January 2020

Like many of you, I read the news about Kobe Bryant, his sweet daughter, and the other passengers who died this past Sunday with a broken heart. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking & praying & reflecting… just trying to understand how life could be so fleeting; gone in the blink of an eye. These people were so loved and cherished and have made such impact on this world.

I’m writing this post at my dorm room desk with tears streaming down my face… my heart so badly hoping that someone reads this and it changes his or her life. Today I’m writing about “one day”.

I used to be an extremely guarded person. If I’m being honest, it is my natural inclination to put walls up and show people all the good & seemingly perfect things going on and keep the hard things to myself. I’ll work and work and work on something until I can nearly perfect it, and only then will I share it with the world. Everyday, I have to fight this natural inclination of mine and choose the path of bravery and vulnerability. Maybe you, like me, feel sometimes like you’re walking through life in a “safety” zone; in a place that is comfortable and doesn’t risk hurt or failure or any of the hard things. But you guys, this path of always doing what’s comfortable and safe is not fully living. Coming from the once queen of guarded, I’m preaching to both myself and you that life is so much sweeter and full when we take the walls down.

When I heard the news earlier this week, I had a moment of tremendous clarity. I had a moment where I realized that my life is happening right in front of me and if I don’t consciously choose the path of bravery and courage, I may get to a day that’s my last and wonder what could have been. Could I have fulfilled that dream of mine if I wasn’t so scared of what those people thought of me? Could I have taken a leap of faith in that area of my life and risked it all? The “coulds” continued on & on until I decided to sit down and write this post.

Life is not guaranteed. I try to be the most uplifting and positive person possible but today I had a moment of this reality. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you knew you wouldn’t have tomorrow, what would you do today? Who would you call, what would you share with the world? Who would you tell you love them? How would you talk to yourself when you look in the mirror at your body that you’ve always critiqued? What leap of faith would you take?

We all have answers to those questions. But if I’m honest, sometimes I take for granted that I don’t have unlimited time to fulfill the things God has put on my heart to do in this world. I don’t have unlimited time to tell my people I love them, to hug them tight, to write & create and hopefully encourage people through how I live my life.

If you, like me, catch yourself thinking or saying “one day” to anything in your life, I want to encourage you to choose TODAY. Right now is all that is guaranteed. Start the blog, write the first chapter of the book, tell that person you love them, create something new, wear what you want, love your body and love yourself. Your life is worth far too much to let fear keep you from living in a state of waiting and wishing the time to go by so you can get to that “one day” where it finally all clicks and somehow you start living.

To whoever is reading this: you are SO IMPORTANT. Your life is so valuable. Let’s all choose the brave thing, the hard thing, the courageous thing. Let’s live– not tomorrow, but today.

Today is the “one day”. Let’s live, sweet friend.

Always,

Elle

I’m back, y’all!!! After a little break to dream/pray about the direction I want to take the blog, I’m back! <3 I missed being on here so, so much, but I knew I needed a short season to be intentional about taking time to create a vision for what this blog could be. Writing/communicating are my outlets and I love being able to hopefully just encourage one person through my posts. (And to all the people who sent me the sweetest texts & DMs about missing my posts and hoping to read from me soon, I love you guys! Those messages meant the world to me.)

Now, today is January 27th… a lil’ over three weeks since January 1st & allllll the motivation to start the new year strong. So often I get to January 1st, am so excited to for all my new goals and then a few weeks pass and I feel like I need an extra push of motivation to keep on going. Today, I hope I can bring you that extra encouragement I, too, need! It’s 2020 & time is flying by & I don’t know about you, but I wanna soak up each and every moment of this year and make it the best one yet. Let’s do this thing!

Regardless of any goals or resolutions you may have set this year, I want you to remember that what you do does not define you. You are loved & chosen & worthy just as you are, regardless of how often you follow through with what you set out to do in the new year.

Now, I do believe that we as human beings are made with innate gifts & strengths that we can use to bring light & good to this world. I can be grateful where I am & recognize my worth comes from nothing but God (still need to remind myself of this daily) & still choose to strive for more in my life, whether that be better grades or better health or growing my blog or being a better friend/sister/daughter, etc. Complacency with where I am, if I’m being honest, makes me sad & tired. In my goal-setting and prayers about how God can use me this year, I find hope & excitement for what is to come.

This semester, I want to encourage you to dream big. I know so often we hear that, but truly, I want to encourage you to step fully into who you were made to be. Your dreams don’t have to look like mine or hers or his or anyone else’s; your dreams are yours and whatever dreaming big looks like to you is what I want to encourage you to do. Dreaming big could look like wanting to write a book or deciding you want to start taking art classes or deciding on a career path or maybe just deciding that this is the semester you are going to love your body. You were made with so much purpose & your big dreams are needed in this world!

This semester, let’s work to ELIMINATE fear. I intentionally made that word big because I have to remind myself to choose the brave & bold path every.single.day. Fear might look like the voice in your head that says “but what if they don’t like me?” or the voice that says “what if something goes wrong?”. When I started taking inventory of the voices of fear in my head, I noticed something they almost all shared in common: the “what if”. When I became aware of this, I was able to stop myself in my tracks and say “okay, yes, this could go wrong… but what if it goes RIGHT?!” What if it goes right, friends?! How amazing that could be! And even if it does go wrong, we get to learn & grow from it. Do not be afraid of what could go wrong when there is so much that could go right (preaching to myself here)!

And finally, this semester I want to encourage you to love yourself fully. Take time to take care of yourself. Rest, play, laugh, smile, dance. Journal & reflect on how far you’ve come and how strong you are. Find something you love about yourself every time you look in the mirror and acknowledge it. Has anyone ever told you how BEAUTIFUL you are?! Ultimately, life is to be lived & how sweet it would be if we could live fully this semester.

I’m cheering you on <3

Always,

Elle

ONE DAY.

ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE NEW SEMESTER

Archives for January 2020

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