I have been working hard on building more joy and peace into my daily life. And, something that I have realized brings me joy is watercolor. So, I gave myself permission to get a set of sennelier granulating watercolors, and one evening last week I sat down to play with them. Although I do enjoy making digital art on my ipad, there is something absolutely magical about working with traditional media. Watercolor is a tactile process and a meditative experience for me.
This illustration about self love is the direct result of some self love. And I think that's pretty magical.
Let this be your call to do something today to take care of yourself.
Trying to remind myself that everything going on right now is *a lot* and it's allowed to feel like *a lot*. I think grace can probably look like a lot of things. Right now it feels a lot like
✨ Recognizing that I am doing the best I can right now
✨ I'm learning a lot about myself, my triggers, healthy relationships--and that's a good thing, because learning means I'm growing
✨ Not only do I not have to do *all the things* every day, but it is impossible for me to do *all the things* especially right now. Really intense things take up a lot of brain space, and that has to be okay
Tags:
motivation, love yourself, fabfeminist, fabfeministart, motivational
First Monday of the new year and I wanna start the week off right: F*ck ur diet culture. Not here for ur diet culture. Not interested in ur diet culture.
It's been an extremely difficult couple of weeks, and it's certainly taking a toll on my mental health. The other night I had my first full blown panic attack in a long time.
But, I can at least recognize when I am having a panic attack now, and that's progress. And, I have a therapist, and a lawyer, and family and friends who are all supporting me through this. It's really, really hard, but I am doing my best to trust the process.
Tags:
ptsd, motivational, self care, fabfeminist, depression
Reminding myself every day that I am allowed to set and maintain healthy boundaries in my relationships. *And* recognizing and integrating around the boundaries of others in ways that mutually meet individual needs is a practice.
Tags:
depression, self care, love yourself, anxiety, mental health
I'm trying to bear in mind that although there are moment right now when things feel really scary, overwhelming and dark... lovely and magical things can and do emerge from this darkness. And I'm trying, ever so hard, to trust this process.
What do you do when you get a clinical PTSD diagnosis???
In my case... you do a lot of processing, therapy, journaling and you … start making art about it.
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You Are Not Your Trauma.
Tags:
fabfeminist, feminism, self love, anxiety, mental health
The more you read, the better you live.
Virginia Woolf reminds us that language is a practice, and the more we immerse ourselves, the better we become.
Tags:
books, librarian, library, book lover, equal rights
becoming and unbecoming; breaking down and building back up. these days are difficult, and filled with discomfort but the dissolution is beautiful, too.
How am I choosing me? Is it in the first hot mug of coffee held gently in both my hands, warming fingertips, reassuring me that morning can be good? Is it in the quiet moments, the moments where finally I can stand the quiet, the moments where thinking and breathing are enough? Is it in watching the snow falling fast in late march, just watching it fly and swirl around, knowing that the world is chaos, but I can be my own security; I can be my own google maps.
I used to consume books. A weekly trip to the library saw me with a big old stack of novels filling up my arms. Life gets busy, though, and making time to read gets harder and harder. That's what struck me when I thought about this quote by Harper Lee. Reading is a practice, is something beautiful for me, is something I don't just want but need to give time to in my daily life. I hope we are all giving more time to the things that are as important to our souls as breathing.
Tags:
books, reading, bookworm, book lover, book nerd
Jane Eyre belongs to no one but herself. The problem was, I don't think she believed it for a very long time. I have obsessively read and re-read this story and I couldn't exactly figure out why. After all, it's not really a love story. It's the story (with deeply problematic elements) of a woman who is struggling with her self worth in the world, yet knows deep down inside herself that she is valuable, that she is important and she is strong. We don't always see the lying Mr Rochesters in our lives, nor the people they keep locked in the attics. I do hope we can all find ways to confront them though, and find our own agency in the light of day.
Tags:
books, classic, bronte, charlotte bronte, bronte sisters
Anne Shirley here to remind us that tomorrow is a new day :)
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I had the pleasure of reading Anne Of Green Gables for the first time when I was camping in Nova Scotia for the summer. I *always* read Anne as a queer character, even though I didn't quite have the language for it. I loved that Anne was as passionate about Arthurian legends as I was. And as dramatic. Also, my middle name is Anne. With an E. ❤️
Tags:
green gables, anne shirley, bookworm, lucy maud montgomery, reader