If You’re Still Listening

Hey guys.

It’s crazy to me that I started this blog so long ago and yet I have 8,000 drafts that I never posted because the Lord only knows why.

I always come on here and discuss with you my life updates and talk about my thoughts and emotions and the whole works you know.

Well today, I just want to get real deep and talk about how life straight up sucks sometimes. And I say sometimes because it’s not a forever piece, it’s just a right now or it might happen again but holistically it doesn’t.

Okay, anyways…

Let me tell  you why life sucks sometimes.

I got this great job right, wonderful, thought it was my dream job, I’m going to retire with them, this is where my income is going to come from the rest of my life.

L O FREAKING L

What did I know. It was my first job outside of college, I was smitten on the paychecks, I’ll tell you that.

Basically, I quit that job and am back to where I was in college… Sitting here, writing about my  feelings to people who might not even be interested or who truly want to know how my life is going (you real ones) and not knowing where I will be in even the next few months.

HOW EXCITING

And honestly, I wanna say that was sarcasm but it. was. not. I get to start over y’all. If I would have stayed with that job I would have been settling so hard and probably would have never gotten the kick to truly figure out what I want to do!

I hope all of you are never in this situation where you have to feel the need to leave where you’re at and hope that you’ve found your true passion but that’s just not realistic.

Most of us will change jobs at least 5-7 times in their lifetime…. woah.

So now it’s a matter of fact of HOW do I find my true purpose, the thing that wakes me up every morning excited and willing to take head on, the thing that I am willing to do no matter the sacrifices.

Interestingly enough, I read an article about a couple months ago about finding the right job for you. And the main idea was, what are you willing to struggle for?

…….

No one wants to struggle what the heck.

But think about it.

People always ask, what will you be happy doing and that could be a number of things! But if you ask people okay then narrow it down, out of those things, what are you willing to struggle for?

If you truly love it, you’ll go through the pain of late hours, or not being able to have a family right away, or forgetting to eat because you’re in such a zone with the work you’re doing, or whatever the case may be.

Are you willing to starve as an artist for the first however many months/years it takes before something takes off? Are you willing to become a doctor and have years of student debt above your head and long, crazy hours to not be able to see your family or possibly even start one for a while?

These are questions people need to ask themselves when deciding the career path they are wanting to go into. And I’m in the process myself of asking these questions so you’re not alone!

I hate making these posts super long so I’m going to wrap it up if I haven’t lost ya already…

I just wanted to create this post to update those of you who are still following and basically wanting to listen to me rant but also to say that you’re not alone if you’ve been in this situation before. I’m here for you, there are many others that are out there that I’m sure are here for you too.

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I really want to keep this blogging updated as much as possible and I might even turn it into something different in the future! As of right now, I love to write and get my thoughts out on ‘paper’ so this might become a weekly task so turn on your notifications for my posts to find out what’s new in the world, advice, might even be fashion, life, relationship or artistically related!

Thanks so much for reading guys, it really means a lot, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, or if you just want to talk! I’m always here!

Peace & Blessings

Abby

Back on my BS

I think we’ve all realized by now that this is a pg-13 rated blog whether it looks that way or not. I’m not holding back and neither should any of you when going through life!

~ Hella deep ~

So today, I want to get behind the idea of social media.

*instantly loses everyone who started reading*

Okay if you’re still here just hear me out.

I have always been someone who has enjoyed social media of course like most of the world but has also been that person who’s like “hm maybe this isn’t the best thing for society…” BUT that has changed my friends.

Yes social media can be a toxic place where you compare yourselves to everyone else’s lives and you wish upon a star you could live that way and yadda yadda yadda.

However…..

Social media is also the place where you figured out those job opportunities were actually out there. We all have different personalities and a lot of those personalities don’t fit in with the typical 9-5 jobs that have been around for centuries.

Because of social media, there are more employers looking for employees than people are looking for jobs!! Hallelujah!

People in the creative mindset can now make more money than ever off having their talent driven minds.

What a world we live in.

And so now, Abby is back on her BS to make social media a more prevalent source in her life (killing the third person narrative immediately).

I enjoy creating that type of content, I enjoy the positive atmosphere that social media portrays (whether that’s true or not), I enjoy the networking and social interactions taken by just posting pictures!

Okay I’m not naive to the controversies that social media has either.

BUT like I said, for here and now, we are going to create a positive light over the idea behind the creativity social media can portray OKAY.

Okay.

Felt like my mom trying to convince me that doing yard work builds character.

This is basically a rant about me trying to tell you that I am getting back into social media, and that you will be seeing  lot more of me, hearing a lot more from me, and essentially, seeing me become happy once again.

Sorry for that little negative connotation I snuck in there at the end..

Happiness is the big factor here but y’all not ready to have that conversation just yet.

The world today needs more people who ENJOY what they get up and do every single day. We spend too much time at our full time jobs that it’s such a waste to see people in them who aren’t even enjoying it.

I came across a quote the other day that my best friend back home shared with me and I have to share with y’all. This will sort of wrap things up and leave you with a thought.

“Your past is not your potential. In any hour you can choose to liberate the future” – Marilyn Ferguson

“In any hour…” I love this because we’ve always heard the phrase, your life can can change any moment and in a complete flash. This may be due to your decisions or Gods plan for you, either way, it doesn’t take long and can have a huge impact.

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Hope you all enjoyed reading the interesting yet kinda redundant post I created!! You all know I love meeting new people so reach out and ask me questions or just network and lets be friends!

Have a lovely Tuesday everyone 🙂

Peace & Blessings

Abby

 

The Ride of Life

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Hey guys.

Again, I suck and it’s been a minute since I’ve posted anything. To be exact, its been 7 months and 2 days….

That’s a long ass time to be away.

But I’ve been busy with so much shit (I use this excuse too much for it to be true) it’s not even funny and to be honest, I kind of forgot about writing and that makes me a little upset.

Have you guys ever forgotten about something that makes you happy and not even realized it? Like reading a good book? Riding a horse? Or even visiting your favorite coffee shop?

You get stuck in a routine and you forget about the things that truly make you happy it’s so freaking sad.

So since I’ve been gone, I’ll give y’all an update on truly what’s happening in the life of Abby. I’ll make it quick though cause it might be boring as hell to just hear about what’s been going on…

Within the past couple months I’ve still been going to Iowa State, I DID NOT graduate so that’s fun, I’ve been applying for internships, got one, and now I’m living in Kansas City interning with Marriott International at the Sheraton hotel in crown center til the end of July.

And so far, it’s hell and a half.

No joke I could go off about how much this job frustrates me and how shitty the organization is  but there’s a different time for that.

This job actually got me onto my website again to write this post for all you lovely people!!

~ Positives ~

I will say this.

Trying to figure out what you want to do with your life is such a freakn ride.

It’s like the ripcord at Worlds of Fun.

You start at the bottom not knowing which way to go first, and then all of a sudden you get your first jerk and you’re like “uh I don’t know if I like this”… Then you begin the ride and it’s freeing learning something new and exciting, then all of a sudden you start to drop again and you’re like “yeah nope, get me off this f****** thing”.

*And I’m still on this ride as we speak people.

I want to get to the place where I’ve gotten off the ride and I’ve touched land again and I’m thinking “thank god that’s over but it was fun to say the least”.

I need to get better at analogies but I think you guys are pickin up what I’m puttin down.

So if anyone has any advice for someone who is finally trying to seek some instead of acting like I have it all together, hit a girl up 🙂

I’ll shout you out too if your ish works cause lord knows how grateful I’ll be once I find a sure fire way to figure my life out.

And even if it doesn’t work, I’ll appreciate you anyways and we can be friends and hang out and get coffee and pet many dogs that don’t belong to us in the dog park.

I’m not opposed to any ideas, let me know your ways or even activities I could try that might sound like something I might like to do that got you to figure things out.

A N Y T H I N G helps.

That’s where I’m at in my life.

Anyways, thanks homies, catch ya next time, whenever that’ll be :’)))

Peace & Blessings ❤

Abby

 

 

Cherish Your Solitude

“Cherish your solitude. Take trains by yourself to places you have never been. Sleep out alone under the stars. Learn how to drive a stick shift. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. Say no when you don’t want to do something. Say yes if your instincts are strong, even if everyone around you disagrees. Decide whether you want to be liked or admired. Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out what you’re doing here.” – Eve Ensler

Stressectations

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Honestly, I came up with my own word for the title.

Stressectations.

It means when you have all this stress caused by expectations placed on you.

College.

Stressectations and college – synonyms.

You get my point.

So I’m actually a newbie to all this stress and anxiety I have been having lately considering its getting close to my departure from this University.

I have always been the go with the flow kind of person, always optimistic things will work out and not stressing about what the future holds cause ‘oh it’ll work out’, ‘don’t stress, you’re right on track’.

Okay Nancy, but what if I’m not on track and you’re just telling me this to make me feel better. Listen lady, all my friends are way ahead of me getting jobs right out of college and doing something with their lives while I am working my ass off to get an internship.

Poor Nancy dealing with my pity ass.

I compare myself to people so much that this is what happens. I start doubting myself and where I’m going.

Therefore, I stress.

And I worry that at every second of the day, I should be doing something towards getting ready for my future if I’m not already working on homework due the next day or that night.

How could you not get anxiety just reading that…

I want to know what some of you guys do to handle your stress. And only tell me healthy ways to do it cause I’m not retreating to any bullshit drug you wanna recommend to me that’s supposed to ‘make me feel better instantly’.

That was slightly aggressive but honestly I’m just trying to find something I can do that will help me with getting my life organized and in complete order.

Something that will make me forget about all the worries in the world. Everything is peachy keen. I’ve done plenty of meditation, yoga and reading and I’ve enjoyed that very much.

Okay, maybe I should rephrase my question. Who has any advice on organizing your time so that you have plenty of time for your hobbies, work, and getting schoolwork done?

Oh and having somewhat of a social life.

I’ll settle for somewhat.

I feel like these expectations that I place on myself are a little too high and therefore need a little tweaking.

~ Just like my standards for guys ~ :)))))))))))

WHOOO

Stressectations need to go.

Prioritizing and making sure I’m making use of my down time is something I need help with too. I need someone who will literally monitor my phone usage. I’m not kidding, I’m addicted 135% to my phone. Take it out of my hand and hide it for a very long time until I get all my shit done.

I feel like I’ve talked about 29 different topics in this post so sorry it might seem like I’m on my 10th cup of coffee, but really I’ve only had 3. I’ll do a little recap to help ya understand.

THE RECAP:

1. Quit comparing yourself to other people
2. Stress on stress on stress about the future
3. Healthy ways to handle stress – give em to me
4. How does one have time for themselves, while making money, getting good grades, and having a social life????
5. I have high expectations ~ for  e v e r y t h i n g
6. SOS – need help prioritizing

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Okay, I’m done with my rant, but if any of you are having these issues as well, we’re in this together. And trust me, when I figure out how to accomplish all 6 of these items, you know for sure I’ll be writing about it. Honestly even just figuring out 1 of them, I’ll fill ya guys in.

But actually, let me know any healthy ways you all cure your stressful days or how you like to spend your down time when you’ve got a couple hours to kill or even a whole Sunday!

Thanks for reading friendlies, I’ll be back soon whenever I get that down time or learn how to prioritize!!!

Peace & Blessings ❤

Abby

 

 

Make The ‘Free Time’ C O U N T

School, college, high school, etc. It all takes up most of your time throughout your life; About 8,000 hours to be exact. And that’s just high school and college. That doesn’t count for the time spent doing homework, or even grade school and middle school….

Education is probably the most important necessity in today’s world. However, many of us are overlooking the simple things in life that we enjoy doing. What do you do when you have free time? You’ve been working so hard this whole week and you have a day to chill, what do you do?

Most of us are going to sit around doing nothing because we never have time to just. do. nothing.

So to sum up my argument into a few sentences, we spend most of our time either doing homework, being in class, or doing nothing but watching marathons of friends or the office. As much as I love those two shows, it doesn’t tell me anything about myself or what I truly love to do.

I know what you’re thinking.

“I know who I am. I don’t need to change anything to know what I love to do and what I like to do. You’re insane, don’t tell me what to do.” And thats totally fine! If you’re completely happy with where you’re at and where you’re going, this article is completely irrelevant to you.

It’s mainly my thoughts about this idea too so don’t think of this as any sort of scholarly article or analysis on your life and the way you should live it… I don’t have any sort of credibility AT ALL.

But if this idea DOES pertain to you and your life, then I’d like to share with you my thoughts, and I’d love it if you would like to respond and tell me what you think!

So back to my argument.

Okay, you’re going through college, homework, class, free time (doing nothing), all four years. Then what?

Then we get out of college. Woohoo! We have this degree, were done with classes but now we have to find a job were supposed to love doing for the rest of our lives…

How are you supposed to know what you enjoy doing if all you focused on was getting good grades and finding time for yourself to just relax?

Great question. It’s a tough one. And I really don’t have an exact answer for ya.

However, lately, I’ve truly been focusing on myself and my interests. It’s been hard because I don’t even know where to start. It’s intriguing finding out though.

(And I don’t mean take a buzz feed quiz to tell you you’re hungry for spaghetti)

But I’ve started drinking tea more and realized that I love it so so much. I’ve stopped eating meat, and I’ve lessened my caffeine intake which has completely changed my life. I’ve also lessened the amount of alcohol I consume as well (aside from my glass of wine here and there).

All of these are very recent so I am attempting to stick to them for at least 40 days. Fun fact, it takes 40 days to create a habit.

Now those are very small things but it’s crazy how starting with the little things can make the biggest difference.

I encourage you all to try something different when you have free time. Try, please try not to be lazy and sit on the couch to watch hours of TV or Netflix. It’s hard I know, but you’ll thank me in the future.

Next up in this little adventure of mine is joining a few more clubs, getting better at my public speaking, and listening to more audiobooks. It’s nice to hear someone else telling me how to live my life than listening to what I think is right in my own head 🙂

Let me know what projects you all are working on and ways that you better yourself everyday! It’s super important to focus on yourself and make time for those little things!

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Thanks so much for reading friends, I’d love any comments you’d want to share with me or if you just wanted to say hi! I hope you all have a very wonderful Tuesday 🙂

Peace & blessings ❤

Abby

I Hope Someday

“I hope that someday, somebody wants to hold you for twenty minutes straight, and that’s all they do. They don’t pull away. They don’t look at your face. They don’t try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms, without an ounce of selfishness in it.” – Waitress (2007), Dir. Adrienne Shelly 

Comparisons

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Wow, it’s been a minute.

.

.

So much has happened since I last posted. Last time I posted, I believe it was a quote about being alone on July 1st. Thats over a couple months ago…

Well I guess a brief way to fill you in is to just say I moved back from Utah and am now going to Iowa State yet again.

I didn’t want to sit here and write about updates on my life cause that would honestly be boring as hell. I don’t wanna do that to you guys, no. Instead, I thought I’d jump right back into what I always have done in the past, talk about what’s on my mind and hope that someone understands or at least takes something away from my writing.

So here it goes.

What’s been on my mind lately is how badly I compare myself to other people. And I know everyone does this in some way or another but I have a feeling I do it to an excessive amount. I’m the type of person that likes to meet a ton of people whenever I get the opportunity.

I love this about myself don’t get me wrong.

But that means more connections, more personalities, more friends, more people to compare my life to.

I am just constantly having a hard time knowing what I want to do with my life and figuring out who I am specifically even though I thought I had a good idea. Then someone does something spectacular and i’m like ‘why am I not like that?’ ‘Why am I not doing that?’ ‘They are so much farther ahead of me in life and school and figuring out who they are’.

All of it, haunts me daily.

I just wish there was some person out there that I could pay money to go see (I’m talkin like $20 with my broke ass), and they would tell me exactly who I am and what I need to do with my life.

I’m struggling man, help me.

I just wish I had some talent that I could use to motivate myself into pursuing. Now I’m not trying to sit here and feel pity for myself, please don’t think that. I just wanted to write about how I’m having a hard time with figuring out life, like most of us.

My optimistic mindset can be either a good thing or a bad thing. It’s still to be determined because as of right now, I’m seeing it as a bad thing. Wanna know why? Imma tell you why.

Because I have looked at life thus far as ‘everything is going to turn out’, ‘just believe and pray and don’t worry because it will all work out in the end’, ‘you’ll eventually figure it out, don’t stress about it’. And I haven’t, until now.

I’m a senior in college about ready to graduate; actually in another year and a half (I have to go an extra semester). But I’m still so naive about my future. I think it’ll turn out in the end but it’s like ummm honey, not if you’re not doing shit about anything. I get good grades and I get involved but I just feel like it’s not enough.

I see everyone else going out and becoming presidents of the clubs they’re in, creating events, helping save lives I don’t know.

This might just be my own personal issues, and I hope it is because this feeling sucks.

I don’t think I’ve taken enough time to get to know myself personally. Like I mentioned before about loving to meet new people, that means that I’m not by myself a lot of the time. I never take a whole day to myself to just be alone and do what I want to do. I constantly have to be with people or meeting new people. I don’t see anything wrong with this but it hasn’t helped me figure out myself.

Okay, I think I’ve hit my limit on thoughts tonight so I’ll leave you guys with that.

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If you guys read it all the way through, lets be friends honestly cause it was quite a bit, but I really appreciate it.

Connect with me somehow one way or another, I’d love to get to know you all! I’ll try to continue to write as much as possible but this is mainly a page for me to get my thoughts on ‘paper’. If you enjoy it though, don’t be afraid to comment and let me know!

Turn on my notifications to know when I’ve written something new cause God knows when the next time will be… Could be a day, a month, a year, who even knows.

Anyways, hope you all have an amazing night as it is midnight here in the midwest, I need to get some sleep. Revisit soon loveys ❤

 

Peace & Blessings

Abby

Not Alone

“We cling to music, to poems, to quotes, to writing, to art because we desperately do not want to be alone. We want to know we aren’t going crazy and someone else out there knows exactly how you’re feeling. We want someone to explain the things we can’t.”

August Vacations Are Cool.

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Do you guys ever get in those moods where the only thing that will help you calm down or get in your feels is music? Music has such an important roll in my life. I could be on top of the world one minute listening to rihanna and the next I’m listening to james arthur in my room with a churro and Friends playing.

Weird I don’t know.

Damn a churro sounds so good right now.

Okay, basically I just wanted to share some news with you guys. The music thing was an obvious observation and just something that was on my mind so kinda irrelevant to the post but whatever.

GUESS WHAT.

~ I’M GOING TO COSTA RICA ~ 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gosh that felt good to say. I’m so freaking excited I wanna stand on this chair in the middle of Starbucks and yell it at everyone.

I’d probably get kicked out though and I kinda like this place so I’ll keep it cool.

But yesssss, I’m going with my roommate in August from the 9th to the 18th! So if any one of y’all are in Costa Rica or have ever been there, hit me up or hit me up with ideas on what to do when I get there!

I’m staying at an airbnb in Montezuma and it’s the cutest little treehouse I’ve ever laid eyes on ❤

It was just a random idea I had earlier this month that I wanted to go on a trip before school started yanno to lessen the blow of classes and such. 9 days to not think about responsibilities sounds good to me.

I wanna see some cute lil creatures. Be greeted by monkeys and armadillos and pretty birdies in the morning. I’ll be posting hella pictures too while I’m there on my Instagram so if you guys don’t follow me, I’ll help ya out.

~ @abbyhallman ~

^^^^^^^^^^ There she is. Enjoy friends.

I’m gonna need help packing too cause I have absolutely no idea how to pack. I suck at it.

As much as I travel, I should probably know how to simplify and be smart about what I bring but no, I still suck.

So if anyone has any advice on how to help me out or even comment some youtube videos I could watch, I would appreciate ya very much. Anything helps, I promise.

Help a girl out, she’s desperate.

Also, I’ll be posting a couple blog posts too just to keep you guys updated on my adventures and fun activities I will be doin even if you don’t care.

I’m just ready for some sun, no work, ocean, culture, and amigos 🙂

Short post today but I wanted to stay in touch since I haven’t had much time lately!

I’ve been awful keeping this thing up to date so I apologize friendlies but I’ll hopefully get better soon. I’ll post quotes more often at least. My life isn’t interesting enough to post constantly to update you cause you all would be bored within 5 minutes I promise.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend. Spend it with friends, family, strangers, your turtle, or your favorite book!

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Thanks guys for readin my thoughts once again, come back for some quotes or more posts when I get the time! Follow me too so you know when I post instead of going through the hassle to check everyday to see if I’ve kept up with my responsibilities.. Which um spoiler alert, I probably haven’t.

< SAVES YA TIME >

Don’t be afraid to message me either or comment to ask me anything! I’m so down to meeting you all!

Love every single one of you pnuts 

Peace & Blessings ❤

Abby