Small practices for relaxation, anxiety-relief

Dealing with anxiety has become a recent-ish thing since I finally acknowledged what I'm feeling is more than just here/there stress, so I've been discovering ways to cope. In the past I've kind of naturally gravitated towards things like isolating myself and cleaning my room at midnight when I can't sleep, but now that I'm more aware I've sought out different ways. So here's some quick tips I've discovered at home.

1. Listen to a calm playlist. 

If you're like me and instrumental music doesn't give you the same stimulation as lyrical, but lyrical makes you analyze, then find songs in a different language. My current playlist features Japanese music, which I have on 8tracks. I use it most often to fall asleep, and it works every time.

2. Watch some yoga relaxation videos.

Yoga has been an amazing way for me to relax, and luckily there's tons of youtube videos for home practice. My personal favorite for relaxing is the corpse pose, and I'll link the video I use. It's the perfect length in my opinion—not long enough to fall asleep to, and not short enough that it doesn't work.

3. Own your space.

Lay on the floor in a place you feel comfortable where you can stretch out, put some headphones in, play some of your favorite music, and sing along. This is more of a cheer-up than relax tip, but sometimes that's what you need. A bit more happy than calm.

4. Have some reading fun.

Find some old picture books and start reading. It's got a nostalgic, calming effect to just lose yourself in the childhood things you love; plus, usually the art and stories are pretty inspiring.

5. Sketch it out.

If you're artistically inclined, or you're comfortable enough with art that it doesn't frustrate you, then do some sketching. Find a comfortable spot and look for something to focus on. It could be a doorknob, a sock on the floor, whatever. But be sure to also tell yourself that this is for fun. It's not a challenge to prove yourself. The quality of the sketch doesn't matter, it's just for the concentration.

Let me know what else you do to relax and de-stress. And, of course, my top recommendation would be to see your doctor and discuss the best way to deal with your anxiety.

Looking forward to 2017 for the books

So yeah...2016 was rough. Blog-wise I had no motivation to update or read cause if you hadn't heard adult life is hard, and then life-wise just...yikes. Went a little news-numb towards the end there cause the bad was constant and overwhelming. So I'm ready to dive back into reading, and I'm hoping this list will give me some incentive.

Anticipated Reads of 2017:

Once and for All by Sarah Dessen (June 6th)

Dessen is an automatic read for me sometimes more for the nostalgia than the plot. Her formula has gotten a bit dull over the years, but I'm hoping maybe this one will break away a bit.

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo (May 30th)

Honestly this just looks like a fun read, and it's got something I've personally never seen in a YA before—K dramas. I've watched a couple and really enjoyed them, so I'm excited to see how it influences a contemporary YA novel.

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth (January 17th)

Her Divergent series didn't really catch my interest, but I absolutely loved her short story, Inertia, so I'm willing to give this one a shot. Also that cover art. It's beauty 100% makes me want to buy it anyway.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon (May 30th)

Another novel with an amazing cover—I absolutely love how it's just so natural looking like a fun Insta photo that you wish you could have been apart of. The plot summary also hints at an opposites-clash-yet-they're meant-to-be cliche, which I'm always on board to read.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (February 28th)

So first of all, I've heard great things about this from Twitter, and actually just learned from the Goodreads summary that it's already had movie rights sold. Wow. But mostly I want to read this because it has important discourse for current events, and novels have always been one of the best ways for me to understand/comprehend oppression in a way I've never personally experienced.

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken (Janurary 3rd)

Yes, this has already come out. And yes, I already have it. But I haven't gotten around to reading it, so I'm still counting it. I put together a review for Passenger, the first in the series, so you can read that to decide if the series sounds appealing to you. (It's so goodddd.)

Caraval by Stephanie Garber (January 31st)

Alright so this is one of those weird ones where I haven't heard a lot of specific things, I've just seen praise for it all over my Twitter feed. I know at least that it's got magic and carnivals happening, and since I liked The Night Circus I'll give it a try.

Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh (May 16th)

Being honest here—I saw the main character was an alchemist and automatically wanted to read it cause of FMA. Sorry not sorry. Continuing past that, it seems like the start of a really badass series, and I've got a strong hunch I'm gonna love the protagonist.

And that's my list! Which I just noticed only has books for the first half of the year...whoops. Anyway, if everything goes as expected (when does it ever), then I'll have a review up for Wayfarer soon. But since I don't trust my lazy self, I've decided I'm also going to start bringing in the "thingamabobs" in my blog name and just share about random stuff. I'm very good at getting suddenly obsessed with new things, so expect the unexpected. I'd plan a post ahead of time and probably scrap it because I'm into something new. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Happy New Year!