2018 reading challenge / an update

Ever since I started using Goodreads a few years back, I have set each year a reading challenge for myself. Last year was 30 books. This year I went with 36 which meant an average of 3 books a month. Doable right?

10 months later, it's October, and so far I have read 23 books in 2018. 

20% of me is like ugh I will never make it to 36 this challenge is a FAIL. The other 80% is honestly quite impressed with 23 considering how much I've worked this year (I was unemployed for 6 months in 2017 so plenty more to read back then). I think if you would randomly stop people in the street and ask them how many books they've read so far this year, 95% of them would say less than 10 (I 100% just invented that statistic but I really don't think most people read than much nowadays).

So I'm happy with my 23. I have like 5 I am currently reading (all different genre, so I don't mind having multiples at once, there's always one that fits my mood this way). Pretty sure I can reach 30, which would be awesome.

Looking back at the 23, I can easily "read" into my year so far. I have been tired and looking for comfort reads hence lots of re read and fantasy. Plus a few self improvement books which is a big 2018 theme for me, trying to figure some things out and take better care of myself. Books really do say a lot about ourselves, don't say? 

What has your reading year so far been like? 

Are you on Goodreads? Feel free to add me there :)

THE 1000$ PROJECT / ON MONEY

I hate money. We spend our lives trying to make lots of it, judge those who don't have it, and never ever feel content with what we have. I'm 29 and the reality of my life so far is that I work a full time job, bust my ass off 6 days in a row on sometimes very physical tasks, always standing up for 7 hours, have an awful commute every single day, then sleep for 2 days then start all over again. Yet at the end of the month, I don't make enough money to be allowed to rent a flat, even a tiny one. So what exactly is the point of money if hard work isn't even a guarantee of having a roof over your head? This is the question I have been asking myself for months, years of active life. 

I love money. I wish I had lots and lots. It allows me to buy yarn and books, to see the world and eat good food. I am constantly trying to make more of it. I can't really get a second job (I've tried) because I don't work a regular 9 to 5 job and my hours change every week. So I've recently started looking for other solutions, ideas, inspiration in general. I've listened to podcasts, binge watched Youtube videos, and stocked up on books. I'm currently listening to  Jen Sincero's You are a badass at making money (no opinion on it yet, still early in the book), then found Canna Campbell's Youtube channel. Her videos are all about empowering women to get to financial freedom. She has content about such things as Frugal February (aka no spend month, more on that very soon), and developed a concept called The 1000$ Project (she even wrote a book about it, though I would say her videos are already plenty of content worth to start with). That inspired me. One of her big point is to find ways to free ourself from our monthly usual income (aka our paycheck) and develop side projects in order to create passive income. A passive income ,as its name suggest, is an income that once set up would take care of itself and thus take us one step closer to that financial freedom. Her personal strategy through the 1000$ project is to gather 1000$ at a time, then invest it in shares and perceive dividends each year that form her passive income. For others the 1000$ could go towards deposits, or help pay back loans. For me as a knitter and wannabe designer, when I think of passive income I think of patterns. Of course that involves lots of work, designing, having actual ideas, writing, testing, promoting… but once your pattern is out there your part of the job is done and the money you can make months or years later from it is passive income.  

The project has also encouraged me to look around for creative ways to make money: selling stuff you no longer use or care about (destash anyone?), actually looking, really looking, into your monthly budget and seeing if cuts could be made (I spend way to much on takeout when really I could cook more at home and save tons), looking for people interested in paying for skills you have but never use (I can translate english to french and vice versa for instance and maybe some people out there are looking for that skill set!). You could participate in marketing studies, test out apps. Once you start brainstorming, the ideas don't stop. And I love that about this project, It's giving me motivation to grab my own financial freedom, see money in a more positive way (aka one where money doesn't control me but I have control over it), and try and somewhat move forward. 

And since I have now written this on the Internet it's clearly official: I have embarked on my own 1000$ project as of October 1st, and am giving myself until the end of 2018 (a total of 3 months sounded like neither too short or too long of a time period) to make as much as I can. Inspiration struck this weekend for me and I have actually started designing a knitting collection (think Cozy Winter) to be hopefully released in December!! Cross your fingers for me it works out! 

What do you think? Have I gone insane? Could this be fun? Are you feeling like giving this project a try? Let me know in the comments!

Love,
Lea

A life update

2 years. 7 months. A lifetime worth of events. A blink and here we are already, 2 years and 7 months older.

I can't quite remember why exactly I stopped writing here. I started using Instagram a whole lot more. I started feeling like blogging wasn't quite a thing anymore, and all the efforts of keeping up with a blog not so worth it considering my following. Then there's also the fact that 2016 was a year of nightmare for me. My life crashed, I forgot how to live and breathe and smile and get up in the morning and get to sleep at night. Which is really hard to hide on a blog where words are involved (and much easier to hide on a platform full of pretty pretty staged photos). As you can tell by the fact that I am writing today, I made it through. 

And then I started all over again. Quit my job and field of work, excluded the toxic people from my life, tried new things, explored more. I'm still looking really. For who I want to be, how to make it happen, where, with whom. It's a slow process, and as I have come to find out, slow is the way to go. Knitting is still a big part of my life, and I am so very grateful for every stitch that healed me and every person in this amazing community that without knowing it kept me standing with their support and kindness. I've designed a little bit, podcasted on the most irregular basis (sorry guys) and made more knitwear than I have opportunities to wear. I've been all the way to Finland for a festival, and dream of Edimbourgh for next year. 

Will you be there?

I try every day to do a better job of taking care of myself. Books, yoga, good healthy food, meditation, travels, so many little things that make up my days and keep me up. So many topics I hope I can talk more about on this little blogs. Words. Those I have missed. Just like stitch after stitch can heal, so can words on a page. And I have missed writing. There is some kind of magic to the fact that once it is written, you can let go of it. And even more magic is the fact that maybe somehow, by sharing with others, you suddenly realize that you are not so alone after all.

With love, 

Lea.