3 Ways to Improve Your Life (According to Me)

It always seems that when I reach a rut in my life, I turn to this blog to vocalize what I am feeling. I would prefer it if I came here when my life was going great, which is something I am going to try and do today.

I am easily discouraged, it's something that I'm trying to move past, but it's also something very hard to train yourself out when you seem to be a professional at being discouraged. I get discouraged after one week of eating right and exercising and seeing that nothing's changed. I get discouraged when I write for ten minutes and I'm not a published author. I get discouraged when a graphic design project doesn't pan out as beautifully as I envisioned it. And so many other things it would be a waste of yours and my time to list them all. The gist of it: I get discouraged very very easily.

I took a brief evaluation of myself and realized that this is a quality that I want to train myself out of. I want to remove discouragement from the equation, and replace it with discipline, self-love, and positive stimulants.

I'm still figuring it all out, the gym and I are still bitter enemies, but here is a list of things that have worked for me.

///She Reads Truth///

Credit

Being highly religious, I've been looking for something to stimulate my spirituality. Something that has helped me drastically is an app I found called She Reads Truth. Turns out it's more than just an app, but a worldwide women's reading group. It started as a small internet reading group that exploded to a community dedicated to Jesus, reading the Bible, and empower women to be the best versions of themselves. The app includes a Bible with multiple translation options to satisfy multiple denominations of Christian women. It also includes a plethora of reading plans. Each plan revolves around a theme or a book in the Bible and goes for about 10 to 35 days. It includes assigned scripture reading, and then a small devotional written by a team of content creators on the She Reads Truth team.

But they are so much more than just a reading group. They include a small section with inspiring Christian music (FYI: it's not free, sorry guys), a section with FREE wallpapers for your phone, and let me tell you, they are gorgeous. My graphic designer heart has a heart attack every time a new wallpaper comes out, which is like every other week, I swear. 

The best part, they have a 365-day Bible Reading Challenge. I have never read the Bible word for word but I have been trying my darndest to do it with the help of She Reads Truth. The app gives you a reading assignment for each day and then lets you check it off when you finish it, and it keeps a percentage of how far you are. It's not in order from cover to cover so I've been bouncing from book to books in the Bible and it's so exciting. I love reading my personal paperback scriptures along with the app to read comparisons of translations and catching the constant light of Christ in both translations. No matter what translation you read, if you search for Christ, you will find Him.

I'm not caught up on She Reads Truth, but I love that I have something that I can turn to at any time to remind me that I am a daughter of God.

/// Pamper Yourself ///

When I get discouraged over something that I have done, I tend to lock away anything that would make me feel better away. I don't read, I don't write no video games, nothing that would inspire me to feel better. I simmer in my own diminished emotions and don't take care of myself. I would wake up in the morning, throw my two-day-old hair into a sagging ponytail, throw on a random shirt with a random pair of jeans and shuffle out the door for the day, still feeling sorry for myself.

I've realized that this behavior encourages self-pity, laziness and a rather stationary sense of being. When the going gets tough, you just bow your head and stumble on feeling sorry for yourself? No! Absolutely no.

I had had a pretty crummy day once at work, that's normal, but I had made some mistakes that had really bothered me, because I don't like to make mistakes. Nobody does. When I got home, I pondered on stepping into my old routine of eating junk food and feeling bad while watching an unhealthy amount of YouTube videos. I looked at myself and saw how pathetic I was and chose to do something.

I didn't allow myself to feel bad by making myself feel good. I took a hot shower and used my favourite shampoo, I played only my best music and when I got out I took the time to prep my hair for the morning. I painted my nails, read my scriptures, and then woke up in the morning feeling 110% better. I donned on my best red lipstick and stepped out my door feeling confident that I was going to be okay, and that today was a new day.

So the more defining moral of the story is that I had a change of perspective, a change of attitude. But I also believe that pampering yourself makes you feel something good about yourself. If you take the time to comb your hair, do your nails, clean your skin, it shows you care enough about yourself to do those things, and in the end your body responds quite positively. I think the result of your attitude will always be better after a hot shower and a good manicure.

///Journaling///

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a collector of journals and love journaling. I have a hidden away shelf in my closet that is filled to the brim with notebooks. Some are filled with scribbles, notes, and stories, others have never been cracked open yet. I decided that I should put a use to some of those blank notebooks.

I have a major fear of desecrating the 'blank page'. What if I ruin what was once beautiful? It was a constant fear of mine. But here is the really obvious fact: no one else will see this page as long as you don't want them to. Do whatever you gosh darn feel like. So I have been.

I now carry a journal with me everywhere I go. It goes with me to work, to school, to the gym, in the car, literally everywhere. It's become a constant mini-counselor. If I feel frustrated, discouraged, or a bit hopeless, I open a blank page and begin to fill it with something. It could be a sketch, it could be a legitimate journal entry where I pour out my thoughts and feelings, it could just be a list of things I want to do. I haven't filled a journal this fast since I was in elementary school. It's magical to look back at my previous pages and feel a sense of joy and pride. I've written some of the best poetry in that journal, sketched out concept art for my graphic design work, and have also planned what will one day become the Ultimate Marvel Movie Marathon. There is literally everything in the journal. It's unbelievable how much I've come to depend on something entirely made of paper and ink. 

To add, I just recently started a bullet journal as well, which has helped immensely in keeping my mind from going insane. I have compiled all of the things that I want to accomplish and keep track of it so easily. Bullet journals can be as hard or as easy as you want them to be, and I'm still experimenting on how I want mine's to pan out, but I'm already a fan of how it's going. 

//Conclusion//

It's so easy to let the rough patches in our life drag us down, and I'm a sucker for them. But I'm learning slowly how to cope, manage and control my life so that I don't feel like I'm drowning. I'm now going to be experimenting to see if blogging weekly helps. XD Pray for me that I can actually write another post next week. Please...