This newsletter serves as a home for inspiration, light, and fun, and sometimes wanting to get away from the news of today is ok. Feel free to take your mind off of social media, the internet, etc. Remember, mental health is a priority. It is also important to maintain knowledge of current news, so we can make our own choices and ignite change.

Staying informed is essential to approach news consumption with a discerning eye. The deluge of information can be daunting, leading to feelings of helplessness. Instead of succumbing to despair, consider embracing the news as a catalyst for positive change. Knowledge is a potent tool, capable of empowering individuals to engage with the world and contribute to solutions.

In the face of challenging headlines, it’s crucial to foster a sense of hope. Seek out stories of resilience, innovation, and compassion. They exist alongside the disheartening narratives, reminding us that even in difficult times, individuals and communities are making strides toward positive transformation. By focusing on these stories, we can cultivate a mindset that fuels inspiration and fuels a collective belief in our ability to overcome adversity.

Inspiration, when coupled with action, becomes a force for change. Instead of being passive consumers of news, consider how you can actively contribute to the betterment of society. Whether it’s volunteering for a local cause, engaging in informed discussions with peers, or supporting organizations aligned with your values, there are myriad ways to turn inspiration into tangible impact.

In an era of divisive headlines, building bridges of understanding is more crucial than ever. Seek out diverse perspectives, engage in respectful conversations, and challenge your own assumptions. By fostering a culture of empathy and open-mindedness, we can contribute to a more united and compassionate society. Stay informed, draw inspiration from positive stories, and, most importantly, take action. It is through our collective efforts that we can navigate the challenges of today and build a brighter, more hopeful tomorrow.

To learn more about the following, consider these articles:

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Israel Gaza war: History of the conflict explained

Before you embark on your journey to make a social impact, take the time to identify your passion and purpose. What issues or causes resonate deeply with you? Is it environmental conservation, education, healthcare, or poverty alleviation? Your passion will be your driving force, fueling your commitment to effect change.

Educate Yourself

To create a meaningful impact, it’s crucial to educate yourself about the issues you care about. Read books, articles, and research papers, watch documentaries, and attend lectures or workshops related to your chosen cause. Knowledge is the foundation upon which effective action is built.

Start Locally

Creating a social impact doesn’t always require grand gestures or vast resources. Start in your local community, where your efforts can have a direct and immediate effect. Volunteer with local organizations, join community initiatives, or simply help your neighbors in need. Small actions often have ripple effects that extend far beyond their initial scope.

Collaborate and Network

Making a social impact is often a collaborative effort. Connect with like-minded individuals and organizations that share your passion. By working together, you can pool resources, share knowledge, and amplify your impact. Networking can also provide valuable mentorship and support.

Use Your Skills and Resources

Consider how your unique skills and resources can contribute to your chosen cause. If you’re a talented writer, you can create compelling content to raise awareness. If you have financial resources, consider making donations or funding projects that align with your values. Your time, skills, and resources are valuable assets in the pursuit of social impact.

Advocate for Change

Advocacy is a powerful tool for creating social change. Use your voice to raise awareness about the issues you care about. Write letters to policymakers, participate in peaceful protests, and engage in constructive dialogue with others. Advocacy can drive policy changes and inspire others to take action.

Measure and Celebrate Your Impact

To ensure that your efforts are effective, set clear goals and metrics to measure your impact. Celebrate your successes, no matter how small, as they are milestones on your journey toward making a difference. Reflect on your experiences and continuously refine your approach to maximize your social impact.

Making a social impact is not reserved for a select few; it is a calling that anyone can answer. There is a vast community of individuals and organizations dedicated to creating a better world. By identifying your passion, educating yourself, starting locally, collaborating, using your skills and resources, advocating for change, measuring your impact, and staying resilient, you can be a catalyst for positive transformation.

Sometimes we get so caught up change we lose awareness of what’s going on. We no longer become aware of our feelings, how our actions affect others, or what’s truly going on behind the scenes. We focus so much on the solution – “What am I going to do now that the meeting is cancelled? How am I going to get to work if my car won’t start?” – that sometimes we forget to provide care for ourselves in the moments in between. Instead we judge ourselves, telling ourselves that we shouldn’t be upset, or that this is just a part of life – a way to ignore our emotions and behave like it’s unnatural to have them.

Personally, I’ve experienced various changes this past week, and got so caught up in the situations, the consequences, and how to fix the problem, that I lacked the awareness to conceptualize that maybe all of these changes are linked.

Maybe there’s a reason I’ve been put in more out-of-my-comfort-zone situations lately. I’ve had to put in more volunteer and club hours than time on my personal hobbies or goals. I’ve also gotten my hours at work cut in half, giving me more days out of the week to be free than I’d like – but maybe both changes are a signal to me to focus on other aspects of my life.

We all know change doesn’t feel good. We’re told over and over again it’s supposed to bring you new knowledge and that all change is good in the end. But the truth is, change is a process. It’s a definite part of our universal system. Take out the words “good” and “bad”, and now you just have a part of life – change – that you don’t have to conceptualize or judge. You don’t have to see it as positive or negative, you just see it as what it is.

So although I just stated that maybe these new personal, mental, and even physical changes are happening to me, all in the quick span of a week, for some unbeknownst reason, maybe there’s truly no reason at all. Maybe this is just a part of the universal system, a system of ups, downs, and turnarounds.

So I encourage you, when you’re undergoing a series of changes (even small ones), to become aware. Are they all happening in a certain time frame? Do they all have a common denominator? Are they all school related? Health related? Or, maybe you’ll have a week like me, where your job, career goals, social life, financial security, and everything in between, changes and shifts seemingly out of nowhere.

But it’s not a bad thing, nor is it necessarily a good thing. It’s all a part of a larger cycle. So please, please, find the joy in the next week’s small daily activities. Try something new. Do something you love. And most importantly, take care of yourself in this new season of changes.

Love, Bella

Loving Yourself:

“How can you love yourself if love is selfless?”, I used to wonder. Coming out of my depression, I began leaning into my identity, self worth, and this idea of self love. Love was always a connection between two beings, rather than a singular element or feeling. Loving yourself was a foreign idea. Maybe one that couldn’t even be attained.

“You can’t love others until you love yourself.” Such a statement couldn’t be anymore untrue.

Love isn’t mutually exclusive, and it’s not conditional. Boundaries are conditional, which are created so we know whether we are safe to practice love. If you could only love another if you loved yourself, then connections wouldn’t truly be authentic, although it would be easier to recognize when one is.

As I regained my confidence a few years ago, still dabbling in the idea of what it truly means to love yourself, I asked, “How do I know if I love myself?” Is there a sudden change in behavior? Do people treat you differently because you see yourself differently? Do you get the feeling that you just know? Questions arose not only out of curiosity, but out of need. I needed to feel loved. And although I’ve loved others, how dare could I love myself?

During this time the Body Positivity Movement arose, and there were countless self-love campaigns expressed in the marketing of every beauty company and magazine. Stores began removing images of photoshopped models and replaced them with the reclaiming pictures of diverse models. It was refreshing, but it was also a reminder that I needed to love myself.

It felt like an obligation, not a choice.

Unknowingly, I started practicing forms of self-love. I ate healthier, because I wanted my body to feel better and live longer. I started reading again, because it was what I wanted to do. I stopped being so hard on my self, and for some reason, began celebrating my small wins rather than simply glorifying the big ones. I was nicer to myself, because we all have rough days. And I took my medicine when I was sick, rather than letting myself remain in pain as a form of self harm. I then stopped asking myself how to know if I loved myself, because I did.

“Treat yourself like your own best friend”, was a quote that I admired, and I remembered it at times when I felt I was my own enemy. My enemy would want me to pursue my bad habits, dramatize my failures, and develop any anger or sadness without understanding it’s cause. As Gucci Mane once said, “I’m my best friend, and I’m my worst enemy. No one else can hurt me unless I let them, you feel me?” Yes Gucci, but the underlying issue is that sometimes in circumstances of extreme emotion or growth, we don’t know if we’re treating ourselves like our enemy, friend, or if we’re just critiquing our own actions.

I believe that’s the best part about the phrase, “Treat yourself like your own best friend.” You would congratulate them, celebrate them, but also hold them accountable and responsible, because you want them to grow, dream, and be healthy both physically and mentally. You want them to live on because you love them.

Loving yourself isn’t easy, nor is it dreamlike. Loving yourself is taking a shower in the morning, despite wanting to stay in bed all day. It’s taking yourself through your failures: accepting them, learning from them, and aiming to win. Love is it’s own complex element, so complex that it can’t be good nor bad, happy nor sad, imaginative or fact. When I first started Living By Bella, I commonly said that “love is a journey.” And it truly is.

Loving Others:

Love was always performative. You were meant to be adored, drowned in gifts and compliments, and coddled as though you were perfect: not just a perfect person, but perfect enough for another.

There are 5 love languages, according to Gary Chapman: gift giving, words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, and quality time. Each person varies in showing and receiving love. Although I show my love through physical touch and quality time, I feel loved through words of affirmation and gifts.

Since love is formed through connection, it’s representation changes between romantic and platonic relationships. I show my brother love through quality time and words of affirmation, but to my boyfriend I express physical touch, and feel loved through boyfriends by words of affirmation.

Loving others requires both selflessness and selfishness. In the Bible, Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” To form such a connection requires the thought of another person not only as a friend, sibling, parent, or a lover, but as their own being, who has needs, wants, desires, and dreams. When you truly love someone, especially a romantic partner, you become one in the sense that you consider their feelings, thoughts, goals, and want the best for them, the same you’d want for yourself, despite your selfish desires. But the connection of love dwells so deep that constant reassurance, attention, and close proximity isn’t needed. The love is already established.

You don’t need to love yourself to love someone else, but you should love yourself, because what powerful of a connection you can create with yourself. We were born into bodies and beings that were created before we consciously realized it, therefore there is always more to learn and grow within. It is better for us to love ourselves, understand our love languages, and use those structures to love others even deeper.

Add More Love to Your Life:

Express it. And know you can receive it. Love is always circling, it is in actions big and small, coming from varying sources. Love is a butterfly landing on your finger, soaking in your presence of calmness, and it’s your friend giving you a hand, when you don’t even realize you need it. Love is in grief. It is in creation. It evolves and it moves through its energetic ways, so to add more love to your life, you have to simply see it. Love is visible in your actions and words, both to yourself and others.

Love is safety. It’s the comfort of knowing you exist beyond yourself, are connected to those around you, and are capable of caring for you and another, without fear or judgement.

Love is love.