First Month at WA

bynicolemarie0

636 followers

Updated 10 years ago

Edit: I started out writing this as just a "here's what I've done" update post but it turned out to be a much more personal account of my journey here at WA. I hope you enjoy it :)

After one month of being at WA, I have a website that I am really proud of with 26 posts/pages. I can't believe how far I've come and how much happier I am. As most of you know, I quit my part time bartending job one week into being with WA and so many positive things have come out of freeing myself from that toxic job.

I moved to Guam last August after ten months of traveling throughout Southeast Asia and I've had a hard time adjusting in the six months I've been here. I'm from California where my life was super fast paced for the last...I don't know, ten years of my life? I was under severe amounts of stress and up to my ears in debt and really living above my means for years. I was so wound up all the time that when it was time to "relax" on my days off, I wanted to release all the pressure and I often did it through unhealthy means (read: I partied with my friends, a lot).

The unhealthy habits I had did two things: put me further into the hole financially and wrecked havoc on my health. I was never truly healthy (even when I was exercising, I was working out so hard that I was probably doing more harm than good) and I was never truly fulfilled. Sure, I was "happy" or what I understood to be "happy", but I was never completely fulfilled on an emotional or spiritual level.

After traveling through SEA, and really daring to lose it all (I left behind my debt, my friends, my family-whom were all very upset with me) to find what I was missing in my life, I came back to Guam and went straight back into the lifestyle I left in California: bartending and watching TV.

It didn't sit right with me from the very moment I started my job. But I had to work; we barely made it to Guam and only had $10 to our names.

While traveling, I got accustomed to really being the master of my universe, determining how I spent each day, who I worked for, what kind of work I did, and for the first time in my life, I really began to unwind and heal. I went to see an Ayurvedic doctor in India, and just by body-reading, he was able to tell me that I'd been under an extreme amount of stress for years, had damaged my liver and kidneys from partying ("it is very common in western societies, especially in the youth" he said) and that what I needed was good nutrition and meditation.

Starting work at the bar, I was no longer around soul-searching hippie backpackers, I was right back in the numb-yourself-with-intoxicants-so-that-you-can-continue-to-lie-to-yourself-about-your-life crowd. I was right back in the staying up late, eating poorly, spending every dollar you make lifestyle.

I wanted to quit as soon as I started work but I didn't, because I wasn't sure what I would do in the meantime. (Besides writing my book, which I knew would take time)

Then I found Wealthy Affiliate after I had set the New Years Resolutions to become a better person and to devote myself to learning and bettering myself every day. I knew it was a sign from above, that my intentions had been met and returned back to me.

So I jumped. Feet first. Throwing all caution to the wind.

Since then, I've totally decompressed all the built up anxiety, worry, frustration, hatred, all the toxic emotions I'd been feeling for years and years. I let it all go. I became my truest yogi, began practicing acts of self-love everyday and made room for my healing. I did (and still do) yoga every day. I go for an evening beach walk every night where I listen, truly listen, to the gentle lapping of the waves. I am finally present in every moment instead of letting my thoughts get so in the way of experiencing what's right in front of me that I'm whisked into a nonexistent storm of thoughts and emotions triggered by past or future events. No, instead I'm totally present, working on my business, taking personal development classes, reading, writing, drawing, exercising, eating, and most importantly, laughing.

I'm the healthiest and happiest I've ever been in my whole life. The tension is finally gone, the anxiety finally gone. I laugh with such ease now, that I know I've never been relaxed, ever, in my life.

So you may be wondering why I am writing this. I am writing this to share what Wealthy Affiliate has given me. What it has done for my emotional and mental health. What it has done even for my physical health. Being able to do absolutely everything I'm passionate about every day of my life and only having to answer to my conscience, my own internal boss, has set me free. It has made me truly appreciate that I live in paradise, that I have the love of my life walking this path with me, and that I have the whole world at my fingertips.

Life is too short to spend it doing something you're not passionate about. Life is too short to lie to yourself about what you want or what you want to be. Life is too beautiful to let your mind run the show, clouding your vision and drowning out all other sounds until you're never fully present. Your life is in your own hands. You can make it anyway you want, despite what other people say, despite what even your own mind says. You are free, you are worthy, you are alive.