Last year around this time, I hit rock bottom. It seemed all areas of my life were at its lowest of efficiency, happiness, and joy. I wanted happiness and success. I wanted glowing skin and flourishing hair. I wanted to break my bondage. I wanted freedom.

I was in need of an outlet for when I got stressed or upset. So I picked up my pen and my old college algebra notebook ripping out all the formulas and practice problems from the rings. I paused as if I didn’t understand how pen and paper function with one another. I was rusty.

It’s been years since I wrote just because. But the minute my pen grazed the paper, a flood of all of my problems, stresses, concerns, dreams, goals, tears, past pains, and more just poured into my journal. I didn’t even realize I had filled 5 pages until I finished. I was relieved afterward. Like a weight was taken off of my shoulder. I filled to the first page and wrote:

“Free•dom”

Free•dom is my 2018 theme. It is my mindset for the year as I tackle and approach my roadblocks on my journey to overall peace. Free•dom targets all areas of my life but one of the biggest factors is creating a deeper connection to my creative soul. I believe that practicing at least one form of creativity on a daily basis is essential for our mental, emotional, and spiritual health. There are so many ways to express yourself creatively and one of my favorites is journaling.

Journaling can be used to help clear your mind, exercise routine writing, reflect on what you're grateful for, what's going good in your life, and what goes bad in your life. Journaling is your safe haven to be raw and authentic. It can be private or shared. It is whatever you want it to be

One example of journaling is stream of consciousness.

Write for 15-30 minutes straight about any and everything every day! If you are ever stuck and blank out you can literally write "ugh I don't know what to write. I have nothing to write, blah blah blah..." The key is to KEEP WRITING & DO NOT STOP! Eventually, you will have something to write about. Even if you end up writing "idk" down the page for 30 mins, take the time to reflect on that. Why did your mind go so blank? Maybe you aren't used to releasing your thoughts? Stream of consciousness journaling will become easier as you practice it more!

As I mentioned, there are so many ways to express yourself whether it is simply journaling your day-to-day life, writing poetry, or running a blog, creating digital art or Youtube videos, making music or painting. I charge you to look deep into yourself and find your little nugget of creativity.

Once you find it, you must embrace it with all your might. For example, my nugget is quirky or as I like to say Quirk-E (*insert ba-dum tshh*). Even if it is the weird, cool, funky, or pretty; it’s what makes you, well, you. And that’s the most important concept to remember because once you accept who you are, you are the only one in charge of how your life can go.

And on that note, I hope this article inspires you to unlock new levels of yourself.

Embrace your quirks. Nurture your future.