Destination Peach

Where Reality and Inspiration Meet

A Letter to My Younger Self

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Moments of self-refection are ideal when you commit to a journey of self-work and self-growth. Very often I write letters to myself and save the letters to read at a later date. The letters help me to visualize and add perspective to the changes I have made. Not to mention…if I am having a bad day the letters pick my spirit up. Today I wanted to write a letter to my younger self on my blog. This was challenging for me to do because the letter, was putting me in a different emotional space…but here is what I managed to piece together.

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Dear Younger Peach,

Life is hard but you’re making it! Through your life journey you have accomplished many wonderful things, and have met many wonderful people. Those experiences have taught you so much and have helped you grow. Your observant, intuitive, and emotional personality has not been understood by many…but who cares! Those personality traits have helped you to pursue careers, hobbies, and educational interests that most people dream of.

Because you were misunderstood, you cared way too much about what other people thought of you. You let peoples’ projections influence the way you lived your life. You already knew back then that you were (and still are) more than enough. What you couldn’t understand at the time is that you are a light that shines brightly, and people tried to dim your light…but they successfully FAILED.

At the current moment in your life, you are coming into your own and have survived the quarter life crisis. Although you are constantly in your head dreaming and over analyzing everything to the point of…anxiety and depression plaguing your daily existence. You always manage to pick yourself back up…and you learned that from the resilient energy of your parents, grandparents, great-grand parents, and all of the people that fought for you to be here.

If I could offer a piece of advice to you, it would be to not limit yourself to your fears and listen to your intuition. Fearlessness and intuition is going to lead you to more amazing accomplishments and more wonderful people.

You’re a DOPE person and this is only the beginning.

Until next time…

-Peach

Quotes and Notes #4

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Young Jeezy (Pastor of the streets) always shares real talk wisdom. The other day when I was listening to his song Sweet Life, I took a moment to reflect on his concept of dying and reemerging as a new person. Pastor Jeezy was on to something when he said the old him is deceased. Inspired by Jeezy’s real talk wisdom, I thought of all of the moments that got me to this current place in my life. The place of a happy, fearless, unapologetic, self-care enthusiast, lightworker version of Peach. Then it dawned on me that my Divine Storm was the final catalyst of the changes I needed to make.

From that storm, I emerged as a new woman. The old me died! I transitioned into the new and improved version of myself.  I love who I have become! I still have a lot of growth to make, self-work is not easy. With the support of my tribe, I am well on my way.

Life is about transition and growth. When you fail to evolve into the higher version of yourself, it is a major disappointment! A disappointment to yourself, your loved ones, society, and the higher power you believe in.

Your supposed to change and grow. When people say you’ve changed, in the words of Dustin from The Friend Zone podcast your response should be “why haven’t you”?  When you lack the ability to let go of past behaviors, and refrain from new ways of thinking/being it is a reflection of limited self-love. If you love yourself, you will release the old version of you. What do you truly have to lose by letting the old you die, to become the better version of yourself.

Until next time…

-Peach

Self-Care Series: Meditate On This

I am starting a new series all about self-care. The inspiration for this new series was influenced by own self-care journey. Self-care is the most important thing yet easily overlooked. Let’s be real, life can get overwhelming…people can get demanding, and next thing you know there is no time for you to take care of your mental and physical health. Contrary to what some people believe, there is always time to take care of yourself, you just have to make it a priority. Finding simple self-care practices is what helps you set boundaries, while living your best life possible.

Meditation is one of the top self-care practices that brings stillness in a chaotic world. I originally started meditating because of my anxiety. Yet I quickly noticed that I enjoyed the inner peace, self-awareness, and higher-consciousness meditation gave me, so it became a natural habit.

For 20 minutes a day I meditate (currently working on building my meditation stamina). Before I meditate I am consumed by my thoughts, but after I meditate “I am calm, I am light, I am positive energy”. The process of centering yourself through meditation, allows you to realign with your authentic-self and operate from an empathetic space. The benefits of meditation are profound.

To get you started on your meditation journey, here is a quick guide:

Meditation Stamina

If your new to meditation, I recommend meditating for a small amount of time. Meditating anywhere from 3-10 minutes is a great start. It takes time for your body to build up meditation stamina. The more you practice meditation the easier it will be to develop your meditation stamina. Meditation apps can also be helpful when building meditation stamina, my favorite app is Meditation Made Simple by Russell Simmons.

Meditation Place

Finding a special place to meditate is ideal. In my special space, I light charka/manifestation candles, I smudge my environment, and hold healing crystals while meditating. You don’t have to go to the extreme of the adding the extra elements I mentioned, just do what works for you. Overtime you will cultivate a meditation space that serves you.

Meditation Position

Once you establish your special meditation place, determine whether you want to sit or lay down for meditation. After getting into your meditation position, close your eyes and begin to focus on your breathing. Whether your choosing to complete a mindfulness or concentration meditation breathing is the MAJOR key.

Meditation Experiences

It is important to know that the more you meditate, the different experiences you will have. Vibrations, colors, images, sleeping, and even the dark side of meditation are all possible. The dark side of meditation can be scary…believe me when I experienced the dark side, it took me some time to meditate again. Just know that the dark side of meditation is your mind and body working through emotions and past traumas you haven’t dealt with.

If you’re interested in more meditation tips or want to share your meditation experiences, leave a comment below.

Until next post

-Peach

Destination Series: Dominican Peach

IMG_0205As of lately, I have been spending my time in the Dominican Republic. This is what happens when you leave your full-time job… you have the freedom to do what you want! With this new found freedom I have, I plan on traveling until it leads me to some major life epiphany or until I feel compelled to try “adulting” again. In the midst of searching for life epiphanies and my escapism from “adulting”, I randomly booked a trip to the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic is a BEAUTIFUL country! From the great beaches to the people that live here, it’s an inexplicable feeling. To arrive in a country and automatically feel like you’re at home is rare. Surprisingly, my Spanish has come back to me just from being here (my minor in Spanish didn’t die in vain). I must say, living a slow-pace lifestyle, and indulging in the libations of Mamajuana is something that I can get use to. Not to mention…Dominican men are GORGEOUS! Since being here I have been married like five times but…DéLeon has my heart (muchos besos mi amor).

Throughout my travel adventures in the Dominican, I have been capturing a lot of pictures (too many to upload). The colorful architecture and lush green landscape is breathtaking and worth sharing.

La Gaviota

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Escuela Primiaria

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Campo de Canñas de Azúcar

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Ciudad de Higüey

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Bascalica Catedral Nuestra Senora de la Altagracia

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Campo de Higüey

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Rancho Valencia

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Playa Macao

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The next destination will be Ubud, Bali which I am super excited about!

Until next time…

-Peach

Divine Storm

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The other day as I was listening to Mastin Kipp’s podcast and I had a major awakening experience. Kipp discussed the concept of divine storms. Divine storms as defined by Kipp are moments in life where you feel like the whole world is against you, and everything falls apart (cue “all falls down” song by Kanye West).

Since the start of the 2016, everything has been falling apart. As everything has been falling apart so effortlessly, I have been trying to define my experience. From bad anxiety attacks, health issues, financial concerns, leaving my job, feeling unmotivated about school, losing the love of my life, my car getting wrecked…the amount of storms just kept accumulating. All of these events were the set up for my divine storm.

Kipp suggested that when everything falls apart it is God’s/Universe’s way of protecting you. Meaning everything is happening for you. As everything has been happening for me, I have been trying to understand the spiritual lesson of my divine storm, and reflect on the areas of growth I need to make. Everything that I manifested, but didn’t act on led me to my divine storm. Being a semi-procrastinator, I needed the extra push to shift into a new paradigm. Now, I don’t understand everything that is happening but, I know its apart of my journey.

Many of us are currently in divine storms, and it’s up to us on how we choose to transition out of the storm (don’t let your negative ego win).

If you want to hear more about divine storms and self-growth the Power & Purpose podcast by Kipp is a great listen.

Until next time…

-Peach

Hiking Adventures

photo-1445836356319-82c32ff6e881This weekend I decided to try something new beyond my comfort level… hiking! As a true city girl being in wilderness is not something that brings me inner enthusiasm. The mixture of bugs, mountain animals, and potentially getting lost on a hiking trail is not my combination of fun. I get it, some people love being outdoors and taking hiking trails into the unknown…while some people love doing activities at lower elevation levels.

The morning of the hike it took every ounce of energy I had to stay committed to going on the hike. To deflect my inner negative ego, I spoke positivity into my day reflecting on the benefits of going on a hike. Thankfully, I pushed through and completed the hike. I now understand why people enjoy hiking. Hiking provides a meditative space of stillness. In the presence of stillness you can feel God, it is an unexplainable experience.  An experience that you cannot achieve with the daily distractions of city life. Not to mention, hiking is also a mental, physical, and visual metaphor for overcoming life obstacles. For every step taken you eventually make it to your destination based on the strength of trust and courage.

I’m not sure when I will go on another hike but I am now a hiking fan! If you are interested in going on Colorado hikes I highly recommend the Trails website.

Until next time…

-Peach

Destination Series: Windy City Peach

FullSizeRenderTo kick off my departure from job, on the very last work day I headed on a plane to Chicago, Ill. I figured what better way to cement new growth then by taking a trip.  Not to mention, I was ready to see Beyoncé and get in formation. By the way…Beyoncé is an amazing performer, during the concert I kept questioning whether or not she was even human (while shedding tears as she performed). When you watch Beyoncé perform she is the direct reflection of what happens when you are directly aligned with your life purpose.

The next day after the Beyoncé concert my friends and I enjoyed everything Chicago had to offer. From great food, attractions, and boat parties… I truly celebrated life! Which speaks to my new goal of truly embracing the great moments in my life, as I do the bad moments in my life. In order to feel the highs of life, I have to be comfortable feeling the lows.

I would have posted this blog sooner, but I have been traveling non-stop since the end of May. Here are a few pics I captured during my festivities.

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FullSizeRender (3)Until next time…

-Peach

The Struggle Is Real

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As of lately I have been in hiding but for all good reasons. My dissertation process has started and the struggle has been real.  For the last three years I have been waiting for this moment, and now that the moment has arrived I’m in complete shock. Which is weird considering that I wrote and completed a dissertation for my Master’s program. With being mid-way in the dissertation process I figured I share the top 20 reoccurring thoughts I have while writing my dissertation…

Hopefully some of you out there can relate!

  1. What did I get myself into?
  2. Is this really happening?
  3. I don’t even know how to get started.
  4. Shit, I have writers block.
  5. I can’t find the motivation to even think.
  6. FML!
  7. I don’t feel smart.
  8. Why did I choose this topic?
  9. Why am I second guessing myself.
  10. I’m the Kanye of writing dissertations.
  11. I’m a beast when it comes to finding scholarly sources.
  12. Damn…I’m falling behind the deadline date.
  13. I’ll just pull an all-nighter and get things done.
  14. Who am I kidding…I’m too old to be pulling all-nighters.
  15. I need more computer storage space.
  16. I should buy a backup hard drive for my backup hard drive.
  17. I feel like crying!
  18. Who’s idea was it for me to pursue a doctorate degree? Oh it was mine’s!
  19. Where’s my cohort when I need them?
  20. I got this!!!

For any one that maybe working on their dissertation…remember we got this!

Until next time…

-Peach

The Truth About Love

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As of lately I have been making it my mission to clean house. Not literally “cleaning my house”…but removing people and situations that no longer bring me value. For so long I had grown accustomed to or shall I say addicted to certain situations and people.

One situation in particular was a romantic relationship that I was insistent on making it work. I swear…love is the strongest drug ever. Being addicted to love or to a certain person made me blind to all of the red flags. When I was high off love nobody could tell me nothing. My desperate need to feel loved would randomly come to a halt when lies, disappearing acts, cheating, and lack of communication ruined the relationship.

As I started to wake up…better yet come down from my “love” high, I realized that the relationship was just not meant to work. I truly wanted the relationship to work and did everything I could to maintain the relationship. But, the more I tried the more the person I loved did everything they could to ruin the relationship.

It’s simple! You can’t love someone that is not able to receive love. Sadly, most people grow up not learning how to love. And those people that grow up not knowing how to love oftentimes miss the opportunity of having a non-toxic relationship in their adult life. Broken people reflect broken behavior, and although a person can say they love you their actions have to show it.

When you’re dealing with a broken person they can cause you to question everything about yourself as they chip away at your self-esteem. However if you know you’re worth, broken people teach you a lesson and prepare you for something better.

The best thing to do when it comes to loving a broken person is to let them go, because the inner battle their fighting is far bigger than what you can fix. No relationship is worth loving another person more than yourself. It took me a while to learn and acknowledge the truth about love, but now I finally get the message I was intended to learn after all these years.

Until next time…

-Peach

 

Everything I Did Wrong

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This week has been a short but long week. It was nice having a snow day but after endless naps and dreadful cabin fever, I was completely bored. It wasn’t like I didn’t have any homework or work to do. I honestly didn’t feel like doing any work period. So, during the snow day I searched online until I stumbled across a new YouTube series. For me, finding a new YouTube series is like finding internet gold (bring on the binge watching).

What I like about YouTube is that content creators have the freedom to tell stories from their perspectives. In fact, YouTube is one of the few mediums where content celebrating different cultures is actually supported. As we all know, in mainstream America various mediums lack diverse perspectives and diverse people.

Okay so back to the web series. The series is titled everything I did wrong in my 20’s. When I saw the title I was already lured in, because I have been doing so many things wrong in my 20’s. With the month of March officially marking the last year of my 20’s, I plan to make right my wrongs so that my 30’s can be poppin.

The series is a part of inkSpotEntertainment founded by Kim Williams who also writes/produces everything I did wrong in my 20’s. The series does an amazing job of vividly telling the narrative of women in their 20’s making choices that cause unhappiness later in life. The main character of the series Stephanie Rogers feels like my spirit animal. Needless to say, I binged watched season one and I am highly anticipating season two.

Check out the series below.

Until next time…

-Peach