Being a girlboss is a major topic of discussion right now, especially with the #MeToo movement and feminism in general. Although I do find some problem with the actual word "girlboss", because it sounds like when women become bosses they can't just be bosses, they have it have a cute name tied to it, and that a girlboss is a lesser version a  boss or "manboss"? There's also the whole gender binary and stereotyping thing - but hey, that's a whole other post.

We have a girlboss in all of us. Rather, we are all bosses. Some of our potential is more evident, some of us need to dig a little deeper to tap into our girlboss potential. I do think that the notion is a great move towards gender equality, and that it inspired women to step out of the comfort zone that society has taught them. I can personally attest that as women, we're taught to not bother people and to put others in front of ourselves. Sometimes the best self care are small habits that we can pick up to put ourselves first. I put some easy, tangible girlboss "moves" that we can start practicing NOW to eventually reach out girlboss goals!

1. Time for a meeting doesn't work? Move it

Don't rearrange your schedule so that's you're all over the place when the time for the meeting comes. You'll be more productive if you take the step to ask to reschedule a meeting that you just can't make.

2. Saying no

GUILTY! Whether it's a new work project, someone asking you to transform your income with their multilevel marketing scheme or someone asking you to take their EP on the street - you can say no. A great way to say no is "I need a minute to think about it".

3. Saying yes

Alternatively, we can talk ourselves out of really great opportunities. It's better to just give it a try then miss out. 

4. Asking for help

Asking for help can be seen as a sign of weakness, and that's probably by people are less likely to do it. Not giving a crap about what people think is a girlboss move in itself. Don't care about what people think about you - asking for help can help the job get done quicker.

5. Going places alone

Loving yourself is a girlboss move. Love yourself enough to take yourself out on dates  - or attend a professional networking event alone.

6. Putting your phone away

Even people always on the move need to take a break from it all. Take a minute or so a day to just be with yourself.

7. Staying OUT

I struggle with FOMO and YOLO. I'm actually a huge proponent on going out and having a fun time while you can - that's why I reserve my Saturdays and Sundays (or at least one of those days) for "something frivolous" as my middle school principal would say. 

I need to take my own advice on these way more. What's a girlboss move you've made lately?

My mind works a little different than many others'. Once someone tells me to do something, I immediately start turning the wheels in my head. I am finishing assignments in my head the moment they're assigned. I usually get my work done early for classes. It sounds like a blessing, but can be a curse. Sometimes, this immediate go-getter attitude can be all too much for me. The gears in my head grind and the thoughts of what to do jam together. That jam is not the tasty kind I like on my bread, it's writers block-flavored jam. However, I've been trying to rely on being more mindful, and focusing on the little things that inspire me. Below I have a list of things that inspire me when I hit said writer's block.

Meditating buddha is GOALS! 

What inspires you?

In sixth grade, I made another of my random life decisions that has lead to something that is a huge part of my life. Honestly, that's how I make all of my decisions. I randomly decided to join cross country as a fall sport once I was in sixth grade and eligible to participate in after-school competitive sports. I always played sports: from tee-ball to softball, from basketball, now to cross country. I always ran for basketball to stay in shape, so I figured, why not? Joining cross country was the first step in my becoming a three season athlete physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Like all athletes, I had a rough beginning with the sport. I remember two things that stuck out to me: one time, someone asked me, "Nikki, do you do cross country because your parents told you to, or because you felt like it?" Another time, I remember my coach telling us that we were going to run four miles during practice, and I remember thinking "Four miles????!?! What?" However, in 7th and 8th grade I was either second or third place every race. I realized that I liked the feeling of flying through the woods, trekking up the hills, and sailing into that finish line. I lived to grab that popsicle stick at the finish line.

It was only natural for me to run in high school. It was also helpful that a few girls from my private middle school also ran for my high school. There were so many of us, that there was a joke that we just took over the team. The familiarity helped me assimilate into the team, which helped me adapt to high school culture in general. I had been running with the girls all summer at captain's practices three days a week, and we had practices with the coach and the full team a week before school started. That was nice for two reasons: I got to keep up on all the drama of my hometown of the summer, and when school started, I had someone to talk to or eat lunch with if I didn't have any friends to eat with. 

My high school team.

The first few years of high school, I wasn't what you would call an elite athlete. I didn't make varsity until junior year, and that was only for one race. It was a combination of me being not "varsity level", and other girls being naturally better. I say naturally, because though I am not a "natural" of any sorts, nor was I born with the perfect running body, but I am a hard worker. When giving out an award to me, my coach would say, "If I told Nikki to run into a wall, she would." The thing is, I probably would. My college coach said the same thing. Every hill workout, long run, and repeat workout, I would do the brunt of it without complaining. My senior year I saw my times drop and my ranks improve, along with my confidence level.

However, I was still convinced that I wasn't going to run in college. I wasn't top varsity so I didn't think that I would be good enough to be competitive in college. However, before my college orientation, I searched the times of the women's team for their 5Ks and I realized that I could totally be competitive with them. That, the fact that it is a DIII school, and that I met the coach and a future teammate and friend, Claire, at orientation and they were really nice solidified the fact that I was going to be an NCAA athlete in the future.

After my first college race. We had to drive to New Hampshire and got caught in traffic. We showed up the race five minutes before the gun went off, so we weren't stretched or warmed up at all. I also ran with a newly opened scab that I had to have someone haphazardly wrap on the bus. You can see the wrapping, I'm the fourth one from the right. Everyone said that they would have quit if it was their first race, but I would never quit. I would give anything to go back to how things were there.

Joining the SSU cross country team was the best decision I ever made in my collegiate life. It helped me in a similar way socially as it did in high school. Moving in early and taking a ferry from Boston to Spectacle Island to do mile repeats was a bonding experience I could never have with any other group of friends. Now, I can call my team some of the best friends I will ever have and will ever meet.

In my first year of intercollegiate competition, I was either second or third place every race, and had a 22:52 PR for a 5K time. My second year, I was either third or fifth place every race and had 23:34 PR for my 5K. Even though every "tempo Tuesday", hill repeat, ten mile run on Sundays, and 

nerve-wracking race was difficult, terrifying, and testing but was so worthwhile. Even in the moment when I hated it, I lived for it. I loved every minute of it. I loved myself for keeping to it, dedicating and disciplining myself. I kept my body and mind in great shape. Through being a collegiate athlete, I have gained time-management, professional, and team building skills. I've gotten to run in beautiful places such as Mt. Greylock, Colt State Park, Gallows Hill, Salem Willows, Marblehead Neck, Castle Rock, Spectacle Island, Salem-Beverly Bridge, many beauty rail trails around Massachusetts. I've gotten the opportunity to meet a great group of individuals that I can call my team, friends, and support system.

A very cold conference meet this year. I'm in the second row on the right.

If you couldn't already tell by the sappiness of this post, the university due to budget problems has chosen to cut the cross country program from the athletic roster. I've dealt with this many ways these past fews weeks: anger, tears, rant, despair, etc. However, I thought it would only be right to get some feelings out with a blog post. Cross country has been in my life for eight years. Running will never stop for me. My team will always be my team, my coach my coach, my friends my friends, my awards my awards, my miles ran my miles ran. They can take my program from me, but they can't take my feet from me.  They will never take the open road from me. I will always stay running.

Our first race this year. Lady Viking huddle!

I feel like a part of me is gone. Cross country has been ever-present in my life sine sixth grade. Even though I played basketball, softball, and lacrosse, I was always just wishing it could be fall again so I could toe the line with my best friends. There was no off-season. Where do I go from here? A running club is going to be started at the University. There is some interest in that. I'll do that to stay in shape and do the thing I love, but, in all honesty it's not the same. The administration knows it's not the same. I'll take the bone they're throwing at us for now, but I know half of my effort in the running club will be fundraising so that in two more years or so, the administration can see the funds raised and perhaps raise cross country to varsity level again. I won't be here for it, but if I can no longer be benefitted by the perks of being a collegiate athlete, I want another lost freshmen to find their place through such a great sport.

It's not that pretty, but no mess is. I started with me in the middle. Then, I decided four categories that are important to me - Health, Writing, Experiences, and Relationships. Then, from these "sectors" of my life I picked out the details that were the most important to me.

Then, it discussed finding an overlap between your passions. I like health and nutrition/fitness, and I like to write and I'm decent at media production. But where does that intersect? The article said to either do something or just wait for inspiration. As for the professional part of my life, I decided to wait. I'm young, I have 3 and a half years left of my undergrad. However, I decided to make something new on my blog!

Here's where the challenge comes in! I'm so excited for this, I'm typing at the speed of light. I've always wanted to do something like a weekly series on my blog, this is my first try. Another one might arise soon, like beauty favorites or one to prepare for a perfect beach body.

Welcome to the "Be Your Valentine" weekly series! It's a great way to get into the valentines day spirit by loving the most important person in your life, yourself! Of course we all have our significant others, I have mine, but sometimes we have to show ourselves how much we really love and appreciate ourselves. This is INSPIRED by Karen and Katrina's "Love Your Body" series - but it's not copied! This challenge has to do with bettering yourselves and your mind, I'll leave the workouts to them. 

So, basically every week I want you to make two promises to yourself. One social promise, and one promise to try something new - simple as that. However you gotta stick to it all week and get back to me about it every week. I'll post every Friday. There are four more Fridays from now until V-day including V-day! There will be a chance to win a face mask, a revlon balm stain, and an inspirational card! Stay tuned for the result!

So, how do you join the challenge and giveaway? First connect with me. Follow this blog either on bloglovin or Google, follow me on twitter and instagram (n_vergak) and subscribe to my youtube. Also, you must comment only ONCE in the four weeks your personal goal and what you are going to try new, either on a blog post or on the youtube video!

This week, I pledged myself to stop waving off every idea in my head as another fleeting thought and actually do something. I never want to get stagnant in my life. Instead of just running every day and not having a set schedule for blogging, I decided to start doing more Zumba and the TIU challenge. And of course I decided to do this weekly series. I think this will be therapeutic, am I right?

I've always wanted to try "K-Nourish" Oatmeal/hot cereal. So, I grabbed two boxes of it and I tried it this morning with fresh strawberries. I liked it! It was brown sugar-y, warm, and filling. I also started doing Zumba classes! I wanted to keep active however I didn't want to get bored of running. In Zumba I work muscles, work up a sweat, and have a great time!

That's it! I hope you guys join in on this, comment below your two challenges or tweet/instagram me! Make sure you follow up for every challenge, EVERY FRIDAY!!

picture from weheartit.com

picture from weheartit.com

top - Free People

shorts - Free People

sandals - stevemadden.com

Three words I can use to describe this look is majestic Navajo princess. It's the right amount of subtle and pop, the right about of loose and structured, and definitely the perfect balance between tribal and beachy. The bandeau and high wasited shorts combo make for a perfect statement look for going out because these peices are both so low maintenance. No buttons to mess around with, no straps to pull up. I have no words for the shorts, they are my favorite part of the outfit. Okay, maybe I have a LOT of words for them. At first look, they seem to have the silhouette of an A-line skirt, I was tricked, too. However they're a pair of flattering shorts. The seamless look makes it look even more carefree. My final words for them are I NEED THEM. 

Love it? Hope you enjoyed this quick post - a Pacsun/American Eagle/ Bare Essentials haul is coming your way. Here's a preview:

Happy spring cleaning!

Listen:

Shape Shifter - Local Native

She Built a Fire - Lord Huron

Heart Attack - Demi Lovato

Empty Space - The Story So Far