Bad Friends #2 [Motivational Monday!]

I noticed the other day that my most successful blog post to date is Bad Friends. It really inspired a lot of people to do something about the bad friendships in their lives. If you haven't read it click here. Its really heartwarming and I felt that you deserve to know whether or not I fulfilled the promises I made in the post.

The answer is yes. It took me a long time and its not been an easy journey but I finally changed my friends and I do not regret it at all. Its tough at first but now I'm happy with my life and I finally feel ready to move on.

Lets start from the beginning. When I wrote the post I knew that I wanted to change my friends but I was also not close enough to other groups that I could just join them without a worry, so I spent many months creating new bonds with as many people as I could. I'm now close to several other people and I'm no longer alone.


I joined a group of people in August who were close with one of my best friends who had also left the group but while she was happy there, I was not. I just didn't fit in as well as her so I moved on and near the end of September I joined a new group. These friends were much better suited for me and we get along great.

I'm also growing close to my old friends, now that I don't spend so much time with them, I realise that they are tolerable and I'm better able to communicate with them. I'm glad that I didn't lose my old friends when gaining my new ones and that I can finally say that I'm at peace with myself.

I hope that this motivates you if you're stuck in a bad, negative friendship or relationship and you realise that even if it takes some time, things will get better.

And if you ever need a friend, I'm here for you :) internet friends are awesome! I'll always be there for anyone who needs me because I know how it feels to have no one.

Also Union J has a great song "Beautiful Life" which is super inspiring...plus it has cute boys so there's another plus. It speaks about how there are so many beautiful things in life and you just have to discover them.

There you go! A great Motivational Monday post.
xoxo

Family Pressure

So I've noticed something and I felt that it was imperative for me to share it with you. Peer pressure might be bad and all but what about pressure from those closest to us? Family. We have to deal with constant pressure, especially from our parents, as teens. As a 16 year old girl a lot of expectations are held over my head.

What is so bad about family pressure and why is it not addressed as much as peer pressure? Its quite simple...family pressure isn't considered as much of a bad thing as peer pressure because it usually involves a positive outcome. We get pressurised by family to become what they want us to be, and that is good, wholesome, top-achieving members of society. That is, of course, unless your parents are grooming you to become a drug dealer.

Unfortunately, family pressure does affect teens negatively. Depression, suicide, cutting...all these could be caused by the constant nagging from parents for their children to become successes in life. Its not a bad thing to want that for your child but there is a limit. You can send your child to every class available for dance, but if your child is uninterested, or simply cannot dance, you cannot, or should not, force your child to continue on a downward spiral of nothing.

We sit around with millions of dreams as we grow up. I have many dreams that I wish to accomplish but I also realise that had it been my parents idea, I wouldn't be as interested. This is because we want different things and I want to be able to have my own dreams. I refuse to be held back by my parents interpretations and that is why I have my own set of dreams. Yes, going to university in two years time is a good goal from my parents, but it should be down to me whether or not I actually go and where I will go.

Our parents do want so much for us, but sometimes its just not our vision of our future. I grew up to be independent, to pave my own path, and let no one tell me what I can and cannot do. I also needed to know when I need help and where to ask. That isn't pressure but when they have a goal that is forced upon you, like my dad's deep need for me to go into IT, its not okay. I know my dad will be happy either way, but what if he had been insistent? I would have died! I cant handle the thought of someone else controlling my future.

While I may have academic freedom, I will admit that I have been pressured in other aspects. Religion, for instance. I live in a rigid Christian home and was baptised into the church earlier this year. Unfortunately, I sometimes feel forced. I sit around doubting my beliefs on a daily basis but I'm too afraid to admit that to my parents. I didn't even want to be baptised but the pressure from them was too great and I caved in and got baptised. I regret it still, and I always will.

I feel that had I been allowed to wait till I felt ready, maybe my baptism would have meant more to me, but because of my parents, I'm a baptised Christian with little faith and a hell of a problem. I didn't even feel excited to be baptised and it meant little to nothing to me. I get so sad just thinking about it.

The point of this blog post was just to finally let out how I feel about this. Family pressure is a very important topic to me and I feel that I needed to express myself. I hope I didn't depress you too much :)

Till next time
xoxo

Daydreamin/ Lightweight/ Carry You/ Grenade- MASHUP (Cover)

YouTube is exhausting! After a long day of filming and editing, I'm finally glad to show you this brand new video! Its pretty good too. Its a mashup of Daydreamin (by Ariana Grande), Lightweight (By demi Lovato), Carry you (By Union J) and Grenade by Bruno Mars. Please watch it and share with your friends, family, dogs, cats, horses, and the local hobos!

XOXO

Social Media!

You have absolutely no idea how bad I felt after being gone for months from the blogging world! So to make up for it I thought it was only fair to start blogging daily! I thought that especially now with the year starting to end and everything winding down a little, I would have more time for this. Plus it might help with my massive YouTube addiction. Then again, I might not keep this promise so don't even listen to me

I've updated my social media so be sure to follow me:

Twitter:

I have two twitter accounts..

https://twitter.com/stinodaniels

AND

https://twitter.com/Justine_Daniels

Tumblr:

I have a brand spanking new tumblr so it'll be great if you'd follow me

justinedaniels.tumblr.com

YouTube:

My sister and I started a YouTube channel. We do covers and stuff and its really a lot of fun. Check us out :)

Our YouTube channel

Thank you. Much love

xoxo

What Love Means To Me

Hello Blogosphere!

After a long void of emptiness and nothingness, I thought it was time to make my comeback! And what better comeback than the perfect love story! No, not that kind of love story :p. I'm talking about a love story that will never end in tears and possible heartache. A love to span decades and fill the world with a new sense of joy. I'm talking about family. I know you might be rolling your eyes right now but the fact is, with a family like mine, its hard not to fall deeply in love with the idea of a true love.

Love is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a great liking or affection but that isn't even close to the truth. Love is a passionate feeling, a heart-warming, overpowering, life changing emotion... In fact not even an emotion! More like a way of life. That's how powerful love is! It has the power to literally take over your life, fill up all the empty spaces of your life and create a joy like no other.

Love is such a vast subject and I don't have enough time to describe every love so I'll describe a love that I've known all my life: family. I realise that many people aren't as fortunate as me in regards to family life so I definitely appreciate them a lot. The amount of time that my family has invested into my life has really helped shape me as a young girl growing up in this big scary world!

 

 

So lets start in the beginning, way before Moses and Adam and Eve. Wait, no, actually lets not go that far. Bad idea. I'll just start with my parents. They've been married for, like, eternity! Almost 20 years! That's a pretty good love story if you ask me. In December they will be married for 18 years. The story of how they met always makes me smile. And the engagement story, and the wedding day, and...well their marriage is just amazing and I'm proud of them for being such a good example.

 

I have many friends whose parents are divorced and my best friend once even told me that her parents' failed marriage has made her lose faith in the power of marriage. I think that I'm incredibly blessed. My grandparents, too, have been together for a long time, and all these amazing stories have given me a lot of hope for my future marriage. I can only hope others see them and realise that true love still exists.

 

 

 

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will tell you about a love that took years to grow and manifest into what it is today. I am talking about the love between my sister and I. My sister is without a doubt one of my best friends and the one person I can always trust. I love her so much and wouldn't be doing most of the things that I'm doing today if it wasn't for her. She is such an inspiration to me and is like a stronghold during those really tough times in my life.

 

Considering the four year age gap it is quite strange that we get on so well but somehow we make it work. She's such an amazing person and I could write a billion chapters on how magnificent and crazy she is, but there wouldn't be enough time and I'd probably fail school if I did. Moving on, despite our close bond today, there was a time when we absolutely detested each other and whenever one of us tried to get close, the other would promptly kick the sister out of their room. That was without a doubt one of the worst stages we ever had.

 

Living with a younger sister certainly hasn't been easy but now that I'm growing up and learning about appreciation, and her growing up and learning to not be an annoying person (sorry Shirelle), we are ready to go forward with our sisterly love. And just because I can, I will now post many, many pictures of us- the worlds best sisters!

 

 

 

I should maybe talk about my cat now, shouldn't I? Okay, my cat is an ordinary house cat who's too lazy to do anything and lies around being fat. Not a pleasant description, I know, but its honest. I can't say I love my cat to infinity but I can say that I do love him. I've had him for about 2 years after our old cat, Shannon gave birth. My mom sent Shannon and most of her little babies to an animal shelter, FORA. They do not kill animals so I'm sure that even if they didn't find homes, they're happy where they are. Another cat, also one of Shannon's little kittens lives with our cousin nearby. We actually kept two of the kittens, Kitty (our cat right now, wow, points for originality) and another sibling who died after being in a horrible accident. :( Its really sad to think about it.

 

On a brighter note, I have recently started a  YouTube channel with my sister. Please be sure to check it out. Thank you for reading, I love you all.

 

xoxo

 

 





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LexdeFRFgyM (it wont open on the page, sorry, please open the link) 

 

 

Song Covers/ Lyrics Challenge

Sooo recently my sister and I decided to do youtube videos!

Please check it out. a new video will be up soon.

xoxo

PS: Sorry for not posting in forever! I just never have the inspiration :(. Hopefully I'll be re-inspired soon so wish me luck.