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May is here

Today went out tried to sketch no motivation, nothing interesting really.

Ok but can we talk about how different each phase of the menstrual cycle feels?? like you’d think it’s just “period = sad” but no babe, it’s a whole seasonal shift in your body every month.

bleeding days? emotional fog. kind of dreamy, kind of raw. i wanna disappear and reappear as a wiser version of myself.

then suddenly i’m glowing?? follicular phase hits and i’m making playlists, plotting my entire life, falling in love with strangers on the street.

ovulation? don’t talk to me i’m the sun. i could seduce gods. i’m flirty, social, magnetic, and fully convinced i’m that girl, Angel!

but then luteal phase slaps me with a cosmic “slow down.” i start overthinking, wanting to delete my whole internet presence, (the amount of times I've deactivated my insta is crazy) crying over a tiktok of a dog getting a new toy or that one guy who lost is mom, held her funeral pic with his dad, then the next slide is him holding his dad's funeral pic, that devastated me, this phase makes the world feel loud.

and the wildest part? it’s predictable. it’s a cycle. we’re not crazy, we’re syncing with an inner calendar nobody taught us how to read.

there’s so much i wanna say on this. like how to work with your cycle instead of fighting it. how to rest, create, reflect, and thrive depending on the phase you’re in. but i’ll save all that for the full post.

just wanted to say: you’re not lazy, moody, clingy, or cold. you’re probably just in a different phase. and that deserves softness, not shame.

x

ways to fall in love with urself⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌸

get to know urself : have a conversation with urself. get a diary, a cute little journal and literally just chat with urself. im super talkative and having a diary where i can just talk about whatever is on my mind freely is genuinely so freeing. writing down things that inspired me, ideas that ran thru my head, goals that i created and goals that i wanna achieve, my manifestations. learn urself from the inside out.

i think that the process of reflecting on ourselves and getting to know who we are on a deeper level then just "whats my favorite color" is so beautiful. because the relationship that u have with urself is the most valuable relationship that you will ever have. YOU will never leave you so take care of urself.

inner healing and shadow work rly helps with understanding deeper then just the surface level of ur thoughts. it helps u to understand behaviors and why u act the way that u do. treat urself as u would treat a precious friend. love urself UNCONDITIONALLY.

treat urself right : i just love to take care of myself. take good care of ur skin, take ur vitamins, upgrade ur hygiene, drink water and dont miss ur meals, take a bubble bath, use ur gua sha, moisturize. make self care routines, night routines, ROMANTICIZE it, literally fall in love with it. say ur affirmations, script, listen to ur subliminals. BE SO EXTRA 💗

being by yourself and practicing self care in any form, mental or physical is so therapeutic and peaceful. pour into urself bcuz you are ur greatest investment. everything that u put into urself (the affirmations, the self care, the hours of sleep, the way that u eat) you will get back TENFOLD.

Someone force me to study Arabiccc 😭

Today's lunch was lentils and rice, made myself an avocado milkshake with my own twist. I added avocado, milk, sugar, coffee, crushed chia seeds, moringa power, and the most stupid but addictive addition was cerelac 😭

Did nothing much today except spend an hour cooking and looking at my wip art piece.

030325 (something about the date makes me happy

Alright guys, no more entries unless my day is interesting. People seem to like lists or writings or advice. I mean I used to post that type of content and got a lot of engagement, meaning I was actually adding value to someone's life, which is what I truly intend.

Besides, this decision isn't so bad, to be honest. Today wasn't fruitful; I spent the day in bed to the point that I became uncomfortable lying down, as if all my blood was pooling down. I even fasted until 5 PM. The most productive thing I've done today was my Italian lessons. 👍

And that's OK, I can always have another day to start over. :)

And yes I binged Lucifer, yes I had to bring him up again.

Yes I suffer from APD (angelic personality disorder)

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Ate nothing till dinner, so pretty good fast actually, but I stayed in my room the entire day too which was beyond mundane, its insane out here. Was on the call with my BFF and power cut but its back now so I'll go text her sorry or something. Im in SZN 5 of Lucifer and I keep getting edits of the show and I don't recognise some scenes so I freak out and just favourite all the edits I came across, so that once I'm done with the show I can enjoy the edits.

Overall the most boring day on earth, 2/10.

Hi Bloommmmm ^¬^!

It's Angel! I've also been trying to learn Italian, :D

I use Duolingo, LingQ, and StudyStack. LingQ is a bit more helpful though.

I just wanted to know what resources you use to study Italian. I feel like while what I use is helpful, I'm not actively learning something. It'd be nice to get your recommendations on how to effectively study the language — including Chinese!

hiii pokiiiie sorry for this laaate answer I've been really busy with school and stuff but here I am !

How to actually learn a language

Learning a language is exciting at first, then frustrating, then exciting again, then you feel like you’re not learning anything, then suddenly, out of nowhere, you understand something and it feels magical. But for a lot of people, that "magical" moment never really comes because they get stuck in a cycle of half-learning a little bit of Duolingo here, a few YouTube videos there, and months later, they still can’t form a full sentence.

I’ve been there. And I’ve learned that the secret isn’t just "practicing every day" or "using the right apps" it’s about knowing how to learn. Not every language works the same way, and the way you approach it changes everything. So let’s break it down properly.

1. Why Are You Learning? This Changes Everything

Before anything else, you have to ask yourself: Why do I want to learn this language? Because different reasons need different strategies.for example

If you're just learning Italian for a trip, you don’t need deep grammar knowledge. You need to train your ear, memorize key phrases, and practice pronunciation so people understand you.

If you’re planning to study in Italy, then a casual "Ciao! Come stai?" won’t cut it. You need a structured approach, real grammar knowledge, and at least a B2 level to survive in an academic setting.

If you're learning Chinese just for fun, you can take it easy with apps and light immersion. But if you ever want to work or live there, you must take it seriously Chinese isn't a language you can just "pick up" casually.

Knowing why you’re learning changes how you learn. If you only need basic conversation skills, focus on listening and speaking. If you need full fluency, you have to do the hard work grammar, writing, and structured learning.

2. The "App Trap" Why Most People Feel Stuck

A lot of people get stuck at the beginner level because they rely too much on language apps. I did this with Italian at first. I spent like the whole summer in WLINGUA and thought I was making progress, but when I tried to form a sentence on my own and yeah I found nothing stored in my brain

The problem with apps like Duolingo, LingQ, and Memrise is that they teach you words and phrases, but they don’t teach you how to think in the language. You memorize sentences, but you don’t really understand why they work the way they do. yeaaa I can say Duolingo is the like N1 app for me and it's the best for Chinese in my opinion cuz it help u memo the characters cuz they keep repeating them for u and Chinese is all about memorizing so I guarantee duo for this one

So what’s the fix? You have to combine active and passive learning:

Apps (Passive Learning) → Great for exposure but won’t make you fluent.

Textbooks (Active Learning) → Boring but necessary for real grammar and keeping ur mind organized

Speaking & Writing (Real Learning) → Forces you to produce the language, not just recognize it.

For example, when I started learning Italian seriously, I switched from just using apps to actually writing short journal entries in Italian every day. Even if my sentences were simple and full of mistakes, it forced my brain to think in Italian instead of just recognizing words. That’s when I really started to improve

3. How to Learn Based on the Language Itself

Not all languages are learned the same way. Some are easy to pick up, others will absolutely fight you every step of the way.

European Languages (Italian, Spanish, French, etc.)

🏷️ If you're learning a language that's similar to English (or another language you know), you're lucky. The grammar is different but still follows familiar patterns.

🏷️ You can skip textbooks if you just want casual fluency.

🏷️ Immersion works really well watching shows, listening to music, and reading will naturally help you pick up structure.

🏷️ The hardest part is usually verb conjugation (french have the hardest conjugation 🦅) so focus on mastering the most common tenses first.

Asian Languages or characters based languages (Chinese, Korean, Japanese .. )

🏷️ Now, if you're learning something like Chinese or Japanese, it’s a whole different story. You cannot learn these languages the same way you’d learn Italian or Spanish.

🏷️ Textbooks are necessary. Asian languages don’t follow English patterns, so you need structures (u don't have to buy them there are pdf and online one )

🏷️ Pronunciation is critical. If you don’t learn tones early in Chinese, for example, you’ll struggle to be understood.

🏷️ Characters matter more than speaking at first. With Chinese, if you only focus on speaking and ignore characters, you’ll hit a wall fast

I learned this the hard way when I started studying Chinese. At first, I tried learning the way I learned Italian listening to native speakers, trying to pick up words, avoiding grammar at first. Big mistake. Chinese doesn’t work like that. The best way is to follow a structured course with a teacher (even if it’s online) and make sure you're learning characters alongside everything else it's tiiiring at first but it worth u will found teachers in YouTube who explain Chinese course module by module don't go straight to vocabulary or trying to force yourself into writting ，start with tones and pronunciation of initial and finals (mā , jiē ... )

then u will start learning how to read pinyin the more u revise the textbook the more u listen to the language, and greetings phrases for ex the more u will start to memo the words in Pinyin u will see the real characters and u will be like yes this is how nihao look like (nihao - 你好 ）and step by step u will rise from beginner to intermediate ..

4. Speaking: The Hardest Part (But The Most Important)

Most people avoid speaking because it’s awkward and scary. But here’s the truth: If you don’t practice speaking, you will never feel confident using the language.

The trick is to start early. Even if you don’t know much, just try.

Talk to yourself. Describe what you’re doing, even in broken sentences.

Use voice notes. Record yourself speaking and compare it to native speakers.

Find a language partner. Apps like busuu (I use it for Italian ) or HelloTalk are great for casual practice.

With Italian, I was scared to speak at first. I felt like I’d sound dumb. But when I finally forced myself to have a real conversation (even though it was full of mistakes), I realized people don’t care if you mess up. They just appreciate the effort.

For Chinese, it was even harder because of the tones, but practicing with a tutor helped a lot. When learning a tonal language, you cannot guess pronunciation you need feedback.

5. The "Lost Motivation" Phase & How to Get Past It

Every language learner hits a point where they feel stuck. You’ve been studying for months, but you still don’t feel fluent. What do you do?

Switch up your method. If you’ve only been using apps, try writing. If you’ve only been writing, try speaking.

Make it fun. Watch something you actually enjoy. I watch cdrama and I try to pick random words / phrases and I keep repeating them and use them for daily talks

Track progress differently. Instead of measuring how much you don’t know, look back at what you’ve already learned.

I hit this phase with english after like it's been 2y I felt like I wasn’t improving. But then I found a book I had tried reading at the beginning and realized I could actually understand the 60% . That’s when I knew I had made real progress so to improve try to not compare urself to fluent ppl !

sources for chinese and Italian

Chinese textbook (pdf download textbook and workbook)

buusu the app (the best for Italian if u don't know how to start )

youtube channel num 1

youtube channel num 2

@bloomzone

My friend and I yesterday ><

160325

Got a sudoku puzzles book, I think I've completed intellectual girl status. I don't have much to say tho,

Peace out x

210525

Mom's birthday!!! I sent her something for mothers day plus her birthday last week :)

A painting I put my soul into, nothing less for mum<3

I've always thought of her as purple💜

Otherwise, nothing much today; I drew a lot, reminisced about childhood and my mom's love, and I'm halfway done with the painting I showed a day before. I did more writing for a proposal for my passion project; hopefully, I'll share it soon with you guys. ☺️