"I want to be intentional with my time..."

Today, January 3, 2016, marks the absolute greatest day of my existence thus far.

Today I met my role model and absolute inspiration - Alex Elle. (Grins uncontrollably!)

For those of you who do not know about her, she is an author, entrepreneur, visual journalist, blogger, and a total breath of fresh air. I discovered Alex way back in high school on Instagram and have been a fan ever since. She's just so positive, honest, beautiful, inspiring, and so so SO much more!

Today she held an event along with Joanna Andrae, creator of Wandering Wellness, at Georgetown Yoga, where a group of strong, beautiful women gathered and took part in yoga, peaceful meditation, and developing our affirmations for the upcoming year. How excellent is it that I'm in the DMV area around the time Alex Elle holds an event? Guys! I've never been so overwhelmed with joy in all my 19 years. Hearing such strong women share their stories and express how rough their previous year was, and how they intend to move forward and address this year as a fresh start was such a liberating experience. 

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We were given a goodie bag filled with treats from Joanna, including a hand-written card. The one I received stated, "You are a bright light". Now, we opened our bags and I saw my card after I had just expressed to the group something that I love about myself and something that I don't love about myself.

I indicated that I am a very vibrant person; I enjoy dancing how I want to, singing in the wrong key, laughing loud and uncontrollably, wearing whatever I want, dyeing my hair 10,000 colors, etc. I love how exciting I can be, how I'm not easily offended and usually willing to share a good laugh rather than pick a fight. But, hand in hand with what I love about me, is what I don't like. I don't like how I tend to tone myself down, or withdraw from being me 100% in fear of what people would perceive me as. "She's so extra", "Omg, stop being dramatic", "Why are you always so bubbly?". 

Somewhere along the line, I allowed people to tone me down and dim my brightness. I allowed my fear of not being accepted to hold me back from being me. And today, I was able to forgive myself and become aware of what was making me so unhappy. My card was literally a gift from the Universe; a beautiful reminder to remain a bright light, to spread my light, to be as emotional as I want, to cry when I'm hurt, to laugh when something is hilarious to me, to smile at strangers, to sing out loud with my headphones in while in the presence of strangers, to be me. 
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The world is such a cold, disheartening place and somewhere between 2014 and 2015 I lost my compassion and I've learned to suppress emotions that need to be felt in order to grow. I'm extremely thankful for today and how I've started my year off. The title of this post is "I want to be intentional with my time" because that is how one of the many women I met today decided she is doing with her year. This line stuck with me because I intend to do the same. I intend to take in each moment and become very aware of my actions and how I feel. I want everything I do to count, because what is life if you're there, but not THERE? 

I'm so grateful for people like Alexandra. She was open, compassionate, humble and nurturing. If you don't already know about her, please go follow her and read her blog!
Instagram: Alex_Elle
Twitter: @AlexElleTweets
Blog: AnthrSnday.com

I'm honestly really excited about how I approach this year and I hope you all are too! 

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