Lex in the City – Lex in the City

R&R

Leap of Faith

November 7, 2021November 7, 2021by Alexa2 Comments

It’s been almost six months since I’ve posted here on my blog. There are a variety of reasons for that: lack of motivation, an unhealthy obsession I developed with analytics, and simply not having much to say or share. In 2019, I set out to dedicate this blog to travel-related content and since 2020, the universe decided that wasn’t the path for me. I have traveled to more new places in 2021, however, a year off from traveling regularly and trying to sustain a weekly posting schedule with arguably irrelevant content took whatever steam I had left for blogging completely out. Most trips this year were solely dedicated to enjoying myself in real time and just being grateful to be able to travel safely. While I have absolutely no clue what the future of this blog looks like, I was inspired for the first time in almost six months to just write something.

Two months ago, I moved full time to El Paso, TX. If you follow this blog and my social media, you know that I have been living with my boyfriend since last year and a job opportunity relocated him to his old stomping grounds of El Paso/Ciudad Juárez. Since my job was remote at the time (and will continue to be permanently remote), I took this as a sign to take a leap of faith and challenge myself in a new way. Since 2018, I have been begging for the universe to give me some real, tangible change in my life. While this was always centered around the confusion and uncertainty around my career, the proposition of moving to El Paso was a change to consider as well. At only 27 with no major financial issues, not having to be a caretaker for anyone, and no real roots in one place (e.g. a house, a business, etc.), I saw this as an opportunity to accomplish the following:

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Lex Files

The Power of Allyship

April 11, 2021April 18, 2021by AlexaLeave a Comment

The older I get, the more and more significant my identity becomes to me. During the resurgence of the BLM movement last year, I wrote about how important it was to keep pushing for change. While a very obvious change occurred politically in the U.S. (read: the election), it does not mean the work is done and the problems have vanished, as evidenced by the recent shooting of Daunte Wright. I can (and will) talk until I’m blue in the face about systemic racism against black people, but today, I want to talk about strenghtening allyship.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I joined a book club last summer that has truly become one of the primary highlights of my week. Each Sunday, I meet with other people of color to discuss books that directly address racism and race-related topics. It is the much-needed safe space that I didn’t realize was missing from my life. Every book helps me reshape my perspective and I think to myself, “This is it. This is the best book I’ve ever read” until we tackle another amazing read. A few books in particular, however, have really solidified how important allyship is. We started our club with primarily autobiographies and we started incorporating more fiction; still, the fictional and blended fact-and-fiction reads have detailed very real and historical events in communities of color across the globe. If you have been seeking new books by authors of color that give firsthand accounts of generational linkages, these are three you cannot miss:

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R&R

Gotta Have Soul

March 21, 2021March 21, 2021by Alexa1 Comment

TW: Mortality/death mention.

Happy Spring, everyone! Have you seen the movie, “Soul?” I watched it around Christmas primarily to see beautifully designed, black animated characters. But, as Disney and Pixar would have it, I walked away with so much more.

At the end of 2020, I made a video about 20 lessons I learned from the year. Several of those lessons revolved around the appreciation I gained for time and daily life. Yet even as I write this, I am focused on what I am going to do with the days off I took next month, and stressing over finances, and trying to plan out my next series of hairstyles so I am prepared for the warm weather. At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong with that–we are stuck in the house with our thoughts, so we occupy that thinking space with ideas that bring us joy, excitement, anything outside of the mundanity we have been experiencing for the last year. I sometimes feel the way I did when I was unemployed in 2016 and part of 2017 just thinking the next day would be “the day,” and then looking up to see it’d been months of me doing the same thing every day. But what have I really learned if I continue to chase the future? I continue to operate as though time is guaranteed to me.

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R&R

Learning to Love Again

March 3, 2021March 3, 2021by Alexa1 Comment

It’s been a minute, hasn’t it?

This past month, I have had to take a break from my creative endeavors. When the month started, I had so many posts and video ideas I wanted to share with a pre-planned schedule for all of my platforms. But the world has other plans for me. I wish I could say it was something that specifically happened to me or a thought that crossed my mind, but it wasn’t. I just burned out. You know that feeling when you just don’t feel like yourself? When a bad mood carries over a couple of days and then it’s weeks and then finally it’s been a month and you’re like, “Why am I not feeling better?” I know this is not a universal experience, but it is common. While I may not know what the catalyst was, I knew for a fact that I was not right at my core. I had to stop everything.

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