Hello, people of the interweb!


I hope you're doing good! So the past two months went by super fast. I didn't get enough time to write more blog posts here. Amidst the internship, college farewell, my birthday and last finals of my college life, the time somehow passed into the oblivion and seemed very little.

Also, I have been feeling kind of disillusioned for the past month or so. I wasn't able to put a finger on what the reason could possibly be for some time but now I know the reason for the dark gloomy clouds hovering around me, the ones keeping me from getting peaceful sleep at night. And the answer is not too astonishing. Heavy social media consumption was driving the halcyon days away from me.

The way social media has occupied our life is admirable and reprehensible at the same time. Picture this! You're out with your friends and it's all fun and games until one of you decides to take a picture for Instagram. Now, don't get me wrong! There is absolutely nothing wrong with clicking a picture to share it on Instagram. The problem begins when all you end up doing throughout that forty or fifty minute fun time with your friends is click pictures. Only and only pictures along with indulging in a bit of a small talk while the entire "fun time" with your friends converts into a "photo-shoot" session. And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

image source: Google

Slowly and gradually, you find yourself doing things solely to share it on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or Snapchat. All of this just to prove the world how genial your life is. After all, that's what everybody else is doing ( or posting, rather). The wide smiling faces of people, the pictures with captions "#couplegoals" or "#bffgoals" and the lengthy love and friendship declarations, when observed without the shadow of these social media platforms tend to seem empty.

The lengthy, heartfelt love and friendship declarations on social media platforms are often one-word answers and forced small talks interwoven with bitterness in reality.The wide smiling faces on Instagram don't even share an exchange of glance in reality. The best friends forever on Instagram are backstabbing each other offline.The perfect couples on social media don't even talk to each other for days in reality.

The Social media is playing its dirty game on you when you hang out with friends just to be able to show to the social media world how cool and far from desolation your life is, when you determine your self-worth based solely on the likes or the number of followers you do or don't have, when you post every little thing that happens in a day online, when you hire a professional photographer to click your pictures for Facebook or Instagram (because people who don't post the DSLR quality pictures online are clearly missing out on all those "likes" and "hearts"), when you stalk everyone too much, when you feel sad because others seem to have it all figured out( or at least that's how it seems online), when you compare your life to the lives of the other people, or when you start posting fake pictures online to show how much fun you're having in your life and so forth.

Image source: Google

The main objective of social media is to connect people together but is it really connecting people together? I feel like it's disconnecting people, it's making people distant from each other.

It is not a common sight to find people stuck to their mobile phones' or tablets' screens while sitting in a restaurant waiting for their food to arrive. In my opinion, social media helps us connect to people who are out of our reach but disconnects us from the people within our reach. I want to go back to the time when sharing laughs with each other was not for the sake of posing for an Instagram picture. Take me back to the time when people expressed their feelings to each other in person, not on some social media platform. The time where photographs were clicked only to keep the memory of the special occasions and not for flaunting to the people who do not even care about you. The time when people did things because they wanted to and not because they want to post about it later online.

Using too much social media has made me realize that the life of people on social media is very different from their actual life. I read a quote that said, "The best moments of my life don't make it to social media". And I hope that it would hold true for me.

So that's it for this blog post. These are just my raw and unstructured opinions at the moment. Let me know your thoughts below.

Thank you for reading!

With love,
Natasha

Hello people of the interweb!


So today I decided to write about something that has been bothering me for a llloooonngg time now. And that is people's dangerous levels of ill-mannered behavior. 

When I overheard people talking about these things in a casual and humorous way, it made my blood boil and broke my heart because what these people fail to understand is that words have the power to poke sharper than a needle. And they can either break someone or make someone. And most of these were not even addressed to me but they still managed to infuriate me. 

So when these ignorant souls open their mouth to show themselves superior to everybody else I follow these steps:
1. I try to calm myself down from strangling them.
2. I try to knock some sense into them.
3. And if the second step is not possible then..
4. I try to spread awareness about it. So that other people can learn to taste their words before spitting them out.

That being said, here is a list of things I have heard people say that makes me want to gouge their eyes out and feed them to vultures:

image source: Google

1. "Girls who wear clothes like that and live like that kind of ask for it". A comment made by a woman( who must be in her 40s ) for a rape victim.

"She could have dressed properly and taken more precautions when she knows what kind of people live in our country. Not to blame the victim, but she was really careless". A comment made by a 15 year old school going girl for a rape victim.

What I want to say to these two people mentioned above: First of all, I would ask them a question and that question is "Do you read news at all? Or do you live under a rock?" Because the last time I checked, a new born baby girl was raped by a man in his 20s. A 5 year old girl got raped by her van driver. An 11 year old was raped by a man in his 60s!! So were these girls wearing the clothes a little too provocative that made these low-lives lose control and scar the lives of these poor souls with their sickness? Also, can we please stop blaming the victim for everything and start talking about the absolute diabolic behavior of these miscreants? 

No matter what a girl wears or whatever she does with her life, NOBODY and I repeat, NOBODY has the right to touch her or do anything to her without her consent. That word, CONSENT is important. Ingrain it in your mind and don't talk like a bloody ignorant. Oh wait! You talk like that because you are a bloody ignorant!

And also, saying something like "not to blame the victim, but...*goes ahead and blames the victim* " is so stupid! Because guess what? You are not fooling anybody. If you think saying something like "Not to blame the victim" will keep you out of trouble then you are mistaken. Because adding that 'but' nullifies everything said before it! And if there was anybody who was careless then it was that loser and it's HIGH TIME that you educate yourself!

"It's these poor innocent salwar-kameez wearing girls who get raped the most and all those other kind of girls who wear mini skirts and go to discos all the time never get raped".

Here's what I want to say:  Okay so, Wikipedia defines rape as "Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without that person's consent." Nowhere does it says *Terms and conditions apply - a girl who goes to nightclubs and wears skirts or shorts or dress or anything that shows her skin has no right to cry about anything if she gets raped.

So next time you open your mouth to say something as offensive as that how about instead of preaching others you take time out of your life to actually preach and educate yourself?


2. "OMG! Don't be such a gay!"

" Yuck! That's so gay-like!"

"Not trying to be mean or anything but he seems kinda gay"

"She's such a lesbian!"

Any sentence that has the words "Gud" "meetha" "faggot" "homo" "fag hag" "fag stag" in them.

Image source: Google

These statements are so commonly heard it's kind of heart breaking. I had a loser friend (extremely loser) who actually used the word "gud" in front of me. But he kind of mumbled it thinking that I couldn't make it out. He used that for a guy who was really good looking but he was wearing tight jeans. And I was totally baffled! Because a) you have NO RIGHT to comment on someone's sexual orientation. b) He assumed that the guy was gay because that guy was wearing "tight" jeans!!!!

Also, let's stop using "gay" or "lesbian" as if it's a derogatory word! You never hear anyone say "Yuck! What a straight person!" or "Don't be such a straight!". With so much awareness going around regarding the LGBT community, it's extremely shameful that people still use words like those,behave like that and are homophobic assholes! Oppressing someone or treating someone like they are a piece of garbage does not reflect anything about them but it reflects everything about you. So drop the labels already because they are human beings just like anybody else.



3. "She's not even that pretty! God knows what guys find so appealing about her!"

"She's average! Not worth the hype!"

"She probably sleeps around with guys that's why guys find her so attractive".

Image source: Google

What I want to say to these people: Your ideal definition of beauty does not make a person pretty or not pretty. It is not the only one that exists. People find different features attractive. Just because you think long black hair, pointy nose and fair color is beautiful does not mean that a person who doesn't have those characteristics is 'average' or 'not worth the hype'. Some like blue hair, some like dusky dark skin toned people but it does not mean that all the other people in the world who doesn't have them are ugly. You have NO RIGHT to classify a person as pretty or non-pretty so please stop being so self-absorbed. And about the "she probably sleeps around with guys" part, how jealous can you be?



4. "Don't be such a girl!" Comment made by a guy calling his guy friend a girl because he was crying.

"You don't know how to cook? But you're a girl!" A comment made by a lot of people. I have even heard a lot of girls in my college pass this remark.

"You should help around the house. You're a girl after all!" A comment made by one of my relatives.

Image source: Google

Now usually when someone passes a remark like that, all hell breaks loose! I turn into a loose cannon. But if I don't get the opportunity to knock sense into such people then I get super bummed for the rest of the day. Because I am a girl. And NO. I AM NOT WEAK OR USELESS just because I am a girl. Girls are not derogatory terms. So please don't use it like that. Also, GIRLS are not the only ones who should be helping around the house unless they live alone there. If  women and men live together in a house then it is the responsibility of everyone who lives in that house to HELP AROUND THE HOUSE. Also, cooking? The rule is simple: Learn to cook food because you are a human being and humans need food to survive and there are going to be a lot of times in the future when you are going to have to cook food for yourself so yeah GIRLS are not the only ones who should learn to cook.

Don't just be a literate. Educate yourself. PPPUUULLLEASSSEEEEEEEEEEEEE.



5. "I am not even a feminist bitch but I think women should not be treated like that".

    "Feminists think women are superior to men".

    "Feminists are ugly, fat women who don't get guys so they keep lamenting about their loneliness in the name of equal rights"

    "Those feminist kind of girls should be taught a lesson. They got too much attitude".

Image source: Google

What I want to say to these people: Do you know how to read and write? If you do, then go to google. Type feminism. And here's the definition you'll find.

"Feminism is a range of political movements, ideologies, and social movements that share a common goal: to define and advance political, economic, personal, and social rights for women.^[1][2] This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment." (source: Wikipedia )

Do you see the word "equal opportunities"? It means "same" opportunities as men. Not any less. And certainly not any MORE. So all of you people out there who assume that feminists consider themselves superior to men can take a hike. Also, FEMINISTS BITCH? If a woman is strong and confident enough to be able to point out the wrong done to her then it doesn't make her a bitch. 

I guess, bitch was a word invented by men who thought all the girls are supposed to act like a doormat and if she knows what's right for her then she's a bitch because guess what? She's not a doormat. 

They can't control a girl like that. And the fact that you are putting too much stress on your shallow brain to come up with things like "Feminists are fat, ugly women" in itself proves that such people are not okay with women having equal rights.

And to the girls who hesitate in calling themselves feminists because they are scared of 'who is going to date me then?', 'I have an image to maintain in front of guys and 'they won't like me if I call myself a feminist'. Please respect yourself enough to know that you are adequate on your own and you don't need a guy like that ( who would not date you because you are a feminist).

6. "She's as flat as a pancake! Why does she even wear a bra?" Comment made by A LOT OF GUYS.

"That girl has no ass and no boobs!! I would never want to have sex with her" A comment made by A LOT OF GUYS.

 "Her boobs are way too big! She looks like a porn star!"  A comment made by a LOT OF GUYS.

Image source: Google

And I am telling you that it is absolutely insane the amount of time an average guy spends in analyzing or talking about girls' boob size. I have even overheard guys talk about the color of this one girls' nipples in the most obscene way possible. I was not even the girl whom they were talking about and yet I felt super uncomfortable immediately. 

What I really wish that guys would understand is the fact that GIRLS ARE HUMAN BEINGS. Please start treating girls with respect. They are not toys. Girls are not put on this earth for you. No one out there exists to please you. NO ONE. You have NO RIGHT to comment something like that about anyone's physical appearance. You don't get to decide what's okay about a person and what's not.

And to girls who think a guy wouldn't date them because they have small boobs or big boobs or small ass or big ass, here's what I have to say to you: 

If a guy calls you flat-chested or flat ass or big chested or whatever the heck it is that he calls you (offensively of course) FLICK THESE GUYS OFF. They are lower than the lowest. No decent and educated guy would ever make a comment like that EVER. Why would you want to date someone who only wants you for your boobs or for your ass? That is the most stupid thing I have ever heard in my entire life. What guys think about your body should never matter to you because these kind of guys are immature pricks and they are the ones who usually end up with no one at all. And if they do, God bless that poor girl's soul.



7. "You haven't watched porn ever? How do you know about sex then?"

Image source: Google

Let me just begin this by saying that, I am a pretty socially aware person and it's one of those things that I love about myself. And the whole "how do you know about sex?" part is so stupid. So cringe worthy. Porn is not a sex education class. Porn industry is prostitution on camera. Rape on camera. Sexual molestation on camera. And worse things behind the camera. Those women are treated in the most disgusting manner possible. Every time you click on a porn video, you are demanding for more women to be sexually abused and molested.
 
So there it is. I did not want to make it too long. I would like to mention that there was a time when even I would have said some of these things because I did not know any better. But now I do. I made myself aware of all of these things. 

And when I realized that what I was made to believe in by the society was wrong, I corrected myself. I worked on myself to be a better and more well-informed person. And I am glad that I am able to stand up for myself when I want to because that wasn't the case a lot of the times before. I wish people  could have a more open mind towards these things because in this day and age, where a lot of good things are happening, it fills my heart with despair to write that a lot of bad things are happening at the same if not more alarming rate.

That's it for this blog post.


Hope you enjoyed reading.

With lots of love,
Natasha

Hello people of the interweb! 

So today I will be reviewing a hand cream that I am absolutely obsessed with. It smells heavenly and it's perfect for the spring season. I am talking about The Face Shop daily perfumed hand cream in the scent "Cherry Blossom" ( I told you it's perfect for the spring season). I love using hand creams because unlike regular lotions they are usually more creamy in consistency so they help moisturize my dry hands really well.  I believe this brand launched its products in India last year (but don't quote me on it).And this brand has raving reviews online so far, hence, I figured I'll give it a try myself. So let's get onto the review now! 


THE FACE SHOP DAILY PERFUMED HAND CREAM ( CHERRY BLOSSOM )

PACKAGING: 

So as you can tell it's a 30 ml sized tube which has a squeeze top black cap and the tube is baby pink in color. Because it's a small sized tube it's extremely travel friendly. And I love the overall packaging! I think it looks very pretty.

PRICE:  240 INR 


INGREDIENTS: 

MY REVIEW: 

I love it! It smells amazing ( kind of like a shampoo but it's definitely not off-putting in any way)! It's white in color and  neither too runny nor too thick which makes it perfect (especially for this time of the year). I don't like using hand creams that makes my hand extremely oily or slippery and this does a great job in not doing any of that. It leaves a nice sheen on my hand after I am done applying it ( as you can tell by looking at the second photo down below). And it makes my hands extremely soft. I love the way my hands feel after using this! 

The scent lingers for about 3-4 hours. And it needs reapplication after 4-5 hours for my extremely dry skin. If you have oily skin, then this would moisturize your hands for a longer period of time. Now let's break it down into pros and cons:

PROS:

1. Smells amazing

2. Easily available online (check Nykaa or amazon)

3. Good at moisturizing

4. Light weight and non-greasy

5. Absorbs quickly into the skin

6. Good for all year round

7. No parabens

8.Scent stays on for decent amount of time (without being over-powering) 


CONS:

1. Availability

2. It is tested on animals 


OVERALL RATING: 4/5 ( as it's not cruelty free)


So that was it! I love this hand cream! And I highly recommend it. 

I hope you enjoyed reading this!


With lots of love,
Natasha  

Hello people of the interweb!


So, it's February! The month of love. And today, I watched a movie that got me thinking of what love means to me. I have come to terms with the fact that not everyone is capable of loving. The act of loving someone with all their heart is not something that everyone is blessed with. Love is very similar to passion, I believe. Just like, some people don't have any passion in their lives, a lot don't have the ability to love (and it's a very sad thing but it's true). And the more I see it, the more well-grounded it becomes. I am not just talking about "Romeo and Juliet" kind of love. I am talking about love in all its great forms.

Image source: Google

Love to me is a combination of million little things and a lot of big things. As little and simple as walking you home or remembering the little details and as big as doing the chores and cleaning the entire house for you (or standing outside your house with a boombox playing "in your eyes" by Peter Gabriel). I strongly believe that there needs to be a balance that way.

When you love someone, you want to make them feel comfortable in every way possible. You want them to feel loved all the time. You want to see them happy. And like really, really HAPPY (so happy that they get sick of being happy every once in a while). You understand them and you never force them to do things they are not comfortable doing. You don't make them feel unwanted. You apologize through your actions and not by just saying sorry. You always stand up for them. You always want to encourage them ( even if you gave them a pep talk not more than 5 minutes ago). You want to make them feel special through your actions. You are patient with them. You cannot be mean to them no matter how hard you try to be. You cannot be mad at them for more than 4 hours (and those 4 hours are just excruciating ). You go out of your comfort zone for them ( you despise pie but she spent an hour making it and still butchered it? No problem! In the stomach it goes). You cannot help but get angry when someone speaks shit about them. You want them to be confident. You want to see them achieve heights. You are always there to carry them when they fall down. You don't make them feel scared of talking to you. You don't look at them through the eyes of society (and this is so important). You know they are unique. You want to hug them all the time. You want to kiss them all the time. And more than anything, you want them to never ever question their value in this world.

You know it's easy to say you love someone. So many people say it all the time. It's kind of funny that they don't even realize that this word that they are using all the time is of such high value.

"Don't go about getting too passionate", they say. But how can I love someone if it's not passionate "can't sleep, can't eat, can't breathe, my life sucks without you" kind of love? "Don't lose sense of practicality because of love", they say. But what is being practical anyway? And is the definition same for everyone? "Don't make it your number one priority", they say. But why fall in love if it's not your number one priority? Love shouldn't even be considered to be put in the top three priorities section in your mind. It just needs to be there. Succeeding all the other things and the priorities, always.

And you might roll your eyes at me and call me dreamy and hopeless romantic but I don't want to be in love if it's not the "give your everything into it" kind of love. The whole "go out on a date, have sex, never call each other up" notion or "forget about your parents once you are an adult but check up on them every once in awhile" kind of love is not up my alley. I am not about that life. I have been with people in my life who said they loved me but they never did. I have been with people in my life who thought they are capable of loving but they are just too apathetic to be capable of something like that. They loved the idea of loving someone because of what they get in exchange but don't really have it in them to love someone. And it got me bitter about a lot of things in my life, but surprisingly, loving someone didn't turn out to be one of them. I guess, I am just hopelessly full of love that way. And I am proud of the fact that when I love someone, I want them to have everything in their lives. There is no competition. There are no hidden harsh feelings. I just love them. Completely and utterly for who they are (unless they turn out to be a criminal or a sex predator, that's a whole another scenario then). I am the kind of person who'd be willing to go out with you at 3 AM searching for food (even if I know there is no point searching for it that late) and talk about absolute crap if I love you.

That's what love means to me. And of course, I would like to stress here that don't love someone if they don't love you back. Let go of them. Love yourself too. Because just like I stated, love is this very big priceless thing to offer to someone. And you wouldn't go about offering priceless things to a complete moron would you ( or to someone who does not want it). And I know sometimes morons get lucky, but don't let that bitter you. You keep your shiny gleaming hope of love constant. We spend our lives doing a lot of mediocre things, just don't let love be one of them. I hope "I" won't let love be one of them. So "That can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars,over the fence, world series kind of, love?" Totally!

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

And have a very happy Valentine's Day!

Love,
Natasha

Hello people of the interweb!


How is 2017 treating you? I hope good! My days have been going pretty good so far. So today, I decided to write a skin care related blog post. My skin suffered a major breakout phase as I used a product that my skin didn't like so I decided to use these products and I have been using them for over a month now and I absolutely love them. 

They are great for my super sensitive skin which reacts to anything and everything that I use on it. So I figured why not share them with you people. 

Okay now let's talk a bit about what my skin type is. I have very dry and extremely sensitive skin. Anything that is heavily scented reacts pretty badly to it and causes huge red zits. So, that being said I prefer to use products that are fragrance free. But there are not a lot of products in Indian market that are fragrance free. So I decided to look up on Amazon and I found this very famous brand ( that I have seen a lot of other beauty bloggers mention about as well) "CETAPHIL". So I decided to give it a try as it was affordable and also had certain good chemicals in it ( and yes, there is such a thing as "good chemicals" ).

So I bought the Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser, Cetaphil moisturizing cream and the Cetaphil daily advance ultra hydrating lotion. 

1 .CETAPHIL GENTLE SKIN CLEANSER


PRICE: 390 Rs for 250 ml ( you can also check the 125 ml one which is under 250 Rs )

MY REVIEW:

•  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CLEANSER! It is extremely gentle on your skin and it doesn't strip off the natural moisture from your skin. It also leaves my skin feeling extremely smooth and soft. 

• It has shiny white milky consistency and it almost looks like water when applied on skin but it does the job of getting rid of all the gunk off of your face pretty well.

• I prefer to use it on dry face and then wash it as opposed to wet face but you can use it whichever way your heart desires. 

I read some people's complaints that it leaves a greasy residue on their face after they are done cleaning their face so I was kind of sceptical about this product in the beginning because nobody likes that greasy residue feeling on their face but I am happy to report that it did not do anything like that to my skin. 

PROS: 

• It has NO FRAGRANCE which is one of the best things about this product. 
• It is non-comedogenic which means it won't clog your pores. 
• It has a pH of 6.3-6.5 which is very close to the normal pH of your skin so it doesn't disrupt your skin's natural pH. 
• It is non-irritating.
• It is said that it is safe to use this product even on babies
• It has Cetyl alcohol which is considered a good alcohol.
• It can be used by all skin types. 

CONS:

• It has parabens. 
• It is tested on animals.

MY OVERALL RATING: 4 stars ( Not 5 because it is tested on animals and has parabens)

2.CETAPHIL DAILY ADVANCE ULTRA HYDRATING LOTION

PRICE: 338 Rs for 100 g ( But I got mine for 320 on Amazon so always check Amazon )

MY REVIEW: 

• This is my holy grail moisturizer now. It is light on skin so it doesn't leave that heavy greasy feeling on your skin that usually moisturizers do but that doesn't mean it sucks at moisturizing your skin. It says that is meant to provide intense moisture for dry, sensitive skin and it is totally true to its claims. 

• It is white in color and it spreads pretty easily on the skin. 

PROS:

• It is non-greasy.
• It is non-comedogenic so it won't clog your pores.
• It is fragrance free.
• Small amount goes a long way.
• Affordable price.
• It has good alcohols in it.
• No parabens.

CONS:

• It is tested on animals.
• It is not easily available in the market.

MY OVERALL RATING: 4.5 stars



3. CETAPHIL MOISTURIZING CREAM


PRICE: 326 Rs for 80 g

MY REVIEW:

•  It is a good product but I don't love it as much as I love the other 2 products. And the reason for that being that it leaves a little bit of that greasy feeling on your skin that typically moisturizers do. But it does the job of moisturizing your skin well. 

• It has a waxy consistency so it doesn't spread easily on the skin. 

PROS: 

• It has good alcohols in it
• No parabens.
• Fragrance free. 
• Great for people with extremely dry skin (especially during winters).

CONS:

• It is a little greasy so definitely not good for people with oily skin.
• It is tested on animals.
• It is not easily available in the market. 

MY OVERALL RATING:  3.8 stars 


So those were all the products that I use on my face. They are super gentle and great for sensitive skin and I would highly recommend them for people with highly sensitive and dry skin. My mom has really sensitive skin too (even more than mine ) and even she likes these products a lot. Check them out on amazon as they are always available at a discounted price there. I'll include the links in case you want to buy them.

LINKS:

•  Cetaphil advance ultra hydrating lotion
• Cetaphil moisturizing cream
• Cetaphil gentle skin cleanser

So that is all.I hope this helped.

And I hope you enjoyed reading this. 

Lots of love,
Natasha 

Hello, people of the interweb!

So it's 24th December 2016. And only 7 days 171 hours 10266 minutes and 615971 seconds to go before the clock strikes 12 and we start making those typical "date mistakes" ( you know writing '16 when it should be '17 ). So in the honor of approaching the new year, I decided to write a blog post related to the new year. Now as you can tell by the title it's going to be a "setting goals for new year" kind of a blog post.

And yes, I totally see you rolling your eyeballs there and thinking "well isn't that very typical of you, Natasha?" and "Everyone does that but they never follow through" and "Get out! That's boring!" but hey! Calm down! Because what people don't realize is that there is some sort of magical goodness related to this whole process of setting goals for the new year. Because when you set goals, you believe that with the new year comes a whole set of new opportunities to make things right for you, to have a fresh start at things, and to be able to live again the way you wanted to.

I don't know about you people, but the motivation-meter in my body reaches an exceedingly high point during the onset of the new year. And even if that "exceedingly high point" comes down to not so "exceedingly high point" after a while, I would still love to do this for I don't feel there is a better rush than the one when my heart and my mind is filled to the brim with that twinkling hope that the new year brings along with it.

Okay so enough with the introduction let's get on with it.

1.  TO WRITE MORE HERE

Image source: Google

I LOVE WRITING!!! It calms me down. More than anything, it makes me happy. And in this year, I wrote only 6 blog posts. So I guess you can tell that I haven't been that active here because of how occupied I was throughout this whole year in another kind of things that I didn't get much time to write for myself ( and also because the procrastinator in me was trying to reach its maximum potential). So that is my number one goal this year. To write more. I might even get myself a fancy new website ( how cool right?). At least that's what I have on my mind but let's not count those eggs before they are hatched.

2. TO READ MORE

Image source: Google

Okay, so I managed to read only 20 books this year which is not THAT bad given how absolutely occupied this year has been. That being said, I want to read more books, more articles, more blogs and I just want to read more overall in the upcoming year.

3.SAVE MORE MONEY

Image source: Google

My entire money, literally every single penny that I managed to get was wasted in food. And even though I enjoyed it at that moment, I really regretted it later ( because that food was not even healthy, to begin with ).  So I want to save more money in the new year. And I want to spend that money on meaningful things like books, quality skincare products, quality makeup, quality hair care ( does "quality" sounds annoying yet? ) and "quality" food ( now? ).

4. GET ORGANIZED

Image source: Google

YES! I want to be more organized. Because I read somewhere that "clutter is the physical manifestation of the unmade decisions fueled by procrastination" ( boring much? ) ( but it's true).
Being organized has tons of benefits that come along with it. Like, it makes you feel very productive and you are able to manage your plans efficiently and for more benefits check google ( yes I just wrote that). So guess who's going to be ordering one of those colorful and pretty organizers on Amazon?

5. BE A MORNING PERSON

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Okay! So, here's the truth. This " be a morning person" goal has been there in my 2014 new year resolutions list, 2015 new year resolutions list, 2016 new year resolutions list and now it's making its way to "2017 new year resolutions list" ( embarrassing much?). But I am not the one to give up ( casually covering up my failure to succeed with my ability to never give up here). So here it is again. "BE A MORNING PERSON" ( duly noted ).

6. BYE BYE TO NEGATIVE PEOPLE

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Let me tell you, I have been very successful this year to keep all the negative people at bay. I did not let them get to me at all. And I would like to keep up with that in 2017 as well.

7.COOK MORE

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I want to learn to cook good food. And to cook "more" of that good food. So that's that.

8. DO SOMETHING EXTREMELY SELFLESS

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It's tough but it is also extremely liberating and hence it's on the list.

9. BE HONEST WITH MYSELF AND OTHERS

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Honesty is such an important part of any relationship. When you are honest with others about your feelings, you create more space for yourself and others in your heart because you don't have to carry that baggage anymore. To sum it up "If you tell a truth, it becomes a part of your past, if you tell a lie, it becomes a part of your future".

10. TO LOVE ME MORE

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"Love yourself like you're not waiting for someone else to do it".  Yes! Do this!

11.FOCUS ON YOUR OWN GRASS

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That is pretty self-explanatory I guess? Why do you care what the other person is doing with his or her life? or "how much does he/she earn?" or "how long has she/he been single for?" or "what does his/her parents do?". Seriously, why do you care? I mean seriously, how basic can you be? Focus on yourself and your life will be so much better. And again, I have been pretty consistent with focusing on myself this year and that's what I intend on doing the upcoming year as well.

12. EXERCISE MORE

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No! I'm not talking about cardio! ( but again if that's what is going to help you then YOU DO YOU! )
Just exercise. Stay fit and healthy. Jog in the morning. Do light stretching workouts and strengthening exercises. That kind of thing.

13. BE INDEPENDENT

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Do it all by yourself for yourself. ( You feelin'? )

14.STOP FEELING LIKE YOU OWE KINDNESS TO PEOPLE

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Some people just don't deserve it. They seriously don't! I don't know why but this is always the hardest concept for my mind to grasp and I have hurt myself a lot in this process. And even though I managed to not treat unkind people with kindness this year, I still haven't hit that 180 yet. I have hit like 140 (or 160 rather). 
For instance, I recently helped this person out( someone who only comes to me asking for help. Other than that, this person loves to indulge in small talks so that it doesn't seem too obvious that she/he is only there for selfish reasons). I helped her/him out with his/her problems when she/he clearly has never ever been there for me EVER. I consoled her /him for hours. Helped her/him figure things out. Just because I feel like I owe kindness to people. Why? That is something that I need to figure out. So yeah it's on the list.

15. TO APPRECIATE LIFE AND THE CHALLENGES IT THROWS

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Every problem that you face in life is there to teach you a really valuable lesson and to make you a stronger person. And I really believe in that with all my heart. So instead of getting bogged down by the tough times in 2017, I would like to stand tall and firm for there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Some people just end up getting longer tunnels than the others.


Sooo... that is all. Those are all the goals that I want to achieve this year. And I know they cannot be achieved overnight or even over a month. Hence, I will be taking one step at a time. And just so we are clear, beginning of the new year is not the only time when you can make things right. You can make things right anytime that you want to (you know this right? C'mon! You should know this!). Everyone has a different way of celebrating the onset of the new year. This just happens to be mine. So keep reading those "12 new chapters, 365 new chances" and "this is your year to sparkle" kind of quotes because god knows they are what keeps us sane.

And to anybody who thinks I'm going to fail or this is too basic or too boring..this is what I have got to say to you,"Girl! (or guy!) There is no way that I am letting you dull my sparkle!".

I hope you enjoyed reading this! And hey! A very happy new year to you and your family!

Lots of love,
Natasha