A Simple Self-Care Idea for a Healthy, Positive Mindset

How to Have a Positive Mindset (using a simple mental self-care idea) | Personal Growth, Mindfulness, Mental Health, Meditation

A friendly note from your resident potato:

This is a guest post written by Ellen of If It Brings You Joy. Below, she shared an awesome idea I want to try out for myself 🙂 You can also check out what I’ve written on her blog here. And, you know, scroll through her blog while you’re there 😉

Okay, onto the post.

When was the last time you took time to do nothing? Absolutely, sweet nothing? (Scrolling through your email or Facebook feed does not qualify as doing nothing!)

Sometimes we let our lives get so busy that we forget to take time for a little self-care for our mind. “Mental” self-care is easy and really doesn’t require much time, and you deserve the benefits that this type of self-care will bring to you.

The focus of a healthy lifestyle is often about eating healthy and being physically active. Of course those two aspects are important to have a healthy lifestyle, but just as important is being mentally (or emotionally) healthy. Yet, exercising our mind is often overlooked in the quest for better health.

A healthy positive mindset gives us a boost for being better able to handle everything life brings our way. Self-care for the mind promotes the ability to focus. And building your ability to focus will help you be able to respond instead of react to a situation because you’ll be in the mindset that enables you to think.

It will ultimately lead to a decrease in stress and increase in joyful living. And you’ll be better equipped to fully recognize and appreciate the big and little joys of life. #Win.

31-Day Self-Care Challenge for a Healthy, Positive Mindset

Even though self-care for your mind aims to slow your thought, in the end it will help increase momentum of your positive thoughts that will move you to a more appreciative, joyful life. Don’t underestimate your power to get yourself on a path of a healthier, positive mindset. Get started today on your path by taking my 31-Day Self-Care Challenge!

It’s really very simple: give yourself permission to do nothing AND enjoy it! Here’s how:

Sit in a comfy chair, on the floor, at your office desk, or anywhere that’s convenient. You can be in your home, office, or even out in nature. Sometimes I sit in my car in a parking lot!
Now, slow your mind and try to stop all thought. As thoughts come into your mind, simply guide your mind back to a state of rest. At first it may be challenging to stop thought. However, the more you practice, the easier it will be to keep your mind clear.
Oh, you don’t have time? No problem! This challenge requires only 5 minutes per day. Set a timer (available on any smartphone) so you don’t worry about the time. If you’re inspired, gradually increase the amount of time you give your brain a break. Work your way up to 20 minutes on days that allow you the time. Just try to do the minimum of 5 minutes every day for the full 31 days.

And that’s it!

If you take the time out of your busy life to slow down and commit to this challenge for 31 days, I suspect you will be hooked because you’ll feel better. You’ll realize that by slowing your mind for a few minutes a day, you’ll be a more relaxed person.

As your mind slows, you’ll gain more focus and clarity that will help you make choices that lead to the life you want for yourself.

Even though you may be feeling stressed because life is busy and there’s not enough time in the day to get everything done, taking time to slow your mind will actually help you get more done. You’ll gain the focus and clarity needed to think clearly and have a positive frame of mind. With those two things going for you, you’ll find yourself in a more relaxed, de-stressed mindset.

You might be thinking that this sounds a lot like meditation, and you’re right!

Meditation often gets a bad rap because people think it’s all about sitting in an awkward position with the thumb and finger pressed together. But in reality, meditation is whatever you want it to be.

There are no hard rules, you just need to slow your mind. Call it what you want, just take the time to do it and reap the benefits.

I’ll leave you with this quote by Doe Zantamata, author of the two-book series, Happiness in Your Life. Take my challenge, and may your mind be calmed so you are able to put things into perspective. Life is going to happen and we can’t control it all. But by being better equipped to put things into perspective, you’ll be on your way to a more joyful life.

About the author:

Ellen Burgan from If It Brings You Joy has a passion to practice and inspire others to lead a positive, healthful lifestyle. She shares strategies for building good daily habits, breaking bad ones, and ultimately becoming your best, joyful self. Ellen also has 30+ years of experience as a business analyst.

The two gorgeous photos above are by Allie Smith. If you’d like to guest post on my blog, let’s talk! 🙂

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December 20, 2017 1 Comment

How I Deal with Feeling Stuck in Life

Have you ever had that feeling when the Devil’s Snare is holding you tightly and you’re just… stuck? Except you’re not really physically stuck. More like mentally and emotionally stuck. In life.

I mean. We’ve all been 11-year-old Ron at some point, amirite? (Source)

Feeling stuck in life sucks. I end up panicking. Always. And as much as a level-headed Hermione in my mind tells me to just relax, Kate, just relax, my first instinct is to be Ron: become sarcastic while panicking.

I mean, just off the top of my head, this ‘I’m stuck’ feeling:

Makes you feel like you’re not doing anything
And because you’re not doing anything, you feel useless
And this makes you feel worthless
Which lowers your self-esteem
And you end up becoming a mashed/couch potato binge-watching awful reality shows on cable.

I’ve been a mashed/couch potato binge-watcher plenty of times and I honestly don’t want anyone to end up in the same position as I have, so I’m sharing to you what I do when I feel stuck in life. Hope this helps! 🙂

Purge / De-clutter

Has the physical chaos around you added to all that tangled mess already inside your head and it’s messing you up?

Friend, you’re not alone.

I’m not a very organized person. I have piles of scratch papers and empty watercolor tubes and dried up pens all over my room that I don’t throw out until it’s been like months. So when my mind becomes a hot mess and gets too overwhelming, the mess all around me is like a fuel to the already burning fire.

This is usually the time when I grab a broom and a rag and have an impromptu cleaning spree.

I’m telling you: there is something absolutely therapeutic about de-cluttering your space and purging the mess.

And I don’t call it a purge for show. If there’s an article of clothing I haven’t worn for like a year, I throw it out or donate it. If my desk or shelves are filled with papers from months ago, I throw them out. My sister had this paper bag filled with newspapers that she supposedly was going to add to her portfolio (she’s a journalist) but it’s been gathering dusts since last year. So when my brother needed paper for their classroom’s recycled Christmas decor, I gave the paper bag to him.

Look through every nook and cranny of your work space and your bedroom. If you’re a semi-organized fellow like moi, you’re bound to find a mess or four. So here are some quick de-cluttering you can start doing now:

Dust off those spider webs in the corner.
Organize your closet. (I mean, do you really really need that knitted hat with pompoms you’ve had since third grade? Come on, Janice.)
Unsubscribe to newsletters that you don’t read anymore.
Change your bed sheets and pillow cases. (I mean. That feeling of flopping onto a clean bed? 11/10 would do it every-freakin-day)
Organize your bookshelves. In rainbow colors or by authors, whatever suits your fancy.
Throw away those old earphones that don’t work anymore.
Deal with The Chair™. (You know? That chair in your room where a pile of your dirty laundry sits? Tell me I’m not the only one with that chair.)

Be ruthless in your purging. When I purge I only follow one rule: if it doesn’t do any good to you anymore, it doesn’t need to occupy much space in your life. Throw them out. Let them go. Give them to other people who will make use of them. The act of cleaning and de-cluttering is a big help. And when you’re done, you’ve got so much more room to do more things. #Win.

Move / Take Action

There are so many things I didn’t get to do because I thought I wasn’t ready. And, listen, this is a very unhealthy thought to have, okay? Don’t be like me, kids.

Sometimes we get stuck because we have this mindset that we’re not good enough for anything. That we aren’t ready. That our skills isn’t enough to do what we want to do. It’s like you’re stuck in a quicksand made of all the negative self-talk you’ve created.

But you know what? No one’s ever ready for anything.

At this point, I’ve probably watched enough TED Talk videos and listened to enough motivational podcasts to know people rarely are completely ready when they start doing what they’ve wanted to do.

And you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that 🙂

In fact, if you’re not ready but you jumped in and started anyway, GO YOU! That’s brave and that in itself is something to be proud of—because you faced your fear and said, “I’m doing this anyway.”

Avoid Comparisonitis

Boy oh boy. This is probably a common problem among people in the Internet. Because, you know, social media.

We can all agree social media feeds on the little green monster living inside us, right? Seeing the fabulous achievements and gorgeous lifestyle your Facebook friends have, the glamorous travel-filled life of the people you follow on Instagram… All these make comparisonitis such an easy sickness to get. And comparisonitis can make you feel like you’re not good enough to do something. Which can end up with you feeling stuck.

When that happens, I want you to remember this:

Social media is a highlights reel.

People usually only post the good things that happen in their lives. The things “worth sharing.” (Except Twitter. Twitter is the John Bender of social media.)

This guy, I swear. (Source)

I remind myself this all the time. I forgot where I found it—I tried looking for it but my History tab and my memory are both jumbled mess—but I read somewhere that we all compare our real life to another person’s highlights reel online. And that doesn’t seem fair to yourself, isn’t it?

What the post said was so accurate for me that I whipped out a blank sheet of paper and wrote a line from the blog post that really stuck to me. I have it on my desk beside my computer where I can see it everyday.

I think I paraphrased this to make it shorter and fit the paper. So if you know where this is, let me know in the comments so I can fully credit them! 🙂

Somehow, reading this quote every morning or when I’m working on my desk gives me comfort. Knowing and constantly reminding myself that other people go through bad times too and that they also rarely share all this to the world makes me more empathetic, I guess. 🙂

How do you deal with feeling like you’re stuck in life? Share your wisdom in the comments below!

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PS: If you like this post, check out why it’s okay not to have everything figured out and how to conquer creative block.

Friendly reminder that my blog birthday giveaway is still going on! You can win an art commission or a custom set of blog graphic elements including a blog header 😀

Interested? Click on the image below for more info.

November 25, 2017 8 Comments

6 Reasons Why You Should Try Free Writing

In case it hasn’t been obvious, I love writing.

Whether it’s writing about my angst-filled days as an early teen or this one scene I came up where a twelve-year-old girl and an ancient dragon bickered if that huge grey thing is a boulder or Big Bird, writing was, and still is, a great way for me to channel my creativity into something.

But free writing.

Oh boy. That is a deeper and more intimate way in which writing has changed my life.

Good ol’ Wikipedia calls it a prewriting technique in which you disregard spelling, grammar, or topic.

I’ve always thought of it as like freestyle rap, except you’re just writing. (Freakin-genius in English, aren’t I?)

But anyway.

I have relied on it a lot in different aspects of my life this year. Which is why I’ve set myself up into convincing anyone who doesn’t free write to do it. Because I think it might just change yours too 😉

6 REASONS WHY FREE WRITING IS GOOD FOR YOU AND YOUR LIFE

1. You Get to Organize Your Thoughts

I’m the kind of person who has 1,498,257 thoughts running on my mind every second. It can be pretty overwhelming. Like I just can NOT concentrate on doing anything else.

Does that sound like you too?

Does it feel like your mind is this browser with dozens of tabs opened simultaneously and it’s like you, the entire computer, is lagging constantly because how the heck are you going to process all of these???

Is that you?

Alright. Try free writing.

Free writing might just help you organize, even just a little bit, all those thoughts you are on the verge of drowning into. It totally helped me.

When I free write, I have this feeling of gradually letting thought after thought out of my brain. Putting one word after another is like closing those tabs one by one until you have just enough that you can focus on at the moment.

It is incredibly freeing and isn’t that nice? Because it’s called free writing! See what I did there? 😀 (I am so not funny)

2. It Makes You a Better Writer

Free writing helps you put thoughts into words well, right? So it also helps you become a better writer.

I mean, for one thing, it is not called a prewriting technique for show. But like any skill, writing something engaging and compelling takes lots of practice and actually doing some writing. Kristina wrote that it helped her write as many as 1,000 words in 15 minutes.

Let that sink in for a sec. 1,000 words in fifteen. freaking. minutes.

Totally amazing, right??

But free writing doesn’t just help you in the practice aspect of becoming a better writer. Free writing also helps you get into The Flow™. Or The Zone™. Or The Groove™. Whatever floats your boat.

This is when you feel fully immersed and focused on whatever activity you’re doing.

And yes, free writing can help you go to that state of mind while writing. Simply because practicing it helps you to take away compulsive self-analyzing. You might or might not get anything substantial from what you’ve free written. But you cannot forego the fact that it is a great way to flex your writing muscles and, you know, do writing warm-ups.

3. It is Actually Fun!

Sure, maybe that compulsive editor inside of you doesn’t like being in the process of free writing. BUT! Finishing that first draft of a blog post and reading through all of the grammatical errors and typos afterwards?

PROOFREADING HEAVEN.

Which, in my compulsive editor’s view, equals F-U-N.

How else is free writing fun? I’m so glad you asked.

<3 Reading old stuff you free wrote. Do you laugh at how awkward and overdramatic you are in your old diary entries or is that just me?

<3 Knowing you can write better now compared to X years ago. Boost your self-confidence yo!

<3 You don’t have to restrain yourself and overthink every-freakin-thing (which, let’s all agree, dampens the fun out of writing)

4. It is Good for Your Sanity

There has been plenty of research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience on the importance of free writing. And it is also used in counseling and therapy.

I mean. Hello, journalling?

If you’ve read plenty of self-care posts like I have, you’d know journalling is in there at the top of the how to self-care lists. And that is basically one of the best ways to incorporate free writing into your life.

Here are some other ways free writing can be good for your sanity:

+ It’s kind of an art therapy (which we’ll discuss further later)

+ It helps you put jumbled thoughts and emotions into words (as mentioned above) which is great for self-reflection and your mental health.

+ It tires you and that’s kinda like exercise for your arm (and I dunno, for some reason I like good exhaustions. Don’t you?)

+ It’s better than breaking plates and punching a hole on your wall. I mean, you could always write about punching a hole or maybe even turning into a dragon and burning down the next village over and look! No one in real life got physically hurt! Win-win. (Except for those poor villagers. May they rest in peace.)

5. You Become More Productive (writing-wise)

One thing I’ve heard and read a lot on conquering that Horrible First Draft™ is to write now, edit later. Which, I just learned, is an excellent advice for any type of writing; from novels to poetry to technical…and even blog writing.

Practicing free writing can help you from experiencing what Ignited Moth’s post inspired me to call, The Backspace Syndrome. You know, like that backspace key is so tempting to use and you edit and delete as you go? You ever had that?

Hey me too!

So when I feel like the backspace urge is too strong as I’m writing a blog post, I either resort to writing by hand or typing it on my tablet where the urge is usually not that strong and free writing comes more naturally.

End result? I have a finished first draft of blog post! Needs a lot of editing. For sure. But it’s more than a rough outline and I’ve got thoughts and ideas down that only need a bit of refining.

6. Free Writing is Therapeutic

Free writing helps me sort out things that have been on my mind. It’s rather comforting, you know.

Gosh, there were times when free writing became incredibly emotional for me. But, in a way, it was also (well here it is again) freeing. It was just me introspecting and untangling some of my thoughts. Even for just a bit. Like I don’t have to untangle everything, and I usually don’t. But what relatively little that I get untangled and sorted out, is big enough so as to make my life just a bit more bearable.

And that’s honestly what I love the most about free writing.

Do you free write? If so, how has it helped you? Do you have the Backspace Syndrome too? Do you binge-watch TED talk videos like yours truly? Tell me all!!!

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PS: If you enjoyed this post, you might like to learn 13 ways to be inspired and pump up your creativity. Just putting it out there 😉

(Photos used from Kaboompics and Pixabay respectively)

November 18, 2017 18 Comments

How to Conquer Creative Block (and smash it to bits!)

Something that has been bothering me lately is how I never seem to finish anything. And I mean anything creative.

Like I would have this awesome idea for an illustration or a blog post bubbling in my head and I just know it would be so fun to create or write and gahhh it’s so good where’s my pen gimme paper and then—

Whoosh. It’s gone. And it’s messing. Me. UP.

Do you ever have that happen? Like one minute you have this cool idea of a blog post or a novel or a drawing or something and it’s extremely exciting. But before you can even act on it, it just dissipated into thin air?

It is completely frustrating. And I’ve been struggling with it for some time. So I thought I’d do a bit of reflection on how I got through my previous creative blocks (because this is obviously not the first time I experienced a creative block.)

I listed them down below for all of the precious creative corn cobs who is or has suffered from creative block like yours truly 😉

Let’s battle these horrible blocks together, yeah?

Remember “Finished, Not Perfect”

See, perfectionism can be that grumpy old troll blocking your path. As a creative, I easily get sucked into this whirlpool mentality that what I do, I should be doing perfectly. What happens is that I focus on perfection more and end up with these perfect yet unfinished works. And let’s be real here, those don’t really give that same amount of satisfaction as finished works do.

The creator of the famous Inktober Challenge, Jake Parker has this short video where he gave this really good point about how a year from now, you’d think you could’ve done better.

So why fuss about it so much now, when you know you’re gonna be better at it in the future?

Now, whenever I’m writing a blog post or creating an illustration, I make it a point to just focus on finishing it. Sometimes it comes easy, like being at the moment of drawing something. And sometimes overthinking starts to nudge me on the side and I’ll have to force myself to get back to doing what I’m doing.

During those times, I remember that my goal at that moment is “finished, not perfect.” You can watch Jake Parker’s video below:

Create a Mental Accountability Exercise

Whenever I read articles on how to be productive when you’re unmotivated or something similar, one tip they always throw out is to keep distractions away from you.

This doesn’t work for me.

I grew up having to think of things to keep myself occupied without any help from the adults. And while that’s a good thing for my creativity, it does have some negative side: I am always distracted.

Like I would try to keep my phone away from me when I work but then ooh! There’s that book my sister bought last week, let’s read the blurb! Or I would study somewhere in our campus with few people hanging around but gosh, look at those rooftops outside, what color are those?

See what I mean?

So instead of keeping them away, I have to build on my inner focus more. Which is why I’m trying to create this habit of having a regular mental accountability exercise. Like every hour or so I’d think, “Okay, Kate. How are you? And how have you been doing this-and-that so far? What’s your progress? What are you finding difficulty on?”

It’s like I’m being the supervisor of my own self, weirdly funny as that sounds. I haven’t built this habit firmly yet but the times when I do completely immerse myself in the exercise I finish more work and I feel I enjoyed doing them more.

Change Things Up

I don’t know why. But when you’re doing routine work in a different way, it’s refreshing. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

I’ve been struggling with finishing blog posts lately, which is why I’ve been having these short impromptu blogging breaks the past few months. I just can’t seem to write well in my laptop for some reason.

So I decided I’d write the first draft of this post on my tablet and then edit on my laptop. And ohmybuttertoast, it worked! It freaking worked you guys! My train of thought went more smoothly than when I’m typing on my laptop. And it felt weird. Weirdly good. It felt like it’s been a long time since I wrote something and finished it.

Of course, I had to add in some stuff while I edited the draft on my laptop. But the point here is: by changing just one small detail in my routine, I actually worked better.

Take a Break from What You’re Doing

I honestly can’t stress this point enough. I even made a separate post before on the importance of taking a break. Breaks are important and we’re usually in this hustle mindset that we forget to sit back and catch a breather. Heck even I do.

Last month, I made the decision of stepping away from my Wednesday-and-Saturday blogging schedule because it’s just not doing any good for me recently. I needed a fresh perspective and a new routine.

October gave me that opportunity with Inktober. There were times when I had to do a bit of catch up but I enjoyed Inktober! And it has opened new creative, artsy doors that were totally refreshing.

(Also PS, if you haven’t read it yet, I’ve written a whole post on my first Inktober and what I’ve taken away from that experience)

And I know this contradicts that first part about finishing your work. But you know what? Why not try both?

I’ve been in a time when I thought, “Crap crap crap this looks awful, this really looks awful” but continued doing it anyway and finished it and freakin’ loved how it looked. And I’ve also been in a time when I simply turned the page of my sketchbook and told myself, “I’ll go back to that later. Maybe it won’t look as awful by then.” On both times, things worked out alright.

A few more ideas

I love reading blog posts or listening to podcasts on creativity and ideas. So here are some other bloggers’ take on creative blocks and, in general, capturing the ever fleeting and slippery ghouls called ideas.

May of Forever and Everly shared a simple yet very crucial tip we sometimes forget when blogging: when you have great blog post ideas, freaking write. Them. Down. (Also, her post is all about blogging pet peeves which is totally hilarious so go check it out after you’ve written that idea down, okay?)

In this post on organizing your blogging life, Ilsa of A Whisper of Ink gave me the most amazing idea for saving ideas (so meta I know) BOOKMARKS! Why haven’t I thought of that before???

The lovely blogger from Thoughts from ’94 wrote this post on writer’s block. I especially loved how she said blogging is not always about the writing but also experiencing things because YAS GURL I TOTALLY AGREE.

Y’all also check out where Lauren of Loulabellerose find blogging inspiration. I love how she added “Myself” there and it reminded me of an episode from The Magic Lessons podcast where Liz Gilbert and her guest of the episode talked about how wonderful it is to find inspiration from yourself.

Check out these girls’ lovely blogs, yo! They’re really amazing 😉

See, there are so many ways that you can go about conquering creative block. That’s the great thing about dealing with problems on creativity.

There is no perfect solution. There are hundreds of ways that you can navigate to. And you can try one or three or all hundreds of them and learn which one works for you and which doesn’t 🙂

YOUR TURN: Have you experienced creative block? How did you deal with it? Share your wisdom in the comments!

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November 4, 2017 9 Comments

My First Inktober + 2 Things I Learned about Monthly Challenges

Sometime early this year, I’ve made my decision. This is the year.

I was gonna participate in Inktober.

Now for those who don’t know, Inktober is basically a month-long challenge to draw something with ink for the entire month of October. A lot of the people in the art community participate in this but basically anyone who likes to draw and wants to improve their inking skills are open to participate.

A part of me was excited and determined and all sorts of giddy. But a huge part of me was also skeptical. The moment I made that decision, I’m pretty sure that huge part of me turned around to look at that tiny, energetic, always-quits-halfway part of me thinking, “…Can she even do it?”

Folks, I admit, even I had doubts I could do it. I’m not proud to say that I’ve had a preeetty long track record of endeavors that I started but never finished. *cough*like Friday Fangirling*cough*

But guess what?

I DID IT. I-freakin-did it! I finished Inktober!

It was quite the exhausting month for sure. But more than that, I enjoyed it so so much! And like any experience that I have, I’ve got some great takeaways from participating.

No one’s Putting Any Pressure on You

That is, no one… except you.

Classic case, isn’t it?

No one was pressuring me to do Inktober every day (although that’s ideal) or to follow the official prompt or to just use ink or whatever. But going through it, I felt like I should do all these things. I felt like I should follow the official prompt or some other prompts, which I did. I actually used four prompts for my Inktober. Four. (I know, I know. Why am I so extra?)

The thing is, this self-inflicted pressure has brought me more stress than Inktober should have brought. And that’s not what the challenge was all about! Sometimes I could get so caught up in the little details and I go down the Everything Has to Be Perfect Rabbit Hole™ and it is so hard to get out. But sometime in the middle of the month, I just decided:

“Screw it. I’ll finish this. But I’m finishing it on my own terms. I want to enjoy this and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

And you know what? That was all the permission I needed. There were days when I don’t have any inspiration to draw or I’m not motivated. I would have to push myself a little bit to catch up on the days I missed but that’s okay! Because I’m having fun. Which brings me to the other takeaway…

Remember to Have Fun!

Inktober was a wonderful platform for me to improve on and get to know my art. There were quick doodles, there were drawings I didn’t like and there were those that I absolutely loved.

And those times I was by my desk, concentrating on every curves and strokes and line? When I was completely present in what I was doing? They were the best part of this whole experience.

These are my top five favorites because I did something new in each of them and that was fun! 😀
PS: I also updated my Portfolio page to add two of these.

I learned so much on where I want my art to go. But also, taking some time in my day to just sit down and draw was… kinda therapeutic.

What I’m trying to say here is: monthly challenges usually have two objectives.

To push you into doing something now
To have fun while doing it

And we often forget that second one because we’re too caught up trying to achieve the first. So please remember to have fun, okay? <3

There are several more monthly challenges in the next two months before we say goodbye to 2017. There’s the famous NaNoWriMo, the not-so-famous NaBloPoMo… I think there was another art-related Na-Mo for November as well but I forgot what it was hehe

There’s also Blogmas for December! And if you’re participating on any of these, allow me to impart on you some friendly reminders:

<3 No one’s pressuring you to do anything in any particular way. You do you and you do that challenge on your own terms 🙂

<3 Find a challenge buddy! It makes the whole challenge experience easier to endure 🙂 Oh, by the way! Shan from Going with Happy has made an accountability group chat on Twitter for those who’s doing NaNoWriMo.

https://twitter.com/GoingWithHappy/status/925124546444779520

<3 Don’t be afraid to reach out to people if or when you feel burnt out. My inbox is always open, okay? ALWAYS. And I will shower you with encouragements and happy gifs and battery-recharging words (Because you TOTALLY deserve it.)

<3 Have fun! Because it’s going to be stressful, no doubt, but there are always something fun to experience in monthly challenges! 🙂

I wish anyone participating on a November monthly challenge the best of luck!

Remember:

You got this. I believe in you <3

Are you participating on any monthly challenge this month? How about in December? Is anyone even planning their Blogmas posts already? Whatever you’ve got planned, I’m cheering on for you!! Whoop whoop!

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November 1, 2017 9 Comments

5 Autumn-Inspired Watercolor Graphics I’m Loving Right Now (+ A Freebie!)

This post contains affiliate links. I only promote products I think are awesome + all opinions are 100% my own 🙂

Have I ever told you how much I looove design? And graphics? Especially handmade graphics???

I do. Like a lot.

Which is probably why I really enjoy the formatting part of writing a blog post and I LOVE playing around in the Customizer page. And in case you don’t know, I obsess over color combinations.

One thing I really like about autumn is how everything seems to be dying but there are still sooo many interesting bursts of colors and it’s just, it’s plain amazing. (Of course I haven’t experienced autumn firsthand because I’m a girl from the tropics haha)

I’ve been practicing making my own watercolor graphics (and I just like scrolling for pretty graphics and illustrations, ok??) And while I was scouring the Interwebs for inspiration, I found some really cool autumn-inspired watercolor graphic bundles. They’re all gorgeous and I love how they made use of the orange + purple color combo because I really like that color combo <3

AND! AND! I have a freebie made by yours truly at the end so don’t miss that out! 😉

Note: The following images are not mine and I don’t claim them as mine.

Fall Watercolor Clipart Autumn

This one makes use mostly of oranges and reds. But what’s interesting to me are the curvy-ness of the branches and leaves, I found that really helps in making wreaths easily.

Autumn Leaf Fall Watercolor

Ugh. This one’s pretty. I LOVE the muted shades but somehow there’s still vibrancy. I also like how she used a different color to line the leaves (And is that digital?)

I kiiinda tried that with color pencil in mine and it didn’t work hehe

Watercolor Wonderful Leaves

Ohmigosh ohmigosh. This one’s PRETTY. This is also #goals for me. I love how delicate those leaves look and also how she used more purple shades than oranges.

Fall Is In The Air

Okay, this one’s kinda similar to the first one in color scheme, except she also added in a little bit browns ans greens and yellows which makes them less monochromatic in a way. Looking at these really reminded me of a ground fully covered of dried leaves that I often see in Instagram.

Autumn Forest

This is the same artist who made the purple leaves above and gahhh I’m such a fan of her now. I’ll probably look her up on Instagram after writing this hahaha

I love that dark and muted shade of green she used in some of her individual leaves and I tried making leaves in that color too. They’re really good to pair with oranges and reds.

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on creating watercolor paintings that I wanted to turn into graphic elements.

I’ve been really interested with the concept ever since two years ago, when I discovered Freepik and other glorious spectabulous websites that offer handmade drawings as digital elements. In my eyes, tHEY’RE THE FREAKIN RAINBOW UNICORN OF THE DESIGN WORLD.

I’m such a nerd, I know hehe

Anyway, I did say that I was gonna practice on painting plants and other pretty graphic-worthy thingies from now on. And I did! Eep!

Now here’s the thing. I actually made 39 individual elements.

But for some reason, they have white jagged outline around each element even if I made them transparent. I only learned how to fix the white thingy last week so I’ll slooowly fix each elements and won’t be able to share them with y’all.

Until then, here are 5 watercolor graphic elements I made for fun using some of the individual elements 😀

These are already transparent and in .PNG format. They’re great on white background or any other light colored background. To download, simply click the image above and it should download directly! 🙂

And I guess that’s it for now! I’ll see you all again next Saturday!

YOUR TURN: How are you? <3 Do you have any creative projects you’re currently doing? Would you mind sharing? 😉

Ooh! Also guys: I’m thinking of making either textured patterns or tribal-inspired watercolor graphics next. Which one would you like to see?

Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | Bloglovin

October 28, 2017 11 Comments

8 Gorgeous Color Combinations I’m Loving Right Now

I don’t have any favorite colors. I like all colors equally. I believe that all colors are beautiful in their own little ways.

So once in a while, I’m gonna share with you guys the awesome color combinations I discovered and make a neat little list of them with pretty collages of pictures using these colors. This isn’t gonna be a regular feature, by the way. Just whenever I find a handful of gorgeous color combos. Okay? Okay! Let’s go!

But first, a disclaimer: None of the images I used in the collages below are mine and I will never claim them as mine. I found all of these via Pinterest and have made a board exclusively for this post. Please check out my Pinterest board if you want to know where I got them.
If any of the images below are yours and would like for me to take them down, please contact me through this page and I will do it as soon as possible. 🙂

Lagoon + Baby Pink

This is the more pastel-y version of my blog’s color scheme. (Also, notice how I used it in my headings and subheadings like with this post? 😉 ) I’ve been in love with this color pair ever since my blog revamp last year. Together, they create this light and fluffy feminine atmosphere and that’s exactly how I want my blog to feel. Also they kinda look like candies, right???

Cerulean + Mandarin

I wasn’t usually into dark and bold color combinations. And this color combination is super bold. I mean, look at those shades of blue and orange. They’re vivid and they contrast each other. But that somehow works because the orange pops against the blue. And I really really (really) like it when one of the color pair pops out and the other simply helps. It’s like a dance, don’t you think? 😀

Maroon + Gold

This is also a bold color combo but where the cerulean and mandarin has this heavy atmosphere, maroon and gold is more elegant. I mean, doesn’t that color combo remind you of royalty? It reminds me of that. Also GRYFFINDOR COLORS! (I mean, I’m a Ravenclaw. #AndProud. But still.)

Navy Blue + Rose

UGH I LOVE THIS COLOR COMBO SO MUCH I CAN’T EVEN asdkjefghsnml

This is a color combo I would wear in a heartbeat. Because I really like how the feminine feel of the rose color balances out with the masculine-ish feel of navy blue. Also light and dark shades. They contrast.

Purple + Dandelion

If you’ve noticed, all of my collages above have some kind of food included in them. And, I’ve checked, the rest below have too. Only this collage doesn’t and I regret not looking for a purple ice cream or cake *sheds a tear*

Anyway. Purple and yellow are the secondary colors of my blog color scheme (as you probably notice their “secondary presence” in my design). I added them several months after choosing my main colors. I love this color pair because they’re bright. And their brightness keeps the airy feel of my teal + pink main color pair grounded.

Baby Blue + Lemon Yellow

I don’t know why but when I see this color combo, it reminds me of a super cute doll house. DOESN’T IT OR IS THAT JUST ME? Like lagoon and baby pink, it’s a light color combo but it looks a teeeeny tiny bit less feminine and more youthful. For me at least. This is definitely the kind of color combination I like to use for a youthful and happy illustration.

Tumbleweed + Mustard

Don’t you just love earthy tones for fall??? I do. I do a HECK lot.

Honestly, mustard was one of those colors that I find hard to like. It reminded me of… well, mustard. And I don’t like mustard. (I’m a ketchup kind of girl ok??) But I remember seeing someone mix mustard with a earthy colors like meadow green and tumbleweed and that’s when I realized it’s actually a pretty color!

Not to mention, one of my favorite artists, Taryn (aka @taryndraws) absolutely makes mustard and other earthy tones loveable every chance she gets.

Dusky Cedar + Olive

AHHHHH ever since I discovered dusky cedar last year, I have been in love with it! It’s one of those colors perfect for autumn and with olive green, it’s much much better! I really like pairing different shades of red with different shades of green. They’re just pretty to look at <3

I had so much fun making the collages for this and I loved looking at the variety of color combinations I have here.

Your turn: Do you have a favorite color? What color combinations are YOU loving right now? I’m on a personal hunt for pretty color combinations so share your faves below!

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September 16, 2017 18 Comments

5 Motivating Reminders for When You Think You’re Not Enough

I’m pretty sure most of us have experienced this.

It’s kinda like a thief in the night. You don’t know when you’re gonna have it. Maybe you just woke up, or you’re studying for your majors, or watching a duck live its fabulous life. And then suddenly, you’re struck with a toxic thought:

I am not enough.

It’s just one thought, one single thought, but it bears so much power that it could lead to other toxic thoughts. It’s like a wobbly chip at the edge of a domino chain. The moment it falls, everything else follows.

And a domino chain of toxic thoughts could be the most awful feeling you could possibly have.

You need to press pause when it happens. You need to remind yourself that you are enough. Here are 5 powerfully motivating reminders for when it happens.

1 | You’re achieving just by living

This is a brilliant quote I got from the ever-inspiring Bianca Bass. And she’s absolutely right. The fact that you are here right now, that you’re living and striving to get past every obstacle thrown your way is more than enough. It shows that you are growing. It shows that you are resilient and strong enough to get through life’s obstacles.

And let’s be real here, this whole being a human thing can be pretty difficult — even Bianca Bass thinks so!

Everyone has no idea what they’re doing 80% of the time. Everyone is struggling with their own inner (and outer) demons. You don’t have to do everything all at once. No one faults you for not being perfect, okay? Absolutely no one.

2 | You matter. Always.

I know this is hard to see, sometimes. It is especially difficult when you’re wrapped tightly around the thought that you don’t matter. And you have this nagging feeling that no one thinks you do.

But try to get past that. Look beyond the fog blurring your mind and you’ll see. There are people who look at you with concern in their eyes. Who look at you and see you. And the first person you should look beyond that fog? You.

Stand in front of the mirror. If it hurts to look at your reflection at first, grab one of those compact ones and bring it close enough that all you can see is your eyes. And remember: Those eyes know you matter. They know.

3 | You have made the best of difficult moments

Remember #1? When I said you were striving past every obstacle handed to you?

Now, think of all the awful situations you’ve been in before. Look over your shoulder to them. Then look at where you are now.

You got through them.

Isn’t that amazing? I think it’s amazing. And maybe you brought with you scars — most of the time, it does. But you are here. And everything you’ve passed through is over there waaay back behind you. This reminds me of that line in Hamilton’s “That Would Be Enough.”

“Look at where you are
Look at where you started
The fact that you’re alive is a miracle
Just stay alive, that would be enough”

4 | You are bigger than any obstacle

You are stronger than any difficult situation. Remember those past obstacles you got through? Use them as a reminder that whatever else you’ll face ahead, you can get past it, too.

Think about it. So far, your success rate of getting past all those obstacles is 100%. Someone once said — I forgot who it was — that humans were built in such a way that they always get to where they need to be. And I think that is so true. We may go through detours and u-turns and some awfully long pit stops. But eventually, we get to where we need to be.

5 | Have faith that everything will come together

I know that when you’re at your lowest, this can seem far-fetched and fictional. Sometimes I still catch myself thinking, “Really? Something good is out there? Why does that seem foolishly hopeful?” But do you really think that pain is just there for no purpose other than to let you suffer?

Actually, you can think that.

You can think everything and everyone exist to be against you. And the problems you are facing? Maybe they’re only there just to hurt you.

OR, you can learn from them. You can carry with you the lessons you learn from every experience you’ve gone through. You can look at that scar as a reminder. That you are strong and there is something beyond those challenges. And you can bring the experiences with you forward into your journey.

I understand how hard it must be when your entire being feels like it’s drowning in worries and doubts and toxic thoughts. You’d feel worthless. But please know that you are MORE than that.

You are not worthless.

You deserve happiness and assurance and the most awesome rainbow Mother Nature can provide.

Because you are you.

And that is enough. You are enough.

If you ever need someone to talk to, please don’t hesitate on contacting me via email or through my social media accounts. All my inboxes are always open for you 🙂

xx Kate

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August 16, 2017 10 Comments

13 Ways to Be Inspired and Pump Up Your Creativity

It is a problem any and every creative experiences at least like ten times* in their life:

Error 404: Inspiration and Creativity Not Found

(Did you mean pizza?)

Frustrating, right???

And so, I share to you 13 ways to be inspired and pump up creativity. These are things I found through the ever-wise Google, most of which has worked for me. Enjoy!

*this didn’t come from any real statistics, just personal experience haha

Are you recently uninspired and are totally frustrated about it? I know no one likes being an uninspired potato so I list 13 ways to be inspired and pump up your creativity. | Inspiration, Creativity

1 | Take a walk

Or if you’re up for it, do regular exercise. Did you know that taking a walk—or, essentially, letting your body move—helps in the improvement of your creative inspiration? Apparently, a casual walk can help you see things in a new perspective and voila! Inspiration!

So fellow non-outdoorsy peeps, y’all have no excuse not to walk, ‘kay? It could just be a walk around your house or pacing in your room or taking the stairs. So long as you give your brain that stimulating effect after a brief exercise, you’re good to go! 😉

2 | Listen to music

And I don’t just mean any music. I mean, listening to music that strikes you and your mind in a positive way.

Image result for metal music monsters university gif

Like has that ever happen to you? You hear a certain song and you’re just struck with this feeling? Like a crack appeared and light went in. The song triggered a gear inside your mind and made it whir into action. Have you ever had that?

Depending on the kind of music that you want when you’re in a particular mood at a particular time, your brain will be able to go into “mind-wandering mode” where most of our creativity happens. It’s like the Pillar of Creation is where stars are born, ya know?*

Here are three musicians that gives me that “struck” feeling:

Owl City – synthpop, experimental pop, beautiful lyrics

AURORA – ethereal music, enchanting voice, amazing lyrics telling stories

In Love with a Ghost – lo-fi indie music, no words but is incredibly soothing

3 | Take a picture of beautiful things

Because of the convenience that comes with owning smartphones, taking pictures of pretty things is something that we all do. But to be inspired, I do something else: I look at ordinary things and try to see the beauty in them. I think it’s a good exercise to have, not only creative-wise but also in my own personal positive mindset practice.

It’s a way to see things in a different, more imaginative perspective. Sharing those pictures to the world and having people appreciate it are all bonuses, to be honest.

4 | Immerse yourself in nature

Related image

It’s something I learned last year: nature can be the most relaxing and best companion you could have. It’s like you could throw anything awful to it, and Mother Nature simply absorbs it and gives you something more positive and beautiful instead.*

If you have a garden or live near a park or mountains or the beach, take a step out of your desk or your room and just bask in the beauty of nature. Take it from me, it’s therapeutic. 😉

*when you think about it, that’s what trees do, isn’t it? Suck all the carbon dioxide and glet out oxygen for us to breathe.

5 | Bring your pet outdoors

And stare at them lovingly until you feel relaxed. No kidding. A relaxed state can help your brain go into that “mind-wandering mode” I mentioned above. And yo, there are reasons why some facilities make use of dogs to help veteran soldiers and patients experiencing post-traumatic stress.

6 | Watch an educational video on YouTube

And yes, I don’t mean vlogs or comedy sketch videos or late night shows. I mean sure, maybe a video of these kinds here and there could spark an idea. But ultimately, these types of videos are usually meant to entertain rather than to educate. And they won’t be able to help you see things in different light and spark an idea and inspire you.

There are plenty of channels out there that aim to educate and share different perspectives. Here are four of my go-tos:

+ TED Talks / TEDx Talks – incredible ideas on almost every topic you can possibly think of.
+ TED-Ed – three- to five-minute videos that aim to educate people in a certain topic with crazy-good animation.
+ School of Life – They’re kinda like TED-Ed and I personally love their videos on psychology and society.
+ Button Poetry – My go-to channel for awesome spoken word poetry.

7 | Listen to interesting podcasts

I’ve had a good amount of blog posts published here that were inspired from a podcast episode. Thing is, whether you’re into business, writing or even the fashion or beauty industry, if you just take the time to search the topics you’re interested in, you’ll be able to find a podcast for it 🙂

Here are some podcasts that I love:

<3 Invisibilia – a podcast about the invisible forces that control human behavior. Narrative storytelling + scientific research = a must-listen podcast.
<3 TED Radio Hour – Because I obviously can’t get enough of TED, each episode is about a certain topic with guests who had a TED Talk related to said topic.
<3 Ctrl Alt Delete – a podcast by Emma Gannon about how the internet and social media has changed our lives.
<3 Radiolab – a show where the boundaries blur between science, philosophy, and human experience.

8 | Take a break

As Eliza sang to Alexander, it doesn’t do you any good if you’re too hard on yourself. You might end up getting burned out or too overwhelmed which is unhealthy. Getting too focused on a task is mentally exhausting so give your brain the break it rightfully needs.

9 | Read blogs

Because, ya gotta admit, reading blogs written by other people can spark an inspiration, don’t you find? Brain Pickings, particularly, is a favorite inspiration hub of mine. And yes, I love all of you awesome peeps’ blogs <3 I’ve discovered so many awesome blog posts and new blogs and I can’t wait to share ’em to y’all in this July’s Fourth Friday Fangirling! 😀

10 | Be mindful of your thoughts

Remember that “mind-wandering mode” I mentioned above? The birthplace of almost all of our creativity? That involves daydreaming and flitting from one thought to another.

Image result for daydreaming gif

So try to take notice of these moments and when a flitting thought inspires you, take note of it immediately. Remember thoughts can be like butterflies; they’re there one moment and gone the next. Daydreaming usually happens to me when I’m commuting or bored. Speaking of boredom…

11 | Try “Eat that Frog”

Remember the productivity technique where you have to start the boring stuff first? You could apply it to creative inspiration too. Yep, boredom can boost your creativity and I talked about how the heck that works. You can check out that post here.

12 | Take a step out of your routine

I’ve talked about how new perspectives can help you be inspired and unleash your creative awesomeness plenty of times above, right? Now, what easier way to see things in a new angle than to step out of your everyday routine. Maybe you can listen to an unfamiliar song or use a different route than your usual or learn something new.

13 | Be deliberate

Now if you really want to be inspired and pump up your creativity, you have to be deliberate about it. And when I say deliberate, I mean: don’t do things half-assed and flush away your glumness in the toilet. Instead of thinking “I can’t do this…” or “But this is how it’s supposed to be,” ask yourself these questions: “What if…” or “What other way is there?” or “How would *insert different person* see this?”

In other words, keep an open mind. Because an open mind would attract inspiration and creativity more than a closed one.

And remember, awesome peeps: inspiration and creativity are not infinite.

At one point, you’ll use up and exhaust them. So when that happens, frustrating as it may be, know that it’s not the end of the world and it doesn’t mean that you’ll never see them again. The world is large enough to offer us many platforms for inspiration and creativity; you just have to find them. 🙂

Other awesome articles on finding inspiration you can check out:

50 Ways to Find Inspiration – Tiny Buddha
How to Unleash Your Creativity and Find Inspiration Today – Psychology Today
6 Places I Go Online to Be Inspired – yours truly

Your turn: How do you get inspired? Where do you find inspiration? I’m sure there are still more ways out there, so are there any that works on you that I haven’t mentioned? Do share them all! I’d love to hear about them!

Have an inspired day, awesome peeps! <3

July 12, 2017 7 Comments

5 Motivating Mantras for when You Think You Can’t Do It

Imagine this: your mind was wandering when suddenly, you thought of something. You’re so excited. You think it’s a good idea…nay, your optimistic inner voice said, it’s a spectabulous idea! It’s gonna be SO great.

But then someone hit the breaks. Your other inner voice, the grumpy one, shook its head and said that no. You can’t do it. Not now. Probably not ever.

You shrink and shrivel, believing that inner voice because it is true, isn’t it? It isn’t possible for you.

Sad, no?

Now, maybe there are some of you whose optimistic inner voice rule your thoughts. But I’m pretty sure there are also people out there like me whose grumpy inner voice hold the reins.

It’s sad when someone else discourages you but it’s even worse when you discourage yourself.

And I should know.

This is the reason why it took me this long to try out watercolors. I had an artistic trauma (ooh fancy phrase) back in first grade when I first used watercolor and my inner perfectionist (already there at age 7) wasn’t happy with the output.

I was happier with pencils and pens because I have control on the outcome. All those years, I’ve never tried branching out the mediums I use for the sheer reason that I think I’m not capable of anything else.

And while I’m now slowly learning watercolor, I still have that grumpy inner voice holding the reins of my self-determination. There are plenty of factors to this: low self-esteem, low self-confidence, afraid of getting out of my comfort zone… I have my own issues. But today, I’m not talking about those.

In this post, I want to share some mantras I recite to myself whenever I’m holding myself back from something awesome. In a way, they help me. So I hope they do the same to you. 🙂

1.)

Believe in your idea’s awesomeness. Like seriously, believe it. Believe it the way Steve Jobs believed in his then-unconventional computer. The way Jasmine said yes to Aladdin when he asked, “Do you trust me?” (swoon)

2.)

This kinda relates to #1. If you seriously believe in that idea, you’ll know that trying it out will be worth it. And it is. Think of it this way: if it doesn’t work out, at least you’d know that it doesn’t. And you’d learn something.

But if it does, boy, it’ll be a great day for you!

3.)

Yeah, laugh at me, if you will. But Ellen personally gives me motivation whenever I think of some crazy ideas. I mean, wouldn’t it be cool to be interviewed by her?

You could change it if you want. Think of anything farfetched: getting a Nobel (I also think of this one), being approached by a big label or company. Anything. It may be farfetched but it boosts your determination somehow. At least it does for me.

4.)

I swear, Shia LaBeouf has become a moderm motivation maven because of this. But it’s really effective when I’m holding myself back in doing something.

Just buy a set of watercolor tubes and brushes, Kate. Just put brush on paper and paint.

5.)

Personally, this is the one mantra that my grumpy inner voice can’t argue with. You wouldn’t know if that idea was awesome or not if you don’t try, right?

So let me get back to Shia here for a minute…

JUST DO IT!

Happy Shia LaBeouf-ing, awesome peeps!💪

September 26, 2016 6 Comments