Posted in Confessions, Keep Moving: Motivation and Inspiration, Love

Excerpt From my “Blood Honesty” Portion of SWT Writing Therapy

 

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So I’m in the process of adding a new portion of SWT writing called “Blood Honesty.” This will be a collection of therapy writing, creative writing pieces and reflections that helps me recall memories that has come up over and over. I relate how these memories have boiled into hurt and how I operate with people. This writing will be in my next book project “Writing to Heal: Power of Written Word.”

This is an excerpt from a Blood Honesty post that I wrote on November 27th:

The concept of love is so underrated, mixed and confused with all emotions felt by people. But love, real love, unconditional love felt by someone that doesn’t have to love you is deep, its true, and its the most genuine of human emotion and character.  When real love happens, when you see it unravel in the ways that it works wholeheartedly is profound, complicated, confusing, and impossibly possible (now you know why people cling to the trope and figure of Jesus Christ). It’s this idea that makes people want to live longer.  It’s this concept of love despite the fear of disappointment and inevitable death that keeps and makes peace and inclusivity possible.  The absence of love causes mental health issues and division, just like the absence of light is darkness and loneliness.  Conditional love (masked emotional confusions and uncertainty ), the love that is so commonly mistaken for unconditional love (genuine love) is what we don’t know how to feel or what to do when we feel it (unless its from a parent or guardian to a child which can still have complication).  How crazy it sounds that this can be felt by us, by people, especially people who are different, is what we need (and what is taught in every central religion essentially) that people don’t understand and cant contemplate. We need this love toward each other, everyone, not just people who are like us or share similar ideological, political, or religious views.  We need love despite what separates us and what makes us distant from one another. We need love.  Unconditional love.

 

Posted in Confessions, What Just Happened: Personal Anecdotes

It Runs Deep

You know why its been hard to sleep at night while sleeping all day these past couple days, these past couple months?  I’ve realized myself in depths too deep to describe to people.  I’ve itched to tell someone that my issues run deeper than repression and unconscious feelings.  That I’m trying to balance my empathy with my confusion and self-protection.  That I’m an ultra introvert and feel everything around me.  That I love even when that person doesn’t love me to.  That I care because I understand even when I haven’t gone through it myself.  Situations are different but feelings, feelings come universal.  I know what depression feels like, and anxiety.  I know how betrayal feels and disappointment.  I know too well self-hate and being ashamed.  It wasn’t till Thursday that I realized that I know when someone is lying to me and when someone is being real and authentic.  When things I’ve been trying to hide have been written on my forehead all along.  I realized that I just want to know how it feels for someone to fall in love with me because then I can prove myself wrong, that it is possible.  That I can do what I want without regulation because of shame.  Shame that I haven’t noticed guide how I see my body.  I’ve been ashamed for a long time.

I couldn’t write.  I couldn’t write something, anything in the past couple days, an encouragement, a phrase like I usually do because even in the mist of a good moment I drive myself crazy with thoughts and confusions instead of just letting go.  I wanted to stop writing because no one reads. I’m better off just driving myself insane because no one cares about me or what I have to say anyway. Whats funny is I only known a person a couple of days and I just want to say everything to them. That I want to write again because I got my excitement back just over one conversation.  But the fear came back. I should keep to myself but they made me tell them things I never tell anyone and now I’m so self-aware.  I trace my thoughts back to why I hide in my room and lock the door behind me.  Why I cover my face in shame instead of embracing my flaws and things that make me unique.  Why I convinced myself that I’d never fit in in this world so I hide in the shadows. Why I convinced myself a long time ago that I’m meant to be alone and by myself all the time.  And this person said two words:

It’s okay.

Suddenly these words didn’t have the same weight like when I say it to myself.  It had denser weight and made me believe it in a split second.

Not sure if any of this made sense, but it’s way harder knowing the reasons for the scars that run deep then being oblivious to the pain and feelings you have all the time.  Just to remember the times when you felt useless, or hopeless, or lonely, or ugly brings back the foundations of why you hide things deep in the first place, but its better to know so you can work with yourself.

Its okay to let your scars show sometimes, maybe the person your showing them to will help you deal with them.  Don’t repress those feelings anymore. Work with yourself. One push. One phrase from the right person or even yourself can help the process of healing.  Things may not seem important but they are, you are important and so are you moving on.  Don’t trap yourself.  Don’t drive yourself crazy.  Let something change.  Let someone, something, a moment, a thought, a feeling change how you perceive who you are. Realize yourself.  Be happy.  You deserve to be happy.

You deserve a break from the deep. Things, better things, better moments, better thoughts, better people are waiting for you at the surface.  Let yourself loose.  Let yourself free.

Posted in Confessions

Our Collective Identity is being Attacked: We have a Right to be Outraged  

Took a while, hours, a day or so, to find my voice and words for the reality of whats happening to our collective unconscious.  Being an American now and one that is a part of one of several underprivileged groups, is troublesome and uncomfortable.  I’m in a state of denial and confusion.  To see the state and tone of grief our country is going through, the plaguing aura running through the streets making waking up in the morning feel like a state of emergency, weighs heavy on me.  To see so many people I know, don’t know, and feel for walk the streets of these states in anger, fear, and anxiety makes it all the more important to support and stand up for one another.  This election isn’t all about a presidency, it’s not all about politics, it’s not all about government or possible policies.  This election is about an attack on a collective identity, it’s about oppression, it’s about hindering ones freedom to be without prejudice or racism, sexism, homophobia, and islamaphobia.  This election makes people afraid, angry, and disappointed about their citizenship and because people actually feel like this is what makes this election all the more important.  

Viweing, analyzing, and reading over, seeing all of so many peoples opinions has shown me that despite peoples plea to be calm, that it’s going to okay, doesn’t seem to grasp or fathom the extent to where someone feels threatened because of their identity.  They have a right to feel and to be angered and dissapointed. Being a woman, a latina, makes me unwelcomed, it makes me someone who is in a targeted group whether I like it or not. I don’t have control over the reality of that oppression (this is not new), but for someone to be a threat to my freedom of identity is the problem. 

I matter.  Everyone of us matter. The ones who are targeted, the ones who are seen as unwelcomed, the ones who are marginalized and oppressed every day.  We matter.  And because we have to prove that we matter makes America dangerous. Because we have to say black lives matter, and women lives matter, and muslim lives matter as phrases of their own proves the urgency that who we are as a collective is not being seen as important or valued.

We have to help each other feel safe and supported.  What is happening is not being overexagerated, its a response to a threat to our emotional, physical, and mental well being.  We are responding to what has been said to us by power and privilege.  We are defending our right to ourselves. Be outraged. We matter. I matter. Our lives matter. 

Posted in Confessions, Keep Moving: Motivation and Inspiration, Quotes, Self-Care, Self-Talk, What Just Happened: Personal Anecdotes

I Love Myself for the First Time in My Life

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I’m beautiful because even though I might not believe I can at first I still try, even though I struggle to see that I’m beautiful I encourage others to believe they are, and even though I sometimes don’t think I’m good enough I push through anyway.

I love me because I’m persistent, I continue, and I’m learning.  I love me because although things have been difficult, I still have a vision and I still want to pursue it.

It wasn’t until a year after I did this project, a project where I walked around and asked various women why they loved themselves and found themselves beautiful, that I realized I do love myself and find myself beautiful. Before, I didn’t know why I thought I was beautiful or if I had any reason to love myself.  I was only concerned about the women I asked.  I wanted them to realize for that split second, the few minutes that we shared, to think, and to write down why they were beautiful.  I was focused on them and not on me.  I didn’t think I mattered.  How I thought about myself didn’t matter. I don’t think I found myself beautiful at all previous this realization.

This poster is what I looked at every day in my room at school for the last semester of my senior year.  It motivated me to figure out why I would love myself or find myself beautiful.  However, I found it difficult to pinpoint the reasons.

After I graduated I brought the poster home and placed in on my sister’s side of our room, parallel to my bed where I could face it and see it every day.

Fast forward to last weekend where I found the Dr.Pepper Tuition Giveaway Competiton.  Unlike me, I joined the competition and the first step was to write a goal I have to save the world and explain it.  Of course, it took me some time to think about exactly what I wanted to say, but here is what I said:

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It took a day after when I was trying to accumulate votes to be able to upload a video, that I realized then that I wanted to expand SparklyWarTanks into an actual thing.  Dr. Pepper helped me to see why I’m beautiful.  It helped me to realized what I wanted to do with my life.  How I want to impact the lives of others and why this is so important to me. I want to change how women see themselves and communicate their perspective and understanding to others through their culture, ideologies, and values.

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I don’t want other women to feel like me.  Where the first 21 years of my life I didn’t love myself or find myself beautiful.  I don’t want women to look and confide in outside things to make them happy.  I don’t want women to drown in their own societal expectations and obligations and not be able to give one reason why they are amazing, worthy, and able.  I saw SparklyWarTanks bigger.

Now this is my vision to make this, what I’m doing, bigger.  I want to help.

I never felt like this before, ready to save the world.  I hope I can make this something, something huge, something that can really influence the spread of self-love.

Posted in Confessions, Quotes

Some People’s Purpose is to Break your Heart

Some People’s Purpose is to Break Your Heart

It’s one of those nights where my brains ability to reminisce creates uncomfortable memory recovery.  Where I do not understand why some people have come and gone in seconds, some in months, and some in years.  I learned that not everyone is meant to stay in your life, they’re just meant to teach you lessons, but it also occurred to me that some people are just meant to break your heart.  I’m not only talking about the casual break up with a significant partner, but also family and friends.  Some people enter your life to break you down—some short term and others long term.  In other instances they will just leave while others will linger then leave eventually. Some will even care then stop caring.

This realization has made me, yet again, afraid to create new bonds and friendships but hopeful of the possibility to create and learn from new experiences at the same time.  Life has a way of masking hurt and pain by revealing those wounds into experiences that you would not have witnessed otherwise. I’ve had a fair share, I would say, of rejections and disappointments of people who said they cared but didn’t and a whole lot of self hatred because of it, but I learned (even though those incidents still haunt me in the deep hours of the night) how to appreciate myself and my own company.

Don’t let the illusion of brokenness from people who’s purpose in your life was to break your heart keep you from becoming yourself.

Try to let go of past relationships that didn’t work out. It will take time and probably a lot of tears, but someone else is waiting and they will come with purpose to build you up, stay, push you, and help you get to your power and worth.

Don’t allow past actions of other people to keep you from becoming, teaching, and building those you encounter.  You are not alone.

Be great and be yourself.  That’s all that is necessary.

Posted in Confessions, Quotes

A False Saying: Expect what you Deserve 

It bothers me that people actually think that they shouldn’t expect happiness and kindness once they’ve done something great.  It bothers me that people don’t expect for others to care and love them back.  Whats the point of loving if your not going to receive love back? It’s not about materiel expectation but having a will to give back and keep being great.  Sometimes it gets discouraging to always be the one to step up and be the bigger person.  Sometimes you just want to see someone else care as much as you do. You want to see someone else extend a hand when you need them too.  You should be able to expect love to come back when all you’ve been doing is putting it out.  It’s not fair that this world has taught us that we shouldn’t expect goodness to come out of goodness.  We shouldn’t stop expecting, we should be dissapointed in people saying we should stop expecting.

Posted in Confessions, Creative Writing, Self-Talk, What Just Happened: Personal Anecdotes

Dear Anxiety

I see you standing there.  I remember when you started.  I remember the moment when you showed your face in the mist of a random moment.  I couldn’t take the tasks and the fears, and the rules, and the obsessions, and the self induced heart breaks, and the frequent rejections.   I injected you into me.  Like a drug I didn’t take.  It was a present moment where I felt the symptoms.  I fell sick from the exhaustion of perfect perceptions of normality and nature.  I wasn’t this and I wasn’t that.  I wasn’t good enough for this, and that, and him, and her, and that thing that dictates success and a better life.   

I remember you when I was a little girl.  Your face was new.  No one liked me and I didn’t want to go to school.  I’d rather stay at home where the noise was less loud, and I had my barbie dolls to keep me company and cleaning to sooth me with my head in the clouds.  I remember having dreams where I was someone else and everything I knew was the dream and I would wake up and everything was different, but every morning reality hit me.  Nothing was different nothing changed.

But what was different from then and now is that I repressed you and thought you had gone away.  The fear in religion took over and I was scared of that too.  Heaven and hell, but you came back and here’s how.

I remember you were there when I hated myself and I didn’t talk for three days.  You were there when I met depression too and it wanted to stay.  I remember you when I couldn’t sit in that meeting because all they promised was stress and pain.  I remember you when I thought my dog would be real sick and not be able to come home to tame you in my brain.

I remember you when I thought they’d be disappointed in me because I was a failure and I was the weakest link.  I remember you when they called me ugly and low self esteem was around and annoyed me like a leaky sink.  I remember you when I went to the counseling psych centers, you were there sitting with me.  I remember you sitting in two places, outside and inside, it was fall semester my senior year and that test, the GRE, made you show your true intentions.

I felt the nausea in my stomach every moment of every day.  My head to the ground because I couldn’t look my fear in the face.  I feel the headaches coming on and the craving for sleep, but constantly staying awake because I had so much to do but my motivation was down to my feet.  You boiled over and I was afraid to live.  Every day was a struggle, but I survived it.

I know what makes you spark and what makes you sleep now, and it’s kinda crazy.  Only one year since you’ve been full blown ruining my life, but I’m not going to let you take me.  Some days are harder than others, and sometimes I don’t want to wake up, I get scared of the sun coming up because that means I have to push myself to do something.

Let me tell you something, and I laugh at this now, but I understand where you came from and you’re unacceptable and something I won’t allow.  Running through the history of how you came to be, my self-realization and power is greater than you’ll ever be.  With my beliefs and my strengths, my spirit, my drive, and my motivation you won’t get fed anymore because what’s inside of me is pure love and it’s hungry.

So I thought I’d write you this letter to show myself that I conquered you for good and that you are something of my past I can talk about freely and unafraid as I should.

                                                                                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                                                                                      Your Past Prisoner  

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Posted in Confessions, Creative Writing, Keep Moving: Motivation and Inspiration, Making Sense Analysis, What Just Happened: Personal Anecdotes

A Personal Confession

These words came with tears so I hope you can sympathize.  This is depth therapy:

Lately I’ve really been hating my body but through the lens of my mind coming out my eyes.  A portal of perspective.  Hear me out.

This is not one of those “pick your head up because things will get better” but a “this is a real life struggle kid so learn from it” pieces so look at this…

Just one picture can twist the notion of a once fooled concept of self-acceptance because you thought you began to love “the skin your in” but the reality of it is…

the concept is once you begin it can never regress but my regression looks so good it resembled progression like walking backwards I wanted to say “I love you” but instead I said…

I thought I got over the feeling that my thighs are not the size of the American dream or the white picket fence or the its not what it seems, but its the rugged and thick concept of oppression and prejudice, the judgemental reality that not all words are the truth or not all smiles signify happiness but covering up the reality because the sacred is watching you, you want to see the day where the light is so bright that all this will soon fade away into an oblivious sense of brainwashing…

I thought I would wake up and it would be one of those dreams where you were running from a symbol of your subconscious fears but its not because the tears were real and so were those people

The ones that said that they want you and would stay, but that was just you talking to yourself because you have to really learn to mean what you say in your head like I will start that today and I will end that tomorrow but you don’t…

Instead you give excuses and let your self-talk ruin your self-image constantly digging the hole you call home 

But this ends today

The body that was once in ruins under the ashes like pompeii will rise and become the volcano that took you from existence.  You are no longer going extinct or becoming a personal museum for onlookers to talk or to taste but you will climb from your ashes into an unknown place.

You will not be scared to be strange or to not fit in because you are the one who is meant to change the existing archetypal skin, the status quo, and the origins.

Today marks a holiday where you declared your independance and come back from war, where you remembered what was and proclaim that your dead exterior will fall and let your new interior reveal itself.

You are not what you were yesterday and tomorrow you will be better than right now. So if you hate your body now, start the process to make that perception change tomorrow.

If you were looking for your purpose in life stop looking because its to be who you are to the people you encounter.  There’s no other purpose but to continuously labor on yourself even if that means sleepless night and uncomfortable situations.  

Life is not meant to work for others, but to work on yourself in the pursuit to become something that will shatter negativity, punch fear in the face and to help others in that same process.

You have work to do so I suggest you take one day at a time to appreciate all that you are because no one will be ready for the power that will be you in the future.