Category: Motivation & Inspiration

Lifestyle, Motivation & Inspiration

World Kindness Day 2020

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z

Today, November 13, 2020 is World Kindness Day! This is one of my favorite days of the year, because I’m a big fan of being kind, teaching others to be kind and kindness in general. I mean who isn’t? Well, unfortunately, not everyone is. This pandemic has brought out both the best and worst sides of people. It’s just the world we live in these days. But the only thing I can do about it, is spread the word and attempt to live my life being kind. I feel I’ve taught my kids to be kind at home with their words, and actions and at school as well. I teach them to go the extra mile. Hold the door open a little longer, pick up something someone dropped, give compliments, reach out to your Grandparents just to say “hello”, and smile! Such easy stuff! And I hope they teach their children to be kind as well.

So on this day, I thought I would share a little bit about what World Kindness day is from Inspire Kindness. Plus, us adults need a reminder from time to time to just SLOW DOWN and do something nice for someone now and again!

World Kindness Day is a global day that promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world. This day, celebrated on November 13 of each year, has the purpose is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together. This understanding has the power to bridge the gap between nations. 

Ways to Be Kind

Here’s a quick list also by Inspire Kindness:

“Being kind doesn’t need to look or be extravagant. Sometimes the simplest things make the most significant difference! Here are a few simple ideas and ways to be helpful on World Kindness Day in the workplace, at school, with your loved ones, or even while out running errands. Look for opportunities while you go through your day to infuse kindness into someone’s day. It’ll change their day and yours for the better!”

  • Smile when you walk by others
  • Write positive messages on post-it notes and leave them for people to find
  • Call a relative you haven’t spoken to in a while 
  • Tidy up around your house
  • Pick up trash you see on the ground outside and throw it in a garbage can
  • Hold the door open for someone
  • Chat with a stranger and ask them about their day
  • Pay for a stranger’s coffee or meal
  • Compliment someone
  • Send a positive or encouraging text to five people in your contacts
  • Surprise someone with flowers
  • Tell a family member or friend you love them
  • Write a note on the receipt at a restaurant for your server 
  • Offer to help with someone’s errands
  • Give a surprise gift to someone you care about
  • Send a kind card or note to a friend
  • Surprise co-workers with home-baked cookies or treats
  • Plant a tree
  • Spend less time on your phone and more time with people you care about
  • Organize a workplace giving campaign
  • Offer a classmate help with homework
  • Talk to someone new
  • Practice gratitude
  • Volunteer
  • Give someone a hug

These all sound like some pretty easy ways to be kind! So get out there, (the day isn’t over yet!) and spread some KINDNESS & enjoy the rest of your day!

Motivation & Inspiration

Thank you, Veterans

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z

“There are not words big enough. There is not a hug strong enough. There is not a smile wide enough. All I can offer is thank you. You are my hero. You are in my thoughts. You are in my prayers. For all you’ve done, thank you.” – Author Unknown 

I cannot begin to tell you how patriotic I am! I feel like I bleed red, white and blue. I love seeing our beautiful flag, blowing in the wind and take pictures of them frequently. I cry when I hear the National Anthem. Every. Single. Time. I’m not sure why. I don’t come from a huge line of men and women that have served, but there were enough to know that I most certainly appreciate all that do.

I have friends whose husbands’ have deployed and have shared their stories of how they were left alone to take care of their babies, and figure out how to pay the bills, and work, (because their husbands are under-paid) and run a household, ALL ALONE, for months at a time.

I’ve heard the horror stories of those who have come back from war. All the hate, and sorrow, death and ugly, living in the back of their tired minds, while trying to put on happy faces for friends and loved ones. And how extremely difficult it is to come back home, and have to be “normal”. Nightmares, depression and PTSD, are just a few of the affects of being in active battle. And they do it because most of them CHOSE to. For their Country.

As a civilian, I can only imagine how it must feel to wave your husband or wife off, while being left alone. I can only imagine what it is like to go off to fight for what you believe in, to fight people who wish to destroy our country. I can only imagine the pain of leaving loved ones, and the joy of coming home to them. I appreciate each and every single one of your. Mother’s, Father’s, Daughter’s, Sister’s, Brother’s, and precious children. Every single one of them! God Bless you!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICES AND YOUR SERVICE!

Motivation & Inspiration

9-11-2020

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z
https://www.americas911ride.org/names.php

9/11… I will most certainly never forget. 

We flew home from my brother-in-law’s wedding in Baltimore, MD on September 10th.  Just one day before terrorists boarded US planes and crashed them into our precious landmarks.

My daughter was just 4 months old. 

My husband had to be at work early, so he was up getting ready, and watching the news when the first plane hit.  He came in to wake me up.  We were watching the news live when the second plane hit.  Shortly after, my husband left for work.  But I sat and watched in horror as the events of the day unfolded.  When the third place went down in PA.  When the plane hit the Pentagon.  I spent the whole day, and even the days and weeks after watching and waiting for news on any survivors.  It was horrific, terrible, frightening, appalling, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

In the months, and honestly, years to follow, I couldn’t shake the feeling of sorrow and looming dread. I specifically remember sitting at a restaurant in Mission Valley with my Mom.  It was a rainy day, and my sweet baby girl was sleeping in her car seat.  I began to weep. It certainly was not the first, or last time I would cry over this.  It was just so disconcerting to know that my baby was going to grow up in this world where people could have so much hate in their hearts. That they would have so much anger towards the United States, the country that we live in, that they would hijack our planes and try to destroy our country, our dignity and bring us down.  I could only imagine how the people of New York, and those who suffered loss were feeling. 

It has now been 19 years, and honestly, I can’t see that our world has changed much. People still hate and try to destroy one another. There is unrest in this world, and I am very scared.  I now have an 11-year-old, and he’s living in this same, scary, divided world. We have a virus floating around that has taken lives, taken a toll on our economy, closed our businesses and schools, has kept us inside and away from the ones we love.  And we can’t even hug anyone to make them feel better.

I am generally an optimist, I truly am.  But I’m also a realist.  I just don’t know how we’re going to get through these times.  I wish I had some answers.  I wish I could wave a magic wand and find the answers on uniting our country and humankind. 

But unfortunately, I don’t.  So, I will continue to be a good person.  I will continue to be kind and teach my children to be kind and helpful and upstanding citizens.  We will give more than we take. We will treat each and every person with dignity and respect. We see no color, and we will love one another and make a difference in this world.  For now, this is all we can do. 

Motivation & Inspiration

I’d like to write about stress…

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z

Because I have a tension for detail! Bah-duh-duh! Ha, ha… Okay, so it’s cheesy, but at least had to make a quick joke about it!

I feel so bad for falling off the map! I enjoy so much conversing with my friends here on Instagram.  I feel a great sense of community here.  But, once again, stress has made me want to just shut down.  I have post ideas, and even take the pictures for them, but with the work of my “other job”, my posts get pushed by the wayside.  I always feel like I need to write something funny or witty or deep, and then nothing gets written at all. 

My other job is my own business, managing social media for other people.  Sometimes I create these incredible posts for my clients, and then can’t even get to my own posts! Frustration level 1000!

Additionally, trying to balance work and home, especially when everyone is home, has been a struggle for me. And I’m sure every other Mom or Dad with children, trying to work from home.  I’m feeling frustrated, because I would love to quit my day job and just work on my blog and this business.  It would be a dream to be able to put my ALL into writing and creating and doing what I want.  But right now, I feel like I’m being pulled in a million different directions…. A mother, a teacher, a wife, a business owner, a creative person being stifled by doing so many things that are not my passion. 

I suppose it’s not much different from any other time, but it seems exacerbated by the fact that there aren’t as many opportunities to release the frustration.  I can’t go see my Mom or my friends from home.  I need to get out of my own space to clear my head and unfortunately, there’s no where to go! 

But I know I’m NOT ALONE.  And neither are you! If you’re feeling the same way, drop me a line.  It might be nice to talk with others who are feeling the same. Perhaps you have some ideas for relieving some of the stresses of this weird time in our lives.  Let me know! I’d love to hear from you.

In the meantime, I found this great article on Medical News Today with some great stress-relieving foods & drink.  I like a lot of these foods, so I’m going to be adding them to my shopping list this week.  If there is any way we can get rid of just a little bit of stress, we all win, right?  Plus, dark chocolate?  Yes please!

Try to keep positive and be sure to live each cay to the fullest!

Motivation & Inspiration

International Women’s Day

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z
International Women’s Day 2020

Growing up, I always wanted to be Wonder Woman!  I had the Underoo’s, and I was her for Halloween one year too.  (As was my Dad! Lol!) I used to spin around and around until I was dizzy, hoping to have her superpowers when I stopped!

Little did I know that one day, I would grow up to be a Wife, a Mom and a business owner. There are so many things women do that make them wonder women! Raising children, working while raising children, having the patience to stay home with their children, having high powered careers, making it on their own financially, owning their own businesses, organizing & maintaining households, keeping up with various schedules, cooking, cleaning, caring for others, taxi drivers… and the list goes on.

I love every minute of being a Wonder Woman!  It takes a lot of work and often times goes unrewarded and unrecognized.  But today is a great day to tell every woman out there, how wonderful you are.  No matter what category you fall into, you are beautiful, perfect and important! YOU ARE WONDER WOMAN!

Motivation & Inspiration

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z

“If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes!! This quote is so perfect for me. I always say, “if I had more money”, I could do so much more to help! But I need (we all need), to remember that we don’t need to have money to volunteer time, we don’t need money to help raise money to help others, we don’t need money to just give someone a hug, or a compliment, and we certainly don’t need money to be kind.
It’s easy to get caught up in the whole “money” thing. So this year, I will be doing many small things that will still make a difference in my community and hopefully help others.

When I started this blog, I said I wanted to get my stories out there and I wanted to figure out a way to make a difference. The first thing I am planning as a way to help and give back, are “care packages”, if you will, for parents of children in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). Being a NICU parent myself, 11 years ago, there are so many thoughts going through your mind, you can barely remember to breath, let alone remember what to bring with you for your hours away from home, waiting to hold your baby in a hospital. I thought really hard about what might have been nice to have around while we were visiting our baby boy, and I’ve found some items that would have been perfect to have on hand, in my car or in my purse that would have been helpful during those stressful times. That is my goal in giving back, in small ways to start, and maybe even bigger in the future.

So very well said, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr! You were a kind and wise man! Thank you!

If you were fortunate enough to have the day off to celebrate, I hope it was a great day!

 

Motivation & Inspiration

EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON

SoCal Lifestyle with Ashley Z
MY TATTOO

Everything Happens for a Reason. 🅔 🅗 🅕 🅐 🅡. Sounds cliché, right? And it’s usually the very last thing someone going through something unpleasant wants to hear. BUT, I believe in my very heart of hearts that it’s true. I honestly do.

I’m a glass is half-full, kind of girl. I want to believe that even bad things are part of a bigger plan. I believe in God’s plan. I want to believe that when life gives you lemons, you should make a lemon drop. 🍋

I’ve had many ups and downs in life. Some of them painful. And while I couldn’t see what good could come out of the bad situation while I was in the middle of it, I wanted with all my heart and soul to believe there was a reason for it.

At the end of the day, after all the tears and sorrow were gone, I found some rays of hope 🔆and happiness and joy. The pain of loss is now just a distant memory and I gained some new friends and a lot of strength along the way. 💪🏼

Perhaps I’m just a big romantic or maybe I’m not what is considered a “realist”, but I am most definitely hopeful and want to believe there is a small amount of good in everything and everyone. So, I DO believe that everything happens for a reason. Because changes in our life, whether good or bad, happen for a reason and sends us on a path to a meaningful lesson or maybe even our next adventure! 🚀