Stop Waiting For the Big Moment

Stop waiting for the big moment.
It will never come.

You will never feel like getting out of bed and tackling the day on hundred percent of the time. Rise and seize the day regardless of your emotion.

You will not always want to be wise with your money, your time, your body or your brain. Resist the urge to self-destruct.

There is never a perfect time to start a project. Start them anyway. Nothing that is finished will ever be perfect. Finish things without thought of their perfection.

Don't wait until the time is right to do things. Just be a person who always does things.

Accept life's challenges with grace, dignity, and faith. Don't wait for handouts or embrace entitlement.

Stop waiting for the moment when you will feel like an adult. It will never happen. If you feel ill-prepared, seek the knowledge of those who have gone before you. Get your hands beautifully dirty by living life. Don't settle for distant, dusty knowledge, get to know things up close, personally and practically.

Don't fear losing your life. Fear losing the game of life. For that is what life is, a game. The moment you were born, the difficulty level was set, your tools were handed to you, and the universe couldn't wait until you awakened to your consciousness and embraced the meaning of life.

And what is the meaning of life? It is not how much you can gather for yourself, or how much you can take, but rather how much you can create and give away. That is to reflect the image of God, to be like our father who pulled from the depths of himself at great personal cost to give us life and love. That is why creativity is so vitally important. The moment we stop creating, we start stealing and we lose the point of life. How many people have gaping wounds from stolen childhoods, stolen marriages, stolen kisses, stolen innocence. Be one who creates, who needs no one but God and their own soul to create something beautiful and then give it away.

Don't wait one more day to start living. Life never gets easier, just different. Face the challenges, prepare for them and surmount them. Don't forget that the idea that life will come crashing in with huge waves of importance is largely untrue. Life is the daily drip, the leaky roof, the little raindrops that eventually flood your existence. It is easy to see a wave coming. It's easy to ignore a drip.

Stop waiting for something to come to you. Go towards the thing itself. If you wait, it will never come.

My Life Is a Movie. All I Need is a Rockin' Soundtrack

Spring is double-down time. It used to be get-all-my-homework-done-before-spring-break-time. Now its get-all-my-teacher-planning-and writing done-while cleaning and organizing the home time! For that, I need a soundtrack. One of those peppy, go-get'em-girl ones that make you want to use your hairbrush as a microphone in bathroom while you deep clean.

I've always been a fan of the 2007 Emma Roberts version of Nancy Drew. It has some great music, like Blue Monday by Flunk, and When Did Your Heart Go Missing? by Rooney. I also love the music from Ramona and Beezus with Selena Gomez, Princess Diaries 1&2, and the quirky, cute modern version of Pride and Prejudice with Orlando Seale.

Now I'm adding the soundtrack from Austenland to my collection, which is a hilarious movie with a near perfect blend of peppy, upbeat, pleasantly girly music. Lets rock this Spring everyone!!

Loves,
ashley anne

Found This In My Inbox This Morning, Possibly the Best Valentine I Will Ever Recieve...

Hello World,

Its me, only something has changed. Something has happened, something that I always dreamed would happen, worked to make happen, and knew would happen. Today, I became an author.

That's right, I am getting PAID to write something!! Oh, sure, its just a small gig writing a handful of articles on beauty and health, but it means so much to me...

I've been blogging for about just over five years now. Many of these blog posts have been nothing more than teenage rambles, going everywhere and nowhere at the same time. But as the years have gone on, I have done so much more writing than what you see here. I have filled notebook after notebook with endless poems, entries, short stories, and chapters, knowing that someday my hard work would pay off.

I was a bad writer for a long time, not because I didn't have a way with words, but because I was too busy trying to fit my words around the world, the way a child tries to squeeze into their favorite old clothes. Slowly, I have learned that in order to be the best writer possible, I have to be willing to part with everything I know, to sacrifice every idea I hold dear in order to discover the truth. I must be ready to get rid of excess words, all words if necessary, to cut to the heart of something.

My goal was once to educate the world. Now my goal is to understand it. Things have changed, and they are only going to get different from here. So here's to new adventures, new failures, and new insights. There's a book out there... I just knew it!

Afraid to Say It

Everybody feels it,
The tension that walks in the room
Like another person,
an Entity, a Thing.
We all sense it,
But we are too afraid to say it.

We can't speak
Or we won't speak,
Either way, its just as bad.
Generations go by,
and old ideas are passed off
and repackaged,
the ones that are designated
"Safe to open" by our predecessors.

But I want to live dangerously,
even Defiantly.
I will not speak merely about 
what others have deemed "safe."
For what is safe anyway?
At any moment, the molecules of my body
might give way to some galactic infrastructure
Collapsing under the very weight of my existence

Don't you see? No one is safe.
So why should I pretend?

I have seen the way our faces light up,
the way they fade,
what makes them darken, harden,
I've seen what makes us bleed.
I've seen the things that make us laugh,
Smile, blush, even love,
and yet no one talks about them.

Its as though all the great secrets of the universe
are the ones we long to Discover,
and finally find in some dusty corner of the attics of our minds,
But having been told that we alone have found them,
we all waltz by them,
Barely lingering over the things of true Importance,
and Immersing ourselves
in the pretense of the day.

I protest.
You might as well lock me up,
For I am not Afraid to Say It.

I Heart February

Via Pinterest

Hello World,

Happy February!

I love February, I really do. It may be the month of romance and rejection to some, but I really enjoy seeing all the cute stuff in the stores, the flowers, the hearts the chocolate, the whole shabang. While many believe that main point of Valentine's is to monopolize on people's romantic relationships, I truly enjoy the childhood classroom memories, the sweets, and the chance to give people a little something special just a little after Christmas and before their birthday.

I also "heart" February because its a gift of the second go around. If you feel like you've failed in January, you always have another go in February. How do you feel you did when it came to those new year's resolutions? I have been pretty proud of myself lately. Instead of shooting myself in the foot, sighing, and then saying "ah, heck with it!" and shooting the other one, I have actually slowly made progress.

Take today for instance. Things were not going particularly well at all this morning (couldn't find my keys, found them, lost them again, felt tired and groggy, frog in my throat, got called in to sub while the house was a mess, got locked out of the house on the way home, phone died on the way back from teaching classes tonight...) but despite all that, I was able to keep my chin up.

I SO BADLY wanted to go and self-sabotage by buying a pre-packaged food (chocolate or delicious protein bar... food fantasies, sorry!) BUT!! I TALKED MYSELF OFF THE CLIFF!! Instead, I behaved like an adult. I told myself not to spend the money, rack up the empty calories, took supplements, and actually cleaned the kitchen in 30 min flat while listening to Mr. Rogers (I gotta be a kid in some way ;)

While driving to my class, I was able to call ahead because I was running later than normal, have them set up the room, and calm myself down (I was a bit stressed after the fast clean and jetting to work) while running through class material in the car. It was AWESOME!!

No, I haven't met all my goals yet, but I'm working towards them, and I'm being less self-destructive.

Whatever your goals are this year, you CAN achieve them! Its just one good decision followed by another one. You'll be a pro at this in no time! Keep going, its going to be worth it!

Loves,
ashley anne  

Be The Hero. Be Brave.

Be brave. 

Give out the love when there is no return. 

Don't hold out for your fair share, 

because you don't want what you actually deserve.

Learn to be wise; learn when to walk away. 

Learn to be wise; learn to know when to stay. 

Instead of longing for hugs, give them. 

Instead of waiting for an encouraging word, 

brighten someone else's day from the bottom of your heart. 

Be genuine and caring in a cold and cruel world. 

Be the person you once looked up to. 

Love is a learned skill, pass it along. 

Be the hero. 

Be brave.