21

Hiiii! I turn 21 tomorrow! When I turned 19 I did something similar to this, but then forgot last year, so I’m bringing it back! I love love love birthdays for everyone. Another year of life! YES YES YES! I’m so happy to have you here!

ANYWAY,

21 Things I Know To Be True

1. Things will change. And it won’t make sense. Until suddenly it does. Chill out and wait for that.
2. Expressing gratitude can be daunting, but it’s worth it. ALWAYS WORTH IT.
3. Feta actually does make anything betta.
4. The best way to learn a language is to risk it all and make mistakes. This is actually the best way to learn anything.
5. What you think of a person is not always the truth.
6. Mosquitoes really really like my blood.
7. If you offer to make Erica french toast, she’ll make fun of you for your failed attempt for the rest of your life.
8. Being honest about your struggles is really hard. But really good.
9. It’s always the right time to tell the people you love that you love them. Right now.
10. Can’t Stop The Feeling! by JT makes me dance no matter where I am.
11. Giving and receiving coffee is my love language.
12. Being stubborn sounds great and all, but that injury won’t go away until you LEAVE IT ALONE.
13. A handful of flowers can fix even the grayest of days.
14. There are good people all over the world.
15. You are enough. Smart enough, wonderful enough, pretty enough, loving enough, enough enough enough. (I know this to be true but sometimes forget, so this is a lil reminder to me, ya feel?)
16. I can’t stay angry when I’m being hugged.
17. Joining Texas Triathlon is without a doubt the best decision I’ve made in college.
18. Watching fireflies fly around makes me want to laugh out of pure joy.
19. There is such a thing as too much coffee as indicated by a burning stomach.
20. If you don’t lose your voice, you’re not cheering hard enough.
21. Life is good. And weird. And will throw you so many curveballs. But you’re here. And you’re straight killin the game as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s to a day full of joy for another year of life!

Jules

a welcome revelation?

This post may quickly devolve into nonsense, but I am just desperately trying to get my thoughts into some sort of order.

I’ve been thinking long and hard the last few weeks, but I’ve only recently started to understand what the high speed thought process truly is.

I’ve felt so raw and exposed lately. Bear with me, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

I’ve felt terrified of what’s to come, I’ve felt overwhelming and un-understandable love for people around me, I’ve felt insecurities gnaw viciously at my heart and I’ve felt undeniable joy for life. I’ve felt confused and pressured and wounded. I’ve felt whole and free and clean. But ultimately, it’s all felt so real.

If you go into my archives for a few months, you’ll probably notice a trend that everything felt like a blur and I felt so out of touch. But I’m starting to realize that the last month and a half has felt so present. I’ve been struggling to understand what I’ve been feeling because for the first time in a while I truly do feel like I’m feeling something. Like I said, I feel raw. And I’m okay with that. Now, to be clear, this is not to say that I’ve been an unfeeling robot, but sometimes when you let stupid stupid things get to you, life just starts to feel less bright.

I was feeling like I was on the edge of my seat or on the edge of a cliff and it was because the universe was pulling me to do something. To jump! To fly! Because life is here and now. And something inside me was done waiting around.

Suddenly everything has become more vivid: my happiness, my successes, my frustrations, my sorrow. But I’ll take it all.

I’m afraid about what my experience in South Africa will be like. I’m afraid to trust my own heart about people. I’m afraid to do what I need to do to help my own self.

And, man, am I glad to feel that terror. Our fear, once acknowledged, becomes our growth. This I am sure of.

I can’t speak to what exactly all of this means. Because I really don’t know; life is crazy in that anything can change in the blink of an eye. It can take just 10 seconds of bravery for everything to be different.

I am not the bravest, nor would I like to be. But I’d like to be braver than I have been.

Life is here. And I’m afraid. And I can feel it.

Off to live this wild wild life,

Juliana

 

what tri means to me: a love letter of sorts

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the sport of triathlon lately and the three pieces that encompass it: swim, bike, run.

You don’t understand the amount of time I’ve spent mourning my injury and the disappointment I feel when I still can’t run.

You don’t understand how triathlon helped shape me into who I am today and the life lessons I’ve taken away from it.

You don’t understand the experiences of pure joy and pure hurt that this sport has brought me.

You might not understand that, for me, this never has been and never will be about speed and winning. To be honest, it’s about me.

That being said, you also have no idea the immense love I’ve felt for the people triathlon has brought me: a love that far surpasses anything that a successful, pain free long run could ever bring me. 

The memories I’ve made through training, races, socials, and life long friendships will never escape me.

I can’t always put into words the overwhelming feeling that I sometimes experiences when I think about these types of things.

Being injured sucks and it breaks me. Being slow is normally frustrating for many reasons.

But at the end of the day, it’s truly wonderful: the feeling of improving yourself. And nothing, not a 1st place trophy to a PR, can outshine the adventures and people that I have swam/biked/ran my way into.

I’m not the fastest, strongest, or best. But I love my people and this sport a whole awful lot and I think that’s enough.

Love,

Juliana

MAY!

Welcome to the best and most beautiful month of the year!

I hope that you run into this month with a fresh face and light shoulders. I hope that you take the time to feel the sun and that you take time to savor a perfectly proportioned Arnold Palmer.

I hope that you know that your finals won’t kill you. I hope you dance, solely because you’re too full of joy to do anything else.

I hope that you celebrate those around you. I hope that you use your free time to live so fully.

Go to new places.

Try new things.

Share who you are.

May is wonderful; and you are too.

Love love love,

Juliana