Dear It Girl: Welcome to the Diaries💌

 Dear It Girl,

If you're reading this, then you're becoming her too...

It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in my room at my nanna's, writing away at how I was going to pass all the odds that seemed to stack up around me. I was writing about the little girl who was going through it, like I was going to have the courage and the strength to push through the bullying and everything else that came with it. Looking back, it feels like that reasoning has not changed for me.

As I grow older, I've experienced so much more, and chile, I am ready to let it rip! I'm not perfect, but I'm close enough, and sometimes I feel like that's all that matters. I know I have so much more growing and learning to do, but maybe we could help each other along the journey of becoming HER.

Hi, I'm Ayanna, but you can call me YAO-LIN(yow-Lin). I'm just a country girl who has been through it all and is still trying to learn from it all. I created this space because I know there is a woman out there who needs to know that she can become more than the things she's experienced.

Growing up, I was the little girl who dreamed BIG. I wanted to be a doctor, a stylist, a producer, a musician, a model—you name it, I probably wanted to try it. I wanted to be everything. I wanted to be a star.

But somewhere along the way, life started happening.

I experienced things that changed me. I battled with confidence. I went through things I never thought I'd have to go through. I experienced loss, heartbreak, disappointment, and moments where I genuinely didn't know what direction my life was going in.

There were times when I felt like I had to start over. Times when I questioned myself. Times when I felt like maybe I had already messed up too much to become the person I always imagined.

I've tried a lot of things. I've started things I didn't finish. I've changed my mind. I've changed my direction. I've outgrown people, places, and even versions of myself. I've experienced things that made me stronger and things that simply made me tired.

I've lost people I loved. I've experienced heartbreak. I've had moments where I felt completely lost. And there were times when I thought I was finished.

But I wasn't.

I think that's the part of my story I want to hold onto the most.

I wasn't finished.

Maybe you aren't either.

For so long, I thought becoming the woman I wanted to be meant having everything figured out. Having the career, the money, the relationship, the confidence, the perfect life, and knowing exactly where I was going.

Now I'm realizing that maybe becoming HER isn't about having it all figured out.

Maybe it's about being willing to keep becoming.

That's what this is.

It Girl Diaries.

Not a diary of a girl who has everything together.

A diary of a woman who is figuring it out.

A woman who is learning herself, loving herself, rebuilding herself, and becoming the woman she always knew she could be.

I want you to know something:

You don't have to have it all figured out either.

You can change your mind.

You can start over.

You can outgrow the version of yourself that everyone else became comfortable with.

You can be soft and strong.

You can be a mess and still be becoming.

You can have dreams that change.

You can take the long way.

And you can still become HER..

I want to be a reminder for another woman or little girl

The girl who has been told she's a statistic.

The girl who has been made to feel like her circumstances are her destiny.

The girl who doesn't know who she's becoming yet

that she can become anything she wants to be.

And maybe, somewhere along the way, I'll become her too.

So, welcome.

Let's figure this thing out together.

Let's grow. Let's laugh. Let's cry. Let's try new things. Let's mess up and try again.

Let's become HER.

Sincerely,

It Girl Diaries

Always remember: Be You. Be True