I recently posted about the song Stressed Out from Twenty One Pilots:

We used to play pretend, give each other different names,
We would build a rocket ship and then we’d fly it far away,
Used to dream of outer space but now they’re laughing at our face,
Saying, “wake up, you need to make money.”

This stanza really moves me.

Have you ever seen a gaggle of 5 year olds dressed in tutus and cowboy boots, making up superhero names for each other and pretending they’re blasting off to the moon? And felt the bittersweet pull of a simpler yet more dynamic life?

Issa Waters

Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.

https://lovelivegrow.com/author/admin

When it’s time, it’s time! I decided to stretch my ears from 00 gauge to 7/16 inch. It’s a stepping stone on the way to 1/2 inch. Want to see the results?

To be the first to see my body modification pictures, follow me @issawaters on Instagram!

I’ve bought from Urban Body Jewelry before, and this time they offered me some free plugs in exchange for this post. There was no other compensation, and all these opinions are mine.

One fun thing about stretching is that you get new jewelry at every new size! There’s limited selection at 7/16″ size, and there are certain pieces I look for every time, and Urban Body Jewelry came through for me! You can search their site by size, material, and jewelry type. They have all kinds of body jewelry for those of you with more than just your ears pierced!

Here’s what I got:

For everyday wear, I use silicone ear skin tunnels – I picked purple this time. This is what I generally wear 24/7. Lightweight, flexible,  comfortable – I forget that I’m wearing anything in my ears at all.

Issa Waters

Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.

https://lovelivegrow.com/author/admin

Sometimes I talk to women about why they shave their legs or their pits. They say things to me like, “I tried not shaving, and after two weeks it was driving me crazy. I shave now because -I- like it.”

Which is complete and utter bullshit.

Here’s how I know:

It took me ten years to like my hairy legs.

Ten. Years.

I started out not shaving in the winter because pants, but I still shaved in the summer. Then I stayed hairy in the summer, but still shaved on days I went swimming. Then I stayed hairy all summer, but I shaved for dates and parties. Then I stayed hairy full time, but I disliked the hair the whole time. And then sometime after THAT I finally got used to my hairy legs. Each of these stages took 2-3 years.

Your two weeks are a joke.

Issa Waters

Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.

https://lovelivegrow.com/author/admin

I hate paying bills.

For a long time I hated paying bills because I never had the money to pay them on time. But even after I could afford it I hated it. Bill paying is a certain kind of abstract process that doesn’t sit right in my brain. It’s bureaucratic and the downsides are conceptually disconnected from the upsides.

So one year I just stopped paying my bills. I lived in a regular house, but I did not have electricity or natural gas. I had running water, but it was not hot water.

I used oil lamps for light, a camp stove for cooking, a hand operated washing machine for clothes, a propane heater to heat one single room in the winter, a propane water heater to take quick showers. Buying a can of propane, and then using it, and then buying another has a flow that I can wrap my head around. (Those are affiliate links to the exact products I used – I recommend them all!)

I value simplicity, even if it makes things a little more expensive or a little more inconvenient.

Issa Waters

Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.

https://lovelivegrow.com/author/admin

For the 2000 census I was living in a hotel. I was seen as homeless and was considered part of an invisible and at-risk population. From my perspective I was living the dream!

My monthly “rent” was not much more than what I could find an apartment for in my area. Yes, the room was smaller than an apartment. But for the same money I got “free” utilities, once a week house cleaning, and no one ran a credit check on me.

And I was always ready to go, able to pick up and leave at a moment’s notice. When I went to a festival I would move out – everything I owned fit in my car – and on Monday I’d move back in, saving myself 3 days rent.

Issa Waters

Issa is a wild and rebellious mama who wants to live a carefree life where that little anxious voice is put on mute. How about you? As a writer she feels successful if just one other person feels any comfort or inspiration from what she’s written.

https://lovelivegrow.com/author/admin