Tag: Young Adult

My Two Cents on Failure (+ How to Deal With It)
Note: This post was something I first wrote and published nearly a year ago. Having read it now, I realized how much it still resonates to me to this day. I’ve edited a bit of the post and added some things but the point still remains the same. Enjoy! 🙂
In this success-driven world that we live in, failure is something we’d rather not experience. (Like at all, please??)
It’s something embedded into our minds as early as when we were kids. We don’t like seeing the red marks on our paper because our parents don’t, right? We spray away failure like we spray away mosquitoes.
But something surprised me when I Googled ‘failure’ for this post. I was immediately bombarded by links with the same theme:
It’s amazing how the idea had spread over every industry like a wildfire. But it had the most tremendous impact in the competitive fields of business and arts. You’ve seen and read the success stories. And they all have that same format.
“I’ve had 10 failed projects in my career… BEFORE BUILDING MY MILLION-DOLLAR ONE!”
“My 499^th audition gave me my big break!”
“After 18 years of searching, I’ve finally proven the existence of unicorns!*”
This tells us that persistence will pay off. And that’s great! It motivates people not to be disheartened when you fail. Besides, failure is needed for us to thrive. It’s a core ingredient in trial-and-error. And it lets us know what not to do to be successful.
However, this “failure is the secret to success” bit can also further feed that success-driven mentality, deliberately deceiving yourself that failing will actually bring you nearer to success.
And that’s not at all good yo.
Romanticizing failure does not necessarily make you any closer to success.
I mean, I totally agree that it’s a great way to not get discouraged and not go total Eeyore mode, giving up on life. But there’s a fine line between encouragement and false hope.
The thing is: not everybody will succeed. And failing? Sucks.
When I graduated in high school, I subconsciously brought with me this reassurance and certainty that college will be the same. I was like, “College? Pssh, cake.”
Dear past self: They’re. Not. The. Same.
If high school was Super Mario Level 7**, college is Flappy Bird. No levels. Just pure agony.
And that cold water of reality didn’t splash onto my arrogant face until my second year in college. I didn’t reach the cut-off for a major subject and I was bummed. No, scratch that, I was more than bummed. I was devastated.
It was like a super-confident bump car driver who likes to constantly flip his hair tried driving a ten-wheeler truck for the first time. And he ends up clutching tight at the wheels and crying for his mommy.
So I’m not gonna argue with you. Failure hurts like Gordon Ramsey telling you that sunny-side egg you cooked isn’t even worthy to be served to dogs.
It hits your self-confidence and shatters your spirit. And to someone currently experiencing failure, being told “everything will be okay” may not be the best mood-lifter. And neither is the rhetoric of failure leading to success.
See, success may come later. But failure needs to be dealt now.
So sure, you may reach success afterwards. May. Meaning there’s a possibility that you won’t. And I’m not trying to be Jenny Rain Cloud here. It’s a fact.
For most of our lives, success is something that we will accomplish in the future. But failure can happen any minute and it’s experienced at present, so you deal with it now. If you don’t, failure doesn’t lead to anything good at all.
So then, Kate, how do we deal with failure?
Great that you ask. Here are three things you could do:
<3 Don’t think that the entire universe is ganging up against you. Believe me, I’ve been there. I’ve had my fair share of years being an angsty kid and thinking everybody hates me. They don’t–or… not all of them do. Every person you’ve met has faced failure to a certain degree.*** And the universe is just being the huge thing that it is. In fact, leave the stars alone; they’re minding their own beautiful twinkly business yo.
<3 Think, instead, of what lessons you could take away from failing. Remember that 4-step cure I shared for missed opportunities? Missed opportunities are kinda like failures too. And it always helps to see that even the most awful things have a positive takeaway you can carry your whole life. Lastly…
<3 Give yourself the time to feel all the awful. If there was one thing I’ve learned in Pixar’s Inside Out, it’s that there is nothing wrong with feeling the negative things. It’s okay to feel bad.
There will be happy, colorful moments (like when you’ve proven unicorns are real) and there will be sucky ones (like when you realize you were just dreaming).
So really, it’s okay to feel bummed out or even devastated that you failed at something you’ve worked so hard for 🙂 Use up an entire box of tissues, if you must! But when you’re done, get up and start moving.
Because at the end of the day, success won’t come to you. You run towards it.
After having my pity party for like a day or two, I had to get back on my study desk and hit the books again because I had that comprehensive exam to face.
I passed said exam and I’m contented now. I even have this newfound determination to put in more effort into my studies 🙂 And I realized, I probably won’t have such a huge character development if it weren’t for failure.
And here’s the catch.
Yes, failure may lead to success. But for that to happen, you don’t just give yourself encouragements and confidence-boosters. You have to put in some hard work and effort, too 🙂
That’s how the bump car driver learns how to drive ten-wheelers. That’s how you cook a sunny-side egg that will have Gordon Ramsey on foodgasm.
That’s how you will grow.
Your turn! What is your biggest failure in life so far? How did you cope and rise out of it? Share what you learned!
Have an inspired day, awesome peeps! <3
Other awesome articles to read about this topic:
Challenging Success-via-Failure | Psychology Today
How Fear of Failure Destroys Success | Lifehack.org
*Who do you think was the pathetic potato who said that? (raises hand)
**Is this the underground lava level with that dragon???
***Unless, you know, that person is a newborn infant. Then protect that precious lump of baby fats from failure until he’s all grown up to handle them!
June 17, 2017
What I Tell Myself When I’m Hesitant on Moving Forward
It could be as trivial as taking a shower at four in the morning when the water’s ice cold. Or maybe a step forward to personal development like making the first move at befriending someone (if you’re shy like I am that’s a huge leap).
OR, it could be something monumentally life-changing like changing career paths or being honest with myself.
There are–and will be–moments in your life when you’re standing at a pause. Maybe you’re standing at the edge of a cliff, or facing a forked path. The gist is: once you take a step, there’s no going back. You won’t be the same person as you were before. Because even the slightest change in you makes a different you.
Believe me, I know. I’ve been there. I’ve been in an edge or a fork several times now; I expect I will be several times more in the future. And I tell myself something when I’m at that “pause” phase. So what’s that?
“You can do this, Kate.”
Just that one line. Really.
I only noticed this recently, like several weeks ago. But I know I’ve been saying it too myself a lot. (Especially at four in the morning :D) For some reason, giving myself a mini cheer is, oftentimes, all the motivation I need. There’s something utterly wonderful at being your own best cheerleader.
I am the one pushing me forward.
Do you have a mantra that helps you move forward?
Happy Saturday, awesome peeps!
March 18, 2017
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.
Related: What I Learned from Pushing Too Far
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
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
Attempting More Details and Backgrounds
Here’s a fact about me regarding my watercolor paintings and drawings in general: I don’t usually have backgrounds. If you skim through all my artsy creations here in my blog, you’ll notice that I usually just draw a character and forego any specific background.
Lineart has always been my favorite part of making an artwork so I always have full concentration on that. Then I would breeze through the coloring or shading. I end up having a not-so detailed work and back then, I find that good enough.
Now skimming through different artists on Instagram and Youtube, I see how much work they put into the background and the little details in the piece.
It amazed me.
The result was this piece of work that’s more…complete, I guess. The characters aren’t just characters in white background. They have a story and a personality. There’s a certain mood that you won’t only see in the character’s expression but also backed up by the background and props.
And I decided, “I want that in my work.”
But deciding to change the way you create things is far easier than the act itself.
It was hard, extremely hard to add more into my “drawing routine.” And so I did it little by little this month.
Remember when I had that Poker-faced Girls Series of watercolor art? Well, I made another series but this time it’s four girls embodying the four natural elements—fire, earth, water, and air. It’s called Elemental Girls with Closed Eyes Series.
This is where I decided to put in a little more effort in tiny details. Each girl took up around a day to finish but that’s because I didn’t work with the next girl straightaway.
Water (I didn’t have time to think of their names, sorry) has this wavy-ish hair and the hem of her dress looks like sea foam. I had fun doing the seaweeds but omg, those bubbles feel so awkward. Or is it just me?
Having Fire’s hair look like, well, fire was extremely fun, especially doing that gradient-like feel. Her seemingly burnt dress was an accident I made but a happy accident nonetheless.
Air has no defining feature, honestly. You won’t be able to tell she’s Air without those clouds. But I like how dreamy she looks like, snuggled up in the clouds. Gosh, I want to be her.
Earth was the last elemental girl I drew and I loved her a lot. I honestly don’t know how I successfully made those cracks in the ground but they look so legit and I’m happy with it. 🙂
Here are other works I made this November:
I painted the lineart I made last month and I was immediately in love with it. I made a short backstory about the five of them which you can see in my Instagram art account. (Psst! It’s a new account, give some lovin’ and I’ll spread it ;))
My friend gave me this purple gel fountain pen-ish (I honestly don’t know what it’s called but the label has fountain pen so //shrugs) and I tried it out. I noted how the ink bleeds incredibly fast so I have to line a certain area real fast if I don’t want it to bleed.
I recently bought my first ever gouache tube set and I’m in love with how vivid the colors are! <3 I immediately tested it out along with my brush pen because I haven’t used that in a while. I learned that the brush pen bleeds with the gouache more easily than with watercolors as you can see with the Blue-haired girl. That was my first attempt.
Don’t ask me what she’s looking at, even I don’t know.
This was my second attempt and I like how the gouache could be light and also used for details like the shadows of the hair.
This was my third attempt and I screwed up with the skin color but now when I look at her, it looks pretty with the light purple hair.
This was my fourth attempt. At this point, I used watercolor for her skin and put in gouache with the rest and then lined it with the brush pen after. Meaning, I completely changed my drawing process. And it looked neater.
And that’s it! These are what I created this month. Do you have any favorites? 😉 Would you recommend something I would draw? Shoot me an email or comment it below!
Happy creating, awesome peeps!
November 30, 2016
Create with Me: 3D Letter Typography
Hey all! I’m back again with another Create with Me post.
For those who don’t know, Create with Me is a relatively new feature here in my blog. It’s kinda like Get Ready with Me for style bloggers but for my first- or second-attempt creative experiments.
The aim of this feature is just to experiment on different creative things. This is one of my little ways to feed my creativity with something new and unfamiliar.
Today, I’m showing you what happened to my first ever try at making 3D letter typography.
I’ve always wanted one so bad but I couldn’t find them anywhere so I thought, “Hey, I’ll just make myself one!” Which was crazy of me considering I’m worse at crafts than with watercolors.
So that idea went to the back of my mind for a long time until I was on the school supplies store to buy myself a new notebook. I saw this rolled up cardboard that’s white on one side and brown on the other. And reminded by my idea to create a 3D letter typography, I grabbed for it.
Lesson #1: Embrace the spontaneity!
I didn’t plan for anything at all. The closest to a plan that I did was this tiny doodle in my notebook on how I’m forming the letter K. Plus I didn’t think about what materials I’ll use thoroughly. (See: cardboard impulsive-buying above) And that’s cool and all.
At first.
So I went on to follow that messy doodle I won’t even call a “guide” and arrived with this.
Please note that perfectionist Kate took the reins at this point, and sloppy Kate was cast aside, which is why the letter K looked so good.
I cut out two of these using a cutter and a ruler because, like I said earlier, I suck at precision cutting with scissors. And I used masking tape to make the little strips that connect these two 2D K’s and make it one 3D K.
And that’s when I realized: the cardboard is too thin to hold itself. *cue The Scream face*
Lesson #2: Spontaneity is good—at small enough doses. But always have a plan when doing crafts or DIY.
I don’t have a picture of it but when I tried to make place it upright, it bent and wobbled. As did my hopeful heart.
Then my aunt saw me and was like, “Why don’t you put sticks inside?”
And my heart soared like a kid in Halloween.
Lesson #3: When things get sucky, improvise and be resourceful.
We have unused barbecue sticks so I used those and picked thicker ones. I cut them to fit inside the letter K without it looking distorted.
And it stood proudly like the Statue of Liberty!
After that, it was just a matter of buying a wrapping paper to cover it.
I would have liked paint but A) we don’t have any, B) I don’t want to waste money buying a can for a first-time project I’m not even sure I could do right, and C) I wanted to cover the sticks.
So wrapping paper it was.
I believe it was fate that this was the only non-holiday kind available.
And this is the finished look! Plus flowers as props for Insta.
I still don’t know where I’m putting this so it’ll be kept in the cabinet temporarily. But with this, I’m now a wee bit confident at making other letters—using thicker board this time.
So the life lesson I got here is this: there will be moments when you can’t support your own so don’t be afraid to rely on others and ask for help. 😊
Also: avoid winging craft projects. Seriously.
Did you create or do something new recently? Were you spontaneous about it or did you plan every step? I’d love to hear your stories!
Happy creating, awesome peeps! 🎨
November 19, 2016
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
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.
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.
(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.”
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
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
Create with Me: Watercolor Flower Garden
Hey guys! This is going to be a new feature here in the blog and you can expect it during Saturdays–although, not every Saturday. It’s kinda like Paint with Me or Get Ready with Me for lifestyle bloggers but since I plan on getting crafty every now and then, I thought “Create” will cover the broad scope of creative experiments and projects that I’ll have in the future.
Please note that these aren’t tutorials. Although I may have tutorials in the future, Create with Me will basically be a glimpse on what happens in the learning curve part of… well, whatever I’m learning. In this case, watercoloring.
I’ve also added some lessons I’ve learned during the whole experience including one lesson that I think can be applied to life in general. Because life lessons from mundane activities are awesome, no?
One thing you can expect: Lots of messes, mistakes and disasters. But that’s okay! As they say, every expert was once a beginner. And I seriously believe that the path of learning comes with lots of messes and mistakes and cussing. 😉
So let’s get to it! Today, I will show you how I made this kinda cute watercolor flower garden.
I love adding flower gardens in my sketchpads because they’re so pretty. But I’ve only ever tried one finished watercolor flower garden and…it was too messy for my taste. This one was my second attempt and it was a tad bit better.
The first thing I did was pick my color palette. I got two shades of green, one dark and one lighter, for the leaves and stems. I tried different colors for different stems the first time and that didn’t sit well with me. It looked messy. But if that’s what you like, go ahead and try it! I have three kinds of flowers in three different colors too.
Lesson #1: Always check if your brush was washed before dipping it in your palette. I forgot mine still had dried green watercolor from when I last used it and my golden yellow turned into this greenish color that looked like the color of mucus. Sigh. Had to add more yellow into it afterwards.
Gosh, I haven’t even started putting brush on paper, and I’m already messing things up. 😩
Okay, after recovering from that mucus disaster, I started painting the ferns and other leaves on the bottom part.
Lesson #2: There’s nothing wrong with rotating your paper if you want to. I mean, it’s far better than twisting your wrist. Less painful too, believe me. Unless of course you’re also improving your flexibility. 😉
Then I painted the flowers. At this point, I was winging it. Since this isn’t a realistic drawing but something quirky and informal in style, I wasn’t really focusing on perfect flowers. I added buds for each flower too.
And to show how noob I still am at watercoloring, when I got to painting the orange flower that was supposed to be this cute kind with more than five petals, this happened.
Oh no!
Lesson #3: Mind your hands and make sure they don’t touch a still-wet part.
Lesson #3.5: If it does, cussing is okay.
Lesson #4: But don’t give up on your work instantly. (As a perfectionist, this is a hard lesson to learn.) If you can still save it, try to.
After that disaster, I was so into painting the rest of the flower heads that I forgot taking pictures of the process. But this is how it looked afterwards.
I, then, added the leaves and stems.
Lesson #5: There are very few straightedges in the natural world. So don’t fret too much if your lines are crooked. 🙂
Also: did you know that the scientific term for when a plant’s stem stretches to reach enough sunlight is called etoliation? Fun fact, yo.
I added some finishing touches and it’s done!
I had so much fun making this, despite the many disasters (disaster #2 happend more than twice) that happened. I was also playing some music while working and it was quiet so it was kind of like a therapy.
Here’s the life lesson I learned: In life, we often encounter mess-ups and things not going according to plan. And we automatically give up. I know I did countless times. I almost did in this artwork.
But maybe, you can still save something. Maybe a little change in the plan can be good. See if you can do something else before you completely give up on whatever it is you’re working. Who knows, maybe that little change could make a positive impact bigger than you would expect. 😉
If you did something crafty or creative recently, let me know in the comments below and add some lessons you’ve made while doing it. I would love to hear about it! 🙂
Happy painting, awesome peeps! 🎨
September 24, 2016