live life

3 weeks into the Big 3-0!

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Well I’m three weeks into the Big 3-0 and I feel…….I feel…..I feel great! To tell you the truth i was scared to hit this milestone in my life. If you would have spoken to me 10 years ago when i first moved to San Antonio I had a different mind set and plans for my life. I thought i would be in completely different place in life but as you know life took me down a different road, a road that i never knew i would LOVE! It took me hitting my lowest low and my toughest struggle but I discovered my inner strength.

I thank God everyday that he took me down this different path in life, it has made me stronger, braver, more independent, wiser, and more loving of life and myself. Even though I am sad my Twenties are over, I am even more excited to see what my Thirties will have in store for me.

But……I know one thing…….I will always be the The Twenty Something Gal.

Here’s my bucket list for my 30th, i completed 14 out of the 30 items on my list, not too bad. Just means I need to complete the rest and create a new list!

  1. Start a blog and write a blog at least once a week until my 30th birthday. ✔(More like every few months)
  2. Get a tattoo. ✔( I got my tattoo 2 weeks after my birthday : ))
  3. Random act of kindness-Leave a $100 tip.
  4. Go on a ghost tour in New Orleans.✔
  5. Travel to an exotic destination. (Probably not going to happen)
  6. Go to a music festival in a different city. ✔
  7. Travel to at least 2 different states I have not been to. ✔
  8. Splurge on a once in a lifetime meal at one of the world’s best restaurants.
  9. Go whitewater rafting.
  10. Learn how to shoot a gun.
  11. Write a fictional story and self-publish.
  12. Become a CPA( ehhh I can dream…but it can happen!).
  13. Travel Solo…..again…. : )) ✔
  14. Learn about my family Genealogy, take an ancestry test!✔
  15. Read a classic novel. ( i started Pride and Prejudice) ✔
  16. Try an exotic dish I have never had before.✔
  17. See a Broadway show.
  18. Run a half marathon and finish it in my goal time. ( Alamo 13.1!! March 19th 2017)
  19. Spend New Year’s Eve in a different city!✔
  20. Visit the Grand Canyon or another national park outside of Texas!✔
  21. Get a professional full body massage!
  22. Learn a foreign language- Italian!
  23. Go zip lining.✔
  24. Ride a scooter through the city.
  25. Dress as Selena for Halloween.
  26. Go parasailing.
  27. Learn how to cook a Turkey for Thanksgiving.(boo, didnt happen)
  28. Find out one thing my Mom really wanted to do and do it in her honor.
  29. Start a Business✔
  30. Take a picture everyday until my 30th birthday and of every experience. ✔

 

Till next time

XOXO

Lyssa

Season of Changes-continuance of the Butterfly Transformation.

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I recently took a chance and went for an opportunity that just came into my life. Whether the outcome is good or bad, I am proud of myself for at least seizing the opportunity. I had an internal struggle of whether I should go for it because I am not the biggest fan of change. Then I remembered a life lesson, learn to accept the changes because they happen for the right reasons at the right time.

This time four years ago, in a certain chapter in my life, I was a happy person well at least I thought I was. I was a person stuck in a safe bubble not really living life. I thought I was happy and had all that I ever wanted and what I dreamed of, but God had other plans for me. God decided it was time to bust my bubble and break me out of the lifeless life I was living and flipped my world upside down.

At first I was in denial, I tried to patch the hole in my bubble that I had previously patched so many times and pretended that everything could go on the same as it did. I was in shock, numb of everything around me, I cut myself off from everyone and the world. I soon learned that the patch on my bubble could not hold any longer and it came off exposing me to hurt and anger. I tried to bargain with God, “Please if I change my ways can you please take me back to my safe bubble?”

When I received no response and knew that the looming changes would start to flow into my life, I was angry at the world, I was angry of those around me, and I blamed myself for the brokenness of my bubble. In a very short amount of time, change after change came into my life that I had no control over, I had to move on and learn to live outside of the bubble. This was not the first time my bubble has been broken but this was the first time it exposed so much of me. I soon lived in a numb world full of sadness, and grief, I had just suffered a great loss. I lived in this world of sadness that seemed to be never-ending.

It took a long time but I finally made it back to the surface and back to reality. I finally realized that the new changes in my life were awesome changes and that they were leading me to even more awesome and amazing opportunities. I came to accept the fact that I needed my bubble broken and I needed to expose myself to the ultimate vulnerability in order to confront my past and get rid of the negativity that it held. One day I woke up and decided I LOVED my reality and the changes that had taken place. God has taken me to a place I had never dreamed of, whether he had this in the works for me or not I am forever grateful that he broke me out of that chapter in life. I look back and think yes I could have been happy but I am even happier that God placed a curve in my path leading me down to a path of self-discovery and positively that has made me stronger more confident person.

Change is good, and even though it still is hard for me to accept I know its coming and it will come at the right time when I am least expecting it.

I feel like my whole life has been about perfect timing, I have been so lucky in my last few years of my life that opportunities and changes come to me at the right times. I like to think that my Mom, God and guardian Angel are all always watching over me and preparing me for what is coming my way.

So sit back and be grateful for the forever changing of the seasons in life and for the changes that bring on new chapters in your life story.

XOXO-

Lyssa

 

The Transformation of the Butterfly

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If you live in San Antonio, you have probably noticed the abundance of butterflies throughout the city. It’s the yearly migration of the Monarch Butterflies. Seeing so many butterflies had me reflecting on my own transformation that I have gone through these last couple of years. People say you change in your 20’s and change I have! With my last year in my 20’s one thing that has definitely imprinted on me is that the changes never stop, you always continue to grow, learn and experience (both good and bad) because life never goes as planned.

I recently came a across a beautiful quote that made me think of the changes of the butterfly.

 “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly……”

There are many moments in our lives where everything seems to go completely wrong. We huff and puff and put blame on the world and everything that surrounds us. We get so mad at life for not going the way it was supposed to go that we ultimately get exhausted. We get exhausted of the battle we are fighting against the world and ourselves that we surrender. When we surrender we start the transformation and become the most amazing beautiful butterfly. We learn to spread our wings to fly and learn to live, laugh and love again.

I was definitely fighting a battle with the world, an unknown battle where I was putting blame on life and hating myself. What is so wrong with me? Why can’t I be happy? Why did my Mom have to leave me so soon? Why can’t she be here to help me and guide me out of this darkness? Why did it have to happen this way? Why was I left with the broken pieces to put back together? Why am I so alone? It’s a dark struggle and it’s even harder to get out of if you don’t surrender. Eventually I  learned not to hate life, that I was not alone, and I should not to put blame on the world  and others. You see I was the little caterpillar searching for my place in life, feeling alone, unhappy, and with no understanding of my purpose.  I had to take time to focus on myself, to build on my self-confidence, to build new relationships and to take into account the tools I had within myself to realize my full potential to change MY WORLD. That was when beautiful changes started to happen.

Trust me the butterfly is proof that you can go through a great deal of darkness yet become something beautiful.

My journey is not yet over, there are days when I still feel lost but I remember that it is ok to have those days just don’t stay there, its important to keep moving forward and to not stay stuck in a slump.  We all have our challenges but the way we handle them is a reflection of who we are. Do not let the darkness over take your life, there is always a way back to happiness, surrender to the light of life, to the crazy/beautiful unknown of life, and you find yourself becoming an amazing beautiful butterfly navigating through life.

Live, laugh and love always.

Lyssa