Lock Screen Lessons II - A Lesson on Patience

New year, new lessons, new lock screens!

If you're new here, lock screens are my way of creating a habit or keeping a positive thought in my mind to help make good changes in my mindset. My mind runs 100 miles a minute fleeting between new ideas, full on panic, and thoughts of inadequacy, it helps me immensely to have these little mantras where I can see them all the time. This month's lock screen lessons are focused on being happy with where you are now and being patient with where you are going. 

At the start of the year I was so eager to start grinding on my new goals and trying to make it all happen at once. I was forgetting to look back at all the things I had accomplished in 2017. So I needed a little reminder to stop, reflect, give myself a pat on the back, and be happy with how far I've come. 

One day while agonizing over how much I still needed to accomplish and feeling supper bummed (fancy word for depressed) that I wasn't where I wanted to be. I felt like I had no reason to be happy yet. I hadn't made enough progress to be celebrating anything or taking a break. "I just haven't done enough!" and "I'm waisting so much time, but I don't know where to start." were frequent thoughts that plagued me. And then I opened up my life binder to the goals I had written at the start of 2017. To my astonishment those far fetched dreams, seemingly random material things I wanted to have, and the feelings I wanted to feel were all mine. I had accomplished just about everything I wanted to!

I had moved into my own apartment and decorated it to my exact liking. I bought my first car. I surpassed my income goal working only one job. I made a name for myself as the "go-to" girl for most jobs in the hotel I worked at. I owned only things that brought me joy. I made a bigger effort to be a good friend and to constantly be meeting new people. This was a big year for me. And to think I was beating myself up about not accomplishing enough! 

So if you're feeling the same things I was, stop and take a moment to find one thing that you are proud of. Big or small. Then...

BE HAPPY. YOU'VE EARNED IT. 

This one is a big deal for me.
I've had people look down on my life's choices and tell me I wouldn't amount to anything if I didn't go to collage, or get a certain job, or decided on my life long career at 18 years old. People always had something to say about what I was doing. These comments would really grate at me. It made me angry, but more importantly it lit a fire under me. But over time I became discouraged because things weren't moving fast enough. I wasn't as good a photographer as I hoped, or I wasn't picking up a new graphic design tool fast enough. More often then not I was the one standing in my way. But I learned to be patient with myself and the process. Now I'm 21 years old and I'm still figuring it out. Plus side is I've got all the time in the world and it's never too late to start.

Don't fall into somebody else's idea of success and happiness. Stick to your guns. If you need to change directions, change directions. Live your truth, play by your own rules.
BE PATIENT. YOU'LL SHOW 'EM.

Check out the previous Lock Screen Lessons HERE!

DIY GIANT PAPER BAG + STYLING TIPS

So these super cute giant paper bags are popping up everywhere online and people are finding really cool ways to use them and lots of different designs to affordably style their spaces. So here is my how to with some BONUS styling tips!

YOU WILL NEED:
a pair of scissors
a glue stick
a yard stick (or any ruler you can find)
a pencil or marker
masking tape
a giant roll of painters paper

I found my roll of paper at The Home Depot for about $18. You will want to use this paper instead of regular brown packing paper because it is very thick and will allow your bag to stand up on it's own and hold it's shape.

STEP 1:

Measure out your paper. Once you find the width of your bag, triple it. One panel for the front, one for the back, and one to be split in half to make up the sides.

Lock Screen Lessons

Every month or so I come across a new mental hurtle in life. Not a bad thing at all. New problems are better than the same ones over and over. So to help remind myself to change my mindset about something or change a habit, I make a cool lock screen for my phone. And it has only occurred to me today to share them!

This is my current background. Lately I've 

been reluctant to get up and hustle. I'm gonna use this to remind myself to just get up, put maximum effort, and power through like a boss!

This lock screen I made when I realized I was always looking for a way out. A way out of an outing, opportunity, new acquaintance. Out of fear of stepping out of my comfort zone I would look for something wrong with the situation or person and screw myself over. Seeing this lock screen every time I opened my phone would force me to check in with myself. "Have I been finding ways to screw myself over?" And "Am I looking for one right now?" After making it a habit I was able to beat it!

I use an app called WordSwag to make these and I LOVE IT! It has an amazing gallery of photos and arranges the quotes in so many different styles and fonts. For a full gallery of my lock screens and wallpapers check out my Pinterest. 

How To Travel: The Envelope System

I'm calling this series How To Travel because all the tips and guides in the world are useless if you don't know how to save and plan for a trip. My method for saving is very simple. It begins with research. Find out the exact dollar amount of all your trip expenses. I do this by going through the steps of booking a plane ticket and hotel to get the exact price and then hold off on booking till I have the money. After I find out how much it will cost I create pretty envelopes for each expense. What's the difference between the envelope system and throwing money in a savings account? Not only does it feel really good when you've filled an envelope and can move on to the next, but by knowing exactly what you have put away and for what, it becomes a billion times easier to know how much you have left to go.

 The next step is to divide the total amount of the trip by how many months you have till departure to clarify how much money you need to save per month. Don't "just keep saving till you have enough" have a departure date set so it's just a matter of "how much time do I have?" Then SAVE YOUR BUTT OFF. Don't make enough money to save what you need? 

TAKE AND MAKE EVERY CONCEIVABLE MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITY!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is step 1 to How To Travel.

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3 Steps To Taking Your First Trip video goes live!