BUSY

 

Custom Ketchup Tee, Herschel Backpack

I've spent the last few days of my vacation winding down and settling into my new home in Brooklyn. I can't think of a better way to close a vacation than jumping on a trampolines with 4 year olds, listening to Asobi Seksu records, and eating roasted bone marrow for breakfast. I even had some time to obsessively pine over minimal industrial interiors and DIY pallet furniture! After being inspired by all the IKEA hacks I've scrolled past, I am seriously considering building a dining table with my own hands.

I can feel my schedule picking up again after a breezy summer in California and I'm teeming with excitement. It's like stepping back into a favorite pair of shoes you haven't worn in a while. I start my sophomore term as a Fashion Design major at Parsons this upcoming week. The curriculum is finally more interdisciplinary, which means I get to make garments! You can bet I'll be showing you what I'm working on over the semester. I'll also be interning at Chromat during the Fall and I could not be more stoked. I'm utterly in love with them! 

When I'm functioning in school mode, my schedule is completely packed and its easy to get burned out really quickly. I stay on top of things by:

• Taking care of myself: taking vitamins, drinking lots of water, and eating well.
• Sleeping at least 6.5 hours a night. (I'd ideally want to get 8 hours, but lets be real here.) 
• Take 10 minutes everyday away from my phone/computer to have some time alone with my thoughts and maybe a nice cup of tea. 
• Organizing my life using Google Calendars because it is amazing and I am completely dependent on it to get things done. 

The important thing though, is to listen to your body. If you feel yourself getting sick or weak, don't keep pushing for to get things done. The key to getting through a dense semester is to know and acknowledge your limits, physically and mentally. I've learned that taking a break to recharge doesn't signify weakness. In most cases, it's the best thing you can do for yourself because nobody is invincible. Which brings me to the idea that we have about people being busy 24/7 and equating that with being completely unavailable.

I really hate saying that I'm busy all the time (even if I usually am). Bragging about having a packed schedule just seems really unsavory to me, because what you're really doing is pushing the idea that you're able to grace the people you're with with your valuable presence. Fact is, everybody is busy. And it's just plain rude to make people feel like they aren't worth your time. Even with a million things to do, it doesn't take any effort to be kind and courteous. Making time for the person right in front of you is not an impossible feat. Hell, go a step further and challenge yourself to be more empathetic every day. I wrote it down in a notebook I look at every day to remind myself. You've really got nothing to lose. Trust me, you'll get it back threefold. As I always say, show the universe kindness and the universe will show you the same.

Photos by Meaghan Houck