Soon... Blossoms

I cannot believe it's April already.

In February, I find it difficult to be inspired. The trees are still asleep. The grass is grey. Where I am at least, there isn't much snow.

The world's magic is asleep.

Therefore, so is my creative inspiration for the most part.

However, I try not to let that beat me anymore. I have been going through a lot of new changes in February! New full time job, new desk (yes, it's a big deal), new room arrangements, and new schedule. When this much is going on, I find it most important to make sure you make time for self-care and time to be creative.

(March kind of came and went.
Not much to say there...)

But it's April. I find April and May to be very romantic months. They usually find their way to reigniting my creative fire after winter has stepped it out. Now that I am finally in my new groove of work and not work... I have been able to make time for creative projects and self care again. These past two months were brutal.

Now we can sit excitedly for the rain to come and bring color to our world again.

I wish I had more to say, but I honestly already forgot about my 2019 goal of one post a month with everything going on.

Maybe I can keep up with it better now.

Book Recommendations from 2018

Hello my lovelies!

I thought I would go into deeper detail of my "bookworminess" here. I lightly mention it once in a while on my Instagram account but it is something I am more than happy to dive deeper into as I am a proud bookworm. 

I have a number of books I have read this past year that I would highly recommend and some that I think would just be interesting to discuss. So let's dive!

~

1. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

by Joanne Greenberg

This book is BRILLIANT. 

As someone who works in the mental health field and has worked with people diagnosed with Schizophrenia, I found this book very enlightening, insightful, helpful, and accurate.

This book is based on a true story of the author's experience with her own mental illness. I found the psychologist in the book the most interesting character and a huge inspiration to my and my practice at the time of my internship at a psychiatric hospital. The psychologist here uses a method I have learned about which is a blend of psycho dynamic theory and cognitive behavioral therapy, but I digress, I was so happy to see a beautiful example of how one can effectively work and help someone with schizophrenia. I think this books is a great example of what someone might be like with this diagnosis. I found that after my internship, it was very difficult talking to people without any understanding of my client's experience and diagnosis and speak of that population like these violent and terrible people. It angers me SO much. I think if one is very curious as to what Schizophrenia really looks like, this book will provide that insight. 

Schizophrenia does not make someone violent, and of all things I found what my own clients spoke of and the characters in this book spoke of come out very poetic, horrifying, and fascinating. I very much recommend this book.

~

2. I Never Came to You in White

by Judith Farr

If you are an Emily Dickinson fan like myself, you must read this book. It is a semi-fictional story through some of the letters from and about Emily from her friends, family, and teachers. It explores the tales of "naughty" Emily Dickinson, as she refuses to conform to the strict christian rules of her school and explores her feelings for women. Like I said, if your a fan, you'll love this. For me, this book only made me admire and appreciate her more.

~

3. The Moth Diaries
by Rachel Klein

What excited me about this story was that it is based on one of the original vampire stories out there. No, not Dracula... This is even better. Carmilla is the story that inspired Bram Stoker to write Carmilla and it also inspired The Moth Diaries. This story takes place at an all-girl boarding school, enough said, right? So many good stories come from that setting! I digress. I would recommend this to anyone who is a part or supports the LGBTQIAP (Similarly with the previous book mentioned!) and who likes mystery, drama, and some darkness.

~

4. Stardust

by Neil Gaiman

Man, if I could be this main character for a day, what a gift that would be. This story is a wonderful journey into Neil Gaiman's Magical Realistic world of fantasy, romance, and some dark notes. If you like adventure stories, you will certainly enjoy this book. It was rather a quick read, and I had some trouble putting it down so it's also very exciting. I won't say much about the plot because I am terrible with spoilers but just know it is a very surreal journey. This book is not your ordinary fantasy adventure novel but a strange yet familiar tale. It will make you look at everything differently once the book is done and, like me, you'll probably yearn to read it again shortly after finishing it.

I would have loved to share a fifth book but I think four is my max since I did not read as much as I would have liked to in 2018. I hope that this year I am able to read many more books (and new ones I should add, I have a tendency to re-read books..) so I'll have a nice full list for you guys in 2020! I also have a dreadful pile of books waiting to be read and I hate to neglect them any further!

Anyway, I digress. I hope this was an interesting list for you and please let me know if you read any!

Happy Reading Bookworms!

"New Year, New Me..."

It's always nice to think that we can just change at the drop of a ball.

But let's be real. That's not true.

A more realistic way of seeing this, however, is allowing yourself to set baby step goals.

Instead of saying, "I'm going to drop 80 lbs this year", which for some is totally possible, it might be really overwhelming right from the start, right? 

Maybe starting at, "I'm going to sign up with a gym and start going twice a week" is a good place to start. It's productive, and reasonable.

But then again, who am I to say what is reasonable and what isn't?

I have personally felt like those big goals have been overwhelming for me. So if this is speaking to you, maybe you will want to keep reading this.

As far as goals go, I want to begin posting on here regularly about once a month. That's fair right?

On New Years Eve, we wrote down things that we want to leave behind in 2018 and burned them in a bowl. This made me think, "hey, maybe I should start there. Set my goals to be things to not do instead of give myself things to do." I already feel prepared to face the new year.

I should be clear. I find any goal setting to be great no matter what time of the year it is. Don't believe for a second that I find new year resolutions to be silly. I think they're great, but sometimes unattainable or, like I said before, overwhelming.

So, if you are still here after all of that ranting. What do you think? Do you have a baby step goal for yourself? Or something you want to leave behind in the previous year? Do you have a different goal setting method that works well for you?

Happy New Year!

I hope all of your goals and wishes come to life.