Wednesday 25 February 2015

Dealing With Stress

When I looked up the definition of stress on Google, the definition I got was "A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances."

I've been feeling stressed recently because at my school, they thought the best idea was to dropped all this course selection and "life decision" speech all within four or five school days. 

If it takes me 20 minutes to figure out what shirt size fits best, how do they expect me to make choices that will affect my life for years after that?

I would be lying if I said I've been feeling a little stressed over this. I feel the need to follow in my older sister's footsteps, I feel the need to make my parents proud even if that means doing something I'm not happy with, I'm worried that I won't have all the credits that I need to graduate and so many other things. I'm not sure what program I want to follow.

I'm not even 100% sure what career I want to have when I'm older, so how do I know what classes to take so I set myself up to get into the right university courses?

I won't lie, I had two little cries today because I worked myself up too much.

Seeing as I'm feeling quite stressed out and others might be experiencing the same feeling, whether now or months after this is posted, I looked up a few ways to help reduce stress.

1. Listen to some music
Music is proven to help lower your blood pressure, heart rate and anxiety. Allow your mind to focus on the different melodies and harmonies and all of the instruments. There's no shame in cracking up the tunes!

2. Exercise
Many people enjoy different types of exercise, so there isn't a specific one you should do. Yoga and walking are great ways to ease depression and anxiety, but if you feel more like doing some powerlifting (or weights in general), or sprinting, or boxing, do whatever you prefer!

3. Laugh
Whether you watch a favourite TV show or you watch something funny on YouTube, laughing increases oxygen and blood flow to the brain which can automatically reduce stress.

4.Breath
Take a minute to focus on your breathing, filling your lungs with air. In through your nose and out with your mouth, breath in for five seconds and exhale for five seconds. Doing this repeatedly can make yourself feel calmer.

5. Light a Candle
Aromatherapy is a good way to relieve stress.Lavender is consistently shown to reduce stress levels. If you don't like the smell of lavender, that's alright, get the scent of something you enjoy!

Stress can be difficult to manage, but you should never turn to alcohol or other potentially harmful ways to deal with it, there's always an alternative and healthy way to deal with it. 


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Sunday 22 February 2015

Concerns About The Future

One of my biggest fears, if not my biggest fear, is the future.

I'm terrified of the idea of being responsible for my own life in the way that I could do something stupid and regret it for forever after that. I'm terrified of doing something that I didn't realize I actually hate until it's too late. I'm terrified of making a wrong choice that could potentially be affected in the long wrong such as a career choice and so on. I'm terrified of the idea to not know what I could and couldn't control later on in my life.

I could keep going with why I'm terrified of the future, but I think you all understand the idea.

Because of this, I've finally figured out what my New Year's resolution is going to be. Although it's quite late, it's better late then never, and I think this is one that I will carry out for much longer than just a this year. 

What inspired me to write this post is that on Friday, my class was given the talk about course selection that could affect our future university acceptance and career and it really freaked me out. I won't lie, I was ready to cry.

I took a lot of time for myself on Saturday. I stayed in my room most of the day on the Internet, listening to music watching YouTube videos and simply thinking.

I started thinking of what I would like to do for a career. I started to prioritize things in my life. I thought about what made me genuinely happy. I thought about all of my hobbies that I already love and wondering if I could turn that into a job. 

Of course these thoughts provoked more questions and growing concerns. 

I started wondering about possible universities, if I want to stay close to home or go abroad, what would be the money situation, and so much more.

That's when I realized something rather important. Not just for course selection, but for life in general.

I don't have to be worrying about this all at once.

Rathering than freaking out about making the right course selections and making my parents, I need to do what makes me happy. Of course I can change my mind from here to when I start university and circumstances can change, but I do have a general idea in where I want my life to go. Instead of worrying about making the right choices for what could possibly benefit me, I'm making sure I'm happy and proud of what I'm doing.

A quote we all hear a lot is "Forget the past, it's in the past. Focus on your future," and I can't stress how important it is that you don't live by this quote.

I do agree with the forget the past, but DO NOT focus on your future. The more you focus on it, the more you lose your grip on the present. Living in the future is the most acceptable way to escape the present and once we return to it, we realize how much weight we have on our shoulders and we tend to crumble under it.

If a friendship falls out, that's okay. You don't have to focus on fixing that for the future, do what feels right in the present time. 
If you take a class at school that won't help you towards the degree you want, that's okay. Don't freak out thinking that you won't graduate, you can go talk to the school's counselor or principal. It can be fixed.
If you did something stupid in the past, it doesn't define you as who you are right now. Chances are that you're the only one who remembers.

So once again, my late New Year's resolution is to be happy, not stress out over the future and what could be, and live in the moment, enjoy what I'm doing and to love what I'm doing.


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Wednesday 18 February 2015

Being Body Positive



A study by the Dove Self-Esteem Project (DSEP) reveals that 47% of teen girls between the ages of 11 to 14 refuse to take part in activities that will show off their body in any way, such as swimming or performing in front of the school (drama class).

Almost half of the girls that took part of this study have low self esteem. The worst part is that these girls are in the age range of 11 to 14 years old. That's far to young to be worrying about body image, yet sadly, this is what society has come to.

I will admit that I've struggled with self esteem for awhile now. I'll share a little bit about my story and then say how I'm starting to build it back up.

As many others could relate to, I struggle to love certain body parts. I've never loved my stomach, my back or my shoulders. I was never confident about my weight.

When I started going to the gym, I was always uncomfortable because you see all these people walking past you, clearly haven been working out for years. You'd see anything from slim bodies to strong muscles, and yes, I was envious of others.

After a summer of the gym and swim training, I started to notice little changes about my body.

I was slightly slimmer, stronger arm and leg muscles, and so on. Although I was happy with my change...it's almost as if it wasn't enough.

I can't remember where I saw or heard these words, but I'd love to share them. Just know that they're not mine.

In the end, it doesn't matter what your body was like. We all have the same goal: to live life to the fullest and die with no regrets. When we're gone, we aren't remembered by what our bodies looked like, but we're remembered by the things we do and the people we reached out to.

Those words really helped me get through my low self-esteem and is currently still inspiring me everyday.

When you stand in front of the mirror and you start to think about all the things you want, reverse that. 

Start off by saying one thing you love about yourself, whether its body or personality, and build yourself up. Start with one, say another, and another, and another.

If your makeup looks nice on a day, say it to yourself! 
If your hair is how you want it to be, say it!
If your outfit is the nicest thing you'e ever seen, say it!
If you like your eyes, shout it out!
If you love your legs, make sure others know!

It's okay to not be 100% happy with your body right now, but you can build yourself up to that point.

Saying that you like something about yourself, you might not want to come across as vain, but why not? You're loving your body, the only one you will ever get, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

If there is a certain thing you don't like about yourself, there's always a solution. You don't have to think that it's horrible, you can find a solution! Find clothes that flatter your figure, you can dye your hair, you can use nail polish if you don't like your nails, do whatever will make you, and only you happy. Just remember that you don't have to go through drastic measures. 

Now let's say this together:

It's okay to have flaws. I will come to love myself. It might not be soon, but it will happen.

I hope this might of have an impact on you guys as it did for me when I heard those words from before.


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Sunday 15 February 2015

Growing Apart From A Friend

I'm still a little bit of the same when I say this, but when I was younger and I would go shopping with my mom, I would fall in love.

My mom would let me pick out a new shit that she would buy for me and I would always find a shirt that I loved. My mom would buy it for me, I would repeatedly say "Thank You!" because I was so excited that she would buy something that amazing for me.

I would wear that new shirt that I loved so much as often as possible. I would pretty much live in that shirt.

Soon enough though, that new shirt would become old.

It wouldn't have the same bright colour, yet instead a faded one. It wouldn't fit the same way as it did the day I got it, it would lose it's form. It wasn't new, so my mom would bring me with her to the mall once again and let me pick out a new shirt. The process repeated itself over and over again even though I still loved the first shirt.

Can that same process happen with friends?

My best friend and I have been...well, best friends since first grade. We would do everything together and and we've been close ever since. Sadly though, once we got to middle school, things changed.

She became good friends with a group of girls, and myself, I became friends with a different group of friends.

We're still really god friends, but was I just offered the chance to have new friends and I took it? Just like how I would always say yes to getting a new shirt?

I've recently learnt that it's alright if you fall in love with that new and bright shirt, but if you still love and wear that first, old shirt, you don't have to throw it away.

You might be doing things with your new friends, doing activities on the weekends, going to the mall, having sleepovers, and all of that is great, it really is! But you're also aloud to take a break from your new friends and go do something like that with your first best friend to keep that friendship alive.

You don't have to pick a friend and stick with them for life. If you make time for all of your good friends just like you took a day out to wear that older and faded shirt, you can have it all.


One More Girl, no longer online

Wednesday 11 February 2015

The Versatile Blogger Award


Late last night, I opened my email to see that I had a new comment on my Don't Let Go Of Love post, and upon reading it, I found out that I had actually been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!

I would love to thank the lovely Josephine Beth who nominated me, you can find her blog here

As per usual, I will nominate 15 other bloggers (in no particular order) for this award:

3. Allison with Blog Something Beautiful
4. Claire with Simply Darling
6. Kyla with Book Buddies PH
7. Bobby with Bionic Blogs
10. Cole with Cole Of The Ball
12. Jules with Teen Feminist
13. Stella with Stella Etoile
14. Sarah with Creative Avenue 
15. Lucy with Lucy Abigail

The Versatile Blogger Award is as the following:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Include a link to their blog
3. Select 15 blogs/bloggers that you have recently discovered or follow regularly
4. Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
5. Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

You can contact me by:

Twitter: @1MoreGirlOnline
Or simply leave a coment on my blog!

I always love to read your blogs! Xx


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Finding Happiness: Part One

In my post Endless Opportunities, I wrote about how the world holds many opportunities for you, you don't have to feel trapped in a box, and that you should do whatever it takes for you to be happy.

Yesterday, I took the first step on my journey to find my happiness.

I have been an athlete for awhile now. I have been a competitive swimmer for about eight or nine years and a softball player for easily about six years now. I love both sports, but for the past year and a half or so, I have been losing interest in swimming at a fast rate.

I kept pushing myself to finish the season last year, so I did and I was content with that but I wasn't over the moon or anything. When my mom asked me if I wanted to swim this season back in September, I wasn't all that sure, but I finally ended up saying yes to it because I figured that since it was a big part of my life for so long I become happier as the seasons and practices unfolded.

I was wrong.

Practices went on and I couldn't help but feel miserable. I love swimming, I always will, but I didn't feel good doing it, I no longer enjoyed it and I would be counting down the minutes until practice was over.

That was my sign.

I wasn't happy doing it, I had to change something.

Having six practices a week, training nine or so hours per week, I personally thought that that was too much time and dedication put into something that I was always dreading.

I was terrified to officially quit the team. Like I said, it was such a big part of my life and I wasn't sure what I would do with all that now free time on my hands. While I was writing the email to my coach explaining that I will no longer attend practices, I kept asking myself if it was the right thing to do. Deep down, I knew it was the right thing to do, I was just afraid to let go of that part of my life.

After having an internal war with myself, I sent the email and I felt...relieved.

Today, I woke up feeling great. I wasn't worrying over future swim meets and practices, but of what to I value more important in my life.

Writing and reading have always been things that I love to do, but with all the swimming hours, homework and other events in my life, I didn't always have the chance to do them.

Now, I can. I'm not feeling as if I won't have time to do everything I want to do in my day.

Letting go of something that lasted years in your life can be scary, terrifying even, but if it's something you feel forced to do and you don't love them any longer, it's worth it.

Well, it is to me.

I have my happy moments, don't get me wrong, but I can't say that I'm overwhelmed with this feeling of happiness.

It might take a while, but this is the first step in my journey to find happiness, and I hope that it can inspire one of you guys to go out and find yours.


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Sunday 8 February 2015

Don't Let Go of Love

Being on a sports' team, something you usually have to do is a fundraiser.

My team was selling raffle tickets over the weekend to win the prize of a one night stay at a hotel and a 100$ gift card to a fancy restaurant in the local area, and the draw for the prize will take place on February 13th, the day before Valentines Day.

During my shift yesterday, an elderly man came by to buy some tickets. He asked what the draw and everything was about, who he was supporting, what the prize was, and all of that typical stuff you expect to hear while trying to sell/raise money for something. At the end of it, I added "Draw date is February 13th, so it's right on time for Valentine's Day!"

He looked me in the eyes with a sad look upon his face and said "Well I lost the love of my life to ovarian cancer back in 1986 (I think that was the year he said, I can't remember that exactly). I did however find someone new, but it's not the same, you know? She's like a best friend to me, and I know that it's someone that she (referring to the love of his life that he lost) would've liked to known her."

I was speechless.

I have lost family members, yes, but to lose the love of your life, your soulmate, your other half, I couldn't imagine what that would be like. 

In Greek mythology, it's believed that humans used to have four arms, four legs, four eyes, two noses, basically double of everything. Zeus was afraid that someday, the humans would be capable of overthrowing the Gods, so he split them all in half, resulting in one half to search for the other. To find their soulmate.

After all of that looking, this man found his other half, was ready to spend the rest of his life with her, but cancer ripped that away from him.

This was just another eye opener for me.

When I lost my grandfather on September 1st 2014, that was hard for me. 

I didn't know how to feel, I didn't know what to do with myself, I didn't know when it was appropriate for me to cry, I didn't know what to do with all of the memories I have of him because I was afraid to lose them, and finally, I didn't know who to talk to about all of this.

"You can't close anyone out now...If anything this is the time to be close with your family. You need them and they need you. Having someone pass in your family shows you that you have to spend time with them and cherish it. You don't know how long the moment will last," is something that one of my friends told me when I confided in them how I felt, and I don't think that statement could be any truer. 

Those two events taught me something.

If you love someone, whether its a family member, a friend, a lover or a role model in your life, make sure you tell them how much you appreciate them or that you love them. You have to hold onto the love you have now, because you never know when it's going to be ripped away from you, or when you might feel those feelings again.

If you have a crush on someone or you have a strong feeling for them, don't play hard to get. Maybe someday, you will just be too hard to get that the person that's chasing after will let you go. 

If you have someone that loves you, I am begging you, grab onto that love with both hands and hold on. Hold on to it for as long as you can and don't ever let it go. Don't let it slip away, because hell, someday it might.

Love is such an amazing thing that we really do take for granted nowadays, but that elderly man with his story was a reminder to me to never let go of love, and I hope you take this post as a reminder.

If you're looking for a reason to tell someone you like them, call up your crush, tell your best friend how you truly feel about them...this is it. 

Don't take love for granted because now, it's a rare thing, so don't let go of the people you love.


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Wednesday 4 February 2015

World Cancer Day

Did you know that every year, approximately 14 million people are told that they have cancer, and that 8 million people die from the disease?

Chances are, we all know at least one figure in our lives that have fallen victim of cancer; whether its a parent, grandparent, cousin, aunt, uncle, best friend, a coworker or even a pet. 

Although with technology to help us understand more about cancer everyday, we sometimes still have misconceptions about the illness. Even if you might have a parent or a sibling fighting against cancer, did you know that there's only a 5% to 10% chance that it's genetic?

Experts estimate that more than four out of ten cancer cases could be preventable by some the following examples:

  • Not smoking
  • Maintaining a healthy body weight
  • Staying active
  • Wearing sunscreen/Staying safe in the sun
  • Cutting back on alcohol consumption
  • Eating a health diet
Today, February 4th, is known as World Cancer Day. 

A day where we remember those who lost the battle against cancer, and encourage those who are still fighting, and celebrate with the survivors.

At a young age, I lost both my grandfather and dog to cancer, and honestly, there's not a day that goes by where I don't miss them and that I hope I hear that a cure has been found for all cancers. They live on each day in my memory.

If someone you know and love is affected by cancer, whether they themselves are the victim or they have another friend or a family member thats battling it, there's always something you can do to help. You don't have to find the cure for cancer for them, you just have to be there for them.

Watch a movie, play a card game, go for a walk, read a book, take them out somewhere for the day, depending on who the person is that is affected by cancer, there's always a way to distract them. Even if it's for five minutes or an hour, you can make a difference.


Today is the day that everyone around the world come together and take a stand to a disease that has affect most, if not all, of us.

Let's come together to find a cure and kick cancer in the ass.



One More Girl, no longer online



Sunday 1 February 2015

I'm Proud To Be A Girl

This is a topic that I was never all that sure if I wanted to wright about.

Although feminism is a big movement in this day and age, it's still a touchy subject for some and everyone seems to have a different definition of feminism.

When I googled the definition of feminism, the result I got was "The advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." This isn't fighting for equality in general, this is a movement for WOMEN equality. This is not quite the same thing as having equality for everyone no matter what race, age, gender, religion, sexuality and whatever else you could think of, but this is a movement between two opposing sexes, man and woman.

We hear all about this when we get older, when we get to high school, it seems like a casual thing. I don't have much to say on the direct topic of feminism, but I do want to share some downgrading experiences I've has. I never realized how much it has affected my life from so early on.

We've all probably heard words like this, but I remember being back in elementary school, during recess, I'd often hear the words "You _____ like a girl!" Whether that would be kick or throw, those words were deemed as an insult.

Since when has my gender been an insult?

Back at that age, I didn't know that I could say something about it. If I threw a ball farther then some boy, I would be proud, but that didn't mean that they would stop using those words as an insult to some other boy, because "You're a girl...you're going to throw like one anyway" was always said to the girls.

Whenever a boy would pick up a pink or purple colored pencil or crayon, it would mean that they're girly.

What is wrong with those colors?  Sure, when a child is born, a boy will receive a blue blanket, and a girl a pink one, but that doesn't mean that boys are forbidding to use the color pink.

Earlier this evening, I was having supper with my sister and parents when I asked if they were going to be in the basement after supper because I wanted to play Halo. My sister said "You shouldn't even be playing Halo, you're a girl."

Since when has my gender determined what video games I should and shouldn't play?

For years, we have been treated of as a lesser value without even knowing it.

Younger boys would use our gender as an insult, it will make us seem weird if we play any type of video game, and so much more.

Why can't all humans be seen as equals in everyone's eyes?

Boys can do gymnastics, girls can play football.
Boys can do dance, girls can play video games.
Boys can figure skate, girls can wrestle.
Boys can like chick flicks, girls can like gruesome/action movies.
Boys can bake and cook, girls can watch sports on TV.

It's time to break the stereotypes.

I am a girl, and I'm proud to throw like a girl, I'm proud of playing video games, I'm proud of my thoughts and intelligence, I'm proud to watch sports on TV.

Nothing you will say will make me change my mind on being proud of my gender, and being proud of who I am.

To end this post, I want to leave you guys with Always #LikeAGirl video. This is an advert/commercial on TV, but the message behind it is so powerful and is what inspired me to write this.




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