I grew up in a home where there was always plenty. Plenty of snacks, games, movies, craft materials, pillows & blankets, love, encouragement, honesty, and trust. That does not mean that money and good temperaments were always in abundance. I certainly did not receive everything I wanted on demand. There were many occasions that my…
Author: L.M. Beatty
Artist & Author. Passionate Believer. Addicted to coffee, sunshine & laughter.
Inspired to find & share about the remarkable things that make life extraordinary.
Improve. Expand. Grow.
Tedium and repetition are the single-handed killers of my dreams and productivity. There are many times that I have yielded to boredom and let monotony run my life. Call it “The Curse of the Digital Age” or “The Millenial Struggle of Indifference”; there is an epidemic of apathy, especially in modern young adults, to strive…
Kazakhstan | 2013
Kazakhstan was the first of my two study trips during my master’s program. The largest of all the “-stan” countries, Kazakhstan is tucked between Russia, Mongolia, and China and the culture definitely reflects the geographical intersection through the diversity of languages, body characteristics, geo-political orientations, transportation, architecture, and food & drink. As a small group…
Morocco | 2014
Forgoing the opportunity to visit home after seven months abroad, I signed up for another study trip (the first being to Kazakhstan for fall break) for the first week of spring break during my master’s program. On a rainy February day in Paris, twelve students & my program director boarded a plane for a nine-day…
Unconventional productivity
Ever since completing my master’s program, I have more often than not hesitated to reach out to update friends, family, and potential networking connections because I “haven’t made it yet”. There is not a big kid job at the top of my resume to prove that I am a capable and successful adult. There is…
Australia | 2012
If travel pictures aren’t posted on social media sites, does that mean the trip didn’t happen? That is how I sometimes feel about my Australian adventure from a few summer ago. I am not sure why, but I never managed to post any pictures of this particular travel experience. A small group of students from my undergraduate university spent…
Airplane blankets & family photos
I am a natural introvert and I recharge my energy through solitude. Solitude is not necessarily about being lonely; although I freely admit that I spent many hours and many days feeling lonely when I lived in Paris for a yearlong master’s program. To me, solitude is about finding stillness and a sense of peace…
“Do one thing everyday that scares you.”
In my experience, life can be extraordinarily colorful when I step outside of my comfort zone and do things that get my heart racing, my palms sweating, and my head spinning a little bit. There are many actions that elicit at least one of those bodily reactions from me. My body was in shock for…
Life isn’t about you
I have not lived for that long. I haven’t even seen my quarter-of-a-century birthday yet. I definitely have not figured out “what I want to be when I grow up” yet. But I do understand that my life is not actually about me. That may sound overly optimistic, exceedingly naïve, and pompously self-sacrificing, but if…
L.M.Beatty 