Happy Thursday! Today’s DESIGN YOUR LIFE participant is Rebecca of Loving Living Small. Some of you might also know her as the co-founder of Blog Out Loud, a great blogger resource. A few weeks ago, Rebecca asked me to do an interview for Blog Out Loud and I was delighted to be a part of the BOL conversation. What Rebecca didn’t know was that I had been following her own personal blog and Blog Out Loud before she even found me!
Oh, and did I forget to mention that Rebecca also writes for Apartment Thereapy?
So of course with these inspiring roles, I was pumped to have her intentions shared in the DYL series. I loved her intention to eat dessert (it’s right up there with Brooke’s intention to drink wine, if you ask me). Why not order something sweet to share with friends?
Enjoy!
DESIGN YOUR LIFE: Rebecca of Loving Living Small
Love yourself all the time.
This was a life-changing year for me and I really learned the importance of self-love. I had found that I was often saying to friends or thinking to myself not so positive things like “I could lose a few lbs.” or “I don’t look great today, oh well” While being self-deprecating lightens things up, it can actually start chipping away at your self esteem without you even realizing it. Now, instead of thinking negative thoughts, I embrace the positive side of things and feel better and my relationships are stronger.
Photograph your life all the time.
Take pictures – all the time. No, this is not an act of vanity but rather an act of documentation. My friends and family know that when I am around, they can be sure that I will be snapping a ton of photos of them, where we are, what we are doing, etc. I was so inspired by New York when I lived there a few years ago that I started carrying my camera with my all the time and snapping photos of anything and everything that was interesting to me. 10,000+ photos later, I can look back and see my life over the last 9 years through these photos. It’s incredible! And it’s never too late to start documenting your life so go for it!
Just do it. Really. Go for it!
I have always lived my life with this intention – to go for it – no matter what! I learned from my incredibly supportive parents at an early age that if you believe in something, approach it, try it and see where it can take you. You never know and you’ll most likely have a great story and memory out of it. Now is the time to do anything you want – embrace it.
Listen.
Yes! This is a great intention and I am enjoying living this one. Listening more, really listening, has been an incredible intention to live by. It’s important to hear what people are saying and to let them know I am present and here with them. I have to really work on this one because when I am excited about something, I tend to ramble on and on and sometimes miss what a loved one is saying to me. Definitely a work-in-progress but a good one!
Say hello.
Whenever I am on a walk, grabbing a coffee, enjoying a dinner out or running errands, I say hello and smile to the person on the other side – the walker, barista, waiter, etc. I feel good and so does the other person.
Live now.
Life is happening right now so enjoy it!! I definitely had to teach myself how to do this. I was definitely a future girl, often thinking, “In 3 months, I want to do this.” Or “I wonder what will happen next year…”. The reality is that while I was wondering about the future, I wasn’t truly living my present. To be honest, I am not sure how I changed this, I guess being really conscious of it and waking up every day thinking what does today hold has enabled me to live each day in that day.
Eat dessert.
I love treating my self to dessert every now and then and why not? I could spend the next moments complaining about how “I really shouldn’t because it’s fattening” or I can share a piece of yummy carrot cake with my dining partners and not just enjoy the cake but enjoy sharing. And who could turn down this homemade cake that my boyfriend made for a few birthdays ago? He tried to make the standard double round cake my mom made for everyone in my family (you got to choose the frosting and cake flavors!) but had a little trouble. It still tasted great!
Check out past DESIGN YOUR LIFE interviews.
