Do Not Enter

Well hello there, folks!

You will be happy to know that all of the delicious cake that was used to celebrate my 200th blog post has officially been eaten!

And boy…were they delicious cakes!

HUGE thanks to Cake N Cup Bakery and my friend Sarah Katz for creating those sweet treats to celebrate!

Also, fun random fact is that I’m currently listening to Katy Perry’s “Roar” on repeat. This actually happened to be my pump me up jam on Thursday night after a what had been a very mentally exhausting week and day.

Also, second fun random fact is that it was exactly one year ago that I was in Vegas seeing Katy’s residency at Resorts World with Devin.

Well, let’s get down to business.

My mental and emotional bandwidth are still lacking, so I promise not to keep you long.

This past weekend, I was driving around Lititz doing some leisurely exploring with no real agenda and happened to stumble across an image that I’ve never second guessed in all the times I’ve passed this particular entity before.

But, the image is something that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind.

And it is now something that I’ve really started to think about, especially as a 35-year-old with a more mature brain.

The image I’m talking about happens to be a particular building that is usually one that society would expect to be welcoming to others, but on the outside of this particular building there happen to be a multitude of red Do Not Enter signs.

While I know that these signs are used to signify the way cars are to enter the parking lot properly, in my mind, I couldn’t help but think of the following:

The color red (which happens to be the prominent color of the do not enter sign) is one that I usually assosciate with negative thoughts (I think of the red light, the stop sign, negative bank balances, etc).
The signs heavily populate the outside of the entrance that it presents an overall image (to me personally) of one that is not welcoming. I kid you not…there are at least 4 signs within inches of each other flooding the parking lot entrance.

-DO NOT ENTER if you have different beliefs than us.

-DO NOT ENTER if you are gay.

-DO NOT ENTER if you are not willing to follow exactly what we say is right and wrong.

These were just a few of the thoughts that flooded my mind as I continued driving on my way.

In a world where there is so much hate, shouldn’t we be welcoming all regardless of their ethnicity, sexuality, religion, social class, economic status, or whatever the case may be?

Just some food for thought.

What I will continue to try and say DO NOT ENTER to in these coming weeks as I work on myself in 2023 are the negative thoughts that permeate the mind with feelings of jealousy and unworthiness.

I will continue to say DO NOT ENTER to those in life who don’t matter and create a toxic energy that I’ve allowed to influence me over the years that I realize now was a waste of time and not necessary.

I will continue to say DO NOT ENTER to the negative self-talk that acts like a cancerous tumor sucking energy from all angles of life.

I will continue to say DO NOT ENTER to the fact that it is not possible or realistic for everyone in life to like me or to make every single person I meet happy.

What will you say DO NOT ENTER to in your life this 2023?

And before I bid you a beautiful week ahead, here are some songs that have been able to give me that much-needed pump me up energy to recharge my emotional bandwidth this week that I hope might just do the same for you: