Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Tis a lesson you should heed: Try, try, try again. If at first you don't succeed, Try, try, try again

Below is an extract from my original post now available on squarespace: maggieblogs.com
Do you remember, in January, I listed all the things I want to do in 2015 (to see this list, clickhere)?I had three things I wanted to accomplish in January : 
  • Organise two dates for when I am on vacation and complete them.
  • Make bed everyday
  • Read more
So, how did I do?
Well, if you look at my reading list, here, you can see I already have read quite a bit. I haven't quite sorted out all the books that I WANT to read over the next year but at least I've started reading again. Why, did I want to read more? Well, the truth is I used to have a superpower. Wait, what? A superpower? Ummm, you are not Captain America, kiddo! Yes, I know, but nevertheless I did. I used to be this incredibly fast reader and thanks to that superpower I used to devour books. I easily read 2 books a day, and on weekends even more.  I could read an Agatha Christie in less than two hours!  I couldn't get enough of it. I also would remember everything I read. However, since moving  to Korea I've started watching a lot more TV and it took me a long time to notice but I lost my superpower. So, a warning to all the superheroes out there - if you don't practice with your superpower every day you lose it. This freaked me out and because I didn't know how to handle it, I retreated from books. Well, this year I am focusing on getting my superpower back. When I read now,  I need to fully commit. One of my favourite motivational blogs, Zenhabits, recently posted an article: The Delightfully Short Guide to Reading More Books and, boy, has it ever changed my life. I haven't followed all the steps yet but using the closet has definitely come in handy as has only reading books I enjoy. I think this last is something I have been struggling with. Reading new books is good but if I am not interested in the subject matter, the genre, or the book itself doesn't draw me in, I tend to plug along until I finish it but it takes me months to do so. Well, no more. 


Click here to read the rest of the post.

Monday, 9 February 2015

I stagger on instead.

As you know I transferred this blog to squarespace a year ago. From now on, I'm only going to post a section of the article here and link back to the original post.

I am currently on holiday. So far it has been a mix of the exciting, challenging, self-realisation, boredom, and struggle. The last two are no one's fault but my own and are both a consequence of figuring out somethings about myself. Things I don't necessarily like and I am struggling with tackling them. 
I caught a fish! I CAUGHT  a fish!  I CAUGHT A FISH!
I caught a fish! I CAUGHT  a fish!  I CAUGHT A FISH!
Before, I get into the rather heavy topic referenced above, what were the exciting challenges I set myself:
Two days before my holiday started I set myself the task of coming up with two dates. The first one was - start my date at 5pm by going to Sejong Lake Park at night, take a walk and watch the stars. I would follow that up with a creative night - art and cooking. My second date was to be a two night stay in the Ramada Hotel in Gangnam (you know, the area in Seoul  referenced by PSY in his hit song back in 2012, Gangnam Style), art museums and lots of good food. However, I also wanted to do something that would set the tone of my holiday.