Allow Yourself to Take a Break

WELCOME! to 2018.

I thought I’d warm up into filming this year with a relaxed video expanding on what I want to focus my energy on in 2018 in regards to my art but also myself personally, and then talk about getting focused after taking a break over the holidays.

I’m always wanting to be conscious of where my personal faults lie, so that I can continuously work on bettering myself. I want to feel like I’ve made the most of my life because if you do then you’ll live a life with little regret.

In 2017 I transformed my future by learning techniques of how to overcome my anxiety when I feel like it’s taking ahold over my life.

Anxiety has always been something I’ve experienced. As a kid I was extremely shy, and growing up I always worried about a lot of things and actively tried to avoid stressful situations rather than deal with them. Then, as you grow up, you take on more responsibilities and learn that there are some situations you can’t just avoid or pass on to someone else, and because I hadn’t learnt how to deal with stress, I would overthink things and get overwhelmed easily. That’s my own theory of my brain, anyway.

I used to beat myself up over the times when I’d take a break from drawing for a while and I couldn’t just pick myself up right from where I left off. By doing this I caused myself more stress than I needed to, and in turn was afraid to take breaks, or would feel guilty if I did.

Something I want to continue to remind myself of this year, is that nothing is the be-all and end-all of life.

In this situation, try not to worry about taking a break and struggling to return to it. It happens to everyone, and you know what? It DOESN’T REALLY MATTER! All you need to do is focus on where you’re going, and work through the struggle, and after a week or two of working through it, you’ll feel back to normal! Nothing matters as much as you think it does. You can work through those kinds of problems, and it’s REALLY not that big of a deal, even though in your mind, right now, it might seem as such.

An Exciting Update!

I’ve been a little quiet lately, but for good reason. I’ve been spending my free time planning for a big change in my life.

Have you ever had a dream goal of how you’d spend your life, and you’re constantly trying to work yourself closer to that goal, but it still always feels like it’s some kind of distant fantasy that will forever be a “one day” situation, never a “today”?

Well, very soon, my “one day” will become a “today”!

Creating and spreading positivity are what I feel that I cannot be happy without. Soon, I will be able to bring these priorities to the forefront of my life, and focus all of my energy on! All of the time I’ve spent researching and planning over the past year and a half, will finally get put into motion.

Great things are in store, and I know deep down that this is where my passions lie. I am more determined than ever to create a fulfilling life for myself, and to spread positivity to whoever I can!

Stay tuned over the next few months for when things finally start getting put in motion!

How To Get Out Of a Bad Mood

Sometimes there are days where I just don’t feel good for no good reason! It could be influenced by anything from lack of sleep or exercise, to lack of direction with my goals or schedule.

At times like this, it’s incredibly easy to just wallow in your grumpy, irritable mood. But that doesn’t make you feel any better! 

I’ve found a good way to help get myself out of this mood, so try this next time you feel this way, too:

• Sit down with a pen and paper.
• Write down dot points answering this question: “What are my main problems right now? What is causing me to feel bad?”
• Go through each point, and write down what the SOLUTION would be to this problem.
• Write down steps to take in order to make this solution possible.
• If the solution is not possible or is out of your hands, you’re going to have to focus on letting go of that problem, as it will be wasted energy stressing over something you can’t control!

Working this way will teach you how to mentally work your way out of a bad day. After all, a bad day isn’t a bad day - it’s just a bad attitude! Only you allow a day to be bad. It’s all a matter of perspective!

What I Learnt in 2016

I uploaded a video on Youtube of what I learnt in 2016!

The amount I grew in 2016 is crazy - it’s possibly the most I’ve grown in any one year! Here’s a recap of what I talked about in the video:

• Started working full time for the first time in my life.

• Learnt how to be disciplined and how to build a schedule that works for me, and how to stick to that schedule. It actually took me a while to realise that if I didn’t draw or gym in my very limited free time during the week (mornings and evenings), then it wouldn’t happen at all, and weeks and months would pass with zero improvement!

• Finally found a diet that works for me! With limiting carbs and sweets and unhealthy foods without feeling deprived of them or feeling the need to eat them all the time and have horrible cravings!!
  I did a 12 week program with my best friend and incredibly smart Personal Trainer, Emily, and the biggest things I learnt from that is:

  • The importance in fat in a diet when limiting carbs.

  • The effect eating carbs in the morning has on your energy and cravings (you crave carbs much more throughout the day, and you also have greater peaks and troughs in your blood sugar).

  • How good having a high protein and fat breakfast can have on your blood sugar and cravings.

  • How it feels to not be tired all the time because of crazy blood sugar.

  • How to push myself.

• I learnt a tonne about the gut, inflammation, blood sugar, and the effect the pill can have on your body. I found out that my gut was very unhappy (constantly bloated), and I altered my diet by eliminating gluten and dairy, with great results. I then found out the pill was still affecting my gut horribly, and my gut improved substantially after coming off of it (I can now eat gluten and dairy with fewer issues than before). I also learnt of the many silent symptoms that I didn’t even realise I was experiencing because of the pill - constipation (from affecting liver function and the gut), weight gain and fluid retention or similar (I’m assuming from the effect on my gut), making my breasts denser, weak nails (also from unhappy gut).

• I learnt about leaky gut - where cells can leak from your intestines into your blood stream, meaning that any inflammation that you may experience in your gut from eating hard-to-digest foods (especially gluten) can result in the inflammation leaking into your bloodstream and being transported to other areas of your body! Good motivation to eat well!

• I learnt to take chances, and not worry about having to be perfect all the time, and to just focus on and enjoy the process and journey!!! Of learning new skills, and improving on old ones.

So Happy New Year to everyone, and I hope you have a good year and work hard!!! Plan your future and reach those goals! :D

A short summary of the major things I learnt in 2016! Content: 1. Started a Full Time Job (0:23) 2. Learnt Discipline (0:49) 3. Diet & Health (1:30) 4. Gut Health, Inflammation and The Pill (4:04) 5.

Happy New Year! 2017

The amount I have grown in 2016 is crazy - it’s possibly the most I’ve grown in any one year! For me, 2016 saw the start of working full time - I was lucky enough to score a full time illustrator role, directly related to my studies, and close to home, too! This job has given me a huge confidence boost, in believing that I’m worth hiring in the field that I want to work in. After 2 years of no leads at all in the job front, obtaining this job has been a life-changer, and great motivator.

And of course, with working your first full time job, I learnt a hell of a lot about myself - about what I’m capable of, and of where I need to focus on changing and growing further.

This year, I’ve seen great changes in my health, lifestyle, and mentality, and I learnt the necessity of being disciplined in order to get everything done that I need to (because a full time job takes up a hell of a lot of a person’s time!). I’ve learnt how to be disciplined in order to get shit done (who really needs to sit in front of the TV every night after work anyway!), and I’ve both rediscovered my passion to create in multiple mediums, and also learnt how to squash down that mean little anxious voice who says I’m never good enough and there’s no point in trying (I’m sure every artist will have experienced this at some point!!).

I’m so excited for what 2017 will bring, and to get cracking on my goals for the next year!

My goals are:

• Draw for 30 minutes at least 4 times a week.

• Have an online social media presence every day - posting several times a day over different sites.

• Start Investing and planning my money for the future.

• Continue going to the gym at least 4 times a week.

I shall probably add more as the year progresses, but those are my main focuses for the moment :)

So Happy New Year to everyone, and I hope you have a good year and work hard!!! Plan your future and reach those goals! :D

Confidence

Just like any other skill, confidence comes with practise. Of course, (like any other skill) there are the people who are born with the “talent” - meaning they were seemingly born confident, and have been that way for their entire lives.

And then there are the people who have to work for it. There’s no simple fix to become confident. It takes consistency - of continuously telling yourself that you’re worth it, and saying “fuck it” to what people think. There will always be the bad days when you’ll be feeling down and unmotivated and unsure of yourself, and it’s then that you must choose whether to succumb to those negative thoughts, or whether to push through and keep telling yourself it’s fine and you’re worth it. The more often you tell yourself that, the more often you’ll believe it!!

What A Year! Excited for the Future

Well, I’m just about finished with my first year of my first full time job! It’s crazy how long it took to really sort myself out, like my personal schedule - with exercise, and fitting in my own time for creativity... kicking myself in the buns to get disciplined with it all, as to be able to fit all of that stuff in - while working full time - requires a lot of scheduling, staying organised, and being disciplined!

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Sydney Harbour, with the Opera House in sight, from the International Passenger Terminal in Circular Quay, from where we had our work Christmas party :)

I’m so excited for 2017 - to take all the things I've learnt this year, and the growth I've experienced, and to kick off next year running! I've spent the last few months of 2016 figuring out what kind of scheduling will work for me - whilst still working full time - to feel satisfied that I'm doing all that I can to achieve the most I can! Time for that HUSTLE and GRIND!

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Food at the work Christmas party! Not that I ate any though, it was too difficult, and there were too many people...

I’m going to focus on working on my own creative projects daily, including (but not limited to) drawing, painting, photography, filming, writing, and documenting parts of my life and my work throughout all of that :) I'll only really have 30-60 minutes a day to do that, but that's fine by me! It's still better than 0 minutes a day, and I'm so excited for the growth I'll experience just from being consistent! After all, that's what it takes to grow: consistency! :D

So keep your eyes peeled for the content I'll be posting throughout all social media platforms that I'm on, they're linked at the top of my website.

I hope you all had a great 2016 too, and if not, then all the more reason to work twice as hard at making 2017 that much greater! Stay positive my friends, as if you do that then you'll be able to accomplish anything you set your mind to! 

I'll end this with a silly photos of me and my outfit at the work Christmas party! Happy Christmas and Happy New Year, everybaaaaday! ^_^