You know it is true…what they say! It’s hard to write when you don’t have the motivation. Well, I’m feeling a little motivated today.

Dear Me,

They say write a outline out of your life and develop a plan..it’ll be easy! Well they lied it’s not easy. We’re all human and face it no ones perfect. Look at me, I’ve had “writers block” for the last couple of months. It seems like when life gets a little too perfect then BAMMMMMM! In the last year I have came to the conclusion that I need to go a lot harder for myself rather than others. In February 2019 I opened up my first LLC. A online boutique called Calisa’s Closet for women. Most people don’t know this but I failed to meet my goals that first summer the boutique had opened. Most people would still call me successful for what I had accomplished with my store being that it was a new business. I mainly say I failed because I didn’t meet my goal but I was at a 80%. This caused me to grind a little harder. See sometimes life doesn’t give you the flowers until you actually seek to smell them. I didn’t meet my goal because I was focused on ALL the wrong things… Yes, I got a little distracted. It happens I’m human. The moment I noticed how much I was off track … SEE THE GIF DOWN BELOW:

Now, back to this “love” letter I’m writing to myself…

Dear Me,

Honestly did you think I was going to let you read my letter today? It hasn’t even been 5 years yet! If you stick with me I promise I’ll let you read it in due time! I will tell you that I am proud of the woman you have grown to be and although you are such a humble woman I encourage you to start giving yourself credit because it’s due. In the first summer of running your boutique in 2019 you failed. In December of 2019, Voyage Houston Magazine featured you on their platform. In June 2020 you had the courage to take your photography career SERIOUS. In September 2020, ShoutoutHTX featured you on their platform. GIRLLLLLLL! You did that!

In this blog I’m sharing steps that you should take to help manifest your goals. I encourage you to start taking yourself seriously. Expose your purpose to yourself and the world. People may think it’s a little weird to write to yourself but the only person that’s going to go the hardest for you is YOU. You have to believe and trust in yourself before you do that with others. You will never stir yourself wrong.

Understand that there will be obstacles that may try to get in the way. It is your job to remain strong through those tough times and realize you have a purpose. You have a goal, and maybe a dream. Pull through and apply pressure.

“ I see it, I want it, I grind hard…until I own it “

These are the important steps to remember: Don’t take these steps for granted.

1) Take chances and get out of your comfort zone.

2) Understand what matters the most and set your priorities straight.

3) Set a Goal and stick with it. Understand if it doesn’t work the first time that it may be a different way to accomplish it and don’t give up.

4) Give yourself a break. Yeah, I know they say long nights and early morning pay off but if you don’t practice any type of self care. YOU WILL GIVE UP AND DRIVE YOURSELF CRAZY! Shit, maybe even the ones around you.

5) This one is always my favorite.. have some fun!

Click the link to see what I’ve been doing lately … http://www.linktr.ee/ashhcaoni

Not Your Average Kick Ass Post – Ashleigh Caoni

Now I don’t have any kick ass quotes for you today but what I can say is today if your reading this.. This topic is on Excuses. I wanted to touch up on this topic because this is an every day issue for most people and we don’t even realize it. Including myself.

Let me just start off saying “Be stronger than your excuses..” Let’s be real everyone makes them.

Here’s a few excuses, we commonly use:

• Why we didn’t apply to a job (I didn’t have the knowledge or experience)
• I don’t have enough time (in reality, we all have the same 24 hours as others)
• I don’t have enough confidence (their scared of what others will think)
• I’ve been unlucky (everyone has problems, it’s how you maintain them)

I can go on and on. Give you a million excuses.. honestly I’ve used all of them. Most likely, eh. ALL of them. I’ve been procrastinating on writing a post for a while and I love writing. But life’s been tough, life’s been rough. It’s not about how long it took me to do this…Just as long as I do it.

Growth is a process. My favorite quote that I live and stand for. “Grow through what you go through and make the best out of it.”

This year I’ve took some losses, I’ve had some wins but through all of it I found my baby. My baby is my business (Calisa’s Closet). For those that are new to Glamshack and are joining in on this new post. I am a boutique owner. My company sells cute accessories and affordable clothing for women BUT also, we promote positivity and love empowering women to push themselves to their full potential.

Bottomline, I took some losses and I turned that into a WIN. When life knocks you down you get back up. Life could knock you down 9 times but like Cardi B said. GET UP 10!!! <- Have tunnel vision. Channel all GREAT energy into YOU. If you work a 9-5, when you go home you should be putting that same energy into yourself as you did into someone else’s dream….

So when I stated earlier I don’t have any kick ass quotes for you today but I do want to focus on the topic of EXCUSES because when your trying to pursue your dreams you can’t make excuses…

Make yourself proud and do what you love. Your dream(s) don’t have an expiration date on it but quitting will only slow you down. You won’t always be motivated so you must learn discipline. Stay committed to your decisions but be flexible in your approach. This means,

* Set goals

* Make a plan

* Demolish them

* And Do it all again

You owe it to yourself to become everything you’ve ever wanted. Everyday that you go to that job that you hate just because it pays the bills and DON’T set goals to get to the career path that you want is a LOSS. I’ll say it again:

-> Everyday that you go to that job that you hate just because it pays the bills and DON’T set goals to get to the career path that you want is a LOSS.

and a waste of time. Are you afraid to be great? Are you afraid to be happy?

If you are “Afraid” to grow… DO IT ANYWAY! Upgrade everything, Level up mentally, physically, financially, and spiritually.

Here’s a few steps to getting there:

1. Stop comparing yourself to others
2. Stop fearing the unknown
3. Set small, attainable goals
4. Learn from your mistakes
5. Don’t focus on your weaknesses

And realize you have the power to change. When you are faced with a challenge in your life you can confront it and win.

“Women Of Worth” – Ashleigh Caoni

Let’s be real the topic “Women Of Worth” wasn’t easy. I started to question my own self.

• Am I worthy?
• Am I a strong woman and what it means to be one?
• Do I live up to society’s expectations on being a woman of worth?
• Do I care more about what others think of me than I do of myself?
• Do I Seek love, appreciation and approval from others instead of finding them within?

I literally had all these questions racing through my head without sitting down to even define the meaning of worth. What is worth? I’ve come to the conclusion that worth resorts back to practicing self-love.

1. Learning how to stop comparing yourself to others
2. Stop giving the people the power to come into your life with negative opinions.
3. Allowing yourself to make some sort of mistakes in life in order to grow stronger and BETTER!
4. Trusting yourself to make your own decisions instead of having someone else make them for you.

The person that matters to you the most should be yourself and people might be offended by what I just stated. The person that matters the most should be yourself. WHY? It’s plain and simple… if you don’t take care of yourself then how are you going to be good for others around you. Earlier I stated you shouldn’t worry about what others think of you and what kind of opinions people have about you but why be would you want to be around someone else not well kept? Well kept meaning showing yourself love and spreading it to others!

“The Good Energy”

Practice creating high quality thoughts! Never telling yourself that your not good enough in any situation no matter how tough it is. Give yourself a pep talk on how much of a “Bad Ass” you are and then some sis! You hear me? This goes a long way because we teach others how to treat us by showing them how we treat ourselves. So treat yourself well by showing yourself respect, love, and kindness of course.

“Letting Go Of What Weighs You Down: If You Thought I Was Talking About A Relationship Or Job. You’re Wrong “- Ashleigh Caoni

For a twenty-six year old woman I will say I have not experienced everything but I have experienced enough. This topic is pretty board but is often brushed off to the side. Most people have an attitude of “I got this; I’ll figure it out but on my own time”. Letting go of what weighs you down doesn’t necessarily mean we’re talking about a relationship or a job! And I bet you were thinking that this blog post was just about those topics. The board ones! Wheww! Glad we can actually get into something much deeper.

Here’s 5 Steps To Letting Go Of What Weighs You Down:

1. Could simply mean your accustomed way of thinking. If you’re ever stuck in a situation that feels like a never ending cycle, the first thing we should do is stop and examine is our thought process. But hey, that’s not what most of us do honestly. If we’re being real, even I struggle sometimes with this. Sometimes we have to sit down and re-evaluate ourselves and what is causing us to stay in the same situation.

2. Your past failures is another common situation that weighs us down. There is no one on this earth that is completely perfect, that has NEVER made a mistake. But wait I just lied to you. There is a person You know who that person is? ME, Yeah right! I bet you laughed at that. Yes, I make mistakes. Yes, I screw things up but that is the beauty of it. I’m not perfect and I don’t want to be. We make mistakes we learn from them (hopefully) and move on! The lesson should never be forgotten but the failure itself should not continue to weigh you down. Failures weigh heavy if you dwell on them. Lessons should lift you up and make you want to make room for growth. Realizing that you’ve done everything you could of and that’s the end of it.

3. Mhmm, You knew it was coming you know them habits you love but come on sis. You know they do you no good. Let’s face it we all participate in stuff that we shouldn’t. We know it’s not good for the soul but we do it anyway. Why?! They bring you happiness.. but for the moment. You have to realize that you want long term satisfaction not just temporarily. Later you most likely will pay for it. Get rid of those bad habits slowly.

4. Shoot, this next one might just be for me. The need to constantly be moving, constantly be doing.. Yeah, this one is for me definitely! I’d be a hypocrite to tell you this and not attempt to take my own advice! Trust me I am working on it as well. Truth is, we all need those days where we just sit around and not do anything. These are called “Lazy Days”. If your anything like me I feel like I don’t give my mind/body the time it needs to actually rest unless I’m sleeping. Sometimes you need to take a breather and do nothing more than is minimally required to be considered alive. If you feel the need to do anything make sure you pamper yourself. Pamper yourself with a bubble bath, get some fresh air even if it sitting outside on your porch. Even this can be included while your sitting outside like reading a book or listening to music!

5. Just do it. Like Nike said! Ha, yeah my jokes are corny. Real life corny. (Probably made you laugh a little bit though) Your pointless fears. Yes, get rid of them. Well the necessary ones that can hurt you of course but you already know that. Take that job, date that person, move to the city that you’ve been wanting to even if this means leaving everyone. Do the things that scare the shit out of you.

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