Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like God was testing my faith to see how strong I can be. Even over the last few days, there have been small little things that haven’t been going the way I would like or I made mistakes that I normally wouldn’t make. It’s been a strange week, I must say and yesterday wasn’t much different. After my Clear + Brilliant treatment, I had a flat tire (twice in two months) and so I called AAA to get my spare in. I really should learn how to put a spare on myself and get the tools given how many times I’ve been getting flat tires out here in LA! After that, I called a nearby Firestone to see if they could patch up my tire because the guy from AAA said I don’t need to get it replaced– just patched up. I have this yearly roadside membership thing with Firestone and so they said they are able to patch it up for no charge with my membership. When I got there, things went south real quick. I don’t want to go into detail because I would end up writing for hours since I was at Firestone for what felt like forever. After a lot of back and forth, I left Firestone feeling sad, upset, degraded and insulted. I was treated as if I knew nothing at all about tires and the attitude I was given in store was unbelievable. I did not get my tire patched up and won’t be back to this location. A lot of you asked why I went to Firestone and it’s because that’s where I used to go back home in Texas and I was treated with respect as a customer. Things were completely the opposite at the location I went to here in LA.
I knew when I walked out of Firestone, I had a choice to make whether to let the negativity from that store drag me down for the rest of the day or simply take a deep breath in and count my blessings. I chose the latter. Don’t get me wrong, I spent some time talking to Ajeet about the situation to let things out but after I said what I needed to say, I went searching for inner peace. I have so many things happening in my personal life and career and things are moving pretty fast. I knew I had tons of work to do last night and I could not let how I was treated at Firestone dictate how the rest of my day would be and that’s when I realized that this was a test and I was not about to be weak–my faith was not going to be weak.
“You need the dark in order to show the light” – Bob Ross
Life isn’t going to be ice cream and cherries all year round and there will be times where we are challenged and go through life difficulties. The severity level will vary of course but it’s how you handle those situations what matters the post and is when your faith shines the brightest. I spent a few minutes outside yesterday just reflecting on my life and focused on the good things that were going on in both my personal life and career. I found the light when darkness shadowed above me and I wanted to share this with you because I know that everyone goes through rough times and little things going wrong in your life can really add up. It’s important to take a moment and genuinely think about all the positives and start to count your blessings. It’s amazing how just doing that can really turn things around. I know we are all human and doing that sometimes isn’t is enough right away or you don’t feel better right away since each person’s life challenges are different and range in severity. It took me a good 2-3 hours before I started feeling better and that’s okay. Just know if you’re ever going through something tough, don’t let anyone take away your sunshine! Know that it’s okay if you need time to heal and it’s okay to vent. Just find a way to take in the positive too and count your blessings and the true nature of your faith will be revealed.
With all that being said, I decided today I will share photos from me at the beach, riding a bike and being as carefree as possible. It seemed appropriate, I thought. Never let anyone take away your sunshine. Hope this post helps any of you going through a rough time or even just feeling a little down. Chat soon my favorites!
Side note: My overalls are from Madewell and they run a bit small. I ordered a size XS (instead of XXS) and it fits a bit snug so I would definitely recommend ordering one size down!
