Well, today definitely did not feel anywhere close to the Earth I used to know. For starters, I live in a quaint little town called San Francisco and the sky turned orange.
Here are some pictures:
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Don’t you wish you had a personal assistant just like your favorite celebrity?
5-7 mins
Honestly, I feel that I’m writing this post for me. Right now, I’m juggling between studying for an exam that’s in two weeks, working on my YouTube channel and blog (you’re reading it!), dealing with an annoying ear infection (went to the doc the other day), trying to avoid eating #allthesnacks in my house, making sure I moisturize my face after I shower, and working a full-time job. The list goes on!
Some days, I wish I have an intern or a personal assistant to sort out all the things I need to do. Perhaps a personal chef wouldn’t be too bad too. Plus, a personal fitness trainer. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Maybe one day. But for now, let’s focus on the things that we need to get done. Since we’re dealing with more things than ever before, now that the lines between work and our personal lives are blurred together, it’s so easy to be overwhelmed.
Take a deep breath, hold it in for four seconds, and exhale it out. I’ve recently learned about “box breathing,” which is used to reduce stress. Here is a link for more information on techniques and benefits.
Here are 5 Practical Tips to Help Manage Your Life and #GetItDone:
Remember those goals you made earlier this year? What are they, again?
5-7 min
Back in January, we created our goals for this year. For a refresher, here is the link to the original blog post.
Now that it has been six months since we first created our goals, let’s revisit them and see where we’re at. Six months have definitely flown by, but we still have half of the year to pursue our goals!
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Warning: you may find yourself wanting to do ALL of them
3-5 min read
I feel you, smarty femme. You’ve been sheltering-in-place and you’re so over being at home all. the. time. COVID-19 has been lingering a little bit longer than we’d all hoped for.
I really hope you’re hanging in there, though. Really, take the time to do what you need to do to feel okay. My friends and I have realized that texting can only do so much, but calling or FaceTiming each other does amazing things for the soul. It also helps to release some steam from time to time.
Call your friend, call your mom, or even call your Aunt Deborah whom you haven’t seen in 2 years due to some twisted family drama. Kidding, I probably wouldn’t recommend the last one.
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Because we don’t live our lives going from retreat after retreat and mission trip after mission trip.
7-11 min read
This post was written by guest contributor Jessica Atmadja. You can find her on Instagram and YouTube. She shares her testimony in this video.
Sometimes, life feels like it’s going in slow motion. Other times, I feel that I’ve pressed the fast-forward button. I wonder, is there ever a moment in-between? But no matter what we feel, there is no rewind or stop button. Life never stops.
People might say that only death and taxes are certain, but I know that my certainty is placed in God. I trust that God is walking with us in every step of the way. However, from time to time, I struggle to feel His presence. I wonder, am I a bad believer for feeling this way?
Over the years, my journey with God has been and is a total roller coaster. When the highs are high, I’m good. But, I must admit that I have, at one point, reached my lowest lows. I’m sure that almost every Christian has felt the spiritual high after coming back from a retreat or a mission trip, but also the lows when you truly question the existence of God. In both those situations, your mind is swimming in God-related thoughts, but we don’t live our lives going from retreat after retreat and mission trip after mission trip.
In both those situations, your mind is swimming in God-related thoughts, but we don’t live our lives going from retreat after retreat and mission trip after mission trip.
What about the moments in-between? During the school year, I find myself constantly occupied by academics, sports, and other extracurriculars. Life has pressed the fast-forward button, where I’m constantly going from one field hockey practice to planning events for a club to cramming for a math test. It’s already overwhelming to be juggling eight different things at once, so it feels difficult to make space for God, let alone grow spiritually. If only I had more time in the day, then I can definitely make space for God.
It’s been a wild 2020 already. We’re already halfway through the year! While I acknowledge that I’ve done many things this first half of the year, in other ways, I feel that I haven’t done anything at all.
I know that as the years continue to pass by, our lifestyles become more routine-like and incredibly familiar to us. We don’t do as many things that are new or novel. For those who enjoy having a routine, this might be comforting. And for others, not as much.
But, let’s imagine our lifestyles 10 years from now. How will they change?
Food for your soul and dollars back in your pocket. Delicious with a side of savvy!
5-7 min read
I had a very tiring and mentally-draining week. It was one of those weeks when I try to reason why bad things happen to the kindest people. Life can change in a blink of an eye, and while it can be scary, I feel that it’s so important to count your blessings.
I really needed to take some time to reflect, journal, and repair myself back to a normal state. And boy, am I glad I did that.
Who knew that my dad had some incredible Kung Fu skills?!
In light of Father’s Day, I wanted to share our Father-Daughter Dance at my wedding last fall. Our dance, which features some Kung-Fu action, was a complete surprise to all of our wedding guests (and also to my now-husband!).
Happy Father’s Day, Dad. I’m so grateful that you have been a constant part of my life since the day I was born. Not everyone has someone that they can call “Dad”, so there’s not a day where I take you for granted.
We’ve shared so many memories together that are filled with love and laughter. I could always find you in the audience whenever I had a recital or competition because I would just have to look for the man with a big smile on his face. Of course, it meant a lot to me that you were there for my big moments in life, but it’s the little things you did that have stuck with me.
Have you ever thrown away so much food from your fridge because it all went bad?
I totally get it. When you bought groceries from the store, you did plan on eating all of it. You made a couple of dishes (they were delicious!) and after making each dish, you told yourself you’ll use the leftover ___________ [fill in the blank] in another dish. Unfortunately, you completely forgot about the leftover ingredients and they’re all moldy now. Oops!
Trust me, I’ve had plenty of those moments. You definitely start to cringe at the amount of food that you’ve wasted (and $$ from your paycheck, too!).
But say there’s a way to change that. Let’s strategize our meal plan so we know exactly what to use in recipes to prevent wasting food. It will take some planning ahead, but if you’re saving money and reducing food waste, isn’t it all worth it?
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