occupational therapy

Have you ever been so worried or concerned about something that you couldn't sleep, eat or simply think about anything else? I'm sure it happened to you on numerous occasions and it has happened to me as well. Actually, I shouldn't have said it happened to me, I should have said I LET IT HAPPEN TO ME. I believe that no matter what kind of a situation cause our minds to worry, it is always our choice to let it affect us the way it does. In other words, we choose to be miserable, disappointed or satisfied. Although we may think this is just how things go, there's a really simple remedy to kick out worry out of our system and not sweat over anything for too much. Today I'm here to tell you what it is. Read along.

Winston Churchill, one of the most prominent politician of the height of the World War II, when asked what was his solution when dealing with problems said: I'm too busy. I have no time for worry.

Now, let's stop and think about it. Why keeping busy help? Because it is nearly impossible to bother your mind with more than one thing at any given moment. You can't be occupied with your work while trying to solve your other problems. Of course, unless your job doesn't require much of a mental work, I guess you can do it mechanically and then still have time to stress over other things, but let's face it. Having free time is when our minds are going into dark places. The solution then would be to simply find more constructive tasks, we can get occupied with, and then afterwards be too exhausted to even let the worries creep in. That way we can get our peace of mind back and beauty sleep as well!

I know it all may sound trivial, but with all honesty, any psychiatrist will tell you that work is one of the best anesthetics ever known for sick nerves. One of the best and totally free!

I should have probably mentioned in the beginning that I am not discovering anything new here, I am just sharing with you guys, what I learned from Dale Carnegie, my personal hero and author of How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, who I mentioned before HERE. Everything that I am writing about today you can find under the chapter 6 titled How to crowd worry out of your mind. I highly recommend it to you guys, as you can find a lot of examples of how keeping busy has helped many different people deal with their problems...

And if you ask me if it helped me too, I'll tell you this. I woke up this morning thinking, Geee, great, there goes another Monday, let's do it all over again, meaning not the happiest thoughts ever. In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about something I should just let be. I knew the only solution for today was to throw myself into a work mode and I did just that. I run some errands, vacuumed a couple rooms, then had some free time when the worried thoughts started to creep in again, so I decided to help my friend repaint the bathroom. 2 hours later it was time for dinner, shower, and then relaxation. But what did I do next? Exactly what I'm doing right now - writing this post :) By the time I'll be done and check all of the social networks that are just begging me to visit them, I'll just drift away to the next day.

So that's good news! I survived a severe case of a Monday! I'm sure you did great as well. As long as we are trying, we'll be fine.

See you tomorrow, busy bees!

DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY

So, I've been experiencing some more challenging days lately (yes, it's still freezing cold, which most certainly does not help the situation, but that's not what I'm talking about) and I'd love to share with you how I managed to deal with them.

Now, this post was a long time coming, but it is only a beginning. I am planning on writing a little bit more on that subject, since I've found a lot of inspirations in places, I never considered possible.

What I mean by that are self-improvement BOOKS & BLOGS. I'm sure I'm not the only person who can recite one or two quotes, lines, lyrics that mean a lot to us, but never actually live by the words that are spoken out loud. Why is it so hard to follow through? I guess we like the sound of them and we are probably sure they are true, but to actually believe in them enough to put them in action, usually seems impossible. It comes off as challenging, which makes us think about the actual work we have to put in and then to stay consistent ughhh. As a result we give up after couple days or simply just forget. But what I learned recently is that we should never underestimate the power of our thoughts. 

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the guy who used to be known as Dale Carnegie.  I discovered him through a friend of mine, who recommended me one of his books titled How to win friends and influence people ( more on that book in a future post). Right after I finished reading it, it became (hands down) one of my favorite books ever. That was until I read another one of his bestsellers. I'm talking about How to stop worrying and start living. At the time I rented it out and thought if I liked the first one, this one should be even better (the first book was more about business related interactions with people, the second one comes down to the core of living your life). And I was right. I didn't even finish reading the whole book, I made sure I ordered a copy to have it always by my side. It was that powerful, eye opening and helpful. My friends are probably tired of me by now, as I told everybody I know about it, expressed my love for Dale Carnegie multiple times on Facebook, and even encouraged some of my beloved friends to read it (yes, I'm that persuasive - probably thanks to the tactics I learned from his books hehe).

So that's it about these books, for now. Are you hungry for more? Be patient, I'm going to work on more posts to give you the essence of the truths that helped me go through some rough patches, and maybe inspire one or two of you to read some of these positions yourself.

As for blogs, I also need to mention Marc and Angel Hack Life - Practical Tips for Productive Living. I came across it just two days ago though, so I'll need to come back to it to review it for you, but so far I'm really impressed and rely on it daily. If you also need some words of encouragement go ahead and like them on Facebook, you'll know what I mean.

So feeling inspired as I am right now, I made it my goal to spread a good word and radiate my positive attitude towards people that surround me. To also start each day on a positive side I started a project and I want to share it with you.

It's a wall of inspirations. People like to write down words that have a good influence on them and to be reminded of them in various places. We chose the wall, as it is really hard to miss walking by it (it's right next to the kitchen and let's face it, we can't survive without a kitchen ;)). It is not finished yet, so it's kind of an artsy mess ( or at least we consider it art), but we'll work on it.

Here are just a few snaps of the words that we want to be reminded of every day:

It sure is a hot mess...

I'll talk more about all the above words of wisdom soon (if they don't speak for themselves already), so stay tuned.

Also, if you have any encouraging quotes of your own, I'd love to hear them. To say even more, I dare you to inspire me! ;)

STEAL OF THE WEEK: H&M faux leather pants

Ok, just came back from shopping, and obviously didn't find what I was looking for (per usual), but this time I'll let it slide. Becauuuuuuuse I found something that made it up for the whole trip to the mall. I only got one thing, but it sure is good.

Two words: leather pants. I should actually say half leather pants, you'll see what I mean in the pictures. I'm not gonna dwell on this subject too much, I'm just gonna say that H&M (almost) never disappoints ;)
So there it is, my newest investment. Oh, and did I mention it was 15$? :)))

Black on black. This will never get old. Oh, and yes, these are way too long... 

shorty problems....

And what's better than leather and lace...

Forgot to mention that the black top is from H&M as well. Whole outfit cost me 20 bucks....

You can still find these pants on sale on their website. Here's the link:
 http://www.hm.com/us/product/16704?article=16704-A#shopOrigin=SA

Enjoy last few hours of the weekend! (at least here on the East Coast ;))

CURRENTLY CRAVING

Ok, so let's go back to fashion. Today I wanted to talk about some of my current cravings, hoping to make it one of the weekly posts in the future. It will be things that I'm dying to try, meals I want to learn to cook, and things I want to buy. My major source of inspiration at the moment is Pinterest and that is where I'm going to share my photos from.

The look I want to show you is the one I have been obsessing over for the past few months now. And because it's a weekend, I'm finally going to make an attempt to go shopping for it. 

Today I'm talking about accessories. Now, I'm not the biggest accessory gal in any sense, but I believe that one simple thing can take an entire outfit to another level of chic. Therefore, my collection is not too big, but I'm trying to keep it simple on purpose(as it is easy to lose control over the the little things we purchase) and own just essentials, that can quickly revamp my clothes. 

Up until a year ago, I thought gold accessories are just not my thing. For some reason I thought they didn't compliment me at all. That has changed until I gave them a try. Let's just say, I loved it so much now my modest collection consists mostly of gold goodies. And that finally leads to the one craving I want to share with you today.

GOLD METAL BELTS. Here are the looks I'm obsessing over right now, and making them a key in my search of a perfect one that I will include in my gold collection. 

Enjoy!

       Beloved Jennifer Lawrence and everybody's new obsession Suki Waterhouse.

Absolutely adore the plunging neckline + gold belt. Perfect combo. Definitely giving it a go.

source: PINTEREST (to see all of the looks and find more inspirations go to my board wanted)

Options, options, sooo many options to choose from.


Which look do you like best?

SPRING BREAK

So here we are. Middle of March (still noticeable traces of snow in the backyard), month from going away to enjoy some time off spring breaking (aka getting wild). Up until today I thought I had no plans, but opportunities have a tendency to rise up from nowhere when we least expect them... Needless to say, a month from now I might be enjoying some serious sun times on the other coast.

But while I'm still here, I thought I'd dwell a little on my last year's spring break. Let's just say that it was 10 full days of non stop adventure. That year (hence, it was my first spring break in the States), I decided I could kill two birds with one stone, and visit my friends on both coasts. What I thought, I put in action and booked flight tickets from Philly to LA, Ca, from LA to Tampa, Florida. As easy as that.

Note: I have way too many pictures from that trip. No wonder I won't cover all of the places I've been to. I tried to keep this post simple, but it is, what it is, ha!

Even though my California adventure started out in LA > Irvine, I'll start pictures from our next stop. That is San Diego. Pacific Beach. Breakfast at Woody's. What would I give to be able to have breakfasts with a view like that more often...

 Pacific Beach, San Diego, California

 Newport Beach, CA

On the road to Laguna Beach, CA.I love the rusty feel of this picture.

 South Crescent Bay

 Oh, hey Mexican food. I could enhale you every day of my life.

 Laguna Beach

 My very first Disney adventure.

 Soaking up the sun on my last day in California. Newport Beach.

OFF TO THE EAST COAST!

 Slightly windier weather over here...

 Thanks to my dear friend's kindness, I was able to check out some portable classrooms down in Florida at the high school he's teaching.

 Stop by to support exotic wildlife right in the neighborhood.

 Love these.

 Drove to Saint Petersburg to check out the location of Harmony Korine's movie Spring Breakers.

 Enjoyed some Polish goodies.

 Chased after the sun....

 Traveled accordingly (if you saw Spring Breakers, you know what I mean).

Clearwater, Florida

And that would be it for now!

Now off to dreaming about my next sunny adventures...