PAUSE.

PAUSE.

So this is exactly what I DIDN'T want to happen to my blog.

As Uni is really kicking into gear now and my 2nd year counts to my full degree... blogging has to take a bit of a backseat.

The only reason as to why I'm doing this AGAIN is because I have 2 new Uni blogs to work on and to write my own personal blog on top of this already seems like way too much work. You never know though! I might just post a blog here and there just because I can, but as for now this is my see you later post.

I WILL BE BACK.

I'm not letting this go; I've worked TOO HARD for this to just become a small priority in my life. My blog has really helped me with a lot of things lately especially when it comes to talking about rough situations that affected me in my past. Blogging is kinda therapeutic and so relaxing (when I have things to write about).

Anyway, I'm blabbing on too much.

Catch you guys soon!

Hopefully sooner than you think :(

"It's not goodbye, it's see you soon."

I Can't Control My Face!

Okay so this post is just going to be a little snippet as my train of thought isn't awake yet. I don't know why I called this "I Can't Control My Face" but I can explain what I mean with my words yeahhhhh.

Do you ever get those moments when you're so upset / annoyed / tired / angry that your face just says it all?

I do.

I can't help it and I hate when people notice it. One day I was at church and I wasn't having the best of mornings... I managed to keep it cool in-front of my family members, but of course one of my friends noticed that something was wrong. As usual, I always deny it all and say that I'm okay and then she said this:

"Your face shows it all."

After hearing this, I just couldn't believe it. I am usually SO GOOD at not showing that I'm hurting, but does my face always reveal my true feelings? I could not begin to tell you how long I had to sit down and think about this. Tbh I'm really shocked about this and since hearing those words, I've kinda done a 360 and began to tell people how I feel. I don't like it but it does help me feel better and I guess I just need to adjust to it.

The moral of this post is to not shy away from the truth and to let everything out. I learnt this the hard way and now since becoming more open wth certain people I feel less stressed and constricted. I think the reason why I used to do this is because I hate showing people that I'm weak. I don't like crying in-front others as I don't know how their response will be. I feel like in the future, there will be a follow up post to this one - so I look forward to writing this in the future! :)

"The smile on my face can mean anything you want it to be."

Silence Speaks a THOUSAND WORDS.

Silence is such a powerful word.

It can make someone who's loud and outgoing, become someone who is reserved and coy. It's amazing how one word can do that to a person.

I HATE silence.

Sounds silly but watch me explain ;)

Whenever I'm angry or upset, my first instinct is to go silence and basically hibernate. To this day, I still don't know why I do it, but I've noticed that it acts as a coping mechanism for me. It's so easy for me to shut off and to lock out the world. It feels like time has stopped when I do it and oddly enough some part of my mind enjoys this. When being silent, I am able to reconnect with my thoughts and find peace.

I've touched base on this topic before in one of my previous blog posts so I'm not going to go on about why I'm quiet and how I revive myself from that.

I remember when I titled this blog post. I was angry about something and at that moment and time I wanted to get everything out on this post.

But I chose not too. Good decision Tomi. 

Even just looking at my facial expression in the image below clearly shows I was not happy whilst taking this picture - just for this post. Recollecting on my thoughts, I'm so happy I didn't end up writing a negative post to then just read back on it and realise that I was a bit of an idiot pushing my anger through words.

As much as silence comes across as a bad thing, it can also be perceived as good. Don't believe me? Well listen up then!

Satisfaction;

Sounds silly, but being satisfied with yourself whilst being silent is a great feeling. I always praise myself when I hold my tongue before saying something that I would regret. Silence taught me to be happy when holding back strong words, which would later backfire in my face.

Appreciation;

Being able to speak makes life easy, but when I couldn’t talk I learned how much I relied on others. Silence taught me to appreciate the value of relating to others. The next time you see your friends or family, try to really listen. Deep listening expresses deep appreciation.

Thoughts;

What amazed me was how easily my thoughts drowned out the noise. I realised that if my thoughts were this loud, I’d better make them as wise as possible. Silence taught me the importance of shaping my thinking. Take time each day to notice your thoughts and let go of thoughts that don’t serve you.

Space;

For a long time anytime something difficult came up, I would just distract myself. But retreat taught me that if I avoided something it would never go away. Silence taught me that space helps me face hard times. The next time you face something difficult, pause and take a good look at what your next step could be.

Honesty;

I used to lie so I wouldn’t have to explain myself. But when I couldn’t talk about the truth, I began to notice this weird impulse feeling that I would get when the lies would fall out of my mouth. Silence taught me the importance of telling the truth. Notice times where you tell little lies and try telling the truth instead. It isn’t always easy but it’s the first step to trusting others and ourselves.

Just think about what I've discussed, think about how easy it could be for you if you just take the time to appreciate silence. I'm trying to think of a great way to round this up, but I just want you to all think about how being silent can affect your life. It definitely affected mine and now I'm finally learning from it. 

"Silence is the MOST powerful scream."

Define: Confidence.

Yay another 'Define' post.

Tbh, I love writing these types of post as it really tests my intellectual side of my brain.

Sometimes I am confident.

It depends on the situation that I'm in. For example, when it comes to speaking to new people - I feel like this comes so natural to me as I've learnt how to build up a casual conversation with anyone. But then again when it comes to things like trying to sing in front of someone, that's a no-go zone! (unless you catch me belting out a tune in my room oops - and I do this like everyday).

Confidence is something we all have; yet not everyone knows how to possess it. In regards to confidence, I knew that I wanted to be in a relationship someday, but I feared that if I got into one I’d do something to mess it up. I still feel like this to this day, but I had the confidence to put myself out there. I'm not saying if you're confident it'll get you in a relationship, but it does help work your way up there.

Maybe you’ve never been as unsure of yourself as I used to be, but you can likely relate to that feeling of wanting to do something but feeling terrified to start. This not only limits your potential in life; it also minimizes your ability to make a positive impact on the world around you. I personally don't think confidence can be learned. In some cases it may, but for me I had to physically put myself out there and leave my comfort zone to become the person that I am today. As you guys know that I just love to make lists filled with advice - so here are some things that I had to put into consideration when trying to gain confidence.

1. Know your Strengths & Weaknesses!

2. Trust your capabilities!

3. Embrace the unknown!

4. Project your Voice!

5. Take Risks!

Going back to what I said before, everyone has confidence. It just depends on how you unlock it to its full potential. If you got it, you got it and if you're not there yet just wait your time will come :)

"Confidence is something you create within yourself by believing in who YOU are."

WICKED! 2015.

NO WORDS.

I can easily say that seeing this last week has added to my year.

I can't believe I went to go see Wicked! What an amazing opportunity it was and the fact that I went with my friends made it 10x better. I made sure prior before going to the show to not listen to any of the songs on the soundtrack or to watch snippets of the performance online as I wanted to be totally surprised when the show started.

WHAT A GREAT IDEA! :)

So lemme tell you all about it.

I got to Victoria Station on Wednesday evening and BAM there it was. Located on the streets of London was the green, glittering iconic Wicked logo staring down at me. As I found my friends, we rushed into the building to go collect our tickets from the office. Once we got our tickets a few of us got some drinks and headed down to our seats. As we got our tickets from the office, we had no idea where we were sitting and of course we were hoping for a great view.

LOOK AT WHERE WE WERE SEATED.

(still can't believe how close we were to the stage!)

To our surprise, we had stalls seats that were like 5 rows from the front. I was shocked especially because we didn't pay an arm and a leg for these seats. As excited as we were about our seats, the show was about to start and we really needed to calm down because we were all on such a high buzz. As the lights dimmed down, the stage lit up with a colourful (green tinted) display of song, dance and truly magical entertainment. My first thought was for the pure talent standing before us. I have never been so blown away by such an amazing opening performance.

The entire show was flawless throughout as the actors and dancers on stage gave an incredible performance that left me shocked; yet fascinated from beginning to end. The vocals of Elphaba & Galinda (Glinda) were OUTSTANDING. They dominated the show with powerful, funny and at times emotional performances that captivated the whole audience without fail. The storyline itself is pretty well-thought out. As it is basically a behind-the-scenes version of 'The Wizard of Oz’, Wicked is described as the untold version of what happened before Dorothy was introduced.

So that's it! That's my Wicked experience summed up as much as I could describe it. All in all, it was a wonderful night trip with my friends and I already have a feeling that we will be going again very soon ;)

"I think I'll try Defying Gravity."

Don't you just LOVE it when...

HERE IT IS!

The sequel to "Don't you just HATE it when..."

Don't you just love it when...

...you enter your house and your fridge is fully stocked with food.

...you wake up from a nap actually feeling refreshed for once.

...your friends take you out for the day just to make you smile.

...your family members are proud of you no matter what you're doing or where you are in your life.

...you can finally begin to enjoy and embrace anything that is thrown at you.

...your friends are there for you in your time of need.

...you've completed all your goals in life and they have all worked out so well.

...you're determined to change your fitness routine & it actually happens.

...you can see how your future is beginning to pan out and you're excited for whatever comes next.

...you're acknowledged for all the hard work that you've done in your entire life.

Funny enough, it was much harder writing this post compared to the 'hate' version that I blogged about last week. I don't know why it took me a few hours to write about things that I love, but maybe that question will be answered in the future and when the timing is right! I might do something like this again, I kinda like creating comparison blog posts, not sure why as of yet :)

"We were born to Love one another."

Netflix & Chill???

I'm still laughing at the title of this post.

Netflix & Chill.

Two simple words that have a multitude of meanings.

What would you interpret from this saying? I think you can "Netflix & Chill" with your friends, but if you're having a one-to-one with a guy or a girl then you're not just chilling are you? ;)

The video below is something that caught my eye the other day as it is legit 100% accurate when it comes to this saying.



In my opinion, when using this saying, all I just want to do is to watch something on Netflix and just chill. In regards to "chilling" - to me it means to just pig out and stuff my face full with fatty foods! Who doesn't want to binge-watch Prison Break whilst eating Doritos? Or heavy fill your face with ice cream whilst catching up with OITNB?

This is actually something that I've done and I'm not even going to deny it.

If you're not careful, Netflix & Chill can easy put people in a bad light. Unfortunately it makes any girl look bad and it sucks to own up to this. If a girl goes to her friends and says "oh this guy asked me to come over and watch Netflix with him and chill" it already sounds so bad from there. Agreeing to “Netflix and Chill” can very well contribute to her having a bad reputation in the future.

All in all, people can choose to do whatever they want to do. If you want to chill whilst watching shows on Netflix? GO AHEAD. Don't let anyone stop you.

This phrase blew up so much on Twitter not too long ago and I thought that it was a great topic to discuss. Not sure if I covered it that well, but I think I done a decent job!

*pats myself on the back*

What are your thoughts?

"Life is so much easier when you just chill out."

I'm Fine / Save Me.

I LOVE THIS.

One day I was scrolling along my Facebook news feed and I came across this picture. My instant reaction to this was "wow... I understand."

It's crazy to think that I can look at the image and instantly know why she has this tattooed on her thigh.

There's so much to say about this and I genuinely don't know where to start apart from saying that this is amazing. The thought-process that she went through to design this two-way, versatile design is clever, yet so smart. I feel like my words can't do this picture any justice and instead you're better off reading why she got this tattooed on her body from her own words.

If you're interested in why she got this tattoo, feel free to check out her story below ⬇️

I’m Fine / Save Me.

"It hurts, but I'm okay."

Don't you just HATE it when...

Hate is a strong word, but for me to use dislike within the title wouldn't have worked out how I wanted it too.

Don't you just hate it when...

...you give someone another chance yet they still don't value your friendship.

...you feel upset, yet you don't know why.

...you're dying for something to eat and you can't decide what.

...you try your hardest, but you don't get outcome you wanted.

...your friends aren't really your friends.

...you see your loved one cry and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

...you see your best friend make the same mistake over and over again, yet they don't see it.

...you wake up in the morning feeling so tired, but at night you can't sleep.

...you try and save all your money but then that new jacket just calls out your name.

...your social media pages becomes apart of your morning routine.

These are my "Don't you just hate it when..." answers. No idea what made me blog this, but I was laying in bed the other night and the title just came to me. It's not supposed to make anyone feel sad, It's supposed to be relatable idk? I think many close friends of mine will understand where I'm going with this! Don't worry guys, "Don't you just love it when..." will be coming out shortly so smile :)

"Sometimes it's best to stay quiet as there are no words to explain what you're thinking."

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