The Lululemon mantra includes this line: “Successful people replace the words ‘wish’, ‘should’ and ‘try’, with ‘I will’.”
There is no “should”
Thoughts
Desired imports from my travels
Here are some things I appreciated in Southeast Asia and Japan that I wish we had in Canada.
Umbrellas as sun protection
Why you shouldn’t finish every book you start
If you read one book a month, you probably have less than 800 books left to read in your life.
(I’m 26, so assuming I live to 90, that is 64 remaining years x 12 months = 768 books.)
An update on my values
In my first post on this topic, I said how my highest values are benevolence (for the world), reflection (for myself), and sincerity.[1] However, that has changed.
Does fear of attention stop you from looking your best?
Sometimes you can’t win. When you’re overweight, the only message you get from the world is that you’re ugly and should lose weight.
Once you have lost weight and become more attractive, though, you’re accused of trying too hard. “Relax,” other people start saying, “it’s the holidays. Have a piece of cake. After all, you wouldn’t want to get too thin.”
I’m moving
Hello! So I missed my deadline last time (going more than three weeks without a post), and now I’m missing it AGAIN. Ahh.
I have a good reason, though: I *had to* get out of my previous living situation, so over the past six weeks I have been very scattered and unable to concentrate on anything other than finding somewhere to live.
And now I’ve found somewhere! Yay! I moved into my own apartment three days ago. It presently contains almost zero furniture. (I’m sleeping on a yoga mat on the floor—which isn’t that bad, really. I may never buy a mattress again.)
I hope to be properly settled and able to return to semi-regular blogging in a few weeks. Until then, please enjoy these Pinterest design inspiration photos.
This is my dream decor: some sort of Japanese-Balinese-Thai-inspired, zen-French fusion, wabi-sabi (Japanese shabby-chic), industrial/modern twist on minimalist classics. Not sure what to call that, but let me know if you have any suggestions 😛
A fun journaling activity: Stuff of the Month
I started keeping these Stuff of the Month lists around age 12. (Credit to my sister Gemma for coming up with the idea, which I copied.)
You know how there’s an Employee of the Month? The Stuff of the Month list is a form of bullet-journaling where you name the Food of the Month (as in your favorite food you ate recently or a food that featured prominently in your month), Movie of the Month, etc.
11-year-old Kate’s plans for life
I was going through my old journals and found this page. Not only did it make me laugh, it made me proud that I’ve actually accomplished some of the things on it!
Can’t tidy up? Try changing your life first
I’ve recently taken up the KonMari tidying method. This is my third attempt at following Marie Kondo’s system, and this time I’m finally getting it!
A question about randomness
Weather is caused by a bunch of molecules. Since we don’t know exactly how the molecules will behave, weather forecasters make lots of models and then look at the average. That’s why they say things like “There’s a 70% chance of rain”—perhaps they’ve made 100 models, and it rained in 70 of them. (As described by Nate Silver in The Signal and the Noise.)
If we knew exactly what each molecule was, though, we could predict the weather with perfect accuracy.
Now, consider the extent to which the course of your life is determined by prior causes.