collegewithcaitlyn

Words have the power to inspire, abuse, comfort, insult and the power to heal. Most people seem to be aware of the potential harm and motivation words can instill in people, but they also seem to blindsided to the fact that words are a powerful tool in the journey of self-love and the process of healing.

The practice of talking or writing about what's eating away at our brains and causing us trouble is highly underrated and swept under the rug in today's society. Instead of being outright, we dance around topics and tell everyone we're fine, knowing we really aren't okay.

It's become normal to keep everything inside our brains, and that's not healthy. We need to talk to people about what's going on to stay sane and keep our mind in positive places, but not everyone finds it easy to talk over things with other people.

I journaled religiously in middle school, but I slowly eased out of the practice when I started high school, and by the time I started college I wasn't doing it except maybe once a month. I hadn't noticed how I had practically given up on journaling until a YouTuber I follow started talking about the practice. So naturally I took a trip to Target and bought three journals.

It's been a struggle getting back into the habit of journaling. As much as I love the benefits of the practice, thinking about doing it makes me lazy. Writing takes so much effort! My classic excuse for everything. But just like as with exercise, you may dread it in the beginning, but you will never regret it afterwards. The sense of peace I get after journaling cannot come from anything else (except a good long girl talk).

The feeling you get while and after journaling really isn't something you can comprehend until you try it out for yourself, so grab a paper and pen and let's get you started!

When I was younger I had quite the obsession with paper. I wanted to be an author as a child, so I thought that the more journals and notepads I had, the more that inspiration would hit me. If that's how things worked then I would have been on the New York Times best selling books list at least five times. Sadly, it doesn't work like that though since my name is nowhere close to being on that list. However, I feel the same thing happens with journaling. People sit holding their notebook open, but never write anything because they "have nothing to write about."

I had troubles with this too when I was first getting back into journaling. I mean, I was excited to get in touch with my inner-self and work through the issues ailing me, but when I opened to an empty page, I didn't know what to write. I was stumped. I had millions of thoughts swimming in my brain, but I couldn't figure out what I wanted to write about. I feel like that's something everyone new to journaling struggles with, that's why I'm going to share what got my pencil moving in hopes of inspiring your's to get moving too!

The number one rule you have to remember is that you don't need to think about what you're writing, you just need to write. None of it may make sense, but neither do many of our thoughts, do they? Just write anything and everything that comes to your mind. Try not to filter anything. Take note of topics you feel uncomfortable writing about, because those are the topics bringing turmoil to your mind.

The best way to start if you can't bring yourself to write anything is to just write about what you are doing at that moment. Then from there let things flow, and you'll eventually find a topic to run with as you continue writing.

I'm currently sitting on my couch, typing this out. I feel really overheated because I'm cooking dinner. I made cornbread and my veggie burgers and edamame are on the stove. I keep glancing over because I'm scared the water is going to boil over. That always happens to me, and it's embarrassing because I want to be a good cook but I get bored just watching things cook and I have other things on my mind.

Like right now I'm worried about my ear. I can't hear out of my right ear right now. I just showered, so I'm pretty positive I have water in my ear. This has been happening a lot lately. I wonder why that is. Maybe I should Google it.

The journaling technique described above is called a free-write. I bet you didn't think there were different kinds of journaling techniques did you?

This is my free-writing journal, or rather it's my flexible journal. I use it for free-writes, mantra analysis and to answer random journaling prompts.

I date the top of each entry and give it a name. It could be something simple like, "Brain Dump," or "Currently," or it could be the prompt I'm responding to, or the mantra I'm analyzing.

Mantra analysis is probably the technique you're probably wondering the most about. A mantra is a short saying that is repeated to bring assurance, positivity and love into your day. They are usually associated with meditation and yoga, and are much more than just repeating the word "om."

The mantras I write about come from a book calledFind Your Happy: Daily Mantrasby Shannon Kaiser. The books has 365 mantras along with elaborations and questions to accompany each. On days where I'm not feeling inspired to free-write, and when I want to get in touch with my inner-self, I'll use one of the mantras and its questions as a prompt.

This is my notebook I use to write letters to people, but letters that I never intend to give them. This seems like a weird practice to some. I mean isn't the whole purpose of writing a letter for the other person to read it? Well yes, but just forget about that for now.

The first time I ever heard about anyone doing this was on the Suite Life of Zack and Cody when Maddie wrote Mr. Moseby a very angry email to vent her feelings and it ended up accidentally being sent, but I'm getting off topic.

Many people use this method to vent angry feelings, that if expressed in person, would cause damage to the relationship between the two people. I've used this method for that reason, and after I finish the letter I usually no longer feel angry and realize my feelings were caused by something other than what the person had done to make me angry.

Other reasons I have used this method include: to write about the person to figure out how I actually feel about them (I'm a strong believer in the notion that I never know how I truly feel about something until I write it out), as a practice talk with the person I'm writing to, to "talk" to someone I'm no longer in touch with, or to talk about things I'm scared to bring up in person.

I started my gratitude journal as a New Year's resolution this year. At the end of every day I write down everything that made me happy that day and everything I was grateful for.

Somedays your list may be shorter than others, but that's okay. Not everyday can befullof happiness and gratitude, but every day will have happiness and gratitude. That's why I started this journal, to show myself thatthere really is a reason to be grateful and happy everyday.

Gratitude is the key to happiness. Don't believe me? Use that paper and pen you got out to write down five things that you're grateful for in life. Then write down everything that made you happy today. You can't tell me you don't feel happier now than you did before the exercise.

I have six different ones. That's not excessive right? You've already taken a peak into three of them. Besides one I use to keep track of my goals (not pictured in this since it's not a journal per say), the rest of them are empty. But I thought I'd share them anyways to give you more ideas for the style of journal you might want!

I picked up this beauty fromFrancesca'sback in August, and I'm so excited to use it! I haven't decided if i'm going to use it to continue my gratitude journal or my free-write journal yet, though.

I mostly like to journal in the evening when I've got some nice mood lighting, almost like I'm on a date with my journal (that single life though), but I've been trying to get into morning journaling recently. I just really like the idea of putting my first thoughts pf the day onto paper in the morning! Maybe it will even help with remembering my dreams! Plus, then I can drink a cup of coffee and put off getting ready and actually having to face the real world for a few moments longer.

So that's my journaling practice! I hope I've inspired you to start, or get back into, journaling and helped you find something to write about!

Do you journal? What do you like to write about? Are you a night or morning journaler? Which empty journal should I use for my next free-write journal and which one should I use for writing my gratitude? Let me know in the comments below!

The question I've constantly been asked since starting high school. At first I took it as a compliment, but when I started college it evolved into somewhat of an insult in my mind.

I thought that college would be much like high school fashion wise, that some people would always dress up and others would always scrub. I realized quite quickly that was not the case. Basically every girl was wearing leggings or Nike shorts everyday. This was something I avoided as much as possible in high school, so when I still showed up to class in real clothes (I'm against the legging trend), many girls gave melooks. I felt that people were judging me and questioning my outfit choices because they thought I was looking for attention, trying to show off or just trying too hard in general.

Soon I caved and started toning down my outfits and even wearing exercise clothes to class. By the end of my freshmen year, I felt like I had no real sense of fashion anymore. I was so out of sync with what I wanted to wear, that I lost interest in fashion. I had been too fixated on dressing like everyone else. Then, this past summer I got really into fashion again, and I feel like I've finally found a balance between dressing up and bumming it, but only whenIfeel it.

Yes, I do still feel judged when I show up to class in heeled booties or boots, but if I'm truly confident in the outfit, then it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks.

Don't feel pressured to wear a certain item of clothing or dress a certain way in college. Wear what makes you feel happy and confident! Whether that be a dress, a skirt and sneakers, leggings and boots, exercise clothes, heels or just jeans and a t-shirt. The only rule is that it has to make you feel good about yourself!

Below I've included some of my favorite outfits from the past year and a half at college! Be aware that since most of these are about a year old, I will only be linking items I can find the exact link for or items that are extremely similar!

Do you dress up for college classes? What's your go-to outfit? Are leggings the staple item for most girls at your school? Let me know in the comments below!

I've technically had three majors in the two and a half semesters I've been a college student, so I think I have some pretty qualified experience with finding a major to suit you.

Back when I applied to NKU in high school, I applied as an exercise science major. I have a big interest in health and fitness, but I knew that that field just wasn't for me even as I typed that into the application. I was only doing it because I thought it's something I would love, but I'm not sciency at all. I find the topic interesting, but I struggle with anything science related. Science was the only core class I could never take as honors or AP. I even avoided taking a science class my senior year, and instead took two technical electives: photography and web design (what really got my mind hung up on blogging!)

So, during the end of my senior year, I did some research about other majors NKU offers and settled on media informatics. I officially declared that major within the first few weeks of school last fall.

What is media informatics you ask? Well you see, I'm not exactly sure. I knew it had something to do with graphic design, but it wasn't graphic design, so when I tried to explain it to other people I just told them to look it up because I couldn't explain it to them. Bad sign. As soon as I got fed up with people asking me, and me not being able to put it into words, I knew that major wasn't right for me either.

I knew I needed to figure out a new major soon, to make sure I was on track to graduate in four years, so I started thinking about subjects I love and wouldn't loathe pursuing. The first thing that popped into my head was how I missed taking math classes, and that's how math major Caitlyn was born! I've been a mathematics major now since the end my first semester in college.

It's not that easy for some students though, so I've compiled a list of things to think about when going about your search for a college major.

For example, most people I know actually want to steer clear of math as much as possible. If this is you, then you want to avoid majors like chemistry, physics, engineering, and math (obviously). If you don't want to be doing a lot of writing, avoid majors like journalism, philosophy, psychology, sociology and English (duh).

So make a list of things you don't want to be doing a lot of, and use that to cross off majors from your larger list of possible majors.

This can help narrow down your options, but using this question alone will not help you find the right major for you. I mean, as I said, I'm very passionate about living a healthy lifestyle, but exercise science wasn't the major for me.

I feel at home sitting in a math class. There's no better way to describe it. In high school, I told people that I could fall asleep listening to someone talking about math, not because it's boring, but because I find it relaxing.

Pay attention to how you feel in all of your classes. Are you bored? Intrigued? Fascinated? Tired? Take note of the classes you're actually excited to attend, and think about if that's a subject you would like to pursue.

If you are really struggling with choosing a major, visit the career services center at your school. I never actually talked to someone at my career center about changing my major; however, I was sitting right next to it when I decided I wanted to be a math major, if that counts for anything.

The people at career services are trained to help students find a major and career that is perfect for them, so make an appointment and go to talk someone about your indecision.

I may have never talked to them about choosing a major, but I will most likely be talking to someone in the next couple semesters about careers to go into because that's where I'm indecisive!

A lot of times I've heard students say they don't know what they want to do, so they'll just do something that's popular or that their relatives want them to do. Often times it's something like pre-med, engineering or psychology. None of which are at the top of the easy to pass list, rather they'd most likely be ranked as some of the harder majors. (Not to scare anyone away from them!)

There are always students who drop out of their major because they feel inferior to other students in the major. The whole point of going to college is to learn more, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with riding the struggle bus through your major. Things are going to come easily to some students and not you, but that doesn't mean you should give up.

I'm currently taking the prerequisite class for a computer science minor, and I was very intimidated at first. There are students in the class who talk about things I've never even heard of, and it's only a 100 level class! I find myself questioning if I should really be pursuing a minor in computer science often, but then I do the coding and I get in that flow zone, and I just know it's something I want to continue.

There are people who don't go into careers related to their major, and there are people who use their college major as a way to expand their horizons.

When I was researching all the jobs you could get as a mathematics major, I was amazed at all the different fields grads had went into. There was one guy who majored in mathematics, then when to medical school and became a doctor!Similar to that trend, I've heard of people that major in English, and then go into journalism instead of majoring in it outright. They know what they want their career to be in the long run, but they think they'll benefit from taking other classes they may have not had to do otherwise.

Then there are people who major in one thing and do the exact opposite as a job. However, this usually happens when students stay in a major that doesn't suit them and they aren't passionate about.

Then, there are also the students who major in one thing, and then fall in love with something else after or close to graduation, so they finish their program and pursue something else.

People seem to think that your major in college will define the rest of your career, and that is not the case. Don't feel restricted into staying in one field just because your major is one field.

Remember, just like there is no one perfect college for you, there is no one perfect major for you either. You if you feel drawn to more than one major, maybe consider double majoring or using one as a minor. And trust me, when you find a major that's perfect for you, you'll know it.

Did you have trouble choosing your college major? What is your major? What made you choose it? What advice do you have for students have trouble choosing a major? Let me know in the comments below!

I got to go to my second pumpkin patch of the season on Tuesday of this week, and I was not leaving without taking a photo in a pumpkin wagon. They were the first things I saw when I got out the car, and I planned out the way I wanted to photos to look from that moment up until over an hour later when I actually convinced my friend to let me do it. I just wanted to release my inner child!

The pumpkin patch I went to this week a lot more chill than the one I went to with my family a couple weeks ago, which made it the perfect place to end my fall break. This farm was also a lot more child orientated and not nearly as crowded, so it was nice and relaxing. We even played in the children's area for a little bit! They had large wooden replicas of Cinderella's carriage, the yellow brick road from The Wizard of Oz, a huge Jack-o-lantern, a mining town, and even a little Flintstones scene!

Someone really has to start reminding me to take off my hair ties when I take outfit photos. They ruin everything! (Well, except when they fix bad hair days.)

Besides the fact that were more people with pumpkins as heads (there's a photo at the end!) than real people there, making it practically deserted, the corn maze looked like a tornado had rolled through it!(Which is funny because there was literally a tornado warning an hour ago from when I wrote this).On top of that, the clouds were pretty menacing the first half of the maze, and the wind was so bad that the corn sounded like it was shrieking! I thought I was going to die.

So I obviously used a play on the horror film Children of the Corn as the name for thie outfit, but I chose the title for another reason as well. While yes, being a child of the corn could mean I was raised up by young murdering psychopaths, it could also mean I grew up around corn. Like I was raised by the corn in a nurturing way, instead of a creepy killer way.

I didn't actually grow up on a farm, or near any for that matter, but I still feel close to my non-existent country roots. I was born in Tennessee (even though my birth certificate says Kentucky), and I've lived in Kentucky for almost eight years of my life; however, apparently that's not good enough for all the "real" southern girls I've meet around here.

Still, no matter how many times I've been told I'm not actually a southern girl, I will always relate more to the southern life than the city life.

I got these boots for Christmas almost three years ago, but the soles in them cracked this past winter! I thought I would never be reunited with them again because they were no longer being sold at the website my mom got them from. Then, I found them on Amazon for way cheaper than when my mom bought them for me!

Okay, but can we just take a moment and look at how creepy these pumpkin people are!? The girl ones were especially scary, because their hair was blowing all dramatically in the wind. I really felt like one was going to come to life and start chasing after me the whole time I was there.

I wish I had a photo of me taking this photo. I'm known to get into some pretty strange positions to snap the perfect shot, and this time was no different. I was squatting on top a wooden horse to take a photo of this creepy pumpkin lady, and I think it would have a made quite the hilarious Snapchat.

I've mentioned this before, but I'm super into photography. I took an intro class at my high school, and I fell in love. Since then I've gotten to play around with DSLR cameras very little. My mom, my aunt a my friend all own DSLR cameras, but I don't get to use them very much. I've used my mom's to shoot soccer photos for my littler sister and my cousin's senior photos last year. I got to play around with my aunt's for a little a week ago at a different pumpkin patch, and then I used my friend's last spring when me, her, and another dear friend of our's had a photo shoot before the end of the semester, and then I got to use it on Tuesday when we went to this farm.

Getting to use her camera this week finally convinced me to start setting money aside to buy my own! I'm looking at the Canon EOS Rebel T5 and the Nikon D5500/D5300 right now.What camera would you recommend for someone on a college budget?

Have you been to a pumpkin patch yet this fall? Is it just me or were the pumpkin people creepy? What's your favorite pair of boots? Do you consider yourself a southerner? Let me know in the comments below!

Body confidence is not something the majority of people have nowadays. I mean I may be wrong, but all theresearchI've done says otherwise. How sad is it that we even have to research if people have issues with their own body? The things we have come to.

In honor of National Body Confidence Day being tomorrow, I thought it would be an appropriate time to share my struggle with body confidence. It's something I've been debating writing about for months, and I know if I don't do it now then I won't do it ever. I haven't gotten super personal on my blog for months, but that's what we're doing today.

I don't remember ever feeling insecure about the way my body looked until I got to middle school. I mean of course, right? Middle school was when we all went through our awkward years (I'm using the past tense because I'm not seeing any awkward middle schoolers anymore!), and around the time that boys and girls realized the opposite gender doesn't actually have cooties.

I started to feel insecure because I didn't look like a lot of other girls at school, specifically the ones that had the most friends and all the guys seemed to be crushing on. The two things I thought were equivalent to being happy, so I thought that if I made myself look more like those girls I would become more likable, to my peers and myself.

Obviously, it didn't work like that. Instead, I became so obsessed with looking perfect that every time I looked in the mirror I found something I disliked about my body shape. Even after losing almost 25 pounds, I would still look in the mirror and think I was fat.

Reflecting back on this I realize how insane I was to think that about myself. I was not overweight in any way whatsoever, but I thought I was because I was accustomed to a culture that picked apart women's bodies and told us we had to be skinny to be beautiful.

I remember going through magazines and not seeing any models that had my body type when I was in middle school and starting high school. Not seeing anyone that looked like me made me think there was something wrong with the way I looked.

I still remember the first time I saw a model with my body type in a magazine. It was Seventeen magazine, and I just remember looking at the girl and thinking, "If I think she's beautiful and she's my size, why I can't I think of myself as beautiful?"

After that, I began to be more loving to my body. I tried to compliment myself, instead of picking apart my appearance every time I walked past a mirror. It was a strange thing to get used to (the fact that I found it strange to compliment myself makes me so angry now), but eventually, it came naturally to me.

Now, there are days where I just look in the mirror like I did before middle school. Just glance at my reflection and continue on with my life. No stopping and thinking, "Ugh , why is my stomach jutting out over my pants?" Or, "My arms are looking a little pudgy." Or, "Gosh, why can't my thighs just be skinnier?"

Just a couple days ago I was getting dressed and had put my jeans on, but not my shirt, so my stomach was exposed. Even just a few months ago I would have at least had a negative thought in the back of my mind, but that day I didn't have any thought whatsoever. I noticed this as I slipped my shirt on, and realized how big of a milestone it was for me. I mean, before this year it has been almost seven years since I could look in a mirror so casually.

This is the part where you think I'm going to write, "and then it was all history! I'm 100% okay with my body now and always will be!"

I may be much more comfortable in my body now than I was throughout middle and high school, but I know I will still have my bad days. Everyone has those days. But I know that while yes, I do still have my days or moments when I feel disgusting and nowhere near beautiful, I'm so much happier with my body today than I was just last year. Every day I feel more me, more beautiful, and more comfortable in my skin. I know I'll never be 100% happy with my myself 100% of the time, and that's okay. It's not about always being happy, it's about being positive, and that's what I strive to be - body positive.

The best thing about my struggle is that I have learned how to love myself as who I am, and not what I think, or other people think, I should look like.

You can't just expect to love yourself if deep down you don't love the way you look. One thing I did to get me to where I am today is every night I would tell myself I was beautiful. It may sound like a lie at first, but the more you say it the more it becomes your reality.

Donating old clothes that no longer fit will relieve a massive amount of stress that you may not even know you had. I was holding on to clothes from my "skinny" days, and it was eating me alive. Up until this past summer, I still had clothes that were up to two sizes too small! I finally donated them this past summer and you have no idea how therapeutic that was for me. Even though I may have never picked them up, or tried them on over the past years, they still silently taunted me from my dresser and my closet. Now that they're gone, there's no more telling myself to lose just a couple more inches just to fit into a dang skirt.

Instead of dressing to impress someone, dress in what makes you feel beautiful and confident. I'll be the first to admit that I have worn something specifically to get attention from someone. I learned quite quickly that it never works.Like ever.So there I would be wearing an outfit I didn't even like, and therefore didn't feel comfortable in, but I had to walk around in all day. What a mood killer right? Now I have certain pieces I can wear on a bad day that add a little extra spring in my step when I throw them on.

I know we've all heard this one before, but I still know people who haven't learned to give it up yet. You are never going to look like someone else. Ever. Stop telling yourself you want to have legs like Carrie Underwood, or an hourglass shape like Kim Kardashian, or whatever it is you are comparing. Everyone is born with a different body shape, and it's practically impossible for two people to look the same. Why would you want to look like someone else anyway? There's only one you, and just like you can't look just like anyone else, no one can look just like you. How amazing is that? You should take pride in that alone.

Someone may seem perfect to you, but they may not feel perfect. They may feel uncomfortable in their skin, too. If you approach your own body by trying to make it look perfect, you are never going to be happy because you are always going to find something you wish you could change or improve upon. Instead of focusing on the way your body looks, focus on the way you feel.

Music has the power to make us feel better, so take advantage of that! Listen to songs that make you happy, or empower you! If you're looking for some good getting ready or shower jams, be sure to check out the playlist of all my favorite body positive tunes!