I WILL Enjoy Crushing my Content & Cleaning Goals this Weekend!

Have you ever been SO riddled with anxiety, had a TON of things to get done on a deadline, and become so overwhelmed that you end up doing NONE of it? That’s my Saturday in a nutshell.

I hope you’re all having a great weekend, and if you celebrate Halloween, then I hope you have a blast! What am I doing this weekend, you ask? Well, I’ll be doing EVERYTHING, naturally!

I found out a week ago from my landlord that the Township Inspector is coming on Monday to check the fire alarms and all of that fun stuff. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, it seems that I’ve accumulated far more things than my apartment is equipped to store, and it looks as though a tornado had ripped through my home, scattering about everything that I own, which is too much, apparently. Can I still use COVID as an excuse for things?

Just kidding! The truth is, a tornado ripped through my apartment.

A few days ago, I spoke with a really awesome K-Beauty skincare brand that I create content for each month called PlumpShop. They let me know that they’d extended my deadline to submit the 4 (or more) pieces of content and this month’s PlumpShop Skincare Box review form that I must complete, as a PlumpShop Ambassador! That’s great news, because I was afraid I would miss out on receiving next month’s Beauty Box, and for a Sinatra freak like me, that would be just heartbreaking!

I’m SO grateful that I was granted an extension in until Monday to submit all of my work to PlumpShop, but I’d be lying if I said that’s I wasn’t having a full-blown internal freakout. Sometimes, my anxiety gets the best of me, which is usually when I have a lot more to do all at once, on a deadline, and with only 2 1/2 days remaining. Hopefully, they won’t make me submit by the time it’s due in Korea! That would throw a monkey wrench into my plans!

Last month’s PlumpShop Box 😍

On Monday, November 1, 2021, I will also be hearing back from Coursera with their decision on whether or not to grant me the Financial Aid that I’ve applied for. I’m planning on taking a Social Media Marketing Specialization 6 Course Certification, which is accredited and from both Coursera AND Facebook. As someone that’s entirely self-taught in the field and not having the perfect degree or any really great, accredited Certifications like this one. I have a feeling that by obtaining this Certificate from Coursera and Facebook, I’ll have something substantial on paper that will give me a pretty nice edge ahead of my competition AKA my fellow Aspiring Social Media Marketing ladies and gents.

Many snoozed Calendar Reminders into this evening, and I’ve still not gotten down to the nitty gritty. I’ve done a bit of brainstorming, but that’s just not enough. It’s now the evening. I’m a total night owl, so this isn’t usually a problem for me. I have no qualms with creating content and doing the heavy duty cleaning that my apartment requires before Monday. But of course, there’s always a but! Because my anxiety has been at its current elevated level, I was unable to sleep last night, and I’m kind of notorious for falling asleep at all times but the appropriate ones.

I’ll be putting off the content creation of my incredibly awesome PlumpShop Products until tomorrow tomorrow after I rest my creative brain, because, well, it’s NEVER a good idea to rush content, and I do subpar work when I’m sleep-deprived. That leaves the grunt work for tonight. Although it is already 7:00 p.m., I think that I may take a “power nap.” This is very risky for me. I will either wake up after a quick few hours of shut eye, or I will wake up sometime later tomorrow. I can’t afford to chance it this time, so I’m going to whip myself into gear and start tackling some of this cleaning!

“Woah!!” – Ted Theodore Logan

As for my Coursera Financial Aid decision also being on Monday: I may not have to do much but kick my feet up and wait for an email from Coursera, but my anxiety will make sure that I can’t rest because of that either. 😂

It looks like the remainder of my evening and well into the wee hours of the night, I’ll be packing up bins full of my possessions and lugging them down to the basement. That is the plan…if I can stay awake long enough.

“Just give me 5 more hours.”

If I call asleep hard before getting much done, then hey, there’s always one more day to clean, and a little more than a day to create my content! At least I’ve got my goals lined up, and I’m ready to hit them like a champ!

I’ll most definitely be posting about my oh so fun Monday after the Township Inspector and my dreadful, dreadful Landlord invade my home, I’ve finished and posted all of my due content, and I’ve gotten word back from Coursera about my Financial Aid decision. And hey, I’m sure things will go every way besides according to plan, so I think I’ll have lots to talk about in my next blog post. I’ll keep you posted!

While you’re here…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🎃

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Focused on Goals: Grateful for This New Part of Life!

New chapters and opportunities in our lives can sneak up on us. Be ready, for this change is inevitable and is ever-evolving.

As a self-proclaimed Lifelong Learner, I’m always anticipating changes in both my life and within myself. I came to the realization a while back that I wanted to do something more with the skills and experience in Content Creation, Social Media Marketing, and Communication that I’ve been constantly honing for nearly 5 years.

What began as a simple journey many years ago, spurred on by a powerful curiosity and extreme passion, of dialing into my creative side by finally finding the best mediums in which to express that creativity, ended up becoming a very important trail of new experiences that I believe have changed my life.

During some standard daydreaming, which I find to be very important, especially when working in a creative and often ambiguous field, I asked myself a random question today that I’d never had a good answer for. I had an answer today. That question I’ve been hearing since I was young was, “Where do you see yourself in 1 year from now,” which was a bit of a shocker coming from my brain, due to always having been stumped by these questions. I know the answer immediately: in 1 year, I see myself either looking for the job that I’m aiming for or to have already been in the position for a few months by that time.

I can’t believe I had an answer to that question. I’ve always found the query itself to be difficult for over reason or another, but I wasn’t entirely sure about what was so difficult about it, especially when in college, the younger kids always had very great answers, and I envied yet admired that they knew exactly what they wanted. My problem was that I never truly knew what I to do as far as a career, so I just couldn’t give a true answer. I wanted that clarity, but it turns out, for me at least, that only time and experience would bring me the vision that I needed.

I’ve tried so many different things over the past 5 or so years, including starting, owning, and operating my own small business, and being a Freelance Content Creator all the while. I thought I’d really narrowed it down once I began to get really involved in Content Creation. I love it, it’s the perfect way for me to express my creativity, and I’d always wanted to find that for myself. However, out took me a little bit more thought to realize what I was really good at and was super passionate about at the same time: Marketing – Social Media Marketing and Social Media Management, to be exact.

All along, I’ve been so close to finding out this piece of the puzzle that is my life, yet was always too far away to grasp it. The overwhelming passion that I have for Creating Content seemed to blind me, and I thought, “This is it! It’s the piece that’s been missing,” but that passion opened my eyes to what my true passion was, which was Marketing.

Sometimes, the answer will lie in front of you, but not until your eyes truly open, through experience and other trials, will you come to understand what it truly means to you.

In retrospect, I should’ve noticed the signs throughout my life, and not just since I’d created my own business. That’s just where I was first able to apply this skill (that seemed to come so naturally) in a professional way and a way I’d get credit for, as opposed to simply giving advice, for instance.

One of the biggest reasons that my business did not succeed ultimately is because I “accidentally” marketed myself, my business, and my products and services a little too well from the very start. How is that possible, right? Well, when it’s only you juggling all aspects of a company, and you aren’t aware that you excel that much at marketing, you may just become completely bombarded by your very first day of business (the launch), and it can be quite the ditch to dig yourself out of, especially without being able to hire any help to help you out of the hole.

My self-made business may have ultimately failed, but as a Lifelong Learner, I’ve never discontinued learning more about all aspects of business, but it eventually became narrowed down to Marketing, especially with a focus on Digital/Social Media Marketing and Management.

Management has always been something that I’d known that I excelled at, but I was never really given the chance, due to the types of jobs that I kept settling for, which is a partial reason for the creation of my first startup business. I credit my Father with my natural business acumen and leadership skills. They just seem to run in my family, specifically on his side. Almost everyone in my very large family is or has been in management to some degree and/or owned their own businesses, some now defunct and some thriving quite successfully. If they didn’t have their own business, they were in management at their jobs. I’m not sure that this is even something that is genetic in any way, but it sure seems that way.

No matter how I developed into the leadership type of person that I am and have always been, whether it be somehow genetic or simply through exposure to positive role models, I’m truly glad that I do possess these skills. I mean this not as a brag, by any means. It’s just fascinating how I’ve never been able to flex these skills, then when given the chance, I find out that they’re better than even I’d thought. Even as a child, I was always taking charge, despite being a bit of an introvert.

“I’ve never been more happy in my life than I am now.”

I’ve never been more happy in my life than I am now, and I know that this is partially due to having jumped into it and just started a business when I had nothing going on. By doing this, it’s led me down a path of self-discovery that’s taught me more about myself in the past 5 years than I’ve learned in the 15 prior. I’m all the richer for having taken a chance, and for once in my life, I can actually say that I know exactly what I want to do for my career, and attaining a position in that field is my ultimate goal.

Thank goodness I finally have this goal. As I’ve mentioned above, I’d always envied and admired younger people when I was also their age that knew what they wanted to do, what they were going to do to get there, and seemed to have it all together. I never had this – until recently. Sure, it took me a lot longer in my life to come to this realization myself, but I was growing more discouraged as time passed that I’d ever know the answer or have that ultimate goal. I can proudly say that I finally have that ultimate goal, and I know exactly what I’m going to do to achieve this goal. It’s one of the most wonderful feelings that I’ve ever felt inl my life. I’m one of the people that I used to admire so much, and hard, patience, and perseverance have gotten me here.

I’m prepared, passionate, and ready for whatever’s about to be thrown at me!

Never give up on your passions. They can often turn into goals, so be ready by preparing for life to happen at any moment! ❤️

Everything is beginning to fall into place, and with my realized goals and ways to attain said goals, I’m feeling very confident about where I am in life, in terms of my future and my career.

Some people are ready to go from a young age, but it takes others, like myself, to find something that will not only earn money, but that I can also use my creativity, passion, and I can be happy in my life, overall!

Can you relate to this blog post? I’d love to hear your story! If you can relate to anything that I’ve mentioned in my (hastily written and published) blog post, then I’d love for you to share your experience below in the comments!

Blogging, How I’ve Missed Thee

Have you ever been so interested in something, started to do that something, and got distracted and moved on to something else? That’s exactly what happened to me and blogging.

Writing is and has always been one of my absolute favorite things to do. As a child, I was a huge fan of reading. I can remember the feeling I’d get when I found out we were going to the library to pick out some new reads. It was an intense feeling that I’ve not experienced much as an adult. The rush of dopamine was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. In retrospect, I now know that this wonderful feeling that I was experiencing was passion.

My passion for reading helped to develop an even greater passion: my passion for writing. I used to write a lot. As a kid, I loved to write short stories. As I got older, I started to feel an intense need to write a book. But why? And about what? I still don’t know the answers to these questions. I’ve tried tons of times, but the perfectionist in me would always get stuck on that important first sentence, and without realizing I was abandoning my love, I’d soon find myself moving onto my next interest. Plus, my passion for writing kept taking me in new directions. The intense feeling to write a book that I’d once had eventually developed into an intense need to write articles. I suppose it makes sense, having once been obsessed with writing short stories. I wanted to express myself, but I wanted to get my point across in a more condensed fashion.

Not long ago, I have in to the whole blogging thing and created my own. I didn’t expect anyone to be interested enough to actually want to read what I’ve written. I still don’t. But that doesn’t matter much to me. There’s never been a love for attention to my work attached to my love for writing. I just want to do what I enjoy. If people find it interesting, then that’s just a pretty cool bonus.

After creating my blog, I planned on being consistent and writing at least a few blog posts per week. My plan was successful for about a week or two, but I soon found myself moving on to another activity yet again. It’s disappointing to think about, but if you love something enough, you always come back to it. My love for writing has only grown over time, and it’s brought me back to my blog.

I’ve got plans to continue writing for my blog and being consistent, but I’m doing everything I can to not move on to anything else and neglect my blog again. I’m researching ways to be consistent while still being able to incorporate other passions, likes, and work into my life. Plus, now that I’ve been a Beauty Influencer and Content Creator for a few years, contributing to my blog almost goes hand in hand with my work, which is a total blessing! I’ve got a lot to write about, which has always been a problem for me. I know, I know: that sounds like a great problem to have, right? It’s not. My OCD overloads my brain with so many ideas that it’s nearly impossible to pick only one.

In an attempt to help turn this overwhelming feeling into something that will help me, I’ve begun to find ways to narrow down my ideas. They may have been narrowed down, but there are still more ideas than I know what to do with. Having this many ideas is exactly what causes me (and others) to subconsciously become overwhelmed with the task at hand and subsequently move onto the next idea or task.

Here’s the plan: I’m not going to try to choose the best idea from my list of ideas: I’m going to close my eyes, point my finger, wave it around, and let it drop onto the list. That will be the blog post that I write that day. The only exception will be if there is something pressing that I feel the strong need to write about. Now, this is just an experiment, so I’m not sure how well it will work, but I’m giving it a shot!

I’m excited to get back to blogging! I’ve got so much to write about, and I’d love to share with you my experiences being a Content Creator, because there are a lot of really interesting situations I’ve been in that would make for great reading. No more procrastinating. No more being overwhelmed with my excess of blog post ideas. I’m jumping back into the blog pool head first, and I’m going to make it to the other end without taking a rest on the edge.