If you read How to Live Your Best Life All Summer 17, you know that launching an arts camp was on my to-do list. Arts Center for Engagement (A.C.E) Summer Camp is a place for children ages 7-13 to celebrate self-love and self-acceptance through the arts.
With the help of Enough Pie, local artists and businesses — I will bring the kids of Bridgeview Village together through storytelling, song and dance. Bridgeview, my old stomping grounds, is an affordable housing community in the Upper Peninsula of Charleston, SC. I know first-hand that there’s a need for more activities for the youth who live there, especially ones that don’t involve running outside in 100 degree weather. My mission is to change the game by encouraging them through creativity.
At the beginning of the year, I was a journaling machine – killing my daily affirmations and jotting down my random thoughts and ideas. Daily affirmations became weekly affirmations, which I was fine with until my affirmations disappeared altogether. Ace wisely reminded me the other day that thoughts become things. So I want to get back on my journaling game.
Journaling has a positive impact on physical well-being, including reducing stress and increasing emotional intelligence, memory and comprehension. Read about other benefits here.
My goal is to sit down once a week (I think I’m saving Sundays for this) for the rest of this month and July and spend 20 minutes journaling. Then I’m going to make it twice a week, but baby steps, people. Anyways, if you’re interested in journaling here are a few prompts to get you started.
10 Journaling Prompts To Get You Started
1)What would you do if you knew you could not fail?
2)Pick a favorite inspirational quote and design a journal page around it.
Write about the wisdom this quote awakens in you and how applies to your life. Why is it important for you at this time?
Write as many things as you can think of. When you are finished, reflect on how long the list is and how strong you are to be dealing with all of it. If you list is long, you may want to sort them into categories. Sort stress-sources into categories like ‘life’, ‘money’, ‘people’, ‘school’ etc. Brainstorm solutions to at least one stress source in each category. If your list is relatively short pick one or two that you can tackle fairly easy and jot down ways to alleviate that stressor.
5) Write a pep talk to give yourself the next time you feel sad, upset, or full of doubt.
6) Find an image or two in a magazine that draws you.
Cut it out, and paste it on a blank journal page. You can write two sentences or two pages. Just let it out. Let the image speak to you. You may be surprised at how much lighter you will feel.
7) Journal about your unhealthy habits.
8) I am amazing because…
9) Find some lyrics that you love and jot them down. Write about why the lyrics resonate with you.
10) Create a list. Here are a few ideas:
Places you’ve enjoyed visiting or would like to visit
Your favorite books
All of favorite movies
Your favorite songs
Your top five short term and long term goals
Join me on this journaling adventure. Feel free to journal more frequently than what I’ve set. If you want to share some pics use the hashtag: #JournalingJuneandJuly.
Although it isn’t officially summer, we’re going to do a little flashback Friday and share some of our childhood summer memories.
Donni
Down down baby, down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby, I’ll never let you go
It’s been about six years since I spent a full summer in Charleston. But the heat, humidity and afternoon thunderstorms are everything but forgettable. As a child I spent many of my summer days at my grandmother’s house on James Island, less than five miles away from Folly Beach. One of my aunts lived there with her two children and served as my grandmother’s caretaker.
My parents worked and so I would be dropped off there along with another cousin. So the four of us – two boys and two girls — spent just about every summer together. We didn’t go to the beach. We spent the days outside tying one end of a rope to a tree, and jumping rope with the other end in my cousin’s hand or playing handclapping games. The boys off doing their own thing away from the house or hold up inside playing Nintendo. Sometimes they’d let us play, mainly the bonus rounds in Super Mario and we’d all take turns blowing into the cartridges when the games messed up. Nintendo later turned into Super Nintendo, which turned PlayStation.
Gramma gramma, sick in bed,
Called the doctor and the doctor said
When we were older My cousin and I would sneak into her brother’s room to play Tekken and Mortal Kombat – being careful to place his controllers back where we found them as not to get caught. That’s also where we would record songs of the radio on cassette tapes, being careful not to get the commercials at the beginning of the song.
Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong
Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap
My aunt gave us summer homework — I remember pages and pages of math problems — that we’d have to complete before going outside. And once you were outside you had to stay outside because 1) you couldn’t let the cool air out and 2) we smelled like “outdoors”.
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp
At some point Monopoly became the group game. We were vicious and eager to bankrupt everyone. My favorite were the yellow properties. We only stopped for $5 Hot N Ready’s from Little Caesars and freeze pops.
Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog
Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog!
When the summer storms rolled in, my grandmother would make us sit in silence – in the dark. TVs were immediately turned off. Get too loud and you’d get popped with a switch.
Put it all together and what do you get?
Ding dong, clap clap, stomp stomp, hot dog!
Put it all backward and what do you get?
Hot dog, stomp stomp, clap clap, ding dong!
Ace
Walking to the corner store for chilly bears.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a chilly bear is basically frozen Kool-Aid. The most amazing frozen Kool-Aid you’ll ever taste. One of the only things better than enjoying a chilly bear after walking in the heat, is searching under the couch for enough change to buy one. They were 25 cents.
Swimming lessons at the community center.
My mom and aunts thought it would be a good idea for all of us to take swimming lessons together–all 15 of us. I still know how to swim, so maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. (Except for that one time we caused a mini riot when my cousin got in a fight.)
Playing Red Rover in the grass while visiting our “country” cousins.
Red Rover, Red Rover send Cec on over! When I was a little girl, visiting family in Florence, SC was my Disney World. We’d play a ton of games outside before the streetlights came on, but Red Rover was always the funniest.
What are some of your favorite childhood summer memories? Leave us a comment below!
Who invented group projects? This is a serious question. I thought my group project days ended in college, but nah. My circles consists of artists, entrepreneurs and influencers. Translation: there’s always an idea for a collaboration being thrown my way.
While I appreciate my peers thinking of me when they have great ideas, the thought of working with multiple people makes me anxious. Group project deadlines, communication, and juggling multiple opinions and personalities can be A LOT on the soul.
5 Reasons Why Group Projects Are The Worst
Patience is a virtue I’m still mastering.
To set the record straight, I’m a team player. You know what makes me a good team player? Knowing my strengths and weaknesses. Patience happens to be a strength and weakness of mine. Sometimes I have it, sometimes I don’t.
Micromanaging is annoying.
A good leader is always appreciated–a bossy manager is not. Neither is feeling the need of having to be a micromanager.
I don’t babysit anyone over the age of 13. I barely want to babysit my nephews, let alone an adult fully capable of doing the work that needs to be done.
Which bring me to the next reason….
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
An assumed perk of group projects is being able to save time by sharing the workload. It only takes one lazy group member to ruin that for everyone. A
I just literally can not. I’m unable to can.
Those are the words I can use to genuinely describe the frustration of having your success being in the hands of someone else.
Do you despise group projects? What’s the worst experience you’ve had?
Dear bookworm, whether you prefer the beach or the pool, you know there’s nothing like having a great book to keep you entertained. Here are a few I plan to check off my list this summer:
Have you read The Girl On The Train? If yes, then know the suspense and mystery that will wrapped in this one. In Into the Water. a single mother turns up dead at the bottom of a river and her teenage daughter knows that there’s more to the story than suicide. I can’t wait to crack this one open!
Think Devil Wears Prada with as a thriller. Here’s the synopsis: A high-powered fashion editor dies in her office, her best friend / work wife Cat knows that it wasn’t because of something she ate (or, in this case, didn’t eat). Cat enlists the help of a detective and they get on the case — which winds the duo up in a web of sex, lies, and makeup counter madness.
For The Bookworm That Loves YA Fiction and a Little Romance
I’m a big fan of the first two books in the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. So I’m excited to revisit all of these characters sipping frosé by the pool. Start with the first book and you’ve got a summer series.
Ace included Between The World and Me on her summer reading list and it’s also on mine. However, I thought I’d give you a classic option to consider. The Fire Next Time was originally a letter, written by Baldwin to his nephew on the 100th anniversary of the “emancipation” of black America and is completely relevant today.
“The impossible is the least that one can demand.”
― James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
This is a funny pool read that plays out like a E! True Hollywood story and is written by Hillary Liftin who is a ghostwriter that specializes in celebrity memoirs.
“I’m just trying to live my best life” is something I started saying heavily before leaving for Hangout Fest. My friends and co-workers love it just as much as I do. It’s probably because some of our “best life” decisions are questionable. Either way summer is almost officially here, and the only life I want to live is my best one!
How to Live Your Best Life #AllSummer17
Be consciously selfish.
It’s okay to say no to things that don’t benefit or interest you. This doesn’t mean to ignore your loved ones to sip sangria at the pool– at least not everyday. If your family is as big as mine, your calendar is already 50% booked with events. Make sure to make time for the fun and/or productive things you want to do.
Wear the bathing suit.
I know first hand this is easier said than done, but I also know that self consciousness and the heat don’t mesh well together.
Unplug.
If you didn’t Snap about it, did it even happen? Yes. Yes it did. Nothing says summer like a good drink-in-the-air picture, but sometimes we forget to live in the moment. Not to mention that a break from the 24-hour news cycle is good for the soul. Being on your phone too much takes away from quality pool and/or nap time. (Please note that I love a good drink in a float picture just as much as the next person.)
Don’t apologize for living the life you chose.
You’ve earned whatever you’re celebrating. What other people think of your idea of fun has nothing to do with you. Maybe your best life is washing your hair and reading a book–maybe it’s drinking wine out the bottle. If it makes you happy and isn’t harmful to yourself and others–DO IT. Worry about yourself fam.
Here are things I plan to check off my list to help live my best life this summer.
launch my summer arts camp.
This is the year I’m FINALLY beginning the journey of sprinkling art into the lives of Charleston’s youth. The 2-week camp launches in July, so stay tuned for more details!
Take a solo day trip.
A day to myself in a different city would be adventurous, even in a city I’ve visited before.
Attend (at least) 3 festivals
Hangout Fest is 1 out of the 3. Music Midtown is on my list, but I’d like to attend a food or culture related festival too.
How do you plan to live your best life this summer, and every other day of the year?
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