🌟2021 all about manifesting your dream life

We’re 11 days into 2021 and I have to stop and talk about what manifesting your dream life in 2021 would mean and how to do it. But before that a recap. Overall, 2020 has certainly been a difficult year. I’ve struggled quite a bit as I felt as if Covid took life away from me at times: there were a ton of random mental break downs, quarantine life adjustments and not being able to go to my very first year of college. The same time, I’ve also come to understand more about what my anxiety meant for while starting this blog and being able to connect with a ton of amazing people in the instagram and blogging community about topics like this.

but if you’re on this page, you most likely want to learn how to either change some things from your past year or possibly make this year your very best year despite all the uncertainty and I can tell you it’s always possible by changing your vibe and mindset!

WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY MANIFESTING YOUR LIFE?

I’m a strong believer when it comes to the law of attraction. It’s definitely so much easier said than done, but I do think that happiness is a choice. Behind this choice comes your mindset and the way you view your life (what are things you are grateful for, what can genuinely bring happiness to you, vibes and higher vibration). By visioning what you want your life to be is the very first step to achieving a positive mindset.

HOW TO MANIFEST YOUR DREAM LIFE?

2020 journal recap Before you move onto thinking about your dream life or 2021, I think it’s always great to spend some time thinking about how this year went by for you. What did 2020 teach you? I used to care so much about how others think about me and especially on social media. But honestly, you gotta give less fuc*s about what people “think” about you if what you do truly makes you happy.

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Goal setting

This could be anything for you. You can always start off from a broad topic such as health goals then narrow to a specific one like having a morning routine to bring a more positive mindset. Other goals can include working towards a new business plan, taking better care of yourself through self care and meditation, exploring your passions or building that job resume.

Vision board

the vision board technique is something new that I’m currently trying but I do think it’s quite a fun and creative project as you have relatable images that could help your goal achieving process. You can either make this digitally, create a physical digital board or even draw how you vision your accomplishments would be like.

Checking in with your energy

As the year goes on it’s so important to just check in with yourself and to stay in touch with your body. You can do this through meditation, journaling or even self reflection. Your energy is one of the most important factors when it comes to higher energy vibration. As hard as it can be, know that you always have the power to be in control of your thoughts, actions and the vibe you choose in life.

After thought

So what are some of your goals? have you started writing down how you vision your life to be like in 2021?

These morning tips can help you find happiness during uncertain times.

I can’t express enough how it’s completely fine to have both good and bad days. You can’t expect yourself to feel the best version of yourself every single day and there’s no reason to beat yourself over for that. Just like I said in my mental health post, if there are days that you feel as if you’re slipping let it be, if you’re struggling know that this feeling won’t last forever but there are ways that can help change this pain.

With all the uncertainty and struggles that many of us had gone through ( especially during this year) it can be hard to stay positive. Here are some tips that have helped me get through some of my own mental health struggles during these times: starting from a change in my morning routine

“If you can’t change the situation, you can always change how you view it.” it’s easier said than done but by slowly changing the way you view a fixed situation, you’ll be able to finally find peace from within.

5 minute stretches

to make your mornings productive: Something I try to do as much as possible is starting my mornings off with mindful stretches while playing my Spotify playlist. This doesn’t just help reduce my anxiety, but helps me bring more positive vibes so that I can have a certain intention for the rest of my day.

Journal

to get your head clear and to manage your emotions: if this is something that you want to try, just write down anything that you’re thinking about the second that you get up. By writing whatever flows to your mind, it can help reduce the unnecessary stress and lead you to a fresh start to your day.

Skin care routine

mindful, fun and beneficial: Something new that I’ve started is adding the jade roller and gua sha practice into my morning routine. It’s not only great for boosting circulation, reducing puffiness, increasing glow but the 5 – 15 minute skin care practice can let you be mindful and to become more appreciative of your body.

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The positivity talk

Being kind to yourself, asking yourself what you’re grateful ( create a list) are all great ways to start your mornings too.

here are some examples of positive and helpful quotes

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After Thought

These are just some morning insights I’ve gained throughout these few months and it has helped me change my energy intention for the day, my motivation and to continue to find beauty within life when everything’s uncertain. It’s always important to be kind, to check in with yourself and some of these morning routines can be considered as self care practices and a step into body positivity.

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Can fashion connect to self love?

“True beauty shines when you focus on the style that you love!”

🍂To all my beautiful readers and the new ones who just joined, welcome and I hope you’re all doing well!

I’ve been currently working on my first self love retreat event that I’m hosting here in Hong Kong and it’s definitely something I’m extremely passionate and excited about. It’s a retreat that talks about self care acts, body positivity, the importance of mental health and sustainable fashion! But something I want to mention today is My about page, and how one of the ways that helps keep me grounded is finding my style through fashion.

Here’s a little story: 🦋

I used to be extremely self critical when it came to my appearance. Along with my anxious thoughts, I did struggle quite a bit through my high school years. Then when quarantine hit I realised that the process of learning about fashion, exploring different styles of mine truly brought joy into my life. It was the journey to finding that aesthetic, the style that speaks to me that made me feel much more confident and powerful about myself and my body.

I wouldn’t say I’m completely at the point where I’m happy with myself every single minute ( as there are days where I still slip from now and then) but it’s the journey to finding my authentic style that lets me step into self love more.

“Finding your fashion style can be an example of a self-care act, but a step to self-love.”

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WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Something I’ve realised about building my own confidence is being genuine and authentic with myself. If you’re someone who’s in a similar position, an advice I would give is to ask yourself if this is the style that truly speaks to you.

I’m not saying to not take inspirations from social media or current trends but sometimes by checking in with yourself and your styles, this can be the start for you to feel more confident about yourself.

Soon after you’ll be able to look at yourself and feel like that beautiful, worth it or bad as* bitc* that you’ve always been. True beauty shines when you focus on the style that you genuinely love !

AFTER THOUGHT

Self-care acts and self-love can be different for everyone but one of the ways that I’ve explored and I’m still exploring is through my love for fashion and finding styles that genuinely make me happy. What about you? what are some of your ways?

2020 FALL FASHION TRENDS

Fall is finally here! and there’s no doubt that this year has been quite different. Whether you’ve been doing online school, you’ve been working from home or even on campus, I do think it’s always important to have a mental check-in with yourself and to do things that genuinely bring joy to your life. 

For me, fashion and exploring my style is definitely one of my self-care acts that helps develop my self-love in the long run. ( I’ll talk more about this in a future post and how you can find ways to develop self-love) 

But with the nostalgic early 2000s making a comeback into the fashion world and with the Y2K style still trending, I thought why not share some of my favourite fall outfit trends. 

THE ARGYLE LOVER

Back in the 1920s, the argyle pattern became fashionable along with the mini-skirts, pleated skirts which created the entire preppy/ sporty like look. This type of style was also brought into various runway collections and was a huge trend. 

TIPS: Argyle sweater/ sweater vest + tennis/pleated skirt + polo crop under + knee high socks

Pat and Mike
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This year, the argyle pattern has especially made a comeback into the world of streetwear fashion, preppy and chic looks. 

BROWN AESTHETIC FIT

This type of style is currently trending on both instagram and TikTok when it comes to this years’ fall fashion trends. It’s the simplicity of a brown top, or pants that can create such an aesthetic fall vibe to your entire outlook.

TIP: low rise brown jeans

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Brown crop + sweatpants

FALL SHOE TRENDS

Both black knee high boots and the Mary Jane boots are one of my favourite inspirational look for this year.

The Mary Jane like boot style is not only a classic look in the preppy collection ( but by adding high knee socks and a mini skirt, it can create the whole school girl vibe) In fact, it’s becoming more popular in the fashion streetwear world.

Black knee high boots: Just like the second photo, these boots look great with a dress, skirt or even shorts!

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YOUR FAVOURITE PREPPY STYLE

Similar to what I’ve mentioned in this blog post, the preppy style is still currently trending in the social media world. However, to add this style into the fall collection, any type of crew neck hoodie with a polo shirt and a tennis skirt under would give it a comfortable, yet seasonal style. ( This style dates back to the vintage days)

HOME WEAR

Lastly, the home wear style! With quarantine introduced back in March, I know I’ve started to get comfortable with different home wear pieces , but especially hoodies and sweatpants. So to add to this, I included a few tie dye / Neutral inspirational pattern looks below.

Boohoo online store
Neutral homewear

In fact a lot of online stores such as Princess Polly, Boohoo and Verge girl have these type of clothing.

AFTER THOUGHT

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted, so I just wanted to add more of a fun fashion post this time! Next week, I’ll talk more about how I’m in the journey of finding my authentic style through fashion and how this self care process is a step to self love for me!

THE ANXIETY GUIDE

WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO HELP

It took me a while to write this post as it’s still a personal and ongoing situation for me, but I do believe that my story and insights can be helpful to some. For as long as I can remember, I struggled with anxiety. Of course, there were times where I was happy and did well but for a good few years, my anxiety had taken a turn and I fell into the hole of uncertainty, self-sabotage, and darkness. I felt as if there was no escape to it. Day after day I struggled with getting through this uncertainty and growing up in an environment where mental health wasn’t completely accepted made it even harder. 

TAKING CONTROL OF MY ANXIETY

It was through time that I learned how to take control of my anxiety by turning to self acceptance and learning what self love meant to me. ( here you can read more about how I interpret what self love means.)

By turning to self acceptance I began to truly spend time understanding what anxiety meant to me in a nonjudgmental approach, I would notice some of the reoccurring patterns and eventually learn how to embrace that there’s nothing to be ashamed of if I felt this certain way.

By turning to self love , I found peace and self-acceptance from within. I also break self-love down into these three things: understanding yourself, prioritizing yourself, and finally embracing who you are. 

On top of that, a few of you guys have also asked me about ways to cope with anxiety so here’s a slideshow that I made to show how you don’t have to feel this way forever and what you can do to help others who are going through this.

AFTER THOUGHT

These are just suggestions that I have when it comes to how I broke my cycle of anxiety, but at the end of the day do what makes you feel most comfortable. It’s also a lot easier said than done, but to me I believe that you don’t always have to feel this way by learning how to respect, embrace and finding that inner strength.

My top 7 self-care quarantine tips

For many of us, quarantine was a new experience. Some of us struggled through the days of boredom ( even getting our entire sleep schedule messed up oop!), while others aimed for that quarantine glow up and stayed productive. 

But for me, it was quite a new experience. Online school was not only new but being stuck at home for most of the time was especially different from the busy lifestyle I’d grown up in. 

I was practically forced to spend time with myself. I needed something to keep me grounded under all this uncertainty. One of the many things that kept me grounded was getting into the world of aesthetics- where I developed my passion for fashion and found my style. 

MY TOP 7 SELF CARE QUARANTINE TIPS

that also helped me step into self love *just a reminder there’s a difference between self-care and self-love

Matcha and Meditation

I love drinking matcha( especially in the morning) so during quarantine I would combine this with my meditation practices! Click this link to learn more about how I make my own matcha and what are some of the health benefits.

The Pinterest scan – to find my style

 One of the biggest turning points for me during quarantine was definitely finding my own style and discovering my passion for fashion. Whether it’s trendsetting streetwear, Y2k aesthetics, or just simple thrifting, these were some of my go-to inspirations where I discovered my aesthetics. 

And It was from there I realized

Chloe ting’s workout:

With quarantine, I transitioned to at-home workout. This way, I can continue to feel good about myself, keep in shape, and one of my favourite routines were Chloe tings workout . 

Netflix and face mask: 

I’m sure most of us watched tv shows or movies during the days of lockdown (or still are!) so I added a face mask,  part of my skincare routine, with a Netflix movie and get all cozy. 

Clean/ Room decor: 

It could be reorganizing your closets or even just a simple clean up. For me, changing my entire room to the minimalist vibe really spoke to me as a step to finding my authentic style

DIY activities : 

This is also a great time to get into some DIY ( do it yourself) activities to help you explore your creativity and can also act as a therapeutic hobby!

GAMING

To me, gaming is a self-care activity. Especially with quarantine, I definitely thought it was a great way to connect with your friends as well as maintaining a balanced lifestyle. 

AFTERTHOUGHT

Though I’ve mentioned these 7 self-care things to do, there’s always another list, these are just my personal favourites. Don’t force yourself to become busy when it comes to self-love or alone time, try to find what genuinely brings joy to your life. 

Self Care vs Self Love

A few years ago, I remember constantly getting confused between these two: self-care and self-love.  Especially during exam week, my friends would tell me to relax and have a self-care day so I would feel better about myself, but to be honest, I never really knew how that helped as I still felt terrible within. 

So after a past relationship, I started to focus on myself more:  A 3 -month social media detox, finding what my style was, and what brought joy to my life – I believe that these acts of self-care were my personal steps to self-love. 

And here’s how I define it….

SELF CARE

It can be seen as temporary and help with balancing your life. Self-care lets you feel mentally and physically good. It can be your type of way to feel at peace from within.  

Some examples of these can include:

SELF LOVE

To me, I think of Self-love as the core light within you. Once you’ve achieved that sense of peace and self-acceptance, you can notice how this can impact the way you view yourself, how you act in relationships, and how you look at the world. 

But personally, I break self-love down into these three things: understanding yourself, prioritizing yourself, and finally embracing who you are. 

STEP 1: PRIORITIZING YOURSELF

Though society might shape us all into different people, at the end of the day, everyone has an inner child inside of us that wants to be cared for. However, with self-love, it’s learning to care about that inner child by prioritizing yourself. 

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Prioritizing yourself can mean

   . To be patient with yourself

   . break down the harsh judgemental voice inside of you 

   . Being kind and fair to yourself

   . Giving yourself time to heal. 

   . Knowing you’re worth it and enough

   . Respecting yourself & the boundaries you create 

STEP 2: UNDERSTANDING YOURSELF.

Once you’ve made the first step in prioritizing yourself, you can definitely become much more aware of who you are as a person. Through this awareness, you’ll notice how you react/ respond in certain situations. This could mean you have a specific pattern in how you react, possible defense mechanisms, or even trust issues, that were built from past experiences. 

But let’s say you’re someone who has been or are going through anxiety ( or other mental health issues) understand what that means for you and know that there’s nothing wrong with it.

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Some examples to understand yourself can include… 

notice how you react in certain situations. Is it because of a defence mechanism? previous trust issues that have been built? 

Coming to terms with either small traumas or betrayals that you’ve felt. 

Letting go and forgiving yourself from your past mistakes 

*meditation can also be extremely helpful when it comes to learning how to understand yourself and being present with your feelings. 

STEP 3: EMBRACING YOURSELF

 Lastly, possibly the hardest step, is to embrace yourself. Not gonna lie, I’m not always there. There are still days where I struggle, but it’s a process that’s doable as long as I’m being gentle and reasonable with myself. 

Some examples of this can include… 

Embracing your emotional parts: if you’re someone that is more emotional than others,  embrace that part of yourself. Though society makes us feel like we can’t be emotional, there’s honestly nothing wrong with being emotional. It just means you care and you’re empathetic.

Embracing your anxiety: be patient with yourself. Know that there are days where it might be harder than others, but never think that you aren’t normal just because you might overthink and get anxious in different situations.

Embracing your body: everyone’s body is beautiful and just because society doesn’t label it doesn’t mean it’s not worthy. If you’re someone who wants to work towards creating a healthier relationship with your body and mind, it’s always possible.

  

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It’s so important to embrace who you are as a person: to appreciate who you are, understand that you’re always enough and that your feelings do matter. By doing this step, it can encourage self-growth, improve who you are, and, in the future, possibly help you create stronger relationships.  

WHY IS SELF LOVE IMPORTANT?

 As I mentioned before I see self-love as the core light that can be developed from within us. Loving who you are, respecting yourself, embracing your imperfections, and seeking validation from within can all help from a long term perspective. Loving yourself can help in various aspects including building stronger relationships, preventing yourself from getting into toxic ones, getting through personal challenging events, and can help with building a healthier relationship with your body, mind, and heart.  You’ll also learn how to be more resilient in situations and to not let your insecurities get the best of you.  

Self Love quote cards

Here’s a story: a year ago from today, I was nowhere near ready to say and feel what I do today. I fell into a deep hole of uncertainty with my anxiety and depression and, at the time, I thought there was no way out. 

 If you’re someone who isn’t completely comfortable with who you are or with your body know that you’re not alone and you don’t always have to feel this way. 

What I’m trying to say is turning self-hate to self-love was one of the hardest things ever (but it’s not impossible to achieve. ) 

I started by stopping myself from needing to impress other people and to start loving myself from within. I’ve learned to stop comparing every flaw I had to others when I looked at myself in the mirror, and I’ve truly embraced and found what can bring joy to my life. 

here are some custom self-love quote cards that I created. Click into each image to see the quotes I added. 

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A Guide to Vintage Aesthetic Fashion

What better introduction could we have to vintage fashion than thrifting, urban outfitters, retro cameras, the rise of the subculture grunge, 90’s school girl vibes, shoulder bags, and vintage cameras? 


I’ve always been interested in the vintage aesthetic trends but recently I’ve wondered how 2020 fashion trends date back to the vintage eras and how have these old and new subcultures evolved into the world of aesthetics ( since we now have e girl, soft girl, vsco girls) 

VINTAGE AESTHETICS 

Vintage clothes are before the 1980’s – 1990’s. They can be found in vintage stores but in the world of aesthetics, it means someone who’s into old retro vibes and the era of  70’s 80’s and 90’s. 

So here are some of my personal insights I’ve noticed when it comes to vintage aesthetics and trends.

THE 90’S

It was a huge turning point as fashion globalized in this era. The subculture grunge was introduced while the preppy school girl styles were popularized. On top of that, teens continued to become fashion icons and the introduction of  supermodels ( ex.Versace girls ) boomed more.  

Rise of  grunge in the 90’s 

This subculture started as economics was an issue back then. Due to poverty, street gatherings and the rise of bands like Nirvana, people started to adopt this grunge look. On top of that top fashion brands, such as Marc Jacobs, popularized this style by adopting the grunge look and added it to their collection.

Marc Jacobs grunge show

Current 2020 trend

Now a somewhat similar branch but more aesthetic style is the current e girl ( electronic girl ) Tik Tok helped this style rise in popularity and some of these includes chains necklaces, denim pants, the 90’s clips etc.

@katiexyi
E girl outfit

Rise of  90’s Preppy school girls 

Some may just call this trend a classic but in the world of aesthetics, they’ve brought back and evolved this type of style. Back then, the preppies were known as the upper class with a higher social status and were known to attend Ivy league schools. 

Some of these include cardigans, plaid skirts, tennis skirts, hair bands etc. 

Clueless 1995
Clueless 1995

Current 2020 trend

But this year’s fashion has brought the theme of the evolved preppies style into the world of aesthetics. However, with Quarantine, we can see more of this style trending on Instagram when it comes to the soft girl vibes/ trendsetting streetwear influencers. Whether it’s the plaid skirts, the cardigans, headbands or bucket hats (even making its way to the streets), it’s definitely a style with history.

@trendyfits
@Jiya
@Emma

The butterfly effect. 

You might’ve seen this over instagram bios or printings on crop tops, but the year of 2020 has also brought back the nostalgic 90’s butterfly effect. And that’s exactly the interesting concept when it comes to fashion, what goes around really does come around in the world of fashion.

THE 80’S

The 80’s was a decade of bold, style, and colour. Whether it was hair, makeup or clothing size,  everything was enlarged and brighter than ever. Also with the rise in cameras booming in this decade, it strongly affected how fashion was captured too. 

Fashion trend included: Denim/ designer jeans/ classic summer sundress/ jumpsuits/ overalls 

LA Gear
1986 dress

Current 2020 trend

As the 80’s was a decade of colour and boldness, we now see a replay in pastel colours brought into the world of aesthetics. Currently, pastel colours are especially popular among the world of social media and tie dye clothings are a quarantine edition. 

Softie
Pastel aesthetics

THE 70’S 

The 70’s cultivated some of the 60’s fashion (due to the fashion protest)  but in a much more exaggerated manner. Styling and Subcultures became more famous in this era and examples of this include: the fitness subculture, small ax hippies etc.

In fact, Vogue declared

“There are no rules of the fashion game now. You’re playing it and you make up the game as you go.”

Trends: women wore pants:  pantsuits / high rise /  jumper dresses over turtleneck shirts/ 70’s white belt and collars / long maxi dress/ high waist jeans / mod dress 

Accessories 

1970: vintage-style granny boots  ( laced up, stacked heels, embroidered fabrics)

1970 creating an earthy bohemian aesthetic 

1970 Pants
1970 sear jumpers

Current 2020 trend

This year, we can see high rise pants also known as “ mom jeans” back in the stores and in the streetwear collections. On top of that add a crop top, a shoulder bag and the 90’s sandals would make the perfect aesthetic fit. 

Bucket Hat look

After thought

Above are just the list of things I’ve learned and some insights when it comes to vintage in the world of aesthetics, but there could always be another list. Is anything you’re wearing today bouncing back to one of these decades?

New to the healthy lifestyle?

Whether it was an experience that sparked you, a change in breaking out of bad habits, or just the thought of wanting to strive for a healthier outer and inner feeling,  I know that these can all be overwhelming when you want to first change your lifestyle habits. From wanting to have a certain lean toned body to learning what body positivity means, maintaining a healthier lifestyle habit can range from all sorts of topics but achievable in the right approach.  

Personally, I call the goal of maintaining a healthier lifestyle as another act of self-love and self-care. To me, setting goals to change my lifestyle habits means being aware of the vibes I choose for my body, mind, and heart. 

So here are my insights into these 5 different lifestyle aspects:  mental health, food, body, growth, and working out.

 The realistic mindset

This can apply to everyone under different extents but my tip for this is to be practical with the changes you want to make. Don’t overwork yourself, list out your goals to help you stay motivated and be proud of the small changes you’ve done!

Body positivity

 Honestly, start the grateful practice. A lot of the times we worry about how others view our image and let that critical voice in our head get to us, so as repetitive as it may sound start the practice. It can be as simple as 3 things you like about yourself or your surroundings. By being aware and starting to appreciate what you have can shift your mindset of how you view things. 

Change your vibe: 

In my last post, I’ve talked a lot about how having good authentic vibes can be a step to self-love. When it comes to switching to that healthier lifestyle feeling there’s no difference. So whether it’s a room makeover to find your style or being aware and letting go of past mistakes, changing your vibe and how you approach life can definitely benefit your wellbeing in a healthy way. 

Working out: 

Working out is great for your physical and mental health but one thing I used to do was over challenge myself. So if you’re new to working out, start with a goal each day and review what you’ve done by the end of the week. Go at your own pace and take it easy too! 

Adding healthy food I’m not saying to cut out what you love to eat, but if you want to get into the healthy vibes, go ahead and add some avocados to your scrambled eggs, try out some matcha, eat less before you sleep and add some healthy oils to your meal.

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