Goodbye, Summer

This post is dedicated to two of the most awesome women I know--thanks Becky and Shayla!

As my father put it, beginning this afternoon, I am unemployed.
Now, that may sound like a bad thing. It may seem like a tragic thing. But it's not. Because it means I'm going to go back to school (yay!).
But it also means I will not be working with two really awesome people. Shayla, Becky, you guys rock and I'm going to miss working with you a lot.
And that's what this post is for. Goodbye to my long summer and goodbye to a job I doubt I will ever find one like again.
So, thank you. Thank you, Becky, for a job. Thank you for helping me with the financial situation. And thank you, thank you, thank you for helping me to grow this summer (whether you realize it or not). Over this summer, I feel like I've grown as a person. I guess that's the thing about confidence--other people can help you find it without either of you realizing it.
And Shayla? Thank you for being an amazing friend when I needed it the most.
Thank you for the memories this summer. I won't forget it.
And, to you my readers, take this post to heart. Find good people and never forget them.
You won't regret it.

I have always seen myself as a ghost.

The invisible girl, the one in the back of the class, that girl that you can never name but might be able to place her face.

But this year has taught me otherwise. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we all have trials and I suppose this is mine. It's like in all those stories I was raised on. It's always when things seem the darkest that we finally see the light. And rarely do we know our happily ever afters are coming for us. 

Cinderella didn't expect a chance to find her prince again after the ball.

Rapunzel never imagined she would leave her tower.

And I have serious doubts that Sleeping Beauty ever thought she would awake to her prince.

You don't get to choose when your happily ever after comes. But it will. After all the pain and sorrow and loneliness, it comes.

Being a ghost, I think that's been the darkness in my life. Being invisible has been the hardship I have lived with. 

I'm a strong believer that we get to choose, not our hardships, but how we handle them. Cinderella could have been horrible to her step family right back. But she didn't. She was kind. 

And this is me, choosing to deal with the cards dealt to me. 

I have lived the life of a ghost.

But now? I am alive.

And not only that, but I am ready to show the world that not all ghosts are ghosts to stay.

So this is me saying: "Hello, world. My name is Brittany Oldroyd and I am ready to show myself."

I hope the world is ready for me.

I was raised on once upon a times.

As a child, I always dreamed myself into being a princess. The damsel in distress, waiting for a prince to come and sweep me off my feet. Someone who would pick me up and make me feel like I deserved to wear the crown on my head.

Of course, I think I forget about the dragon. The fire-breathing beast standing between the knight in shining armor and his princess. 

And I think we all forget about the prince's journey. We know he's going to slay the dragon, we know he's going to kiss his princess and they're going to ride off into the sunset and it's going to be happily ever after.

But what about our brave knight's "once upon a time"? How did he even learn about the princess? And why is he going to her rescue? Because he's heard she's pretty? Because he's looking for honor and glory? Because it's the right thing to do?

The knight might start out with shiny armor but I don't think it's still gleaming by the time he finds the princess. I think his journey is as long as hers is.

Maybe that's the point. Neither one has a kind path. While she must wait, he must slay a beast far stronger than he. 

My knight hasn't come yet but I think that's okay. Because he's still on his journey. His armor may still be too shiny, too untried. Maybe he simply isn't ready to face his dragon.

Someday, he will though and when he does, I'll be waiting.

Our happily ever after isn't going anywhere.

How to Work Out Like a Writer (AKA a boss)

Today, I want to talk about the workout I've been doing for the last couple of weeks. It's been working really well for me. It's longer but you can split it up if you don't have as much time.

Okay, so here we go:

1. Go for a quick warm-up run (I run up and down my street).

2. Kickbox (I do around 200 punches, along with some kicks and ducks randomly thrown in) against a bag.

3. Arm workout (I just look up different ones on Pinterest, usually ones with weight training).

4. Leg workout (Again, Pinterest-I like the ones with squats and wall sits mostly).

5. Abs workout (What else? PINTEREST. I like ones with a lot of crunches and planks).

6. I finish up my workout by stretching (I'm trying to get my splits so I do a lot of split stretches in here).

And voila! There you go. That's my workout plan. If you like this, leave me a comment. If I get enough comments, maybe I'll go more into depth into my workouts. Share some videos.

Let me know what you think!