Bracelete in Disguise

Hi. 

I have a little story that is dear to my heart. I’ve spent some time with this story to myself because it’s golden. It’s special. It just warms my heart when I think about it. 

So – a little over a month after graduating I was having a FaceTime date with one of my best friends. We’ll refer to her as “ding dong,” throughout the story. This conversation just felt heavy. It was one of those convo’s when you’re like… well, we both have a lot to get off our chests but we are scared to say these things out loud. Because once you say it, especially to your best friend, there’s no turning back. You both know you’re about to go through a whirl of emotions, challenges and adventures together. 

After we both spilled the beans about how difficult the college-to-adultlife transition had been on both of us mentally, it felt freeing to know we both agree that doing what’s best for ourselves mentally is what’s best, even if it takes sacrifice. 

My friend has the warmest heart. She has so much passion and life to bring to this world. But she’s scared of her biggest dreams. She’s fighting her talents and passions because she’s always visioned just being able to make a living to take care of student loans and have everything together. She’s so intelligent and logical – she makes great decisions when it comes to being an adult. I admire her ability to prioritize and maintain control and responsibility. But she started burying her happiness as she was creating this “amazing” life of being financially stable in a 9-5pm job that she didn’t enjoy. 

But then the conversation happened. She cracked. I WAS JUMPING WITH JOY. Not because I wanted her to quit her job and struggle. But because she admitted that she wasn’t happy to me. And her actually speaking this to me mean’t that she knew what she needed to do, but knew she needed a lil push.

In this conversation we also talked about my transition out to LA and how it was difficult not only affection wise when it comes to feeling lonely, but also career wise with what I actually wanted to do. I was dabbling in multiple things, versus putting 100% into a few things. I have so many different passions – and I love that – but I was all over the map, coming up with random game plans verses thinking logically and letting life take me where I needed to be. I was trying to force way too many things, way too fast. I wasn’t thankful for what I had in that moment. 

Not long after this phone call of us just calling ourselves out to each other to hold each other accountable, I was exploring in a little shack and I found these ankle bracelets and each of them represented something different. You tie them on your ankle and when they naturally fall off, that’s when something will spark from whatever your bracelet represented. So, I found an orange bracelet that represented Happiness and I immediately grabbed it and knew I was sending it to Ding Dong. Then, I saw a purple one that represented Passion. I grabbed that one for myself. This was in February. A month after both of us moved away from college to start new lives. 

The wave of being okay and then having moments where we felt like the world was going to end continued for months on end. Each time one of us would go through something, it just kept seeming to get worse and worse. Each phone call, the breakdown would get closer and closer to completely shattering. Then after multiple breakdowns, Ding Dong finally broke. The day I received the text that she was quitting her job and moving back home to pursue a new career was probably one of the most relieving days of my life in terms of caring for another persons sanity. 

The woman deserves the best of out life and she knows her worth, but she doesn’t see her potential like everyone else does. And when I read that text, I knew she finally accepted to put her happiness first. She is one of the most selfless people I know and for once she stepped up for herself and took over her happiness. Just thinking about this moment brings back a huge smile, chills and just an extremely warm, happy heart. 

Right after the breakthrough – things started moving forward for her. She talked to her employer at the time and they were completely understanding and she left on good terms with them. On top of that she got herself a BEAUTIFUL condo on the south side of Chicaaaaaago. Say Chicccaaaaaggo with the accent. Chicaaaago. She got herself a new job before she even moved back. And on top of that she’s close to her family, her friends and the beautiful city. And the coolest part about it is that she gained control of her happiness within all of this. 

During the madness of that last paragraph – her ankle bracelet fell off.

Ding Dong is an inspiration to me. She battled herself for so long knowing that she needed to do what’s best for her, but didn’t know how to. But she still did it. There’s no doubt that Ding Dong is a sister to me. I couldn’t be more happy, proud and overwhelmed with joy for her. Thinking about her new path of life makes me giddy on the inside because I know she’s going to crush life no matter what she does, no matter how long it takes. 

With inspiration like that to follow, I started getting my life together and started facing myself full force instead of dodging my own thoughts and emotions. I started getting my priorities right and taking care of myself again mentally and as soon as I took control of my life back, things started happening. 

There was a day where I was interviewing for a company and I was offered the job on the spot – I was STUPID excited. I walked out of this company cheesin’ like no other. When I reach to check my phone I have a missed call, and so I listen to the voicemail as I get into my car and it’s Technicolor calling to say they have a position open, wondering if I was available and interested. WHAT!!!? Literally as I am walking out of an interview where I was just offered the job on the spot. I was mind-blown. I was already on cloud 9 walking out of the interview. Everything beyond that moment was pure blessing upon blessing.

My heart felt so chaotic. I was so overwhelmed but in the best way possible. Finally everything got locked down and I accepted the offer to be a production coordinator at Technicolor, which is where I interned last summer as a VFX intern.  

After my second day of work – my ankle bracelet fell off. 

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. I am also a big advocate for self-care, self-love and overall self-awareness. Stepping out of your comfort zone is the best thing you’ll ever do for yourself. It’s scary at first, but I’ve never had anything bad come out of doing it. It’s staying in the funk that keeps you trapped, scammed and soiled of life. You have the ability to step up and change your life if you don’t like it. So why aren’t you doing it? Your excuses are just excuses.

Things don’t happen to you, they happen for you. 

You can’t change what happens, but you can change how you look at it. 

Be your own boss for happiness. 

Ding Dong – you are so special to me even though I can’t stand you the majority of the time. I think you’re an inspiration and everyday you remind me that I’ll be okay and I can get through anything. Keep persevering and conquering life like you have been. This one’s for you – cheers my gal pal. 

-Mallory-

(P.S. I went with “Ding Dong” because this hoe will call any inanimate object a “ding dong.” At first it was somewhat tolerable because it would be for something that was hard to explain. But then she started getting carried away and started calling literally everything a ding dong. USE YOUR WORDS ALEXANDRA).