You are more than you could ever imagine.

I used to practice yoga quite frequently. However, with college and work and all else in-between, I slacked on how much time I was committing to myself and my practice. I recently have made it a point to get back into the habit. This is just back story for a realization I had today.

So my realization came to me this morning while in a yoga class. The instructor at the end of the session talked about mantras. I found that I had no mantra of my own. (Unless you count the Spongebob Squarepants theme song I frequently sing to fall asleep...) I pondered this for a while after I left the class. What was my life mantra. Of course I could just take on Hakuna Matata, but what fun is stealing a mantra when you are a creative soul like myself?

A mantra I found through my google search I especially
liked. I will most likely add it to a collection on mantras
for myself to use and remember.

Mantras by nature are phrases that people believe have significance to help us feel better and find purpose in our lives. They are little encouraging words for when life wants to stomp on you and drag you down. I pondered what my mantra would be for myself. I must I admit that I googled mantras to get some ideas of the length and topics that my mantra could cover. Then I went to the drawing board and asked myself what had life taught me thus far that I could believe when I was having a rough day, week, or month? I find one of the most important things in my life that I have learned and continue to be reminded of daily is my ability to do anything I set my mind to. From getting a job I and other never believed I would be offered, to joining a sorority and allowing it to have a positive impact on my life, to moving on from an ex-boyfriend, to all the little daily tasks of life, like getting enough sleep or losing weight.

I have continuously amazed myself and  have not yet figured out why I keep second guessing or disbelieving in myself. Perhaps this is just human nature and is hard to overcome. However, this fact of my life lead me to the realization: "You are more than you could ever imagine." I had found my mantra. I was surprised to find how powerful I found saying that phrase to myself. I looked back on some of the times that were filled with self doubt in my life and thought about how it would have felt if I had boosted my negative thinking with my mantra. What of the possibilities that may have come from other times I may have failed and thought negatively? 

I think my new found mantra is positive and reflects myself for the most part. But there are always times in life where it is hard to be positive and seeing the finish line seems impossible. Now when those times occur in my life, I will be comforted by a mantra I can now call my own. I hope this post helps anyone who may be seeking a mantra, or feels that at their lowest times there is nothing there to help. Although it may seem cliche to say a phrase to make you feel better or motivate you, words are very powerful things. Remember, a word is the catalyst to action.

A Word on Litters (or Families)

I promise we are a "normal" family!

Family is not important thing, it is everything. - Michael J. Fox

Families are a wonderful thing! (Well most of the time.) About 95% of the time families can be loving and supportive and fun. The other 5%, well families can be a pain in the butt and you may want to strangle them. However through all of the worst parts of a family you still love them.

I have always said about families that you don't have to like them, but you do have to love them. This has helped me keep my sanity when family members are driving me to drink or making me lose my marbles (or ball of yarn, which every you prefer). I put up with the bad because I love my family, and they bring me an immense amount of joy. If it were not for them, I wouldn't be the person I am today and I wouldn't have a strong foundation for myself to grow upon.

ALL THE LITTLES!!!

I have found that families do not always have to be biological. I not only found a new family when I went to college, but I found two new families. I decided (after years of thinking sororities were horrible) a home within a group of women who were strong, beautiful, independent, smart, funny and everything I could every imagine who supported me and wanted nothing but the best for me. I couldn't believe that I, the sporty and outdoorsy tomboy had joined a sorority. But I found, just like in any family, I was accepted and loved with open arms and for who I was. I also was blessed to find a Big Sister who has always loved me unconditionally. (I was so excited because I had never had a Big Sister, and she would come running in the middle of the night if I ever needer her.) My Chi Omega family was and is still an important part of my life. Just like my real family, they support me and are there for me ever up and down life hands me. 

The work fam is "normal" as well...

I also found a family in work. People will tell you to love what you do. I think also you should love who you work with. I have one of the best jobs anyways, I get to watch sports and have fun while helping people learn and grow and have fun themselves. What else could I ask for? I also throughly enjoy the people I work with. Again, they say the people make the place, and this is most certainly the case when it comes to work. I have an Intramural family as well as my biological and Chi Omega families. They too support and accept me. I have gained as much from them as from my other families.

Family is important to me, therefore I sought out a work environment that cultivated this sense and created a family dynamic. I also sought out a sorority that fostered these relationships. I find that I was successful and motivated to stay in the field partly due to this fact. I am blessed in may ways to have many types of families, and I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.

In conclusion, families can be found and created in many places in life. All you have to do is work a little to create that family tie. At times they may frustrate and annoy us, or drive us up the wall with their quirks, but families are important because those are the people who build us up and there when the world tears us down to build us right back up again. 

A Beginning, a Middle and an End

It is the start of a new year and of course with a New Year, comes resolutions and good intentions of starting things that may eventually be dropped until the new year. However, I would like to think of this year, not as having resolutions, but of starting back up old habits and continuing on my journey of becoming a better me. I would like to think of 2016 will be the year that I start to focus more on myself and the things I want to do and accomplish instead of focusing on others more than me. (By others I mean Netflix.) But anyways, I thought I would start a blog chronicling my journey and all the observations I make and the things that I happen to learn along the way. My hopes are that when I look back upon my post, I will see growth and progress and hopefully some new insight to life that is beneficial to myself, but that may help the random person who has fortunately for them, stumbled upon my place of recording my thoughts and observations of this beautiful, messy world. Thus, this is my beginning.

 I find myself in the middle of a lot of things. Arguments between friends and family; the middle of the current book I am reading, the middle(ish) of grad school; my resolution of working out more (started before the New Year just so it would not be classified as a New Year's resolution) and so on and so forth. (This list could continue until the end of time, however, I do not want to bore you with lists.) Hopefully I do not find myself in the middle of this project and starting to slack on entries and then continuing into not posting at all. But, I make a point about middles, because at every point in time where there is a beginning and an end, we must not forget about the things that are in the middle, because they can be just as important.

Finally, I am at an end, and the most noteworthy end I will talk about is, you guessed it, the end of another year. 2015 was a great year. I graduated college and decided I would go back to school. (Mostly for the graduate assistantship though.) I received a job offer that I am very thankful for everything I have learned and gained from in just one semesters time. I also was fortunate enough to be able to travel to some new places and some ones I had been to before that I had not been to in a while. (The most noticeable was Helena Montana which is absolutely beautiful and stunning. I also found a really cool pair of earrings!) Mostly, what I have taken from 2015 is that I can do anything I set my mind to with hard work and dedication, as well as there are many opportunities this world has to offer and I must be open and willing to then to take them. As 2016 moves on, I will keep these things in mind and see where my journey takes me.

Until the next time,
Miss Kitty