beats me…
Lissette was my first junior high school best friend. We were a perfect balance of what friendship was; she was the goofball and laid back one, and I was the smart, sometimes too serious one. This one time, there was a food fight in the lunchroom during our period, and of course she participated in it. The lunch-aid, known to be the cross-eyed one who always used to yell at her, came over to stop her out of the dozens of people who were throwing food. Lissette being Lissette, she looked at her, and pretty much mimicked her, cross-eyed and all, and when I say I was dying of laughter… I still remember it to this day. Although we both grew out of our 7th grade selves, we still do keep in touch with one another. She’s studying to be in the medical field and I’m at least a better writer than my 2007 self.
Justin was my second best friend in junior high school. He used to hang out with all the girls in our class, because, every girl in our class thought he was cute, including me. Despite all of that, he was a typically the person I hanged with on school trips (we actually became friends when we all went to the NY Hall of Science the first out of the 8 million times we went). He was the only friend of mine who was chill and didn’t do anything crazy, which was weird knowing all the people in our group of friends were bat-shit crazy. Ten years and him being a complete foot taller later, he’s pretty much the same person, just more mature and more chill… if that’s even possible.
School trip: 6/18/07.
Despite discovering myself as a writer that year, I was also introduced to theater in a very odd way. 2007 was the first year my middle school was going to put on a musical production, and that year it was Annie Jr. Now, I’ve been a singer my whole life and for awhile it’s what I wanted to do, but because the stigma that school plays have of “not being cool”, I never auditioned for the play. What I did do though, is perform at the Talent Show my school had. Two weeks later, the director of the play had told me she saw me perform at the Talent Show and wanted me to be a part of the play last minute when one of its original cast members dropped out from the show. I said “sure why not” and there I was, being the role of “Star-To-Be”!
“NYC! Just got here this morning! Three bucks! Two bags! One me!”
Despite being this newfound teenager, it meant that I thought I was old enough to finally start getting into the trends 2007 had to offer.
Having a Myspace profile was a must and you had to learn how to search and code properly if you want a really nice looking profile layout.
AIM was the only way to contact your friends without the awkward “is [insert friend name here] there” question you had to ask when you called their house phone.
Scene/Emo was the look of a teenager. (I can still hear the overcrowded Hot Topic stores.)
Akon and T-Pain literally took over the music scene, whether it was their own music or being featured in a million other songs.
Converse were the sneakers to have if you weren’t into Nike or Jordan.
Wearing tank tops over your t-shirts were a trend, and I still don’t know why or how that even happened.
The LED light up belt was everyone’s favorite accessory that spelled out their names like a Bodega store front advertising “COLD DRINKS! COFFEE! CIGARETTES! SOLD HERE!”
Everyone, and I mean everyone had a PSP.
Everyone, and I mean everyone knew Fergie’s “Fergalicious” and Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” word-for-word.
The Jonas Brothers were the next big thing, with their songs “Year 3000”, “Hold On”, and everyone’s favorite; “SOS”.
Sidekick was the iPhone of 2007 basically.
The movie Superbad came out in theaters and although I was too young to see it, I’ve seen the “Mc Lovin” upcoming attractions, and I declared my nickname as “Lizlovinnn”.
Despite the struggle I had finding myself in the midst of becoming a teenager in 2007, I sometimes forget how great the year was. I have memories that I can tell for days and pictures that captured these special random moments that were taken for granted at the time. I can’t believe it was ten years ago. To see where some of these people are now with their lives; some in college or graduating college or are now mothers and fathers to their own children, it’s insane. Ten years ago, we were all still kids. We were all young, careless and free.
So, fun little fact about me: I’m one of those girls. When someone asks me what kind of music I listen to, I say “pretty much anything.” 99% of the time, they roll their eyes back at me. But it’s true; I’m the type of music lover that does gravitate towards a certain genre, but when I like a song, I LIKE a song (Just ask Obie; he’s the reason why I’m up to date on all of the Fabolous mix-tapes.)
When I’m not secretly partying by myself with my really loud “bops”, I’ve been going back to these specific artists/albums/playlists on my Spotify playlist a lot lately:
This 2007 hits playlist.Ever since 2017 started, I’ve been curious to see if I remembered any of the songs that were hits 10 years ago, and this playlist doesn’t disappoint. Sometimes, user-made playlists can either be really good, or extremely bias (in other words, this 2007 Hits playlist could’ve been just a playlist of heavy metal/Myspace Emo songs that came out in 2007). This one though is SO GOOD. Every song on this playlist will have you living in complete nostalgia. I know I have!
A whole lot of Fifth Harmony, especially this unreleased song.I am not going to lie and say that Camila Cabello leaving the group did not affect me because I’ve been fans of theirs ever since their X-Factor days. I mean, I wasn’t surprised that Camila left 5H (I actually didn’t like her a hell of a lot, but that’s a different story). This unreleased song was recorded back in 2013, initially for their EP, Better Together. Before the group got all big and famous, this is what Fifth Harmony sounded like: a young, bubblegum pop girl group that sang about real empowerment (Again, not saying that “Worth It” or “Work from Home” were bad songs, they were just… confusing girl-empowerment songs). What I’m saying is that this unreleased 5H song really hit me close to home because the message is pretty much what I’m planning to make 2017: fearless and the world is mine.
Speaking of 5H drama; this edited 4H version of “That’s My Girl” . I don’t know why I keep going back to this song on YouTube practically every day since I discovered it, but there’s something so satisfying about listening to a song you love without a member’s voice in the song. This edited version of “That’s My Girl” only has the voices of Lauren Jauregui, Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, and Dinah Jane showcased; all the parts Camila Cabello sang where edited out. Don’t get me wrong, I was listening to the real version of this song ever since 7/27 was released and I still love it, and even without Camila in this version, it’s still just as great. I’m excited to see the direction the remaining four members will take their music in 2017.
This “Punk Goes Pop” cover of “Chandelier” . I occasionally like to listen to rock or punk music, and although Sia’s original version of “Chandelier” is possibly one of my favorite songs of all time, this cover of it is almost just as amazing as the original. I always envisioned this song to be a very powerful piece, and Pvris, the band who covers it, does an amazing job heightening the power ambiance the song already has. I believe even people who aren’t into punk music like that will like that, because of the power the song carries.
This Kelly Clarkson cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”. If you’ve known me for the longest of time, you will know that I am possibly Kelly Clarkson’s biggest fan. I was that ONE GIRL who cried her eyes out at 8 years old when she won American Idol in 2002. She recently released a few of her live covers from her 2015 Piece by Piece Tour (which I went to and it was the best night of my life). Kelly, being an 80’s baby, is always covering songs that are before her time & WAY before mine, or songs that I don’t really know because, again, she’s an 80’s baby. She released the ONE SONG I actually knew from Radiohead, “Creep”. A lot of people have covered this song to this day, but I believe Kelly’s cover of it is one of the best. Prepare for instant goosebumps towards the end of the song. You won’t regret it.
Lastly, this throwback song of “The Baddest Girl” by Pentatonix.Since then, Pentatonix has come out with a full-length album for their original songs, after they gained popularity and success through YouTube making covers of Top 40 hits. “The Baddest Girl” is possibly their first original song they put on an EP; this particular one was on their first EP, PTX Vol. 1. I always looked over it because when I was introduced to them, I was only interested in their covers. Now as an all-around fan, this is now one of my favorite originals of theirs. Scott Hoying, originally the unofficial leader of the group—excuse my language—SANG HIS ASS OFF in this song. The other members, Mitch Grassi, Kirstin Maldonado, Avi Kaplan, and Kevin Olusola are all equally has talented, and with their harmonies and backtrack of the song (oh, yeah – if you didn’t know, they are an a capella group), the song is a masterpiece on the album. Of course, their newer originals are a lot more complex in harmony and now almost all members now get a chance to shine in a track as the lead, “The Baddest Girl” is great considering this is the first original they produced and released.
I promise, my musical selection will be more diverse next time I post a music entry for Topic Tuesdays, but with the devastation of 5H’s split and nostalgia of 2007, I’ve been pretty hooked.
Happy Birthday to me, and to the official launch of TNTH!
If you’re here, thank you so much in advance for checking this out. It means the absolute world to me knowing that people are clicking the blog link to come check out what’s this new and spontaneous thing that I kept talking about for days straight. This really was something that came up outta the blue, and I decided to go ahead and try it.
So, here I am. (:
In the near future, I will be developing a schedule of the days that I post and what you can look forward to on those specific days! It might change in a few weeks due to school starting soon (and grad school literally eats up all my free time), but I will try my best to keep up with the schedule that I’m anticipating.
So yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it, and I’ll let you guys check it out! 😀
With the new year officially making through its first week here, many people who make New Year Resolutions typically begin to lose sight of them because that “new year” feeling everyone felt this time last week is starting to vanish away. Typically, people who tell themselves they are going to get healthier by working out call it quits in the first two weeks of the year. They either opt-out due to the over-crowded gyms this time of year, or just the simple fact that it’s extremely hard to leave your house when it’s below freezing or when there’s snow coming down (totally my excuse of why I haven’t done any outdoor exercising in awhile). Other reasons why could just be the lack of motivation: when life simply just happens; you lose your job, you receive some bad news, or when other obstacles life throws at you, it could be hard to stick your New Year Resolution of wanting to lose weight.
Never let things take you away from the bigger picture: to better yourself because you owe it to yourself.
If you’re having trouble keeping the big picture in mind when trying to achieve your resolution, here are some ways and tips that I try to keep them in mind:
Tell yourself that with good things comes time. Sometimes you’re just so excited to have some change in your life that when really, you’re trying to make a long-term goal as a short-term one. My biggest problem that I have with this is that I want to see the number on the scale go down as soon as possible. I’m dying to see myself physically lose some pounds in my body and in my face, but something like that doesn’t happen after drinking a bottle of water and exercise the first few days. Long-term goals like this take time, dedication, determination, and consistency.
For long term goals such as losing weight, make little short-term ones. I learned with my goal of losing weight is that it’s hard to cut every unhealthy habit out of my life cold turkey and replace them with new ones that my body isn’t familiar with. Instead of completely quitting sugary drinks for a strict water lifestyle, switch it up. Make a smoothie once a day to have something with a little bit of flavor. If you can’t make smoothies, just have a glass of juice or soda once or twice a day, but make sure it’s just that. For me, it’s extremely hard to cut soda out of my life because I’ve drank it for so long, my body begins to go through caffeine and sugar withdrawals, and it’s the absolute worst thing to go through in the world. Instead, I cut the amount of glasses I drink every week so that my body knows ahead of time that I’m not giving it as much as I used to, and it will also adapt to the changes I’m making as I make them. If you’re consistent with these short-term goals, your long-term goal will start coming in effect.
Don’t think of it as a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change. My sister told me that a few months back when we all went to see my aunt in Jersey, when ask if she was still on her diet, she said that it’s not a diet but a lifestyle change. My cousin being a pre-teen and stupid, whispered under his breath that it’s still a diet. He was wrong though. My sister has been eating the way she has been for about 3 years already, and I see the changes her body went through because of it. As a person who is just starting to be more considerate in what I eat and drink, it is hard to see it being anything more than a diet because, let’s face it, a diet is something one does when they want to lose weight. But that’s where everyone begins to fail at losing it; they give up on it. In our minds, “diets” always appear to be something one does to lose weight fast. When you tell yourself “I’m changing my lifestyle habits” instead of saying “I’m going on a diet!” You’re not only helping your body adjust to these changes, but the losing weight part of it will come naturally on its own.
I’m not saying that you won’t have a few bumps in the road when achieving such a goal like this one. I know I had fell out of it and got back on because, let’s face it, ya girl loves to eat. Just because that happens, it doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Don’t let one hiccup make you feel hopeless. Just keep going, and believe in yourself, always!
Letters From Liz. 