Our daily lives have changed completely, and many of us are pretty much staying
home all day... working from home, studying from home, exercising at home,
socializing from home, making trendy Tik Tok recipes from home... and this can
all get a little bit old. Being in the same environment every day can get
challenging, but we always have the power to choose the lens through which we view
our situation, and in this moment we can use this as a time to work on our
mindset. It's okay to look forward to things, like of course I'm looking
forward to when we can all go out again and go to cafes with friends, but rather
than simply wishing for time to fast-forward, let's instead focus on
doing what we can to savor the beautiful moments that are still around us. I was
inspired to make this video because I recently watched this video in which
Cari talks about little ways that we can make our life more aesthetic, from
listening to music, to looking at things with a movie director's eye, to mindfully
going through the motions of our daily lives. And aesthetic doesn't have to mean
a trendy, filtered, and staged. The actual definition of aesthetic just means
"concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty", so the question
is, how can we live our lives in a way that appreciates all of the beauty
around us? How can we take something as mundane as being stuck at home, going
through the same daily routines, and infuse a little bit of magic into it? So
for today's video, I wanted to try something a little different. You won't
be seeing my talking face in this video because I just wanted to take you
through my day, a pretty ordinary day of my life, getting some work done, staying
home, you know the drill. But I want to show it to you through a lens of beauty
and magic and gratitude, and show you how you can take a regular day and simply
use awareness to experience it in a completely different way. This video is a
collaboration with Mahat from coffeemlk, I guess you could call it the
COFFEE BEAN collaboration, get it? Bliss Bean? coffeemlk? coffee bean? He posts really
beautiful study vlogs, stationery hauls, day-in-the-life videos, etc. Both his
YouTube videos and Instagram posts always remind me to enjoy the little
moments, so be sure to check out his take on this topic as well. My morning routine
always makes me feel calm and peaceful, even if I wake up feeling anxious, it's
like a reset button before I get on with the rest of my day. It was especially
relaxing today because it was drizzling on and off which makes for a very cozy
day to stay indoors. To change things up, I decided to try some new music while I
stretched and did my morning exercises, then I took a cold shower, got dressed,
moisturized my face, and while I was listening to the news, one of the stories
was about BTS, so if that's not a sign from the universe that it's gonna be a
good day, I don't know what is.
I've also really been enjoying using these
fragrance lotions that I reviewed a while ago. Somehow having just that nice
smell around me throughout the day lifts my spirits a little bit. Finally, I
journaled for a while, wrote down three things I was excited about for the day,
and looked over my plans.
I love cooking breakfast, I make the same thing pretty much every
day, so the motions of cooking it are so familiar to me that it's almost like a
meditation. I always keep some chopped onion and bell pepper in the fridge so I
just sautee that baby up. I like my vegetables and toast *almost burnt*. I add
in some garlic salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, then two eggs, mix it all around
the pan, and voila! I think I'm ready to compete on Top Chef.
I normally have avocado on toast alongside this but we didn't have any
ripe ones, that's okay, I improvised, I did peanut butter and banana instead and it
was actually really delicious, so I might do this more often. Also, instant coffee,
people can rag on instant coffee as much as they want, but after buying a
container of it to make dalgona coffee, I've actually developed quite a taste
for it, and I didn't even drink coffee before, so that's my quarantine
accomplishment - a caffeine addiction... I operate on a different sleep schedule
from the rest of my family so everyone else is always still asleep at this time
and I love that breakfast is just a nice moment of quiet as I start my day. I
usually try not to look at my phone and I just savor the food and the silence
and look out the window or something.
The first thing I do in the morning is study Korean, which I love because it's
so exciting to learn a new language. Honestly, just learn anything new, and the
fact that we can do that for free or mostly free, by ourselves, even when we're
at home, through the Internet, is pretty amazing if you ask me. I start with
practicing some vocabulary with Anki, which is a tool I'm grateful for because
it has been a much needed upgrade from the teeny tiny little flashcards that I
used to struggle with, I feel like I'm memorizing words SO much faster now, so
thank you, technology! After vocab, today I'm working on taking notes from the
lesson I had with my iTalki tutor the day before, whom I am also so grateful
for, because she has helped me improve my skills so much.
And then the final thing I'm grateful for is Zebra Mildliners because I think
I get a little mood boost whenever I get to use these pretty colors. Normally
during my breaks I try to stay away from my phone but my friends had sent me some
quality memes, so I took some time to enjoy those... After that I did some
midweek planning. I do the bulk of my planning on Sunday so I basically have
my week all planned out already, which makes me feel calm and peaceful, and now
all I'm going to do is just check up on everything to make sure that things are
going well. I made these cute little aesthetic cards to remind me of my
routine as well as my other planning routines, and I think little things like
this just make it more fun to stick with your routines... take a shot every time I
say "routine". It's nice to just take a bit of time to myself and check in to see
where I'm at and how I'm doing on creating my dream life, whatever that
means for me, whatever that means for you, we're all just striving for it.
After that I started editing this week's video and honestly I'm just grateful that this
week's video was easy to edit compared to the "how I edit videos" nightmare video
that I did last week. It's nice to just be able to talk to the camera and talk
to you guys for a little bit, it feels less formal. Even though the editing was
pretty easy, I still took a few breaks to move around and listen to some
energizing music.
Around lunchtime I post on Instagram which is a good time not
only because of engagement statistics, analytics, whatever, but because when I'm
hungry, there's not much else I can focus on. I'm so grateful for all of my
followers, subscribers, anyone who ever stumbles across my content in this big,
big world of the Internet. I got an especially kind message today where
someone shared their journal entry where they wrote about how my channel was
helping in their life, so thank you to that person, thank you everyone,
it truly makes my day. There were a bunch of leftovers in the fridge, so I was
grateful to my past self for cooking food, you go past self! Cause usually at
lunch I'm just too hungry to have the patience to cook anything, so I picked
two dishes, both were delicious, lots of pretty colors again, yay! While I was
eating, my dad brought me a package which was a water bottle from IT
University, where I'll be studying Communications and Digital Media next
fall. I thought it was just gonna be like a plastic water bottle, but it was one of
those really nice metal ones, and also the packaging was ten out of ten. I listened
to some voice messages from a friend whom I met while travelling, so that in
itself is crazy to think about sometimes, but also the fact that we have
technology that gives us the means to still stay in touch even though we live
like four million, four thousand, whatever it is, miles apart. I've been meditating
with the "Stillness" background music on Insight Timer which is just the sound of
like, crickets and other night sounds, and it's so calming to me, especially now
that school is not in session and the weather is getting warmer, it just makes
it feel like one of those summer evenings when my brother and I would
play with the neighborhood kids and then make s'mores at our neighbor's house and
come home and not worry about waking up early the next day. After that I kept
editing and I'm not gonna lie, I kind of had a creative block. It was such a
simple video, too, and I think the simplicity is actually what made me get
kind of stuck with it. So I had a waffle, which was delicious, but didn't really
unblock my creative channels, so then I took a break, and then I kind of went on
my phone for an hour, so after that I really felt like I needed an energetic
reset and I was kind of tired but I knew exercise would make me feel better, so I
chose something not super intense, I did a fun dance workout, and again, how crazy
is it that we can do these workouts for free, from the comfort of our own home,
without ever stepping foot inside a gym? Then I did a Blogilates abs video which
always makes me sweat like a pig and that was exactly what I needed to help
me feel better. Also I did not have a weight for this
workout but I had this, I don't even know what it is, I think it's for a plant, like
a tiny, tiny succulent, so yeah, luckily I had that on hand.
After a really nice refreshing shower, I changed into more comfortable pants, I
guess you could call this my evening attire.
Dinner was leftovers again, god bless leftovers, and while I ate, I watched
Jeopardy with my dad, which is a show that makes me feel kind of productive
while watching TV because technically, it's an educational show, so... I'm learning.
Then I made a cup of tea and took it upstairs because I was going to FINISH
this video, dang it. I set myself up on my standing desk because my butt was
starting to hurt from sitting all day, and the break really helped, I think it's
really important to know when we need a break because sometimes just grinding it
out and pushing when you don't feel like it won't get you anywhere. Sometimes you
really need to give your mind some space. So finally after taking that break I was
able to finish it, I was so proud of myself. I know that going on my phone for
an hour seems like a low point of the day, and I did feel pretty crappy, but in
a way, it shows how at absolutely any moment in time, be it New Year's resolutions,
the start of a new week, or just literally any second of any day, you can
make a simple choice and turn your entire day around. So after hitting
export on that video, it was Wednesday and I usually read for an hour on
Wednesdays. I was currently reading "The Universe Has Your Back" by Gabrielle
Bernstein, and I'm grateful not only to have a library card that lets me read
ebooks for free and learn things from home, but also just for the way that this
book specifically has already changed my mindset so much, and how it makes me
happier and calmer every time that I pick it up. I'm also grateful for my cozy
little bed area, it's one of my favorite parts of my room. As we're all in
quarantine, I just wanted to give a little bit of inspiration that there's a
lot you can do to decorate your room that doesn't require buying things.
So you can put wall art on your walls, like cute postcards, things from magazines,
or your own paintings, and this, these are flowers that I got from the dollar store
for a photo shoot a while ago, and then I put them in this old kombucha bottle. I
finished up that book and ended with lots of notes to incorporate into my
journaling and meditation practices, but after all that thinking, it was time to
turn my brain off. In the evening, I decided to watch The Office with my dad
and my brother, which has always been one of my favorite ways to relax. I actually
started watching The Office years ago, and I'm only just now finishing it up, so
it has been in the background of my life for many years now and I think that's
why watching it just feels so much like home to me, it's nostalgic in a way.
After that I was definitely super tired so I went up to my room and started on
my bedtime routine.
Gave myself a little pat on the back for doing all of my habits that day,
journaled for a while, and stretched. I hope this video kind of showed you how
you can take steps to create little beautiful moments in your days, choose
positive thoughts, and choose a mindset that allows you to appreciate everything
around you. If you want to learn more about how to design a day in mindful,
productive flow, I have some ~EXCITING NEWS~ coming at the end of the month, so
there's a link in the description if you want to be notified when that comes out,
and yeah, that is it for my little day in the life video, I hope you enjoyed
watching it. Thank you for watching it, and good night <3