Social Media and Mindset

#thoughtsfortheday

Fill your social media and home pages with profiles and people who make you feel good, who challenge you to think deeper, who encourage you to work on yourself, to be the best person you can be, and who allow you to feel more connected to a greater purpose and passion. 

There are so many beautiful people and profiles that draw you in and look good from the outside, but if you pay attention you'll realise they are doing nothing more that keeping you focused purely on how your body looks and how much you apparently are lacking when it comes to material things. 

When coaching my clients I show them my Facebook home page (Instagram is a little harder because the home page chooses what it shows you). Now I don't spend a lot of time 'scrolling' but I have intentionally set up all the important pages I want to 'see first'. For me personally, it's filled with the stuff that matters to the true me like animal welfare pages, human rights, environmental and travel, authors and thought leaders. By doing this I ensure I use social media in the most positive way. Anything animal welfare, environmental or human rights brings me perspective no matter what my mindset is in that particular moment. It is a constant reminder of how lucky I am and keeps me focused on what really matters so I don't fall into the trap of 'drama' and getting caught up in life's BS. Authors and thought leaders keep me thinking, growing, learning and constantly searching for new information that helps me continue to work on being a better person, adding value to the world, and also allows me to help and coach others more effectively. 

Many years ago my feed was filled with every bikini, fitness model, competitor, influencer etc. I came across that had the most perfect feed, looked stunning, had the incredible body and posted 'motivational' quotes, and were mostly all about nutrition, training and body goals. Now of course that was MY CHOICE to bring that into my space, however all it brought to my life was constant thoughts about food, training and working on achieving body goals. In fact the so called motivation and inspiration I was looking for and thinking I was receiving was actually coming from a negative place, not a positive one. I wasn't looking at these images thinking 'my digestion is poor, my mind is not clear, I'm lacking energy...I need to improve my food choices and lifestyle habits to take better care of myself'. It was actually resulting in me focusing even more on my external self and a place of 'I need to start sticking to my food tighter so I can lean up and look better', hidden behind a message of health and fitness. 

If you are constantly thinking about food,  training, body goals, and your life is revolving around these areas in a detrimental way, then I believe the best place to start is to clean up your feed and stop following all the health and fitness inspo, and instead start following profiles that get you thinking more about your life goals, what you want to get out of your life, who you want to be, what makes you feel good inside, and what brings your beautiful light to the world in the most brightest way.

Body Positivity?

Be proud of your body, love your body, accept your body...don't get me wrong these are all great sentiments with mostly goodwill behind them, however I can't seem to get on board with these messages entirely because I think we should be more concerned with WHY the fuck are we so focused and concerned with how our body 'looks' purely on the outside in the first place? 

All this body positive and self-love etc has the right intentions but if we look at the foundations of what is going as opposed to trying to fix the surface level stuff, the whole problem is WHY should we be focusing so much on our bodies at all? Our lives should be about actually living, contribution, experiences, making memories...not wasting (in most cases) our entire lives trying to 'love our body' and 'accept' it. I think that we should instead be working on cutting off mindless social media scrolling, manipulative marketing, 'following' influencers who 'motivate' us from a negative place and not a positive one. We need to instead be encouraging each other to get on with your lives, find things you love and enjoy and are are passionate about, spending time around people who truly love and cherish you, and having more important conversations. 

Today while I was working, I stopped and  consciously thought about whether I was 'proud' of my body or not. I came to the conclusion that I was neither really lol, because frankly it's binary. I literally have my health, the privilege to live an optimal life in a wonderful country, loved ones who care for me, and more important things to do on this planet that spending my day trying to make myself 'love my body'. I mean seriously is all that effort really truly helping the issue? Or is it in fact keeping you stuck in a headspace consumed with thoughts on how your body looks. It is yet again another way that keeps us thinking about and focused on our body and appearance.

I think the better solution for the majority of women is to actually change your perspective completely. Instead of committing your life trying so hard to accept your body, let's instead get so fully engaged in life and aim to commit our thoughts and each day to more important things that bring joy and purpose.

I guess my question is that instead of spending soooo much time engaged in thinking about our body, positive or negative, why are we even thinking about our body's that much at all?

#thoughtsfortheday

Why can't I lose those last few kgs?

Why can't I lose those last few kgs?😔

One thing I see EVERYDAY is fit, healthy young women who are ALREADY 'in shape' and look great chasing this crazy low level body fat and torturing themselves mentally as to why they can't ever reach their 'goal'. It's because sadly the health and fitness, diet industry, and society have misled you to believe that's the place you need to reach to be happy and worthy, however they fail to mention that for 99% of women it is COMPLETELY unrealistic without a huge amount of sacrifice and at the expense of being able to live a great life.

Look there is nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself or reshape your body, however let me tell you straight up...the 'ideal' most of you are chasing is going to require a LOT of commitment and dedication when it comes to food and lifestyle. It is not 'easy' and will require a HUGE amount of focus around food and training, in most cases dominating your life.

Personally I can be leaner. I've done it and know how to do it, BUT just to 'look' a certain way that is glamourised in the fitness and online world means I lose my quality of life. The only thing it would add to my life is that I would 'sell' more programs to all of you who buy into the lies and manipulative advertising you are bombarded with every day.

The last 3-5kgs you are killing yourself to lose and making your life miserable over, is usually where your body naturally wants to be, and also where it functions at its best.

The question I always ask people in the healthy category (which is most women who are active and eat a moderate diet) is 'do you want to be LEANER, or do you want to be HAPPIER???'
Because honestly that is usually the choice that you have to ultimately make💙 #truth

Reality and Social Media

Today I was looking through Marcus's iPhone album on the computer. As I clicked through the photos I realized how many photos of me never really 'made the cut'. Not that I go to outrageous efforts taking photos but I still (like everyone) judge my photos harshly against all the perfect photos of people with perfect outfits, perfect hair, perfect make up and perfect angles.

As I went back I started to save each of these images, because although at the time all I saw was an 'average photo', today I saw something more that actually hit me at a deeper level.

In retrospect these photos showed me in a different way. A real way. As a human. As me. I saw the truth in these photos and it actually upset me a little. While we all are chasing the perfect image and engaging online with the 'beautiful pictures' we tend to lose sight on who we really are, and often overlook people who could add so much value to our lives simply because they don't always have a perfect reel of high quality photos. Many of my images I admit, look 'pretty', but on closer inspection in comparison to these images, I just don't think they actually have the true spirit of who I am.

In a non egotistical and narcissitc way, I like me. I like that above everything else I am a kind person who cares. I am a deeply thoughtful person who has a crazy busy mind, which can be both a blessing and a curse. I have great perspective of what matters and am extremely grateful and appreciative for my life. I have integrity, values, and morals that I stand for proudly. I realize that no amount of money, no particular body, no amount of likes, follows or adoration will bring me true satisfaction in life. I know I have made mistakes and done some crazy shit in my life, but I have never intentionally hurt someone or done anything with malice. I have a passion for helping people, no matter how small a difference I can make. I can't help everyone, but I can treat everyone with the empathy and give them my best effort. I'm a human with a story like everyone else and I truly just want everyone to find happiness and live a beautiful fulfilling life, while being kind to others and allowing them to do the same.

It clicked to me today that I am actually really fucking hard on myself and instead of worrying about 'engagement' (not the 'like' kind, but I just really want to get my message heard amongst all the BS dominating social media in order to help people who are really struggling ) and getting the right photos, I need to just keep putting epic CONTENT out there and the people who need to hear my voice will see it no matter what the image is that goes with it.

Each of these photos actually have a memory of a moment for me, not just simply taken to meet social media standards.

#thoughtsfortheday

Rose Namajunis - New UFC Strawweight Champion

This girl just became the UFC women's straw weight champion of the world. I'm a huge follower of the sport because it is about so much more than just watching people beating each other up (which I will save for another post lol).

After the fight card ends I generally scroll the athletes pages and watch the post conference interviews as I love to see how they manage themselves publicly after their wins and loses. I jumped on to Rose Namajunas Facebook page in which her profile picture shows her with long hair. These days she has a shaved head so it was interesting to see many peoples responses to the way she looks. I briefly came across a number of comments along the lines of 'I wish you would grow your hair back', 'wow she was pretty when she had long hair' etc. alongside many opinionated comments over multiple online channels about how she now looks without hair.

I even thought for a second, wow, if she did have long hair she would be literally a UFC marketers dream as they could really drive her promotion as this stunningly, beautiful badass athlete who is now the champion. But the unfortunate part is that with a shaved head for many people she won't meet the 'ideal' of what a woman apparently 'should' look like by society, which is sadly what is wrong with the way women are viewed in this world. With the online environment being as prominent as an influence in the world today, a woman's looks and physicality are becoming even more of focal point in regards to her 'value' because it is driven mostly by 'perfect' images. 

I don't know a lot about this girl but what I do know is that she has a great message for all women. She obviously does not give one fuck about being trying to be 'pretty' based on other peoples standards, because she is more focused and committed to actually being her best, working her ass off, chasing her goals and living her dream, in her own way. She likely doesn't have time to mess around with hair every single day (nor could be bothered), because her focus is onliving her life and complete dedication to becoming the best in the world at her craft. 

I see way too many women (especially younger women) these days investing all their time and energy trying to simply look good and meet society's ideal. This is at the expense of the true gifts, talents and purpose they are here to share with the world. They suppress their minds and intelligence by blindly following along what they think they need to be to find success and happiness, to wonder why they are so miserable, anxious and lost in life.

If you are obsessing about your body, your looks, and comparing yourselves to others, I can promise you that you really are missing out on your life, and at some point you will look back in regret and realise that. I can't stress enough the importance of taking time out away from the online world and other influences and having some quiet time to reconnect with yourself and find some clarity about what it is you really want in your life, what actually brings you joy, and what truly matters. 

We as a society need to be a part of the change and instead of glorifying people for simply 'looking good', start celebrating and acknowledging women who do something more, have purpose, contribute to the world in a greater way, and have a message and vision for the world.

Being pretty is not an achievement. 

Being pretty is not an accomplishment.

Strive to be more than just a pretty face or a beautiful body!

Undoing the Damage

I can remember a time when I was younger and thought of myself as an athlete and I was inspired for improving and succeeding in sports. I truly believed that and enjoyed this part of my life. I was always a sporty and fit kid. I NEVER considered my body shape or thought about food. I was happy just playing sport, hanging out with my friends, getting into mischief at school and dreaming about all the things I had planned for life.

As I grew up somewhere this was lost along the way.

Back then I never thought about food. I just ate well and enjoyed treats. I loved exercise and loved being the fit and strong, sporty girl. I loved kicking a football with the boys at lunch and lifting weights once I entered sports development programs. Exercise was never considered to be connected with 'how I looked', it was purely about how it made me feel. Then as I got older and found my career, slowly my industry changed, and changed that. I slowly started to learn too many rules about nutrition, and once I became involved in competitive body shaping my relationships with food, training and my body completely changed.

I can clearly remember the times when I was so happy and proud that I wasn't the girl that only ordered a 'salad', but I was perfectly confident and somewhere inside had a belief that I was healthy, and I never connected that to how my body looked. In those days I actually never really got the whole ‘salad’ idea, or was aware and understood about girls and diets. 

As I moved through my late 20's and 30's something drastically changed. Food became a constant worry and stress in my life. Exercise became a 'have to' in order to ‘fix’ my physique. I even remember being told when I started out in the sport that I didn't have a good 'genetic structure', and that I didn't have 'good shape'. At time I was also told by some people I had gotten too lean, or that I looked too skinny. Other times I was told I was getting too muscular and big, to then be told by others that I wasn't lean enough or to some it I looked like I had gained weight. Looking back it saddens me that I was told to believe that my body was not 'good enough' and that there was essentially something wrong with it. 

Regardless of what shape I have been in at any point in my life, what I think people forget is that the inside remains the same. Yes our minds expand and our souls grow over time, but we are the same incredible person placed on this planet no matter how our body's changes over the years. At the end of the day our bodies will change over time and there is no stopping it. We grow, we develop, we mature, we age. 

I started way back in the beginning before the boom and what has become a massive industry in Australia over the past few years. As I look back I realize that is was in fact not what I thought it would be. I envisioned that getting my education and working hard would allow me to help other women be fit and healthy so they could live a good quality life, and hopefully prevent lifestyle related diseases later in later years. That was what all health and fitness was all about right? Somewhere along the way it seemed like it was not about that at all. It became about low levels of body fat, having abs, following ‘rules’ about food, thigh gaps, having a specific body type, and fitting the model of ‘perfection’ just like in the modelling industry. It wasn't for the majority any more about what originally made me so passionate about pursuing this goal as a fitness model and health professional.

I know I can’t change the world, but I know I can be the light for many people. I can choose integrity and truth. I may not make a difference to everyone’s lives, but I can make a difference to someone’s. I had to learn all over again in my 30’s what it is to be ‘fit and healthy’. I had to break the daily obsession with food, training and how my body looked. And now I want to share that message with you all in the hope that you to can think back to a time when you were a ‘life’. Someone with hopes and dreams. Someone who had fun and played in life. A person who at one stage didn’t have their body and food as their sole daily focus. I encourage you to challenge these aspects of your life that are not positive, disconnect to anything that sends you messages of what your ‘ideal’ body should be, and fight the programmed idea that you are lesser because you don’t fit society’s image of beauty that we are sold.

Social Media Sanity - How to protect yourself from scrolling!

A few tips on how to do social media better my babes🔀

🐝Get off the home pages and stop scrolling! You don't need to see what everyone else is doing constantly. By all means follow family and close friends, and those that matter, but stop wasting time reading all the crap you really don't need to see. Instead get out and get involved and engaged in your own life.

🐝When it comes to influencers or people on social media who in some way I inspire you, make sure they ACTUALLY inspire you some way to be a better person and add value to your life. Pick a handful who make you feel better about yourself or challenge your life and thoughts in a positive way, and only follow their posts or check in on their pages. There are too many of you following 'inspos' that if you paid attention and were honest with yourself, you would have to realize that most of them are in fact making you feel worse about yourself. This is especially true in the fitness world. You flood your feeds with all these perfect photos of beautiful women with amazing bodies and tell yourself they are (insta) famous so they are motivation for you, but they really aren't! They make you even more critical of your body, only ever reference food and training, body goals etc and make you actually more consumed with how you should look in a bikini. Stop following just because everyone else does, and start disconnecting from any accounts that are not really adding value to your life.

🐝Allow a window of time for social media. Set out a time to check in, then put your phone away. If you have kids or a partner then start to spend more time with them than scrolling social media. Imagine what your relationships could be like if you invested as much time into mindless scrolling and instead spending time with the people who actually matter in your life.

🐝Those of you who follow people you don't like or to 'watch the train wreck'...I mean seriously what a complete waste of your life! Be better than that. What kind of opportunities are you missing out on in your life while you invest your time into people you don't even like, respect, or bring anything of value into your life. Stop 'checking in' to see what they are doing. It's none of your business, and you shouldn't care. Because regardless of how their life is, they are in some part still living it while you follow theirs....instead of living your own. Again, what a waste of your awesomeness.

Don't get me wrong, there are positives to social media, just people in general don't know how to manage it. People need to have boundaries around their online environment and what they let into their world. From my experiences and exposure to so many women I see too much unhappiness and unfulfilled lives which are very much to do with social media. So while it's perfectly ok to engage with the online word, ensure you are using it in a way that it's designed to add to your life, not make it miserable. Just like everything, it's about balance⚖

PS - yes my eyes are brown😉 
This photo was edited on an app to change my eye colour for fun✌🏼️

Comparison and Self-Worth

So many unhappy women out there. Sadly mostly to do with comparison, their body and how they look in a bikini😔

Firstly I am going to give you a few tips on where change begins and how implementing these 4 habits into your daily routine will significantly improve your life.

1. Training- don't underestimate the power of moving your body. Screw how training makes you look, and instead focus on how it makes you FEEL!!! People get unmotivated a lot of the time and only get inspired to exercise when they decide to get 'fit', in shape, or lose weight. Don't use training purely to chase a body goal, as often it takes a lot of time to actual see change or completely reshape your body. If you instead place the importance of how you feel, you will get a result every single session. Training improves your mood, your energy, your self-confidence and your overall well-being. And no fancy clothes, hours a day, or even a gym required. There are plenty of free workouts online, or email me and I'll share you my free 15 minutes for 15 days training challenge💪🏼

2. Start eating a more balanced diet of the food you enjoy. Screw what anyone else does, find what works for you and enjoy. Start with a basic foundation and slowly adjust the areas you need to as you go to create a nutrition approach you like🍉🍌🍏🍒🌽🍅🍆🍞🍳

3. Meditation- Spend time every day taking some time out and doing a meditation. Again, there are loads of free ones online. They can be 2 minutes to over an hour, and can be about anything. Just google 'free meditation' and a topic (eg overwhelm, unhappy, uplifting, stressed, overeating etc)🙇

4. Read a book- Such a forgotten treasure in the world of the Internet and social media. Set aside 15 minutes every day for reading. I mean do it on the toilet if you have to lol. Self development titles are a great place to start. If you can't afford to buy a new book then you can sign up at a library.📚

People are spending too much time focused on what other people are doing and what 'success' is for somebody else. You can have all the money and fame in the world and be unhappy. I mean look at so many celebrities out there, addicted to drugs and alcohol, suicide etc. There are also plenty of people with great bodies and who 'look perfect' but have f-cked up lives.

Stop chasing other people's dreams because you are so consumed with social media and what you see online and following along with what society makes out to be 'success'. To me finding success is not a one fit answer. You can live a freaking incredible life by putting down your phone and connecting with the people around you that you love. You can be so freaking happy by finding a job that pays enough money but you are so passionate about or know that you are making a difference to the world. And don't underestimate any job! Every person is of value in the world, and even the jobs you may think of as less still make a huge contribution to the planet and people.

Sadly there are so many miserable people in the world because they have forgotten to listen to their own heart and go with what they truly want, as they are so clouded by what others want and promote as the benchmark for what being happy and successful is. If you truly have a calling to make billions of dollars or be famous, even instafamous lol, or have that perfect body, then by all means go for it and totally slay! But the whole world wasn't born to do that yet that is what majority of the world is striving for solely because that's what they think will bring them happiness. It's total BS!

There are soooo many talented, amazing, intelligent women out there wasting their gifts and not living a fulfilling life because they are sitting around following someone else posting pretty pictures on social media and getting some attention that really shouldn't mean jack shit to you. If you feel like you need more value then you need to spend more time with people who actually matter in your life, not looking for it in randoms online. Start challenging yourself ladies. Get off social media for 2 weeks and read. Go for walks and start reconnecting to your soul and think about what you would truly love to do in the world and get some clarity back.

A happy life is there waiting for anyone who decides that it's more important than doing things for other people's recognition and acknowledgement😘

Books I Recommend

One of The Most Powerful Habits for Living a Happier and More Full-filled Life is Reading.

Reading is absolutely a huge part of the 'happy game'. The most wonderful part of books is that you get to see things from another person’s perspective, open your mind to different things, view the world through other people's eyes and learn through others experiences. When I am in bookstores I feel this calmness and tranquillity. I literally always find I have this little smile on my face...complete weirdo a weirdo right haha.

If you want to improve your life across all areas then make sure you spend time away from the computer, TV and Social Media, and instead devote as much time as you can to reading. Self-development is one of the most powerful things you can do to change your life. In fact I would go as far to say, critical. The more I found my way back to reading, the less time I had for mindless 'scrolling' which truly reconnected me with who I was and what really matters to me.

Also keep an eye out for any courses, workshops, seminars etc that you can attend. Not only do you build yourself personally, but you get to connect and meet new people.

Below is a list of my 19 most highly recommended books that cover a broad range of personal development topics and 'life stuff', provide inspiration , help you expand your mind, encourage you to do bigger things, give you another look at life and understanding how to find more peace, joy and happiness. If you read all these books I can 100% guarantee you will change your life!

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

#FatShaming Lady Gaga?

This is exactly what is wrong with the world when it comes to women. EVERYTHING you are and you do in life somehow always comes back to your body!

After an incredible performance at the Superbowl, where people were in awe of her talent, the talk quickly shifts to her stomach and a skin/fat roll🙄

Number 1 - She is not a supermodel or someone who's job is to look like a perfect maniquin. This woman is an ARTIST and is famous and successful because of TALENT, DEDICATION and HARD WORK (in addition to a strong personal message), not because she simply looks cute in a bikini.

Number 2 - As a fitness and lifestyle coach what hope does that leave for us? We are more likely to be expected to have our body be in a specific shape, so her tiny stomach roll pretty much makes me and the other 99% of health and fitness professionals, and sports athletes...'out of shape' or 'fat'. I mean seriously what kind of message does this send regular woman.

Number 3 - Everyone has a 'fold' or 'skin', or some jiggle when you jump around, bend over or move. I mean come oooon...unless your body is solid rock there is no way your skin or body doesn't move in some way when you are moving. Unless you stand completely still there is no way to hold the perfect body and angles unless you are one of the 0.0000001% and genetically gifted (even then it's pretty much impossible).

Number 4- Again, seriously. WTF? A women's worth and value shouldn't have jack shit to do with how she looks in a bikini. I mean the performance was incredible, the world went nuts about it, it came with a strong empowering message, and yet STILL the final conversation comes down to her 'stomach'. This world is going next level mad!😏

Number 5 - This is exactly what is wrong with society when it comes to health and happiness. Knowledge, strength, compassion, kindness, general health and wellness,and the ability to do a fucking good job has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with how a persons body looks.

Oh and one last thing - I cannot believe people even noticed it?!?!

Maybe it's time people started looking more at a women's achievements, qualifications, written content, and contribution to the world instead of focusing on how perfect she looks in a picture or piece of clothing and calling that inspiring?

Realize that everytime we reference a successful woman's body type, weight, or shape, there is a young girl out there watching who is intelligent and a total world changer, that will now hold back her gifts and start doubting herself and actual worth as she starts to learn her body is apparently way more important than her mind.

#foodforthought #bethechange #superbowl

Raw and Real

Just so you all know, I fucking struggle with the same things you do almost every other day! I get so many messages from girlfriends, clients, social media contacts, saying how strong I am, resilient, and wise etc.

But I think it's right for you to all know a few things about me you don't see through social media. Don't get me wrong my life is great, I am happy, I am healthy, but life is a journey. I have to experience all the highs/lows, good/bad, and total BS that you also do, because we are all on a path that expects us to grow throughout our lives.

1. I still invest my time and energy into so many people that don't even give a fuck! I'm a helper, that's what I do! I try to save people from themselves and help them in whatever way I can, health, mind, finances, literally everything. And you know what? Most of them are unappreciative and never even say thank you😏 Of course I get disappointed initially, even angry, but you know what, everyone is fighting their own battles so who am I to harbor resentment. My job in life is to simply be a kind, compassionate and helpful human, regardless of how another person conducts themselves. You just have to forgive, learn from it and move on with your life.

2. People who should support me don't, and others, even friends try to sabotage me! 🤔Yeah that shit has happened to me for many years. It's a really shitter but you know what, you can't change other people's behaviours. At the end of the day you just have to understand that hurt people, hurt people. When people try to damage others, lie, and create dramas, it's sadly because they are extremely unhappy in themselves and their life. You just got to 'get on with it' and do you! The truth is always out there, and no matter what, you will still succeed if you work hard and do what you do with passion and integrity.

3. Injuries and issues that interfere with your health and fitness goals! Gosh this is totally my daily pain in the ass (although not literally haha🙈). My left shoulder girdle was injured 10 years ago in a car accident and this year has been an absolute bummer when it comes to my fitness goals. My neck and back have severely locked up so many times this year to the point I haven't been able to move for days. It's constantly nagging on me and all I want to do is be back training again. So yeah that frustrates me to no end almost daily. All I can do for now is get treatment, rest it, and do what I can, which is some basic cardio like bike and stepmill. At least I can move right!

4. I get disappointed in myself constantly because I feel like I don't do enough in the world, I'm not making enough impact, and constantly questioning my 'true purpose' on this planet. My mind is like a spinning wheel and it literally never stops. I even said to Marcus once that one day I'm going to keep a notepad and write EVERY thought that goes through my head each day! I think people would be in shock if they saw how busy my mind was. I'm not here to be 'average' so I carry a burden every day that is heavy as fuck, to be a better human and change the world and peoples lives in whatever way I can.

So you can see 'I get it'. I'm not immune to the crap life throws at you. No one is immune beautiful people. Everyone has struggles with life, their health, relationships, money, families, careers, studies, the environment and the world which we live it. It's all same but different, if that makes sense.

So how do you push forward?

The first way to manage life's bummers is to practice gratitude. Write a list or chat it out with your partner about everything you have to be grateful for in your life.

Secondly know your value. Your value doesn't change based on what other people think or say, or the mistakes you make along the way (unless your intentions are bad and you hurt others).

Next read, read, read! Get back to reading books! Any books, but most importantly self development. You need to build yourself from the inside, and books allow you to get a clearer perspective on certain things and life in general. They open your mind to other people's experiences so you can learn through them and understand different views of the world. They reinforce that everyone has struggles and that you are not alone, and empower you to be a better you.

Lastly know that nothing lasts forever. As soon as it feels like everything is going great, it again turns to shit, then before you know it you are out the other side looking back wondering how the fuck your got through it. Just do your best with what you can everyday and know that your best will change along the way. Life will continue to come with seasons so you just have to learn to peace out and ride the waves.

Being 'strong' is about a choice! Its not about a particular feeling or place you are at, it's about deciding to pick up everyday and keep going, while making the most of what is thrown at you along the way. I am an 'Empath' so trust me that my path is extremely challenging, but I know I myself that I MATTER and am worth it! If you are unsure of what that means click below and you will understand who I am a little better.

http://mysticalraven.com/…/15-things-youll-notice-when-your…

Live your life in the way that makes you happy, and be ok with the fact that often things fall apart, so better things can fall together.

I'm seriously cheering you all!

"She made broken look beautiful and strong look invincible. She walked with the universe on her shoulder and made it look like a pair of wings"

What the fuck are we doing?

As I sit here broken hearted and with tears literally rushing down my face, I can't help but ask over and over again "What the fuck are we doing?"

I feel really alone. Maybe it's just that I have not connected myself with the right people, or am spending my time around the wrong environments. All I know is that I feel a huge responsibility, but also completely helpless. There is so much hurt, pain and devastation in the world and it can be solved, I truly believe that, so why does it feel like the majority of humans just don't give a fuck!

I know I am going through another stage of massive growth where I am feeling a greater responsibility as a human, and as enlightening as it is, it is tough. I am finding it increasingly more difficult to focus and work on my businesses because I am drawn to read more, research, watch documentaries and educate myself further on more important issues. I have such a strong belief in women but I feel that our genius and gifts are being wasted. It seems like no one can see the bigger picture. The idea that in life we all have a greater purpose on this planet and we need to reach our potential and not settle for meaningless shit that we have been brainwashed as a society to believe is important.

The environment is being destroyed, people are starving and in pain, animals are being hurt and mistreated, yet all we seem to care about is money, status and our own selfish wants. I don't blame people in general or harbour resentment. What I believe in my heart is that people don't know what they don't know. If people could be shown what is truly happening in our world in a compassionate and understanding way, then I trust people would become more aware and pro-active in the decisions they make each day.

I don't wish for fame or a following for BS ego reasons, but in some way I am questioning myself everyday on how to build my online presence so that I can influence the younger generation of women. I have so many thoughts running through my head in how to deliver a positive and inspiring message, but literally don't know where to start. All I know is that I care. And I care fucking deeply. I want to reach women especially, and inspire them to be epic humans that do great things on this planet and lead future generations to the importance of being a exceptional human. Do I go back to teaching in schools? Do I start to follow the social media trend of sexy photos and showing my body to get that attention? Do I try to get into politics? Do I try to get back into modelling, or maybe presenting? 

The planet is hurting. Humans are hurting. We can do better. There is no need for suffering and pain in the planet or any living thing. I don't have the answers but I do know that there is something inside me that was built for greater things and I will work so hard to answer that calling. For now though, I guess writing about it is the best way to start. If my words can open one set of eyes, connect with someone, or move a person in some way, then it all starts there. 

I don't know if this post makes sense, nor if any future ones will for some time. Right now it is just important to me to do 'something'.

Peace and Love xx