Welcome to Intentional Living.
My life began on a cold day in February.
I grew up loving to play. I remember being outside for hours, coasting on my scooter up and down our long driveway, my heels scraping the pavement and getting stained a soot color. While I was zooming along on my razor, I would pretend I was a talk show radio host, announcing giveaways, interviewing people, and anything I could think of. My mind was free to roam, to imagine anything. Everything was a possibility.
My sister and I would play dolls from sunup to sundown if we had any say in how the day went. We somehow never got tired of each other during childhood. I had a certain instinct to protect her and my brothers physically and emotionally. Nobody was going to mess with my siblings except for me.
Family is important to me because my family is so huge. There are so many of us on every side of the lineage tree. I remember spending lots of time with my other cousins. I thought they were the coolest people in the world. We would make up games, pretending we were professional water sports athletes, but also members of the Cheetah Girls belting their lyrics. Playing was always at the top of the list.
My childhood was good. It was fun. I had two loving parents, both sets of grandparents actively involved in my life, and three younger siblings I was paving the way.
As much as I loved playing, I also loved writing. I’ve filled dozens of notebooks with thoughts, stories, ideas, dreams, visions, emotions, and anything else that flows from a pen.
I have lots of ideas, dreams, and visions. I’m really good at starting things, but finishing those things has always been the tricky part for me. In a world where you can literally be anything, how can you not dream of being everything?
One of the most important lessons I’ve recently learned is the power of focusing, of niching down, of honing in on a certain craft and getting really good at that thing.
I recently discovered that my personality type is a campaigner, meaning that I’m a true free spirit, a dreamer. It’s been quite fascinating to learn more about myself through that lens. Learning new things about myself is another favorite activity of mine. I really want to know myself, to be in tune with the beating of my heart, the flow of my breath, and the nerves that are always firing. I’m not sure if I’ll ever fully understand myself, but truly knowing myself is something I strive towards daily.
I think I’ve learned tons about myself through writing. Getting words out of my mind and into something tangible on a page has been so transformative. Writing is a complex form of art.
I went through several majors in college before I stuck with creative writing. None of the science-related majors ever felt right, although I sometimes wonder if I should have pushed myself to pursue a Dietetics degree. I almost did, but it just didn’t work out. I try not to ponder too much about what could have been. I once heard a quote from Rainer Wylde that went something like, “what happened has happened and it couldn’t have happened another way because it didn’t.”
While I was at the heart of pursuing my writing degree, I started this blog when I was just a sophomore in college. I remember laying on Chamberlain field in the middle of campus. My roommate had brought a big blanket and we were stretched out, enjoying the sunshine and reading our textbooks. At this point, I had already decided I was going to start a blog. I was writing so much. Between all my assignments and papers, I had to write something new daily. I loved it. I loved the freedom creative writing professors gave me. Most professors gave no prompt. They just assigned a word count that was due at the end of every week. At first, I felt so anxious not having a topic to write about, but as my academic career progressed so did my imaginative writing skills. Laying on Chamberlain field that day, brainstorming blog names Intentional Living was scribbled down on a list.
Intentional Living, to me, is all about awareness. Awareness of the self. Awareness of those around. Awareness of patterns and cycles that are present. Awareness of surrounding.
Intentional Living is about soaking into the present moment, letting sunshine warm your skin, embracing the warm connection with someone you trust, enjoying things while they last, and letting them go when it’s time to move on. Intentional Living is about having gratitude for what is. Intentional Living is about filling life with love, light, beauty, grace, and acceptance.
Thanks for being here, and for sharing this space with me. Your true authentic self is welcomed here.
Living With Intentions 