Can You Really Have Fun in the Sun?

 The sun’s ultraviolet rays can harm the skin below the surface and experts say there is a repair process.

If you ever take a step outside, you are exposing yourself to new sun damage on a regular basis. Experts say that the earliest sign of sun damage is the development of freckles.

While uneven pigmentation, freckles, texture changes, and premature signs of aging should motivate us enough to treat sun damage, the unseen damage to DNA in skin cells should seriously concern us. UV light damages the skin cell’s DNA. The big concern is that we’ll generate enough damage to the DNA by UV light to trigger the formation of skin cancer.

The first step in preventing the damage is a bottle of sunscreen. Experts advise wearing broad-spectrum SPF of at least 30 every day. You can also minimize your exposure by wearing protective clothing like wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, and avoiding the sun between the hours of 10am and 4pm when the UV rays are the most intense.

Here’s another motivator to step up your sunscreen use as of today. A study that followed 32 subjects showed that using SPF for a year allowed the skin to repair some of the sun damage. All the subjects who applied SPF 30 showed an improvement of uneven pigmentation and texture, and most likely these subjects prevented additional sun damage after a year of consistent use.

The theory, experts say, is that shielding the skin from UV damage allows the body to ramp up its natural repair mechanisms to allow the skin cells to reverse the damage from past sun exposure.

Another way to help the reversal process is to use a chemical exfoliant to scrape off the surface skin cells. Alpha hydroxy acids like glycolic acid and lactic acid can also help increase cell turnover, which then minimizes the appearance of dark spots and wrinkles. You can find these ingredients in many cleansers, moisturizers, masks, and at-home peels.

You can also speed up your skin’s regenerative process with antioxidants — internally and externally. Topical vitamin C serums can give you an additional layer of protection from sun damage when used together with sunscreen. This neutralizes oxidative stress caused by sunlight.

Also, dermatologist “in-office” chemical peels and laser resurfacing can work to speed the turnover of the surface layer of the skin so healthier, undamaged cells appear.

Go ahead, have fun in the sun. Keep in mind that it doesn’t matter what your level of sun exposure is, the time to treat your sun damage is now.

Stop the Chase!

 

Does chasing goals, achievements and things in our life actually make us happy?

There is an obsession right now with productivity, with achieving more and buying more and making more money. Chasing doesn’t work. Why? Because we will always want more. We’re like a mouse in a maze — constantly wanting the next thing.

Instead of chasing goals, achievements and things, we should instead focus on chasing values — the things that we value deep within ourselves. Happiness is fleeting. It doesn’t last. It’s not consistent. When we focus on getting things and having things, we have that moment of joy when we get it but then we get bored after we have that thing for a while. Our happiness will wear off once we get used to the thing.

On the other hand, if we don’t get it, we get sad, angry and resentful because we didn’t get it. That’s not living according to our values.

Outcomes are out of our control. We can take action every day and we can feel fulfillment by taking action, especially if it’s something that gives us joy and we have a lot of fun doing. But the outcome is out of our hands. It’s up to us to surrender it to the Universe and allow it to take us where we’re meant to be.

The fact of the matter is that we are always living in uncertainty. We never know what’s going to happen next. That’s the problem with chasing outcomes — we never know what’s going to come of it.

When we’re chasing outcomes, goals, milestones, it’s really difficult to stay present and grateful because we are focused on the next big thing. We are always aware of the distance from where we are now to where that achievement is. We’re missing out on the joy of being where we are.

There is always more to chase, always more to do. It’s an endless cycle.

When we start living according to our values every day and stop chasing things that are out of our control, we have more peace and more abundance.

What if something happens to us in our life that prevents us from taking action? What if we have an accident or some life-altering illness? We would have to live according to our values all the time.

The only thing that we want in life is to feel joy, happiness, peace. If we’re getting that all the time because we’re living according to our values, who cares what you have in your closet or your bank account or …whatever?

There are so many joyful simplicities all around us and we are missing them because we are focused on getting the next thing. You don’t have to chase success to be happy. You don’t have to chase achievements to feel like you have purpose. You can be fulfilled with just living life according to your own core values.

Peel back the layers and go deep. Ask yourself “why do I want this thing? Why am I chasing after this achievement? What is so important about this achievement that will make me feel worthy of myself?

Maybe just sitting, or thinking or not doing anything in particular at all can be a very productive use of our time. We may be surprised by what we find.

The Courage To Live The Artist Life

Do we fear where it will lead?

Although writing has been my lifelong dream, it took nerves of steel for me to submit my first article on Medium. I’m nowhere near where I would like to be on the platform but I’ve challenged myself to write more consistently and I’m feeling more confident that I can contribute to the craft.

Lately I find myself yearning for the day I can stay home and make a living writing. Perhaps one of the reasons we fear exposing our true selves or encountering the inner artist is because creativity seems too risky. I hear the word “artist” and I associate the calling with dramatic, self-inflicted doom such as Judy Garland’s sleeping pills, Billie Holiday’s heroin , Anne Sexton’s final nap in a car filled with carbon monoxide, etc, etc. The number of suffering souls sacrificed on the altar of art by suicidal acts, explains why many of us hesitate to call ourselves artists. It’s safer to just dabble.

No one really expects an amateur to deliver the goods. Creating costs too much, especially if you believe creating only comes by the self-sacrifice technique. Sometimes I struggle to decide to create or to stay blocked because I fear where the creative life will lead me.

Ernest Hemingway says, “Write the truest sentence you know” — this encourages the writer in me. Paint the truest image you can render. Wait all day with camera poised to capture the five-second sliver of light.

In order to be true to a creative work, the artist must journey to the center of the self. Past the conscious keepers of the brain, beyond the barbed wire barricades of the heart, into the trenches of “truth or dare”. You can’t write a true sentence if you don’t trust yourself. You can’t trust yourself without courage.

How do you prepare yourself, all alone, to enter an extraordinary state of mind on an ordinary morning? By showing up, day in and day out. By not judging how it’s going or if it’s going at all. I can’t afford to think about how the work will be received when I’m finished. That’s not my job. I’m learning to surrender the delivery details of my dreams. My job, then, is to just do it. It can’t be published, produced, performed, or purchased, if it doesn’t exist.

What if the fatal wound, the one from which I never recover, is regret?

One day it will take nerves of steel for me to quit my day job and live the artist life. The world courage comes from the French word for the heart, coeur. My heart knows where it’s headed and I’ve decided not to wrestle with it, and collaborate.

My 10 Day Happiness Challenge

 

It seems everything is a challenge nowadays - even being happy!

Everyone’s path to happiness is different, but the evidence suggests these ten steps consistently tend to have a positive impact on people’s happiness and well-being. I’ve challenged myself to more unpleasant things in the past and being happy is a decision so why not challenge myself once more?

Day 1

Being grateful- I’ve kept a gratitude journal — lately turned it into a “journal, journal” to improve my writing skills. This was recommended by a fellow Medium writer some time ago. Excellent recommendation — grateful for it. The best part of the gratitude habit is that I spend the day looking for things I’m grateful for- it has completely changed the way I think about life. Some days I’ve written that I’m grateful for being grateful. Recent research shows that regularly experiencing feelings of gratitude creates an ‘upward spiral’, helping to build our resources.

The Power of Keeping a Gratitude Journal

By Rosa Diaz

rosaswalksoflife.medium.com

Day 2

Stop comparing yourself to others — “Comparison is the thief of joy” — never heard this phrase before but it makes a lot of sense. We don’t value ourselves enough- just for ourselves.

Day 3

Reduce your Social Media consumption — I’ve been working on this for a couple of months. Not easy. Fighting the “urge” to look at what’s going on there took determination and will. I never thought of Social Media as a form of comparison (the thief of joy)and it is exactly that.

Deleting the app is way too drastic a step for me but I’ve limited my social media “screen time” to 5–10min in the morning and about 20 minutes before bedtime. So far, it seems to be working and I find I have more creative time throughout the day.

My Social Media Experiment

Facebook was founded in 2004, and became popular among children and adolescents a few years later. My relationship with…

rosaswalksoflife.medium.com

Day 4

Accept what is happening to you now, unconditionally — This reminds me of a mantra I’ve been using for the last 6 months which has brought me a lot of peace: “I am exactly where I need to be”.

To me, there is a certain peacefulness to thinking that everything that happens is supposed to happen no matter what. I try to find a lesson or a reason to any situation that may be happening at the moment or a silver lining for whatever is causing it. Many times I have found it. Not right away but some time after the event, I see the reason why it happened. If you don’t look or ask, you don’t find or get, right?

Yes, this certainly gets easier when you start practicing it.

Day 5 — Meditate- I have to say I saw this one coming. I’m a novice at it but I have to admit I feel better when I do it. I’m still struggling with keeping my thoughts of everything I have going on from my ideal “calm” state. I attend a group meditation once a month and occasionally use guided meditations on YouTube. There are many meditation apps available now.

I go on walks regularly because I maintain a 15 mile a week walking average in an effort to stay in shape and eat desserts whenever I want to. Yes, the walks have many benefits.

Walking To The Beat Of A Better Life

Not so long ago, this is the way we travelled, and much of the world still does. In the United States, we tend to build…

rosaswalksoflife.medium.com

Day 6

Find an exercise you enjoy — I’m a big believer in this. Exercise has played a BIG role in my life in the last 5–10 years. I started with walking my dog then moved on to some running then trained for a half marathon (this was a big goal. I ran/walked a total of four half marathons and decided to continue walking long distances on a regular basis. I also ride a bike for 10–15 miles twice a month for fun and a different exercise. Exercise has played a big part in keeping me physically and mentally healthy.

Day 7

Make your bed- A Lifelong habit as it was engrained by my upbringing. There hasn’t been a day that I don’t do this. There are some surprising benefits to making your bed every day. It starts your day off right and encourages you to keep your room tidy. This leads to increased productivity with less stress and an improved mood. It just looks and feels better.

Spend time with a loved one -This is one that I’m consciously trying to do lately. Sometimes it takes a lot of patience. I’m always glad I did it when it’s over. Making others happy is the best kind of happiness.

Day 9

Declutter- This is definitely a mood enhancer- clean house, clean mind. I find myself doing this over and over again and it always works. My life is in perpetual recycling mode at all times. I’ve become a minimalist over time due to this process. This is BIG!

Day 10

Learn something new — I try to do this as often as I can , although not every day. I read and listen to audiobooks while walking or on my drive to work and sometimes a podcast. It gives me a sense of accomplishment and helps boost my self-confidence.

So there you have it. I have to say the ten days went by quickly and I can’t say I didn’t have time to be happy. There are definitely habits I will continue to practice. I’m so glad I decided to take the challenge on. If I’m gonna live my life, I’m committed to living it to the happiest degree I can. And so should you!

Slow Living and the Big City - Can They Co-Exist?

 

These days there are many of us yearning for a slower, simpler lifestyle. Can those of us who live in big cities do this? Yes we can!

Following are ways in which we can do this:

Find local public spaces. There are many spaces in the city where you can find silence and stillness. Parks are a great way to connect and ground ourselves in nature. Maybe there’s a quiet street near you that is still and silent. Take a walk around your neighborhood and find those quiet little streets that provide you peace.

Look for museums, public libraries, chapels or churches — these are public buildings where you can find peace and quiet.

Another spot you can go to are cafes. There are some cafes that don’t have music playing so actively search them out.

Most major cities have botanical gardens and they are often free. They offer a silence and nature combo so you’re getting a two for one.

There are many very silent places in major cities. You just have to explore and find them.

When you get to the office and you get yourself a cup of coffee, breath the aroma in — really soak in the smell of the coffee. Pause and enjoy it for a few seconds instead of rushing to your desk.

Get into the habit of taking your full lunch break. Take advantage of the time to get out of the office, breath some fresh air and have your lunch outdoors. Opt for a picnic instead of going to a restaurant. Bring your packed lunch, find a quiet outdoor spot and indulge in every bite, read a book or listen to a podcast. Take a pause and enjoy the time that you have.

Changing our habits is a sure fire way to start living more slowly and with intention in our busy city lives.

I know it sounds crazy and you may hate me for this but — ditch the music, ditch the podcast and listen to the silence on your commute to and from work. Go inward. I’m not saying you should do this every day but, focus on the here and now instead of all the external noise we are constantly bombarded with. Think about yourself, what you feel, what you want, what you’re looking forward to.

Give yourself an extra ten minutes to get to work. Go slow and enjoy the scenery. Don’t rush, slow down and admire the simple joys around you.

Change your daily habits. Practice monotasking instead of multitasking. Is it necessary to have ten tabs open on your laptop at all times? I admit I find myself doing it all the time. Practicing awareness in what we are doing in the moment is a great way to live slowly, especially when we’re living in a major city and we’re really busy with work.

Get really clear on what is most important to you. Don’t cram your schedule and fill every minute of your day. Start saying “no” to people and even to your friends. If you’ve been invited to happy hour or dinner and you’ve had a really long day and just want to go home and rest, go inward and say “no”.

You are so much more important than your schedule or any social plans you have with your friends. Start creating boundaries to live the life that you really want.

Living in rushed city can be harsh but these tips are hopefully ways that you can start to live slowly in a city. I hope they help.

The Road Trip- An Adventure In And Of Itself

 

Those who know me know that I am a dreamer extraordinaire. I am prone to wander and escape. Lately, I’ve become a curious backpacker with a thirst for adventure. I perpetually browse through tour sales to scheme my next getaway.

These days I’m dreaming of miles of winding roads along rugged coastlines, soaring pinnacles and flowery meadows. Who doesn’t dream of embarking on one of many stretches of road to uncover mesmerizing landscapes? From curving mountain trails to flat desert terrain, these journeys can range from a few hours to a few days, and can be easily be customized to suit my schedule.

Hitting the road has been a time-honored tradition in my family for decades. I don’t dislike flying but I really like to experience new destinations from a front-seat view, and road trips are often the best way to explore. I like to kick my feet up on the dashboard, roll down the windows, and turn on my favorite playlist.

The road trip is very much a part of American mythology, from Thelma and Louise to “Get Your Kicks on Route 66” to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

While there are many road trips I have taken, there are still many on my bucket list.

My favorite road trip was from Los Angeles to San Francisco via the Pacific Coast Highway. We started in mesmerizing Malibu with the sparkling Pacific ocean. We continued north on the PCH as it snaked along the coast through Oxnard, Santa Barbara and other beachfront towns — stopping for a breather and to snap some breathtaking photos at one of the many designated roadside stops.

About two hours from Santa Barbara along the Pacific Ocean coastline we arrived in stunning Morro Bay where Morro Rock –a ginormous volcanic plug sticks out of the ocean. About 34 miles north of Morro Bay is the Elephant Seal Rookery in San Simeon where we stopped to get an up close and personal look of the herds of elephant seals that line this part of the California coast. This is followed by many more scenic cities like Monterey, Carmel and finally the unforgettable city of San Francisco.

This is an approximately 500 mile road trip. You could spend a month slowly traveling up the road and never do the same thing twice. The best advice I can give you is to take it slow, soak in the beauty and seek unique experiences around every turn. Suffice it to say that there is no better way to fully experience these views than behind the wheel of a convertible.

On my bucket list and currently in the plans is a road trip called the Epic Great Northern Road Trip on US 2. It gets its name, the Great Northern, in memory of the pioneer railroad that parallels the western half of the route, US-2 is the longest of all the great transcontinental road trips. It starts on the Atlantic coast of Maine at Acadia National Park and traverses nine states and two Canadian cities ending up in Seattle, Washington. The plan is to continue to the Pacific Coast Highway from Seattle to Los Angeles and fly home from there. This makes it a total of 10+ states.

Another one on my bucket list is America’s Route 66. This is a road trip that poems, movies, and books have been dedicated to, a journey of contrasts where the 1920’s meet the 21st century, beach meets desert, and jazz meets the boogie of the West. It passes through eight states and three time zones so I’ll have to set aside at least two weeks to experience everything. It starts in Chicago and passes though St. Louis, then Amarillo, Texas. A day or so later I can gaze down at the Grand Canyon and maybe even opt for a Vegas detour. The adventure wraps up in sunny Los Angeles, where I can visit a dear friend and hunt for celebrities along the sandy beaches.

In the past two years, for obvious reasons, Americans have been hitting the road in big numbers. This puts America on the road to domestic tourism recovery. Professionals in the field are seeing the increase in road trips as the catalyst for travel’s return. The great American Road Trip is back and stronger than ever!

Trends show that people are more likely to go to remote areas, beaches and natural settings, while less likely to visit hotspots and city centers.

At the core, road trips are about escaping restrictions — so why limit yourself to the lower 48? Explore the United States — and the world — get behind the wheel every year and let the horizon unfurl before you!

Affordable Luxury - A Baffling Term

Luxury need not have a price — comfort itself is a luxury — Geoffrey Beene

When we say luxury, we are talking about a service, location, experience or item that is of the highest quality achievable, irrespective of price. This makes term ‘affordable luxury’ a baffling term. The term ‘affordable’ can be mistakenly believed to be part of the frugality movement. This is not true because the frugality movement of the 1990’s was based on fear, and fear repels luxury and abundance rather than attracting it.

Luxury and abundance are not about deprivation. Nor are they about spending more than you can afford in order to make yourself feel better. It is about the finding the true comfort and joy of moderation, as well as a mild lesson on how to become open to receiving the goodness of real life.

The Universe is not stingy. We are. Some of us have very stingy souls. Perhaps not in how we treat others — our families, friends, and those less fortunate — but in how we treat ourselves. How can the Universe give us more if our fists, hearts, and minds are clenched tightly? We need to learn how to release the feeling of poverty and lack and replace them with feelings of prosperity and affluence.

One way we can start to experience affluence in our daily lives is through pampering ourselves with affordable luxuries. We need to look for affordable luxury in activities that elevate us out of our everyday routines and let us taste a lifestyle that is normally out of reach.

Adding real whipped cream to our coffee can transform a simple pleasure into complete contentment. All you need to drink is water, but a glass or bottle of Champagne can be an affordable luxury. Champagne is the so-called “wine of kings and king of wines” and was drunk at the courts of France, Russia and beyond. People wanted to drink what the king drank, and in the 1900s, it became an “affordable luxury” that people drank on special occasions. It made them feel good. “I may not be the king, but I can drink and celebrate like he does”.

Many people think that simplicity frowns on luxury. The Shakers led lives of utmost simplicity, but they believed in the sublime luxury of eating well and the importance of using only the freshest ingredients, inventive spices, and herbs a century before Nouvelle Cuisine.

Think about affordable luxuries when you think about nurturing your personal style. What simple pleasures could make you feel more abundant?

Perhaps indulging in the intoxicating pleasure of your favorite perfume, body talc, lotion; the sensuous feel of silk underwear and pure cotton pajamas against your skin; investing in a handsome leather bag that goes with everything; getting your hair done between regular visits for color or cut.

Declare to the Universe today that you are open to receiving all the abundance it has been waiting patiently to bestow. Remember that each day offers us the gift of being a special occasion if we simply learn that, as well as giving, it is truly a blessing to receive with grace and grateful heart. 

Online Dating - A Replacement or a Last Resort?

 

Can a Self-Sufficient Woman Actually Have a Happy Single Life?

I was catapulted into singlehood, a status I was not at all fond of, after thirty two years of marriage due to my husband’s death. Quite frankly, I had zero interest in dating or even remotely finding a “replacement” for my late husband. If anything, my focus was on getting myself to a self-sufficient, independent status like so many of the women I am surrounded by and highly admire.

A self-sufficient woman has a strong internal core of control. That is, she has the ability and the desire to determine her own course, to make her own decisions, rather than having their life choices made by a significant other.

Other than my time at work, my days are fully occupied with keeping myself, my home and my interests up to date. Weekends and holidays are largely spent with friends, family and extensions of such. Prior to the pandemic, I travelled quite a bit — whenever and wherever I wanted. When it is safe to travel, I can’t wait to do it again.

It wasn’t long before people started asking if I had “met someone” or whom I was “dating”. This request was almost always received with a disconcerted and quizzical look from me. It was almost as if they believed I couldn’t possibly have a happy life without dating or a significant other.

Why does a self-sufficient single woman have to be dating to live a happy life?

It seems that being independent gives the impression that you don’t need the support you sometimes require so you might end up feeling lonely or depressed. In most cases, this is simply because of the way we were raised. It is considered as something out of our comfort zone.

To be clear, I am as straight as they come and the last time I looked in the mirror, I didn’t get scared. However, I get accused by some peers of not putting myself out there. By ‘putting myself out there’, they are not referring to socializing with people I work with or meeting people while exercising at the park. They are referring to online dating. As if this is something I should resort to.

Unless you’re psychic or looking to date people only for sex or money, dating has become particularly complicated.

Way back when the first modern newspaper was introduced, people bought personal ads to discreetly connect and communicate with one another in hopes of finding love or sex. Later, when the internet was born, it connected us all, personal ads went digital and internet dating was born. Kiss.com became the first modern dating website in 1994, followed by match.com in 1995. By 1996, there are 16 online dating sites listed in Yahoo!’s directory.

In a time when ‘organic’ and ‘authentic’ are the new ‘cool’, dating seems to have gone into retrograde. Today, dating sites and apps have transformed the way Americans meet and develop relationships. A vast plethora of matchmaking platforms are making internet dating in the United States a multi-million-dollar industry.

Can it still happen organically? The parks are still there. We are still exercising. Office socializing is now recommended due to more and more people working from home all week and in need of some personal interaction.

Truth be told, I haven’t been looking for a relationship, just going out with my friends and having fun. If it happens, it happens. What’s normal for these days? I think we have to create it for ourselves.

Lessons From The Dying

Several years ago I read the book called “Dying To Be Me” by Anita Moorjani and, for some reason, I’ve never been able to forget it.

A few days ago, I stumbled on her Ted Talk about the book and was just as fascinated and felt compelled to share the lessons from this book.

Anita Moorjani should not be alive today. February 2, 2006 was supposed to be her last day in this physical life because, on that day, the doctors told her husband and her family that she only had a few more hours to live. She was dying from end-stage Lymphoma, which is a form of cancer of the lymph nodes. She had struggled with cancer for four years up to that point. It had devoured her body.

But on the morning of February 2, 2006, she went into a coma because her organs had shut down. She was in her final hours. Her family was notified.

Unbeknownst to everyone around her, when she appeared that she was in a coma, she was aware of everything that was going on around her. She was aware of her husband by her side holding her hand. She was aware of everything the doctors were doing and every single thing that was happening. She felt as though she had 360 degree peripheral vision. She could also see beyond her room, as if she expanded out of her body. She could see her physical body lying on the hospital bed as if she could be everywhere at the same time.

She felt like she was in a realm of clarity, where she understood everything. In this realm, she became aware of the presence of her father and her best friend, both of which had already died. They seemed to be guiding and communicating with her. She understood why she had cancer and understood that we are all much greater and powerful than we are aware of in our physical bodies. She also felt as if she was connected to everybody — the doctors, the nurses, her family- as if they all shared the same consciousness. She could feel what they were feeling, the distress of her family, the resignation of the doctors — all without feeling emotional about it or getting sucked into the drama. It was as if we were all expressions of the same consciousness.

She felt that her father was telling her that she had to go back into her body — that it wasn’t her time. Although she was reluctant, she suddenly understood that if she chose to go back to her body, it would heal very quickly. Her father and best friend urged her to go back and live her life fearlessly.

Within five days, the tumors in her body had shrunken by 70%. Within five weeks, she was released from the hospital, completely cancer free.

As you can imagine, her life felt completely different and her view of the world had changed drastically. She shares with us her five biggest lessons from this experience:

1. The most important thing to focus our awareness on is Love. She is certain that one of the reasons she got cancer is because she didn’t love herself. When we love ourselves, we value ourselves. When we value ourselves, we teach people how to treat us. When you love yourself, find no need to control or bully other people nor do you allow other people to control or bully you.
2. Live life fearlessly. Most of us are brought up on a diet of fear. We are taught to fear everything — fear of cancer, fear of eating the wrong foods, fear of displeasing people. People think that fear keeps you safe and that’s not true. Love keeps you safe. When you love yourself and you love other people, you make sure that you keep yourself safe and that you keep other people out of danger’s way.
3. Humor, laughter & joy. We are born knowing this stuff. We are born knowing how to laugh because that’s what kids do all the time. We are knowing love and fearlessness, but it gets conditioned out of us as we grow up. Laughter, humor and finding your joy in life is so important. It’s more important than any other spiritual activity that you can think of. If we had more laughter, we would have a very different world. With more laughter, we would have less people with illnesses, we would need less hospitals and less prisons as well.
4. Your life is a gift. Even the challenges that come to you are a gift. Most of us live our lives as if it’s a chore, but we shouldn’t live that way. It’s unfortunate that, only when we lose something that we value do we realize the true value of it. If you’re in a challenge and it doesn’t feel like a gift yet, it means you haven’t gotten to the end yet.
5. The most important thing for you is to always be yourself. Be as “you” as you can be. Shine your light as brightly as you can. Embrace your uniqueness. Get to realize who you are and love yourself unconditionally.

With these 5 lessons, she invites us to live our lives fearlessly!!!