Hi friends! How are you doing out there? What have you been doing to occupy your time while at home? Are you still working? Scrolling through TikTok for hours? Trying to read all the books you bought but never had the time for? Sleeping all day? Eating 20 meals a day? Engaging in all these new instagram challenges? BECAUSE SAME. Which is really why I’m writing the post that I’m writing today.

I’ve been dying to channel all this free time and energy into something ‘productive’. Don’t get me wrong, you do not need to be productive during this uncertain time. It’s hard, I get it. Cut yourself some slack and do what you need to do for your mental health. But for me, I needed to get creative or else my mental health was going to suffer. So I challenged myself to take self-portraits, which is something I’ve never done before (other than selfies which are an art form in itself). Boy was it a challenge. I had to set up the tripod, get the settings correct, get my phone and camera to sink up, and then I had to pose and look cool (let’s be real here, I am not cool)? But at the end of the day, it was so worth it. I tried new things and by the end of the session I was so happy and pumped. I got so many cool shots from it but I did it for another person, to ultimately challenge you.

There’s been a lot of bad news lately, a lot fear and uncertainty and everyone is just taking things one day at a time. A lot of us are out of jobs, can’t see our families, are in quarantine with some of our least favorite people, and the target of bigotry. For some of us the happiest parts of our day were seeing other people, interacting with our favorite baristas, getting happy hour with our closest friends and now that’s not an option. It sucks. It really freaking does. But there is so much to still be thankful for. Which is why I challenge you and your friends to participate in the “Reason to Smile” Challenge. Take a selfie, whether it be the advance selfie/self-portrait or just one on your phone, post it on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, whatever tickles your fancy with the caption reason to smile followed by a paragraph of why you’re thankful today. Maybe this can become a weekly thing where we as a community share why we’re thankful so that there is still some happiness and hope or maybe it becomes a one day thing like “Until Tomorrow” but whatever the case may be I hope you join me and share what you’re most thankful for on your social medias today. The goal isn’t to blow up into any crazy challenge, it’s to add a glimmer hope and joy into someone’s life. So share your reasons to smile please and tag me!!!