Dancing Through Anxiety

Having depression and anxiety is hard and it sucks. There are obvious reasons why mental illness is no fun, but one of the hardest things for me right now on my journey in fighting this is how selfish I have to be. I have to work on myself; because, whether I like it or not, I am the only one who can fight the monster that often takes residence in my head. I have to spend my days working on myself and checking in with myself to make sure I'm okay. Not only do I not get to do a majority of the stuff I want to do because my body has other plans, but I also don't really get to be the person I want to be. I used to pride myself on the kind of person I was, whether it was in the role of daughter, sister, friend, mentor, or so on. A relationship is two sided, full of give and take, where both people benefit. At this point in time, I feel like I'm failing at that. I feel like I'm a bad daughter, sister, friend, etc. I feel like I just take and don't have anything to...

From June 23rd to July 2nd I found myself in downtown Fresno for ten days of Miss California. It has honestly taken me this long to recover, and when I look back on that time my first thought is, "Wow! I survived," usually followed by, "How in the world did I do that?" Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun and I am so glad I went, but I would be lying if I said it was a walk in the park. I thought I would share with you all what it was like for me to be there and how I survived the ups and the downs.   When my mom and I arrived in Fresno on Friday, it was a lovely 109 degrees out and I immediately wondered what I got myself into. I knew it was going to be hot, but thinking about it being hot and then actually walking into this heat even for just five minutes is a completely different story. Shortly after we arrived in Fresno, we went on a trip to the local Target and this is the first obstacle I faced. We went to Target before we had the chance to unpack s...

Wow it has been a long time since I've written a post and I have really missed it these past couple of weeks! I have so much to share with you all especially about how I survived Miss California week but I'm just not ready. I would be lying if I said I wasn't struggling right now and I told you I would share the good and the bad with you so here's a glimpse into the bad. I feel pretty stuck right now. I'm struggling to see my worth. I'm struggling to convince myself I'm not pointless. I'm struggling to believe this is something I'll really learn to live with. I'm struggling to understand how I will ever manage to live the life I want to live. I'm struggling to see how I will ever again be the independent strong person I used to be. Im struggling to see how I will ever be a role model. I'm struggling to see how I'm not just wasting my life away and everyone else's time that has to deal with me. I feel it's important to not...