Miss EmpowHer Blog

7 Ways You Get To Embrace Being Single in Your Early 20s

@justineskye It’s time to embrace the single life. Being single oftentimes gets treated like an incurable disease the older you get, one that gets magnified every Valentine’s Day and when you need a date for a wedding. Yet, dating isn’t always all that it’s cracked up to be. Studies have found that those who stay single for prolonged periods of time are staggeringly happier than those who date far more often. Likewise, studies have also shown that women who never marry or have children are considered to be among the happiest in society. And yet, despite all of this, so often we’d still rather be in a relationship than to get asked by a relative, “so, are you seeing anyone special lately?” The pressure to couple up comes on hard in your twenties when those around you start settling down or are in long term relationships. For some of us, the desire to stay single comes on naturally (we prefer to be alone in our own space, free of drama, thank you very much), but for others, companionship is all too important. Regardless of whether you’re single by choice or not, here are a few of the ways you can enjoy being blissfully single in your day-to-day life: Optimize This Time Don’t wait for a significant other to start enjoying your life. Start living your life and don’t wait for other people. The notion of going out to the movies by yourself or taking yourself out to dinner might be treated as sad by those around you, but not if you remind yourself that by eating dinner alone you’re only paying for your half, you don’t have to dress up or even put makeup on, and you don’t have to have any nerves about saying the right thing or going home with them afterwards. When you take yourself out on a dinner date, you can, for once, just focus on the food. You Get To Save Your Money You get to save your money and not just every year on February 14th. You get to save money on you and your partner’s would-be anniversary, your partner’s would-be birthday, and your partner’s would-be religious holiday, all of which you would have to spring for a gift on. During the ordinary times of your relationship, you would be expected to spend money on the things that you don’t get paid back for, cute things that you know your partner would like, and small gestures here and there. Herein lies part of the reason that long-term single people are happier: they have more money. You Have More Time For Your Friends What are friends for? With your Saturday nights free, you have ample time to hang out with your friends, which can be worth its weight in gold. Without a SO taking away your time, you’ll have more time to spend with your friends, and your female friends in particular. You’ll have more time and energy for them so go away for the weekend if you want. You’ll have the money. You Have More Time For Yourself I’m not just talking about putting on a face mask in your oversized sweatshirt as you watch Netflix on your laptop, sitting up in bed (although that sounds awesome too). There’s a freedom to being single. You don’t have to consider another person’s needs when applying to a new job that might force you to move or work long hours. All of the time in your life belongs to you. Go Out More You can get out more as part of the single life. You don’t have to wait around for your partner to be in the mood to go out or for your plans to align with their schedule. Without a partner around, you’ll feel guilt-free about going out to a bar or a party or a museum or park. Singles bars and bookstores will soon become your best friend. You Get To Enjoy Flirting When you have a partner, receiving interest from a member of the preferred sex can feel like a betrayal, even if you didn’t encourage or instigate it. Whenever someone starts flirting with you and you’re already spoken for, you feel the urge to shut it down as quickly as possible. With no one in your life to claim you, you can enjoy all of the positive attention you want from someone else. You even get to reciprocate it as much as you want. You’re young and flirting doesn’t happen as much when you get older. Get it while the gettin's good. Flirt away. Don’t Feel The Need To “Age Out Of Being Single” Being single isn’t something that you need to outgrow. Oftentimes, when we see advice about embracing being a single woman, it comes with an unwritten expiration date, as if to say “being single is cute for now, but cut it out by the time you’re forty.” Stay single for as long as you feel, with the knowledge that it is always better to be single than to settle. That concludes our list of reasons why you’re probably better off single until you find the right person. Here is your yearly reminder that you don’t need a man (or anyone of any gender, for that matter) to complete you. You’re fabulous the way you are and you’re free to enjoy your early twenties as an independent woman.

What to Know About HSA Qualified Expenses: Discover HSA-Eligible Expenses on Amazon

@dailykongfidence Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are becoming an increasingly popular option for people looking to save money on healthcare costs. An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account that can be used to pay for qualifying medical expenses. As the demand for HSAs has grown, so too has the availability of HSA products on Amazon. HSA-eligible products on Amazon. Amazon offers a variety of HSA-eligible products. These products can be purchased using HSA funds and Amazon even has a dedicated HSA store that makes it easy to find HSA-eligible products. Here is a list of my favorite HSA-eligible items available on Amazon: (1) Cera Ve Renewing SA Cleanser (2) Supergroup! Glow Oil SPF 50 (3) OLLY Prenatal Gummy Multivitamin (4) Biofreeze Roll-on Pain-Relieving Gel (5) COOLA Organic Water Stick Face Moisturizer with SPF 50 (6) Aquaphor Healing Balm Stick (7) Rael Organic Cotton Cover Pads (8) Pixie Cup- Menstrual Cups Starter Kit (9) Mighty Patch Benefits of HSA products on Amazon. One of the benefits of purchasing HSA products on Amazon is the convenience. You can shop for HSA-eligible products and services from the comfort of your own home and have them delivered directly to your door. Additionally, Amazon offers competitive pricing and a wide selection of products, so you're sure to find what you need at a price you can afford. Another benefit of shopping for HSA products on Amazon is the ability to read customer reviews. Before making a purchase, you can read reviews from other customers who have purchased the same product. This can help you make an informed decision and ensure that you're getting a high-quality product that meets your needs. Overall, Amazon is a great place to shop for HSA products. Whether you're looking for an HSA-eligible health insurance plan, an HSA account, or HSA-eligible products, Amazon has you covered. With competitive pricing, a wide selection of products, and the convenience of online shopping, Amazon is a top choice for anyone looking to take advantage of the benefits of an HSA. Check out Caitlyn Kumi’s Amazon Storefront to shop HSA-eligible items.

Spring Break Essentials: What to pack on your next vacation.

@alix_earle As a college student who is just getting back from a Spring Break trip, packing everything that I wanted to take in a carry-on was incredibly stressful. After the week was up, I realized that there were only 7 essential items that I needed for the week. With Spring Breaks in full swing and summer right around the corner, I have compiled a list of products that you can find on Amazon that I consider to be my vacation essentials! Sunglasses A cute and stylish pair of sunglasses are always a need when you are travelling to a sunny or tropical destination. You can also use them year-round when you are just driving around! Travel makeup mirror As college students on Spring Break, there is often a lack of counter space and mirrors when everyone is getting ready for the day or for a night out. Finding a travel mirror, especially one that has a light is a life saver because you can turn any space into your vanity! Bikini Vacation is always a good excuse for a new bikini. Shopping for bathing suits is always fun, especially seeing the new styles and patterns! Beach cover-up A comfy and stylish beach cover-up is a must! No matter where you are, it is super simple to slip over your bathing suit and you can wear it anywhere! Matching set For travel, or lounging around, a cute and comfy set is essential when going on a trip. You don’t have to put effort into your outfit, and you will still be comfortable and stylish. A good book Whether you are driving or flying, laying out on the beach, by the pool, or going on a hike, I find it entertaining to always travel with a good book. Travel toiletries One of the things that I find myself struggling with is packing too many toiletries which take up way too much space in a carry-on. It is helpful to find travel size versions of your products or containers that you can transfer your products in! Check out Caitlyn Kumi's Amazon Storefront to shop these essentials!

Quiet Quitting and Rage Applying May Change Your Life

@calliethorpe Lucky girl syndrome, which is the idea that you can manifest the life that you want by maintaining a positive attitude, introduces a new spin on how to get your dream job. Many have been quick to criticize this approach, stating that simply wearing a smile doesn’t change much of anything, especially not when it comes to job security, but while lucky girl syndrome has largely been written off as delusional, it highlights the recent focus that has been placed on people earning jobs that they feel supported by and the ways that they go about achieving them. Many new schemes for advancement in the workplace have come to light recently with “quiet quitting” and “rage applying,” being two of the most popular. Countless news outlets have even gone so far as to declare that “rage applying” is the new “quiet quitting,” creating somewhat of a contrived Gen Z–Millenial rift. Quiet quitting has been the domain of Millennials, while rage applying has been purely Gen Z, yet both are responses to burnout. Quiet quitting is the act of refusing to go above and beyond for a job that you don’t care about and doesn’t care about you. You may have spent hours working overtime for a job that doesn’t pay you overtime or you may be earnestly and ambitiously giving a job or internship your all in the hopes that it will result in you climbing the ladder and getting promoted. The issue with this is that it is exhausting. Staying overtime, doing extra work (oftentimes for no extra pay), and doing the work of your peers, while maintaining a positive attitude, will eventually prove disastrous for your sanity. So, many people have said, just don’t do it. Do your job, clock in on time, but do not do more than what is expected of you if you do not feel like you will receive anything in return. In other words: don’t let your job kill you. This might be strange advice to take in your 20s, when you’re expected to hustle the most, and others have pointed out the privilege, inherent, in the refusal to do back-breaking work, but mostly people point out the value in quiet-quitting. If the place you work at doesn’t respect you, or even exploits you, then quiet quitting might be the way to save yourself. With this in mind, rage-applying is the natural next step after quiet-quitting. Rage-applying is when an employee begins applying to numerous other jobs when they feel undervalued in their current position. Rage applying has become popular on Tik-Tok with miraculous stories coming out from people who got fed up with their jobs, applied to 15 other places, and ended up in a new position with a salary that is $15,000 higher. For many, rage applying can mean the difference between working for hourly pay versus working for yearly pay. However, rage applying is what happens only when frustration with your job translates into real action. Writing perfectly-tailored cover letters is a time-consuming and soul-sucking process and finding a new job usually requires reaching out to any and all connections in your chosen industry as a way to give you an edge in the application process. These are the necessary evils of applying, much less rage applying, to new positions. Being committed to the process of finding better employment means confidently applying to places, regardless of how timid you actually feel. Don’t allow yourself to get demoralized throughout this process with the understanding that applying to jobs is a numbers game, fraught with near-constant rejection. This is about carving out the life that you want for yourself during the most flexible time in your life: your twenties. The theory that “if you do what you’re passionate about, you’ll never work a day in your life” remains good in theory, but hard to accomplish in real life. Lucky girl syndrome and other ideas of manifestation have been taken to task for promoting unreasonable expectations for how a person can passively obtain the life that they want, but the combination of not forcing yourself to work a mentally-draining job and applying to places better suited to your needs, remains the current way to go. With both approaches being treated as fads, it is impossible to know the future of careerism, but in the meantime gen-zers and millennials will be rage applying and quiet quitting for the foreseeable future.

Female Finances: Everything a Girl Should Know When It Comes to Her Money

@esteelalonde This is your sign to revamp your finances. If saving and making more money were two of your New Year’s resolutions, then this article is for you. We all tell ourselves that we want to be better with money, but actually doing the work of change is always much harder. Even if your income is not where you want it to be, being smart with your money can prove more important in the end, but there are a few things you should know going into discussions surrounding money and finances. For starters… Women make less money It is well-documented and a feminist sticking point that women are not paid nearly as much as their male counterparts for the same job, making a median sum of 83 cents for every dollar a man makes, less so if they are women of color. However, women oftentimes do not have as much time in the workforce as their male counterparts. Due to societal expectations of women as caregivers, women typically are out of the workforce more often than men due to raising kids, taking care of aging parents, and looking after an ailing spouse. Women are also more likely to outlive their husbands. This seriously impacts their income and presents problems later on in life since women will, therefore, have less money to put in 401Ks and their social security benefit is based on their 35 highest earning years. According to The Brookings Institute, “on average, a woman’s social security benefits are only 80% of those received by men.” Personal finance tips are gender-agnostic, with gender breakdowns not going much further than “women tend to do this” and “men tend to do that,” making most personal finance tips universally sound. With the deck already stacked against women when it comes to making money, it is therefore incumbent on women to take greater control of their finances. There is some good news. On average, women typically make better investments than men in large part because they are less likely to gamble or jump on a “hot investment tip” from a friend. Women make savvier investment choices due to being more cautious and being more likely to stick to a plan. As a result, women often make better long-term investors, incrementally making more money rather than making large-scale, sweeping investments. This is interesting when you consider the fact that women invest far less than men do. If women invested as often as men there would be an additional 3.22 trillion dollars in assets available today, according to a recent study by BNY Mellon Investment Management. Start saving and investing money right now You need to begin saving and investing now with an understanding that investments and savings are two very different things. Essentially, savings are short term and investments are long term. Your savings are for shorter term goals and as a safety net in case of emergencies, whereas your investments are long term for goals like funding your retirement. The idea here is simple: the younger you are when you start saving and investing, the more money you have to put towards retirement and the better off you will be. Women especially need to have more money placed in investments since they are projected to live further into old age and therefore need to be able to afford the cost of living for longer than their male counterparts. On average, 9 out of 10 women will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their lives, according to Fidelity Investments. In the event of an emergency, which can and will happen at the least convenient time and when you least expect it, you need to have easily accessible money stored away to prevent the emergency from becoming a major life setback. If you are single, you should keep six months worth of expenses in your savings account, not to be touched unless a disaster strikes. Creating a savings account means putting money away, little by little, every month or week. If you work a forty hour work week at a minimum wage job, even storing away just five dollars a week at a time is one of the best ways to ensure that your savings will add up. The younger you are when you start investing and saving money, the more money you can put towards retirement and your own personal safety. Time is the biggest factor when it comes to your savings and investments due to the time value of money. Readdress Your Relationship With Your Credit Cards Since You’re Probably Using Them Wrong Credit cards are a necessary evil of modern life, with credit scores determining whether or not you are able to buy or rent a place to live, while also driving up consumerism, but people often mistake credit cards as being “free money.” There is nothing free about them. Most people are probably aware that irresponsible behavior with a credit card will result in serious long term problems, but few probably know that they are already acting irresponsibly with their credit cards. Your credit score is fluid, with a new score being created every month, but your credit score is not just comprised of your balance. 35% of your credit score is your payment history, comprised of the expediency with which you pay it off and how close you get to your credit limit. So if your credit card is perpetually at its limit because you rarely pay it off then you are severely limited when it comes to your living situation and your future credit cards. Many people don’t realize that their credit score determines the interest rate the bank will give you on any future cards and is a determining factor when it comes to buying or renting a place to live. Also, when a person purchases something with their credit card, they frequently end up paying double than what the price of the product was, because they get charged if they have not paid back the loan by the end of the month. So, before you buy something with your credit card, ask yourself, “would I spend twice as much on this product than I’m already paying?” If the answer is no, either don’t buy it, pay in cash, or be prepared to pay it off as quickly as you can. In conclusion, begin investing and saving now, by sticking to a cautious investment plan and actively saving enough for six months worth of expenses. Pay off your credit card on time before finance charges can rack up and always stay on top of your credit score. Once a woman has achieved all of this, she has come a long way towards securing a better future for herself and closing the gender wealth gap.

8 Tips to Being Productive While Working from Home

@itsalifestylehun Have a morning routine Set an alarm to go through you morning routines so that you can transition your home environment to your workspace. Freshening up in the morning and changing out of your pajamas helps you adopt a professional mindset and prepare for the workday. Your morning routine will help indicate when the work day starts. Set daily and weekly goalsTake a few minutes to set goals for your day and week to help hold yourself accountable. Use your daily goals to help you reach your larger goals. Make time for breaksEnsure you set aside some time during the day to take a break and refresh, you can go on a walk or just relax for some time. Taking breaks outside can help you recharge and just get out of the house. Taking breaks can help to prevent burnout. Have a designated workspaceCreate a workspace for yourself where you can work without distractions and noises. Also, if you live with others creating boundaries and letting others know your designated workspace is off limits during work hours. Using different spaces in your home help create a distinction between working and relazing. Set work hoursSetting work hours helps you set boundaries. It is easy to work longer hours while working from home but setting boundaries can help so you don’t feel overworked. Ask for feedbackSeeing as you have limited interactions while working at home asking for feedback lets you know any areas that you need to improve on. This helps you understand how your manager and leaders see your performance, knowing areas that you can improve helps you work on those and boost overall performance. Limit distractionsLimiting distractions such as tv and your phone help boost productivity. If you can work in another room that does not have a tv or put your phone in a different room until you complete the tasks at hand. Getting rid of distractions help keep you focused while working. Plan for tomorrow the night beforeKeep yourself accountable with a daily to-do list. At the end of each workday, jot down a task list for the next day, detailing what you need to get done and by what time. You should also include any meetings or calls you’re participating in. The goal is to pull up that list as soon as you log on the next morning to help you get off to a good start.

Weird Girls Welcomed: Netflix’s Wednesday is the Female Representation We Need Right Now

@wednesdaynetflix Tim Burton’s new show “Wednesday” hit Netflix on November 23rd, coming in as a gothic feast for the senses and what every “weird girl” has been waiting for. Propped up by heavy-hitters like Tim Burton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Christina Ricci, the TV show encompasses an adolescent Wednesday Addams as she navigates high school with her tell-tale disdain for her peers and the world around her. While the show was at times missing a few beats and lacking some of the charm of the original adaptations, (the relationship between Morticia and Wednesday is not as loving and affectionate as we've come to know, for example), the show’s sense of humor is perfectly intact, with cheeky references to the previous versions laden throughout. The gothic aesthetic, the Latinx representation, and the Romanian atmosphere of where it was shot, all make for a compelling story. Christina Ricci has just proven that she can steal the show no matter who she’s playing in an Addams Family story and Tim Burton got back to what he does best by telling a twisty tale of outcasts and monsters. Ever since it was announced, I was dying to get a good look at it. Personally, I’ve always loved Wednesday Addams. She reminds me of myself and there aren’t many female characters that do. I was even told once by someone I’d just met that the person I most reminded him of, at least in terms of facial expressions, was Wednesday Addams. This was fitting because I’d already had a poster of her– the Christina Ricci version– in my dorm room for years, in between my Fleabag poster and Jane Fonda’s mugshot, completing my shrine to sassy, iconic women. I love the female representation: introverted, anti-social, frank, unconcerned with what others think of her, in possession of a cynical view on society, a low-tolerance for other people’s bullshit, and an unapologetic attitude– all done without smiling. For much of my life I felt like her. My lack of inhibition, my obsession with Halloween, and, more often than not, my unwillingness to socialize with my peers, all made for an interesting childhood. Growing up meant added cynicism, criticizing the aspects of society that I found the most egregious, and still not interacting with my peers if I could help it. Wednesday Addams was, and still is, my comfort character. So when Netflix said that they were releasing a TV series solely devoted to her, I may have screamed. Needless to say, I devoured the series in a night to see how they delivered on my beloved Wednesday Addams. It was all there, from her playfully psychotic flare to her snarky one-liners. Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton captured her just right: a deadpan face, a monotone voice, and a bone-chilling smile that only appears when something horrifying is happening. That’s Wednesday. For Jenna Ortega this was the role that she was born to play. She was the perfect Wednesday Addams, bleak and macabre, but above all else, she was the weird girl for this generation. This new interaction has Wednesday, now a psychic and a novelist, going to a school for other abnormal children, adding something new to the Addams Family story. Magical children sent to boarding school screams Harry Potter knock-off with shoddy world building, but the show manages to pull it off, making it believable even in the absurd. There, even in a school for outcasts, she still manages to be the weird one. Likewise, for much of middle school and high school I was seen as a “weird girl” and even when I went off to college to a small liberal arts college known for its eccentricity and emphasis on the arts, I still felt different. I was surrounded by like minded peers for once in my life, which usually offered all of the companionship I needed, but I still found that I was oftentimes uninterested in what other people were interested in. This is encouraging, in perhaps a main-character-syndrome-way, but potentially disconcerting at the same time. I still had people commenting on my high confidence and introverted tendencies, a seemingly oxymoronic combo, but something that makes me relate to Wednesday. Wednesday manages to be wise beyond her years while still being a teenager brimming with awkwardness. More than one guy is smitten with her. (Ah, yes, the weird girl wish-fulfillment, where you can be that strange and still have men adore you). It offers hope, even when you, like her, would rather avoid men like the plague. Wednesday Addams has become somewhat of an aspirational figure for many. Her unwillingness to conform to other’s expectations is the attitude that many people, young women especially, wish they had. In a world where everyone wishes they could be themselves and “not care what other people think,” Wednesday has always been the embodiment of that. During a time of “toxic positivity,” she offers the solution for a generation of teenagers who have an overdose of teen-angst, more so than previous generations. All of this made me realize that she doesn’t just represent Gen Z; she is Gen Z, in the same way that Daria brought out the youth attitude of the 90s. Far from apolitical, Wednesday fights back against injustice and says what we are all thinking. Her anger towards the world and the establishment strike all the right chords in her new contemporary setting. Wednesday Addams remains the female icon that we need right now: supremely confident, unapologetic, and wise beyond her years, making her an unusual heroine that women and girls need today. Dressed in head-to-toe black Wednesday Addams was perhaps never expected to be anything more than a one-off goth character, but has since become a sword-wielding symbol for girls unabashedly speaking their minds, and was just put front and center in her own show. Now, with an updated storyline for our once sidelined anti-hero, weird girls everywhere will be saluting this new and improved goth icon.

How Period-Tracking Apps Fit into a Post-Roe V Wade Climate

@emilycanham Regardless of where you stand on abortion in America, the overturning of Roe V Wade has complicated all of our lives by limiting our options. Now, it feels like our reproductive lives aren’t fully in our control, risking our futures in very serious ways. It might even feel like we don’t know the basics when it comes to our health (courtesy of my freshman year health class). When there are things that I feel like I need to know, I've struggled to find safe, medically-sound answers. In the past, I’ve skimmed Cosmo articles, begging for some helpful information and tips on whatever I need. Google searching specific questions about health concerns is no longer an option. If you, like me, have been struggling to find an app that doesn’t make you pay for a subscription to access the basic amenities that they claim to provide for free (eye-roll), you probably stumbled upon the same highly-recommended apps that I did, each promising to be the end-all-be-all app for women’s reproductive rights. Period-tracking apps have been around for a while, informing women of their fertility, ovulations, and when to expect their periods. It’s one of the few ways that your average “modern woman,” as we are often called, can access important information and resources. An expert, plus all of the information we need, is right at our fingertips. You go in, enter your customized settings with a girl power flair, and then you receive recommendations for contraceptives and pregnancy odds based on the information that was sent to them. It’s tastefully done and reassuring for young women out there who are scared. Apps like Flo have articles, automated chats, and a place to not just log your period, but its symptoms in detail, yet Flo doesn’t just chart your period for you. It gives you information on anything under the sun regarding your personal health, from pregnancy signs, how to cope with cramps, and fertility, explaining it to you in ways your high school health teacher probably didn’t. It is a medically-accurate, sex-positive, and gender-nuetral app that takes a judgement-free approach to being sexually-active but not wanting kids. In other words, it is the kind of app we need right now. However, despite seemingly being women’s best friends, period-tracking apps are perhaps more dangerous now than ever. On one hand, using the apps puts a person more in control of their biology, making pregnancy less likely in the first place, but apps aren’t always 100% accurate since they aren’t perfectly tuned into your body. It can only do the best that it can with the information that it has, not taking into account the quirks and whims of human fertility. Mostly, it is a question of privacy. These apps sell our information, information that is highly sensitive and can potentially wreck havoc on our lives in our current political state. Your personal information can be accessed by others and used against you if you’re seeking an abortion in a state that has recently banned them. Privacy concerns surrounding these apps existed prior to the end of Roe, but are posing real concerns now since they aren’t protected by HIPAA and can be used in criminal investigations. So should we or should we not go back on our period-tracking ovulation apps now that we’ve gone back on Roe as well? Experts say that you don’t have to delete your app, since it is unlikely that the information will be shared at all, but that you should be aware of the risks associated with not doing so, since it is still not impossible. Another important question to ask is whether or not you live in a state in which abortions have recently been made illegal. If you live in a state where it’s illegal, tracking apps are far less safe. In the end, it is up to the discretion of each and every woman to decide whether or not she is comfortable to continue using her tracking app. Concerns surrounding the future of this issue still abound as we wait with bated breath to see how our lives will be shaped by living in a post-Roe V Wade America.

Making Your Workouts Genuinely Fun

@soheefit Exercising is an essential part of all of our lives. It reduces our risk of heart problems and diabetes, improves our mental health, and keeps us sharp in our old age. In the best of circumstances, it teaches us problem solving, goal setting, and occasionally teamwork, and yet, it is not always the most riveting and enjoyable way to pass the time. Getting yourself through your workout routine with enthusiasm seldom works, oftentimes saying “just do it,” just doesn’t do it for us, and working on yourself, in any capacity, feels grueling and unrewarding, but there are ways to combat these feelings. For starters, let’s dispel a few exercising myths. You don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn and you don’t need to constantly set lofty goals for yourself so that you’ll feel bad when you don’t reach them. Remember that you can exercise however you want and that you’re lapping everyone on the couch. Here are our five tips on the best ways to take your workout routine from boring to exciting in just a few simple steps: Find the form of exercise that you hate the least– This might seem like a no-brainer, but if you find the workout that you find the most enjoyable, you'll have more fun. Those Dance 360 WII games from the early 2000s were the best way to trick you into exercising when you were a kid. Now, as an adult, you might prefer swimming, tennis, zumba, spinning, pilates, or yoga. Experimenting with different forms of exercise can open new doors. No negative thoughts while exercising– This piece of advice came from Jill Biden, who says that she forces herself to only think positive thoughts while running. It’s easier said than done, but whenever you catch your mind wandering towards bleaker thoughts, reel yourself back in. Think about how productive you’re being and all of the things you have to look forward to in your day. Create your diva playlist– Telling yourself: just do some jumping jacks, rarely works. You need to incentivize it somehow. I therefore made myself a “diva playlist,” in which I play all of the best songs from early 2000s divas. I’m talking: Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, and Destiny’s Child. It helps me to think of exercise not as weight loss or exhaustion but as fueling my “inner diva.” It'll also make you feel like you’re one of these women. Since you’re supposed to exercise for about 30 minutes a day, create a playlist that is about 30 minutes long and work until the end. Campy 80s workout gear– This is a real “whatever works” piece of advice. Dressing up for the occasion really helps to make an event out of working out. Get a hot pink sweatband to wear around your forehead or throw on a track suit. Think about Serena Williams’ black panther tennis outfit and tutu. The cheesier the outfit, the better. Plus, you'll turn heads at the gym. Slubbing around in sweatpants just won’t do it for your psyche. Getting an exercise buddy– Much like a study buddy, an exercise buddy breaks up the monotony and makes sure that you’re actually doing the workout. Together you can jog through your neighborhood, do some laps around the track, or play a sport while catching up on the hot gossip. With the right partner, you’ll actually be looking forward to your workout. Think about it: you and your bestie wearing your elastic, 80s-tastic workout gear, listening to your diva playlist, and thinking only positive thoughts while doing your favorite form of exercise. You will be unstoppable.

9 of the Most Trending Halloween Costumes of 2022

@iamcardib With Halloween approaching, it becomes stressful to pick out one, non-basic, but cute costume that everyone will understand, let alone three or four for those of us with plans all Halloweekend. If you are anything like me, you have been trolling Pinterest and TikTok trying to find the perfect costumes. So, to help us all out I have listed the costumes that I have noticed the most on my hunt for the perfect one. And the best part is that everything you will need for each costume is linked in the Miss EmpowHer Amazon Storefront. Continue reading below for a list of the 9 costumes that were trending on my feed and everything that you will need for them. (1) Lightning McQueen Kachow! This Lightning McQueen costume is super cute and can easily be done with things that you may find in your closet. It is also a cute and easy costume to throw together year-round for any event requiring a costume. (2) Firefighter/ Police Officer While a firefighter or police officer costume may seem a little basic, they are super easy too DIY. The best part is that the two are easily interchangeable, depending on the accessories you choose. (3) Playboy Bunny This take on a classic seems to be super popular this year, and if you want to turn this costume into a duo, your partner can throw on a red robe and tag-along as Hugh Hefner. (4) Toy Story Alien This costume idea is super cute and super easy with only three parts. If you and the girls are looking for a group costume, this is also a great option. (5) Vector (Despicable Me) In 2010, the trendy costume was a Despicable Me minion. Fast forward 12 years, and the villain in the orange jumpsuit carrying a shrink ray is the new trendy costume. (6) Gold Digger Alexa, play Gold Digger by Kanye West. The word play for this costume makes it so creative and cute. Pull out your shovels and gold skirts and keep track of all of the comments this costume will get you. (7) Princess Mia (Princess Diaries) Hailey Bieber's Princess Mia costume from Halloween of 2021 has been all over my social media feeds this year. This costume is a super cute way to live your childhood dreams of becoming a princess overnight, much like Anne Hathaway's character in the "Princess Diaries." (8) Top Gun With Top Gun 2 coming out this summer, a Top Gun inspired costume this Halloween was a no-brainer. Pick a call sign and fly into Halloweekend with yourself or co-pilot and enjoy the ride. (9) Kendall Jenner inspired Witch Another celeb inspired costume that has been trending this year is Kendall Jenner's take on a witch. This is a super cute costume that is easy to recreate and put your own spin on. You can dress it up or down, and it is the perfect costume to keep for years to come.

Megan Thee Stallion is providing fans with proper mental health resources and we are here for it

@theestallion Megan Thee Stallion is back at it again doing, checks notes, “real hot girl sh*t.” Megan doesn’t just create music that boosts your confidence–although she definitely does that–she also has pioneered a new mental health portal, designed to improve people’s mental state by providing them with resources. It has been a career of iconic moves for Megan Thee Stallion and she just has unveiled her latest one: Bad Bitches Have Bad Days Too. Megan has created a website that not only provides mental health resources, but is intersectional in its approach. The categories on her website include: The LGBT National Youth Talkline, Trans Lifeline, Therapy for Black Girls, Therapy for Black Men, Black Mental Wellness, and Strongheart Native Helpline, among others. She is putting marginalized groups at the forefront of mental health treatment, changing the narratives that we often see when it comes to mental health. She also provides numbers for crisis hotlines and substance abuse treatment. Get ready to crank some Stallion tonight for she has earned it. By providing this service, Megan is being protective and responsible, looking out for anyone out there who needs help. Megan’s mental health resources might be just what we need. The title alone encapsulates how people can be strong and resilient while still occasionally struggling, taking away the ideas of weakness that are often associated with seeking help. As if alleviating the stigma surrounding mental health wasn’t enough, people who go to her website can take links to specific resources, call hotlines, and find a therapist. The platinum artist has outdone herself. The launch of this website coincides with the release of her new album “Traumazine.” The title gets its name from the hook of Megan’s new song “Anxiety,” in which she opens up about her feelings of anxiety. In the song she states, “They keep saying I should get help/but I don’t even know what I need.” And if you, or someone you know, is struggling with similar mental health issues, go to www.badbitcheshavebaddaystoo.com

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started College (as a Sophomore Computer Science Major)

@caandelarodriguez on Pinterest With the new academic year starting and millions of students arriving on campus - either returning or making their first visit - everyone wants to be as prepared as they can be for the chaotic college experience. After successfully making my way through my first year (more or less) and already making headway into my second, I’ve learned quite a bit about the college experience - though some lessons would’ve been better to know beforehand! Here are some of the main things I’ve learned and wished I knew about before I started college. 1. It’s a lot harder to get an A in college than in high school A lot of people told me that college classes would be harder than high school classes, and that the different grading scales would make achieving the top grade more difficult. I always brushed these kinds of comments away, thinking to myself, “how hard could it really be to get all A’s?”. The answer? Pretty hard. For one, an A is no longer anything 90 and above. Different classes have different grading scales, but the typical A (the one that counts as a 4.0 in your GPA) is a 95 and higher - a big difference from high school. Meaning, the same 90 that barely saved your GPA in high school could now be worth a 3.7 in college terms. Apart from the grading scale, college classes are also structured in a way that puts a lot more responsibility on you to get your work done. Teachers often assume students will regularly check the syllabus to stay up-to-date on required readings and coursework, making it very easy to let assignments pass you by and drop your grade. It’s important to stay on top of deadlines in whatever way works for you - using a planner, making sticky notes, setting reminders, or using an app. Anything to keep you organized helps! 2. Curves can save your grade - but they can also tank it Many classes - especially STEM classes - use curves on exams, homeworks, and even the final grade to create a more even distribution of scores across all students. In some cases, where the curve is algebraic or where the teacher adds a certain number of points to everyone, the curve can help you. In others, where the curve is rank-based and your grade is only as good as the students you do better than, it is much harder to get a good grade. If there is a curve for some portion of the class, be sure to figure out what it is early on! 3. Clubs are organized way differently In high school, clubs would meet once a week at most for a quick after-school meeting or a short before-school session. Unless you were competing or working on a project of sorts, high school clubs wouldn’t take up more than an hour or two a week. That’s not the case in college. For one, the variety of clubs available is much larger than in high school. There are hundreds of options from career-oriented to service-based to cultural to hobby-specific clubs to choose from. Some of these clubs might only meet once or twice a semester. Others might meet several times a week for a few hours each time, with additional things to complete outside of standard club meeting times. Speaking of which, college clubs don’t usually meet right at 3:30 like high school clubs since many students have variable class schedules that could go well into the evening. To accommodate, college clubs usually meet any time between 5pm and 9pm. This later time might take a little getting used to, but it does end up being pretty convenient with schedule planning! 4. Career fairs occur often - and they hire early You’ll hear about career fairs happening at least once a month at college. These are great ways to interact with potential hirers and practice interview techniques. Career fairs are also great opportunities for networking. You’ll meet countless people in your field at these kind of events - talk to them and build connections! As a freshman, I didn’t pay too much attention to career fairs until the middle of second semester when I started looking for summer internships. While there were still a few options available at this time, most of the ones I wanted had already filled their available spots for the summer and were focused on hiring for the next year. In fact, most of the summer positions I was looking at were filled during career fairs during first semester and the very first weeks of second semester. So pro tip: go to career fairs earlier rather than later! 5. You’ll have a crazy amount of homework in college A good estimate for how much homework you’ll have is to account for around 2-3 hours of homework for every one hour of class. So for example, if you have 2 hours of class one day, you can expect around 6 hours of homework. Now of course, this is not standardized in any way. In fact, some classes give much more than 3 hours of homework a night while others don’t give any at all. The x3 rule is just a general estimate. Typically, STEM classes will give a lot of homework involving problems requiring some form of calculations or analysis. Most science and even some math classes will also have labs that require you to do certain pre-lab and post-lab reports, readings, and computations to better understand the material. In contrast, humanities classes will have a lot of required readings and papers to write. For some, you might even need to perform some of your own research. Each is time-consuming in its own way, but the heavy workload from some classes will often be balanced out with a lighter workload from others, making daily homework more manageable. 6. You’ll have a crazy amount of free time in college I know, I know, I just said that you’ll be drowning in homework most nights, but trust me, you’ll also have a lot of free time. You go to class for a significantly shorter time in college than you do in high school. Even if you register for the max number of classes allowed (18 credits at my university, 19 with special permission), you’ll only be in class for around half the time you were in class in high school. There are many ways to organize classes for your schedule, but a typical schedule has 2-5 hours of class on any given day, whereas most high schools had 7-8 hour long days. Yes, a good chunk of your newfound free time will be filled with homework and maybe even extracurriculars like clubs or music or sports, but there are still going to be at least a couple of hours every day where you don’t have anything to do. Take this time to relax or hang out with friends or explore campus! As important as it is to stay on top of your schoolwork, it is equally important to take good breaks to decompress and return to your best state of mind. 7. There are lots of ways to play team sports - even if you’re not good at them When most people think of college athletes, they probably think of college football or basketball. They might picture highly talented individuals who excelled in their sport for years before being selected to a college team and continue to practice for hours a day. While there are certainly athletes like this at college (and if you’re one of them, congratulations! It’s very impressive to be good enough at a sport to play on a college team!), there are still plenty of opportunities for more casual players. Club sports is a great way to play and compete with people who are skilled, but don’t want the time commitment of playing directly for the university. Club athletes usually have more flexible practice schedules, but still get to play against clubs in other colleges and compete at the state and even national level. At the next level, there’s also intramural sports. You can either play on an intramural team comprised of your friends (for team sports) or play by yourself (for solo sports) and compete against other intramural players. Intramural sports are usually limited to the college itself and have a very small time commitment. Intramural is great for people who’d like to play sports for fun without a huge commitment to practice or events. Many residence halls on campus even rent out sports equipment for a couple hours at a time and you can play for fun whenever you’d like across the various courts and fields across campus. Many colleges also host competitions for casual players to play different sports against other students. Research the opportunities your college offers to learn more about the specifics! To conclude, college may seem daunting, but it’s really a great experience where you’ll learn a lot about things you’re passionate about and make amazing friends and memories. I hope this list helps you be more prepared for college, but I know it can’t prepare you for everything you’ll encounter at college. But don’t worry, you got this! Just remember that you have lots of resources available to you for nearly everything you might need while at college. Good luck and have a great year!