Over the past few years, my life has been a blur of activity and chaos.  I married the love of my life, moved across the country (and back again), shared special moments with friends and family, and achieved career goals I thought might never come true. While all of these things have been wonderful, the extreme highs have been countered with the lowest of lows. I watched my friends and family battle life-threatening illnesses (mental and physical) and said my final goodbyes to my mother, two of my grandmothers, and my grandfather within a year’s time. When you experience a great loss, your priorities change in the blink of an eye. I’d always seen a clear path for my life, but I instantly felt lost and alone after losing my mother. I wasn’t sure how I could move on, so I tried not to move at all. I spent a lot of time laying in bed, looking at the window, and trying to find some semblance of sanity and order in my life. I decided that the only way to proceed was to live the life that my loved ones would’ve wanted for me. A life that would make them proud. Even if I wanted to do nothing more than cry in the bathtub, I had to move forward to honor their memory.

I’ve spent the last year trying to be a better sister, daughter, wife, friend, and person, and I’ve a lot of things about myself and what I want out of life. It’s easy to get distracted with the drama of everyday life, so I want to make sure that I don’t forget the lessons that I’ve learned on my journey. As part of Clinique’s #FaceForward campaign, I’m giving my future self a little bit of life advice!

CHERISH EVERYDAY MOMENTS

When I look back at the happiest moments of my life, they’re mainly small, intimate moments I shared with family and friends. Whether I’m holding my husband’s hand, telling stupid jokes with my brother, watching a movie with my Dad, or grabbing ice cream with friends, I try to stay present in the moment and cherish every bit of happiness. Small, ordinary moments are easy to overlook, but they’re the things that matter in the long run. In the future, I hope to continue to cherish each and every moment of my life.

REPLACE ATTITUDE WITH GRATITUDE

Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces in this world. A simple change in your level of gratitude can turn even the worst situation into a hopeful new beginning. Even when it’s tempting to whine about something in my life, I try to re-frame the situation in my mind and focus on being grateful. Someone else is praying to have the things that I’d call “problems,” so I try to remember that all of life’s stresses are blessings in disguise.

BE FOCUSED BUT FLEXIBLE

In the future, I hope I’ll remember to stay focused on my goals but flexible in my means. Things can change in a split second, and life’s timing isn’t always on your schedule – and that’s OK. I try not to be affected by small setbacks in my personal or professional goals. If one thing doesn’t work out how I’d like it to, I try to find a different way to approach the problem instead of wasting time whining or thinking hope is lost. More often than not, staying flexible in the way I accomplish my goals helps me achieve something even greater than I’d originally planned. Flexibility in life doesn’t always come naturally to me, so I hope to continue working on this character trait in the future!

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF

For years, I had a bad habit of neglecting my self-care. Putting the needs of other is great in moderation, but I tend to take co-dependency to an unhealthy level. Over the past year, I’ve made big strides in my physical and emotional health. I’ve created a healthy sleep schedule and learned easy ways to reduce stress, but I wanted to keep up these healthy habits and add improve my self-care even more. I hope my future self still attends therapy and focuses on getting enough sleep, nutrients, and exercise each day. I also hope that I’m continuing to manage stress in a healthy way through any healthy activity, whether it’s a yoga class, quick manicure, Clinique lipstick shopping spree, or a lunch date with friends. It’s good to put the needs of others before your own, but you have to remember that it’s impossible to help others if you need help yourself. I want my future self to be physically and emotionally stable enough to take care of my family and friends!   I’m sure that my future self will have learned things about life that I can’t even fathom at the moment, but I can’t wait to look back on this post and remember what it was like to be young, excited, and hopeful for the what the future will bring! Clinique started the #FaceForward campaign to showcase the spirit of individual accomplishment and celebrate the journey along the way to success to spark a dialogue with confident and motivated millenials, and I’d love for you to get involved in this movement! I’d love to know what you’d tell your future self, so please leave a comment below with your thoughts on life. You can discuss anything you’d like – career goals, fitness plans, beauty regimens, and anything/everything that can lead to a better YOU!  

Thanks to Clinique for sponsoring today’s post!