Ashley La'Donn
Bio
Freelance writer, aspiring author, Social Worker, Non Profit Consulant, Future Executive Director, Herbal Hippie, and Mommy.
Stories (7)
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The Winter Storm That Turned Texas upside Down
As a Texas resident who has moved here from the Midwest, I have had my share of snowstorms and power outages in the past, however, I have never been through anything like what I and the other residents experienced in the past 5 days. The temperatures were at record lows, everything is frozen outside and my other half is stuck at work this entire time. Needless to say, I was stressed and scared, but resourceful. What started as a snowstorm quickly escalated into an event that would not only test my resilience but also my survival skills. This storm showed me exactly how strong I am. During the five days, we were will out power for 2 and half days and without running water for 3 days. On the first day, I cooked using the BBQ grill. It was freezing outside but it wasn’t so bad while standing over the grill. My son watched me from the living room window as I drug the grill from the patio further away from the building, in 2 to 3 inches of snow. I remember thinking to myself, “This isn’t so bad, but I couldn’t do this every day. At least my son got a hot meal tonight. “as I cooked my son and me a few burgers each. I had just enough bottled water to get through the storm for us to drink, clean, and bathe with. As the days went on, the city began to rotate the power between the neighborhoods so when the power came back on, I would run the kitchen and began cooking like I was competing on Master Chief and I got Chief Gordon screaming at me. I would cook something quick because I had no idea how long the power would be on and I feared having half cooked food and no where to put it. I would boil water so could wash my dishes and clean my kitchen after I cooked. This is how we got through, but we got through.
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Humans
The 13th Amendment
“In America, we have not ended racial caste, just redesigned it.” – Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow” Mass incarceration is a social issue that continues to plague our country, particularly people of color. "13", A Netflix documentary covering this topic tells the narrative of how we got to this point as a country and a society- incarcerating 2.3 billion people in the U.S. With this being the highest incarceration rate in the world, we house about ¼ of the human population in our prisons. The 13th amendment states,
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Criminal
The Art of Forgiveness
The term “Forgiveness” has had a bad rep in the past as we have always applied this term to how we deal with situations involving other people. You could have learned this concept in school, in church, or even watching TV and movies. We never seem to think about how this term can liberate our souls if we apply it to ourselves and how we view the decisions we have made. Forgiveness is a complex concept and also every religion or spiritual practice has its own view on the meaning of the word and how it applies to your life. My favorite definition of the term “forgiveness” is your forgiving yourself for the role that you may have played in the situation you are in. Some of us beat ourselves up. We use vices so we can’t feel it. The source of our soul’s liberation is forgiveness of self. Forgive yourself because you were too young to understand. Forgive yourself for that abuse you allowed because you wanted someone to love you. You wanted someone to change that would not and looking back on it you feel dumb. Don’t get stuck in the cycles of self-hate because of not being able to forgive yourself. Once you can forgive yourself, it will be easier to forgive others… that’s if you would like to that is.
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Motivation
3 Ways to Tell if your Mother is a Narcissist
When coming to terms with who really raised me, it has taken years of therapy and education to really grasp what has happened to me and how my traumas have uprooted themselves in my adult life. Trauma can dictate how we view the world and how we are viewed in the world so it is important to be honest with ourselves. Sometimes that means taking a deeper look at who raised us, who taught us what to believe about the world and ourselves, who taught us who we are. For most of us that is our mother. Our mothers our 1st teachers. They either directly or indirectly teach us how to interact with the world around us. In my case, my mother was a narcissist by definition. I will discuss three issues that were more traumatic to me than I realized many years later.
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Families
Britney Spears, An Industry Horror story
It took me several attempts to sit down and watch this documentary in its entirety because I became so emotional, so filled with nostalgia as I was about 8 years old when Britney's 1st hit dropped. If you are around my age, you remember when Britney Spears was at the top of the pop charts with hits like ‘Hit me Baby one more time” and “Toxic”. Britney is someone a lot of us girls look up to through her music so when it became more apparent that she may be in danger, #FreeBritney became trending the long-awaited discussion of how misogyny can either empower a woman or lead her to her detriment. I am glad to be living in a time where we can look back at our mistakes and address them. We stood back and watched as the world gas lit Britney and probably many other artists, but now we can see how misogyny and complacency have led to where the discussion is today. Does Britney need to be on a conservatorship? I don’t know. I don’t know her personally however I do question if she is able to work as hard as she does, I don’t know if I can question her competency. Britney came from humble beginnings which leads me to question the motives of those around her. One would assume at least one family member would try to come forward and participate in the documentary, even if it is just to provide balance and attempt to clear the family name.
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Beat
Twin Flame
Twin flames are said to be two souls that mirror one another. Two divine souls that when they come together, magic happens beyond the soul’s belief. Twin flames have known each other for lifetimes and some can be stuck in repeat lifecycles that could be dangerous for the two and others around them if they were to join. I had no idea how dangerous this union could be when I set the intention to find my twin flame. I had been single for about a year after a rough break up with my son’s father. I had been doing research on this twin flame energy and was intrigued by the fact that someone was out there, just for me… so I thought.
By Ashley La'Donn5 years ago in Horror
