The Gym + Goal Making

Over the summer, I started going to the gym and loved it. I would go twice a week and constantly ask my boyfriend (who has been working out for years before me) questions about machines, form, what to eat before/after workouts. etc. But once September came and school began, I started to lose all interest and motivation for the gym.

What happened?

I go to school in Downtown Toronto - A place where I am surrounded by hundreds of people and constantly bombarded by societies expectations of me through advertisements, observation of others, and culture in general. The moment school started, I started comparing myself - my body, my fashion sense, how I look, etc. I became insecure and no longer wanted to invest much time or effort into myself because I know that I would never be able to achieve 'beauty' as defined by society.

Now (after pondering this during my commute home), I say screw it!

Screw societies expectations of me! I started working out to get healthy and to strengthen myself to be able to keep up with all that physical stuff that comes with everyday life (Like, walking up stairs. Talk about workout ... Phew!) and that is exactly what I am going to do!

I'm going to stop letting society depict the choices that I make for myself, whether it be about my body, the way I dress, how I look or how I think.

In this picture, I reached the goal that I had made for myself about a week after my first trip to the gym. I told myself that I wanted to reach 100lbs and achieve 1 set of 10 reps. After working hard for two months, I was able to squat 100lbs for 10 reps, twice. I went from squatting 45lbs to 100lbs. Reaching my goal was an amazing feeling and can't wait to continue to make goals for myself and achieve them. Both for the gym and in my life time.

I would like to encourage you to make your own goals, whether it be for the gym, relationships, your health, school ... anything! It feels amazing to achieve any goal, big or small. I PROMISE. And remember ....You are beautiful, valued, loved, pretty, perfectly created, not alone and awesome. 

Now, go achieve your goals, you can do it!

xoxo

Skin Care Routine + Accutane

First thing when I come home, I go straight to my room, change into comfy clothing and take my make up off! One of the greatest small joys in life is taking your make up off at the end of a long day.

To start things off (after I wash my hands, of course!) is my eye make up. For my everyday eye make up, it usually only consists of liquid eyeliner, pencil eyeliner, and mascara. To take that off, I just put some Clean & Clear Soothing Eye Make Up Remover onto a cotton pad and gently rub. Because this is an oil based make up remover, it really tackles all my eye make up and makes it fairly easy to remove.

Now, as you look at the next picture I know what you're thinking "baby wipes?!". I choose to use baby wipes because it is inexpensive, it does not seem to irritate my skin, and it does a pretty good job at removing about 75% of my make up. I tend to switch in-between the brands Equate (Wal-Mart Brand) or Baby Life (Shopper's Drug Mart Brand). For everyday face make up, I apply primer, concealer, foundation, and a setting powder. Never use baby wipes alone to clean your face because it does have chemicals in it (and so do make up wipes). Immediately after I wipe most of my make up off, I move onto the next step...

Washing my face and applying lotion. The last steps to my skin care routine. Whatever skin type you have, don't ever exempt yourself from washing your face and moisturizing! Cetaphil is an amazing brand and in my opinion, extremely underrated. Ever since I was young, I would use cetaphil on and off. 21 years later, I have fully committed to it and don't see myself switching to any other.

As you can tell, my skin care routine is fairly simple and there is a reason for that! I had struggle with acne for many, many years. I eventually had enough and made the decision to try out accutane (or the medical name - isotretinoin). Accutane is an oral pill that can be taken to treat severe acne. There are many side effects that come with accutane and it is fairly strong, which is why it is not just simply given to anyone and all users are cautioned. After taking it for 7 months, my skin is now pimple free! I say "pimple free" and not "clear" because I still have a lot of pigmentation and scars.

before accutane (left) - after accutane (right)

Before and during the treatment, my skincare routine has remained fairly similar. I just had to cut out things such as clay masks and exfoliating. Essentially, what I learned through my treatment is: having a simple care routine is okay and sometimes beneficial. So often we tend to wear and tear our skin even more applying so many chemicals and products.

In the end, I am happy with the results of my accutane treatment and it was a tough journey to endure. But I've gained back so much confidence and don't regret it one bit!

xoxo

P.S. I've been thinking about whether to share my full accutane experience or not. It is a scary thing to think about and the process needs a lot of patience and strength. If requested, I would be happy to share or answer any questions people may have about it (:

Follow me on Blog Lovin'

I have hit the gold mine of blogs!

It's safe to say that I am new to blogspot and blogging. For the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out how I can see all the blogs I want by just simply scrolling down a page and not randomly searching or clicking "new blog" on the blogspot bar. Low and behold, after coming across another fellow bloggers page, I discovered www.bloglovin.com.

From this one site, you can follow any blog that has been claimed/pinned on their site and there you have it! Just simply search for the title in the search bar (click the magnifying glass - top right hand corner). Here, you are given a personalized news feed of the blogs you choose to follow. The site is fairly easy to navigate and I find that it offers good suggestions and leads me to other blogs based on my interests and past activity - which is always a plus (:

I hope to see you on there. Please support my blog and don't forget to look for me and follow me! 

xoxo