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About My Blog
I’m CJ. I write about discipline, endurance, grief, and becoming who you are through repetition, not perfection.
Category: 30 Day Challenge
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I don’t cope. I drownin mental discourse—stay distracted by hope,reframed by faith. Navigating lifein a world full of switchbacks, hardly crawling out of one letdownbefore being introduced to the next,and then the next. The worldsometimes feels like a simulation. Us—scurrying the streets,climbing ladders not meant for us, disguising ourselves so welleven our own shadowscouldn’t pick…
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Writing is weird. It is the one thing I strive for in life, and somehow it is also the thing that disappears the moment I need it most. In a world full of letdowns, it becomes a strange task to plead with words for release from realities scattered in front of me. Life sprinkles its…
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The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that we hold ourselves accountable to indescribably huge standards—standards we weren’t even considering a day before, but that are suddenly put into play without trial and error, without reflection, without grace. We’re good at dreaming. Dreaming is a way to displace yourself. A way to finagle the workings…
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Part of a daily blog publishing challenge. I stopped drinking alcohol completely on April 8, 2024.Coincidentally, it was also the day of the Full Solar Eclipse. The timing feels symbolic now, but at the time, it was just the next day. The day before my “booze-free” count officially began, I was obliterated in my living…
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My grocery list has acquired the same growth mindset I have, over the years. The cart was once overflowing with frozen dinners, Oreos, cereal, and processed meats. Now it fills with things that entice the mind, body, and spirit. Here’s a glimpse into my kitchen. Greek yogurt—Chobani or Oikos, to be exact.Chobani for creative desires…
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. — Ralph Waldo Emerson I’m learning that success often looks like authenticity, even when it costs approval.
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Today’s blog challenge is to publish a poll or survey. I don’t have a loud audience yet — most days, it feels like I’m writing into a quiet room. Still, I’m learning that growth doesn’t start with answers. It starts with asking. So if you’re here, this is me inviting you in. Thank you for…
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Letting go of the need to explain isn’t isolation, it’s discernment. What truly matters doesn’t demand justification. What’s understood authentically speaks for itself. 1. My reactions to people’s wordsPeople will perceive me however they want. It’s not my job to teach someone how to see me. 2. My gym routineIt took me years to commit…
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Reinvention is the action or process through which something is changed so much that it appears entirely new. People hear that definition and imagine fireworks, a dramatic before and after, a fresh start wrapped in momentum. But reinvention, in reality, is much quieter than that. When most people say they want to reinvent themselves, I…
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Today’s blog challenge was to write a post based on an interview I’ve taken before — so I’m sharing one that left a huge impression on me. It’s a story about grit, unexpected opportunity, deep friendship, and what it truly means to become part of the 1% who can say the words: I am an…
