I'm Back and I'm READY

Hello friends, family, fellow Americans. I know it has been far too long since I posted on my blog and I am here to save the day, to let you know that you must not wait any longer! I promise I will get better at this (I may be crossing my fingers right now). And I no longer will be blessing you every Sunday, but once a week at an undisclosed moment, just to keep you on your toes.

Many of you know the current state of my family, but for those who do not, I lost my grandfather on Friday, January 13th. It's been one helluva roller coaster. Emotions come and go. However, one thing has remained extremely pertinent throughout this experience and that's my level of gratitude.

I am grateful for 19 wonderful years with the best grandpa ever! I am grateful to have someone to be sad about losing. I am grateful for crazy and fun memories with him. I am grateful to have spent all the last holidays with him. I am grateful for all of winter break with his kind spirit. I am grateful to have been loved by such an amazing man.

I am grateful for my family, my amazing friends, and supporters who have come from far and wide to wrap me with their love. I'm grateful for the millions of texts and calls I have received over the last few weeks. I'm grateful when I get the random "I love you! Have a good day texts!" I will never forget the wonderful people who reached out with loving arms during my times of need. (Yes, there will be lots to more to come). I am grateful for everyone's patience surrounding this life altering event. Thank you. I could never thank you enough.

I am also grateful to be 19!!!!! My birthday, although different than any other year, allowed me to reflect heavily on where I'm going and who I am taking with me. I spent a lot of my actual birthday alone and I couldn't be more grateful for that because I CAN do it. I can be solely in solitude and grateful for every moment spent in peace.

I'm grateful for our amazing California Coast, with treacherous sea reaching far and wide. I'm grateful to live 15 minutes from the quaint town of Avila Beach. I'm grateful to enjoy many future moments with friends and my butt in the sand (OR HANGING ABOVE IN MY SUPER COOL, SUPER NEON HAMMOCK! THANKS CHAD!)

I am grateful for Cal Poly and their student services. I am grateful for my wonderful professors who care about teaching me and understand it might just be a little more difficult for me to learn at this time. I am thankful for the ability to reach out for my professors for an extension and them understand. I am eternally grateful for the continuous amount of welcoming environments I feel in their classrooms and offices. I am grateful for RPTA and the entire Experience Industry Management. I am thankful to feel like I finally belong somewhere.

I am grateful to have found a pair of jeans in the laundry room that I have been missing for two weeks. (The ones with holes in them that I used my grandpa's money for). I am grateful to have found time in my busy schedule to write this. I am grateful for the beautiful flowers my mom sent me for my birthday that I can smell from down the hall. I am forever grateful for the Obamas and their 8 years of service to a highly ungrateful country. I am grateful for Fresh Fruit by Carter Reeves (GO LISTEN.) I'm grateful for the wonderful amount of Self Care I have, whether that be listening to new music or a fresh face mask or attending grief therapy. I'm grateful to share to my Twitter feed 2 things I am grateful for for the rest of 2017. I am grateful for the chance to become someone amazing during the duration of 2017.

I am grateful for last night, where I got to witness an incredible, mesmerizing event here on the Cal Poly campus. I never thought I could be in a place with so many differing opinions in such close proximity and feel so safe. Milo Yiannopoulus is an Alt-right British gay journalist who uses his sexuality as a platform to attack liberals and political correctness. Last night, he spoke on campus and there was a large protest in disgust that Cal Poly would let him come to campus; I witnessed the Confederate and Nazi flag being burned and people chanting "MY BODY, MY CHOICE." I am grateful for Free Speech. However, they also offered an alternative event, which I attended. It was called "Unite Cal Poly." I got to see a wonderful and hilarious comedian, W. Kamau Bell, and sit amongst my peers laughing. While his message also revolved around a very heavy topic, Racism, he spoke with eloquence and poise. He captivated the audience. While I tend to stray from sharing my opinion politically with most of the people who read this blog, this is a moment I will always cherish so dearly. I will never forget sitting in that auditorium with so many people who feel threatened and hurt with not only the environment of campus last night, but our new change in leadership under President Trump. Many of us feel victimized and saddened at his measures to drastically change the U.S. we were just starting to fall in love with. Women are scared. People of color are scared. The LGBQ+ community is scared. Immigrants are scared. But in that moment, we were safe. We were empowered together. We were united in a safe space. His message was very strong and very potent and I will carry it with me for years to come. I am really grateful for my Tuesday night.

And with that, I challenge you all. I challenge you to really discover what you believe. Dig a little deeper, aside from Fox News and the fake click bait that comes up on your Facebook feed. Discover what is important to you politically, regardless if it differs from what I believe in. I want you to be grateful for your opinions, to take pride in your ideology. Hold your head high, but don't shove it down someone's throat. Your right to free speech means the government can't arrest you for what you say. It doesn't mean that anyone else has to listen or cannot challenge you or show you the door, so do it in a respectful manner. AND LISTEN TO WHAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS TO SAY. If you don't know, ask. But discover and be curious. Find out your truth.


Thanks everyone,
I'm grateful you read this far.

xoxo,
Ari