What is Canva?

If you haven’t heard of canva, I am about to tell you about a fantastic creation website that you will be able to use for all sorts of things. Especially if you are a creator yourself or are on social media. Canva will give you a leg up on others and it provides you with so many more options to enhance the life around you.

Canva is an easy to use graphic design website. It allows you to easily step up your game on social media, make schedules for your kids or even create your SVGs if you're a digital designer. It has so many options to choose from. The best part is that it is very user friendly. In case that doesn’t sway you, I have been working on tutorial videos to help you get started! I want to share this with you because it has changed my life in so many ways and I have finally stopped asking the question “how is everyone's instagram looking so awesome?”

Creating is something I love to do. Digital creating is becoming my specialty. I love being able to create things that other people can use and love. Recently I have been getting more and more questions about graphic design. Especially in the crafting world. There are so many more options available for crafters. But the same goes for my teacher friends and small business owners as well. No matter what field you’re in, Canva can be beneficial to you.

I want you to be able to thrive just as well. I want you to be able to showcase your talents and share your brand just the same. There is no reason to gate keep when we can all win together!

Check out the playlist I have already started on YouTube and let me know if you have a specific question that I can help you with and make a tutorial for! I would love to help you. I will continue to add more specific information about graphic design so I can help you create in a way you haven’t before!

Stay tuned my friends! It’s about to get awesome!

Writing Challenges

When I published my book back in November, the amount of feedback and questions I got was something I had only dreamt about. I had no idea anyone was going to buy it let alone want to talk to me about it. And now, I have people reaching out every couple of days, still, asking me what I did and how I did it. I am going to share my entire process here in hopes to inspire you and relate to how you might be feeling right now.

First off, I have been writing since I first learned how. The oldest journal I still have is from 5th grade. I have been writing on and off for years. I have several starts to my book all over the place. This is because I was afraid to share my story. As life went on and more horrible things happened and my depression thickened, I convinced myself I could never tell my story. I almost completely convinced myself that I could never share the true stories that happened in a way that I felt comfortable. Until one day in February 2022, I was walking with my friend Gina after we picked up our girls from school and she was talking about her book she was writing. I told her how much I envied her and how I wanted to write a book so badly. She literally said to me "Just do it." And for whatever reason in that moment, I believed I could. So I did. From February until about July I wrote and wrote over 100 some pages. Then one day I looked at it and reread it over and over. I then decided this wasn't it. I could not publish what I wrote. I wasn't ready. I couldn't do it. I didn't feel comfortable writing it the way I did. I used names, I went into great detail and relived some of the most painful days of my life. This process was tremendously hard for me. I didn't quite realize how much of a toll it took on me until later in the year. It had to grieve all over again. I was depressed in some ways, all over again. I took my anger out on people who didn't deserve it. I indulged a little too much in alcohol and made a fool of myself in front of my neighbors. All because I was reliving the hurt and pain from my past.

As hard as it was to write all those pages and then decide not to publish it, It was still something I believe I needed to do in order to heal more than ever before. My self growth journey over these past two years has led me to be someone who sees things differently. Someone who has more patience and understanding. Someone who has realized that it is actually okay to share my journey even though other people don't agree. It is okay if people don't like me or what I do. And it is okay to take a break from people who don't serve you in ways that they use to. Just because you take a step back from someone, it doesn't mean you don't love them or appreciate them. It just means that you are going down different paths for now.

Writing all of those thoughts out also allowed me to discover a new way to put my thoughts together in a way that made sense and allowed me to share it in a way I felt comfortable. I chose to turn my story into several dark poems. All in sequential order of some of the worst and life changing events of my life. I could never write it all it wouldn't make the point I was getting at. Which is, that no matter what you have gone through, no matter how terrible life may be sometimes, we have the power to change it. We have the power to move on. Everything in life is from our own perspective. We ultimately do things how we see fit.

So you see, writing this book took me almost my whole life thus far. And officially about nine months and several rough drafts to complete. The most important thing you can do is to just start writing. Everyday. You never know what will come out. But you need to try to see.

start small. Pick a memory every day and write about that. Or join my Facebook group where I share writing challenges each day to help spark your mind for writing opportunities.

You got this!

Three Ways to Feel Accomplished at The End of The Day.

There are some days that just fly by so fast that you feel like you did nothing worth while by the end of the day. You start to think about all of the things you did and then harp on yourself for spending too much time scrolling TikTok. We have all been there. I am going to share with you three ways to feel better about your day and still get a good night sleep.

First things first, get a notebook of some sort.

You could even use the note pad on your phone if digital is your thing. (pen to paper just makes me feel better!) At the end of each day, maybe while you are waiting for dinner to cook, take out that notebook and make a list of all the things you did that day. Things like: vacuuming, read a book, did the laundry, changed the cat box, took out the trash etc. You get the idea. You don't have to write down every single thing. Give yourself a number like 5 or 7.The point is once you get started, you will start to realize how many things you did actually accomplish. You will start feeling better before you know it. Make this a habit and do it everyday. Then by the end of the week when you may be stressing again, you can look back and see how you used your time even if it doesn't always feel like it. This is also a great tip if you have a specific goal in mind that you are trying to accomplish. For example, writing a book. Maybe at the end of each day you write down your word count and a brief summary of what you wrote. If you are trying to lose weight you could note about the healthy things you ate and the exercise you did. And how you held back and didn't buy that donut on donut day! Hey, it's the little things!

Number two, Make a to do list at night for the next day.

How many times have you gone to bed and find yourself laying there listing all of the things you need to do the next day? It's really annoying and feeds the anxiety we already have! Instead, write that to do list right before bed. That way when you wake up in the morning, you will have your list ready when you are to get started. There won't be any time to waste asking yourself "what needs to get done?". You know you need to call the dentist, do it right away!

Finally, phone a friend. Or text works too! Tell someone one thing you did today. Go ahead and call your mom about how you finally got that stain out of the curtains. Text your best friend with a picture of your freshly folded towels. She will get it! I mean we all have to do laundry, right? Just taking that moment for yourself to acknowledge that you are doing things is really about your mind frame, not the feedback from whoever you talk to about it. Who knows maybe you will wind up with an accountability friend who you can message through out the day about your little wins. It may seem silly but our brain works best when we tell it what to think and focus on!

Just remember, now matter what you did during a given day, you did more than what you are giving yourself credit for. Remember how important you are and how big those little things matter. I mean if you didn't put a new roll of toilet paper on the rack, who would have?

Stay positive!