welcome to my blog!

I was recently scrolling on Pinterest the other day and came across this video of a girl explaining how loving someone is never a waste, even when they may not love us back. It was a beautifully written paragraph about how she keeps love letters and texts and mementos from people who may not even talk to her anymore because at one point, they did love each other, and maybe that was enough. How she radiates kindness and love to those around her even if they don’t deserve it because that’s the kind of person she wants to become. The concept of this got me thinking and I wanted to expand on it here because the goal of this blog was to be both serious and fun and everything in between. Maybe this stream of thoughts is helpful to someone else or maybe you can relate as well 🙂

It is no surprise to anyone that the last two weeks have felt emotional and stressful for many people. Scrolling on Instagram and other social media platforms soon presented itself to be fruitless and anxiety inducing for a lot of us, myself included. I think many people saw this election cycle and weeks after to either really focus on themselves and the type of people they want to become, or use it as a time of hate and division. This isn’t to point fingers or blame either side, it is just the truth of our political system. I’ve seen both the best and worst in people in the last couple of months and it baffles me that we, especially as Americans, have taken things so far politically that we’ve forgotten how to be humans. How to listen to each other. How to respect each other. How to love each other. Regardless of who your friends or family voted for, we are all still called to love.

Once I took some time away from social media and focused on my own goals for the person I want to be, I kept coming back to the same motive. Love. To be loving and kind in spite of hate and division, and to be focused on spreading joy when those around us are negative. To focus on listening to my friends and family, and having empathy and compassion for those around me. To pray for our country, our leaders, and the division that seems so rampant in times like these. Everyday I would remind myself of these goals, these actions, that I could do to spread some love to those around me. There’s no promise they will give that love and kindness back, but at least you tried and possibly made that person’s day better.

This even applies to things that are not political at all. How many times have we judged before knowing someone? Or gossiped before knowing the whole story? Or been cold and emotionless to people because they have hurt us in the past? I’ve thought a lot about all of the people and friends I don’t talk to anymore and how I acted when hurt, betrayed, or cut things off too soon before I knew the whole story. I’ve been challenging myself this past month to really assume the best and give love first before walking away in anger. This in no way shape or form means to not stand up for yourself or stay in toxic relationships, but it does mean to extend more understanding, love, and kindness to those going through things that we may not see at first glance.

Overall, I just wanted to come on here and share these thoughts of loving those around us, even when it’s hard. The holiday’s coming up are even more stressful and overwhelming for some people, so sharing love and kindness first can truly make all the difference. I want to challenge every one reading this to think of ways you can show love to your friends and family this week. Maybe its writing someone a note, or getting them flowers. It can be helping them cook dinner or watching their favorite movie with them. Most importantly, listening and respecting one another, even when we don’t agree, can make someone feel loved and understand in this difficult season. Because loving someone is truly never a waste 🙂