“Work Hard and Be Nice.”

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses "Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses "Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

"Work Hard and Be Nice." by popular Philadelphia lifestyle blogger Coming Up Roses

“Work Hard and Be Nice” tee (sizes keep going in + out of stock, so add this to your cart/wishlist and watch for when your size comes back in stock, if it’s currently not!) // Straight leg jeans (OBSESSED. So stinkin’ flattering. They’re h-o-t on yo’ booty!!! Classic + worth it. Runs TTS.) // Day heels (c/o – My FAVORITE heels – they’re as comfortable as flats! Could NOT recommend these more, especially for any of you working chicas who are running around all day + hate blisters…ain’t nobody got time for sore feet! As seen in this post. Also come in flats version.) // Straw bag (Burlington, similar here and similar here) // Lipstick (“Lady Danger”) // More Levi’s here

 

TGIF. Time for some #RealTalk.

I’ve been staring at a blinking cursor on a blank page since 7 am this morning.

OK OK that’s being dramatic…I also got up to reheat the same coffee mug approximately 6 times. And now that it’s thundering (I friggin’ lovelovelove thunderstorms), the cats are fed, I’m on cup #5 before grabbing a pizza + bottle of Cab with the hubs, and it’s so dark from the pending storm that I feel like I’m blogging in a cave. BRB, turning lights on. HA.

TBH, sometimes I feel like a really bad blogger because FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I never feel like my ish is fully together *when* I want it and *how* I want it to be together. One of my biggest goals I’m working towards now is getting all blog posts and content live by 6 AM for y’all. Meaning…I need to actually get it done before 6 AM. Lately, I’ve been in this really no good very bad cycle of waking up AT 6 and thinking to myself, “I am Wonder Woman, I can make it happen right here + now.”

Newflash, E…you’re not Wonder Woman.

You are human. And it’s nearly impossible for humans to survive on 6 hours of sleep, working 10-16 hour days, waking up everyday at 6 AM only to head straight to the Keurig and into le office and then workworkworkworkwork until it’s quitting time. The only thing that’s making happen is burnout. I feel so much better and so much less anxious if I just get that one simple thing done “on time,” in my book. And for that reason alone, I’ve gotta put it out into the universe and make it happen. Justbecause it’s worth it.

But as much as I’m trying to get better at posting exactly “on time” and being an A+ blogger – I’m also trying to get better at giving myself grace.

And ya know what? I think I AM getting better at that.

Especially in such a saturated, competitive industry on such a dynamic platform as the internet, it can be all too easy to become obsessed with consumption. To consume instead of create. To obsess over numbers and data. To raise the bar perpetually, forgetting to redefine “success” along the way. To forget about what really matters in life and focus on the wrong things in a fruitless pursuit of things that, in the end, don’t really matter all that much after all.

That leads me to this.

In the end, there’s one really important key in life.

Work hard and be nice.

First off: Hard work.

It’s really seriously important. “If it’s important to you, you’ll find a way. If it’s not, you’ll find an excuse.” It continues to baffle me how often I see folks complain about where they’re at in life (or where they’re not), with an expectation for others to fix the problem for them. Of course we can’t inherently do it all or fix it all ourselves – again, not Wonder Woman – but we can often surprise ourselves with just how dang much we ARE capable of without even knowing it.

I think it’s important to define what hard work means to you, too. What Susie Q’s definition of “hard work” is might be different than yours, ’cause Susie Q’s entire upbringing, experiences, + LIFE are different than yours.

And that’s A-OK.

But you’ve gotta put in the elbow grease. We live in a world today that forgets elbow grease exists unless Google tells us it does. Everything is searchable in half a millisecond, and there’s not necessarily a push to *think* when we’re in a pinch. Instead, we ask Siri for answers and let a computer do the hard work for us.

But we’re still humans. Everything can be digitized, but not everything is *better* digitized. Work hard + elbow grease still goes a long way. Good communication (in person/offline) still goes a long way. And unless we wanna become vegetables that do whatever a hardware system of algorithms tells us to do – we’ve gotta keep on keepin’ on, working hard to find our own answers + pave our own paths.

Working hard matters.

Second: Be nice.

Really, be kind. Be truly open + loving to people who cross your path, no matter their background, gender, race, job title, skin color. What’s been happening in our country lately? In Charlottesville? NOT okay. For any group of people to think they are better than anyone else simply because of the color of their skin is, quite frankly, disgusting. It’s not cool. It’s not appropriate. It’s not acceptable. While simply “being nice” is by no means a solution to something as serious as racism or hatred – I like to think it’s a start. The world would be at least a BIT better if every single person on it was intentionally kind to every single other person – point blank period. No quips or qualms about it. If everyone’s hearts were changed and came from a place of love + understanding instead of irrational judgment or pointed hatred, we could raise different, better generations.

You do not need a reason to be nice to someone other than they are another human being. They deserve kindness just as much as you do.

Being nice matters.

Aaaaaaaand I needed to get that off my chest, yo. Thanks for listening. Thanks for reading. Thanks for being a really fabulous, badass, inspiring group o’ gals (+ guys? Any fellas in da house?).

So with that, I’m gonna break another “blogging rule” and share way-too-many pictures, justbecause I really friggin’ loveloveloved this shoot. MK? MK. 🙂

"Work Hard and Be Nice."

"Work Hard and Be Nice." "Work Hard and Be Nice."

 "Work Hard and Be Nice."

  "Work Hard and Be Nice."

"Work Hard and Be Nice."

What does “work hard and be nice” mean to you?

What does hard work look like to you? What does being nice look like to you? I’d lovelovelove to hear + talk about it.

Hard work + kindness goes a long way, folks.

Work hard. Be nice. Make it happen.

Have a great weekend.signature blog