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Glowing Up and What It Means to Me.

Glow Up.

What does that mean?

On this week’s episode of The Friend Zone (@FriendZonePod, twitter), my favorite podcast hosts talked openly about what it means to glow up. It was a conversation that I wish I was present for because it is a topic that I am passionate about. Hell, one of the purposes of my blog is to encourage myself and others to grow and glow! But, what exactly does that mean? Fran (The Friend Zone & heyfranhey.com) challenged listeners to think about and write down what it means to glow up and I was so excited to  take on this assignment, that I thought I’d share!

To me, glowing up is about growth and how you feel inside.

Yes, glowing up could be physical or financial – all of which Fran, Dustin and Assante mentioned (I was at my desk giving them high fives in my head lol) – but what good is having all of that if you don’t feel good on the inside?

About two years ago I decided that I wanted to feel better. Not because I looked good, or had a man, or loads of money…I actually wanted to feel good DESPITE those things. My relationship at the time ended. I still hadn’t reached my fitness goals. I wasn’t (and still am not) making the amount of money I would like to be making. But despite all of that, I wanted to be happy AF! I wanted to glow up.

I decided that if I focused on improving my emotional, mental and spiritual health, everything else will fall into place at the right time. So, that’s what I did.

I spoke affirmations until I believed them. I prayed, I wrote in my journal, I spoke positively over myself, and I did things that I loved and enjoyed – sometimes that meant doing nothing.

It felt amazing!

Now, I don’t want to paint this picture that it was this amazing, awesome journey and I felt over the moon every day as I ran thru a field of flowers. Nah. It was hard. But, it was necessary and after I pushed thru the difficult parts (and continue to push thru them), it felt better than anything I had every felt before. I started glowing up.

I created a certain kind of happiness that I wasn’t able to receive from anywhere else, and it showed. On my face. In my attitude and my energy. It allowed me to not only speak better to myself, but to others as well.
When you glow up internally, a lot of things happen. For me, I started to realize what I wanted and things that were important to me, I had a clear vision of things I wanted to accomplish and not only decided the kind of person and woman I wanted to be, but knew who I was becoming and what I needed to do to continue on that path. And the things I wanted, I started receiving and/or working towards. And two years later, I can see and feel the difference and I’m still glowing up.

My glow up is a result of growth.

Yes, my promotion at work was great. Of course I love my man and being in a relationship that I enjoy and am happy in. I am still working on the making more money thing and the health thing (good food in moderation also makes me happy, obviously lol), but I believe had I not pushed myself to grow and glow up in ways that mattered, I would not be where I am today experiencing all of these great things.

Glowing up is not always about “the bag,” or changing your physical appearance, or suddenly being able to afford nice things. Not knocking them – all of those things are great! But, what if you had and did all of those things and still were not fully together on the inside – mentally, emotionally or spiritually? Yes, it always feels good when people can look at us and the things we have and see it as a glow up, but I assure you, nothing feels better than looking at yourself and seeing your glow up and the growth and knowing that when you start going after what you want, you’re doing it for no one else but you and you’re happy, healthy and living your absolute best life!

I encourage everyone to GROW and GLOW, take on Fran’s and check out this week’s episode of The Friend Zone: Glowed Up!

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