As we are approaching 2016, I thought this next blog post should be something meaningful and expressive. I truly wanted to be reflective and honest with my readers. I promise I will.

Growing up as a child I was always told that I could be anything I want to be if I put my mind to it. I wanted to be a teacher or doctor and I told myself I can do it. But after being a student and going to the doctor my mind quickly changed by nine years old. I loved to sing and I told myself I will be a singer. That hasn’t happened yet but I believe through patience and determination I will get there.

I never struggled with being confident and believing in myself enough to live out my dreams. As I grew into a pre-teen  then through my teenage years, what seem the most crucial for my generation was being popular and those were the pretty girls? Cliché huh? I think so.

I never understood why being “the pretty one” or the one who got the most male attention seemed so prominent in the minds of some. In the eyes of many I was the exact opposite the weird, annoying and ugly one. Well that is what I was called. I never asked for sympathy or pity. Although deep down inside I felt disgusted and hurt.

Through the ages of 12 to 17, all that really mattered to me was to just feel beautiful and liked by others. I tried my hardest but I realized you can never please society nor should you even try.

Why?

Society will always have their views and perceptions about everything. Literally Everything! It honestly really doesn’t even matter what they have to say. I had to recollect my childhood thoughts of me being anything I wanted to be if “I put my mind to it”.

Yes! This can apply to beauty and how you express that because you have all control. If I believed I was beautiful then that meant I was. It took some time to get there but I did.

When I created #IAMENOUGH this truly helped me with understanding self-love and confidence. It help me love who I was and build my cultural identity. This blog has giving me the voice and ambition to empower and inspire other women.

This is my proudest moment of 2015, thus far. I am truly thankful to everyone who took the time out to support an Afro-Latina’s dreams. From reading, sharing blog pieces, commenting valuable opinions and subscribing.

Because of you my dreams are coming true. It is all because I put my mind to it. And you can too!

Enjoy your New Year’s everyone!

-Signed Jenay