Tag: success
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The Awkward Ethics of Creating Online
Am I a Contradiction? I was quite critical toward influencer culture in my latest post regarding the fictional novel People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd. The book follows an influencer mother who shapes her life, and the lives of those around her, for the sake of content. It is a timely and unsettling read. I discussed the… Read more
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The Terrifying World of Imagination
Imagination is a wonderful thing. It allows us to envision and create ideas before they exist in reality. It is a powerful personal and collective tool. However, imagination can also go awry. All of these imaginings aren’t always good or accurate. Recently, I read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It is about a fictional dystopian world… Read more
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How To Grow Your Original Voice in 5 Steps
The Evolution of My Writing & Creativity At the beginning of my Reading & Blogging Challenge, I lamented how clunky my thoughts and words were. They felt like hardened toothpaste struggling to leave the tube. Recently, I posted my 118th blog post of the year. This one was about the book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People by Lindsay… Read more
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Book #27- Reflections on “Meet Me in the Margins”
Book #27 Meet Me in the Margins By Melissa Ferguson A Seemingly Light Read- With Hidden Depths Books like this can seem uncomplicated; simplistic escapism in book form. It is probably a much healthier form of escapism compared to some other forms, though. I tend to relax as I listen to the inner thoughts of… Read more
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Failure Vs. Mistakes
Did You Make a Mistake or Fail? What if failure wasn’t a sign that you did the wrong thing? Maybe you were doing something incredibly right. Will Gompertz makes an important distinction in his book Think Like an Artist: the difference between failure and mistakes. He explains that a mistake happens when you are wrong. It… Read more
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9 Differences Between Toxic and Healthy Relationships
As many of you know by now, I have struggled with toxic relationships in the past. I had poor boundaries, which had been encouraged for my whole life. I was taught not to question things and just work hard. Now, I am moving toward healthier communities and the difference is striking. Healthy relationships have a… Read more
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I Exceeded the Limits of My Nervous System
Learning to Listen to My Body’s Messages Despite being crude, Mark Manson is pretty wise. I am currently reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and have found quite a lot of takeaways. For one, recognizing the value of pain. This pain can be physical or mental. Either way, it is a warning… Read more
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Excessive Test-Taking Creates Academic People Pleasers
How Schools Train, not Teach Students My theory is that the current method of test-taking and applying for universities trains students to be educational and workplace people pleasers. They try to do what the teacher, university, or their boss wants, in order to be “successful”. To be fair, from all my years of education I… Read more
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Book #19- Reflections on “I Was Told It Would Get Easier”
Book #19 I Was Told It Would Get Easier By Abbi Waxman The Problem With Measuring People With Metrics Books with cartoon covers always throw me off. I expect them to be simple and childish and they will sometimes be deeply thoughtful. This book follows a fictional mother and daughter as they tour college campuses… Read more
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How Reading Books Helps Me Cope With Anxiety and Uncertainty
Feeling Insecure & Uncertain Can Lead You Down a Bad Road In Misbelief by Dan Ariely, he attributes much of a person’s fall down a rabbit hole to a sense of feeling uncomfortable with ambiguity and uncertainty. This person then seeks easy, quick answers online and feels a temporary, short-term sense of power and control… Read more
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How to Be More Present: 6 Ways I’m Fighting Mental Burnout
Are You Enjoying Your Relationships? I don’t enjoy my relationships as much as I used to. That takes a lot for me to admit. Coordinating our schedules used to happen effortlessly, and we were present when we were together. Now, scheduling a meeting with friends typically takes weeks if not months to organize. When it… Read more
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When Lies Rewrite Your Life: The Impact of False Narratives
Dealing with the effects of misbelief will soon be its own therapy topic, I think. Not just for the one who believes the false information, but also for the one who is the subject of the lies. For the latter, the situation can feel incredibly disorienting since they often do not see the rumors develop-… Read more
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Blogging vs. Therapy
Finding Mental Health Improvements Outside of Therapy I am a big fan of therapy. I think it is incredibly helpful when you are in crisis and also when you are doing well. It helps you to understand yourself and others better so that you can make informed personal choices about your life. It is empowering.… Read more
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Additional Musings on “The Measure”
Would You Want to Know How Long You Will Live? The Measure by Nikki Erlick is a novel where one day, every adult receives a box containing a length of string that corresponds to the length of their life. The characters initially do not understand the meaning of these mysterious strings but once they do,… Read more
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Hesitation and Perfectionism
My last two posts have been musings on the book The Creative Act by Rick Rubin. As soon as I clicked “publish” for my latest post about four reasons for my own low creative self-esteem, I realized an incredible irony. I was unsure whether to post it and this hesitancy ironically revealed a fifth reason:… Read more
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How I Will Write
My Writing Approach During This Book Reading Challenge As I sat down to write my thoughts on the first book of my 2025 Reading Challenge, I felt myself being pulled into a familiar habit. That is, summarizing the book as opposed to focusing on the personal impact the book had on me. I am sure… Read more
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Measuring Success
Similar to my previous post about the rules for my 2025 Reading Challenge, I wanted to give myself a general direction for how to measure my success. This may be subject to change, but this is how I hope to see myself at the end of the year. Measuring Overall Success This may seem like… Read more