This word somehow manages to have 4 or 5 meanings to me. I think it's really easy to say you have strength physically, it's really easy to tell how much weight someone can bench or how much help a person needs when moving a table or desk. Physical strength has a progress that really anyone can see. Usually a person becomes more muscular or they become more toned. Anyway the cookie crumbles it's easier to tell when you have more physical strength. Then there's emotional strength which is esentially how you handle things, how you overcome obstacles in life and how you become a better person even when you are faced with the worst (like skydiving and finding out mid free fall that you have no parachute). Emotional strength is harder to see from the outside but when you are around a person with emotional strength enough you start to see it and realize. I have talked about emotional strength before so, if you'd like to read more after this post about that click here. 

However the type of strength that I have had on my mind recently is more or less knowing your strengths and your weaknesses and embracing the weaknesses to make it one of your strengths. I am not going to lie, I beat myself up sometimes on what I am not good at, I try to make it so I can be amazing at it and if I tend to be REALLY hard on myself. (I am occasionally way, way to hard on myself *not a drill*). I guess you could say for a while there I thought that if I wasn't good at something then I wouldn't be able to make friends, or get a job, or make a future for myself. (I am hard core kinda stressing over where my life is going right now). But that's kind of irrelevant (more on that at a later date). Anyways, I digress, recently I have been realizing how I can make my weaknesses my strengths. For example: Math and I are really not the best of friends, we didn't really get along when I was younger and I have to spend A LOT of time on math now to understand it, I have to teach it to someone and practice problems tons of times before it actually clicks. I was a business major when I started college and I realized I was going down a rocky road of being miserable, so I switched my major to political science/pre-law; then I realized that I didn't love that as much as I thought either, I was bored, I wasn't enjoying what I was doing and I didn't want to be stuck doing this for the rest of my life. I was at a loss of where I was going I was making list after list of what I was good at and what I wasn't so good at. I drafted TONS of pros and cons lists. I realized I wanted to go towards a concentration where I could still doing business but work with people on expanding their businesses and their lives. Which is what lead my to my concentration of organizational communications.

About two weeks ago I was faced with a question in an interview which was "why didn't you become a business major".  Being me and not knowing what to say back I said "I am not good at math, I really haven't been". Realizing I knew my weakness but I didn't make myself marketable I was kicking myself in the foot, because a week after that interview that I realized...I am pretty good at math it's just not something I enjoy. I realized that I can make myself a stronger person by making my weakness a strength. I may not be a math genius but that doesn't make me weak or stupid it makes me human. I am realizing now that it's okay that I am not a math whiz because with a ton of hard work I am able to solve equations and make the best out of something that I don't really enjoy. 

Just because I stink at math doesn't mean that I am unable to function, it doesn't make me any less of a person-- it just makes me, me. 

There are tons of other things that other people aren't good at but that doesn't make them stupid. Some people can't write as well as others, some people can't play video games, some people can't paint their nails, the list goes on and on. 

What I am trying to get at with this long rambling is that it doesn't matter how bad you are at something as long as you can find a way to make it a little easier for yourself. You can't get anywhere at life moping over the fact that you aren't good/amazing at something. 

What are some of your weaknesses turned into strengths???

Keep Calm and Carry On 

xoxo 

Melissa 

Hey there lovely people!
I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! On Friday David and I will be heading to the BEACH! All praise, we both desperately need some sunshine and some ocean waves. While I hate...HATE packing you can guarantee I will be making a list about what to pack and then instagraming and tweeting my packing adventures.

So, moving on, I need some new beach reads, I am looking for some suggestions. So, if you happen to have some suggestions, comment, tweet, or email me them. I love your suggestions and I love hearing from everyone! (click those social media buttons kids, they do wonders!)

Some of my ideas are:

Hatching Twitter.
Divergent.
Wonder.

The list stops here since I haven't had tons of time to romp around my local used book store or a Barns and Noble.

So friends, let me know!

Keep Calm and Carry On
xoxo
Melissa

Okay kids, it's time for some real talk because I am feeling some type of way about fitness right about now. And my over all appearance. So, lets just talk about summer of 2013 I was a champion losing all the weight with a weight loss program I had lost over 20 pounds and I was confident in a bathing suit and I wanted nothing more than to wear tank tops and shorts while romping around with my friends. I was conscious about what I was putting into my body and I wasn't just eating anything and everything on the go. 

say hello to my magical robot arm ad slightly crazy room.

I wasn't even sucking in folks! 

Anyways, I realized about two weeks ago that I am looking in the mirror and thinking dear god, I have been feeling down about my actual physical appearance and I have been really, really hard on myself about a lot of things. I am also eating one too many cupcakes. *whoops*. 

HOWEVER, this is not a complaining post this is a post to keep myself accountable this is a post for me to tell everyone and myself that I can get to my ideal weight again and I will be a freaking unicorn about it. 

Of course I have a list of the goals and what I am promising myself. 

-follow serving suggestions on foods

-work out at least two times a week for at least 45 mins of high intensity cardio 

-stop eating so much on the go, be more prepared and more organized about how I plan my meals. 

-convienent is not always good for you 

-more fruit and veggies

Luckily I have an amazing support system of friends and an amazing boyfriend who is on the weight loss/operation get healthy train. He is the absolute best. 

And my friends are awesome including my twin/bestfriend Rachael, and my mom is also amazing for backing me up on my new journey. 

Time to stop being so ashamed and embarrassed and time to start kicking butt and taking names.

This is from December right before Christmas and now I am making a lifestyle change and never going back on the count of three 

ONE! TWO! THREE!

Do you struggle with eating healthy and working out?? 

Keep Calm and Carry On

xoxo 

Melissa