☁️ self care diaries : books

    So for this self care diaries series, I want to share some of my interest, hobbies, and things that are inspiring me lately. For so long I never bothered to know what my own interpretation of self care was  until the pandemic happened. It wasn't an instant thing that the ideas just came to my head all of a sudden. Over the course of this pandemic, and on its third time in lockdown, I have gradually recognized my ways of how to cope and take care of my physical, mental, and emotional well-being. 

For this self care diaries episode, I'm going to talk about these magical things called ✨books✨ 📚 

" Read a thousand books and your words will flow like a river."

                                                                      - Virginia Woolf

    I've been following these youtubers slash influencers for a while now named Moya Mawhinney, Nayna Florence and Nuria Ma. They are college students who are living their best life through creating lifestyle content in London, UK. I was inspired by their attitude and their mindset as they were posting content based on their everyday routine whilst living independently in an expensive city. One of their self care care rituals that I was inspired to do was reading books. 

    Recently I've been into books that are in the genre of fiction. A quick backstory, I wasn't a big fan of reading back then. Some of the people in my high school were so into books about dystopian, young adult fiction and I wasn't really interested committing myself into joining the bandwagon. I tried. 

    The first book I finished this pandemic was a self help book about taking opportunities in an entrepreneurial way. I didn't relate that much from this book because this self help book was more likely directed to college students who were taking business related programs. The title "What I wish I knew when I was 20" was quite misleading. I thought it would pertain to a general audience, although the main key points of the book can be interpreted universally. Honestly, I think self-help books contain ideas we already know but we just choose not to do them. 

The next thing I read was a fiction romance novel "Ugly Love" written by one of my favorite authors, Coleen Hoover. This book deserves to be on top of my favorites list. Currently, I am reading Normal People by Sally Rooney. Reading has stepped up my self care journey. It improves my memory and widens my vocabulary as well. My imagination and creativity has been refreshed. Lastly, it reduces my stress and provides me a space where I can be away from academic life.