A Productive Yet Chill Summer Day in My Life 🌴 (Living Alone in FL @ 21) | Alyssa Howard 🌺

If you keep asking, “Where have you been?” this vlog is pretty much the answer. I have been working, just not always on camera. Real life has been loud, bills still show up, and I am building things behind the scenes while trying to remember that I am still a twenty-one year old girl in Florida who wants to lay by the pool and eat a sub.

This day felt like a reset. Not a perfect reset with a 5 a.m. alarm and green juice. A real one. Pub sub in hand, hair in a towel, lashes half done, brain racing, and me choosing to show up anyway.

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Sunshine, Pub Subs, and Letting It Be Simple

It starts with the Florida girl starter kit: high UV, loud AC, and a craving for a pub sub.

I looked outside, saw the UV at eleven, and my first thought was not “responsible citizen.” It was, “Let me tan.” Then I remembered I had zero sunscreen, which is wild in this kind of heat, so I grabbed my cover up, put on pants that actually covered something, and took a quick trip to Publix.

Nothing fancy. Just:

• sunscreen
• a turkey sub
• water
• and a reminder that leaving the house counts as self care too

I forget sometimes that I like being outside. When you work from home and spend a lot of time staring at a screen, the sun feels like a stranger. That day it felt like a friend. Hot, sure, but still a friend.

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Romanticizing Being a Florida Girl

At the pool, it was crowded. Kids, families, people trying to get their own slice of sun. Old me would have shut the camera off the second someone stared. Now I notice it, laugh in my head, and keep recording.

I ate my sub in the shade, no headphones, just breeze and background noise. Then I slid my chair over and let myself tan. Nothing complicated. No book I “should” be reading. No multitasking. Just me, the sun, and the thought, “Girl, you look good.”

That tiny moment did a lot:

• I liked what I saw in the mirror
• I liked how my skin looked with color
• I remembered I live in a place people save up to visit

I do not want to rush past that. Sometimes “romanticizing your life” is just letting yourself enjoy where you already live instead of acting like your life starts in some other city.

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Shower, Skin Care, and Homegrown Beauty Work

After baking in the sun, the shower hit different. I scrubbed off sweat, sunscreen, and pool vibes, did my skin care, and wrapped my hair in a towel that can barely hold it now.

I do a lot of my beauty stuff at home now:

• brows
• lashes
• nails
• basic hair removal

I love the freedom and the money I save, but it comes with responsibility. You actually have to keep up with it, and sometimes I do not. Hence the grown out gel, broken nails, and me sitting there trying to fix everything before a meeting.

This is the reality of “maintenance girl” life that nobody posts. You spill lash glue, your gel lifts, your nail lamp is weak, and you are in the bathroom twelve minutes before a Zoom call trying to look put together while glue is drying on one eye.

And still, when it comes together, even a little, it feels good. Not perfect. Good.

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Where I Have Been: Money Talk and Real Grown Stuff

A big part of this vlog is me finally talking about what I have been working on when I am not posting.

I started working in life insurance and financial services with my aunt and a mentor. I have a small team now, and a lot of them are supporters who watch my content. We chat, we learn, we plug numbers into tools, we help families set things up.

Here is what hit me while I was learning:

• life insurance is not just “for old people”
• you can get coverage while you are young and it does not have to cost a lot
• some policies include money you can use while you are alive if something serious happens

Nobody sat me down in high school and explained this. So I am learning now and sharing as I go. Not as a “guru,” just as a girl who wants fewer GoFundMe links on her timeline.

This is a big reason I have been quieter online. I needed space to focus on studying, passing my exam, and helping my team. Content is still my heart, but I also care about setting myself up long term and helping other people do the same.

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Perfectionism, Old Stories, and Getting Out of My Own Way

The loudest part of this vlog is not the pool or the dinner at Chili’s. It is the part where I sit and talk about my brain.

I have dealt with anxious thoughts and perfectionism for years. I have this voice that says:

• “You should be posting every day.”
• “You are already behind.”
• “Everyone else is doing more.”

And even when I know people enjoy my content and I know I am helpful, deep down there is still this little voice saying, “Not enough.” Growing up around high standards will do that if you do not work through it.

I am at a point where I am tired of listening to that voice. Tired of planning and re-planning and never pressing upload. Tired of chasing routines I see online that do not even fit my actual life.

So here is where I am at now:

• If I wake up early and have a “that girl” morning, cool
• If I wake up later and still get my work done, also cool
• If I need a day in bed, I can rest without believing I ruined my life

You do not have to earn your right to take up space online by being perfect. I say that to you, and I am saying it to myself at the same time.

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Creating, Venting, and Letting You In

By the end of the day, I recorded a podcast episode that turned into a vent session, did a quick lash set that I will probably redo, packed my work bag, and drove an hour to my cousin’s house for a “sleepover” that mostly involved nails, snacks, and talking.

I passed my state exam the next day. We went out to eat and had that chaotic restaurant moment where hair kept showing up in the food, which became a running joke and somehow made it even more memorable.

That is what I want this season of content to feel like:

Real. A little messy. Honest. Not every vlog needs a perfect storyline. Not every post needs a “lesson.” The lesson is that life is happening. Work, family, tests, money, movies on the couch, long drives to see people you love, late night editing, uneven lashes, all of it.

If you are watching this while you are stuck in your head, waiting for the “right moment” to start something, let this be your sign. Your life right now is worth filming, writing about, sharing, and remembering.

You do not have to fix everything first. You can grow, earn, love, rest, and build on camera, in real time. I am doing it with you.