Blog-tember Day 2 - Goalsies

sooo... Today's prompt is all about goals! Since a new school year is about to start, this couldn't be a better topic. I really like establishing goals even though I may not accomplish every single one of them.

Here are some September goals for a very exciting year:

1. Joining a students association or something like that.
2. Making a plan for my piano studying that is compatible with my everyday life.
3. Taking on more responsibility with my choir and doing my best to improve it.
4. Meeting new people, no matter how hard it can be for me.
5. Not letting my anxiety keep me from living the life I deserve.
6. Doing my best at self-care no matter how hectic life gets.
7. I want to say yes to plans with the people I love most, and no to people who would make me feel less comfortable.
8. Being ok with my body, eating what feels right and working out just for the fun of it.
9. Staying in touch with the friends who matter the most.
10. Reading as many books as I can - this could go into the self-care category.

What are your goals for this school/work year?

love,

Mariana

#21 my favourite quote

Hello, cuties! After almost a week of not posting on this blog - starting uni really messed me up this week - and a bit of guilt for not following the Blog-tember Challenge, I am back! I don't know if I'm gonna keep up with it everyday, but I will try.

As soon as I saw today's prompt, I knew I had to write about it:

A favorite quote/expression and how it has impacted you.

My favourite quote EVER is from Grey's Anatomy, season 11, episode 14. In this episode, Amelia Shepherd removed a brain tumor from a fellow doctor from the hospital, even though that intervention made this doctor blind. The surgery was really, really long, and the tumor was really bad, but they beat it. And you know how in Grey's Anatomy there are these "speeches" or whatever you want to call it, in the beginning and the end of the episode? Well, here is that episode's "speech". I wrote it on my planner as a source of inspiration for my daily life.

(I apologize for my awful handwriting on this page! If I had known I would publish this on my blog, I'd have written it in a prettier way).

In 1888 William Williams Keen became one of the first surgeons to successful remove a brain tumor. A big win. It's true. You can look it up. What’s harder to find, however, are stories of all the times Ole Double Billy K tried to pull a tumor out of a brain and lost. The losses must have happened. A surgeon must always be prepared to lose and in Neurosurgery, with the big tumors, we lose those battles as often as we succeed. The key though, win or lose, is to never fail. The only way to fail is not to fight. So you fight until you can’t fight anymore. Hold up your head and enter the arena and face the enemy. Fight until you can’t fight anymore. Never let go. Never give up. Never run. Never surrender. Fight the good fight. You fight even when it seems inevitable that you’re about to go down swinging.

Why do we even try when the barriers are so high and the odds are so low? Why don’t we just pack it in and go home? It’d be so, so much easier. It's because in the end, there’s no glory in easy. No one remembers easy. They remember the blood and the bones and the long agonizing fight to the top. And that is how you become legendary. - Amelia Shepherd (Season11, Ep.14-The Distance)

I first watched this episode last June, while I was studying for my Neuroanatomy exam, which really fit the situation. And these whole paragraphs inspired me to keep studying and working hard, no matter how exhausted I felt, because "the only way to fail is not to fight". 

As I have mentioned before, I am really passionate about Medicine and about the perspective of helping people in my future. I don't want to do it so that people can find me legendary or a superhero. I don't necessarily want to be remembered or to win big awards. I want to work and fight to save people's lives, to make people happy and healthy. And that's the goal I work towards everyday.

Other quotes that have had a huge impact on me:
"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart." - Anne Frank
"We accept the love we think we deserve" - Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

What is your favourite quote?

lots of love,

Mariana

#10 bucket list

Today, for the Blog-tember Challenge, the theme is... bucket lists!

10 items off your bucket list. If you haven't made one, now's a good time to start!

I've made tons of bucket lists at many different times of my life. Most of them refer to a specific year/school year and include vague things like "love myself more", "study daily" or "have fun". My best friend and I usually meet at the beginning of each new year and, together, we write a bucket list of things we want to accomplish that year. (Unless we feel like going with the flow.)

I don't like writing vague things on my blog. I think that's a waste of my readers' time, and that if people are going to read my words, they might as well be concise and authentic. So, today, I won't say I want to evolve in non-specific ways. I will present a list of specific things I want to do or achieve during my lifetime.

So, without further ado, here are 10 points off my bucket list!

1. Set my feet on the five continents. I want to know big cities, little villages, mountains, deserts, beaches, forests. Throughout my life, I want to make traveling a priority, by saving money to do so and by researching for the cheapest ways to explore as much as possible.

2. I want to get married and have a family, WHILE being a great professional. I want to prove that both things are compatible. I want to prove that we can have typically feminine roles AND be strong, determined and world-changing.

3. I have a list of all the books that have been referred to in Gilmore Girls and I mean to read them all.

4. I want to have a cat. My parents never liked pets, so they only let us keep canaries. They sang beautifully, but they're kinda boring... and I've always envied people who have cats and dogs in their houses.

5. Study abroad, through the Erasmus programme. Some of the countries I'd like to study in include: Denmark, England, Ireland and the USA.

6. Read the entire Bible. This may take a while, and I don't plan on reading it like I read a "regular" book, but it's something I really want to do.

7. Write a novel. I've tried to write a novel numerous times, but I always got lost on the storylines. I'll keep writing short stories until I find a bigger idea for a bigger story.

8. Take my camera with me to a random place for a day and take pictures of the people passing by, Humans of New York style.

9. Take ballet classes. (There are "ballet for adults" classes where I live, and ever since I was little I've dreamed of being a ballerina).

10. Finish my music certificates. (Hopefully I will complete my piano certificate this year, but the musical theory one might have to wait a year).

Well, there are so many more items that I could refer to, but these were the first that popped into my head!

One more day of Blog-tember completed. I've been having a blast writing these posts!

Do you have a bucket list? If so, what kind of goals does it include?

lots of love,
Mariana