Goodbye 2016: You Were a Roller Coaster

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

A new year is on the horizon. For some, it may mean the apocalypse with Trump’s reign as the new president. For others, it may be a chance to start anew or continue in growth as a person. 2016 has been a festering pile of garbage – bearing ghastly moments we never thought would occur such as the death of some iconic people, tragedies with no end in sight, and political debates as wayward as a curved road.

We are standing on a hazardous shore with rough tides, wondering what exactly 2017 will promise us. We can swim out to sea and brave the choppy waves and roll with them, becoming a stronger being. We can stay at the shore and bide our time before making a move. We can watch from afar and carry on our lives as best as we can. We have choices, but we can’t turn away from 2017.

Despite the harshness of 2016, this year was by far the best year of my life. Not because of any celebrity’s death or the ungodly tragedies that scattered our world or even the winning elector. Rather, it was a year of meeting Internet celebrities I’ve been following for years, for being more of myself and becoming empowered, for meeting someone who I want to spend the rest of my life with, and for broadening my mind and world more than what I’ve already known.

2017 for me will mean moving on with my life. Yes, I’m absolutely terrified of what Trump will do especially to people of my feminine gender. This fear, paired with my depression and anxiety cannot dominate me. I’ve allowed it to win too many times in the past and frankly, I’m done with them.

Here are the things I need to do in 2017:

1.       Live – 2016 flew by and the older you become, the faster time flies. I need to take time with my hands and do with it what I want. By that I plan to live – go out more and try Cuban food or go to that museum I’ve always wanted to see especially with the one I love by my side. Time can’t stop me anymore.

2.       Work out – Hey, did you know your metabolism slows as you get older? Want proof? In January 2016, I weighed 120 and now I weigh 134. I need to tone my body, shake off the extra weight, and continue my fight to cut soda from my diet. Albeit, I do accept who I am physically and mentally, I realize that I’m getting older and my body isn’t what it used to be. I need to take care of it now more than ever. 

3.       Write – This goes in hand with taking time into my hands and doing what I will. I have to utilize time to finish my original works and work on the blog. I have allowed time to get in my way of publishing my entries due to my social life, a relationship, the holidays, and going out into the world around me. Yes, I apologize, but now I understand what I need to do.

4.       Improve  - This also ties in with working out, but more so on a mental note. While I do already accept myself mentally and physically, I still want to improve my anxiety which seems to attack me most in my life. I need to find ways to quell it so that it doesn’t affect me as much.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry! If you enjoyed it, feel free to share, subscribe, comment and critique.

So tell me, what are your New Year’s resolutions?

Confidence in Cosplay

Good evening everyone and welcome to The Magical Mystery Blog.

The biggest con event of the year is happening this weekend. That’s right it’s New York Comic Con. NYCC is one of the largest cons in the nation drawing together iconic celebrities, cosplayers, and geeks.  Most cosplayers will probably roam about the city and be themselves.

For someone with anxiety, roaming around the city in cosplay is a victory. Growing up, cosplay was looked down upon and considered to be a waste of time. Whenever a cosplay was worn it was often made fun of and the cosplayer was deemed a loser. Even when attending ACBC and WWP this year, I was a bit hesitant to walk around in public dressed in my cosplay. I had no idea how I would be viewed or would be said of me. However, maturity and cosplay’s modern acceptance and view have changed me.

I’m a woman in her late twenties cosplaying a fictional character and to be frank with you, I couldn’t be happier. It’s an extension of expressing myself and to publicly wear that cosplay for a con I’m attending gives me joy. Sometimes I’ll get compliments. Sometimes I’ll get strange stares, but at the same time I simply don’t care. I’m being myself and it’s wonderful. It takes a ton of confidence and assurance to be one’s self in this world with bullies (both physical and cyber), society’s perspective of things, and people in general. I think after all these years my confidence has come to fruition especially by means of cosplay.

When Saturday comes I will happily walk onto the train, through the stations, down to Manhattan, and wherever else I please wearing my cosplay. I have the confidence to override my anxiety, ignore what other people think and/or say of me, and just generally be myself. It’s a feeling that once embraced, can never be taken away from you and cosplay has helped me achieved that.

I think in life we need to find the things that make us incredibly confident. It can be one thing or it can be multiple things. For me it would have to be writing and cosplaying and maybe it’s other activities I haven’t discovered, but if there are any more, I plan to discover and fully embrace them.

Thank you for reading tonight’s entry. If you enjoyed it, feel free to comment, critique, share, and subscribe.

So tell me, what makes you feel confident?