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![The Survival Guide To Break Up Season](https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUyODU2NS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTc0MDQ5MDk2MH0.UUAi6mPe0Vo8vvPo1xa0hKJQwatH4rZiodt6GuESRk4/img.gif?width=600&height=600&quality=90&coordinates=110%2C0%2C110%2C0)
Breakup season is upon us ladies.
The weather is getting nicer, sundresses are making their return, and men are losing their minds! Cuffing season has come and went and while your wintertime boo may have kept you warm on more than a few nights, you both knew once the weather broke, his services would no longer be needed and here you are, single and ready to mingle (or not).
Whether you chose to end things or he did, a breakup does not have to be the end of the world for you. In fact, breakups can often lead us to discovering what matters most: ourselves.
Remain Positive
A woman can date a man for three months and have a complete breakdown once that relationship has ended. The same woman can date a man for five years and not shed a single tear once the relationship dissolves. Breakups, as with anything else in life, are all about perspective. All relationships are not going to end in marriage and that is usually for the best.
Imagine if you married that guy you were head over heels for in high school or college. You've seen his Facebook and he probably looks nothing like he did back then. Believe me, I've had a few high school crushes and their Facebook and IG pages reveal time has not done them well at all. I digress, remaining positive in any situation will always help you see the bigger picture. So the relationship with one guy didn't work out, you do realize that there are literally billions more in the world, right?
Take time to think about why things didn't work out.
Maybe his purpose in your life was not to someday become the man you marry but to help teach you something that you can use in your life. I believe every negative situation has a positive to it. Be thankful for the positives you've gained from this experience, even if the only positive thing you can think of is that you got out of it. Be thankful that you had the sense to end a dead end relationship.
Reclaim Your Focus
When I was younger, I was extremely attached to my then-boyfriend, now-husband. I spent way too much time with him. Either he was at my house or I was at his. Every holiday, every weekend, almost every night was spent with him and this went on for years. It wasn't until we had tension that I found myself spending more time with my friends and family. I didn't even realize at the time that I had been neglecting them, and even myself, to the point that I had.
When we're in love, it's easy to want to spend every waking moment with your guy, but it is also extremely detrimental to your personal growth. At one point, his own mother had to sit down and have a talk with me about my future one day when I was cleaning his room while he was at school. I was a mess guys. Maybe you weren't as crazy in love as I was, but perhaps you also found yourself slipping away while dating and simply did not spend as much time focusing on your own goals, wants, and needs while you were in the relationship.
Being single is the perfect time to focus on you.
Now that you are single, you can use all of that time and energy you would on a man on yourself. Imagine how amazing you will feel simply by giving to yourself what you were giving to him. Focus on losing that relationship weight you put on and becoming more healthy, start spending time getting to know you. What do you like to do outside of a relationship? Start that business you have been putting off for years. Spend time with your family that you always say you are going to call but don't. Go have drinks with your girls that never got to see you when you were with him. Simply reclaim your time and focus on building and being a better you.
Recreate Yourself
Just because you've always been the shy girl, the loud one, the serial dater, the hopeless romantic, the mean girl, the too nice girl, the insecure girl, or the easy girl, doesn't mean you have to continue being that girl. Whatever title was stamped on you, whatever you felt you were, and whatever image you felt the need to maintain, as easily as you got is as easy as you can erase and recreate yourself into the woman you want to be. Another beautiful thing about breakups is not only discovering who you are but getting the chance to redefine who you are for yourself.
Maybe you were always so-and-so's girlfriend. You always hung with his circle of friends and family and to many of them, that is all that you were. Maybe you've simply had a negative title placed on you as a person and you are not, never were, or no longer want to be that girl. Change it. Growing up, I never knew where I fit in. I never met anyone quite like me and though I have some amazing friends in many of my circles, I felt like an outsider.
Often times in dating, we conform without even realizing it and take on the image of what our partner thinks is most beautiful even if that goes against what we feel. By redefining, recreating, or rediscovering ourselves, we allow ourselves to be the woman we have always known we were deep down inside. And what is more beautiful than being yourself?
While I'm not denying the facts that breakups can be hard, heartbreaking, and, at times, nothing short of gut-wrenching, they do not equal the end of the world and most certainly not the end of you. All things in life come to an end and depending on your mindset, that end can be as beautiful as you want it to be.
I hope in this season you discover all of the beautiful things about you without the need of a man or anyone else telling you.
Featured image by Giphy
Ashley Renee is a soul food enthusiast, sometimes vegetarian, writer and spoken word poet, who doesn't trust boxed macaroni or cats. keep up with her @ashleyreneepoet on Twitter & Instagram.
For Us, By Us: How HBCU Alumni Are Building Legacies Through Entrepreneurship
Homecoming season is here, and alumni are returning to the yard to celebrate with their friends and family at the historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have changed their lives forever.
No matter where their life journeys have taken them, for HBCU students from near and far, returning to where it all started can invoke feelings of nostalgia, appreciation for the past, and inspiration for the future.
The seeds for these entrepreneurs were planted during their time as students at schools like Spelman, North Carolina A&T, and more, which is why xoNecole caught up with Look Good Live Well’s Ariane Turner, HBCU Buzz’s Luke Lawal and Morehouse Senior Director of Marketing and Comms and Press Secretary Jasmine Gurley to highlight the role their HBCU roots play in their work as entrepreneurs, the legacy they aim to leave behind through the work that they do, and more as a part of Hyundai’s Best In Class initiative.
On Honoring HBCU Roots To Create Something That Is For Us, By Us
Ariane Turner
Courtesy
When Ariane Turner launched Look Good, Live Well, she created it with Black and brown people in mind, especially those with sensitive skin more prone to dryness and skin conditions like acne and eczema.
The Florida A&M University graduate launched her business to create something that addressed topical skin care needs and was intentional about its approach without negative terminology.
Turner shared that it is important to steer clear of language often adopted by more prominent brands, such as “banishing breakouts” or “correcting the skin,” because, in reality, Turner says there is nothing wrong with the way that our skin and bodies react to various life changes.
“I think what I have taken with me regarding my HBCU experience and translated to my entrepreneurial experience is the importance of not just networking,” Turner, the founder and CEO of Look Good, Live Well, tellls xoNecole.
“We hear that in business all the time, your network is your net worth, but family, there’s a thing at FAMU that we call FAMU-lee instead of family, and it’s very much a thing. What that taught me is the importance of not just making relationships and not just making that connection, but truly working on deepening them, and so being intentional about connecting with people initially, but staying connected and building and deepening those relationships, and that has served me tremendously in business, whether it’s being able to reach back to other classmates who I went to school with, or just networking in general.”
She adds, “I don’t come from a business background. As soon as I finished school, I continued with my entrepreneurial journey, and so there’s a lot of that traditional business act and the networking, those soft skills that I just don’t have, but I will say that just understanding how to leverage and network community and to build intentional relationships is something that has taken me far and I definitely got those roots while attending FAMU.”
On Solving A Very Specific Need For The Community
Luke Lawal Jr.
Courtesy
When Luke Lawal Jr. launched HBCU Buzz, his main focus was to represent his community, using the platform to lift as they climbed by creating an outlet dedicated to celebrating the achievements and positive news affecting the 107 historically HBCUs nationwide.
By spotlighting the wonderful things that come from the HBCU community and coupling it with what he learned during his time at Bowie State University, Lawal used that knowledge to propel himself as an entrepreneur while also providing his people with accurate representation across the internet.
“The specific problem in 2011 when I started HBCU Buzz was more so around the fact that mainstream media always depict HBCUs as negative,” Lawal says. “You would only see HBCUs in the mainstream media when someone died, or the university president or someone was stepping down. It was always bad news, but they never shed light on all the wonderful things from our community."
So, I started HBCU Buzz to ensure the world saw the good things that come from our space. And they knew that HBCUs grew some of the brightest people in the world, and just trying to figure out ways to make sure our platform was a pedestal for all the students that come through our institutions.”
“The biggest goal is to continue to solve problems, continue to create brands that solve the problems of our communities, and make sure that our products, our brands, our companies, and institutions are of value and they’re helping our community,” he continues. “That they’re solving problems that propel our space forward.”
On How Being An HBCU Alum Impacts The Way One Shows Up In The World
Jasmine Gurley
Courtesy
Jasmine Gurley is a proud North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alum. She is even more delighted with her current role, which enables her to give back to current HBCU students as the Senior Director of Brand Marketing and Communications and official press secretary at Morehouse College.
“It was a formative experience where I really was able to come into my own and say yes to all the opportunities that were presented to me, and because of that, it’s been able to open the doors later in life too,” says Gurley of her experience at North Carolina A&T. “One thing I love about many HBCUs is that we are required to learn way more about African American history than you do in your typical K through 12 or even at the higher ed level."
She adds, “It allowed us to have a better understanding of where we came from, and so for me, because I’m a storyteller, I’m a history person, I’m very sensitive to life in general, being able to listen to the stories and the trials that our ancestors overcame, put the battery pack in my back to say, ‘Oh nothing can stop me. Absolutely nothing can stop me. I know where I came from, so I can overcome something and try anything. And I have an obligation to be my ancestors’ wildest dreams. Simultaneously, I also have a responsibility to help others realize that greatness.
Gurley does not take her position at an HBCU, now as a leader, lightly.
“People think I’m joking when I say I’m living the dream, but I really am,” she notes. “So I wake up every day and know that the work that I do matters, no matter how hard it might be, how frustrating it may be, and challenging it. I know the ripple effect of my work, my team, and what this institution does also matter. The trajectory of Black male experiences, community, history, and then just American advancement just in general.”
On the other hand, through her business, Sankofa Public Relations, Gurley is also on a mission to uplift brands in their quest to help their respective communities. Since its inception in 2017, Sankofa PR has been on a mission to “reach back and reclaim local, national, and global communities by helping those actively working to move” various areas of the world, focusing on pushing things forward for the better.
“Through Sankofa, we’ve worked with all different types of organizational brands and individuals in several different industries, but I would think of them as mission-based,” says Gurley.
“So with that, it’s an opportunity to help people who are trying to do good in the world, and they are passionate about what they’re doing. They just need help with marketing issues, storytelling, and branding, and that’s when my expertise can come into play. Help them get to that moment where they can tell their story through me or another platform, and that’s been super fulfilling.”
Join us in celebrating HBCU excellence! Check out our Best In Class hub for inspiring stories, empowering resources, and everything you need to embrace the HBCU experience.
Feature image courtesy
If you've been on TikTok lately, then you've probably engaged with a video or two about using castor oil to get great health benefits. As someone into holistic remedies and Ayurvedic medicine, I had to see what all the hype was about.
Now, I've already had a few experiences with castor oil. Years ago, I used to apply black Jamaican castor oil to my hair and my eyebrows to help them grow.
Also, my mom has often shared with me that growing up, my grandma would make them drink a spoonful of castor oil before starting the new school year.
According to her and other people 50+, drinking castor oil prevented them from getting sick, but it has an unpleasant taste. Fast forward to the present, we're seeing many people use castor oil in a variety of ways. Read below to see how to use castor oil and its benefits.
Castor Oil Benefits
Many TikTokers using castor oil claim that it brightens the skin, can shrink fibroids and cysts, supports liver and digestion, helps with menstrual cramps, can assist with weight loss, and more.
WebMD, however, lists castor oil benefits as constipation relief, may help to induce labor, may help heal wounds, and may help with inflammation due to its anti-inflammatory properties. Castor oil is made from seeds of the castor plant and it is very thick.
How To Use Castor Oil:
Castor Oil Packs
@nikki_kk19 Castor oil pack Castor oil pack for digestion Castor oil Benefits of castor oil Is castor oil good for bloating #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #castoroilpack #castoroilpacks #castoroilforbloating
Castor oil packs are an ancient practice that claims to help aid digestion, detox the liver, keep your stomach flat, and relieve menstrual cramps, especially when used with a hot water bottle. When wearing it to bed, beware that the oil can stain your sheets.
Drink It
@maryamjhampton Replying to @Mariama Bah castor oil gives the deepest cleanse ever #health #w #castoroil
Some people are using castor oil as a full body detox. TikToker @maryamjhampton shows us how to do it.
Rub Castor Oil Into Your Navel
@drsarubala #stitch with @PilatesBodyRaven sometimes we need to add in some extra nutrients when our sleep starts to improve 🫶🏾 #periodhealth #hormones #womenshealth #hormonehealth #cortisollevels #cortisol #castoroil
One of the most talked about ways to apply castor oil is by rubbing some into your navel. Some claim that it gave them the best sleep ever, and Dr. Bala explains why. Check out what she says in the TikTok above.
Add It To Your Skincare Routine
@itsjenniva Replying to @nitril0 Answering all of your questions about using castor oil on your face. #fyp #foryoupage #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #skincare #skincareroutine #skincaretips #skincaretiktok
TikToker @itsjenniva claims using castor oil has gotten rid of dark circles and overall brighten her skin. However, she did say that her skin went through a purge after using it. Speak to your dermatologist before adding it to your skincare routine.
Side Effects
@drjencaudle Castor Oil Packs? #castoroil #castoroilbenefit #castoroilbenefits #castoroilpack #castoroilforhair #castoroilforstomach #castoroilpacksbenefits #drjencaudle #fyp #fypシ
Although castor oil is a natural product, it can have some risks. It can cause skin irritation, and if you apply too much oil on your stomach or ingest too much, it can send you running to the bathroom.
While there isn't any scientific evidence that proves most of the claims are true, that shouldn't stop you from trying these tips. But make sure to start with a small amount to ensure no irritation occurs.
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Feature image by alexander ruiz/ Getty Images