Hi there!

This post makes me nervous to write seeing as it is a lot more personal in nature than I am used to sharing, but I'm doing this whole "Fearless" thing so I'm doing it anyway. 

I wanted to share with you the meanings behind my tattoos. I have no clue if y'all are even interested in this kind of thing but I know I love hearing about other peoples' tats so here we go.

I have 3 tattoos, all fairly small, and all fairly basic. I personally just love the way simple line work tattoos look so that's the style I went for. I also only have tattoos on the left side of my body. I intentionally did this because I want to have a Cruella de Vil type vibe going on: one side tatted, one side clean. I don't know when or why I came up with the idea but I really love the symbolism behind it. 

Now, on to the actual tattoos themselves...

#1 - Follow Your Arrow

This was the first tattoo I got. It's on the inside of my left ankle and was by far the most painful of the 3. I was a junior in college and I had been thinking about it for a good long while before I finally pulled the trigger. This tattoo was based off the song Follow Your Arrow by Kacey Musgraves--I got it on my ankle as a reminder to just keep putting one foot in front of the other in the direction your "arrow" points. I firmly believe that whoever you are, whatever you want is a-okay just so long as what you're doing doesn't hurt somebody else.

#2 - Evenstar

Brace yourselves my friends, it's about to get nerdy up in here. This right here is tattoo #2 and is my favorite. I had known for years and years I wanted to have a tattoo of the Evenstar Arwen wears in Lord of the Rings but I wasn't quite sure where I wanted it. I settled on the inside of my forearm so I could always see it (if you're gonna spend the money, you gotta be able to enjoy it).

In LOTR Arwen gives the Evenstar to Aaragorn and in so doing gives up her eternal life to live a mortal life with the man she loves. (If that doesn't just rip your heart out I don't know how to help you.) I got the tattoo to remind myself that nothing trumps love--not even immortality.

#3 - I Lived

This tattoo is the one I get the most questions about...It is also the one I have the hardest time talking about. It has significant, personal meaning to me and I get super uncomfortable with how vulnerable it makes me feel. I realize this is ridiculous considering I got it tattooed in a highly visible place on my body but that's the way it is.

Anyway, here goes. The first part of the tattoo, XVII is the Roman Numeral for 17--it represents the year 2017. The second half, VIXI is latin for "I lived" (there are different interpretations but that's the one I roll with). In between I got a semicolon--It's no secret the semicolon is a symbol for those who have dealt with mental illness or suicide throughout their lives. The semicolon is supposed to remind you that your story is not over yet. If you want to learn more about it check out Project ;.

2017 was a difficult year for me in a lot of ways--The idea behind the tattoo is even though life was really rough during that time I survived. I came out the other side stronger than before and ready to take on the next season. I have had many difficult times in my life but I really love how "17" (XVII) can be rearranged to spell "VIXI"--Poetry y'all.

So there you have it. Those are the stories behind my tattoos. I do plan to get more in the future but I am in no hurry to get them done.

Until Next Time, Kelsie

Fearless

Hey girl hey! 

Welcome to my first post of 2019! Does anyone else feel like 2018 flew by? For me 2018 was a rollercoaster ride of experiences--some incredible, some pretty freaking sucky. But can I point something out? We made it! Every. Single. One of us. So cheers!

Now at the beginning of the New Year I typically jump on the bandwagon of picking a handful of goals to work on throughout the year and try to really focus on them. Some I accomplish (like paying off my credit card) and others I don't (I was 22 books short on my Goodreads goal this year...oops), but here's the thing. Even the ones I didn't technically accomplish still helped me grow, and in my mind that is the most important thing. If you ain't growing you're dying. 

This year I wanted to take a different approach--the last 4 months of 2018 were challenging to say the least and it really sparked a fire in me. So this year instead of focusing on a list of things to check off a list I want to focus on how I want this year to feel. So this year I will be Fearless. 

I want 2019 to feel like an adventure--I want to really embrace who I am, I want to speak my truth without inhibitions, I want to laugh, love, cry, and dance without fear of judgement--Because let's be honest people will judge you no matter what you do. 2019 is the year where I stop making up these lame excuses of why I'm not cool enough, qualified enough, blah, blah, blah and just get out and do the things that I have always wanted to do but have been too full of fear to. 

I mean think about it y'all. How often have you not done something you really wanted to do, or try, or experience because you were scared of how somebody else might perceive it? No more. I refuse to let fear dictate my life anymore and I truly hope you'll join me. 

So here's to 2019, get out there and be you. On purpose. 

Until Next Time, Kelsie

Show Up

Hello! 

Today I wanted to talk to y'all about something that's been weighing on my heart lately....showing up. 

I can't tell you how many times I have missed out on an experience, not done something I really wanted to do, didn't finish a project, missed an opportunity to serve someone else, etc. because I was too scared to even show up. I would talk myself out of doing something before I even started because I didn't want to look like an idiot, I didn't know anyone else who would be there, I was worried what other people would think, I didn't believe I was qualified enough, the circumstances weren't perfect, blah, blah, blah. 

I had a laundry list of excuses why I shouldn't or couldn't do something and honestly each and every one of them was a load of bull. You know how I discovered this? A few months ago I invited one of my good friends to go to the Barnes & Noble Book Club with me at my local store. I told her I would pick her up at 6:30 PM so we would make it on time for the meeting at 7 PM. It had been a particularly long day and I accidentally overslept my nap alarm. When I woke up I was 15 minutes late picking up my friend! I sped off to her house and we make it to Barnes & Noble...late. 

As we head up the escalator I can hear the group already discussing the book. Y'all, I panicked. I turned to my friend and said, "Amanda, we're running 15 minutes late and we don't know anybody and what if they think we're the worst people in the world because we showed up late and we've never been here before? Maybe we should just go home."

She looked me in the eyes and said, "Kelsie, that's ridiculous. We're going." And that was that. Thanks to Amanda I went and sat at that table and had a grand old time talking to a group of strangers about books. Nobody was mean, nobody gave us a hard time for being late, and we ended up going to the next meeting we had such a good experience. 

Y'all I almost missed this experience because I was too afraid to show up. I have had countless moments since then where I thought about not showing up to something new, something different, something a little scary, something I didn't feel qualified for--but I did. Let me tell you not one of those times did I regret showing up. I found a new favorite restaurant, made some new friends, got a promotion at work, took my blogging to a new level...and all because I simply showed up. 

I once read that showing up to something is 50% of the battle--my friends, I think showing up is 75% of the battle. So let's show up--for each other, for ourselves, to that new club, to the new restaurant, to as much as we can. Kick your excuses to the curb and show up! I promise you won't regret it. 

Until Next Time, Kelsie