10+ Really Fun Things You Can Do Alone

So, hey. At the time of writing this, next week would be Valentine’s Day.

I’m sure some of you would be spending it with a special someone or with friends or the fam. But I’m also sure some of you will be like me, spending it alone. In my case, it’s just a typical day in the college life of Kate the Stressed Out College Girl. And I couldn’t care less about Valentine’s Day passing by uneventful.

I’m a 100% introvert. Seriously. I’ve taken the Myers-Brigg Test three times and my Introvert-ness is consistently 100%. Which is probably why it’s not shocking to me that I love my alone time.

But I realized not everyone is comfortable in their own company. I know a handful of people who feel so awkward being on their own, they seek refuge in social media.

I guess the problem is some people think of alone and lonely as the same thing.

Friends, they’re not.

10+ Really Fun Things You Can Do Alone

And to prove it, I have a list of things you can do alone and not feel lonely. Because 1) it’s been soooo long since I made a really simple list post and 2) I know plenty so explaining them one-by-one would give you a 583209-word post. That’s more or less trilogy-length. And you wouldn’t want to read something that long, now would you?

Anyhoo, enjoy! 🙂

Read your favorite book
Take a short hike
Photograph things – You don’t have to be an expert and you don’t even have to use a professional camera. Just take a picture of something with your phone or a point-and-shoot camera. Remember that the point here is to enjoy, okay?
Watch your favorite movie
Draw something – Again, don’t stress over how unrealistic your drawing may look. Just enjoy the creative process 🙂 Better yet…
Create something – Any small creative projects are healthy! Not only do they keep your creative juices active, but they’re also quite relaxing. Take your pick!
Do some stretching
Blast on some good vibe music – And might I suggest to my fellow millennials, Disney songs? 😉
DANCE – Whether you want to do it in public or in the comfort of your home is up to you hehe
Cook or bake something for yourself – And to my fellow culinary newbies, try something you’re confident you won’t burn
Start a journal
Go jogging
Play an instrument – And if like me, you don’t know any instrument, just belch out some notes with your very own vocal chords
Clean your room
Play a word puzzle or even try the Rubik’s Cube
Go to a (safe) public place like the park or mall or the beach and people watch – I’m telling you this is way more fun than it sounds.
Star gaze – Look for a place near you that’s perfect for it, I’m sure there is
Stay at home when everyone else is out – Enjoy the quiet. This is my favorite thing to do alone and I’m seldom alone at home so I savor every chance I get.

These are gathered from years of personal experience and I’m someone who’s comfortable in my own company. Still, what works for me may not work for you. But try out a few of these things. Or even think outside the box and do something else entirely! As long as you are enjoying yourself; that is the purpose of this post, anyway.

And also, you never know what you’ll enjoy doing alone unless you do try, yeah? 😉

How do you make time for yourself? What do you best like to do alone?

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PS: You might like to check out 13 ways to be inspired or learn how boredom boosts your creativity.

February 11, 2017 35 Comments

You Don’t Need to Understand

Story time.

As a kid, I was the scrawny, quiet one lurking in the corner. And I was often misunderstood. I guess even now, I still am hehe but I accept that now. Back then, it bothered me so much.

No one, not even my family, could ever get me and that was what made me upset most of the time. That they didn’t understand. At one point, the whining turned into a self-pitying excuse. “They don’t understand me. Why?” became “They don’t understand me. Why bother?”

I isolated myself from a lot of people. Not physically. But for a long time, in my mind, I was alone in the world. Only I understand me, that’s what I always thought. It all comes back to the whole “I don’t rely on others a lot” that I told you a few posts back.

Now I ache for the younger me. I feel sorry she had to see the world in such miserable lenses. But I also don’t want to be like her anymore.

Recently, I see so many people who are similar to younger Kate. Misunderstood and suffering alone and living in fear that nobody will understand them.

And I also see a lot of people who are too preoccupied with what they believe in, what they think are right and how things should be, that they don’t have space in their hearts or minds to see things in any other angle. Seeing these people clash against each other in a confusing mess, that familiar thought from my childhood resurfaces, if only they understood each other…

I had to stop myself. Because I realized now that the idea of people perfectly understanding each other? Sadly, that’s not possible.

See, there’s something I learned not too long ago.

Our experiences are our own. And so are our thoughts.

Okay, make that everything in our mind.

Everything in our mind is our own.

No matter how many people claimed to have similar experiences or ideas or thoughts that you have, these will never be exactly the same as yours. Kinda like how we have our own unique set of fingerprints, you know?

And that’s just how it is.

The reason why younger Kate’s grand ambition of Everyone Perfectly Understanding Each Other won’t ever come true is because we inherently can’t. We understand things in our own ways. And so we see and comprehend seemingly similar things differently.

So if completely understanding everyone is not possible, what will happen to us? Is a compassion to many people not possible, then?

Are we forever cursed to chaos and messes brought by misunderstanding and, ultimately, hatred? (That sounded like a line from a blurb of a YA fantasy lol)

The answer came to me in a form of a photo shared on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/camphalfblood/status/826197313278328832

Of course. Respect!

(Side note: I swear, I was tearing up when I read that letter. I had to stop myself because I was in the middle of a class at the time.)

I particularly love that line: “…they did not need to understand, but they did need to show respect.” Because in that one line, this anonymous teacher from Massachusetts, who wrote this letter to the amazing Uncle Rick, gave me the answer. And it’s so simple.

You don’t need to understand everyone. You don’t even need people to understand you. You just need to respect others, whoever they are and whatever circumstances they’re in.

Because that, my awesome and beautiful friends, is the best way to show compassion to people you don’t understand.

How will you show respect and compassion to a person today? 🙂

Have a passion-filled day, awesome peeps! <3

February 8, 2017 1 Comment

Choosing the Right Color Palette for Your Blog

Have you ever looked at your blog’s free theme and thought of the other dozens of people using it who all have basically the same look as yours? Maybe you want your blog to look at least a wee bit different than others?

Yo I did, too. And I like how mine looks now. Though, there are still some things I’m currently improving.

“But how can you do it on a free platform, Kate?” I hear you ask.

Well really, it has a lot to do with being creative and resourceful, which I love to do so hey! In the next couple of Saturdays, I’ll be sharing the things I did. And we’ll start with your blog’s color palette!

Before that, though, I have to tell you that these are tiny changes you can do to give your blog that “you” feeling. There aren’t any crazy CSS customization or coding here since it’s not available in WordPress’s free platform.

Now! Color palettes.

How do you know if it’s The Right One? From my experience (and it isn’t much, mind you) it’s somewhere between something you like and something that will tell your readers what exactly your blog is about.

I’ll explain that further below. For now, here are three actionable steps you can take to choose a color palette for your blog.

1 | Get to Know Your Theme

The free themes in WordPress usually have two or three available color palettes that you can choose from. And I can bet ya my favorite watercolor brush they are neutral or versatile colors, colors you can pair up with different other colors.

I mean, I should know. I’ve probably used 5 different themes in the span of two years. #Guilty

The thing is, most blogs I see only use the default colors and then have their own header images. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, mind you. But for me, a custom header isn’t enough.

And if you’re like me, then heed this advice: Get to know your theme.

Learn the specs and features available in your theme. Go to Appearance>Customize in your Dashboard and head over to Colors and Backgrounds. There, you’ll see the different color palettes you can use. Tweak them.

2 | Think of Your Blog’s Ambiance

You know how when you enter a cafe with lots of dark and earthy tones, you get this grounded feeling like you could settle there and be reassured? Or maybe you entered a gift shop with lots of light shades and pastel hues. It has this cheerful and happy atmosphere, right?

That, my friends, is the power of color.

(*whispers excitedly* Amazing, right? Riiiiight?)

You can use color psychology to create a certain atmosphere you want your blog to have just like a physical shop. Do you want your blog to feel friendly and light-hearted? Maybe your sassy personality oozes out of your blog?

Here’s an example of pink along with earthy colors giving an ohmigosh-it’s-so-beautiful! combination of femininity and stability. Gorsh, Pantone should hire me XD (from Design Seeds; image via @closetteblog)

Also, consider your blog’s voice. This is the “personality” that comes out of the words you write. Take a good look at how you write your posts and take note of the kind of voice that it has. Does it sound sarcastic? Adorably awkward? Kind and positive?

You could even reach out to a friend or family and ask them to read a couple of your posts. This way, your blog’s colors will align to your blog’s voice.

3 | Use Color Palette Resources

There are sooo many ways and resources available for you to create your own color palette but I’ll mention the three I used:

Adobe Color CC

I freakin love this app! You can use it on a mobile device or a computer. And, the best part, it’s free! You can enter a certain color and the app will show you the different color palettes you can create based on different color rules (analogous, complementary, etc.) or a custom color palette if you wanna DIY.

You can also upload a picture and the app will pick the different colors from the photo. And you can change the color mood!

Bless Adobe!

Mood Board

You can also look for pictures that invoke those feelings you want your blog to have.

Enter mood board.

Last Wednesday, we talked about how mood boards can help in inspiration-needed times and hey! Here’s one! You can head on to the post to know how to create a mood board and I even have 3 free .psd templates you can use 😉

I used a mood board when I was looking for other colors I can maybe add into my palette. Because, you know, creative blog = colorful-ish. But I don’t plan on using them all the time; they’re just minor colors.

Design Seeds

I’ve heard about this site for so long but I’ve only visited the site last October and oh my gosh! If you love colors, I’m sure you’ll love this site. Its tagline is literally “For all who love color”! There are tons of color palettes based on spectacular photographs in Design Seeds and you will leave the site feeling super inspired 😀

The Blog Market has also posted other color palette tools and resources that you can use. Check out their post and their blog! I am such a huge fan of it!

4 | Keep What You Like in Mind

In the previous three steps, I’ve given you tips on choosing a color palette with your readers in mind. I’ve read it plenty of times from different bloggers that a successful blog caters not only to the blogger but most especially to its readers. And this is true most of the time.

With your readers in mind, you can create a color palette that:

+ Creates the atmosphere you want your blog to have

+ Successfully let people know what your blog is all about (e.g., a fun and open blog with lots of good vibes and inspiration, in my blog’s case)

But this doesn’t mean you won’t put what you like into consideration. Remember that this is your space in the vast Interwebs. For one thing, it would be more fun to create posts in a space you actually like to see them in. And at the same time, it would feel more “you”, doesn’t it? Which is why we started this post in the first place.

To make your humble virtual space more yours. 🙂

If you reached the end of this reeaaally long post, thank you so much for reading! 😀 How did you come up with the color palette for your blog? Is there a certain topic you like me to discuss regarding blog improvements? Tell me your thoughts!

Happy blogging, awesome peeps! 🎨

January 14, 2017 10 Comments

Why You Need Mood Boards for Endless Inspiration

Hey there! We’ve already established that this month’s Saturdays and probably even the February’s will have topics that will help you to kickstart your blog this year.

But I don’t want you to get overwhelmed with all the advice and tips like what usually happens to me when I binge-read blogging tips in Pinterest. (I mean seriously, I feel like my head spins afterwards.)

Which is why I will be publishing “side dish posts”, as I like to call them, every Wednesday. These are posts that won’t be entirely blog-related but hopefully they can also help, inspiration- and motivation-wise. 🙂

Because, you know. Wednesdays are for inspiration and motivational posts as I mentioned in my little about section in my sidebar over there >>>

So! Onto the topic: mood boards.

You’ve probably heard about mood boards or maybe you even use them. But if you don’t know what they are, mood boards or (inspiration boards) are basically board collages containing pictures or illustrations that invoke a certain mood on you.

Mood boards can also be used to keep you inspired with so many things. I’ve listed three reasons why you may need mood boards:

+ It makes brainstorming for any creative project easier. Mood boards help in establishing the aesthetic feel of…well, anything. When I started revamping this blog, I made use of a digital mood board. It helped me in thinking of how I want my blog to feel and what colors look great together.

Because you all know how I obsess with colors, right?

And you can do this with whatever creative project you have like rearranging a room or your entire house, or revamping your blog. But you can also use it in other creative projects like writing. Authors can gather pictures that they find is related to their stories and have the mood board in their workspace.

+ It’s pretty to look. Hehe I can’t help it. I’m a visual person; I like colors and textures and anything pleasant-looking. Seeing lots of pretty images in one place inspires me. And I’m sure this inspires others too.

+ It gives never-ending inspiration. This is the main purpose of mood boards, before it became an important part in the design process. I mean, it’s literally called inspiration board.

There will come a point when you are totally burned out and you have neither determination nor inspiration to move you forward. And we all know burn outs of any kind are just exhausting.

That’s where a mood board can help.

Personally I like making mood boards with specific colors in mind. (See: color obsession) And so far I have a couple of digital mood boards but I’m planning on buying a cork board I can put on my wall to put inspiring images and colors.

You can put anything in your board, that’s the best part! Anything at all that gives off a certain mood can be placed there. That said, there are three ways to create a mood board. So I’ll go through each of them below and how to create them.

Physical board

Like I said, I planned on buying a cork board to use as my physical mood board. There’s just something different in inspirational things that are also tangible.

A cute mood board. Plus it can also be a cute wall decor! Creative, amirite? (source) Image taken from Web Designer Hub.

You don’t have to buy a cork board to have one, either! Maybe you have a space on the door of your closet or you can paste it on top of your desk. Be resourceful about it! Cut out or print the images you want to put in your mood board and there you go!

A great way to know when you have to change your physical mood board is if you stop noticing the images there because you’re used to seeing it all the time.

Pinterest

Pinterest, as we all know, is Internet’s very own collection of idea boards. I actually took the images for my digital board from Pinterest. You can create a secret board in Pinterest if you don’t want people to see it. I have my own secret board where I save that are in my blog’s color or has that certain feel that I want my blog to have.

Images I saved for my Digital Mood Board taken from Pinterest. Notice the abundance of food? XD

Digital Board

While digital boards lack in tangibility, it does make up by being portable. I made my digital board using Photoshop and have a copy of it in my laptop and my phone. I also keep .psd files in my laptop so that I can change the images whenever I want to. In fact, I have three templates you can use for free if you want to create a digital mood board. Just click the button below. 🙂

But you don’t need to have Photoshop, of course! You can create a simple collage with MS Paint or even with a photo app online like Canva or PicMonkey.

My mood board for my blog + the colors I chose

There are plenty of ways to keep your creative juices flowing and spark up an inspiration. Having a mood board is just one of them. Whatever way you use, so long as you are inspired to do what you like every day, then do it!

Do you have mood boards? How do you keep your creative juices flowing? Share them in the comments below!

Have an inspired day, awesome peeps! <3

January 11, 2017 10 Comments

Little Things You Can Do to Grow Your Blog

15+ Little Ways to Grow Your Blog | Wanna kickstart your blog in an awesome way this 2017? Here are several ways you can do right now to grow your blog.

Hey everyone! Last month I didn’t get the chance to talk much about blogging, since I was giving way for holiday-themed posts. Which is why for the rest of January’s Saturdays (and probably February’s too) I will have a series of posts focusing on the topic, giving some tips that can be helpful to kickstart your blog this 2017.

We all started blogging with different purposes. Maybe you were bored or you wanted to improve your writing or you sought for a place to vent (this is how I started) or something entirely different.

But the fact is: we were looking for something and the blogosphere called to answer.

It’s such an amazing place, the blogosphere. It’s huge and you would think since it’s already overpopulated it won’t have any space left for anyone new. But it never gets tired to welcome people in. Never. It’s kinda like the Hermes cabin in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. They welcome everyone!

Now as a blogger, there would come a time when you want to improve yourself and grow your blog. This can be done in so many ways and I’ll give you a few (ooh rhymes!) on each aspect of blogging.

1 | Your Blog Design

Out of everything here, improving this aspect of your blog is the most noticeable to readers and visitors. Your blog’s design is important in determining whether a reader would stick around long enough to read what you’ve written or could hit that back button faster than me saying “cheetah.”

According to this site, it only takes a mere 0.05 seconds for someone to form a first impression on a website and determine if they would stay or leave. Even more so, 94% of a person’s first impression on a blog is apparently design-related. It’s like a book’s cover. With just a glance on your blog’s look, a person will determine whether it’s their thing or not.

Here are few ways you can improve your blog design:

+ Create a clean custom header

+ Fix yo’ sidebar (and footer if you can)

+ Create your own color palette

+ Make a favicon

+ Have custom graphics everywhere you can put ‘em

2 | Your Blog Content

I find that the most important improvements for your blog’s content ultimately depend on you:

What are the topics you want to write frequently?

How often do you want to write them?

Think long and hard what your answers for these two questions are. They’re what will help you create the foundation of your blog’s content. But the problem is, they’re pretty subjective. Only you know if you want a niche blog or a nicheless one. Only you know how much you need to post a week or a month to create awesome content.

We all have different limits and capabilities. And so only you can know for sure if something is working well or not. No blogging tip or advice could give that to you.

Now if you already have the answers to these important questions, yay! Good for you! *hands you a rainbow cookie* Here are some more ways to improve your content:

+ Try Out an Editorial Calendar

+ Make Use of Categories and Tags

+ Format Your Blog Posts Neatly

3 | The Important Pages

What are the important pages, Kate? You may ask.

Well, these are the pages that any blog needs to have, no matter the niche or even if you don’t have a niche: the about page or the “start here” page and the contact page.

And if you want to go a little bit further, there are also:

+ Terms of Use

+ Privacy Policy

+ Disclaimer (especially if you make use of Amazon Associates)

+ Archives

4 | Blogging Etiquette

I say blogging etiquette as if I mean The Ten Commandments of Blogging or something, but I don’t.

The blogosphere doesn’t really ask for much. Mainly? Just respect. Respect for the other people in the Interwebs, not just the blogosphere. Respect for other people’s works. Respect.

For example: the “follow me” comments. Those hurt me. I mean, imagine yourself sharing something to someone and that person will just interrupt you and be like, “Yes yes, that’s nice. But listen to this one…”

That’s kinda rude, isn’t it?

Unless of course that person found you in a Link-Up party or a blog party. These things allow you to promote a handful of your posts so I think it’s no question to return the courtesy and visit others’ too. But outside these situations, it’s not really kind to do so. Like you’re using other people’s space to promote yourself or something. It’s spammy.

So how do you show respect to others in the Interwebs? Let me count two ways:

+ Give credit where credit is due

+ Be completely genuine and give thoughtful comments

This is where the growing isn’t only limited to your blog but also comprises yourself as a responsible netizen and, ultimately, as a person.

—

I’m telling you right now, I’m no blogging expert. Heck, even I am still instilling some of the things here or constantly improving them. *cough*blog design*cough*

See, I like to think we’re all a work in progress. And we can always do small things everyday to improve. And as I’ve said before, there is always a room for improvement. 🙂

I will be discussing some of the points here more extensively in the next few Saturdays so if you are interested in one or more, you can click on that follow or subscribe button so you won’t miss ’em.

Or, you know, just drop a visit every Saturday! My blog is always open 😉

What do you want to improve in any aspect of yourself this year? Do you have some changes planned? I’d love to hear about them!

Happy growing, awesome peeps!

January 8, 2017 7 Comments

6 Life Lessons I Learned in 2016

So.

We’re in the last Wednesday of the year.

Is anyone getting teary-eyed saying goodbye to 2016?

I can just hear you: “Teary-eyed, Kate? Tears of relief, maybe. Good riddance, I say!”

I know, I know. 2016 was definitely not one of the best years for many and that’s saying it nicely.

But what do I always say here? Good and bad always go together. They’re two different horns, yeah sure. But they’re two different horns on the same llama. So they have differences and things in common and they always go together.

That said, I honestly believe that while 2016 was a straight-up birch as a whole (that was not a typo; I’m just cautious of younger awesome peeps reading this) even the Rainiest Johnny and Jenny Rain Clouds can’t deny that good things happened this year, right? Riiiight?

And to prove it, I share to you the 6 best life lessons I learned this year.

1 | There is no pace to keep other than your own

This was the hardest one I’ve learned this year, I think. I personally grew up with the idea that I have to figure things out as early in my life as possible. I guess a lot of people are. We’re all pressured to decide what our future job should be and start working to achieve it by the age of fifteen. We are all pressured by this internal time ticking in our subconscious telling us to keep. Pace. Keep. Pace. With everyone else.

And you know what I learned this year? This is all ridiculous. There is no pace to keep. You are not lagging behind.

I could go on but I don’t want to keep this post 8973 words long so let’s leave it at that for now. I may write an entire post about this next year but for now, you can head on to my previous posts below to see a glimpse of what I think of this.

Sarah Dessen’s “Infinity” and the Daunting Task of Making a Decision

Why It’s Okay to Not Have Everything Figured Out

2 | There is always room for improvement

I think there’s that tricky, blurry line between contentment and persistence. When do you stop doing one and start doing the other?

Honestly? I have no idea.

But what I do know is this: even at times when you feel like there is no way that you could ever surpass where you currently are now, well surprise surprise because someday you will. There’s a whole lot of space left in you for improvement.

You are a work in progress.

This amazing article from Brain Pickings (I mean, who are we kidding? Brain Pickings is an inspirational gold mine; all the articles are ah-mazing!) tells of two mindsets and how they could essentially change our outlooks on life and even shape it. This article strengthened my belief for this particular lesson, too, so give it a read. It’s really enriching.

3 | Your quirks are part of who you are; embrace it

And while you’re at it, embrace all parts of you.

Further cementing my belief on this one, I recently read this amazing collection of stories by A.C. Burch called A Book of Revelations (*Amazon affiliate link over there) and my gobbling turkey the stories are just plain amazing! One of the stories had this quote that I think excellently sums up my point:

Edit: I forgot to attach this, whoops!

And to drive it all the way home, I wrote a post at Flawed Silence for Project Taboo where I talked about how I think every part of you doesn’t have to “make sense.” And since you’re there already, scroll through Kiya’s amazing blog. It’s filled to the brim with inspiration, delectable baking goodies, and spectabulous photographs!

4 | Don’t judge a person by how they appear

I’m calling it: a lot of people literally judge books by their covers *raises hands* but don’t do this to people.

Every one, every single person you met, passed by, engaged eye contact with, talked to, even those you haven’t met yet: they all have unique experiences you wouldn’t understand.

Okay so maybe you kiiiinda get it because you’ve been through a similar experience. But read that again: similar. Totally different from exact. Because, folks, even when you’ve read that person like a book from cover to cover, always remember that there is still something between the lines. And you may have missed it.

This is a hard one, believe me, I know. But as Judy Hopps always say, try.

5 | Take a break

And by that, I don’t just mean coffee break. (Or in my case, chocolate break) I mean, get some rest—physically, mentally, and emotionally. If you’re over-fatigued, sleep. I find that having enough sleep when you’re life isn’t as hectic helps in so many ways. I mean, if Arianna Huffington approves, go ahead and do it!

And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, nothing wrong with taking a break, amirite? But there’s a huge difference between stopping and quitting, mmkay? Speaking of which…

6 | Never quit entirely, immediately

So you got rejected in your job application or maybe a scholarship one. Will you quit applying altogether? Will you not pursue it anymore? Will you not try to reevaluate what you’ve done and see how you could change it?

Personally, this is the easiest lesson that I learned this year and could apply for next year onwards. But that’s because I’m plain stubborn. Well, a lot more stubborn than I was when I was a kid. I’ve decided to never let one failure/rejection/Johnny Rain Cloud get to me.

Now I don’t mean to never quit your whole life. Because there will come a time, when one thing isn’t working anymore, there’s no point in pursuing it further. I just mean that maaaybe you haven’t tried everything yet to possibly work it all out.

—

Whew! That was one lengthy post! But hey, it’s my last Wednesday post of the month and the year. The last post this Saturday (December 31st, holy macaroni!) will be, like every end of the month, a creative review and probably will include a short Happy New Year message. So we’re really saying goodbye to 2016 in a few days!

Onto you: what life lessons, or any lessons in particular (I’m not picky, I just love lessons ;)) you’ve learned this year? Share them in the comments below!

Have an amazing day, awesome peeps! 🙌

December 28, 2016 31 Comments

6 Motivational Quotes to Keep You Going Next Year

Hey all!

We’re less than a week away from Christmas! Which means we’re less than halfway through the month. Which means we’re almost done with 2016!

Can you believe that?

Actually, I can.

A lot has happened this year and there were definitely moments when I felt like I hit the all time low. And I’m sure I’m not alone in this. So these motivational quotes are for those who need the right words to keep them going.

“You may encounter defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou

“You go on. You set one foot in front of the other, and if a thin voice cries out, somewhere behind you, you pretend not to hear, and keep going.” – Geraldine Brooks

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

“Things don’t go wrong and break your heart so you can become bitter and give up. They happen to break you down and build you up so you can be all that you were intended to be.” – Charlie Jones

“It is absolutely essential to hang in there—especially when you feel most discouraged.” – Steve Shallenberger

“It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Lastly, I got my own motto/quote to share. This one I’ve thought of just this year.

“Life is full of surprises. So always have a smile ready.”

I don’t know if that made any sense to you, but it does to me.

Have an inspired day, awesome peeps! 🙂

December 21, 2016 4 Comments

The Little Things You Can Do to Spread Love This Holiday Season

Yo, we have less than a week left until Christmas! *dances holiday happy dance*

Last Wednesday, I talked about happiness and how to let it into your life every day. Today I want to talk about, well, you’ve read it in the title: spreading love.

As the song goes, “Give love on Christmas Day,” amirite? So I thought this topic’s timely for this month. But like I mentioned with happiness, spreading love isn’t exclusively done during the holidays. And the list below contains things anyone can do any-freakin-time.

So let’s get to it, yeah?

Smile to Strangers

You may be looking at those words funny and you may be thinking, “Whaaaat. Why would I even do that? That’s embarrassing.” Or something similar.

I’m telling you right now: I totally get you. Even I would have cringed at the idea. To me, that borders on creepy and simply doesn’t make any sense. It’s like you’re coming on to a random person. Totally WTH moment, right? So what do I do? I look for context.

It could be something as simple as smiling at a mom whose cute little baby is staring at you in public transport. (I actually do this) Or maybe the dudes in the meat section of the grocery are doing some holiday-related gimmick. (And they look funny) These may be little things but they’re at-the-moment somethings that becomes a shared experience with a stranger.

I watched this TEDx Talk video before where a woman was in the middle of a prank called the no-pants subway ride. She was so uncomfortable with all of it. But the guys in front of her just laughed at it all and, when she made eye contact with them, she smiled. Boom, a shared experience. Weird, sure, but it’s more fun when you share the experience with someone.

Give a Random Compliment

Now unlike the smiling one, this would definitely be weird to do on strangers whether there’s a context or no. I know there are people who would be uncomfortable to speak out to complete strangers. *points at self* So do it to a family or friend or an acquaintance. Someone you’ve at least talked to before.

I find that people are often surprised to be given a random compliment and deep down, it flatters them.

Of course, if you want to, you can give a compliment to a complete stranger. See how they’ll react. And if you’re being completely genuine, they’d be genuinely surprised themselves.

Bond with Your Family

I know some people aren’t really close to their family and would choose their friends over them. I’m guilty of doing this sometimes. But see, one thing I’ve learned recently is that your friends will change and some would go separate ways, pursuing their career. I myself only have a handful of my high school friends that I keep in touch regularly. But my family? They’re always there. They can be an unbearable bunch, sure. But they’re always there.

Participate in Programs or Holiday Events

Although Christmas parties are common examples of a holiday program, there are certain events or projects both in the real and virtual world that mainly aim to spread love, not by some fancy celebratory feasts and exchange gifts, but by giveaways and charities and outreaches.

For instance, the amazing Teenella created the Blogger’s Secret Santa where you get to post something nice about a fellow blogger. I joined in and no, I’m not telling who I got. In an author fan group I’m part of, they will be holding giveaways to readers who can’t afford to buy as much books as they want. All of these are relatively tiny things, really. But the amazing part is how people gather together to contribute and participate in them.

You know these are small stuff. But they can be fun and life-enriching at the same time. 2016 was a bad year for many so I really don’t want to add up into all the negativity. This holiday season, you can give out hope and a little light by doing little things. And I’m telling you, it’ll go a long way.

There’s this certain quote posted in our uni’s guidance office that I think is befitting for this post:

Don’t make it an obligation. Give love willingly and without any expectations. And you’ll feel it: elation and happiness. That feeling of your heart warming up and stretching out. And I promise, it does feel good.

Have a love-filled day, awesome peeps!💞

December 14, 2016 1 Comment

What To Do When You’re Having Blog Burn Out

You know, I personally think that starting a blog isn’t so hard.

I mean, sure, you get jitters and you’ve been thinking about having one and you’re probably going to overthink everything. And I mean every. Single. Thing. But when you get past all the necessary blanks to fill, get that first post live and start interacting with fellow bloggers, you realize, “Hey, that wasn’t so bad!”

It’s kinda like learning how to swim. You’d think you’ll surely drown but the moment you cross one point to another without a rubber tube, you realize it’s so freaking easy.

The difficult part in blogging, at least in my case, is the maintaining and growing.

Maintaining a blog means writing, taking pictures, editing, and virtually mingling with other blogging peeps. And when you’re busy as heck with other stuff in your life (e.g., school, work) the maintaining part could get really tedious.

It’ll be like crossing the English Channel when you are only a novice swimmer.

End of story? Blog burn out.

I’ve had more than a couple of blogging burnouts in nearly two years, most of which I’ve thought of quitting altogether. Just recently, I’ve had two a few months past. But I’m getting the hang of this and I’ve learned a thing or two.

So today I want to share what I do when I’m having a blog burn out.

1 | Identifying the Problem

Burn outs don’t happen all of a sudden. You think they do but they don’t. It’s like the flu. So you want to recall what you’ve done recently that could have caused it. Were you working too much? Were you drowning in self-doubt?

I obsess myself with a lot of things blogging-wise (because, you know, overthinker) but particularly in my blogging schedule. I started posting spontaneously then I decided posting more “regularly”, which means almost every-freaking-day. It was at that point when I felt squeezed out of ideas to write about and I just can’t take it anymore. (Okay I feel like that’s a lyrics to something. But whaaat?) Now I know my limits and try to be mindful about it.

Knowing what the problem is can be helpful, not only to remedy yourself from the burn out but also to avoid it in the future. Because no one wants to feel bad by the same thing twice, amiright?

2 | Refueling My Motivation

I’m the kind of person who has unlimited source of inspiration but that gets clogged up inside me because I’m lazy and my motivation is limited. I usually end up just daydreaming about awesome things but I’ll be like, “Ehh, I’ll do it later.”

I know me. Which is why I find inspiration whenever I’m having a burn out. This could be going to Pinterest or visit my #goals blogs (aka: bloggers I want to be like in the future) and just scroll through the many awesome things I expose myself to.

I’d get super pumped up and inspired that I’ll start writing.

3 | Creating an Idea Dump

Blog burn out usually means having your creative juices frozen or worse dried up. So to me, it’s extremely important to take the time to simply sit down, have a notebook and pen on the table and just stare at them.

No kidding, I really just stare.

It usually gets me bored and I let my thoughts roam free. Going from this imaginary world that I hope I could make into a novel to random musings like, “Will little chicks ever learn to shut up?” (I was sitting in our backyard) And sometime later an idea will pop up.

Boredom does that, you know. Help you out creatively. And science has proven it!

Now this is just my ideal method for coming up with topics to write about. And it works great for me. If you want more, the amazing Allison from Wonderlass (one of my #goals blogs) has shared more ways to avoid running out of awesome content ideas.

4 | When All Else Fails, Take a Break

Sometimes a blog burn out just gets too overwhelming that nothing works anymore. So take a break!

No one will arrest you for taking a break from blogging. In fact, because most of the blogosphere denizens are super nice, you’ll be missed but they’ll understand.

And anyway, it’ll be good to you–mentally, emotionally and creatively. You’ll be free from that claustrophobic feeling that you get from the burn out and when you go back, you’ll be refreshed and so full of ideas!

I would know, I took a break last month. Went to Patrick’s rock. 😄

Burn outs are a pain in the backside but it’s not the end of the world! There are always gonna be ways to remedy them and avoid them in the future. Speaking of avoiding burnouts, I found this really awesome post from Melissa Hebbe where she shares some tips on avoiding blog burn out. I really like the bit about allowing yourself to fail.

Have you ever had a blog burn out? Do you do something about it that I haven’t mentioned? Share it in the comments below or tweet me!

Happy blogging, awesome peeps! 💃

November 5, 2016 6 Comments

4 Storytelling (+Life!) Lessons from Hayao Miyazaki’s Films

It has been more or less three years since Hayao Miyazaki’s last feature film, The Wind Rises, was released and until now I miss his presence in the film industry.

Hayao Miyazaki, in my opinion, is not only one of the best animated filmmaker in Japan but the entire world. You could watch his movies at any period of your life—whether you’re nine or twenty-nine—and they will still resonate with you.

I mean, I’ve probably watched most of his movies more than a dozen times each for the past six years and there are still new things I would learn as I watch one of them for the enth time.

I planned on creating a tribute article of sorts but I felt, with my little insight, I would never do him or his films justice. Which is why I’m doing this Kate-style: a list of lessons.

Since some folks out there are probably participating in NaNoWriMo, I thought I can help out in the inspiration part with these lessons on storytelling. I freaking love stories anyway, whatever medium is used, so this is also me fangirling about storytelling. And I’m going to casually insert some life lessons in there too, if I can help it. Because you all probably know how obsess I am with life lessons, right? (If you hadn’t, now you do ;))
Whoa, that’s like using one stone to hit two birds and eat a cookie! #Winning.

1 | Learning to Pause

Don’t get me wrong, there’s something thrilling about action-packed stories. I love them and my regular praise for Rick Riordan books is evidence enough. But I also love how Miyazaki has this short “breathing room” after every excitement. A space where we see his characters simply reflect their circumstances and we don’t really need any explanation or dialogue. We just connect with them.

My Neighbor Totoro Iconic Bus Stop Scene | 4 Storytelling (+Life!) Lessons from Hayao Miyazaki's Films

I mean, who could forget this scene?

In a sense, you could also apply this to everyday life. I understand the appeal of living in the fast lane but pausing every once in a while, giving yourself a little breathing room in your life, won’t be so bad. Personally, I like plunging on to a project or some task and give myself a little break after. And when you think about it, isn’t that what the Pomodoro technique is all about? *le Eureka gasp*

2| Not Really Happily Ever After

Growing up, I have always gravitated towards happy endings. The hero saved the princess, the cursed town restored, yada yada. I’ve only started to appreciate the not-so happy ones in my late teens, have only realized how closer they are to reality.

And in most of Miyazaki’s films, you would not get a completely happily ever after. I mean, everyone’s happy, sure. But some things aren’t tied up tightly into a pretty ribbon. While Jiji did return to Kiki’s side in Kiki’s Delivery Service, he still can’t talk.

Things don’t always go exactly the way we want them to. And that’s okay. 🙂

3 | Incredible Character Depth

Okay, by far, this is one aspect in a Hayao Miyazaki film that I like the most. (Which is why I’m going to have a short fangirling moment below mehehe) And if you know me, that’s not a surprise at all, considering I always talk about character depths in my book reviews.

The thing is, Hayao Miyazaki’s characters all have incredible depths. And I mean incredible!

Princess Mononoke’s Lady Eboshi is not the cruel, heartless leader of Irontown because we see her compassion towards her workers, women from brothels and lepers—people who have been looked down by the rest of society. The titular character of Howl’s Moving Castle may be one of the film’s good guys but he also bears a vain and immature attitude.

Lady Eboshi | 4 Storytelling (+Life!) Lessons from Hayao Miyazaki's Films

(Image via Nefarious Reviews)

In Miyazaki’s world, there is no purely good guy or a purely bad guy. And it pays to realize that this is true for our world too.

Everyone has a little good and a little evil in them and in the end, you can’t sum up a person by one act. And anyway, that just seems unfair, ain’t it?

4 | Emotions and Logic

Fun fact: did you know that Miyazaki creates scenes through the emotion they bring? He and the rest of his animators actually come up with the storyboard afterward.

I’ll give you a minute if you’re mind’s blown.

You okay now? Okay.

And hey, don’t worry. When I learned about that the first time, I was like, “*whispers* NO FREAKING WAY.”

Hayao Miyazaki Storyboard | 4 Storytelling (+Life!) Lessons from Hayao Miyazaki's Films

The Storyboard for Ponyo (via Creative Stuff)

Maybe it’s because of this that Hayao Miyazaki’s films always bring up a surge of emotions whenever someone (me) watches them. Maybe this is why we (I) could connect to the story and the characters so much.

I think this comment from RogerEbert.com could sum up my thoughts on this one:

“He’s (Miyazaki) always made us realize that human/dramatic motivation is too complex for either-or reasoning.”

While I really want to ponder upon Miyazaki’s thoughts on the complexity of humanity, the point is Hayao Miyazaki does a huge part of his work emotionally, something that I think is important in art in general. And it worked well on him.

In our case, we have to find what works for us. I, for one, am the kind of person who has to balance both emotion and logic in my life. I can’t function in total intuition nor in total organization (a long story I’ll tell some other time) so I need balance.

So that’s it! These are the storytelling lessons I got from Hayao Miyazaki’s films along with some life lessons as well. While we’re at it, here are two amazing videos about Hayao Miyazaki that I’ve watched (for like a hundred times now):

Hayao Miyazaki Tribute Video in 3D by Dono (Vimeo) – A 3-minute tribute video of all of Hayao Miyazaki’s works. This brought me surrounded by my own lake of tears. Like the feels…

Hayao Miyazaki – The Essence of Humanity by Channel Criswell (YouTube) – A 16-minute video essay about how Hayao Miyazaki understands the complexity of human emotions. This is so amazing, I downloaded it in my YouTube app for offline watching. <3

Have you watched any Hayao Miyazaki films? Which one(s) is (or are) your favorite? What are your thoughts on his films as a whole? Share them on the comments or you can tweet it! (Yay for options!)

Now excuse me, I have to go and binge-rewatch some of the movies I just mentioned above…

(I didn’t know you could crave for movies)

(Crap, now that I thought of crave, I’m craving for ice cream too)

Happy watching, awesome peeps!

November 2, 2016 6 Comments