Author: stylestomakeyousmile

My mission is to provide realistic lifestyle tips to everyone. Everything from tips on blogging advice, meal prepping, but most importantly, motivation. Each Monday I share a Motivational Monday post that is a lesson I’ve learned throughout the week, that I believe should be shared with you all, my community. My hope is that these lessons will manifest into a positive mindset. I want people to recognize that you can have a happy, healthy and positive mindset and lifestyle. If you’re wondering where this motivational mindset came from, it has grown out of years of negative mindset. I was believing lies people told me about myself (one of them being I have no confidence). Until one day when I decided I needed to change myself and be a better version of me. I then began working out regularly, managing my money, eating foods my body craves, listening to what my body needed every single day-rest, work or a dance party while getting ready for the day, writing daily and surrounding my life with people who motivate me (especially through online communities!). I hope you find this community I’ve curated a place for you to learn more about yourselves. It will be motivational and supportive as we all walk our own journey of life together by providing a realistic lifestyle. Remember: You are NOT the lies people tell you. YOU are the person you BECOME. Follow all my realistic lifestyle tips on social media-Facebook and Instagram: @stylestomakeyousmile <3 Always, Amy Beth

Motivational Monday–Learning to Accept Your Life in the Moment

It’s easy to look back on your life and wish you were where you are now, a year or two ago. But what I’ve learned is that you can’t get to where you are presently without growing into the person you are now. You will always be a person who is ever changing and learning new things about themselves. You can become a different person every day and every year. Things you currently want you may not have wanted in the past. It’s with time and experiences that make us realize the new things we want in life. And it’s with those things that can reset our mindsets. To create a positive mindset, you must do the work it takes to get there, however that looks like for you whether that’s working out, going to therapy, eating healthier, starting a hobby or new job.

I believe the most important thing you can do for your mind is let it think without any influence from outside sources. What I mean by that is, go into a space completely alone like the shower or a walk outside alone and let your mind process things you’ve experienced whether that’s recently or from past experiences that you still need to work through. The point of doing this alone is to not let your mind wonder into the distractions going on around you. Once you’ve done this your mindset becomes clear and you’ll begin to understand what it is you truly want from life.

Sometimes so much goes on in our lives that we become stuck to the point where we don’t know what we need or how to get it. It can take a lot of self-discovery to understand what we truly need in our lives to become clear and focused. It is okay to take a break from a-n-y-thing in life. A short break or long one, doesn’t matter, if you know within yourself that a break is what’s needed then do so. A break doesn’t mean you’ve given up on yourself. A break means you have a lot going on in your life and need time just be. Time for yourself to rediscover what matters most to you. Learn to be okay with wherever you are at in life and know within yourself you’ll come out of it stronger than before.

I took a break from my blog for a while. I was going through a lot of personal development work within the past eight months of my life and for a short while decided I wanted to live in the moment and not share my life s much as I used to, and I was OKAY with that. While I love to write, share my thoughts and help women around the world with my work, I knew I needed to work on myself by working on the new changes being made so that I could come back stronger. My comeback was remembering my WHY for starting this blog.

Always remember to accept your life where it is today, don’t judge yourself or wish you could be farther along or wish you could have made changes years ago. We all need to process and go through things at our own pace and in our own way and there’s never any judgement for that. The process of change takes however long you decide it needs, and with taking action, change of habits and a positive attitude you can change your life. Always take time for yourself to process and change and accept your life where it is in the moment, today.

Happy Monday Loves ❤
How have you learned to accept your life for what it is?

A Thank You Letter to my Mom on Mother’s Day

Thank you, Mom, for showing me discipline by putting me in dance. It taught me to show up to class early, work with a team, remember a routine week after week, be reliable to others and it taught me to get in front of an audience and smile. Today, it reminds me that hard work always pays off.

Thank you, Mom, for always taking an interest in my life.

For all day shopping trips since I was a little girl and telling me that everything, I try on looks good on me. I never would have been interested in fashion if it weren’t for those trips.

For making me realize teachers are people too.

For listening to how my days were even if they were hard ones but then giving me advice on what to do.

For always sending me birthday cards.

For reminding me it’s better to be alone than in a bad relationship. This made me unafraid to live completely alone.

For understanding my choices and decisions.

For never leaving the car before finishing singing a great song.

Thank You, Mom, for teaching me to laugh during this crazy life of ours. ❤

Happy Mother’s Day ❤

A Love Letter to Bloggers

Dear Bloggers,

You put your life on the line for everyone in the world to see. You create content that feeds your soul but that you know can help others. You share your personal stories; the good, difficult and personal. Every story you share will help other’s change their lives. Sharing any type of experience, you’ve endured takes courage and you have that. It’s telling yourself that you know you are not alone in what you’ve gone through. Your experience will not be the same as someone else’s, but you are a brave, strong and confident woman to share your story.

You take the positive and negative feedback along with the criticism. Everyone can give you their opinion but remember it’s only an opinion. What’s important is that you stand by your work. The work takes time, patience and thought. A new idea will appear from nowhere and must be acted upon, because if not it will continue to be manifested until released. Once released the idea may have grown from something small to more than you could have dreamed. Let go of any negative self-talk that says you can’t or shouldn’t do something and just start, that’s when all the ideas will flow. The creative process is an amazing art and it should never be washed down as if it doesn’t matter.

And you know those dreams you’ve had about the content you want to create? You should go create them. Stand up for your dreams. Be persistent in writing them all out, plan when you’ll make them happen and execute them. If you don’t, they are only dreams. Dreams were meant to become your reality, if you choose to listen to them. Visualize yourself within your dreams and take action. Dreams are your inner fantasies waiting to be released into the world. By sharing them, you open the gates to a world of people, to help them think differently and change their lives.

Being an influencer means reaching people all over the world with your work, which means you’ll gain friends from everywhere. Meeting your new friends is the best part about being an influencer because you can support each other in your work. Knowing someone else in the world can relate to what you’re going through because they’ve experienced situations like yours is important. However, not everyone will enjoy your work and that is okay, because the people who’ll stand behind you, will love you for you. This means you don’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. In fact, the more authentic you are, the more your personality will shine through. People will love you for you, so embrace those thoughts that keep running through your mind and put them into action. The harder you work at your dreams, the more likely you are to keep going. Remember, if no one ever executed their dreams, this world would be boring, so keep on making a difference.

Love Always, Amy Beth

Motivational Monday: The Permission Slip to Life

Have you ever waited for someone to give you permission to start something? I’ll bet you have. And chances are that permission that came from someone else started with an idea you had for yourself. So why do we wait so long to begin something until we have permission or continually ask others if something is good enough before we begin?

Why is it that we wait until we absolutely must do something in order to start? Until the doctor gives us permission to change the diet or to lose a job we hate before starting a job we love. Why can’t we say yes to ourselves? To the things that make us happy. Or knowing what you want to do will take work but make excuses for ourselves that we can’t do something until someone else tells us we can.

Stop letting everyone else give you permission to change your life, and just start. No one else can do the work for you. You must make time for yourself, even if it’s an hour a day. Let that time be your alone time to think about what you want for yourself. Figure out a plan of how to change yourself for the better then start it. Your happiness depends on how hard you work for yourself.
Personally, I often look to others who are already doing things I want to do. Those people will always tell you to start. Start when you have no idea what you’re doing but start because you want to. Trust that you’ll figure things out as you go. Stop waiting for someone else to tell you you’re good enough. A successful person will never look down on you for trying. They’ve been there and understand the work it takes. Everyone has had failures and successes because it’s all part of life.

I’ve also learned that if I don’t start what I want to, I’ll continually think about it repeatedly until starting. I even become angry at myself when I know I can do more. Do you ever feel that way? You have a dream for yourself and spend time avoiding it to take the easy way of life; watching TV instead of exercising, or instead of reading a book, but because you make excuses or are too tired you don’t start. I believe there is a difference in taking time for yourself with self-care and completely avoiding in what you should be starting. It’s easier to avoid than it is to start but I believe that if you start, you’ll be happier, you just have to keep going.

Today, give yourself the permission to say YES to yourself. Today, give yourself permission to believe in yourself instead of seeking approval from others. No one is going to live your life the way you will. You don’t need permission from anyone else other than yourself to start. Once you start, seek out people who’ll support you. You may find people who will criticize you, but just keep going and find people who’ll give you the same permission you give yourself, which is to keep going.

Happy Monday, Loves! ❤

Motivational Monday: Be the Hero of Your Life Not the Victim

I used to spend most of my life being the victim. Anytime anything would go wrong in my life I would be sad for longer than needed, including becoming depressed. But what I’ve realized over the past few years of rebuilding my life by living alone, having great therapists and a good support system of people I trust, is that you deserve to be the hero of your own life. While I have my support systems, I know that I am the only person who can change my life. No one is going to live your life every single day except you. No one can tell you how to live, where to live, pay your bills, do your job, etc. No one is you.

The moment of change for me, was when I recognized that my routine of unhappiness needed to change. By routine I mean, I’d come home from a job I didn’t enjoy, would be tired, constantly thinking negatively, reliving past trauma I’d experienced and go in the shower to be alone and sulk. One night while in this routine, I’d realized I needed to change. I was SICK of being unhappy. My happiness didn’t truly come until now (a few years later) but it only came because I put in the work. I left relationships that made me unhappy, I went to therapy once a week, I wrote love letters to myself to make myself feel better and eventually I moved into my own place, completely alone. I learned how to live with my past, changed jobs, lived in a place I could afford when everyone else told me to live elsewhere. The point is to know what’s best for yourself when you are stuck and can recognize you need to change. If you don’t recognize this within yourself yet, take a look at your daily routine – are you happy with it? Is it fulfilling? If not, then why? What do you NEED to do to make yourself happy? I’ll bet there is a calling within your mind telling you over and over again what you need and until you listen it will be pushed in the back of your mind. I promise when you listen and set yourself free you will feel better. ❤

Everyone needs a hero, and everyone needs themselves to be their own hero. When you stop playing the victim, you’ll open your eyes to an entirely new life. This new life will be one that you’ll never want to give up on or go back to your old ways. It will be so good, you’ll forget your old routine and only focus on your new one. Start small with your new routine, by picking out one thing at a time to change, and once you get a hang of it, try adding something else to it. This could be eating healthy dinners every night, which includes budgeting for meals, meal planning and cooking. Next, start a fitness routine, it is so good to move your body and once you begin this routine, your body will want to move (you’ll realize this after a month of working out or when you happen to miss a class). You can even try small things like listening to a podcast while doing dishes (a great way to learn while working) or playing music (a great way to make yourself happy and dance to move your body). Journal daily about your dreams and find small ways to make those dreams come true. Start with your big dream (the end goal) and work backwards by taking small steps to get there. Know that your dreams take work but that you can make them happen by putting in the work one day at a time.

Introducing small changes in your life means you’ll be changing your habits which will eventually become your routine. Put the work in to make yourself and your happiness a priority, and eventually you’ll realize you don’t have to be a victim to your circumstances, you’re already a hero because you’re devoting yourself to becoming the best version you can possibly be. ❤

Happy Monday, Loves ❤

Motivational Monday: Be the Visionary for Your Life

When I was growing up, I had a vivid imagination. My best friend and I would play in the backyard (which was the woods) and we’d go on adventures, tell stories and act them out. We even created our own radio show with a small tape recorder and microphones. Once I got into third grade, I realized I had a photographic memory that tied into my visual mind. I knew that by looking at something-words or pictures I could remember it. I could close my eyes and see the answers. Another thing I’d learned at a young age was a love for writing. While I struggled with writing back then, it made me work hard to learn how to write properly. I’d always find myself taking out a notebook and writing about my day or keeping a journal to write about the boy(s) I liked. I also would write short stories that I’d imagine in my mind and bring to life on paper. The year I graduated college, I sat at a coffee shop to have lunch by myself and dreamed about interviewing someone for a magazine I had written. Throughout my working life I’d always think about jobs I wished I’d had and thought about all the ways I could provide the company with great ideas. Then, I began reading blogs and realizing that if normal people could write their ideas and have people read them, without the celebrity status or people just in general knowing who you are, then I could too.

As an adult, I have taken my imagination to the next level by using it as a building block for a positive mindset. I use my imagination to envision where I want my life to go. Everything from where I want to vacation, who I want to surround myself with and what I want for my life. I let my mind wander all the time and take my dreams as far as I can. I’ll even dream as I’m walking through a store while shopping. I know that a blog can turn into a business, I’ve seen it with other people. I know that if you surround yourself with people who work just as hard as you or harder, they can be inspiration for you. I know if you choose to go on a vacation where you’ll learn something, like at a conference or master mind, you’ll come home a new person. However, you must do more than just envision, you must do the work. The work can be messy but if you’ve started that’s what’s important. If you try, it means you didn’t give up on yourself. When you put the work in it means you’re determined.

Today, as a 32-year-old woman I close my eyes and see the answers to the vision of my life: the answer is that I can have the life I envision. You have an imagination for a reason, and you were put on this planet for a reason. I believe you were born to live out your vision for your life, all you have to do is start.

Happy Monday Loves! Check out my social media pages on Instagram and Facebook at: Stylestomakeyousmile

Motivational Monday: My Tips for a Positive Morning Mindset

My Tips for a Positive Morning Mindset

I know it can be difficult to get out of bed some mornings, especially on days when you don’t feel like it, don’t feel good or didn’t get a good night’s sleep. For the past five years I would figure out what time I had to leave for work and how long it takes me to get ready which includes eating breakfast, set my alarm for the exact time and get up. During those days I was tired, not wanting to go to work and didn’t start my day on a positive note.

Over the past few years I’ve found several podcasts through Instagram that I enjoy which include-Style Your Mind by Cara Alwill Leyba, Earn Your Happy by Lori Harder, Becoming Fearless by Annie Spano, The Angie Lee Show by Angie Lee and Rise podcast by Rachel Hollis. I began to wake up at the same time every day but would turn on one of these podcasts and listen to them in the morning (and sometimes continued listening on my commute to work). Listening to such inspiring podcasts in the morning made me happy and started my day with a positive mindset. The more I listened to these podcasts the longer I’d want to sit and listen to them in bed. So, I began each morning getting up earlier to eat breakfast in bed while listening to them. I’d finish eating and just sit in bed until I knew I had to get up. While listening in bed, I’d take in everything and think about what their words meant for my own life. The point of any motivational podcast is to be relatable to your own life. I encourage you all to find a podcast you can listen to in the morning that best relates to your life. If you use any of my recommendations, please let me know! I’d love to chat about them! 😊

Other than podcasts, there are some mornings where all I want to do is have a dance party. When I was growing up, I would wake up an hour and a half before the bus came and for much of my morning, I would be in my bedroom with the door closed and blast my boom box (omg I feel old for writing those two words, haha!) playing songs that made me dance. Not much has changed since my childhood of love for music. So, I’ll go YouTube and play songs I love that make me want to get out of bed and dance-like George Michael’s Faith. I listen to everything from 80’s, 90’s and music from my favorite movies, like I Say A Little Prayer for You from My Best Friend’s Wedding (sometimes I’ll find the movie clip and watch it while singing to it). I turn on the song before I even get out of bed. Just hearing the music makes me want to get out of bed to dance. I play songs that make me dance from the time I get out of bed while getting ready until I walk out the door for work then I continue the dance party in my car while driving to work by finding songs I enjoy listening to.

Each morning when I wake up, I can recognize if I’m in the mood for music or to listen to a podcast or both. Most podcasts are under an hour long, so if you wake up early enough you can have time for both. No matter what is going on in my life, listening to podcasts and music always sets the tone for a positive morning. These two things are meant to make you happy and feel good about yourself so that is how you should begin each morning. ❤

Here’s a few more tips I came up with to make your morning positive:
1.Dancing to music 2. Eat Breakfast 3. Get Out of Bed Earlier Than Expected-even if it’s just a half hour 4. Work on your hobby 5. Post something positive to social media for your friends to see.

What makes you start your morning on a positive note? Let me know in the comments below or on social media @stylestomakeyousmile

Motivational Monday: A Lesson in Timelines and Goals

Throughout your life, you’ve probably thought you’d like to achieve certain goals by a particular age. Maybe you want to be married by thirty, have a kid two years later or be established in your career by age thirty-five. Then as that age approaches you find yourself not at the job you dreamed of or aren’t in a relationship where the other person wants to get married…there are a million scenarios of what why your goals aren’t being met. The upside to not having your goals met is that you realize why something didn’t work out the way you wanted. Maybe you need to find yourself in a new relationship or find a new job that you can grow in. It also lets you see what you do and don’t want from life.

Don’t let your timelines for yourself dictate your life. The problem with not achieving timeline goals when it comes to a career or relationship is that it can be very disappointing. The key is to be relaxed in what you want to happen and let things come as are. Live out your life without a deadline of needing something to happen by a certain age or timeframe. This will take the pressure off, so you won’t have to be so hard on yourself. The more you express to others what you want in life, the better off you’ll be because people can then understand your wants and needs.

I’ll bet if you go through what your plans were from a young age until now, they’ve probably changed a bit. Restructure your mindset so that you know what you’d like to happen in your life but be okay with knowing it might not happen at all or if it doesn’t at the age you wanted, it’s okay because there is still time. Every bit of life is a lesson always teaching you what you need to learn and grow. Listen and learn from those lessons, they’ll make you realize what you need in the future.

Happy Monday!

❤ Always, Amy Beth

A Love Letter to The Women Who Had to Start Over

You may have always thought that your life would stay the same. You’d live in one place, have one job, one relationship and one family. Or maybe that was just your dream…or the way society raises you to be…or maybe that’s the way your life was growing up. Where everything always stayed the same. While we don’t always see it while we’re in it, things should always be changing. You need to change in order to grow.

There will be times in life where it will seem easy to stay in one place because it is comfortable to do so. Your mind goes back and forth about staying or leaving. The truth is that in order to start over whether that’s with a job, relationship, place to live, etc. we must acknowledge the need to start over instead of ignoring our feelings around our thoughts. You can’t force change and you will probably never be ready for it, but you can accept it.

You can accept at any point in life that you can start over. You can become a new person. You must do the work it takes to accept that this is your life now. You don’t have to be the person you were as a child; the person people believe you to be when they say the negative things about you because you know differently. Only YOU know yourself enough to know what’s true about you and what isn’t, so don’t sit around collecting everyone’s negative thoughts, believing what they say is true. Just take their thoughts as opinions and don’t internalize them. The moment we believe what everyone thinks about us to be true, could make us become overly emotional. This means we’re not living within our true selves because we’re living in someone else’s thoughts by repeating their negative words to ourselves. It is more than okay to let go of the people in your life who do not serve you anymore. When you become a different person your needs and wants change. If whatever that “thing” is in your life that you need to let go of in order to start over is holding you back, give yourself permission to let it go so that you can start over. Even if this is not a person, but your own negative self-talk, let it go.

It is never a bad thing to start over at any age or any point in your life. It is OKAY, wonderful in fact, to start over. You get the chance to become a new person every single day when wake up in the morning. Let that be enough to help you continue to grow and to change every day.

So, to the woman who had to start over, please remember, starting over is a kind of freedom you never knew you needed until you had to do it for yourself. ❤

Love Always, Amy Beth

Motivational Monday- The True Importance of Knowing When to Say YES to Yourself

Do you ever have those days/weeks/years where everything that could go wrong does? You lose your job, your car breaks down, you slept in late, you get sick, your relationship fell apart. Any time that you have a setback, you still need to say yes to yourself. That project you’ve been meaning to work on, hobby you’ve been wanting to start or anything you’ve been putting off, those are the things you need to listen to yourself about while your setbacks are in full swing. The reason being that the things you’ve been wanting to do, you’ve been manifesting and those are the things you need to say yes to. They will drive you out of the negativity while the setbacks are happening.

When you say yes to yourself, you are giving yourself the opportunity to learn, grow and give yourself a small amount of happiness. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a clue as to what you’re doing, you learn and grow from the start, but the key is to just start! When you say yes, just one time, you’ll learn to say it more. So much more in fact, that you’ll eventually find and meet people who’ll believe in your mission and you. You’ll learn from these people and become best friends with them. They’ll help you and you’ll help them, because we all need people to grow with.

The true importance of saying yes to yourself is simply, knowing that you can say yes. Don’t let people tell you that you can’t or that you aren’t good enough or not smart enough. The longer you say no, the more disappointed you’ll be in yourself until you say yes.
So, what will you say YES to for yourself today?

Happy Monday!

P.S. This post was inspired from purchasing a ticket to Pays To Be Brave, in California this fall. If any of you are going, please let me know in the comments or on social media, at @stylestomakeyousmile on Facebook or Instagram.

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