Undeniably Me.

It's a hard reality to realize and come to terms with the fact that growing, in all aspects, is never ending. There will be bumps in the road and there will be hard times. Life isn't all cupcakes, butterflies, and unicorns after all.  I try to stay positive each day. I try to continuously go-go-go. I try to smush down emotions and insecurities and anxiety and all the other scary things that you don't typically want to show. Pretending and making my way day by day with a forced smile at times. Because when people ask, "How are you doing?", most don't really want to know the ugly parts. "How are you doing" is typically just a formality. So, "I'm doing good!" I can just keep pretending both for others and for myself. Because it's so much easier to hide than to show the raw reality of what actually is.  I have been struggling with my anxiety again. Those that struggle with anxiety or any other mental health issues know that it's a j...

All the aunts and uncles in the world know how great it is to get to enjoy the crap out of your niece/nephew....until you get tired and then just hand them back over to your sibling. I know I love it! 😂 I am literally always down to help him with alllll the things he asks of me. There's the rare occasion, though, that I'm tired and just don't feel like doing it, but I know my sister is available so I send him to her. Don't judge. Aunts get tired, too.  Today he gave me a gift that nearly made me cry. I was about 10 minutes into my workout of the day when he walked over to me and handed me something that was wrapped in brown paper. He says, "Tia, you know how you always help me with school. I got you something." He hands it to me and I open the package and its the cutest red cup that says: Thanks Teach! I hugged the life out of him and covered him in kisses after thanking him. He said I squished him into a pancake. Such a silly boy.  This little dude is ridicu...

Everyone is forever growing and learning. Though I constantly tell my 6 year old nephew, "I know everything!", that couldn't be further from the truth. I just don't. Many people don't even know themselves fully. GUILTY! What I do know is that, these days, I am absolutely dedicated to making myself a priority in my life. That doesn't mean I'm buying myself all the things or being at all materialistic. What I mean is that I am making sure to take even at least 10 minutes out of every day to focus on myself. Sometimes that includes listening to an audiobook to grow and improve mental health and mindset. Sometimes that includes indulging in skin care routines or a warm bath. Most often for me it consists of getting in my workout for the day! So much benefits come from moving your body every day! & not just physically, but mentally as well. I know for myself it is often therapeutic. It's basically an outlet where you can push the crap out of yourself an...

I am a straight up hot mess and apparently I have my dumbbells everywhere; including left outside from after workouts. As I was cleaning up the other day, I picked up an 8 pound dumbbell. I realized how little it seemed to way to me! I am currently in my 3rd week of Muscle Burns Fat Advanced (MBFA). Which will be technically my 3rd finished program since starting up my health/fitness journey back up. These days, I am using 20lb as my heavy dumbbells and 12lb as my light/medium. Before starting MBF I had done a full 100 day program some time ago and got amazing results. With that program, though, I was using 5lb, 8lb, and 10lb dumbbells! The 10s were my heavy at that time.  So to realize the growth that has happened this time, is simply mind blowing. I am growing immensely physically and MENTALLY! I have been taking in all sorts of knowledge from the incredible women in my fitness community and reading all the personal development audiobooks. My entire mindset is different this time...