Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Road to minimalism

My road to minimalism started a few years ago, while dating a money hungry attorney. All my friends had 100K jobs, we went on vacations and had new cars. We were living the American dream, and all under 30 years old. I though this is what I wanted of my life. The guy I was dating would joke when I spoke of traveling the Greek islands, he would remark that he wanted to” buy the Greek islands”. I was getting deeper and deeper in debt and wasn’t happy. When that relationship ended I focused more on working hard and traveling. After taking a job as a travel nurse, I too was finally making 100k. With my fancy friends out of the picture, I had my sights set on traveling and finding myself. The job only lasted six months, being away from home was just too much to bear. Back to a staff nurses salary, I saved money to travel by living with only the necessities. While traveling I slowly started to learn what little I actually needed to survive. My luggage went from 50 pounds per trip to 10 pounds. But I was working two jobs and my quality of life between trips was nonexistent. My last, but not final trip was hiking the El Camino de Santiago in Spain. Where, I lived out of a ten pound backpack for weeks. This really made me realize what little I actually need to survive. Shortly after that trip, I was forced to cut my working hrs in half. I made myself sick from the chronic stress, long hrs, lack of sleep, lack of exercise and horrible diet. This wound up being a blessing. Working less hrs with less “stuff” has done more to find myself than all the traveling did. This is who I was truly meant to be. Working less hrs, making my physical and spiritual health a priority. I now spend my time in nature, journaling, eating clean and working out. The last and final steps have been de cluttering my apartment. I still have a wanderlust soul but I also have a minimalist soul, which craves love and simplicity.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Mission to spread love

I have made it my life's mission to spread love in everything I do. Rather this mission found me. The more I discover about my true self and the world, the more love I see everywhere. I am blessed to know my life's purpose and have to ability to live everyday with passion. What started simply as showing gratitude after reading The Power, and traveling the world with an open mind. Has turned into this love affair with the world and everything in it. Negative people used to frustrate me, now I simply don't even notice them. I am not blind to the worlds problems, believe me I work in a county hospital and grew up poor. But I know my place in changing those problems, and its spreading love. The power of love tips the scales over hate every time. In an effort to spread love, I was lucky enough to be present for the Orlando United Day. A celebration of love on the one year anniversary of the The Pulse Nightclub shooting. After a very stressful few shifts in the NICU, I packed my dog Radar and took the 4hr drive to Orlando. I will never know if my presence among the thousands made any difference, but I can take pride in knowing together all our presence sent a loud and clear message that love will always win.