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On A Personal Note…

It is that time of the year again….Allergy season and I am currently suffering. Funny thing about me is that every allergy medicine makes me drowsy, even if it is “daytime”, I still feel drowsy. I have to wait until I get off from work to take something because I would be asleep at my desk lol. I am with you if you are suffering through allergy season too.

I can’t believe my newsletter is launching next week, next Monday to be exact and I am low key freaking out! I am so happy that people subscribed to it and I want everyone to enjoy it. I wanted to be able to connect with my audience outside of social media because you never know what may happen. Remember when Instagram and Facebook went down last month.

I think it is important to have a way to reach and still connect with your followers. I was so scared to even do this newsletter. I started it sometime last year and stopped when I was in a funk about my blog. I wasn’t sure at the time if I was going to continue blogging but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. One of my goals this year is to be fearless and this was scary jumping into this. I am still tweeking a few things but the first issue is just about done. I am so excited about it and know it will be a success.

I have also been struggling with the direction of my platform. I know when I initially started, I was basically all over the place talking about everything. I felt like I was doing too much and just switched gears. I find myself wanting to broaden what I talk about but it is about my audience. I can’t just talk about whatever and expect people to keep coming back if it does not relate to them.

I know my main focus is the hair and I have been enjoying doing the hair demos and trying out different products. I know I stopped with the makeup tutorials and fashion posts, I’m not sure if I should bring those back every once in a while. My other focus is bringing awareness to Black Owned Businesses. I felt it was important to use my platform, as small as it is and support my community and culture. Black Owned Businesses really need our support and if I can help them gain some exposure or new customers, I feel like I have done my part. There are times I want to talk about motherhood and marriage but I know a lot of my audience does not have kids or is single. It seems hard when there are things you want to blog about but it doesn’t relate to your audience.

I know I will figure things out and get it together lol. I feel like I am doing well with keeping up with the goals I set for myself this month. I sometimes feel myself getting overwhelmed but I know how to take a step back and regroup. I am just looking forward to everything this year has to offer. See you guys tomorrow!

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Your Friends Don’t Have To Support You But Are They Bad Friends…..

Before we jump into this post, please watch there following video. This is where I got part of the inspiration for this post.

Okay so hopefully you watched the video in its entirety. Now I’ve been going back on forth on posting this or even talking about this topic for several reasons. I honestly don’t want to come off as complaining but I have struggled for a while about people I actually know supporting what I do.

When I first started blogging of course I had no clue what I was doing as I taught myself as I went along. I assumed that people I knew would automatically support me. I assumed that they would repost my content, comment on my posts and so on but there were crickets at first. I had to realize maybe they didn’t know about blogging at all or understood what I was doing. You do have to give people the benefit of the doubt sometimes. I just assumed they would ask about what I’m doing or how everything was going but not really. I had one of my friends help me create a series on my blog reviewing hair products when I first started which I really appreciated but I honestly felt like I was in this by myself.

You honestly can’t assume things about others and assume that your friends will automatically support everything you do…but I feel that if they are supposed to be part of your support system or tribe, they support you no matter what it is. If I wanted to quit my job and become a professional pencil sharpener, you should support me even if it doesn’t sound too good lol (bad example but you get the point lol). Even if it is not directly supporting you by reposting but behind the scenes support like letting you know about typos (which I am thankful to those who point them out because I never catch them all) or giving constructive criticism on how you can improve. I had to learn the hard way about the different types of support.

I also had to learn not to stress out about those who don’t support directly or behind the scenes. It would literally drive me crazy sometimes but I would never ask them why. I never somewhat confronted those and asked why. I honestly just assumed and I am at fault for that. Should you ask people why they haven’t been supporting you? I think you should be able to have those types of conversations with your friends and not have any issues. Now what would get to me sometimes is seeing other people I know reposting their friends and shouting them out and so on. It made me feel some type of way but then I had to turn and look at myself and ask was I doing the same thing. I can’t point the fingers if I am doing the same thing.

After watching the above video, I felt some type of way at first. I thought your friends should care about what you do and support what you do but then you really have to ask yourself if you do the same for them? Do you support them in the way they support you? If that support scale is uneven, what end are you on?

If your content is trash, someone should be telling you about it and not let you continue on putting out trash. Your friends should want to see you improving and doing better. I know my content was not so good at first and I had so much to learn. I am thankful to those who helped me improve and get better at this. I know I still have some ways to go but I feel my content is better then when I first started 5 years ago. I want to see you win and succeed and if I can help you improve, I will. After really thinking about what was really said in the video, it started to make sense to me and I didn’t feel as offended when I first watched it.

Friendship can be very tricky because everyone has their own opinion about them, what they expect out of their friends and so on. I may not have the same views as the next person on friendship but I honestly feel that you should support each other. I am not talking about big grand gesture support but little things count as well. You should know when people genuinely are not for you and are somewhat toxic. If you honestly don’t feel the support, you should talk to your friends and see how the conversation goes. Maybe everyone needs to work on supporting each other.

What are your views on support from your friends? Let’s discuss. See you guys tomorrow!

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Is Self Care Needed More Than One Day A Week?

I’ll admit, I forget about myself often to the point where I am about to have a meltdown. I work in a pretty stressful environment full time, a full time working mom who hears “Mom” like a million times a day, a wife, side hustle with this Naturalle Drea and so much more. I am always working on something or doing something and it can just be so easy to forget to take care of myself. My mind is always running a million miles a minute trying to focus on work, keeping my household together, remembering to do something, filming and creating content. I am trying to practice more self care but should it be limited to just one day a week?

I see a lot of people dedicating one specific day to self care like #SelfCareSunday on Instagram. I don’t see anything wrong with that but what happens when you step in the door to work on Monday morning and that stress free feeling leaves? Everyone’s life is not the same, there are people who don’t have children or have high stress work environments but what about those who do? I feel you need more than one day of self care help.

I am still learning about what self care is but it is defined as the practice of taking action to preserve one’s own health. I know for a fact that being stressed out almost everyday is not good for your health. It really does take a toll on you and when you have those high stress environments, you really need some self care daily to help you unwind and relax.

Self Care can be so many things like treating yourself to a mani and pedi, a trip to Sephora, at home spa day and so much more. Self Care can also be things not beauty related like reading, journaling, exercising and etc. I try to start my day with some quiet time and prayer. It helps to put me in positive space before the day starts. If you are not religious or pray, you can meditate or sit in silence for a few minutes.

Hopefully there are more good than bad days but for those crazy stressful days, you may need a little more T.L.C. to help you destress. I like to unwind with some of my favorite shows. It helps me not think about the crazy day I had and I get caught up in a fictional world. I also enjoy a glass (maybe more than one) my favorite wine or some calming tea. I also write for 15 minutes a day(not everyday but I’ll say weekly lol) to help clear my head and get all those negative thoughts out. I am not so consistent everyday with everything but I at least do something self care related.

I just feel that self care shouldn’t be limited to just one day. Again, it may be different for some people that need only a day or others may need to practice self care daily. I am one of those who need some kind of daily self care. I just wanted to encourage you to try daily self care to see if it helps or improves your mood.

How do you practice self care? Is it once a week, daily or monthly? Comment below and let me know. Have a great weekend and see you guys Wednesday!

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On A Personal Note…

Hey guys, it is me…the girl behind Naturalle Drea that has been hiding behind these other posts lol! It has been a while since I updated you guys on life and just everything.

2019 has started out pretty interesting for me. I set some goals I wanted to accomplish during the year and realized a couple months in that they were not realistic for me. I’m not sure what state of mind I was in but I am glad I changed direction.

I have really been struggling with my time management and breaking some bad habits. As you know, I am notorious for waking up late and scrambling around like a crazy person. It doesn’t help when you have a seven year old who sometimes gives me a hard time in the morning and never knows where his shoes are ironically lol. It is not a good way to start the day. I read online somewhere that it takes 21 days to create a habit and 90 days to create a lifestyle. I wonder how true that is so I am attempting to create a habit of having a morning routine. I know it is going to be a little hard at first but if I keep going, I know it will work out for the best.

I was excited when I was chosen to become one of the Winter/Spring ambassador for Bask And Bloom. You have seen some reviews and tutorials on their products (which are amazing by the way lol). I took a chance when they posted about looking for ambassadors and honestly thought that I wouldn’t be chosen. I know I shouldn’t doubt myself like that but I know that the work I have been doing has paid off. I am just so grateful for the opportunity and hope this opens more doors for me. I just love creating content, especially hair videos.

I am also working on being fearless and stepping out on faith. I have a tendency to be in my own way and self sabotage. I was tired of holding myself back from opportunities and just being scared to do things. I had the thought of of creating a newsletter for a long time but was scared that no one would subscribe or read it. I keep reading and hearing about being in contact with your audience outside of social media. I had conformation after that day Instagram and Facebook went down. What if social media disappeared? I am launching my newsletter next month and so happy that I have people who subscribed! I am nervous about keep their attention and putting out good content.

Life has thrown its usual ups and downs but I am rolling with it. Everyday is not perfect but I can only learn from the lessons I am given. I am working on not being so overwhelmed and not taking on so much. I do feel myself creeping back into that sometimes but I take a step back and regroup. It is so easy to start thinking about so many things and get overwhelmed and then…stress. I am still a work in progress and happy about the direction I am going in.

How is everything going for you guys? How has 2019 been treating you? See you guys tomorrow!