How I Pick Myself Up

bad habits that held me back for years

negative self talk: tune into your inner voice and turn mean thoughts into kind ones

prioritising comfort over progress: you have to actually do the work, then enjoy your rest and comfort (with less anxiety too)

hanging around the wrong people: you are the sum of the people you spend the most time with, choose your friends carefully

never taking responsibility: tough stuff happens to everybody, focus on what you can control (you) rather than blaming outside circumstances (not talking about trauma here obviously)

expecting praise for 'being yourself': you're good enough as you are in a spiritual sense, but if you want to be excellent at something you have to actually do the work, not just expect praise and reward for just showing up

liking the aesthetic more than the work: do you want to achieve that goal or do you just like how it looks on pinterest??? make sure you derive some level of pleasure and satisfaction from the pursuit

overthinking: seriously just tell your brain to shut up. stop over intellectualising and over thinking every single thing. find your heart to guide you and save your brain power for working on your passions...

start romanticising your reading

TLDR: choose your read, curate your space, and engage with the text

About three years ago, I was in the biggest reading slump. It was so bad that it had gotten to the point where I couldn't even read one sentence without picking up my phone to doom-scroll. At that point, I genuinely thought I could never ever get into reading again.

However, when I started romanticising my reading, I was able to finish a whole book in just one week. By romanticising my reading, it was no longer a chore, instead, it felt like an enjoyable experience where I could get lost in the emotions of the story.

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"How do you even romanticise reading?"

step #1 - choosing your read

pick something short and easy to read - a short story, a poetry collection, a graphic novel, an old favourite or comfort read

judge a book by its cover and pick something with a cover-art that interests you

pick something that matches your mood/feeling, here are some of my recommendations: want something gothic and eerie, filled with old secrets? We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson want something bittersweet and nostalgic with heartache? Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi want something empowering and thought-provoking? And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou want something whimsical and soft, filled with dreamy illustrations? Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel by Mariah Marsden, illustrated by Brenna Thummler

step #2 - curate your space

replace your main lights for ambient lighting - fairy lights, candles, salt lamps, mushroom lamps, warm coloured LEDs

turn on some background music to build atmosphere for your book - 90s jazz for classic books, orchestral music for fantasy books

have a drink or snack that you love - I recommend an iced mocha or matcha for summers, and hot chocolate or green tea for winters

sit somewhere comfortable or somewhere that builds atmosphere - I have my bed next to my window which means it's comfortable when I read and I can also hear the crickets during summer nights

step #3 - engage with the text

use coloured pens or markers to highlight or underline your favourite quotes, and you can even assign different colours to different emotions

stick custom bookmarks or themed stickers to mark meaningful chapters or sections

start a collection jar with paper notes of your favourite quotes that you can read at the end of the year - you can write down the page, chapter, and book so you can always go back to where these quotes came from

jot down your current thoughts and feelings about certain chapters and sections so you can revisit the book in the future to see how your thoughts and interpretations have evolved over time - I like to date these annotations so I know exactly when I wrote my annotations

Remember that progress is still progress, even if it's small 🧸

The girliest things you can try to do on your worst days 𓍯𓂃𓏧♡

• i learned that when i have a clean room, my mindset is better

•saying affirmations can really help, just tell yourself you’re beautiful

• good hygiene even if you might not be having the best day:(

•get yourself a sweet treat, you deserve it babes

•try doing your skincare routine -`♡´-

•having your nails & hair done helps!!

•for my lovers who might not be able to afford hair & nails, i recommend press ons for nails & doing simple natural hairstyles might help or trying to learn how to do your own hair

• I really love doing sanrio face masks when i feel down

• romanticize your life, even the little things could help you feel better

•always remember you are loved by someone even if you might not feel like it

That’s all for now my dolls! 𝜗𝜚⋆₊˚ I just wanted to post something small to help because currently senior year is kicking my butt & I know even I have my bad days recently. Just know each day gets by luvs & you are loved no matter what. mental health always matters.♡

Your interests change based on the person you are. If you meet someone and their interests are not aligning with their reality, they are probably not who they say they are.

✧ girlblogging saved my life | tribute to girlbloggers of tumblr

💌 a love letter to the girls who feel everything all at once

hi angel. mindy here.

i just want to talk to you for a second. not as a persona, not as a brand, not even as a blog, but as a girl who started typing into a blank text box one day and never stopped.

because the truth is, i didn’t make this blog because i was healed. i made it because i was hurting.

and somewhere between the aesthetic pinterest photos, the late-night diary entries, the posts that only got 3 notes, the 2am reblogs of girls who looked like soft versions of my pain... i found something. i found you.

✿

i didn’t know i was creating a life raft when i made this blog. but looking back, i can see it so clearly now: i was a girl who needed a safe place to feel everything. to be too much, too emotional, too ambitious, too dreamy. irl, i felt like i was being graded for everything, my appearance, my intelligence, my tone of voice, even the way i sat in a chair. everything had to be curated and clean and perfect.

but on here? on tumblr? i could fall apart in lowercase.

i could write things like “i feel like a forgotten ballerina in a dusty theater” and no one would ask me if i was okay. they’d just reblog it with “me too.” and somehow, that felt more healing than any conversation i’d ever had.

✿

girlblogging didn’t just save my life. it gave me one.

a life where i could romanticize my flashcards, where healing could look like claw clips and classical music and drinking water in a wine glass. a life where i could turn loneliness into poetry and ambition into art. a life where i wasn’t just surviving... i was curating, creating, soft-launching a girl i had always dreamed of being.

i started girlblogging when i didn’t have the words for what i was feeling. but now i know, it was grief. it was burnout. it was self-abandonment. and slowly, one pink post-it thought at a time, i started writing my way back to myself.

✿

when people ask what girlblogging even is, i just smile. because it’s not something you can explain in one sentence. it’s something you feel.

it’s the way you post blurry photos of your eyeliner because it makes you feel powerful. it’s the way you build entire personalities out of fictional girls like spencer hastings, wonyoung, cher horowitz, and elle woods. it’s the way you turn your trauma into templates and your survival into routines. it’s how we whisper “you’re not alone” to each other through digital scraps of diaries, gifs, playlists, and checklists titled ✧ how to feel like yourself again.

girlblogging is archiving your girlhood in real-time. and i think that’s the most radical thing we’ve ever done.

✿

i’ve met girls here who are quiet geniuses. girls who write like moonlight. girls who study like the world is ending. girls who’ve taught me how to rest, how to flirt with life again, how to turn breakdowns into soft resets. girls who made me feel seen in a way real life never did.

and the best part? they’re just like me. just like you. we’re all here, in this glittery corner of the internet, building worlds from our bedrooms, lighting candles for each other, sending each other healing in the form of moodboards and poetry and routines.

this is a community of unspoken survival. we never say it directly. we just post something beautiful and hope someone else recognizes the ache behind it.

and we do. every time.

✿

so this is my love letter. to you. to the girlbloggers. to the dreamers who stayed up late to make a new aesthetic header even though they had homework. to the girls who reblogged posts about self-worth while silently trying to believe them. to the ones who took notes like it was an artform. to the ones who healed in lowercase and sparkles. to the ones who are still learning how to love themselves in soft, sustainable ways.

you saved me. girlblogging saved me. you taught me how to live again.

and i just want to say... whatever you’re going through, you’re not weird for needing this space. you’re not cringey for making everything an aesthetic. you’re not “too much” for feeling everything at once.

you’re just a girl in the middle of becoming. and that’s a sacred thing.

never let the world convince you that softness isn’t powerful. it is. it always has been.

✿

so keep posting your little poems and guides. keep updating your theme at 1am. keep reblogging things that feel like you. because maybe girlblogging isn’t about being seen. maybe it’s about seeing yourself for the first time in forever.

and maybe that’s enough.

tributed to all the girlblogging community on tumblr + these amazing creators/girlbloggers:

@prettieinpink

@honeytonedhottie

@b3byd0ll

@thegirlingold

@dollywons

@agirlwithglam

@cantmakeitonmyown

@bunnysdollette

@maxiglow

@malusokay

@girljournal

@bloomzone

@4theitgirls

@milkoomi

@realprissygirl

~ mindy ♡

♡₊˚ 🧁・₊✧

"a mouth without lipgloss is like a cake without frosting"

Traits I’ve Noticed in Confident People 

Disciplined - if a target is set, it is achieved 

Speaking - Can speak multiple languages. Can express thoughts clearly even if vocabulary is limited. The listener understands their point. 

Strong extroversion socially - can approach and talk to new people with ease, but also make them feel comfortable. Good at following up, asking questions and inserting little stories about themselves without exposing too much 

Strong general knowledge / industry knowledge. They know what they’re talking about 

Hard to please but not arrogant about it. They won’t readily accept a fact or opinion, even if the majority agrees - they’ll debate with it, think over it, play the devil’s advocate

Good posture

Strong set of principles and self control. There’s no shame in wanting to say, help someone, choose not to drink socially, buy a coffee for a poor person on the street; they don’t hesitate to do good deeds 

Hygienic. Clean, groomed, well dressed, well maintained. 

Observant and proactive at the same time. Can pick up on body language relatively easily - can sense discomfort or unease in someone and do something about it. 

Have a strong sense of self identity. Can be opinionated but open to challenges. 

《♡》

take yourself on dates, treat yourself like your own best friend and do the hard things that you know will make you happier in the long run 🎀