If you watched a ghibli movie, then you know that’s the vibe/aesthetic i’m going to describe in this post.
These suggestions are things which i do to make myself happy. I (try to) choose 1 daily. Why? Because you have to actively choose to do things in order to make yourself happy, why wait until happiness comes. go and grab it for yourself
Spend time alone and whenever you do, have some sort of activity, even if it’s just daydreaming
Make something you enjoy drinking; it can be tea in your favorite tea cup, it can be hot chocolate, it can be matcha latte etc.
Choose 1-3 hobbies but don’t make them chores, have fun doing them; don’t pressure yourself with the idea of being good at it, just have fun (suggestions: drawing, origami, making videos, grow a tiny garden in 2 paper cups, learn to play play at your laptop, make friendship bracelets, crochet, knitting, learn a language, embroidery)
Make something exciting to eat; pancakes, waffles, your favorite ramen, pizza pastries, lentil soup, mushroom soup, tarts etc. I said exciting, not your favorite because cooking something new can be amazing too.
Wear something you like; don’t keep certain clothes for special occasions. If they make you happy, wear them.
Try a new sort of tea or sweets. Your supermarket has something you haven’t tried before, i promise.
Got stickers? Use one of them. You keep hoarding them for “special moments” but they are the perfect thing to make you happy because you gave them that power. Stick them on your phone case, laptop case, journal etc.
Write yourself a love letter. By love letter i mean compliment yourself a bit. Tell you what you admire at yourself or tell you what you’re looking forward to do/learn etc.
Doodle some cute things. Pinterest has a bunch of easy doodles/decorations etc.
Go for a walk and take pictures. Find beauty in places you label as “ordinary”.. Maybe make a digital photo album as a diary.
Read something that makes you happy and take notes. Write why you like that book/character etc. You have a bunch of beautiful things in your life, they wait to be acknowledged.
Tell your friends they’re precious to you. Watch as they stumble upon their words as they process the words you just said.
Have tiny crafting projects for others. Made cookies? How about making some boxes or bags (with the help of pinterest) then decorate them and give them to your friend?
Go on a picnic with someone.
Stay a bit late and look out the window at stars or just at the empty street while the window is open and the window is chilly~
Clean your room while dancing or/and singing. Be proud of cleaning your space.
Look around your room and think what you’d change/ what you want to change and try to do so. Make a new poster, get a plant, move things around etc.
Learn something new. Enjoy the process. I said enjoy it, not aspire to be a master at it in 5 min. How do you enjoy the process? You remind yourself how 2 hours ago you didn’t know that, how you progressed and learn, how you improve, how this topic brings you joy and you won’t force it on yourself like you’re on a schedule.
You get yourself a nice shower gel, perfume, face mask etc and enjoy a relaxing afternoon.
Lie down and daydream until you fall asleep.
Make yourself a bento even if you go no where. There’s just something about making pretty food that delights people.
Get some handerchiefs and think of some design. Customize them by sewing or painting on them. You can make these for friends too.
Have a tea party with your friends. or a sleepover if you can
Have a journal where you write what you want to do, what goals you have, places you want to visit, what dates you want to go on, what people (fictional or real) you like, what songs inspire you etc. Make it a dream place.
Actively try to look at things and people like they special. That sunshine? It feels warm and soft. Doesn’t it look nice? How does your friend make you feel? How would you describe them? Is it like the entrance of a magical forest ready to go on an adventure? Is it the comfort of staying under a blanket on a rainy morning? Is your meal making you excited to eat it? Is your drink making you happy you got it? Is your room the environment you envision yourself being happy in?
I love kids they’re all like.. “when i grow up i’m gonna be an astronaut and a chef and a doctor and an olympic swimmer” like that self confidence! That drive! That optimism! Where does it go
It gets destroyed by adults not believing in you and telling you to pick a realistic career. And by society creating all these obstacles to the point that you’re too tired to try.
But they’re not really unrealistic, SOMEBODY is going to be an olympic swimmer and it might as well be you.
Actually I want to talk about this a little more than I did, because olympic swimming is incredible and works perfectly to talk about attaining goals.
I used to be a varsity swimmer, and I was damn good, but I was forced into it by my parents and completely lost my love for it and therein my drive. But in high school I was swimming against such talented swimmers like Olympic Swimmer Missy Franklin. I’ve met her, and the main difference between her and me was that I was strong but had no passion, but she was strong BECAUSE she had passion.
And I could have been good, really good, maybe even Olympic good. I even have the predisposition for it, been swimming since I was 2 years old, have a mom who was almost an olympic swimmer. Missy didn’t have either of those things, she just wanted it, loved it, had been doing it for a long time, and decided she was going to kick ass at it.
Right, that’s great and all, but I completely missed my opportunity to be an olympic swimmer, yeah? and can never achieve those dreams I had as a kid? No, not even though. There was this whole thought that female athletes peak when they’re 17 years old and lose their skills quickly after that, and male athletes peak around 19. But then Olympic Swimmer Dara Torres shows up. She was an olympic swimmer when she was 17, 21 and 25. Pretty normal age for retirement. She had a few kids. She kicked butt at being a mom.
And then at 33 years old she decides she’s bored or something gets back in shape and kicks so much ass at the trials that she lands herself on the Olympic Team ONCE AGAIN. And then 8 years later, she decides, heck I’m 41 now, no one has ever made the olympic swim team as old as I am, I want to get in shape yet again and teach these children how sports work.
And she still has the record for oldest US Olympic Swimmer, not even any men have beat out that record.
So basically what I’m saying is you could be an olympic swimmer, you really could be. And there are obviously a lot of things stopping you and trying to get in your way: your brain, society, too much chocolate cake for example. But if you really dedicate yourself to it and love it with all of your heart you could, you really could.
And lets say olympic swimming isn’t your jam? That’s cool too. There isn’t a single skill in this world that you can’t learn if you absolutely love it and want to. Any skill you want is going to take time. There are countless famous people who started learning a skill after 20, 30, 40, or even 50. Not a single person has even been president under age 35 (most likely because you’re not allowed to be, but there’s a reason for that). Whatever you want to do you’re probably going to be bad at first, and I’m talking really shitty.
Van Gogh got started in his 20′s and was thought to have no artistic talent at first and was forced to sit in the back of classrooms where the worst artists in the class sat. So yeah you’ll probably be bad, like really bad and everyone including you will think you’re bad. If you stick with it though, if you’re willing to work for years and years, if you keep loving it after all the pain it’s given you,
then you might just paint Starry Night.
#looks like there’s still time for me to learn how to draw
… YES. As someone who started drawing at 35 and who always was like: ‘eh, I can’t draw a stick figure to save my life, but I would love to be able to’ this is near and dear to my heart. If you want to draw, start drawing. Keep drawing. Be shit at drawing at first. Keep it up, doodle things on scraps but also draw stuff you don’t think you can draw. Challenge yourself, you will be surprised what you can do. It will be frustrating at times, but it will also be awesome. It is SO much a matter of practice and dedication, not talent.
This applies for writing, too.
Don’t ever think for a second that it doesn’t! Want to start writing? Then write! You will get better the more you write, the more often, and you will improve, all of the time, as long as you dedicate yourself.
The worst lie we tell ourselves is “it’s too late.”
Draco, Pansy and Blaise should’ve had an arc in OOTP. Instead of being Umbridge’s Inquisitors, the Platinum Trio should’ve learned that what their parents taught them was wrong and slowly but surely gain the Golden Trio’s trust, start anew, join Dumbledore’s Army and Draco would finally get that handshake. Draco, Pansy and Blaise starts a revolt and starts a wave of change within Slytherin. Upon the Battle Of Hogwarts, Draco, Pansy and Blaise leads Slytherin against the Death Eaters and their parents. Finally, Slytherin redeems itself by standing up to the shame that was Voldemort and Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin are united.
There, I gave Slytherin and Draco the character development that JK Rowling refused to give in all 7 books.
BBC Merlin things that still confuse and anger me:
1. Both Gwen’s father and brother died yet they were hardly ever mentioned again afterwards and she barely even mourned
2. Why Aithusa felt the need to revive Morgana that one time when she died, it would’ve saved us all a lot of trouble if that didn’t happen
3. How was Mordred like 10 when we first meet him but then magically almost the same age as Merlin and Arthur in season 5 (to the point where people actually ship Merdred)
4. How did Arthur just like, completely forget that Mordred was a Druid??????
5. Agrivane and Uther as characters in general (see also: Morgause - also why are there so many characters name that starts with Mor-??)
6. WHY DIDNT MERLIN JUST TELL MORGANA HE HAD MAGIC TOO LIKE EVERYTHING WOULDVE BEEN FINE AND SHE PROBABLY WOULDNT HAVE TURNED EVIL
7. Arthur and Gwen never finding out that it was the enchanted bracelet that made her kiss Lancelot so they just lived their lives thinking Gwen was an adulterer
8. How no one (especially Merlin who thought he was saving him) ever found out that Uther died bc Morgana used that anti-heal thing and not (directly) bc of the assassin
9. The Ending™
Here’s my thoughts
Point 1 - Agreed. They each get like one mention an episode or two later. Dumb.
Point 2 - RIGHT?
Point 3 - There is a one-year gap between season 2 and season 3 when Morgana is gone with Morgause, another one-year gap between season 3 and season 4, and a three-year gap between season 4 and season 5. So just with those gaps at least 5 years passed from Mordred’s first appearance until his knighting. With everything else that happens during the seasons, I would assume at least a couple more years went by as well. I pegged him as closer to twelve, but if we stick with your estimation of 10 years old he should be in his upper teens by the time he comes back in season 5. Now, Mordred’s actor certainly didn’t look like most ~18 year olds that I’ve known, but we could theorize that he just matured physically a little faster OR we remember that when directors cast teen-aged characters it is always easier to hire an adult because of the restrictions on how many hours minors can work. Just remember every single movie you’ve ever seen with high schoolers being played by 25 year old actors and actresses, which is annoying, but normal, so even though he doesn’t look ~18 we could still assume he is while Arthur and Merlin are in the mid-to-late 20s. Also, from a quick google, Alexander Vlahos was somewhere around 23 years old when they filmed the season; I’ve seen some fic writers say as long as ten years passed from the start of the series to the end, though I can’t remember if there’s any canonical support for that, but still, Mordred being in his early twenties isn’t totally unreasonable.
Point 4 - 😂😂😂 I spent almost the entirety of the final season going “Is he ever gonna remember? Is that gonna be an issue later?”
Point 5 - NGL, as much as Uther makes some of the most morally objectionable decisions, I still like him as a character. He’s complex and layered and flawed and human, and I like him. I can understand Morgan’s early complicated feelings toward him - loving him, respecting him, but also fearing him and often hating his laws and decisions. Agravaine, however, is awful.
Point 6 - I JUST READ ALL THE FIX-IT FICS TO DEAL WITH THIS
Point 7 - God yes, that hurts so bad. Even Merlin never finds out. Literally no one ever knows.
Point 8 - I know I remember a scene with Gaius showing Arthur the necklace and explaining that Dragoon really wasn’t responsible for Uther’s death, that Morgana’s magic reversed the healing spell. I can’t remember specifically if Merlin found out, but I have to assume Gaius told him too. I just can’t remember the scene.
Point 9 - I think what made me the most mad is that it felt so rushed? Like, technically Arthur took like an entire episode to die, but… idk, they spent the entirety of season 5 building up to the tragic end and then it just flew by. Mordred and Arthur dealing mortal wounds to each other was kind of… anticlimactic. Morgana dying was a little anticlimactic, too. Gwaine dying was SO fast and there was NO reason he should have died; he didn’t look injured and we know that a nathair doesn’t kill - the two other people we saw tortured by one both lived (Elyan and Alator) with seemingly no lasting consequences (Elyan). And then Merlin’s only shown grieving for like a minute before he calls Kilgarrah and goes to the lake and the dragon gives this like, bright, hopeful, completely-incongruous-to-the-tone-of-the-story-just-seconds-earlier speech about the future and destiny or whatever, and then jumps straight to Merlin weeping while sending the boat off for a few seconds, and then straight to modern day Merlin. It was all just… too fast. By the time the actual tragedy happened and then with how it was presented, I didn’t even get a moment to really process it and grieve before it was just… over. It was kind of like…. that’s it?
okie dokie that’s two posts i’ve seen in the last WEEK saying that gwen and arthur’s marriage was a marriage of convenience
lemme ask a simple question. why the FUCK would arthur pick a commoner to marry so he could bang merlin or whatever the fuck when he was literally presented with two perfectly convenient royal options?? mithian or elena would’ve been extremely convenient. especially elena who he clearly had a lot of solidarity and understanding with about not wanting to marry each other for love.
neither him nor gwen would have had to go through so much angst and frustration and gwen NEARLY BEING BURNED AT THE STAKE BC SHE WAS CAUGHT KISSING ARTHUR. in PRIVATE. explain to me why they would risk so much if they were not really in love?? he declined to marry the princesses specifically because of his love for gwen.
if he did not love her romantically why did he get SO upset about her ‘betraying him’ with lancelot? sure maybe he’d be upset she wasn’t honest with him but that emotion right there is fully on heartbreak! from both of them!! why did he pine so much and eventually ask her to come back bc he missed her so? because he loved her. it’s RIGHT THERE.
ship what you want, make aus or whatever, but trying to discount the canonical romance of the main and only woman of colour in this show, calling it a sham or a cover or saying how arthur OBVIOUSLY didn’t love her, even hiding it under ‘queer solidarity!’, is not the funny joke you think it is.
Come with me now to see my world, where there’s beauty beyond your dreams. Can you feel the things I feel? Right now, with you. Take my hand. There’s a world I need to know.
