A few years ago, I was scrolling on Instagram, and I came across a quote that, in short, said, "Every time you make an excuse, you give up your power.” It’s the wisest thing I’ve ever heard, and it has completely changed the way I live. I am a recovering excuse maker. Historically, I could make anything anyone, or anything, else's fault: why my life was a mess, why I turned in an assignment late, why I was late. There was always a reason—that was never me—for all of these happenings in my life. Whether it was my parents and upbringing or the car accident down the road, my life was entirely at the mercy of everything that was happening to me. After seeing this quote, I learned that this was not true. Every time I made an excuse, I gave up the power I have over my life. If my life was entirely at the mercy of everything that was happening, then not only was I powerless, there was no point in trying. For what? My life would continue to be swayed constantly. To allow my life to be swayed constantly would also infer that I am not the captain of my own ship. But I am. Every morning we all wake up with a choice to make excuses or take accountability. Upon realizing I had this choice, it helped me step into my power—a power that we all possess if we so choose. It's up to us to make that choice every day. I don't always get it right. However, my perspective has been changed for the good because of a quote graphic that I saw on Instagram. I am forever grateful that I stumbled upon it. It has made me more reliable, accountable, powerful, and wise.

So often I get asked why I decided to adopt a dog with three legs. I think the most ironic part is that I didn't. I adopted a dog, and he just so happened to have three legs. People see Kailo's (IG: @helloitskailo) three-legged stature as a burden, but the truth is that it hardly affects his day-to-day life. He's no less active, kind, or sweet than any other dog. I prefer to focus on the joy, love, and peace he brings to me, my family, and others—and he's certainly not afraid to show it either!

A few years ago, I was scrolling on Instagram, and I came across a quote that, in short, said, "Every time you make an excuse, you give up your power," and it has changed my perspective on life completely. I am a recovering excuse maker. Historically, I could make anything anyone, or anything, else's fault: why my life was a mess, why I turned in an assignment late, why I was late. There was always a reason—that was never me—for all of these happenings in my life. Whether it was my parents and upbringing or the car accident down the road, my life was entirely at the mercy of everything that was happening to me. After seeing this quote, I learned that this was not true. Every time I made an excuse, I gave up the power I have over my life. If my life was entirely at the mercy of everything that was happening, then not only was I powerless, there was no point in trying. For what? My life would continue to be swayed constantly. To allow my life to be swayed constantly would also infer that I am not the captain of my own ship. But I am. Every morning we all wake up with a choice: we can make excuses, or we can take accountability. When I realized that I had this choice, it helped me step into my power, a power that we all possess if we so choose. It's up to us to make that choice every day. I don't always get it right. However, my perspective has been changed for the good because of a quote that I saw on Instagram, and I am forever grateful that I stumbled upon it. It has made me more reliable, accountable, and powerful.

One thing I love about myself is my commitment to being my highest and most cognizant self, no matter how difficult and turbulent the journey may be. Just like any human, I am constantly evolving. Who I am one day may be entirely different from who I am the next. However, rather than fighting the ebbs and flows of my identity, I am learning to accept them. One day, I'm more extroverted, and the next I'm more introverted. One day, I can confront life's challenges with confidence, and the next I probably shy away. One day, I'm not bothered by the morning traffic, and the next I'm raging. (I'm working on it.) I don't believe growth and becoming the person I'm meant to be—and want to be—is linear. Loving myself means accepting the, at times, uncomfortable journey of healing and growth and honoring who I am every day. In the same vein, I love that I am getting to know myself in every way—the good, the bad, and the growing. As a millennial, this is a practice that we don't take lightly as a generation, and I've been the better for it. Knowing my strengths, weaknesses, and growing pains has given me an upper hand in my work life, personal life, and beyond. Becoming more self-aware is certainly not easy, but if I don't accept every aspect of who I am, I wouldn't be loving myself. Although this is one aspect of myself that I love, loving myself as a whole, like most things in life, is work. However, it's work worth doing because on the other side there's freedom, joy, self-love, and acceptance, and I'm ready for the challenge.

I stay true to myself in my daily life honoring who I am for that day and becoming more and more self-aware. Just like any human, I am constantly evolving. Who I am one day may be entirely different from who I am the next. However, rather than fighting the ebbs and flows of my identity, I am learning to accept them. One day, I'm more extroverted, and the next I'm more introverted. One day, I can confront life's challenges with confidence, and the next I probably shy away. I don't believe growth and becoming the person you're meant to be—and want to be—is linear. Staying true to yourself means staying true to the, at times, uncomfortable journey of healing and growth and honoring who you are each and every day. In the same vein, staying true to yourself means knowing yourself in all ways—the good, the bad, and the growing. As a millennial, this is a practice that we don't take lightly as a generation, and I've been the better for it. Knowing my strengths, weaknesses, and growing pains has given me an upper hand in my work life and personal life. Becoming more self-aware is certainly not easy, but if I don't accept every aspect of who I am, I wouldn't be staying true to myself. Staying true to yourself, like most things in life, is work. However, it's work worth doing because on the other side there's freedom, joy, self-love, and acceptance.

I believe that the best way to affect positive change in a community is by working with and mentoring children, and I act locally to affect positive change for my community by working with elementary-aged kids at my church. In January of 2021, I was asked to watch the kids on Wednesday nights. We began with typical lessons, such as the Fruit of the Spirit and worship, but I saw an opportunity to teach kids about caring about the environment, people, and the globe through creation care. Creation care, in short, is the ministry of loving and healing God's creation—people and planet. Through art, lesson plan creation, and YouTube videos, I am working with other volunteers to teach kids about reducing, reusing, and recycling and best practices for each of these actions. We are teaching kids about sustainability, upcycling—converting waste materials into new materials or products of higher quality and greater functionality—and how to care for animals, the environment, and people on all levels including spiritual and financial. Right now, the volunteers and I are collecting glass bottles for the children to upcycle into lamps or paint and use for decor. Affecting positive change in the community, for me, is happening in my church, and it doesn't have to stay there. By using the avenue of my church, we can change the community at large with environmental education and teaching true care for people, animals, and the planet.

As a highly influential figure, I would stand for staying true to what you believe in. As cliche as that may sound, we live in a time where it's easy to say what you [think you] believe, but it's much more difficult to be consistent and live out your belief. Social media has made it easier than ever to be performative, and it doesn't matter what platform you stand on. Whether it's helping the homeless, fighting for animal rights, or living a sustainable life, it's so easy to take a video or picture, post it on Instagram, and soak in all of the glory that comes from the validation that the likes, comments, and shares provide. However, what do your "beliefs" look like when no one is watching? When the camera's off? When you're having a bad day? Those are the moments when you truly prove that you believe what you say you believe, and the fact of the matter is is that someone is always watching whether you realize it or not. Highly influential figures have the opportunity to share what they stand for on a large platform, but whether we have 1,000,000 followers or 1, we can always stand for something and stay true to what we believe in.

Climate is affected by nearly everything we do, so how do we select what to do when so much of what we do affects the planet negatively? One answer is sustainability—the meeting place of caring for the environment, people and the economy in order to avoid depleting our resources and maintain or improve our current state of living on this earth. I choose sustainability by recycling, purchasing sustainable fashion, and using clean and sustainable skincare. I remember in the second grade when I first learned about recycling, and it's not hard. It can be as simple as removing sticky labels from recyclable items, or it can look like reusing single-use materials. Whether it's a glass bottle to "self-water" my plants or boxes from packages that I receive, I try to use everything I can at least twice. Using products more than once doesn't only apply to single-use items either. Sustainable fashion can look like purchasing clothing from your local consignment shop or purchasing clothing with sustainable materials that don't harm the planet and are fairly traded. Plus, what you wear on your body is just as important as what you put on your skin. Not only have I been introduced to the clean beauty brands by working for Oyl + Water (OW), a branding agency focused on clean lifestyle brands, OW is a company that values its workers and pays employees a fair wage to be able to prioritize making smart decisions for the planet. Positively impacting the climate isn't a one and done thing. It's not even something we can accomplish with the three tasks I listed above. Impacting the planet's climate for the better is a group project that we all need to show up to—and it's not about showing up perfectly. It's about showing up imperfectly everyday.