Long Time No See

Hi friends! I haven’t written in a while! Things have been different, but yet very much the same. 

Some fun things I did last year: 1) Visit Spain with my husband for our 2nd wedding anniversary 2) Drove to Philly with a friend to attend a Dancehall workshop class taught by one of our favorite dancers 3) Complete my inner refocusing to help manage my anxiety 4) Got my first chemical peel 5) Discover my best curly self (check out my Instagram dedicated to curly hair: @ToCurlsWithLove_).

Work still keeps me super busy, but I’ve been trying to challenge myself in more areas to ensure I always keep growing and learning. My fitness journey is still going pretty strong. I make sure to make time for myself at the gym during the week. It’s good “me time”.

I’m sure 2019 will bring some interesting changes and developments. I don’t deal with best with change and it can cause my anxiety to go crazy. But, I’m learning to manage, take things as they come, and enjoy all of the moments, good or bad. Or at least find the silver linings in moments that are harder. 

Here’s to an exciting 2019 and to all the interesting moments in between. My advice? Take mental health days, eat some kale, then eat some ice cream. Be bold, be you! 

Learning Something New

My boyfriend is a gamer.  He likes PC games, hand held games, Xbox, all that stuff.  He really enjoys it and this is his hobby.  My extent of gaming is feeding my Nintendog and bathing it before taking it for a walk.  And, I did go through a Black Hawk Down phase, which would be similar to Call of Duty.  I was pretty good at that game, but after a while, I stopped playing.  My hobbies shifted into writing and Netflixing.

Since gaming is a big part of Stephen’s down time, I make an effort to learn about the games he plays and sometimes even try my hand at them.  This usually results in me getting bored after a few minutes because the games is difficult to understand or I don’t get the hang of it right away.

But, I truly enjoy learning about the things that make Stephen happy, so lady weekend, when he offered to teach me how to play a new game, I didn’t say no.  After an hour or two of training, Stephen convinced me to play a live game.  I was really nervous.  I was the “noob”.  And Juana doesn’t like being the noob.

I became frustrated and elated, then angry, then crazy, all within the span of a few minutes.  I got my first “kill” in the game and screamed crazily.  And then the regular players started fussing about my “noobiness”.  But, I pursued and have been practicing with Stephen for over a week.  Yesterday, I even had three kills!  (This is a good achievement for me).

This situation got me thinking about those times in my life that scare me the most.  Those murky, dark corners of the unknown.  Change.  Uncertainty.  Self-reflection.  Criticism.  Insecurity.  Overall, noobiness.

But, without starting fresh at something, how are we supposed to learn at all?  Without feedback, how can we grow and improve?  We can’t.

So, here’s to my noobiness.  Here’s to my mistakes.  Here’s to my realization that I can’t reach the stars without crash landing on a distant planets a few times first.