Friendship in Times of Need

It's Tuesday and my weekend was far from relaxing. I've come to realize that this summer isn't necessarily carefree for those closest to me, or myself. The positive vastly outweighs the negative, but I think we all need a little extra love and positive energy right now.

Which has led me to this unstructured post that is an open letter to friends from friends everywhere.

via

Dear you,
Some days I need a little more love and support than others, but I'm too buried to reach for it. Some days I need you to send me that text message of support, that might not even get a reply. Some days I need you to understand that I'm not replying because I do not love and respect our friendship. I have yet to reply because I don't know what words to say, terrified that the one word "Hello" to someone I know cares deeply for me, will break the dam and all of the emotion and tears will come pouring out.

 Some days I need to hear "That blows" instead of a solution to my problems. Other days, I need those solutions and I appreciate every little bit that you do. When you bring food to my house for us to cook and leave the leftovers for later in the week, I appreciate it. When you sit by my side, silent, while I cry, I appreciate it. When you come over and ask for advice, worried to put more on my plate, I appreciate the distraction. 

 I need you to understand that some times I do not talk to you for weeks and weeks even though you might see on Facebook that everything is wonderful and I seem to be spending a lot of time with so-and-so. Please do not get jealous, as I can assure you, my love for you has not faltered. Sometimes I need the support of certain people, but many times, they need mine. I might not text you for a few days because, while I'm busy at work, I am spending every spare second supporting someone else who is going through something tough. I want to talk to you and I won't ignore you. But I can't spend my day worrying that you are upset because I haven't texted you when it goes both ways. 

 Please, do not be afraid to reach out to me any time of day or night that you could need me. I will do everything in my power to love and support you.

Forever your friend,
Me.

Do you have any friends going through a rough time?

Being a Warrior Queen Means...Me

It's never been my intention to make this blog about looks or anything like that. When people hear I want to start my own magazine they say "Oh! Like Seventeen?"

No.

I don't want my magazine/blog to be about looks, fashion, getting the guy, mainstream things, etc...there are already countless magazines that do that.

I want my magazine to be more similar to BYou [which, pardon me for a moment but scared me because I want to change the world, I don't want someone else to...]. But then I stopped having my little hissyfit in my head and realized that...I just want to change the world anyway I can.

I join and volunteer with nonprofits because I want to help. I write articles that I think are meaningful, and I try my best to be supportive in everything. There is a niche for me - even though the magazine may have the same ideas as me, we are not one and the same, nor would our magazines be one and the same. [[Thanks daddy for reminding me of that!!]]

While coming to that realization, I also realized that avoiding talking about looks and body image did not benefit me or my readers. I am still a human being - a female human being who has spent her life being bombarded with society telling me to care about my looks. So, of course I do. Ignoring this is like pushing it under the rug.

I was skeptical at first about posting about my journey to getting healthier [[think of the wording. Not losing weight or being fat...those are the words they want us to use. No, I'm using this warrior queen word called HEALTHY. It is different for every person.]]. But I posted my Wanted: An Accountability Partner post on Friday because I was fed up with my own lack of motivation.

I got some support for it! Woooo hoooo!! Then today I saw Brittney's Reality Check and decided to just go for it! Do it!

Of course, I'm starting this my bday week and when I'm going to Vegas, but that's okay.

I am holding myself accountable for all of my choices and actions. Only I can make changes in my life, only I can control the outcome because I control my reaction. 

Raewyn

Positive feedback

(source: http://allysontiglao.tumblr.com/post/16136078805/warrior-queens)

The other day I received the best positive feedback for Warrior Queen that I could ever get.

Peer feedback is important to everyone, no matter your age or rank. To know that you are doing right by someone who has been exposed to the same things as you, and who is not of your group of friends - or even someone who knows you is inspiring.