well, I may as well begin...

...with my current favorite company to support!

After writing my last post, I've already noticed myself being more aware of the excuses I make and challenging myself to prove "me" wrong. I got home from work today, logged onto my Twitter account, and low & behold saw this tweet at the top of my feed:

How is that for a coincidence?! Turns out my thought process isn't so crazy after all [allowing me to gain one step closer to goal #5, thank you very much].

I'm proud to say that because of my first challenge of quitting excuses [and this undeniable sign from the Twitter gods!], I made my first Sevenly purchase. I have admired this organization for over a year now. I've convinced so many of my friends and family to support them, but had yet to directly support them on my own. I'm not sure why that is - it's kind of as if I told myself "well, there may be another cause that I relate more to next week..."

EXCUSES. Everybody - every cause - needs our attention. One social issue does not reign precedence over another when it comes to raising awareness. Something important to keep in mind.

Why the obsession over Sevenly?

• They are social media GENIUSES. I have my bachelor's degree in Communication and Public Relations... I can argue the importance of social media for days.
• Education. They make sure that their buyers are aware of the social issue that each campaign focuses on, guaranteeing awareness on community issues worldwide. And, speaking of social media, they even have a separate Twitter handle - @SevenlyLabs - that serves as their "educational arm" to the organization's general mission. Cool stuff.
• They provide me with beautiful motivational "posters" that I hang up all around my office AND apartment AND use as backgrounds on my computer AND share on my Facebook page all. the. time.:

 

[what's that about hope you say?]
source: https://www.facebook.com/sevenly.org

•  Design, design, design! They are constantly blowing me away with how quickly the turnaround is for new [extremely stylish] clothing designs week to week.
• They're fool proof. Plain and simply, they are the gateway for individuals (like me!) to change the lives of so many. 

I could probably go on & on, but I think you're getting the picture. Sevenly is awesome. Check out their site, buy some clothes, change some lives.

excuses

Reasons why I decided not to go to the gym tonight:

1. My headphones are broken
2. My sneakers are muddy
3. I think I'm getting sick

This is the same sickness that I "think" I've been getting for the past 3 months now. I think my diagnosis is actually just a lack of working out. And yes, my sneakers are muddy. Really muddy. But I think they could be cleaned in a minimum of 5 minutes; plus, they've been this muddy for the past 3 weeks... I think it's time. Now, my headphones? That actually sucks. But I could've been innovative and brought a book rather than zoning out to the same 7 Kanye West tracks that I have listened to every time I've gone to the gym for the past 3 years. That would've been something else...

My point is, I'm really bad [or is it really good?] at making excuses. I almost didn't go through with my VERY FIRST blog post because I thought that looking for a new hair style on Pinterest was more important.

And I don't think I'm alone. I think that it's time for all of us to stop making these ridiculous excuses. It's time to give life - and ourselves - a little more credit. There are some incredible people, organizations, and ideas out there that are just too commonly ignored and I'm just not sure why. I constantly question why campaigns like this are more popular than campaigns like this. Or why it's so much easier to buy clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch than from Sevenly. It's not about right or wrong - I think people should love what they love - but I don't think we should hide behind excuses anymore. Excuses like,

• "Eh, I bet the clothes are made in sweat shops anyway."
• "The money doesn't even really help anyone when you think about it..."
• "I don't have the money for that right now."

I've said all of these excuses myself. And sometimes, they're totally true! But let's face it: I will probably spend $24 on coffee in the next week - why shouldn't I save that for a t-shirt to contribute to an awesome cause like those supported from Sevenly?

I think now is as better time as any to choose hope. To decide to have faith in our non-profits, our social entrepreneurs, our volunteers, and our neighbors. We are all in this world together. I think that we all see that there's a problem, and we all have thousands of ideas to fix it. Sure, every idea may not be "right", but that doesn't mean we should criticize. It means we should work even harder to make it right, together.

I hope this blog will help me take time to stop and think about how great life can be, how wonderful people are, and how I can make a positive impact to those wonderful people in this really great life.

So, here it is. Here I am. I will be posting on this blog at least once a week. No Excuses. Expect to find anything from random thoughts to cool non-profits to check out to small stories of hope & inspiration. Let the fun begin!