A List Of People You Need To Follow On Social Media

This quote holds very true to me. Surrounding yourself with positivity can truly change your outlook or mood and there are studies to prove it. I have to be real and super honest with you; we can't control that all the time nowadays. Think about it. We spend many hours each week in the car, tons of hours at work(sometimes stressful), and have a ton of time throughout our days where we are not surrounded by positivity & are actually immersed in stressful, negative atmospheres of which we can't control. However, I have a tip to combat all the negativity... since it seems to me we ALWAYS have access to or are on social media!

Think about it. We check our facebook, email, twitter, snapchat, instagram, and every other form of social media constantly throughout the day. The people we follow give us little reminders through their posts of our interests and take up space in our minds. Who are you filling that space with? We choose who we follow! I for one can admit there are some superficial people I follow because I am inspired by their fashion, but I also have unfollowed tons of people if I feel like what they stand for doesn't align with what I stand for. Excitingly enough, I have found some super amazingly inspiring people I follow and think you should too. It's always nice to see a post here and there of pure positivity.

Frank Sommerville
This man has such a kind heart and his Facebook page proves it. He inspires people to be kind, give back, and stay positive. Check him out and follow!

Prince Ea
This guy posts the most motivating and inspiring content through sharing awesome posts, but also creating spoken words. You have to follow his facebook page!

Healthy Is The New Skinny
Katie H. Willcox is a plus sized model who decided to create a company to support women of ALL shapes and sizes. No this isn't only for plus sized women, it is for all women. She digs in to healthy eating and exercise, looking at how effed up the media is on portraying women, and speaks to crowds on how to have a healthy mindset and life. Check them out here and here.

The Good Quote
The good quote is an instagram page I follow for little bits of inspiration throughout my day as I scroll. I love them, simple and awesome!

Ellen Degenerous
I mean who doesn't like Ellen. She is funny, kind, and will always brighten your day. I follow her on Facebook and she always posts funny videos and acts of kindness that I just can't help but watch.

Boss Babe
I love following hard working, driven, and supportive women. Boss Babe is a community of women working towards similar goals, to run their own business one day. It is an educational place, an inspiring place, and I love seeing their "create your own destiny" kind of posts.

Amber Dodzweit
I love her posts. I usually don't love following too many fitness people. The reason being is most don't eat enough, are obsessed with themselves, and don't have balanced lives. NOT Amber. She is as real as they come and I just love that. Her posts inspire, educate, and encourage. Check her out.

Be Free

This 4th of July was different than previous. I wasn't in the country to celebrate. I am so used to extravagant over the top celebrations for the 4th. I didn't expect it to be a big day since I was in Turks & Caicos, but I was shocked to see how big the holiday was actually celebrated around the world! 

There were so many people dressed from head to toe in red white and blue. It wasn't only the Americans who were decked out. The reason? They love to be free. I asked a server at our restaurant and he said "we all rely on  America whether we like it or not". When I travel I really get to experience other cultures, but I also see how much our culture directly effects others. I am so proud to be American, we are so lucky to be free. 

Free to be whatever we want. Doctors, entrepreneurs, teachers, accountants, farmers, and anything else you can wrap your head around. We are a team. We are free to make decisions and although there are laws and rules we are so lucky to decide for ourselves what type of life we want to live.

After this holiday of fireworks, booze, and bikinis take a second to reflect on what you want to make of your freedom. Do you want to travel, own a business, or move? You have the freedom to, so don't hold yourself back from it! 

Shut Up & Sweat

Do you have fitness goals? 

If you don't, you better figure them out. It's hard to achieve greatness when you don't have a goal. Today, we will talk about achieving personal fitness goals and why you have to get serious, get sweaty, and buckle down to make progress.

Working out isn't easy for everyone. It isn't supposed to be. Sometimes it hurts, burns, is exhausting, or makes you want to quit. I believe whenever you are put in uncomfortable situations and you see them through, you learn how to preserve and gain the tools to achieve greatness in life. With fitness there is no difference. When it comes to fitness there will be numerous hurdles (pun intended) & you need to be prepared for whatever is thrown your way.

Are you a person who does the same sort of workout everyday?

Don't be one of those people! You need to change. That isn't an effective workout, and is most likely a waste of time. Once your body adapts to your program you need to make changes to it. You need to change the weight, the reps, the rest time, or the exercises to make it more challenging.

If you aren't willing to sweat your ass off, then you truly don't want to reach your goals bad enough. When you push yourself harder than you have before your mind will tell you to quit, that's it's "too hard", and it "hurts". The crazy thing is that if you change your mental processing of those negative thoughts, your body can keep going. That's where you increase your fitness.

Now stop being a weak person who does what's comfortable. Grab a friend, a trainer, or sign up for a class that makes you uncomfortable.

When it comes to a great workout you have to just Shut Up & Sweat. 

Dream.

The more people I meet, the older I become, the more I realize how boundless my dreams are. People dream up creative things everyday. From interesting costume designs, entrepreneurial business plans, funny stories, or what the new "it" app might be. It's a little crazy to think about, right? 

Each of us own the power to turn our dreams in to something huge. Something beyond ourselves. Something that may one day change the world. The most mind boggling thing is... Many of us don't listen to our dreams. We doubt ourselves, quiet our thoughts, and go back to work at a job we may not even enjoy. 

The future truly belongs to the people who dream so hard and so big that there is no room for failing. They work on making their dreams come true until they succeed. That being said, they might fail a few times. They might fail more than a few times, their dreams might have to be edited or shifted. That's ok, because the beauty is in their thoughts. 

Your thoughts are so much more powerful when you BELIEVE in yourself and turn them in to actions. Take time to dream. Create your happy future. 

You Were Born To Be Real Not To Be Perfect

The moment I first saw this quote, I had an "aha" moment. I knew I had to mill it over in my head and write about it. Reading this quote hit a chord for me. 

Why?

This quote is significant to me, because I tried to be perfect for so long. You may be thinking this is such a first world problem and It may be, but it surely is a problem we deal with frequently. 

The pressure I felt to eat the right things, say the right things, look a certain way, hang out with a certain crew, listen to certain music, enjoy the arts, be funny and personable and happy all at once was TOO MUCH. When I finally realized I was actually happy with being me (flaws and all) was the moment I realized that being real was going to make a better person. 

I started focusing on progress and not perfection. I started acknowledging my strengths instead of picking at my weaknesses. I began trying new things for fun, instead of forcing myself to like things to fit in. I found passions I never had by taking some time alone, when before I felt awkward when I was alone in quiet. My outlook has completely changed.

I wanted to post this quote so you can take some time to think about how it resonates with you. Are you obsessed with your looks? Do you work way too much so you can be rich? Do you try to please everyone?

You're real, become ok with being awesomely flawed!