That Girl 2024 - Tumblr Posts

motivation when doing new things

introduction:

hey loves! so this year my friends got me to start playing water polo, which is a pretty hard sport. practice is 2 hours and from 7-9, and the whole time i'm there i'm pretty much just struggling. after my first practice i wasn't too excited to go back, and after my second practice i was really upset. i know that this is such a small example, but the point is just that it's hard to stay motivated when you're trying something new, and not that good at it.

finding the courage to start:

trying new things is scary- especially if it's like a team sport or something that involves being around other people. my only piece of advice is just to get out of your comfort zone, even if you're terrified! just know that most people are too focused on their own progress to be paying attention to you- plus some people might think it's cool that you're doing someting new. just don't let your stress hold you back- you'll never know how good you are at something unless you try it.

keeping yourself motivated:

find your 'why'. before you even start something knew you need to really know WHY you're doing it, and why it's important to you.

create a fun routine. before i go to water polo practice i have a whole routine- playing some music, cleaning my room, and having fun while getting ready for it. before i go to any sort of practice i always like to make it something that's fun to get ready for.

repeat positive thoughts. when you try something new you're going to have times when you're doing really bad, and thats normal! the key is acknowledging when your thoughts are toxic and then moving into more positive thinking.

keep track of progress. when i first started the swim team a couple years ago i kept a journal where i'd write the date and progress i made- even if it was little progress like having cleaner dives or dropping half a second on my personal best. it's good to see your progress laid out and it makes you feel prouder of yourself.

conclusion:

anytime you're taking up a new hobby or something, you're always going to have times that you fail or do worse than you expected. the most important thing is overcoming this feeling, and i think that's the real key to success- is to keep pushing and seeing how you can do better. :)

while i don't believe that everything happens for a reason, i do believe that in everything that happens you can learn something and grow, and in that you find reason. whether you learn to overcome a struggle, learn to avoid a mistake, you are still learning and that's important.

even in times of failure, or times when you're wronged, you can still take something away from the situation and use it to better yourself. in my life i can think of things that were embarassing or sad, but i know that in the end i am who i am today becuz everything in my past has shaped me.

My 2024 fig tree

Happy new year! I wish everyone the best of luck in completing their goals.

I drew a moodboard in the form of a fig tree, based on Plath's fig tree analogy. The idea is that I pick as many figs as I can in 2024. Some of my goals aren't meant as careers and are just basic things to improve my health or well-being.

My figs are:

Continue using Habitica to track my progress and get inspiration for new challenges

Read 24 books (around 7 books for school, 2 books about science, 3 French books that are not for school, 1 audiobook, 2 poetry collections and 9 other books of choice)

Get better sleep by going earlier to bed, waking up earlier, avoiding my phone in the early morning and late evening, having a morning and night routine and by logging how much I slept, used my phone and how much I read.

Clean my room daily

Use sundays to prepare for the week (outfits + weekly reflection)

Practise the piano daily, experiment with making my own music and discover new music

Watch at least one film each month, reflect on it and experiment with writing my own script

Read at least 2 books about science

Learn every week a new bit of ancient Greek (grammer or a new text) and review daily

Write an outline for a novel and write 6 poems.

Post more on this blog (I am thinking about using it as a girlblog and posting every two weeks)

Make nice memories with new people and record it in a diary

Finish my homework a few days before the deadline and review new material beforehand.

Exercise a little bit every morning and begin learning ballet online

Image from the film 'Black Swan' (found on Pinterest)

“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig-tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and off-beat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig-tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar