Feeling Good — Joanna LaTorre

Mind over matter… this one gets personal.

Today, I feel good. Not amazing, not terrible, but good. Multiple weights have truly been lifted off of my shoulders. Today, I am grateful to be healthy, happy, and home in Florida.

The past two weeks have been nothing but a giant whirlwind. Being home (due to my abroad semester being practically cancelled) has provided me with ample time to reflect on my life. I was devastated hearing coronavirus entered Italy and further devastated watching the media reflect on the worsening mayhem. The world quite literally seemed to react like this:

To cheer up, I attempted to visit the people who I care(d) about most. However, that’s not exactly what worked.

Here’s How I Cheered Myself Up

I am pretty good at cheering myself up, I will admit. However, that’s not without the help of many other factors. Here is a list of things I did:

Social Media Detox: I deleted Instagram and Snapchat
- Seeing posts from students leaving Italy, and others from students traveling Europe, only made me feel worse about this situation. Sponsored posts were either still in Italian or related to the virus. Doing this also eliminates distractions from catching up on my online school work and internship preparation. Also, it’s Lent, so I can focus on my faith more.
Confidence: I researched ways to improve upon my natural beauty
- Confidence comes from within and via acceptance of natural beauty. I have curly hair, plus my straightener is stranded in Milan. Thus, I am done straightening it for a while. It’s time to love my curls.
- I’m buying an electronic toothbrush and scraper, a new jade roller (my old one is also stranded in Milan), and some new skincare/haircare products.
- I’m returning to my exercise-addict days. Let’s go.
Friends: I told my friends how I felt and made plans to spend time with them
- It’s nice to vent, but this also just gives an explanation for seemingly off behavior for a little while.
- Parties help, I will admit.
Diet: I stopped eating dairy/meat/animal..started eating healthier again
- Bad food just messes with hormones even more. I don’t need that added stress, acne, and sleep apnea.
- I’m also following this article on mood-boosting foods.
- Vegan ice cream helps too, for the moments when you just need to have a sweet.
Music: It’s probably one of the most effective solutions on this list.
- While I do play my Zipper playlist as a go-to, for the (rare) occasions when I want to listen to something else, the “Mood Booster” playlist on Spotify is honestly SO amazing and helps me a lot. I listen to the upbeat songs, let myself smile, and dance if I feel like it.

How I imagine I look, dancing to my own playlist.

The “boy*” story

For a few months, I had been talking to the same guy and thought our connection was strong enough to last the entire spring semester (despite the distance). I also expected this connection would ultimately lead to us dating each other this summer (i know, silly me). However, let’s just say I realized the things I brushed off as “simple mistakes” were actually red flags. I “overlooked” an entire personality before realizing it was a personality. So, I cut it off. Learn from my experience, and ACKNOWLEDGE these red flags. If the person of interest is not willing/attempting to make things work, they’re not right for you—not now, not later.

I think now is the best moment to officially coin the new term/label/slang I’ve been using the past year among my friend group:

the romantic f-boy.

That’s right, there is a new breed of f-boys among us. The f-boy species adapted. The romantic f-boys have read the same articles and watched the same videos we have. If you’re lucky, you can spot the signs early (usually they’re very smooth, but their words and actions don’t align). Trust me, some things really don’t make sense and are too good to be true.

Anyway, I have finally realized what I want in a relationship, and it wasn’t this^. I decided I was done sacrificing the things that matter to me, which include: