2012: Year of The Come-up

Straight up now tell me... lol



Ok.... I have been waiting patiently to do this... A "Lets reflect on where I was a year ago" post. I was all fucked up a year ago. I lost EVERYTHING. My man left me because he was scared. I had nowhere to live because we were supposed to move in with each other. On top of that, I spent the last 2 months of my undergraduate semester sleeping on my homegirl's floor. (SIDENOTE: Seriously Brit, I am IN DEBT to you forever, I stayed in your house rent free at one of theeee lowest points in my life. You were there when I needed somewhere to live and you were right there when I was depressed. Now THAT is a homegirl forreal forreal. Anyways....) I had no more job prospects lined up because they were all on the west coast and I turned down everything on the east coast. I just got laid off from my federal job, no one was hiring, and I was nervous about graduating. Like. If I didn't pass that ONE class I wasn't graduating. Typical struggle for most but it was alot for me at one time. That was end of 2010/2011. Now let's talk about where I am now.

Let's start with employment. So during that 2011 time I was in my mother's house (something I told her I wouldn't do the day I left for college) applying for jobs. I applied to Philly, NYC, DC, Jersey, VA, wherever. I was on a schedule. Each day I would wake up at 9a and apply until 4p. It. Sucked. So. Bad. I remember even tellin Van that companies posting jobs was a joke. Seemed like so many jobs were available but no one was hiring. Then there was that one day I got that email from the Philadelphia Dept of Public Health. It was a win in my eyes. Somewhat of a stable paycheck and got to get out of my moms house. It was a contract position for Health educator for 6 months. At that point, I didn't care. It was money and I had to start somewhere. To date, I haven't left yet. I was promoted from Health Educator to Health Program Coordinator. I went from working on a project, to heading 3 projects and writing a policy. **Steph voice** "Know Me".

The second thing is something I am soooo insecure about: my weight. I'm going to be real. In 2011, I let my depression take over my life. I ate too damn much and let the weight pack on. By March of 2011 I was 210 lbs. Yes, bitch. Two hundred and eleven pounds. I. Lost. It. I decided to get my life together and do everything I could to lose weight. I'm talking pole dancing class, yoga, P90x, Insanity, gym workouts, running, reduced-carb diet, no carb diet, Beyonce lemonade diet... all that... Finally I got into a good workout regimen and stuck with it for a while. One year later I am 43lbs lighter. I feel blessed to have the courage to stick with my workout plan. But, I needed to get my life together.

This was me THEN in 2011:

This is me NOW in 2012:

(Lol I feel like a fat commercial or something)
Even now my workout regimen is as follows:
Monday- Run the Ben Franklin Bridge, gym workout
Tuesday- Gym, pole dancing class
Wednesday- pole dancing class
Thursday- run the Ben Frankling bridge, gym
Friday- pole dancing class, yoga
Saturday- chill
Sunday- chill (and in some not lazy cases yoga)

The last comeup I think I have experienced is just gaining insight on things and stop being so emotionally invested in people. I've learned to let go on alot of things: friends, relationships, people, job opps, etc etc. There are alot of people that don't want to see you succeed and it takes some squinting to see it. But its there. I've made a re-dedication to ME and where I want to be in life. It took me a while to realize that. And no one is going to stop me now **Akon voice** "Cuz I'm a rider, I'm a sole survivor.." lol...