Happy Tuesday! I’ve decided that each happiness post will begin with the struggles I’ve faced this week and the things I did to solve them. This week (2/18-2/24) has been particularly tough for me. I’ve been super motivated since 2017 started. I’ve been on my YouTube game which makes me feel so productive and accomplished when I see a video uploaded on both channels every single week. The workload has been catching up to me recently and I’m feeling less sane. Instead of being excited to vlog or film and edit those videos, I found myself dreading it. It seemed like a chore when I know it’s not and editing dragged on for even more hours than it usually takes me to edit.

I told my sister about how I was feeling and she told me that I’m wearing myself out. Which is very true! It made me think of the business trips I take a few times a year. I basically sit back stage and working on deck after deck after deck. After a whole day of just doing decks, I get SO worn out that I can’t even concentrate on beautifying the most simple of slides. I remember I had been working on decks that were 50 pages long. At the end of the day, I got a new one that was only 6 pages long but it took me just as long as it took me to do a 50 pager. I couldn’t wrap my head around why it was taking me so long. My boss looked at me, paused, and was like, “Jasmine… you need a BREAK. Go get dinner.” So I did. I came back the next morning and finished the remaining 3 slides in no more than 30 minutes.

I feel like that’s where I am right now with work and YouTube and trying to balance a social life in between. I go to work, come home, eat, edit till way past midnight, go to bed late, and restart the next day. I was on the edge of completely breaking down but there were a few things that helped get me out of that mental state:

+ I decided to postpone Thursdays video till the next Thursday. The second I decided on this, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I thought to myself that I can actually go home and relax after a long day.
+ I talked to my sister and Leo about how I was feeling and they both offered me advice and comfort which helped so so much.
+ After I decided to take this Thursday off, I tweeted a heads up and got so many lovely encouraging tweets back. It really helped a lot and made me feel so blessed to have such kind and understanding people surrounding me on the interwebs!

The lesson I’m learning is that I really need to put myself first sometimes. Taking time to relax and recharge isn’t being lazy at all. It’s necessary for mental health and happiness. Anyways! Onto this week’s happy list 🙂

HAPPY LIST #2

0022. clearing out more junk from my old room (getting rid of things is SO SATISFYING)
0023. mom’s homemade food baggie for me to take home to eat during the next few days.
0034. watching the hunchback of notre dame with chelsea and mom for the first time in years
0035. game night at eryn and matts place playing jackbox games, fishbowl, and scattergories
0036. getting breakfast by the beach with leo on our presidents day off work
0037. buying pan covers at ikea!! no more makeshift foil covers
0038. visiting the art institute with leo and talking to our old teacher for about an hour or so
0039. leo and i shaving off about a half hour of our weekly meal prep time – GO TEAM!
0040. freshly washed fluffy soft sheets that feel like an absolute dream
0041. promising to focus on recharging after work rather than stressing about getting a video done
0042. grabbing one of the fresh cookies from the cafeteria that were actually moist for once!
0043. finishing orphan black season 4! SO GOOD.
0044. taking a nice after dinner walk with leo
0045. doing yoga for a half hour
0046. the comfort of a nice panda onesie
0047. drawing a nice bubbly bubble bath
0048. treating myself to a big spring shopping spree!

That’s all for this post!
I hope you have a wonderful week and take care of yourself 🙂