girl, traversing.

I use this space to decipher life: the struggle and the success.       26/Graduate School/Photographer/Wanderer.

[girltraversing]

Summer was spent living my best life, and remembering and honoring my Grandmother. I'm grateful and ready for the changes that only Fall can bring.

[girltraversing]

I never want to forget the way I felt at 23. I didn't know that I'd break and fall apart, and in that I'd learn how to build my own damn castle. That I'd learn how to be the queen of my damn life. To choose myself over the people who treated me like crap, even if we shared the same blood. That it was ok to stop settling, and want more from people and my relationships. I learned how to actually love me for me. That's some hard shit to do. Plus, Blink 182 told me nobody likes you when your 23, because well if you don't love yourself then how can you expect anyone else to? #throwbackthursday #beyourownqueen #startedfromthebottom PC: @wrecklesscreative (at Bend, Oregon)

[girltraversing]

remembering the feeling of salt on my face, wind in my hair, and sand beneath my feet. (at San Onofre State Beach/Campsite)

[girltraversing]

I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery-air, mountains, trees, people. I thought: this is what it is to be happy. #oregonlove (at Oregon)

[girltraversing]

It's been a year in the City of Angels, and I finally got my wings. (at Angel City Brewery)

[olearypoetry]

[takemetomountains]

Permission.

Most of us have been conditioned to “ask permission” from an early age. The need for approval subconsciously became our approval stamp, a deep-rooted motive, and subsequently relinquishing the ability to lean into the truest self. We’ve been systematically programmed for disempowerment, to live in a box and without knowing, we trade truth for guilt that we need permission to be ourselves.

With that said, what’s your permission that you need to offer yourself to become? I challenge you to write one each morning. To remind yourself that you belong because you exist and that you must stop reducing yourself because you notice you. You’re supposed to be here so you must be all here. Every story matters.

📷: @alecmatlock

[girltraversing]

the space between what's been taken and what remains: oh the possibilities. (at Yosemite National Park)

[girltraversing]

Hotter by 2 degrees 🔥#mastersdegree (at UCLA)

[theliteraryjournals]

Crying does not indicate that you are weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you are alive.

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

[andantegrazioso-deactivated2018]

[girltraversing]

Folks, these students are main my motivation to keep going in this graduate program, to see more of them have the education they deserve. Mark my words, you're looking at the next gen of game changers. T-minus two weeks till I see my senior babies graduate from high school, I'll be the one ugly crying in the back. #firstgen #firstgenandfabulous #gearupworks #bethechange (at West Valley High)

[girltraversing]

i thank the universe for taking away everything it has taken and giving to me everything it is giving • rupi kaur • (at Los Angeles, California)

[rmdrk]

[girltraversing]

No better way to end Spring Break than with reuniting with my bestie, bevies, and the beach. #notasinglebeachgiven #beachesbelike (at Ocean Beach, San Diego)

[girltraversing]

Finals week got me dreaming of wine, Spring Break, and counting the days till I'm on my way to Oregon to love on all my favorite people. Also, considering buying stock in dry shampoo. #finalsweek #gradschool (at Troon Vineyard And Winery)

[girltraversing]

Happy Birthday to the woman that taught me that working hard for the things you want in life never goes out of style. The one who taught me to love standing among the trees, and getting lost in the stars. The one who showed me how to keep going no matter what life throws at you. That no matter how far apart we are, or how long it's been since we've hugged, that a mother's love knows no distance. Happy Birthday my Mumpa, I know I can't be with you today, but I hope you know how much I love you. Not a day passes that I don't miss you.