💛 Welcome 💛

Hello readers!

The picture is what I bought at T&T to celebrate the New Year, the drink is peach flavour and is very sweet but has no calories, and the peach is actually a red bean bun :) 🍑 .

Thank you for visiting my blog, hehe clearly I've just started! And lucky you, you're here for the very first post, for that you're appreciated ❤.

You're probably here from TikTok. As much as I want to start off the first blog post with a silly ode, or currently trendy little sound piece, I fear I'll just be marking myself as dated and even cringier than I already have. Instead, let me quote fellow Tik Toker, Shvonne Will, who said "gorgeous gorgeous girls have ✨ self-discipline ✨". That's a sound piece, I'll gladly repeat, at least in the comfort of my own home.

I know there's so many aspects in life that I'd like to grow in, so many areas that I'd like to pursue. My excuse for delaying these pursuits, for years was my academic career. Far from an exemplary student, but I still deprioritized most dreams, for the sake of volunteering, working part-time and graduating.

Now it's been a few weeks since I've graduated, and I've found myself going to bed at 3 AM and waking up at 12 PM. Now there's nothing necessarily wrong with being a night-owl (also got COVID :) ), but I know I feel much more productive when I have an early morning routine, as long as I'm getting enough sleep.

Anyhow, my biggest goal for 2022 is to get organized and disciplined, as well as shamelessly (or with the least shame as possible) pursue my goals and dreams.

Sometimes I've felt overwhelmed by the muddle of desires I had going through my mind. It felt too messy, and too abstract to actually achieve. While I believe writing desires and goals down does help, I've picked a few tools up from other creators and professionals that I find very helpful. To get organized on my dreams and visions I've shared some cute little acronyms on Tin Tok which I'll reiterate here! In order to prioritize and organize my life and see where I'd like to set goals, I've followed Thais Gibson partway through 2021, and she's a fantastic source of information, and has videos on so many topics I can only dream of, it feels like a gold-mine scouring though her countless videos (here's the link to her channel.

In one of her videos she mentioned different categories of life that we can work on. I'm not sure if I remember it correctly, but going off of the notes in my moleskin I wrote:

• Personal

• Health

• Financial

• Relationship

• Education

• Career

I also mentioned the acronym SMART, which stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Realistic

Time-oriented

Funnily enough, Shvonne Will also spoke about similar concepts in her TikTok. Shvonne calls it a 'Life Audit', she breaks areas of life up into nine sections as well as generously provides a template to perform a 'Life Audit" which I'll link here. She also mentioned how surprised she was that her TikTok about "gorgeous gorgeous girls" needing ✨self-discipline✨ blew up. I think it's overnight virality, makes two things clear: first that Shvonne is a beautiful lady, and second that her message deeply resonated with her audience. Speaking for myself, I felt that the popularity of her TikTok, is reflective of how many of us desire a catalyst, something to kick ourselves in the bum bum, and get our affairs together. I know I at least felt like I lacked solid direction, and stability.

These feelings of instability, and flux may be especially pertinent with the ever-present lock-downs, and the way social life has seemingly hopped between phases of normality, disrupting social norms, patterns and routine every day life. The flexibility I've faced has both been a tool and an impediment. And I've find myself constantly faced with the reality that I am entirely responsible for my current state of well-being, happiness, satisfaction or lack of it thereof.

From graduating post-secondary, navigating the pandemic, leaving the longest relationship I've ever had, and giving back a ring. I've learned a lot in the past year, a lot about myself, my boundaries and needs (concepts that were unfamiliar previously), what to realistically expect in my relationships with others, as well as been faced with my own short-comings. I feel like I'm finally stepping into the reality I've dreamed of for years, since childhood even. Freedom! A future filled with freedom, free of responsibilities to anyone but myself, the ability to truly live life on my own terms, free of parental expectations, or another's desires. And yet now that it's arrived, I'm faced with the fear of materializing my thoughts, fear of failure, and I have no idea how to make 'It' happen. The reality of being completely responsible for making my dreams a reality is frightening. So frightening, and yet somewhat exhilarating at the same time. What if I make it happen, what if I am capable of showing up for myself everyday. Of being that person, the 'ideal' person, imagine the kind of life I could create.

Anyhow, I hope this little entry has not bored you. I have a lot to say about love, personal-development, and growth. I hope I can keep you company if you choose to go on this journey with me, as cheesy as it sounds I'm not sure how else to describe it (a ride is way too short, sounds exciting but doesn't exactly scream longevity).

In my next blog I'll actually talk about doing Shvonne's Life Audit, as well as working on other aspects of personal development, interesting books, and video's I've watched, and maybe a few articles (academic and casual) here and there.

Hopefully, we're here for a long time, let's make it a good time 🌱🍀.

Thanks for tuning in.

Cheers,

Mai B 💜