My Cinderella Story: Sharing the Glass Slipper

 Hello everyone!!  I want to once again say thank you to everyone for supporting me and having an interest in my blog! I am beyond excited to say that I now have an OFFICIAL website!! I launched it yesterday! So please continue to show some love and support and go check out the website!  And don't forget to hit the follow button and enter your email to make sure you never miss a post!!!  http://veronicascinderellastory.com

     Let's be honest, all my life all I ever wanted was to be a mom. I was that child who didn't dream of growing up to teach or be a doctor but just simply be a mom. When I was told getting pregnant for me would be difficult because of my endometriosis I was devastated. And you could just imagine the joy I felt when I learned I was pregnant but also the fear that came along with the what ifs. Being a mother has been beyond what I ever imagined it to be like. In these first 6 months (Yes I can't believe it's been 6 months already) I have learned so much, including that being a mother is everything I had wanted and more.  Everyone was quick to warn me of the bad things: "You'll never sleep again" "You will never feel like yourself again" or even "Just wait for the spit up and poop and pee." But what they didn't tell me was the amazing heart-filling moments. Wait for that feeling of when I hold her for the first time. Wait for the mom...

  "You don't hate change, You hate the way people try and make you change." This quote was said at church on Sunday and it really got me thinking, it really isn't the change part is it? I hate change, thats what I've always said. I dread change before change happens. Except thats really not the case. Going to college was a change,  getting married was a change, having baby was a change. All three of those things were choices I made and I was beyond happy about those changes. So do I really hate change?  The preacher went on to say how we are hating the COVID guidelines and mandates (just examples) but then he pointed out that while we hate those things we love the changes that we choose. Because its not the change we hate but how people make us change. The choices we don't make ourselves or even when they are negative in some way. Just like a demotion vs. a promotion. We love the change when its a promotion but hate change when its a demotion. We don't wan...

  This is a topic I have to constantly remind myself. Change of mentality will change your life. Let's be honest, its pretty simple to use the words "I can't" and its definitely something we tend to lean on as a crutch. Do you realize how toxic that is? And oh so negative! Let's change our mentality! Let's be more positive! How about instead of focusing in on the we can't do we focus on what we can. Change our thought process. Instead of saying "I can't do that today", let's focus on "but I can do this" or "I can't handle that" But "I can handle this."  Being a new mom this is definitely something I've come to really think about. I was really focused on everything I needed to get done that I found myself going into the I can't stage. I had so much to do and no longer knew where to start. Between adjusting to being a new mom I found that "I couldn't" go and clean an entire room in a...

 There are many posts I can make in relation to having my daughter back in April, but I figured this one should be first. There are so many things that people look forward to when they are pregnant. Baby showers, gender reveals, family seeing the baby after he/she is born, and those visitors after you get home. For many those things were taken away.  I was a few weeks to the end of my pregnancy when everything started. For those last few weeks instead of going out to get last minute things I was contained to my home to be on the safe side, sending out family members to pick up things for after my daughter was born or even ordering online. No family could go with me to my drs. appointments anymore. For every single appointment I had no been alone, if my husband couldn't attend then my mom would. I was never alone. But those last few weeks...I was. Only I could go. Those last few weeks were nerve-racking enough. I was going to be a new mom, going through things that were so new....

Hey Guys! It has been over a year since I last posted on here and for that I am truly sorry. Time sure has flown and wow has things changed. Major life changes at that. I hope all is well with everyone and I would love to hear back from you all about how life has been. With that let's get to the updates because there have been LOADS of changes in my life. One life change is that I have completed my Peer Specialist certification! This was months ago and this is something I will have to get into what all of that is about later in another post!  I have finally finished college with my ASL Interpreting Bachelors degree. I will technically graduate this coming month (July) but I finished in March. It was a long and difficult journey and I have learned so much about myself during this journey also. I am super happy to be done and to start with the next chapter of my life.  The biggest life change and best of all is my husband and I welcomed a little girl on April 8t...

There are many different posts I can make about "Embracing Imperfection" that's why I added a part to the title regarding this specific post Scars . We all can recognize what an external scar on the skin is; we've all fallen a few times and gotten a scrape that turns into a scar, in some cases the scar fades over time and in other cases they don't. But no-one really takes into account our internal scarring...why is that? Now I don't mean literally inside our body like scar tissue from a surgery, I mean our emotional scarring. The scarring that is so evidently present to us but no-one else sees it. If you take a look at the definition of a scar (just a scar in general) it, of course goes over other details but it also says that it is the process of wound repair and that it is a natural occurrence in the healing process . Let me repeat this...it is the process of wound repair and a natural occurrence in the healing process. What is the difference in that defi...

Let's be honest, this post is going is slightly cheesy and most people will think it is ridiculous and I am perfectly okay with that. This post is about my dog Sophie. Yeah, I get you're starting to think 'what in the heck' but just bare with me. From a young age I remember hearing people talk about that 'incredible bond' they had with their pet, and my little sister even has an incredible bond with hers. I've had pets almost my whole life, from cats to dogs, to horses, rabbits, goats and more. But I could never understand that bond you hear so much about. I mean yes I loved my pets and they loved me but it wasn't a give all bond. But from the moment I got Sophie I felt it. (Like I said cheesy right?) I actually found Sophie on facebook, I follow a pet store on there that is close to my home. She was so tiny and gorgeous and I just felt this want for her. I called my mom (she works in the town that the pet store was at) and I asked her to please go get ...

I told you guys that I would be honest. That I was going to let you guys follow my journey (past, present and future) through both the good and the bad and I have told y'all to not be ashamed of the bad times but yet I haven't owned my own feelings lately.  So here is that update I should have done months ago. I have been struggling. My depression has had be really down and I honestly didn't even recognize it. I started sleeping, a lot, and just not wanting to do anything. I even stopped reading which, for me, is a big indicator that something is wrong. I have had a lot going on. I have one more class i need to take so I didn't graduate when I was supposed to, my endometriosis has been flaring up and while my husband and I have been trying to get pregnant it's not happening as quick as I would have liked. I am finally admitting that my depression has been bad lately and I finally talked with someone yesterday. We have decided to get back with my primary doctor (beca...

We all know those times where you are so down you just can't get up again and everything else seems to be going wrong also and that makes you get even more down...it happens I get it. And I get when that happens it feels like giving up is the only option. Now I don't mean suicide, when I say give up I mean just stop fighting to achieve whatever it is or to just not care. But giving up is not the only option. I read the best thing the other day on facebook, this person said 'Giving up may seem like the best way to go but it's not. If you have to give up, give up today. Sit down, binge watch Hulu or Netflix and gorge yourself on junk food. Start over tomorrow and try again.' That! That statement hit me hard and it reminded of something I once read on pinterest that said 'Sometimes it's okay if the only thing you did today was just breathe.' I get it. Anxiety and depression are terrible things and everyday you are struggling against it. I get it! Sometimes ...

We all hate that feeling of forgetfulness, and sadly those of us who have experience trauma are extremely familiar with this dreadful feeling because it happens all too often. We get frustrated with ourselves because we can't remember the simplest things, which also then adds to both the anxiety and depression. It is a constant never ending circle. We also hate that numb feeling, or the feeling that you just can't think, and even the feeling of exhaustion because you feel like you are constantly triggered!  But what you may not know is that all of these struggles is actually a direct link toward the trauma experienced. The brain is a complex thing and within the brain it has different sections that does specific things, the three most affected areas after trauma is the Amygdala, Hippocampus, and Prefrontal Cortex; we are going to take a look into how these are affected by trauma.  The hippocampus is a small formation in the brain that is directly involved with storing and ...

We all know the saying about whether the glass is half full or half empty and we are always told to look at things from other perspectives. Well, that's exactly what this blog post will be about. This world is full of evil and evil-doers and while I wish all of these bad things would never occur they do,  keep in mind while reading this I am not saying it's something that should be accepted, I'm simply talking about my personally perspective about MY situation and about general situations. I've learned that by changing your perspective, your life changes. You become happier and the small failures don't become overwhelming to you as they would have before. It doesn't make life perfect and it won't mean you won't have bad times or be depressed at times, but it does a lot more than people give it credit for. Theres a quote that comes up a lot that says "If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you look at ...

We all know what rejection feels like...no I don't mean getting turned from a guy or girl, I mean the rejection of being told you can't or maybe you won't be good at it, or anything else related those. So what I am about to tell you is super important....are you ready?? Don't give them the satisfaction! It's hard to keep going when you are told you can't do something or that you won't be good at something, but don't give the person the satisfaction of you quitting no matter what. Now, I'm not saying that every person who tells you that you won't be able to do something is meaning it in a cruel or malicious intent in mind, the person could just have your best interest in mind but still don't let them tell you what you have the ability to do. It's tough, trust me I know. When someone tells me I won't be good at something, will have a hard time with something, or that I just don't have the skills it hurts and it's hard to not gi...

"Your success and happiness lies in you." - Helen Keller Let's take a look at success. What is success? How is success measured? What does it mean to succeed? While you can find many definitions of success, the one that I stand by is that it is "the accomplishment of an aim or purpose." In other words: it is when you reach your goal. Your goals can be short term, long term, simple or complex. It is YOUR goals, what YOU want to accomplish, not what someone else wants you to accomplish. This leads into the question of how is success measured. Most people think that success is when you 'get to the top' or when you 'have money' or even when you graduate college and get a degree. Most of the time it's seen as something "high up" but what is important to remember is that your success is measured by you, it is achieving your own goal that you set for yourself no matter how big or small. I have what I consider "big" goals tha...

Loving yourself is possibly the hardest thing to do in this day and age. We are constantly seeing what we should look and act like that it becomes a disappointment in ourselves when we aren't that way. We see it through the media and we even see it through what others tell us. Everything we see in the world today clouds and influences our view of ourselves. But it's time to stop. It's time to love yourself. Self-love is a combination self-acceptance and self-awareness as well as respecting yourself and showing kindness to yourself. So why is it important to love yourself? Here is 4 reasons why I believe loving yourself is important. There are many many more than just these but these are 4 that I find very important. 1. You need to love yourself in order to accept yourself.  I live with anxiety and depression. It's super hard to maintain relationships (both friendly and romantically) with these not just because of your anxiety to the whole thing but because of their ...

Hey guys! I'm so sorry I have not posted lately. I'll give y'all a little update before I tell y'all my little reminder that I learned from my own situation and still try to remember everyday. So I am finally in practicum/internship! I have one year left of college and then I'm free to adult (yay...I think haha). But I've had a lot happen within the past months that has kept me quite busy. The biggest thing is I'M GETTING MARRIED! On December 15th I will no longer be Miss Kidd but Mrs. Hughes! I've been staying very busy trying to get the wedding planned as well as working on finishing up school. Now on to the important reminder....YOU determine your success, NOT your past, NOT your experiences, and NOT another person. I get that sometimes it is hard to remember that, especially on the hard days. I have days that I just want to give up but I remember that my success is determined only by me. I will only get as far in life as I allow myself. There wil...

I wanna use this post to talk about/raise awareness on something extremely important and it is fitting considering March is an awareness month for it; something that affects many women worldwide. Endometriosis. So what is endometriosis? Endometriosis is a condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus (located inside of the uterus) is found elsewhere in the body (endometriosis.org). Endometriosis affects 1 in 10 women and yet is rarely talked about. I am one of the 1 in 10. It is estimated to affect 176 million worldwide (endometriosis.org). The most common system is severe pelvic pain/cramps. The pain is not just "severe cramps during our menstrual cycle" our cramps can and do occur at times unrelated to our cycle though it does make our cycles more painful. Endometriosis has no cure. Living with Endo is tough because most people don't understand it. One minute you can be perfectly fine and then you're hurting so bad that you can barely move and that p...

Top 5 things to NOT say to a person with an anxiety disorder and 3 things you can do to help them. I'm telling y'all this on a day where I am already triggered. 5 things not to say. 1. You'll be okay      While people believe this is a good thing to say and that it will help the person in reality it doesn't and in a lot of cases, it makes it worse. One of the worst things with anxiety is the fact that you know you will be okay but you can't shut the fear down. You CAN'T. So telling the person they will be okay only makes them panic worse because they know they have no reason to freak out because they will be okay but yet they can't control it. 2. Snap out of it.    We CANT CONTROL IT. Do not tell us to snap out of it. If we could just snap out of it then we would choose to not have it!! 3.   You've not done anything to be tiered.       Dear gracious I hear this a lot. Having an anxiety disorder, especially on the days that you are...

Accepting who you are is one of the hardest things for people to do. And in some instances its hard for other people to understand why and how you were able to accept what happened to you. You will not be able to succeed and become resilient if you don't accept your story. You must accept your story in order to heal and grow. Danielle Bernock made this statement "Trauma is personal. It does not disappear if it is not validated. When it is ignored or invalidated the silent screams continue internally heard only by the one held captive. When someone enters the pain and hears the screams can healing begin." IF you continue to ignore what happened to you then it will continue to hurt you, it will exhaust you daily and you will always want to get out. Once you accept that it happened and that no matter what you can't change you, you can finally heal. You must come to peace with what happened and accept it. People ask me all the time how I can, not only accept what happe...

Today's post is going to be all about letting y'all know a little about me. Not my past, not struggles, not tips. Just simply to learn more about me. Here is 5 things you don't know about me 1. I use to be a beauty queen. I have won so many pageants (I have a case of all of the crowns and trophies). I quit after I started college.  2. I am in college to become an American Sign Language Interpreter.  3. I'm an avid reader. I love, love, love reading. I can read anything from fiction, to fantasy, to true stories. It doesn't matter, I love to read.  4. I have a HUGE love for fuzzy blankets. When my anxiety and depression starts acting up I love to take a fuzzy blanket and curl up in it. It makes me feel safe and comforted.  5. I have 5 tattoo's. My first was a tulip with the stem being the date my step-mom adopted me. My second is an infinity with the word Resilient, a feather, and some birds. My third is a cross on my wrist. My fourth is th...