Year: 2017

Life after massage school

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! It’s been one week since I finished school and I have to say it’s always a little strange when something that you have been doing for a while ends. For the past year of my life I’ve been going to school three days a week and working hard to keep up with the out of class work and then last week it was all over. The day after graduation felt strange I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I scheduled a date to take my certification exam. and started applying to 2nd jobs in the meantime.  It feels so weird that I don’t have to go to school anymore and I miss my classmates and teachers but the free time is great. I had my first free Saturday in a long time and I used it to check out a pumpkin farm with my mom and I’m so happy I did, not only did I pick out the perfect pumpkin I got to go on a train ride and a hay ride. We also got to walk through a corn maze. It was a truly wonderful day. Even though transitions can be hard for me, I can’t wait to see the things the post-graduation life has to offer. I also can’t wait until I officially start working as a massage therapist. Rock on – Christina Epperly

Graduation OCT. 2017

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, Bucket list friends! Last night I graduated From NHI after finishing a one-year program. I’m always surprised at how fast things go by. Last night I could not believe that it was happening. My one-year journey at, massage school was coming to an end. It was a truly wonderful journey that was full of growth. Graduation day was filled with emotion. I felt a wide range of emotions happiness, sadness, pride, thankfulness and excitement. The graduation ceremony was simply beautiful the decorations that were brought by the other members of our group were off the chart! I was so proud of myself during the ceremony I had truly come a long way. I was Also so thankful for everyone who had helped me get to that point.  Last night was wonderful. After the graduation I went out to eat with some of the people I love most.  I’m so glad that I chose massage therapy and NHI . I’m excited and prepared to begin a wonderful career as a massage therapist as soon as I pass the Mblex (certificate exam ) that is . The thing that I learned the most from all this was never be afraid to try new things and to never underestimate yourself. I’m so blessed and thankful to God, my family ,friends and group 37 for helping me in being able to  complete this awesome but challenging program. Rock on – christina Epperly

Surviving the bad days

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, bucket list friends! I have found that I really enjoy writing personal blog posts, So I thought I would share with you how I make it through the days when my OCD and anxiety is at a very high level. As with most medical conditions, when you struggle with mental health issues, you have good days and bad days. There are many things that can cause me to have a bad mental health day. Stress is a big culprit it could be anything from a test, to a lack of money, or just having too much to do. Any of those things can cause me to have a bad mental health day. Sometimes I’m just that way for no particular reason. There are days when my brain chemicals just aren’t right and I don’t feel good. There will also be days when my OCD drives me crazy with it’s racing thoughts and even though my medication helps with this problem. There is no way to cure the metal health problems that I have but over time I have learned to manage the bad mental health days. Being aware of what’s going on with me makes all the difference. Just being aware of what happing to me can help me to relax and overcome the negative feelings. Sometimes unfortunately I get caught up in the strong emotions that I’m feeling and I have a very hard time getting myself back to a normal mood. Sometimes It gets frustrating because I’m not sure why it’s all happening. I mean I know I have OCD, anxiety and depression but sometimes I can’t always pinpoint why I’m feeling the way I am. Is it because of mental health or is it because of a lack of sleep or am I truly upset about something? There are different tools I use to help me cope with bad mental health days depending on the situation such as praying, reading, watching TV and making art. Sometimes when I distract myself with the things I love most I can get myself out of a bad mood. Also a self-pep -talk can go a long way. One other thing I do is look back on all the good days I’ve had and look forward to the ones yet to come ! What are some tools you use when you are having a bad mental health day? Let me know in the comments below . Rock on – Christina Epperly

Breaking routine (September 2017 comfort zone buster)

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends. I wanted to give a quick wrap up on my comfort zone buster for September 2017. This month’s comfort zone buster was to break routine in order to get out of the boring routine of life . I have been very busy this month because I graduate massage school soon so I have not had the time to make any big changes to my routine. However, I was able to mix things up a little bit. I tried a restaurant that I had never been to before, I got lunch from a place that I had not been to in years, spent more time outside in the fresh air (that one was my favorite) and I got my hair cut. I really enjoyed breaking routine even with it was as simple as getting a different kind of bread than usual on my sandwich. Breaking routine gives you a sense of freedom and control. It feels very freeing to do something different even if it’s something simple.  I think this is a comfort zone buster that would be good for anyone to try .  Rock On – Christina Epperly

September 2017 comfort zone buster

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I hope you enjoyed the personal blog posts and vlogs that I have put up in the past few months. I will be moving on to a new comfort zone buster this month but I will still be writing personal blog posts every now and then.  I’m very excited to tell you about this month’s comfort zone buster so here we go!

So, this month’s comfort zone buster is to break routine. It seems like most people live on a treadmill going through the everyday motions. As I analyze what I do every day I see a lot of predictable patterns such as going to the same places for lunch, doing the same things on class breaks, watching the same shows on TV and the list goes on. This month I going to break up the same old routine. This month I will make it a goal to mix things up. It can be hard to shake things up when you are so used to doing the same thing all the time but I really want to live each day to the fullest and break the cycle of routine. I look forward to sharing all my exciting adventures with you guys! stay tuned for all my routine breaking fun !

Rock on – Christina Epperly

Oh, look I’m 27!

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I recently celebrated my 27th birthday on August 26th.

The day went by very fast but it was so much fun!  I had a half day of school on my birthday so that gave me a chance to celebrate with all of my class. I had My Little Pony Party in the break room complete with a cake and favors! I had a wonderful morning celebrating my birthday with my class. My cake tasted and looked wonderful! Most people would not want to be at school on their birthday but it was the perfect way to start my birthday celebration.  After school, I went to the good will and I was able to find some amazing things Including a pair of mouse ears and a My Little Pony toy new in the box! In the evening, I went to dinner at the cheese cake factory with family and friends! I had an amazing time at dinner I felt so loved. More and More I realize just how blessed I am. My 27th birthday was truly great day. I’m so thankful to everyone that helped me celebrate. I’m looking forward to crossing more bucket list items off in my 27th year of life. Rock on Christina Epeerly

living with OCD as an adult

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends!  August is flying by so I thought I would write one more personal blog post before I start a new comfort zone buster next month .  In the blog post MY OCD story I wrote about growing up with undiagnosed OCD and my discovery that I really did have OCD. In this blog post I’m going to write about how my life is today. Hold on tight and here we go!

Realizing that I had OCD changed my life for the better, I became much more aware of what was going on with me and why I made some of the choices I had in the past. I’m on medication now and it helps but I still have my struggles. OCD does not have a cure but as time goes by I learn more and more about how to manage my condition. One of the most important things that I had to do was to separate myself from my OCD. I had to realize that OCD was something that I had not who I was. As I wrote about in the MY OCD story blog post, OCD had a very negative impact on me and those around me growing up. I know now  that I’m a stronger and more understanding person because of the trials I faced back then but there was one more thing that I had to do to truly grow and become an even stronger person. It was not easy and it took time to even realize that I needed to do it. I had to forgive myself. Before I knew I had OCD I allowed it to control a lot of my actions. It caused me to make bad choices and to hurt others. I had to realize that this was not who I really was and that in order to be my best self I had to forgive myself for the things that happened in the past and move forward with confidence. OCD is present in my life daily, the unwanted thoughts are still there and I have good days and bad days . Somedays my OCD drives me crazy other days I’m able to brush It off and focus on enjoying the day.  I’m not perfect by any means and I’m always going to be learning and growing. When It comes to OCD I still have work to do I hope to be able to get therapy in the future to help me to have more good days then bad ones.  There are many things that set off my OCD and I know I need to gain more control, but I have come such a long way since childhood and even since finding out that I had OCD . I’m very proud of myself for the progress that I have made and even on the bad days . I’ve very blessed to have a wonderful support system and to have my faith in God without those things I doubt I would be the kind, confident,  and creative person that I am today . Thank you for reading feel free to ask any questions in the comments below. Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

 

IMG_20170822_192528

 

 

Summer 2017 wrap up

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I can’t believe that summer 2017 is already getting close to the end!  This summer was very different from the past few summers I’ve had. There Was a lot less traveling and free time due to school and working  part time but I was extremely blessed to have a much better summer than I thought I was going to have. I went to two amazing concerts, saw cars 3, went on my summer dollar tree / mall weekend  shopping trip, spent time with family and friends and I got the best surprise ever when I got to go to Disneyland ! This summer helped me to realize how blessed I am. I’m so thankful for the people around me that helped me by giving me rides and being there for me .  I truly enjoyed this summer more then I thought I would !  I hope you all had a wonderful summer ! Rock on – christina Epperly

Surprise Disneyland Trip

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I’m so happy to tell you about my trip to Disneyland last week . As you can probably tell by the title of this post I had no idea that I was going to Disneyland. I thought that my mom and I were driving down to Oxnard to go to the Dallas Cowboys training camp, go to the beach and play mini golf. I was excited to go on a trip and take a break from work and school but I really wanted to go to Disneyland but since I’m only working part time right now , I could not afford to go. Little did I know my parents were going to give me the best birthday /graduation gift ever! The day we were leaving I opened the suitcase to pack for the trip. As I started to open the suit case I saw that there was some things inside . There was a note on top of some other things the note was written on Minnie Mouse  paper. The note on top read Surprise!! You’re going to…  I moved the first piece of paper and the one underneath simply read Disneyland!!! I was very surprised and overwhelmed with joy, I also found out that we were flying and that we would be there and we would be in Disneyland that Evening! After a quick flight and dropping our things off at the right hotel after accidently going to the wrong one first. My mom and I walked to Disneyland, I was so happy I could not believe that I was actually in Disneyland. My mom had gotten the new max pass for all three days of our trip so we could make fast pass reservations from her phone. The first day We got to go on some awesome rides including the Jungle cruise, Space Mountain, and It’s a small world  . We also had a very tasty dinner and I did some shopping. The next day we started off in Disneyland , we enjoyed some more rides and of course I did some more shopping  .One of my favorite  things that I bought was the classic mouse ear hat with my name  on it .We had a very delicious lunch before going over to Disney California adventure  to enjoy some wonderful rides  and  get some pictures taken by Disney’s photographers. I just have to say I love the new guardians of the galaxy ride the music is amazing and the whole ride is one big adventure . I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m happy they changed the theme of the ride   On the last day, We started at Disney California adventure. I had a great time riding the king triton carousel carousel, hiking on the redwood creek challenge trail, trying to get the best score I could on Toy story ride and getting my picture taken with Groot. After some time, back at the hotel I went back to Disneyland and I enjoyed watching  the Main Street electoral parade. I really enjoyed My summer 2017 Disneyland trip (I got to rode it’s a small world twice! ) I’m so thankful that I went to Disneyland this year!

 

 

Pure Joy

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I’m writing this special blog post to tell you about one of the best summer nights I’ve ever lived. On 7/7/17 ,I went to the boardwalk with my mom and my friend. Quite Riot was playing a free concert on the beach. We went to the early concert and it was amazing I had so much fun singing along to some of my favorite songs! I was also able to get a new snow globe to add to my collection .  After the concert we ate and rode two really fun rides . The night was already off to a wonderful start and it was going to get a whole lot better, I just didn’t know how amazing things were about to get . Before we left to go home  we decided to take a walk on the beach. We were having a fun time taking pictures and enjoying the beach . My friend kept saying that she wanted to go into the water. It was dark and the water is not exactly warm also my mom did not want us to make a mess in her car but I could tell my friend really wanted to go into the water . So I talked to my mom and she said it was ok to go in since I had blankets and sheets in the car. So my friend and I ran down by the water splashing each other . While Quite Riot played their 2nd show close to us . They were playing one of my favorite songs “Come on feel the noise “as my friend and I played in then water .It was the perfect soundtrack to a wonderful moment .  At that very moment I felt pure joy , I felt as if  life could not get any better . I kept parrying  and thanking God for this wonderful night. I’m so glad that I got to experience this fun night to escape some of the stress I have been feeling . I love summer so much and nights like are one of the reasons why . – Rock on Christina Epperly