2022 recap: nonbookish

I’ve been anticipating writing this post for weeks now, and it’s finally time! This is going to be my sixth year of documenting my year on a blog, though only the third one here on this one. I love looking back at them, and seeing what I chose to highlight. We’re at the end of 2022, what a year! So many things happened, and it just flew by like it never happened.

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Winter bucket list

Putting together my autumn bucket list was such good fun. Even if I hadn’t done all the things I wrote down, I think it really helped with being excited about autumn. This year I realised how pretty that season is: the way leaves turn all those beautiful shades of yellow, orange, red or brown, the way they fall down, it just makes walking in nature feel like a dream. Even though it’s a season of passing, a transition into something cold, it can still warm your heart. Now I just need to keep this mindset going on to the cold and dark winter days when all the leaves have fallen and everything’s bare and grey. I am really looking forward to Christmas, but the other two months always drag on, so I am going to try and come up with things I can be excited about through all winter.

Autumn bucket list

Spring and autumn have always been my favourite seasons because I prefer weather that’s neither too hot nor cold. I do love summer and winter as well, especially summer because of vacation. 😅 However, recently, my favourite seasons lost their essence as the weather is getting less transitional and more like ‘let’s be summer after being winter just the previous day’ and vice versa. We all know why that is (thanks, climate change and people), which makes it even sadder. Moreover, the past two autumns have been extremely difficult, first due to having COVID, and then another health and mental health issue. That’s why this year I’m going to try even harder to appreciate every little thing and keep my hopeful mentality (which is getting harder with being less outside in nature). So, in this post, I’ve collected quite a lot of things I’d love to do this autumn.

The Me and Music Tag

It’s been a while since I did any kind of tag post, let alone music-themed, so I was super excited to read Abby’s post featuring this super fun tag! It was originally created by Sophie @ Me and Ink, where you can find really cute graphics which I decided not to use because WordPress storage is not a lot. There are seventeen prompts, and I’ll do thirteen of them. It also says you can use up to five songs at each prompt, so that’s exciting! It lets me rave about my favourite music, which is honestly the best kind of activity. So grab a beverage of your choice, because this one is going to be long!

A tiny post about podcasts

I have a confession to make. I don’t really listen to podcasts anymore. I had a phase back in 2019-2020, when I listened to audiobooks and podcasts, but that time has passed. I don’t know why, because I definitely see the appeal in them. You can do other things while listening, but here’s the thing: I don’t like multitasking. I want to focus on just one activity, absorbing the story. I learnt that if I do other things (chores, drawing, etc.), I am not able to fully process what I hear, and I won’t remember it as well. (That’s why I don’t listen to audiobooks anymore.) However, just sitting there, not doing anything but listening to a podcast has always felt weird to me. I have no clue why, I just like to do stuff. Up until now, when I decided to try my best, not care about how unusual it might be, and just listen to them. The reason is quite mundane: my eyes get tired easily, and in the past few months they have become red. Not counting sleeping, I use my eyes without a break, and I think laying down with closed eyes, listening to maybe fifteen-twenty minutes of a podcast episode once or twice a day is going to help a little bit. Podcasts are less of an engagement than a book, so it’s perfect. In this post, I wanted to share the three podcasts I have listened to in the past, and two that I’d like to try out.

Reflection

I wasn’t planning on posting, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately, and as it’s the end of the year, I’ve been reflecting on it. This was a really hard year for many of us, due to the presence of the pandemic. It brought uncertainty, unknowns really visible to our lives, and it’s super hard for a lot of people. Some of us already had mental illnesses, but in my opinion, it brought about an increase of anxiety in people who didn’t have that problem before. If you think about it, in the root, anxiety is caused by the fear of the unknown, the uncontrollable. It highlighted the temporariness of human life, and that is a very scary thing. Some humans can handle it easier, some can’t. So many people escape reality through reading, watching movies or TV shows, or scrolling through social media.

2021 recap: nonbookish

Another year passed, so it’s time for my annual recaps! First of all, let me share all the nonbookish things that made this very weird 2021 slightly better and more bearable. There’s going to be a heavy emphasis on music, as it saved the day for me on multiple occasions. I tried to change up the formatting from last year, I hope you enjoy it!

What to do when you’re anxious: a (hopefully) helpful guide

Today’s post is a passion project of mine. I don’t keep it a secret on this blog that I live with various mental illnesses, and generalised anxiety disorder is one of them. I am not at the best mental space for a month now, but I think loads of people are suffering mentally ever since the pandemic started. So, I thought, why not write about different activities and things to try when you’re experiencing bad anxiety? I want to help others who feel the same way because I know how awful it is. I hope you find something that will ease your thoughts.

The Aesthete Blogger Award

It’s been a while since I did an award type post, now it’s thanks to Maria @ The Character Study, who was so kind to nominate me! Sorry, it took more than a month to do this, and thank you so much again for thinking of me, I really appreciate it! Now, let’s get to the post, shall we?

What BTS means to me

I’ve had this idea in my mind for a little while now, but I didn’t know if I wanted to share it, because it’s about a niche subject, and I wasn’t sure if any of you would be interested in it. I still don’t know if anyone will care about it, but I want to write it nonetheless. The last push was when I read Alexx’s blog post called Finding comfort and healing in BTS, which I really loved, and it inspired me to post my story.