"Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, A heart that forgives the worst, A mind that forgets the bad, And a soul that never loses faith in God" - Unknown
A year ago today, I built this creative space for myself to be able to share real life stories that I have experienced and also share the lifestyle activities that I have done in hopes that it encourages and inspires someone to do something for themselves. It's interesting to look back and realize it's been a year and to see what has happened in this last year. This year today, I was sitting in my sister's hospital room at UCLA writing about her journey with skull/brain cancer, the surgery that was successful, and what laid ahead once she went home from the hospital. With her next to me, I was inspired to push forward with this new project.
I started my first blog [No.000] with stating, "Building from the past, Growing from the experiences, and the beginning of a new journey". A year later, I can say that I am growing from the many experiences that occurred this year and trying to begin a new journey with all the new norms life has thrown. I am doing my best to grow and accept the fact that my sister is no longer here and cancer took her away from us and at the same time, the whole world was hit with COVID-19 in which our entire lives have changed. What was once normal has changed. We are home more often, cautious when going out, protecting ourselves with masks, face shields, and using a lot of anti-bacterial.
I started 2020 off by looking back on the memories of 2019 where I was at the height of happiness celebrating a new chapter in life, excited that my sister was on her way to recovery despite the scary news we received a month prior about her condition, looking forward to the rest of 2020, and building The Project of Purpose & Life, and in an instant, I encountered situations of having times of sadness, times of laughter, times of madness, and now times of grief.
The Project of Purpose & Life was built and created during the time my sister was in the hospital battling brain cancer, going through critical surgery, and recovering from what happened. This was my space to share real life experiences to encourage people who have encountered the same situation or who may encounter the same situation. I wanted to show the imperfections of this life and the reality that we all go through different types of hardship in life.
I had high hopes that in one of my blog posts in 2020 there would be a happier story in regards to my sister and that her recovery was fully successful; however, my sister's tumors returned aggressively right when she was recovering and going through rehab in February and sadly took her last breath in March.
Although my stories didn't all turn out the way I hope which would of had my sister surviving and beating cancer, I continued to move forward with this brand and continue sharing my experiences despite the unfortunate circumstance. Even though my blog posts will have sadness due to my sister no longer being here, I want to share how even though this road isn't easy nor has this season in my life been a favorite, in time I will overcome.
With that being said, I ventured into more new projects finding the purpose in each and everyone one of them. The newest project I ventured on was the dream my sister and I had as kids in having our own restaurant. Due to COVID, now isn't a really good time to build a restaurant so I ended up creating and selling baked goods. What was just a home activity grew into a bigger success when I started receiving requests for the baked goods I was sharing. For and because of my sister, I found the purpose to why I pursed it and I found life in doing it even though she isn't with me. Each time I bake, I express love and care in it and bake as if my sister is standing right next to me. With every order that has been made, it has felt like she has been with me every step of the way.
Today marks 1 year of The Project of Purpose & Life and I cannot thank you all enough for the support. For those who have walked along side me this year, thank you for the love, care, support, and comfort. To those who read through these stories, thank you for taking this journey with me in 2020. I hope in some way that one of these stories will encourage, inspire, and motivate you to tell your story or try something new. Thank you all again for the continuous support! May this upcoming year be filled with happier moments and easier times.
❤