Why It's Ok To Vent On Social Media

Hey, all! It's been awhile since I've written anything but something has been on my mind that I thought I'd share with everyone.

Recently, I've seen many people afraid to share the realities of their lives via social media.  I get it, we get tired of the complaining and wish everyone would realize just how blessed they are. I totally agree with this statement but when we aren't real with ourselves or others, it creates quite the false reality we think exists.  I am one to focus on the positive, most of the time. I honestly strive to be positive and to focus on the great things in life because let's face it, there are PLENTY.

I also think it's crucial to be honest with one another. Life isn't perfect. We aren't perfect.  It's so hard to grasp this when everyone paints their lives with a rose colored lens.  I think the key is balance. It's GREAT to count your blessings, but it's also healthy to relieve stress and not hold everything on the inside.

This world is SO critical these days and it's hard to be real. It's hard to express what we want without worrying about offending 75% of the population. (I made that stat up)  It's also hard to express yourself when we fear that people will judge and criticize. 

It's SO normal to have flaws, many flaws. While it's not great to focus on this always, it's a good thing to recognize them, work on them, and move on.  Society is so rough with us as if we don't have feelings. Then on the other hand, everything seems to be sugar-coated. AH! It's enough to make a person crazy, if they weren't already.

I find this happens most when speaking of motherhood. As much as we look at our children and see their adorable faces, we know they aren't perfect. We wouldn't want them to be! How boring would life be? Those imperfections sometimes turn out to be what we love most about these precious beings.  

We absolutely should all be thankful for our children regardless of how hard it can be on the bad days. However, we shouldn't be afraid to be truthful with ourselves and others when it comes to the hardships of being a parent. It's HARD. Like.... really hard. It's OK to not love every single second. It's OK to not love the stage you're in. It's OK to vent every now and again to release those feelings. To feel validated. To hear that you are not alone and others share those same struggles. To KNOW that people care about you and have hugs offered. It's OK to not be perfect, we don't expect you to be. But, it's also nice to hear the great things in life and be uplifted by the  positive. It's really hard to find the balance. We all get into ruts in life where it's really hard to find the sunshine in the midst of the rain....it's hard to remember that these phases pass and everything will be fine. It's amazingly hard when you feel that no one understands and that you are alone. You are not. There are others who are sharing feelings so similar to yours. The problem might be that they fear sharing them because of the possible judgement and unsolicited advise. I'm bad at it, myself.

Just know, that there is a balance and we wont always get it right. I, myself, am hoping to try and be more understanding of others and what they have to say. Some find that venting on social media is their only form of release. I think it's better to let it out than hold it in, so I am going to try and be more supportive of posts like these.

After all, it is OK to vent on social media sometimes.

Have a lovely day, everyone!

BIRTHDAY Fundraiser!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello there, anyone who is reading this blog!

Just thought I'd stop in and remind everyone that not only is my 26th birthday fast approaching, but it means that my daughter's birthday AND my marathon are as well!  What does this mean to you? Pure excitement, of course! I know that we live in a different state than pretty much all off our friends and family SO.... I thought a fundraiser would be a neat idea. You can donate from your very own HOME! You don't have to leave, you don't have to shop, it's BRILLIANT! Vera and I are asking for donations big AND small for our birthday to help out our local humane society. I have been volunteering there for almost a year, now and it is an AMAZING place!!!! 

Feel free to pitch in even a few dollars! Vera and I would LOVE to make this fundraiser success!

Please please PLEASE!!!!!!!!

That is all for now ;-)

hshv.org/victoria_hopkins

donate!!!!

Time OUT

Today started as every other day usually does. The alarm clock wakes me up..... I nudge Brett to wake him up for work.... he gets up and gets ready while I lay in bed unable to move. The bed is just TOO comfortable and warm on these cold winter mornings. However, I then remember that there is probably a special little someone waiting for me in her room. I roll over to take a peak at the video monitor and see her little eyes open. That's when I'm finally ready to get out of bed.

I rush to her room with excitement because this is my very favorite time of the day.  EVERY morning I go in there so enthusiastic and wonder when the day will come that she realizes I'm a little bit too jolly in the mornings. For now? She enjoys it... so I will as well.

I am with her every second of every day. We definitely have our fair share of good and bad days, but each morning starts the same.  I remember when she was a baby and we both lacked sleep, the mornings were a little different then.  She is so grown now already. I can't even imagine how much more she will continue to grow in the approaching years.

Normally, I make Vera breakfast and clean up around the house while she eats. She generally eats a lot for breakfast so I can get a good portion of the cleaning finished up. However, this morning, I felt like actually sitting down next to her and eating with her. I usually make a hurried breakfast for myself and eat it as I walk around the house cleaning up. Not this morning. We sat and ate our cereal together. It was magical! We even took the time to look out the window and notice the spectacular morning sky. Which is great, because the beautiful sunrise was gone before we knew it.We snapped a few photos, of course.

This morning, even though it started off the same as most other days, taught me a little something in that hour before chaos began.  I took the time to sit and simply eat breakfast with her. This seems like a given? I should be doing this EVERY morning. I do like cleaning the house in the morning though so I can enjoy the rest of the day with her.... but this seemed SO right this morning. I've noticed we are both in a better mood today, as well. 

So this is my point. We get into SUCH a routine of getting things done and hurrying everything in our day... it's nice to just SIT down and enjoy each other for once. Now, we do this every night at dinner, but I suppose we could add in breakfast as family time as well. Without those few quiet moments this morning, we would have missed such a beautiful sunrise.  These are the moments that are SO simple, but are also the moments I will remember and cherish.

Take a TIME OUT for yourself today ;-) You and your family deserve it!

Dream big!

A week ago, Brett informed me that the Ann Arbor marathon would be on my 26th birthday.  To me, that was a sign that I HAD to do it. It is a few months earlier than I anticipated but it's on my birthday!!!! Who wouldn't want to run 26 miles for their 26th birthday??

To me, this is a HUGE dream. It almost seems too big to achieve with a knee injury, possible tendinitis, and asthma..... But still just within my reach.

I feel that in my life, I have always been rather average. It's tough to look around me daily and seeing everyone's above average accomplishments. My own husband is a genius and it's hard to keep up!  There is nothing I'm exceptionally great at, but I have a lot of passions. My newest, is running. So far, I have participated in four 5k runs, a half marathon, and will be running a 10k tomorrow morning. I'm not great at running, by any means... But to me, it's a sense of accomplishment I feel in myself. To me, it is necessary. I do it because it not only makes me feel better physically (for fitness and health purposes), but it's a personal accomplishment that seems to fill the void of always being "average." by no means is average a negative thing.... I just feel the need to prove to myself, that I can do big things in life. It is for no one else but myself. I am Just thankful that Brett supports my crazy dreams :)

So today, I'm encouraging you to dream big! Prove to yourself that you can do something you never thought you could.

Don't be afraid to fall. Go out there and make yourself proud!!

If anyone wants to come to Ann Arbor the weekend of March 30th, I'd LOVE to have my own little support group there!

Balance is Key

All these posts and conversations lately about government and parenting seem to have something in common, in my mind. I believe the key to this, is balance.

When I think about parenting as a whole... I think of a scale. We want to embed wonderful characteristics, ideas, lessons, etc. into our children. But we can only get so far with that. From there, it depends on what they choose to do with the information. Sme parents can be overbearing... Often those children aren't sure what to do once they are on their own since everything was done for them. Some parents can be too laid back, in a sense. Maybe they don't offer enough direction so the child is left to figure everything out on their own. These are two extremes. My goal, is to be somewhere in the middle. We all have hopes and dreams as people, as students, as parents, as partners... Many of these goals are obtainable with the proper balance. If you march into a specific goal with a bunch of energy and devote your entire time to it, you may become burnt out. If you go into it with a positive mind but balance the other things in life as well, it tends to work out better.

I look at it this way..... I trained for a half marathon that I ran last month. At first, I had very high hopes. I took it day by day... Running mile by mile. However, I was terribly awful at running in the beginning. I couldn't make it a single mile without frequent stops to catch my breath. As time passed and it came down to a few weeks before the big day... I began to panic. I didn't feel confident. I wasn't exactly on track with my training. I pushed myself harder toward the end and made it through the entire 13.1 miles. Definitely one of my prouder moments in life.

The point is, I didn't start off running the entire 13.1 miles the moment I signed up for it. I fit the time into my daily schedule and slowly built up to it. I believe the same would be for government, but I don't want to get into a political debate. I just think that with some balance, things could improve.

This same theory applies to pretty much everything in our lives. Parenting, exercise, diets, school, friendships, relationships, marriages..... It's all about balance.

There is no way to live a perfect life.... But with balance, I hope it can be a happier one. I challenge you to join me and work on the balance in life :)

Help Dreams Come True!

I would like you all to check out this website, and try to help in any way that you can. A very close friend of mine and her husband have one dream.... to be parents. For some people, this is a fairly simple task. For others, it is near impossible. Please help my dear friend with this journey. She truly deserves this and will make a fabulous mother. She has one of the biggest hearts I know!

http://www.gofundme.com/dreamstobeparentsivf

Eye Opening Weekend

Although it's hard to believe the weekend is gone already, it was definitely filled with life lessons. Funny how the little, simple things in life can really make you think and re evaluate.

This weekend, a friend of mine and I participated in a half marathon. This is something I have always dreamed of doing but never imagined it would actually happen. I have always been fast at running a very SHORT distance.... but long distance was never my thing.  With a knee injury I obtained when I was around 13, and my asthma.... this seemed like an incredibly crazy idea. However, I signed up for it with no doubts, and started to train.  The beginning of my training was rather disappointing.  I could barely run to the end of the road without stopping a few times and being incredibly winded.  There were many days I trained that I thought, "wow, there is no way I can do this." I was often very hard on myself and discouraged.  The timing of my miles were certainly not anything to brag about..... along with the constant knee pain.  A few weeks from the race, I discovered a running pace that seemed to help out a lot. That day, I ran 9 miles and for the first time, felt confident in the coming race.

The night before the race, I got about 5 hours of broken sleep.... then we woke up at 5 am to head to the train. Brett was incredibly supportive through this entire process and I'm not sure what I would have done without him. He thought the idea was rather crazy at first but never gave up on me. He even helped me train, often. He went with us to Chicago to support me in the race and even went on a food run for the two of us which was MUCH appreciated. He took Vera to the Shedd Aquarium and still found time to appear around the track a few times and was there at the finish line. I can't express how thankful I am for this man.

Which brings me to my next point...... since I had a lot of time to think in the 2 1/2 hours of running..... I really have an amazing husband. He has always been amazingly patient, understanding, and forgiving. I look up to him more than anyone else on this Earth. He is the kind of person I want to be. He is the kind of person I want my daughter to be JUST like. He keeps me going. He is my soul mate. I'm amazed at how many obstacles we've been through and how many bumps appear in the road from time to time.  When I sit and think, I just know it would never, ever work with anyone else. And for those people who understand and accept that, I am thankful. I wish there were more people like that. 

Our marriage has not always been easy, but it has ALWAYS been worth it. We really make the best team.... but most of that is thanks to Brett.

This weekend was just a wonderful reminder that 1. dreams can come true if you work for them. This applies to both the half marathon and my husband.... and 2. You really need to re evaluate your life and think about the people in it. Are there people who are bringing you down? People who don't respect you or who you are? People that want to change things about you that don't need to be changed? Maybe they aren't worth the space you have in your heart. Maybe they aren't worth the fighting, the pain, and the trouble.Life is SO short.... spend it with the people who make you happy. Use your time wisely.... reach those goals you've always wanted to reach. Don't be afraid of failing.... we learn from our mistakes. Life is worth living =)