Tag: Reading

Book Club

Book Club: The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

by brettesblissLeave a Comment on Book Club: The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo
Book Club: The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo

The Way You Make Me Feel

By Maurene Goo

Published August 2018

I borrowed this book from my local library’s young adult section. Get a library card and use it!

This review may include spoilers. I don’t do “number” or “star” ratings because I think those systems are arbitrary and vague.

The first half gave me the warm and fuzzies about friendship, the second half made me kick my feet and squeal like a teenager because it was so cute!

First of all, this book was Continue reading “Book Club: The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo” →

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week three

by brettesbliss5 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week three
Phone Addiction Update: Week three

Challenge: No using my phone while doing other things (eating, watching tv, writing)

Hours spent this week using my phone: 26 hours and 39 minutes or 12 hours and 57 minutes (subtracting maps and youTube since I technically wasn’t using my phone)

Most used apps: Maps and Youtube

How it went:

After the disaster that was last week, this week went a lot better. I didn’t use my phone for social media much while we were on our trip, I made a total of two posts before today and I wasn’t scrolling through Pinterest or Tumblr for hours a day. I didn’t do so well on not using my phone while eating because most of our days were planned during breakfast. We didn’t watch TV and most of my writing was done yesterday. I think this week was successful, mostly in part because I was on a road trip.

Since we were on a road trip this week, most of my phone usage is for YouTube (music) and maps. The data is a bit skewed this week.

How I’m feeling:

I’m feeling really good about this week. Really good. I plan to implement what I’ve been practicing in the last three weeks in the imminent future and work on the things I struggled with.

Concluding thoughts:

I hope to really kick this phone addiction to the curb because I really hate that I’m always one my phone. What really gets me now is how much I see other people using their phones because its so easy to see other people doing it and to want to do it yourself. I think in the end, the most difficult part of doing the challenge is seeing your friends and peers using their phones in front of you while you are consciously trying not to. I feel good about this whole experience. I’m ready to take what I’ve started and move forward with it. I’m excited to see what I can accomplish in the future!

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week two

by brettesbliss4 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week two
Phone Addiction Update: Week two

Challenge: phone ban between the 8 pm and 8 am.

Hours spent this week using my phone: 18 hours and 11 minutes

Most used apps: Pinterest, 6 hours, 35 minutes

How it went:

I was right, like I suspected in last week’s post, this week was very hard. I think I was too ambitious. Not using my phone after 8pm was the hardest part. I can manage not using my phone in the morning before 8am, that was simple and easy. I think for week three, I will change the ban to between 9:30pm and 8am. I wanted it to start two hours before bed and one before I had to be anywhere in the mornings. I generally go to bed around 10:30, so an hour is a good place to start and eventually I can work up to two hours. When classes start at the end of this month, I will have to adjust again too.

How I’m feeling:

I can confidently say I failed this part of the challenge. I know where it went wrong and I am ready to work on it.

Come back next Saturday for an update on week three: No using my phone while doing other things (eating, watching tv, writing).

Habits, Simple Life Series

Phone Addiction Update: Week one

by brettesbliss2 Comments on Phone Addiction Update: Week one
Phone Addiction Update: Week one

Challenge: My phone does not go to bed with me.

Hours spent this week using my phone: 19 hours 40 minutes

Most used app: Pinterest, 6 hours 2 minutes

How it went:

This is the first week of my phone addiction challenge and it was surprisingly easy to not take my phone to bed with me. I have a basket on my desk where I empty my bag into and I just set my phone in there before bed and don’t pull it out until I get out of bed in the morning.

I had all four of my wisdom teeth extracted Tuesday of this week and I had done great with not taking my phone to bed up until Thursday. I’m literally writing this portion of the update while in bed. I was under the impression that I would be feeling back to normal by Friday. Well its Friday night and I still feel like garbage and I’m struggling to not take my phone to bed for naps and bed time.

Update: Successfully put my phone in the basket before bed. Then got up and got it around 3 am because of a nightmare.

How I’m feeling:

Aside from the wisdom tooth removal, I feel really good about the beginning of my journey to beat my phone addiction. I think starting out simple and easy was a good plan and while it didn’t work out perfectly due to poor planning on my part (or an innate cruelty towards myself) I think I’m off to a solid start.

Regardless of it all, I spent fewer than 20 hours on my phone this week and I’m pretty happy with that.

Next week is going to be the hardest week I think.

Come back next Saturday for an update on week two: phone ban between the 8 pm and 8 am.

Habits

How To Read More Often

by brettesbliss8 Comments on How To Read More Often
How To Read More Often

I used to read a lot. I mean constantly. I grew up in a house without cell phone service and all the computers were in public areas. In order to spend quiet time alone, I had to read in my bedroom. I remember my mother banning me from reading when I was enthralled with the Inkheart series as a kid because I was foregoing household responsibilities to read. Now that I work and I am a student, I find it difficult to read for pleasure as often as I used to. I had to ask myself why I don’t read more? Why was it so hard for me to pick up a book and just read it? In my quest to read more books and to read more often, I came to a few realizations: I had become a book collector, not a reader; I was caught up in what I “Should be reading” and not what I wanted to read; and I was comparing what I was reading to what everyone else was reading. After reflecting on these three things, I learned a few things about how to read more books, and how to read more often. I have read more in the last few months than I had in years. 

Reading is a fantastic way to learn, increase your vocabulary, gain more perspectives, keep the mind young, and it’s downright relaxing and entertaining. I was caught up in how successful people take time to read and how many if not all good authors read a lot to learn more about writing. What I had forgotten was the nostalgic feelings I get when I curl up with a book to read with the intention to finish it in one or a few sittings. I used to love to read and I feel guilty for not reading more and reading more often. So why was I not reading more often? Especially if I loved it as much as I thought I did.

Why didn’t I read more?

I became a book collector, not a reader.

I had convinced myself at one point that future Brette had an extensive personal library at her disposal where she would collect all the books she had ever read and books she was going to read. After I started moving towards a minimalist lifestyle, I realized, in my already relatively large book collection, there were so many books I had yet to read and probably never would read. Future Brette had changed, yet I was still moving towards what I used to want, not what I want now. I was collecting books for the sake of having books. I was buying a new book or three every time I went to the thrift store and telling myself I “would read it one day.” I had a massive Amazon wish list for books and was purchasing books like crazy. The hard truth is that I was lying to myself. I was never going to read those “literary classics” that everyone is supposed to read but are actually god awful. But they littered my shelves. I had books that were completely out of my interests that I thought I would suddenly become the kind of person who enjoyed those books if I owned them. Continue reading “How To Read More Often” →

Habits, Simple Life Series

I’m Kicking My Phone Addiction

by brettesbliss2 Comments on I’m Kicking My Phone Addiction
I’m Kicking My Phone Addiction

I am the first to admit that I have an addictive personality. Like many people my age, I am addicted to my phone. I spend a lot of time on Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, and YouTube. When I became aware of the amount of time I spent on my phone and how much of my life it consumed, I downloaded the app QualityTime and began tracking my phone usage. I decided for a period of time, I would just let the app track my time. Everyday it gives me a summary of my daily activity and every week is tells me the total hours I spent on my phone and the division of time between the apps I used. After about two months of tracking my usage, I can definitely say I have some form of phone addiction.

Continue reading “I’m Kicking My Phone Addiction” →