The Curly Chronicles

The Curly Chronicles
A. Bean
Showing posts with label Tag. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tag. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A Poor Start: First Post of 2016

Hey, guys!
        If you couldn't guess by the title of this post, it won't be as lighthearted and cheerful as my other ones. Following the New Year, my boyfriend and I parted ways. Having read my last "Life Update" post, I feel foolish now, but I won't delete it. Those memories will be memories that I will hold dear to my heart for a long time despite parting on less than amicable ways with my ex. I won't go into details, just know that it didn't end as well as I thought it would if we ever were to breakup. Also I always thought we would breakup face-to-face, but thankfully, Facebook is available to the cowards of the world (#stillnotbitteroranything).

Preach, girl, preach!
        Life, however, does have a funny way of introducing other things to occupy your mind. The passing of David Bowie and Alan Rickman in addition to some school drama all served one purpose: distraction. Not to say that I didn't grieve the loss of my supposedly perfectly imperfect relationship. I definitely did. For four days I wailed - not even cried, wailed - my heart out, my parents can attest to this, I'm pretty sure I scared them a little. And in the days following my initial grief, I'm still overcome by sadness, but I'm moving along.
Well, Carrie, it gets sucked up into a black hole called grief, and then
if you're lucky, it fades from an all consuming fire into a
small little ember. In other words, it never goes away completely.
I've gotten really into the whole "self-improvement" kick. It's a slow process, but at least I'm not as depressed. This week I've really made an effort to wear makeup again. I didn't wear a speck of it for a week, and I caught my reflection in the mirror while on a pity shopping spree with my friend at
Sephora. I'm glad I caught that reflection of myself - though I wasn't at the time. With my messy bun, bare face, and decidedly perma-sad expression, it really kicked me back into gear. I cry less and less everyday, and I've reconnected with my friends, whom I shamefully neglected during my relationship.
       It really taught me that no matter how perfect something or someone may seem, no amount of love or attention you give them will ever be enough if they don't love themselves.       Or if they loved themselves too much.
Amen, Elle.
       So to that conclusion, then, I've decided to take a step back, reevaluate, finish school, and focus on bettering myself. Admittedly, I did jump into my last relationship fast, and didn't really make myself or him wait or work for anything. Mainly because I was on an "I'm an empowered, modern 21st century woman, dammit, I can sleep with whoever" power trip. Which ended up being my biggest failure in the relationship and doesn't really set the right tone for the rest of our time together. Give me a tall, dark haired, tattooed, broad shouldered guy, and I'm pretty much weak at the knees and reduced to a giggling school girl.
      So, maybe 2016 didn't really start out the way I wanted it to, and maybe I no longer have a date to go see Deadpool, or Batman vs. Superman, or Aquaman, or anyone, really, to occupy my time with and spend the cold winter nights with, but I have me, and for the last 21 years, that has always been enough.

I am enough.

Love and Light,

A. Bean

PS - You're all enough.
PPS - Shoutout to my friends and family who dealt with my broken hearted sad self for the past two weeks and counting. You're the real MVP.

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION!
Instagram!
Snapchat! @alybean5

Thursday, April 24, 2014

30 Happy Things Challenge

30 Happy Things Challenge 



What is it? 
For 30 days, you will write one thing you are good at on a post it note and take a photo of the note to post on Instagram with the two hashtags #30HappyThings and #ABean so I can find your photo easily and assemble a video of the best ones to post on YouTube ! 
It's one note per day and it can be creative, lame, ordinary, funny, simple, it doesn't matter as long as it means something to you. 
When you're done writing the note and taking the photo, out the note in a jar, box, or container of some sort. This will provide a nice little burst of happy on your down days. 
It also forces you to think on what your talents are and that you are not limited to just a few "common" things to be good at like school, art, math, science, cooking, etc. anything you think you are good at qualifies. 

Goal:
Be creative (or don't it's up to you), have fun, and help promote happy thoughts!

Why:
I was going to do 100 days or make it a summer long thing, but that's just way too much commitment so it rapidly shrank from 91 days to 61 days and then finally, I settled on 30.
I'll be doing this challenge in June when I believe I'll have the time to commit to the challenge. Feel free to start the challenge whenever you want, I'll be regularly checking the #ABean #30HappyThings tags on Instagram for photos to put in the video. Also feel free to tag me @aly_bean1 on Instagram so I can find your photo faster. If it's popular enough there will be a monthly happy things video. 
It's no secret that being thankful and grateful for the people and things around us makes people a lot happier and mentally sound. But that was all too common a thing, since I know a few people already write things they are thankful for in journals and whatnot. I decided to do 30 days of notes saying what I'm good at was a way to boost confidence and the happy feels. I feel like it's too often people are self deprecating or too humble about their skills when they should acknowledge that there is something that they are good at. Hopefully this will decrease the amount if compliment fishing that can be found on social media too. 
No one wants to feel like a failure, so this challenge is supposed to make everyone who participates take pride in themselves. 
From personal experience, I can tell you that going months upon months of bad luck, one happy thought makes a huge difference. 

What you need:
Writing utensils
Post it notes
Instagram
A box/jar/container (feel free to decorate it!

Steps:
Take your note
Grab your pencil
Start the note with "I am good at..."
Grab your phone
Position your note wherever and however you want 
Snap the photo
Instagram #30HappyThing and #ABean
Put the note in your jar for a gloomy day
Repeat for 30 days! 


All the best of luck! 

XOXO
A. Bean