'resolutioners'

         I think, whether we're prone to writing down concrete resolutions or not, we are all apt to reflect on what we can change in our lives when a new year rings in. I am no exception and while I don't set much store in a full life turn-around occurring with an arbitrary date, I see no harm in using it as a time for a fresh start. With my finals schedule ending blessedly early, I've actually had quite a long holiday break and as it comes to a close it finds me fairly restless. Tomorrow my long lazy days come to an end when my father drives back to my city to cart me around to grab groceries to stock my cupboards and see me frenziedly clean my apartment. But I'm looking forward to it. Without the structure of work or school I end up left to my devices for too long and I get restless and idle. My muscles are stiff because my crazy prior semester saw me abandon my yoga and regular gym schedule. I'm a little more tired from heavy holiday foods and little to no coffee. So, naturally, finding myself a little shriveled and tired from too much free time I find myself planning on little things I plan on getting back to with my winter semester just around the corner. 

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          My physical health needs to take a priority again. Between not eating enough and finding time to get my heart pumping and muscles burning I lost a lot of muscle and flexibility and I definitely didn't sleep as well as I did in months prior. I miss my muscle-ly legs and ability to hoist myself into headstands. My skin has been suffering as well, drying out with another cold atlantic winter sweeping in. So I have planned for early rises to get in gym time with my jam-packed schedule. Food wise I want to cut back on processed food and and try eating close to plant-based and continue to keep caffeine to a minimum. Skin wise I'm going to revamp my whole routine and find a new evening ritual to get my skin back to glowing.

~

          My mental health also deserves to be taken care of a little more in the new year. Just being a generally anxious person than most I need to absolutely make the time to cut off screen time in the evenings and have a restful night-time routine in place where I can light a candle, grab a cup of calming tea and write down my reflections of each day. Being naturally introverted means I am apt to bottle things up and carrying everything doesn't allow for mental clarity. I also pledge to myself that if it turns that I cannot seem to do my mental health justice on my own, I'll make the time to turn to a professional.
        Another mantra I plan to live with this year is the idea that while connecting with people is something I love doing, since I am pretty social, it doesn't mean that everyone deserves a seat at the table of my life. I tend to be very quick to invest emotional energy into other people rather than knowing the limits of my psyche and often expend too much into being a doormat to other people at the expense of my own worries. I often feel a lot of guilt there because I often feel obligated to put myself out there for other people in every possible way but I need a gentle reminder that saying 'no' when I need to and picking and choosing where I invest myself doesn't make me a bad person, just one with priorities. This year is about choosing the things that are best for me and bring my dreams forward, rather than being dishonest with myself and others. Doubting my gut and intuitions and my own abilities to achieve my dreams doesn't do anyone any favours, myself especially.

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             Lastly my financial standing is also going to become a priority. The plan is to pick up a part time job and be a 'real' adult and open a savings account. I do in fact have student loans but they only really cover the cost of living. I'm tired of having to overly plan ahead for social events or dating, or things like studying abroad taking an absolute back burner to my bills. It sounds like a simple goal but focusing more on becoming independent and finding new ways to take care of myself is something that is important to me. 

            So my goals are few but they entail a lot more smaller tasks and organizing than I wanted to lay out here. Something about writing it down always makes the possibility of success more real, somehow. I hope the new year finds you in good stead.

xx. r

style: winter blues

Hello babes! So I took the advantage of my free morning to actually post an outfit. This is something new to me and I'm doing it in the hopes it'll help me reflect and refine my style. Part of being on campus (and also living in Newfoundland) is striking the right chord between practicality, comfort and style. I'm still trying to figure out what elements feel the most 'me', which is more of a challenge than I thought. I've always been a big believer that your clothes and personal style are an excellent form of self expression and I was always slow to the game on it. I can always recognize uniqueness and originality in others but I find it hard when it comes to me because I want to wear 50 different identities at once. 

So, yeah, it's a slow process. Reflecting on this outfit: I like the layers; as a busty girl finding ways to dress your boobs (let's be frank here, that's what you have to do) is not always easy and I'm drawn towards more masculine aesthetics anyways. Again, striking the right chord isn't always easy. 

This is just casual-ness for a day of volunteering, picking up some odds and ends and running to my psychology of sexual health class. Button up shirts are my best friend, not going to lie. As are the Blundstones I'm going to throw on with this. I'm going to do a review of those real soon, truthfully because they are SUCH a cold/wet weather essential. 

pearls & earrings - gifts // jeans & oxford button down -GAP // sheer gardigan - F21

Not pictured, the kickass vintage cabin sock I threw on after. Coziness is key. 

Apologies for the mirror pics, I'll try to find a better venue for photographs soon! Hope you're all having a lovely day!
r.

  

Self Care & Why It Needs to be Prioritized

not mine; credit to whomever owns it

              I'm not sure where I first heard about the idea of self-care but the more I've delved into it and come understand what it means it surprises me that it's not a more popular concept.
Then again, perhaps it shouldn't; our society still has plenty of stigma around discussing a lot of aspects of mental health.

~

                I'm sure a lot of people in fact don't know what it is, and thankfully the internet provided a handy summation of it for me: "any intentional acts by an individual to take care of their physical, mental and emotional selves."
This obviously can mean different things for different people but as a student, in particular, the fact that more emphasis is not placed on discussing taking care of your mental self is disappointing.  It's a perfectly reasonable, or at least normalized,thing to hear about drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, making time for exercising and eating well but when it comes to doing the same for our emotional well being, it just isn't talked about on the broad scale it should be. I do realize that physicality is a part of self-care, I mentioned it earlier, however, that alone is does not embody self-care as a whole. Because I totally agree with that; I feel more centered mentally when I do stay hydrated and eat foods that nourish my body and soul (lean protein for dem' lifting gainz and pizza for my soul), and get adequate sleep. However, that's the easy bit. Or easier bit, I should say.

~

               A lot of people I know, myself included tend to not really analyze what it means to take the necessary steps for mental well being.  After taking some time to self-reflect and review some of the self-care notes I was given when I did my volunteer orientation (which is with a Women's Resource center) I think I've summarized the essentials fairly well in the following. These are just some general ideas for prioritizing self care in your life!




 Physical self care:

• Eat regularly! I know that with busy schedules (especially as a student) or when you're having a particularly off day it isn't appealing/easy but it's part of what your body needs to function. This also means try to eat things that are good for both your body and soul. Fruit and veg helps keep your body happy but pizza is good for the soul.
• Take care of whatever medical care/prescriptions you need on the regular. 
• Wear your favorite outfits that make you feel beautiful/empowered/happy.
• Take time when you need it - this means saying NO when you need to; don't feel you have to sacrifice time you need for you to appease other people.
• Get enough sleep; maybe think about creating a soothing evening routine to stick to each night to wind down.
• Stay hydrated! I recommend the Water Your Body app to help remind you; it keeps you more alert, prevents headaches, and is excellent for your skin.

Psychological/Emotional self care:

• Make time for self reflection! Maybe keep a private journal to release at the end of each day 
• Try to stay organized/ahead of your schedule - decreasing your overall stress takes a load of your mind and body. 
• Give yourself affirmations and praise yourself!
• Re-read/re-watch your favourite books or movies.
• On that note, figure out what activities in your life are comforting and seek them out!
• Allow yourself emotional release; this could mean crying when you need to or taking out some anger on a punching bag in the gym.
• Take steps to love and appreciate the body you have - it's a hard road but learning to love your vessel and be happy and comfortable in it does a lot for your mental health.
• Engage your intelligence by trying something new; maybe visit an art gallery or another exhibit of your interest, an up coming performance or concert! 
• Appreciate the non material aspects of your life.
• Accept that you don't have the answers to everything all the time; focus on your present self.
• Consider making time to meditate or pray as private time for peace and self-reflections and self-appreciation. 
• Contribute to causes you feel strongly about!

  

  not mine; credits to whomever 

Personal Recommendations:

• Grow something; I find keeping a few plants in my room to take care of soothing in some way - the greenery perhaps?
• Find some incense or candles that you adore; a nice smelling room does a lot to make your room/space feel like a welcoming, comfortable area for you.
• Keep a gratitude jar - at the end of each day I take a small piece of paper and write at least four things I was grateful for, found inspiring/beautiful/intriguing. 
• Treat yourself to little presents here and there when you can afford it; I find buying a new lotion or nail polish or book makes me feel special and like I'm dating myself!
• Track your finances; I find that staying on top of my finances and budgeting my life means I don't have to stress about spending in the future. 
• Yoga! I find my practice (when I'm not terrible at prioritizing it myself) really centers me and quiets my mind as well as gives me a new appreciation of what my body is capable of. (This goes for any physical action/exercise that makes you feel lovely)
• Focus on having good posture throughout the day.
• Take long evenings to pamper yourself. 
• Learn to cook; not only is the process of prepping a meal pretty tranquil, you get a yummy dish at the end of it to enjoy. 
• Moisturizeeeeeee; especially in the winter when your skin needs it. 

That's all for now! Hopefully this may have inspired you or given you new ideas to take care of your wonderful selves - have a wonderful day!

r.

Bullet Journal: Organization for 2015

my key of shorthand symbols

I want to preface this by saying I hate making titles for posts. I'm not a particularly pithy person, hence why all my posts are very matter of fact and decidedly not catchy. Find me a concise and fetching way to title a post on journaling and, and.. I don't know you can come blog with me I guess?

Anyways, in what is my decided addiction to tumblr I run a side blog which catalogs and archives all matter of material related to studying and being an academic. Study and organization tips, advice on test prep, and generally inspiring and motivational images for kicking your ass into gear for revising.
(Studyblr, is the term for that kind of blog, if you were interested)
And as a lot of people are on break, there's a lot of prep on the go for how to hit the pavement running in the new year, which of course, has incited the purchase of a number of daily planners.
But I was more interested in the methodology of staying organized. I have a filofax, which is now lying unused and though I loved the quality of it the one thing I hated was having to buy refills of particular pages if I wanted to continue with it. Enter bullet journaling. I'm not really sure how to sum up what exactly it is, per say because it's such a flexible system and (as you'll see) you can tweak it to fit your needs. So it's not quite as prescriptive as buying a planner with the pages already designated for you. Essentially, it's meant to be an efficient, short-hand method of staying organized, where you can see large groups of information "at a glance."

Here is the link to the official web page that will be able to describe the original system much more efficiently. However, there were aspects to that I did like, re: the monthly events in a column on oen page. I'm a visual person so what I decided to do was draw out an actual calendar to jot small things in and double as a tracker page. Specific tasks and events are on the other side of the spread with room for notes and additions.
The tracker page idea was something I stumbled upon in a random video but in that version the page was flipped so it ran horizontally, so you would have had to turn the actual journal to view it correctly and I just wasn't feeling that. So instead I designated my tracker symbols to the actual calender I drew out, which you can see below.

monthly two page spread

As you can see, I'm tracking the quality of my sleeping, completing my workouts, water intake, if I'm sticking to eating well and my overall mood for that day. And, yes, you can see I've scheduled in my nuvaring dates in already. Fight me, it's a medical marvel. I don't have any dailies pages yet, since January has't arrived yet but once I do get back into the school year and actually really get into this system I'll do an update post and let you know how I've been finding it and if I've made any changes. The main reason I think I'm going to like this system is it's flexibility and the customization aspect to it.

Like I mentioned earlier, it's not quite the same as the original system but it's fairly similar. Rather than set pages or whatnot I can put everything in the order that works for me and the shorthand, bullet style of the dailies pages works for me, as I'm that person who has a million sticky notes to remember little things. The kind of artsy, personal feel to it was another thing that drew me in; taking my sharpie and Staedtler pens and taking the time to make it aesthetically pleasing is kind of cathartic for me and feels more "me" than buying inserts or pre-planned journal.
 The pictures are a little out of order but below (starting from the left going clockwise) is my first dailies page I've drawn up, then my index and some collection pages I've started. The index is literally just the table of contents for your journal, which is another aspect I really think is going to come in useful. You just designated particular pages for certain things and than label at the front. My moleskine is blank so I number my pages myself but plenty of journals are pre-numbered. The collection pages in the bottom right corner are (for right now healthy recipes I want to try and a to-do list of things I need to pick up when I go back to uni. If I don't end up filling up that pages, I can half it off, draw up something else to put there and simply add it to the index. Like, do you see how efficient this is?!

dailies sample page // index // collection page spread

I don't plan on tracking my dailies pages in the index, that'd be too much, but collection pages, yes indeed. I think this will include things like self care ideas, lovely advice to myself, workout ideas/tracking and pages for planning papers for school. Hopefully this will keep my ass on track in 2015.

That's it for now on the bullet journal front! You darlings have any particular plan to stay on track in the new year?

r.