from Arcadia Page
A sweet serendipitous moment...
So recently I wrote this blog post about what I would like for my ideal minimalist lifestyle to look like. I already own pretty much everything on the list except Asian style bowls. I've been thinking about buying some off and on, but I've always found something more important to spend my money on.
Well, just over the weekend, a friend of mine was moving away, and she gave me these Asian style noodle bowls and a bunch of different teas.
I was looking for my phone, but then I realized...I was already typing on it!๐คฃ
Real alignment is experiencing contentment and joy right where you are, regardless of the circumstances. It has nothing to do with your income, how much money you make, or how "easily" material things come to you.
When I'm feeling overwhelmed by options, it helps to remember that my inner child knows exactly what she wants--and doesn't want.
I just realized that sometimes deciding to relax is the bravest thing I can do. So crazy.
Some days my emotions are so strong, they take my breath away.๐ฌ๏ธ
Prior to my chronic pain episode, I used to resent having to rest. But now I see that resting gives me the space I need to dream. ๐
"There are lots of reasons to put stuff online. Perhaps the best is writing for yourself.โ
From Save vs. Total Party Kill - Blogging is Forever
Just another blogger briefly expressing feelings similar to my most recent blog post: Not Everything Has to Be SeenโThe Power of Creating for Yourself
The only way I can work towards my future self is by understanding and appreciating who I truly am right now.
In my upcoming book, Wild Routines for Neurodivergent Rebels, I'm sharing this new daily planning template that I've been enjoying for awhile now. Writing out my worries and ideas somewhat daily has been great for managing my ADHD.
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Can I stay compassionate, even when things get messy?๐ฆ
Your story is the mirror in which others can see themselves.โจ
Just discovered the Flexoki color palette by Steph Ango. I love this so much that I'll probably adjust the color palette of my website to reflect these hues.
I trust my creativity even if it seems unpredictable. I work with my authentic timing. I don't need to prove myself.๐ฆ
Looking at the big picture, the cycles of rest, reflection, destruction and creation are never ending. All that really matters is how much I am willing to accept and submit to the process. Doing so determines if all feels easy or difficult.
I'm not going to shy away from occasionally sharing things that I think are boring.๐ป
I think it's interesting how when it comes to my creative process, I keep going through cycles. I had an intense creative phase. Then I had an busy sharing phase. Now I'm more into resting, planning my next steps and being lightly creative.
I'm feeling like the first step to truly being my "best self" is letting go of things that no longer fit me and that feel personally out-dated for me.
OMG, my last post... that's what I get for posting when so tired! ๐คช So here's what I wrote previously put more eloquently...
So I'm currently working on an fantasy romance short story/flash fiction collection currently entitled The Mirror's Son: Love and Shadows in the Glass.
This is a collection of original stories but it's based on the fanfiction that I wrote. I'll be posting these stories in their entirety to a brand new Substack, so click this link if you wish to receive the stories in your email as I release them. ๐
Working on writing some flash fiction before bed...
And if you want to receive The Mirror's Son:Love and Shadows in the Glass, my new flash fiction project, in your email, you can do so by subscribing via Substack. Here's the sign up linkโจ: https://themirrorsson.substack.com/
Rest is like destruction and rebirth put together. Some things fall away and then other things are refreshed. And maybe that's all okay.
Well...just posted the very last chapter of my fanfic.๐
What am I going to do with my life now?๐
One of the biggest things I've learned from being creative for creativity's sake is to trust my inner rhythm of work and rest--sharing and keeping quiet.
Also received a lovely review today on my much more "professional" book, The Little Book of Tiny Tasks: Make Your Life More Calm While Getting Things Done 5 Minutes at a Time
Thank you so much. As a serial non-fiction reader, I love writing short non-fiction because it's easier to put into action and remember.
And it's sooo much more serious than an 80,000 word fanfic ๐ I am an aDulT. Or at least I like to pretend that I am...
Just finished writing my fanfic! Whoooo! ๐ฅณ๐๐ฟ
Song playing as I wrote The End ๐ต: It's a toss up between The Phoenix by Fallout Boy and Daydreaming by Paramore. However, I think Daydreaming is more official because that's when I did my last bit of editing.
I didn't write at all while listening to Phoenix, but that's when I officially decided that the story was done.
Life is changing me, like a remix.๐ป๐
The biggest misconception about personality type tests:
"Personality Type tests tell you who you are."
Wrong!๐
No, I believe that in reality personality tests actually tell us our preferred method of operation.
They tell us how we enjoy approaching and doing things the most and which methods of operation comes to us the most easily.
Last night I posted the second to last chapter of my Miraculous fanfic! Chapter 47.
๐Favorite sentence:
Her phone dinged and when she looked, she was met with a macabre picture of long golden severed hair heaped on cold, white tiles, lifeless and discarded.
๐Favorite passage:
The sides of his hair were short and neat, but the top was styled with a messy elegance, full of blond textured layers. As he removed his shoes and handed them off to a servant, inevitably a couple of strands fell into his eyes.
He looked to Marinette with a perilous attitude and casually flicked his head to clear his vision."What kind of tea do you want?"
Me realizing that I should have been sharing my chapter updates from the start: ๐คฆ๐ฟโโ๏ธ
Morning ADHD Management
Diffuse rosemary essential oil
Drink a lightly caffeinated green tea blend.
Braindump journal for 5 minutes under the following categories: Worries, To-do, and Ideas.
Write down a few intentions) mini-goals for the day. One or two are fine.
Set a five minute timer and explore something I'm curious about.
One chapter left to writing my Miraculous fanfic! After I'm done, I'm planning on taking on every sewing and crafting project that I can. I'm ready to shift gears.๐
I'm currently looking for a manual typewriter for a reasonable price. Why?
Protect my eyes from screens
It's an attractive way to journal and write to-do lists without using a printer and without the slowness of writing by hand.
Although pressing the keys is probably a workout, it doesn't need electricity to work and I think that's cool.
Curiosity. I've been very curious about how I can pair using a typewriter with modern OCR scanning. I'm sure the writing recognition would work way better than it does with my handwriting.
Distraction free
Looks cool.
I used a typewriter when I was a child (my parents had an old one hanging around) and I loved it. I wrote all kinds of stories with that thing. โค๏ธ
Forgotten Luxuries:
Going for a walk outside
Keeping and using old things that hold personal stories and history.
Creating things for daily personal enjoyment and use.
Taking a nap
Taking a bath instead of a shower
To find happiness in the online business space, I beginning to see how crucial it is to focus more on enjoying the process of giving and sharing, than fretting over how to recieve.
We can't always control when people can give back to us, but we can control how much we give and share and how much we enjoy the process of doing so.
For me, being successful, happy and fulfilled means embracing my own creativity, intuition, resourcefulness, authentic style, and vision with confidence, even if it means that my work and life goes against what's considered normal.โจ
So proud of myself! Finally added my Love Your Business Bundle to my shop. It includes my 20 minute video presentation for the Rule-breaking Entrepreneur summit, along with journals and a set of affirmations to help with appreciating every step of your business journey, even if it's hard.โค๏ธ
In a modern world that constantly tells us to ignore our intuitive, creative instincts and conform to the mainstream, thereโs power in trusting your own creative visionโeven if itโs messy, weird, or not what society says is โsuccessful.โ
Places where you can create without the pressure of people pleasing:
Notebooks
Sketchbooks
Journals
Personal blogs
Personal zines
It's tragic how in modern society we are so detached from nature, our physicality, and our creativity.
Oh Netflix, stop having shows that I actually like! Enjoying right now: Queen of Tears and Ranma 1/2.
Being weird isn't quite so awkward when you own it.
Yesterday my husband and I went to hang out in area that's a bit wealthy and had a lot of gorgeous, beautiful shops.
I had about $20 that I could spend. Not much, but enough to buy a little something that caught my eye if I wished.
There were so many things that I enjoyed looking at and so many things that I could buy. I felt like I wanted everything. And in wanting everything I realized that the truth was, I wanted nothing.
So, I bought nothing.
Trying to be like everyone else takes a lot of time and effort.
Sometimes not having forces me to let go of the crap I really don't need and focus in on what I actually need.
Sometimes being "nice" isn't the same as being kind.
When creating work to share publicly, sometimes my inner critic can get very loud. So I like listening to music while I work to drown out that unhelpful voice.
In love, business, and life, choose people who will support your growth and transformation, instead of people who want you to always stay the same.
Letting go can be freeing and relaxing. It can also be painful. But the pain of letting go of something old to create space for something new is worth it. ๐ป
Some days when my body hurts, I need movement. Other days I need rest. Today, I needed rest.โฅ๏ธ
Writing research. Research isn't the first word that comes to mind when people think of fanfiction. But creating fanfiction requires a lot of research, from reviewing old episodes to double checking character names through fandom websites.
It's great practice, especially since I write nonfiction too.
ADHD hack: Felt some crazy strong resistance towards the chores today.
I ended up setting a timer to give myself five minutes to work on the chores that I didn't feel like doing, but we're bothering me the most.
Today the words aren't coming as quickly, but that's okay. It's an opportunity to catch up on chores ๐
Sometimes during my writing sessions, I don't write much at all. Instead I simply sit and daydream, totally enraptured.
Working on writing a blog post and fanfic today. And--๐ถI'm never going to dance again...๐ถ
I feel like life is teaching me lessons every week and every day.๐๐
Three Good Things-Writing Edition ๐
๐ฆ Writing in beautiful notebooks with butterflies on the covers.
๐Remembering that there is value in sharing my personal experiences.
๐กHaving a ton of ideas
My current INFP Morning Routine...๐
Wake up
Boil water for tea
Hang out in bed while waiting for tea to steep.
Get up, enjoy tea with a piece of fruit or a little breakfast, and journal.
It's not procrastination. It's energy conservation.
I'm not sure if many website developers realize this, but having a good mobile website is also good for accessibility.
Since I have chronic pain, I work quite often from bed, sometimes while laying on my side. It's so wonderful being able to do all the work I need from my phone because I can't always sit up to use a computer.
Enjoying the day, writing alfresco.๐ค๏ธ
Three reasons why I procrastinate as an INFP:
I'm just tired and need more rest.
What I'm being asked to do is either boring or doesn't align with what's important to me.
I'm feeling fear around the process of getting started, so I decide to do other things instead.
When you have the Explorer archetype, others often try to make you feel ashamed of your wandering. Although these worries come from a place of love, they totally miss the point of the gifts that the Explorer has to offer.
Fresh sunny weather causes me to try to take on too many projects!
As a multipotentialite/polymath it's important for me to regularly declutter and limit what I'm working on to avoid getting overwhelmed.
Something about spring leaves me wanting to dive into new things.๐ฑ New things I'm diving into:
Crochet
More Loom knitting
Steel tongue drum tutorials
Focus Mastery Coaching Certification course
Introvert friendly online marketing course
Loving the rainy weather today.โPerfect for coffee and a book.
One thing I feel like is overlooked in MBTI is that each personality type is full of contradictions. Looking at the function stack of each type really brings that out. And to me, the contradictions point to how there isn't "one" self but many selves--many archetypes--working together within us as a team.
I think people have a hard time understanding that emotions can cause real physical pain.
I am crazy thankful for the Chef function of Goblin.tools.๐ Over the past month, I've finally been able to move away from eating processed microwave meals to simply cooking for myself with whatever we have on hand. So good for my health and my wallet.
Just learned a cooking hack today! I had no idea that a potato can be cooked in the microwave. I did this with a small red potato. After stabbing it with a fork, I cooked it for 3 minutes and it was all done. Just mashed it up + salt and pepper.
Got a pleasant surprise today! Two cats were relaxing on the porch. One was gray and white and the other one was black and white. They were obviously neighborhood cats. I can't have a cat b/c of my allergies, but I love looking at them when they come by to visit.
Negative emotions sometimes just need love and compassion.
Analog Office is one of the best blogs I've read in a long time. Love this!
The pen I'm using is a Pilot Precise Varsity, btw. Nothing fancy. I didn't want to invest in something that I wasn't sure would work for me. But...I write by hand way longer with this pen. My hands don't get as tired.
As a lefty, I figured using a fountain pen would be tricky. I've found that holding the pen so that the metal part of the nib is facing my palm keeps it from skipping. โ๏ธ
So many books to read. So little time.๐ต
Today my first fountain pen arrived in the mail! I'm really excited to try it out.
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