I swear, the rest of my clothes must be so jealous of these pants and cardigan. I wear the cardigan a few times a week for work, and the jeans are easily my single most used item on the weekends. It's just so easy, you know? I dressed up the look a little bit with one of my prettiest summer heels that I've had forever, plus my new Candy Couture Shop necklaces. This shop is one of my favorites right now, so I was thrilled when Gina contacted me to send over some of her new stuff, like the versatile crystal necklace and beautiful blue druzy below.
Ever get the feeling that time is just passing you by?
July was full of activity but a lot of it felt quite lonely.
There's always so much more I wanted to do, so much more left for another day.
Somber words for this colorful July recap, but it's what I feel.
I got an early start observing and analyzing people in my own family and tiny K-12 Catholic school. I was always introspective and slightly pessimistic/depressed. Hell, my 8th grade nickname was "Negative Nathy."
Naturally, I became a therapist.
There are many reasons that people choose to become therapists, and running from your own demons is certainly one of them. Through my training and experience working with people from all walks of life, I have been able to confront and resolve some of them, and encounter new ones as well. This blog is my creative outlet and a huge part of my self-care routine. It has helped me make new friends that I would have never met otherwise. It has taken me to various nooks and crannies all over Miami that I wouldn't have had a reason to visit otherwise. It gets my creative juices flowing and pushes me to test the limits of any self-imposed barriers. For example, taking your own blog pictures at lunchtime in the middle of Downtown Coral Gables is quite the test of stamina for an introvert like me. I've become better able to live in the moment in service of valued ends, despite any negative self-talk that may come up. Which is actually my approach as a therapist in a nutshell: to help people discover their own personal traps and move toward valued ends, regardless of distress.
Still, I'm a perfectionist. And not the super productive kind, sadly. More like the kind that becomes so paralyzed with the fear of failure that she stops trying. That is one of my personal traps. My work-life balance has been way off in 2015, but everyday I work toward an appropriate balance. It helps that inside that ol' Negative Nathy is a Motivated Idealist, somewhere in there.
So why did I write all of this in my July recap... Well, I'm a big believer in journaling (obviously). And as I stared at my parrot puppet selfie up above, which I use to help my kid clients understand the impact of negative self-talk and ways to counteract it, I thought I'd show a little of myself today. Because therapists are people with non-professional goals and aspirations too, and we suffer from the same life traps everyone else does.
Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you guys had a wonderful July, and I wish you many opportunities to grow, create, and live on your own terms in August and beyond.
Stay tuned for more on Earnestyle. I will be posting lots of outfits this coming week. :)
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