Random Ramblings (possibly n. 1 of many to come)

*waves* Hey there. Glad to see you!

As the title says, today I’m going to treat my darling readers to some ramblings.

But first – if you don’t want to read this, you don’t have to. I’m going to try and keep complaints out of this post, but I may not succeed. ; )

Sleep

Ah, yes. Sleep, the dreaded and the loved. At least by moi. I haven’t been sleeping well, lately – or rather, I have trouble falling asleep. As I like to put it, I never feel tired until I realize I’m exhausted. Which often happens at, say, midnight or later. I won’t waste any more time going into all the details, but essentially, as soon as I get into bed, I want to get up, I want to read, I want to do something, anything other than lay there and do nothing. I don’t know if I stay awake because I’m not relaxed, or if I’m genuinely not tired.

Writing, drawing, and other semi – productive pastimes

Regrettably, lately I’ve been having trouble finding the motivation/energy to do these types of things. I’m pretty sure this derives from lack of sleep, and I’d like to fix that, but I don’t know how. To be honest, I don’t have a very good history with sleep – my parents tell me the only nights that I fell asleep (and stayed asleep) easily were the first two nights of my life X D. So, I’m trying to fix a life-long bad habit : (.

I don’t feel that I enjoy drawing, writing, or doing anything that requires even a small amount of energy anymore. I feel that I might if I only got more sleep, though. What do you guys think?

Idle, “easy” pastimes

Lately, I find myself spending my time playing on the iPad and laying around more and more often. In my opinion, this may also derive from a lack of sleep and therefore, energy. It’s fun to do nothing, but at the same time, the guilt and lack of sense of fulfillment that comes with it is definitely not fun.

Scarily, I find that when given a choice between doing something productive (i.e. writing)   and doing something unproductive (sitting around), I’ll choose the latter. It doesn’t mean that I like my choice, but unfortunately it’s what I seem to prefer. I want to change that.

 

So, what am I going to do about all this muddled mess that I made you guys read about?

I believe that the main problem lies in lack of sleep. So, I’m going to start a sleep tracker and record how many hours I sleep. My goal is to get ten hours of sleep each night – we’ll see how that goes. : D

In a future post, I’ll share a more concrete plan for being more productive and getting enough sleep.

 

If you read this, thank you! And if you didn’t, I understand. You didn’t have to.

Do you have any thoughts? Do you ever have trouble sleeping?

 

Hey, I’m back // Musings

Hello again, awesome humans (and mermaids, pixies, jedi, unicorns, constellations, nymphs, ect.)!

It’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Guess what? I completed NaPoWriMo! Yay me. Would you like to see some of the poems that I wrote?

Speaking of you guys, I’ve reached over 50 followers! I can’t believe it. I truly appreciate every comment, follow, and like, so thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I’m thinking of doing a Q & A, so comment some questions down below! I’m sure everybody already knows this, but just in case: please don’t ask anything personal, such as my last name, where I live, how old I am, etc. Thanks!

 

Why can I never find time to do anything? Like blogging, writing, drawing, reading, and I  never take photos anymore. I’m always so tired, and it’s easier to lie around and waste time than to actually do something. Then I feel frustrated that I haven’t done anything. I make excuses, saying that I don’t have enough time. That may be true some days, but not most of the time. I’ve told myself I don’t have enough time so much that I think I really believe it myself. And that stresses me out. I have trouble falling asleep at nights, which makes me tired in the morning. When I’m tired, I’m afraid that I’ll do badly at school, which makes me even more stressed. Thankfully, my results haven’t gone down. At this point, it’s become a habit to stay awake even after I lie down, and I have a hard time falling asleep, hence more stress and tiredness, which makes me lazy and unproductive, as well as frustrated.

Essentially: a vicious circle. Ugh.

Do you have any tips/suggestions? I’d be glad to receive them!

There’s not much else to say for now… other than I WATCHED STAR WARS OVER SPRING BREAK AND IT WAS AMAZING AAAAAAAAAHHHH.

I also started working on a drawing last night and made a list of songs that I love in my Bullet Journal.

I discovered that:

• The Phantom of the Opera is creepy.
• WWII films, although moving, frighten me (I was wondering if my ‘WWII film violence immunity’ had gone up since fifth grade, it hasn’t).
• The Titanic would make for a good story if you didn’t know almost everybody is going to die. Additionally, a guy chained to a pole in the underbelly of a ship as it sink, another man locked in a room filling with water, and the fact that (since women and children were put on first on the rescue boats), my dad probably wouldn’t have survived, can be scary.

I should be a movie reviewer. 😉

Also, this is my 20th post! Pretty cool, I guess.

Do you have any tips for me? Any opinion on the movies that I didn’t like? Does anybody LOVE Star Wars too (FYI, I’ve only seen the first three that were produced, so no spoilers, please)? 

Do you have any questions for my (possible) Q & A?

On Fasting During Lent

Hello there! 😀

As you can probably see from the title, today I’m going to talk about fasting – particularly during Lent.

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*note: all opinions, points of view, and beliefs are mine – you, amazing person, are not required to follow them in any way. Thanks!*

The exact definition of ‘fast’ is to ‘to abstain from all food’ or to ‘to eat only sparingly or of certain kinds of food, especially as a religious observance’.

There are all types of fasting, ranging from abstaining from any type of food to not eating muffins. Many Christians choose to fast during the 40 days of Lent, in remembrance of those same number of days that Jesus spent in the desert, fasting.

 Some people choose to not eat meat on Fridays, others choose to not eat sweets, some don’t drink alcohol. Those are all great things to do – but is that what Lent is really about?

Think about that for a moment. What is Lent about? When you’re ready, scroll down. 🙂

Personally, I think Lent is about purifying ourselves and becoming better people. For me, it’s more important to be kind and pray than to not eat cheesecake.

Basically, sometimes I feel that we’re so concentrated on fasting that we forget why we celebrate Lent. Fasting won’t really make you a better Christian. I’d much rather meet a lovely person who eats some sweets during Lent than a horrid one who throws every single grain of sugar out of his/her house. 😉

Are you fasting this Lent? Or does your family not fast (that’s fine, too!)? What did you think of this post?

Hello Again // A Couple Stats + 2017 Goal(s)

*looks at blogging calendar* *winces*

*shuffles onstage* *clears throat nervously* I’m really sorry – *pauses in thought* Actually, never mind – I’ll spare you the soppy apology monologue. You’re welcome. 😉

Well… we meet again. *cue dramatic music* Last time I posted was before Christmas – so I guess we have a little to catch up on. 🙂

 I’ll start off with my outlook on 2017 – note: originally written at the beginning of January. So, let’s begin, shall we?

 

I’m feeling super optimistic about this year! I have a feeling that it’s going to be a great year for me – obviously it’ll have its ups and downs, like any year, but overall, I can’t wait for it to start… wait, it already has. XD

I’m not going to do a ‘Year In Review’ post (you guys are probably sick and tired of them by now), but I’d just like to say that creating my blog was by far the best thing that happened in 2016.  I’ve met so many amazing bloggers, such as Loren, Clara, Megan, Allison, Grace, Vivian, and lots of others!

In 2016, I had 644 views, 166 visitors, 83 likes, 40 followers, and 165 comments. That may not seem like a lot to some of you, but every like, follow and comment makes my day!

This year, my main goal is to finish writing the first draft of my WIP. By the end of 2016, it was at around 6000 words… a head start, but I’ve got a long way ahead. Generally, I can write 200 words in a sitting, which to those of you who don’t write (that is, aren’t writing a novel, I’m fairly certain all of you know how to write ;)), isn’t that much, at least for me.

Mostly, I didn’t write a lot at a time because I was typing on an iPad, and the tips of my fingers would get sore (believe me, it can happen!). And not being able to write much at a time left me discouraged, and I’d leave my novel-to-be to collect dust for a month, sometimes more. And doing that would make me feel uninspired, and even if I did open my Pages document, I would barely write anything, sometimes only a few lines. Basically, a vicious circle. 

But now – something big has changed. I now have a computer. And guess what? It’s so much easier to type. I can write way more in one sitting – and that way, I won’t be left feeling discouraged and uninspired. For example, today my goal was to write 400 words, two times what I usually can write. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it… I thought that I would most certainly have to do it in two sittings, and I could easily imagine myself stopping at 300.

I managed to write 512 words – in one sitting. Again, that may seem like nothing to to some of you, but to me, it’s a lot.

Another goal that I have is to be more relaxed, which isn’t exactly actionable, but more a mental choice, I think. I guess I’ll see how it goes – but I’m confident that, with God’s help, I can do it. 🙂

And that brings us to my third goal… trusting God. I love God, I really do. But sometimes it’s hard for me to put my worries and doubts aside and let Him lead the way. This year, I’m going to focus on worrying less and trusting God more.

Well, firstly, I’m back! As long as my life doesn’t get too busy, I’m going to be hanging around here for a loooong time. 🙂 I’ve got some fun posts planned… bullet journaling, Lent, writing advice (yes… don’t follow it XD), and more! So stay tuned, my evil minions friends!

What do you think of my new theme/post header thingies? How have your goals for 2017 been going?

What I’m Thankful For (Slightly Late) + Simple Joys #1

*pant, gasp, wheeze* Wow, that was quite the long title!

And yes, I do realize that Thanksgiving is over and we’re entering the holiday season. Don’t worry, I’m not completely crazy – there is a method to my madness. 😉

But anyways . . .  being thankful for what we have is super important – even when it’s not Thanksgiving! We are blessed to be surrounded by friends and family, to be able to go to school, to have access to food, water, and housing . . . I could go on. But if I did, we’d be here another couple years. (And it would get boring. By 2020, I’d be saying things like “I’m grateful for, um, plastic . . .”).

I think I sounded preachy there. I’m not trying to . . . 😐

And that brings me to my own list of what I’m thankful for. 🙂

Random person who originally put thus image on the Internet, thank you for unknowingly contributing to my post. Unfortunately, I can’t find the image again and therefore can’t link to it. Thanks again! 

1. Family

2. Friends

3. Books and Libraries

4. Technology

5. Pizza and Pesto Lasagna

6. Chocolate Muffins

7. Autumn and Spring

8. Nature

9. Pens that I like to write with

10. Beaches

11. Child’s Rights

12. God

13. My House

14. Rocking Chairs

15. Hospitals

16. Volunteers

17. Education

18. Kittens

19. Notebooks

20. Simple Joys

What are ‘Simple Joys’, you ask? Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to be explaining. Basically, Simple Joys are little things that make you happy – maybe rainbows, or cinnamon rolls. Anyways, each month, I’m going to be making a list of ten Simple Joys – today is Simple Joys #1.

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1. When your favorite song comes on shuffle first.

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2. Christmas lights in the dark.

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3. Cozy sweaters

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4. Beautiful sunsets

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5. When sunlight fills the room when you wake up

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6. Opening a new book

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7. Writing with your favorite pen

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8. Yummy breakfasts

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9. Waking up early and not feeling tired

*cue heavenly choir*

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10. Nutella crêpes

So, that concludes this first post of December! Tell me, what are you feeling thankful for today?