Tag: blog

Blogust 2018: The Series, Self-Appreciation Saturdays

SAS: News Culture Could Be Playing a Role with Your Anxiety. (8/4/18)

liz

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Hey, guys, welcome back to TNTH.

I wanted to write this post because I believe this affects a lot of people in our generation; not just those who suffer from anxiety disorders. I’ve recently been watching a lot of people online and in my neighborhood discuss various things that have happened within the last month, and these things have been happening since the year started, to be honest. We could all pretty much admit that the first major thing in the year that had everyone’s eyes wide open was the mass shooting that killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida at Stoneman Douglas High School back in February. Since then, things have piled on top of each other since then. The latest event that has everyone in complete shock is the fact that a four-year-old girl got ran over by a car who didn’t even think twice to turning back to see what they had hit, while the mother of the child was simply tieing her shoe. Also, it’s been said that the person who ran over the kid has a family member who is in authority, and threatened the mother to call ICE on her if she pressed charges. Whether it is true or not, it’s still a goddamn scenario that could easily be played out.

One thing that hit close to home was of the incident that happened in The Bronx on June 15th. Fifteen-year-old Lesandro “Junior” Guzman-Feliz was brutally murdered in front of a bodega by a group of guys with a machete and left him on the sidewalk to die. This 15-year-old kid got himself up, ran down the back where the hospital was, and died inched away from the hospital. On top of that, the entire thing was recorded on cameras outside of the bodega with people passing by, looking at these guys drag this boy outside on the sidewalk. It’s disgusting, and extremely triggering to anyone. 

What sickens me the most about these type of news events is that there is always a video of the violence happening on camera. There are two videos of two different children getting killed all over the internet, and nobody is looking away. 

The news culture has become a place of the grotesque; it’s now a game of “who can report the most gruesome events of the day faster“. We see people getting shot and murdered in videos, we see people getting stabbed to death in videos, and I guess we reached a new low: watching children get killed.

As a person who constantly thinks of the “what-if” scenarios on a day-to-day basis, these type of things are extremely triggering to my well-being. Those kids in that high-school shooting didn’t know their Valentine’s Day was going to end up the way it did. Junior did not think he wasn’t going to see the next day when dropping off bus fare to a friend down the block from where he lives. That mother did not know she was going to lose her child when she put the laundry together and took her to do laundry with her. These people did not know their last days would be like the way they ended up being, and I know I am not any different. Events like this make people not want to send their children to public schools because they’re afraid that their child isn’t going to return home from school at 3pm and instead receive a phone call from the police asking to identify a child they found dead. In all honesty, people are more afraid to go out to fun events (especially after the Manchester shooting in England after Ariana Grande’s concert) because these fun events could come with a price of your life. I’m not saying things like this haven’t happened in the past, I honestly believe it’s the way news outlets report these type of things.

Let’s take the Boston Marathon bombers in 2013 for instance:

After reporting the Boston Marathon news for almost a week, most news outlets interrupted their regular programming to report live at a literal hide and seek game between the bombers and the SWAT team. They tracked the guys down and followed them, found them, surrounded them, and killed one of them in an entire day. It was literally like watching a scene from an action movie. To this day, I never understood why it was necessary to report minute by minute on a tragedy that affected hundreds and their families. Yeah, it’s news (and important news) at that, but showing such triggering an unsettling footage isn’t “letting the news be known”. It’s (to an extent) glorifying the event. It’s why so many recent mass shooters who stay alive after the incidents claim they are inspired by past mass shooters who had their name known for weeks on end and now for the rest of everyone’s lives.

Our news culture is extremely unhealthy for everyone, especially those who suffer from constant thoughts of these worst-case scenarios actually happening.

I’ve been terrified to go to certain places in my life because of the stories I hear and see on a day-to-day basis. I avoid certain areas in my own borough in NYC because of all the crazy and violent things that I hear happening there. While there are people who are able to watch these kinds of things and still live on with their lives, there are people who live in fear because of them, and it causes us to develop conditions that you wouldn’t even think of happening a couple of years ago.

I mean, I was told that I could be a possible agoraphobic. 

Now, I’m not saying that you should be oblivious to the outside world and not care what goes on; that just shows your ignorance and avoidance to some really serious issues going on in the world. Plus, it’s impossible to avoid the news in this day and age where the news is on every platform and screen you interact with. Sadly, it’s something you can’t just avoid and to all intensive purposes, you shouldn’t.

What I’m saying is that if you deal with constant thoughts of worst-case scenarios and you function the way you do because of these scenarios, take some time to breathe and recollect yourself. You don’t have to read pages and pages of breaking news. You don’t need to watch these videos of the violence on every social platform. You don’t need to know, hear, and see everything about a very triggering event, and that’s completely okay. Knowing every little detail and having knowledge about an event are two different things. Inform yourself, don’t harm yourself.

As to those who still get very affected by these events and don’t live with these “what-if” scenarios constantly on your mind, just turning away from the media once in awhile is good for your mental health. Take time for yourself during these moments of negativity. Also, know that you can’t live your life completely avoiding the world, and we as people can only hope that we are able to live on to see our dreams and futures potentially playing out in reality.

As for those like me, we’ll be alright.

-Liz. (:

TNTH Related Stuff

Happy Thanksgiving! (& some other stuff to discuss.)

liz

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Hey guys, welcome back to TNTH.

Happy Thanksgiving, TNTH readers! Whether or not you celebrate the holiday, I hope everyone has a “first official day of the holiday season” and eat up all the food you want! I personally don’t look forward to Thanksgiving for the food; I really enjoy it for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade because it’s always been a tradition of mine to sit in the kitchen with my mother and watch the parade as she gets ready to start cooking the food. A typical Thanksgiving day for me is just that: watching the parade, the dog show, and doing homework for the rest of the day.

Also, Thanksgiving is definitely a day of reflection for me. It reminds me of the year as a whole and who I’m grateful for being here for me in the year. This year, I have a lot to be grateful for; this year my family and I personally went through a lot; so I’m grateful that even though we’ve all been through a lot, we still believe that the only people we’ll have in life are our family. I’m also incredibly grateful for Obie for continuously being there for me whenever I needed him the most. Thank you for being around when I’m happy, sad, stressed, anxious; pretty much thank you for being around 24/7. Seriously though, thank you for having such a kind heart, and thank you for allowing me to see that.

Of course, I am also grateful for the people who continuously show up and support me on TNTH, whether they know me personally or if you’re someone from around the world! I personally want to thank you all for supporting and reading TNTH for the last 11 months. it’s been an adventure writing for the blog and having the tiny community we have on here. Again, thank you for reading and for being a part of a journey that I had no intentions of going on when I started 2017!

Which brings me to my next topic:

TNTH isn’t officially back from hiatus. I just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a great day, and to let you all know that I have plans to make TNTH even bigger and better than it was before. But before I do that, I have to wrap up this semester! So, like I said before, TNTH will be back the week of December 18th!

If you’ve been here from the beginning, you would know that I launched TNTH on my 23rd birthday this year and in January 2018, it would be a year since I started the blog; I want to celebrate this milestone! As I mentioned on the TNTH Facebook Page, I’ve been following a content creator I’ve known since high-school, (you can find her on her Youtube channel and her social media accounts under “MermaidQueenJude” if you’re interested in seeing what she does) and she is currently daily blogging every single day for the month of November, and I really enjoyed following her along with it. I decided that for the entire month of January, I will be daily blogging on TNTH! I will finally have the time to write content for you guys, and the best time to celebrate my birthday month and TNTH’s anniversary month will be a “Blogaversary Month Thingymabob”. The name is pending. 

If you’d like me to talk about something while doing this 31-day writing spree, please let me know either here, or under this post on the Facebook page!

Again, thank you guys for everything you’ve allowed me to express and talk about on this blog. This blog has opened a new door for my writing, and I hope I get to do something like this for the rest of my life.

I’ll see you guys in December! I got papers to finish! (and parades to watch and food to eat!)

 

-Liz. (:

Important

Hurricane Relief for Puerto Rico. 🇵🇷

liz

Hey guys, welcome back to TNTH.

I wanted to come on the blog to inform you about Hurricane Maria and how you can help those who are and have been affected by the storm, particularly those in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico, although a hotspot for vacationers, financially aren’t capable to repair the damage Hurricane Maria caused. As a Category 4 hurricane, Maria is the first hurricane to directly hit the island in 100 years. The island, as a whole, does not have power, which means simple survival tasks like eating and drinking clean water are slim. Because of the financial issue Puerto Rico has, there’s a possibility that the island will not have power for 6 months. It’s scary and life-altering, especially those who don’t have anywhere to go in the time of reconstruction of the island.

Most of my Puerto Rican family live on the island and have lived to see both Hurricane Irma and Maria hit them full force in a time span of two weeks. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to see and hear that the beautiful island it once was is now completely destroyed.

As Americans, we need to acknowledge that Puerto Ricans are also Americans. Please do not ignore them just because it’s not one of the 50 states. Treat this tragedy as you did when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and when Hurricane Irma hit Florida. Puerto Rico needs the most help they need, and it’s only right to help give back and spread awareness about this.

If you or anyone you know has family or friends who live in Puerto Rico, share this post. Below are a couple of phone numbers to call if you are trying to check on anyone who is in Puerto Rico, as well as a Refinery 29 article of all the organizations and donation pages to help the Caribbean Islands get through this hard time. Below is just the couple of donors that help Puerto Rico specifically:

Puerto Rico Check-In Phone Numbers:

  • 202-778-0710
  • 787-777-0940
  • 877-976-2400

 

Organizations & Donation Pages for Help/Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico*:

  • The local nonprofit ConPRmetidos is raising money for relief to communities in Puerto Rico impacted by the hurricane.
  • The first lady of Puerto Rico Beatriz Rosselló and a group of companies created Unidos por Puerto Rico to help the victims of the storm.
  • The Hispanic Federation is raising funds to help with emergency relief in Puerto Rico.
  • The Puerto Rican women’s health organization Taller Salud has created a relief fund for families on the island.

*These listed above all come from the Refinery 29 article; there are more options to donate and help the other islands affected by Hurricane Maria and the ones listed above are just a few of the many pages you can visit to help and donate.

 

In times of need, we all need to come together. Simple as that.

 

-Liz. (:

 

 

 

Topic Tuesdays: Random

Ten 90’s Products that 90’s Babies Will Remember!

liz

Before we get started, can we all just notice how “Buzzfeed-ish” the title of this post is? 

Anyway, hi! I was born in 1994, which makes me an actual 90’s kid. I remember living in the 90’s, liking 90’s stuff, and vibing the 90’s culture like it was nobody’s business. Sometimes, I wish I was able to just go back to the 90’s just to remember how different it was. You always hear people say “I wish I was a teenager in the 80’s”, but in all honesty, I’m very glad that I was a kid in the 90’s. Being a kid in the 90’s was the way to live because everything that was 90’s products was targeted towards kids and teens. I think kids ruled the world in the 90’s. Anyway, here are some products that hit me in the feels of nostalgia. I hope some of you who read this feel the same way.

1.) Nintendo 64

This is probably the first thing people think when they think of 90’s products, and that’s because this was the 90’s. My sister had gotten the Nintendo 64 for Christmas in 1998, and when she unwrapped it, she nearly exploded with excitement. (No seriously, there’s a legendary picture of her screaming and holding up the box sitting in one of the photo albums in my house). Some of the best video games I played in my childhood have all been games from the Nintendo 64, like:

  • Mario Party
  • Mario Party 2
  • Mario Kart 64
  • Pokemon Snap
  • Pokemon Stadium
  • Snowboard Kidz 2
  • Mario Golf
  • Diddy Kong Racing
  • The Legend of Zelda
  • This Rugrats game that I can’t remember the name of
  • Banjo-Kazooie (which I used to be afraid of)

2.) “Think Pink” Barbie Girl

Now, you must be wondering why this basic ass Barbie girl is featured on this list. While, yes, this was a 90’s toy I personally owned, the only reason why I added this on the list is that of the cassette tape that the doll came with. Guys, when I tell you I used to jam to this song, I jammed out to this song. Me and my sister played this tape too many times in the day to the point where the tape was getting so worn out, the girl’s voices began to slow down and sound like baritones more than sopranos.

This was a 90’s bop for sure.

3.) Betty Spaghetty

Guys. These dolls were weird, but they were so much fun. You were able to dress them up and bend their bodies in different positions, and they just looked cool. I remember someone saying that “poor people had Betty Spaghetty while rich people had Barbies” – but Betty Spaghetty was unique and different. They definitely don’t make toys like this anymore.

4.) Twirl Girl Fairy Dolls

It’s 2017, and these colors are still so very popular. I don’t remember if I had any of these exact dolls, but these dolls flew. I used to love seeing how high they flew and seeing them twirl in the air. To come and think about it, these dolls were sturdy and made pretty well if they’re made to be thrown up into the air just to fall back down. They don’t make them like this anymore.

5.) Chupa Chups Spice Girl Lollipops

These lollipops define the 90’s. Every girl and Spice Girl fan ate these lollipops as soon as they saw Baby Spice eating them in photos and in Spice World. They still sell them, but these special edition lollipops came with stickers that I and my sister put almost everywhere in our house. Hmm, now I want one. 

6.) Sock’em Boppers

 

Okay, I never had a pair of Sock’em Boppers, which was probably for the best because I and my sister would’ve knocked each other into a coma. I was talking about old 90’s toys with Obie and asked him if he owned a pair, and he said he did but he always used one hand and gave the other one to his nephew so they could beat each other up. It was cute.

7.) Tamagotchi

I was too young to have the patience to actually have one, but my sister was addicted to these. She had a couple of them in the years they were popular, and she somehow kept them alive in a long span of time. I remember one time where she gave one of them to our mother to take care of when she was in school, and of course, it was dead when she came home because my mother didn’t remember to feed it. My sister was devastated. Now, she laughs about it.

8.) Talkboy Tape Recorder

Most people may recognize this from the Home Alone Movies as the device Kevin used to manipulate adults in the movie. All of a sudden, every kid in the universe wanted one so they can pull pranks on their parents. I had like a mini version of one that wasn’t really good, but my sister had this nice purple/pink one that looked like this one, and this girl recorded everything in every funny voice or just the sake of having something to record. She also played every cassette tape we had in the house on that damn Talkboy. I know she regrets throwing it out.

9.) Polly Pocket

Okay, these were the original Polly Pockets, not those big doll ones that they made because people probably complained about the little tiny size that they previously were and how every child in the world either lost them or choked on them due to their ridiculously tiny size. Again, I was one of those kids who lost almost all of my Polly Pockets as a kid because they were tiny. Whenever I did have them, though, they were really fun to play with, especially with the little sets that they came with. My sister, who was 8 when we had them, was more careful with them than I was. she never lost them, and her sets always looked more put together than mine. What can I say; I was a 4-year-old girl playing with tiny ass toys.

10.) Arthur Plush Doll

When I was little, I used to hate talking dolls. I was deathly afraid of them and I did nothing but cry when I was given one of them. I visibly remember crying my eyes out when I was given a talking Barney plush doll. My first talking doll was this Arthur one, and this one didn’t scare me. Before there was Pugsly, there was Maria, who was a Spanish looking doll that my grandmother named Maria so homegirl didn’t have an actual name, and before there was Maria, there was Arthur. I specifically remember carrying around this doll all over Brooklyn because he was like my best friend. He was soft, plushy, and he called me his friend. It’s funny; Obie and I were talking about this doll a couple of weeks ago, and long and behold – he had the same Arthur doll back in the day too. He actually remembers some of the sayings that Arthur said, which warmed my 90’s heart immensely.

 

And that’s it for now! These were just some of the many 90’s products I remember having as a kid, but I know there are so many that I actually missed.

What were some of your favorite 90’s products?

 

-Liz(:

Mantra Mondays

Mantra Monday #4 (7/24/17)

liz

You are the only one who can limit your greatness.

I was having a conversation with my best friend the other day about this concept; that even though there are people in your life who are close friends to you that when it comes to further your success, you are the only one who can help you achieve that. Everyone else is worried about achieving their own success that people forget that you would want your people to succeed with you. At the end of the day, if you’re in a situation where your group of friends is practicing the “every man for himself” lifestyle, it’s only right to do so yourself. There’s no purpose in trying to help your friend out if they aren’t going to help you back, so why not begin to be there for yourself? Achieve your own success, follow your dreams at your own pace, do what it takes to satisfy your needs and wants to succeed. Only you know how you work, what you can handle, and most importantly: what you want.

-Liz (:

Self-Reflection

Metanoia: Why I’ve Been Gone.

liz

Hey, guys. After a long hiatus, welcome back to TNTH.

I’ve spent these last few weeks trying to write this post and having it reflect on the process I’ve been going through as I’ve been going through it, and every time I’ve tried explaining myself, it still doesn’t fully explain why. So excuse me if this sounds confusing, or cheesy, or down-right crazy. I promised myself that TNTH is a safe place of honesty and self-expression, so here I am doing just that.

I left for many reasons. I’ve written the list over and over again and I’ve finally come to terms with those reasons. Those reasons, or causes perhaps, made me live a lie for the last 5 months, I’ve been indulging in this life that was not my own, and eventually, I started to break down. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally.

Long story short, the pressure builds up inside of you and everything that you held back for months on end began to pour out. My honest, raw, and purest-self showed and when I look back at it, I remember how vulnerable I truly was. How desperate I wanted everything to end; the self-hate thoughts that circled through my head would not leave me alone. I realized things needed to desperately change before I was back to where I was years ago when the pain caused me to then become suicidal. I needed to find myself again.

During my time away from the world, I’ve listened to a lot of music. Specifically, I listened to Camila Cabello’s “I Have Questions” on repeat. It was the type of song that took you to a place you never knew existed in you. Every time that song plays on my phone, I feel like I fall down this trap door of every issue, problem, and insecurity of mine and I’m forced to come in contact with them all. Long story short, the song comes from her forthcoming debut album, The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving. She shares that the album is a “journey from darkness to light; [how she lost herself and then found herself again through three stages: the hurting, the healing, and the loving.]”

I’ve taken these three stages of self-discovery and applied it to my own life. It’s when I realized that I have the power to fix what I want to fix, find what I want to find, change what I want to change, and to simply heal the hurt so that I can love again.

This is who I was, who I am, and what I’m working to become.

Continue reading “Metanoia: Why I’ve Been Gone.” →

TNTH Related Stuff

#TBT Comeback Announcement!

liz

My summer has officially started, which means goodbye grad school Mami, hello full-time TNTH writer! That’s right, my entire summer is now going to be dedicated to the blog, which means #TBT’s are coming back to TNTH!

#TBT comes back next Thursday, June 1st and although they don’t specifically talk about a year, these little posts are most likely gonna be me reminiscing about some good memories, bad memories, some firsts of mine and so much more! I have stories that I haven’t ever fully shared, so that’s what #TBT’s are looking like for the rest of the summer!

Again, I can’t thank you guys enough for coming every week to check out what’s new on the blog. I may not know you guys personally (or I might do), but I still appreciate every single one of you readers.

So, while you wait for next week’s post, check out the #TBT category on TNTH !

I hope everyone who is off college-time has an amazing summer!

-Liz (:

Topic Tuesdays: Random

First Year of Grad School: DONE!

liz

After 74 pages combined in four final research papers, 8 presentations, 8 novels, and a shitload of articles later, I finally completed my first year of grad school.

Here comes the wonderful summer break!

If you’d like to know how my first year went in depth, be sure you read my “What Grad School Taught Me” post; I feel like a lot of college students have this misconception about grad school and when they finally get into it, more students drop out of it more than they stay in – so I feel like that post could help people make the decision if grad school is for them or not.

Anyway, it’s just so surreal to be going into my second and final year of grad school in the Fall. My first year definitely came and went by so quickly, it still feels like something completely new for me. The experience I had this past year has been such a reality check for me, yet it’s been such an amazing journey thus far.

Going to grad school, especially at CSI, was never in my “5-Year Plan” when I had my life planned out when I was a sophomore in college. This time last year when I was getting ready to graduate with my bachelor’s, even then I couldn’t picture myself in grad school. A year later, I’m halfway through and the first year had unexpected encounters and moments I surprisingly didn’t think I’d get. For starters, I found myself a group of decent school friends who I’m going through the experience with. I’m not alone, and it’s good that this time around, I’m actually making friends with people within my department; I graduated last year not knowing anyone within my English department because I wasn’t so heavily involved in the program oddly enough. Now, I have a group of friends who plan to graduate with me on time in 2018, and I’m excited to be celebrating this accomplishment with actual school friends of mine.

Back to 2017 though: this semester alone has been one of the roughest semesters I’ve had solely because of insane professors, insecurity in my writing, and just overall anxiety from the courses. Even though it seemed like it sucked, this semester taught me a lot about being a writer and how to write, and my final paper for my literature class shows it.

Also, the end of the semester means that my friend, Tori, is going to be graduating in a couple of weeks. For the past year, she has been my ride to the bus stop after class, and yesterday was her last time doing so for me. I’m going to miss our car conversations about life, boyfriends, and school whenever we did link up, but I’m honestly so proud of her. She’s going to be an amazing English teacher; any student will be lucky to have her as one.

What to expect next year!

Next year (yet alone next semester) is going to be a rough one. This last year showed me just how hard it’s going to be handling two classes, so I can only imagine how tough it’s going to be when I have to take a Shakespeare class with possibly Shakespeare’s biggest fan as my professor, and an Independent Study with the professor who gave me a hard time this semester. It’s going to be hectic and I know my life is going to go down the drain once I go into this semester, but I know I am strong enough to go through these two tough courses and do what I gotta do.

In addition to that, I was granted the opportunity to do something insanely awesome next semester. So within my school, grad students in the English program have to write a 30-paged thesis paper prior to graduating. You pick a final paper you wrote in a class and expand on the ideas already in the paper; I’m currently working on a thesis discussing the disadvantages minority writers have in academia and the way they are the most oppressed group in writing classes. Because I plan on graduating on time next year, I will be focusing a lot more on my thesis and polish it up to submit to the graduate committee for grading. My writing professor at the time, Professor Carlo, is going to be the one consulting me with writing my MA Thesis. She’s possibly one of the coolest professors I’ve had at my school, so I knew that right away, she was going to be the professor I worked with.

Because I plan to do so, I received an email from her asking me if I was interested in being her Supplemental Instructor in a class she is teaching in the Fall semester: Autobiographical Writing. Now if you know me, this is straight up my damn alley. I live for writing about yourself and your own experiences; that’s what TNTH really is! But long story short, I’d be practically teaching her class, which is such a great honor and I hope I can proceed in doing so.

So yeah. An independent study + a really hard class + this SI Leader job = one stressed out Liz. But I know I’m able to do this.

But as of now, it’s time to wait for the final grades and then my summer vacation can finally begin!

What’s going on with TNTH now that school is over?

Because of grad school taking over my life this last couple of months, it’s been forever since I had time to myself to do the things that I’ve wanted to do for months, i.e actually put my everything into the blog. I have some amazing projects coming up (which I will be announcing soon on here), and some goals I want to hit during the summer.

Although usually, I’m over the summer after the Fourth of July, I’m excited to hang out more with my best friend, I’m excited to explore more places and take pictures, and I’m excited to officially start journaling again, specifically just summer journaling (I’ll be daily journaling again for the 2018 year).

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great month, whether or not you’re officially on vacation or not, make the most out of this beautiful Spring weather! Stay tuned for a great summer for TNTH!

-Liz (:

Topic Tuesdays: Random

Pros of Journaling.

liz

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For the entirety of 2016, I decided that I was going to journal write every single day until the end of the year. For the most part, I kept up worth it and the 300+ page journal I kept is now completely full of memories, moments, and simply just thoughts I had at the time. By the time the year was ended, I realize just how much journaling the entire year helped me shape into the person that I always wanted to be.

People dismiss journaling because people classify it being something that “emotional” people do to cope with their emotions. Where, yes, it’s a place where you most likely write your emotions down whenever you’re feeling them, but journaling could be s helpful when things get a little too much to handle. Nowadays, people keep bullet journals to help organize their life and make sure it keeps them on track, so it’s not always about writing to your therapist named “Diary”. I kept a daily journal for an entire year for one reason and one reason only: to make me feel better.

I came into 2016 from having such a rocky and terrifying 2015. I felt like I was slowly losing who I was and I needed to change it ASAP. I decided that I was going to keep a daily journal that would document the year 2016. 2016 was an important year for me because for the main reason that in June, I was graduating college. Who would’ve thought that there was so much more that I actually documented that are now life-long memories? It’s crazy how life works that way.

I don’t know why I stopped after 2016 was over, but I did. I noticed that towards the end of the year, my entries sounded a lot more like Facebook status updates instead of things worth documenting, but even after that – journaling really helped improve my mental health tremendously. I know everyone isn’t a writer and may not feel it be necessary to write in a notebook without a reason, but doing so helps you “talk it out” with yourself with words.

Sometimes, all you need to do is to talk out your thoughts to put them out in the world. Journaling does that while also keeping them confidential, just in case there are just some things you don’t want someone knowing like a family problem or health problem. Personally, I was going through a lot of family problems before I started writing in a journal. Although journaling didn’t help the problems go away, it did make it easier to cope and deal with my feelings in a way that didn’t make me lash out in anger.

I also wanted to start journaling to physically see the change in myself once I finished the book in a year. Although I haven’t had the time to read 365 pages of entries, I know I saw the change in just a few of the posts that I wrote. I began to write about the happy things in my life, as well as look at myself through an unbiased lens. It’s weird because I felt like journaling made me into a “real person” again because the journal had memories and moments told in my perspective, which meant I had to trust myself enough to believe these things happened the way they did.

 

Journals of the past.

 

The fact of the matter is that I was always a journal writer. I’ve kept journals since I was 9 years old, the difference between those journals and the daily one I kept was that these other journals spoke about things that happened because of other people. “Oh, this girl told a nasty rumor about me and I was so close to beating her ass at lunch today.” “Oh my god, my crush finally kissed me in the rain!” They were about moments that involved me, yeah, but these became impersonal because they never truly showcased any growing I did over the years. I actually just recently threw away a lot of my old journals because of this very reason. Why did I want to keep journals that never represented my journey?

Besides my middle school journal, the only other journal I kept was my 2016 journal.

Sometimes, journaling just shows you the journey that you forget about being on once you’ve already been there.

Because it’s already too late into 2017 to start a daily journal for the year, I’m planning to strictly keep a summer one. Because 2018 is going to be another big year for me, I might just start another daily journal then, to document that year’s accomplishments and big events that I can’t wait to actually go through.

Pick up a pen and book and start writing. Trust me, it doesn’t hurt to try. 😉

-Liz (:

 

Self-Appreciation Saturdays

No Self-Appreciation Saturday Post! (4/29/17)

liz

Hey, guys!

Sorry, but there isn’t a post today for Self-Appreciation Saturday! I’m in the final weeks of my semester and my crunch time game is serious at the moment, so I’m spending my entire weekend trying to get as much work done for my classes as possible!

Yes, there are other queued posts for May, in this particular case I didn’t have much time to write this week, so come by on Tuesday to see another TNTH post be published!

In the meantime, you can check back and read the previous Self-Appreciation Saturday posts by clicking the bolded link or the “Self-Appreciation Saturdays” tab on the TNTH homepage.

Thank you guys for following and supporting TNTH, see you on Tuesday!

-Liz (: