Ohhh, hanami! One of my, if not most, favourite things about spring. A sign of new life, new times…and a lot more sunlight. I have written about hanami and sakura before, so I will not go through the process of explaining its significance again. But I do want to mark a little moment in time through these pictures of my own little hanami last Friday. And you know, remind you of it being Stress Awareness Month.
Hello friends! We’re back with a silly excuse of a monthly recap! I’m writing this from the comfort of my bed, with a lazy black cat on my side. March was, well… I’m not sure how to put this. But somehow March was a month where life was starting over again. Like, in the Noah and the Whale song from that album I love to listen during the first days of spring — so aptly titled: ‘The First Days of Spring’. March was a month of reflection, of tying loose ends and of making room for new beginnings. March was beautiful, tiresome and hopeful. Even though I still often-times feel sad, empty and annoyed with myself — I know that things are looking up. And I start daring to hope again.
One of the most beautiful things I learned this month was the power of friendship. Real, pure, painful and honest friendship. I am still an introverted, shy and sometimes self-conscious person. But knowing that, through it all, I don’t only have family to fall back on — I also really have solid gold friends. And fuck, life is hard! But they make it so worth my while.
I am still trying to keep my blog as light-hearted as possible. But I cannot lie, this has kept my thoughts occupied in March. And coming up are some of the fun things that have kept me busy this last month.
February started gloriously: I watched ‘Call Me By Your Name’ in cinema and finished Russell Brand’s ‘Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions’. A good kick-start for a month that was full of contradictory feelings and overcoming hurdles. Luckily I’m starting to get more comfortable with celebrating tiny victories and not feeling so guilty for not ‘living up to my full potential’, learning that I don’t have to do everything the critical perfectionist in me is screaming at me to do. Yay! Let’s tackle crippling self-doubt!
Now that we’ve got the hard stuff out of the way, let’s talk music and movies and books and fun stuff. Because it’s about shifting your focus and being more aware of the good things so you get to feel more feelings of gratitude (= positive) and not as if life shifting past you (= negative). Also, I know this is my personal blog, but I’d love to be able to look back on this blog positively and not just a reflection of my soul.