What self-growth means to me.

August 10, 2020August 13, 2020 trulyraisa4 Comments

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my site! Today’s post is about what self-growth means to me. Shall we begin?

Talking about self-growth is a sensitive topic for me. Maybe it’s because I have a lot I could improve on. As I mentioned before in “My Self-growth journey” post that I’m a huge introvert and just an awkward social being. But that is something I would like to grow on and something I felt like I was growing on during my time in university.

Self-growth has a different definition for everybody. It’s not the same thing for me as it is for you. This is why I am writing this blog post to explain my own definition and my own points of self-growth I feel like I need to work on.

One thing is for sure, the first step to self-growth is having confidence in yourself and let me tell you that is the hardest thing to have. Will I be able to do this? Am I capable? Am I too weak? Questions like this and more are what comes in the way of having self confidence. This is what comes in the way for me. Don’t get me wrong I do have my moments when I think why can’t I do this? If everyone else is succeeding then why not me? And that gives me the boost of confidence I need in that moment.

For me self-confidence is not really a point of self-growth for me it’s more about going out and doing it. Not being lazy, not being afraid to put myself out there, being social and figuring people out, telling them what they want to hear. Those points are part of my self growth.

So I guess in reality, self-growth for me is putting myself out there. And this blog post is doing exactly that. Everything I write about my own self-growth are my points of weakness and right now that’s me showing my vulnerability so someone reading this can turn around and ask me about it.

I still have a long way to go and a lot to work on but hopefully I reach my goals in the future!

With all that being said I’ve planned a new blog post to come out next week! It’s going to be so fun to write and it’s completely different to what I’m used to writing here!

Brew some tea…..let’s talk.

July 1, 2020July 6, 2020 trulyraisa11 Comments

Hello! Welcome back to my site! Today’s post is quite different from the others. I wanted to just sit down and address a few things as I’ve been quite inactive lately. Shall we begin?

I’ve always loved blogging. I had two other blogs before creating this one and it’s been about 4 years since I’ve started blogging. I created this space just as a place to express myself but I never thought I would enjoy it this much! But recently the creative spark that I had in the beginning is slowly starting to die out.

This means that before I would be full of so many ideas and things to blog about but recently I’ve been struggling with ideas on what posts to write. It could be a blogger slump but although I’ve been struggling to create content I want to blog more and more. It’s depressing for me because I end up sitting in front of a blank draft not knowing what to write. I wanted to aim to write at least one blog post a week but I’ve been struggling with that also. I have a few drafts that I may never publish because I feel like they might not be good enough to post.

Even though my creativity is slowly burning out, it doesn’t mean I will ever stop blogging. It just means that I will be slow with my posts for a while but I will try my best to think of new ideas and content to talk about. I’ve also decided that I may start writing more Lifestyle based posts rather than Nutrition ones. Posts relating to self-growth and lifestyle. What do you think? When I first started this blog I had quite a few viewers who would like and some would even share a comment. I think that’s what made blogging more fun, I used to love getting comments and being able to interact and have my website recognised. But recently there’s been fewer viewers and I think that also demotivated me a little bit.

So if you are reading this please leave a comment, what things would you like me to discuss what kind of content do you enjoy seeing? From now on I will also work really harder to create new posts and content and interact with you all!

I’ll work harder from now on so keep an eye out on this site!

For the love of food…

June 1, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello everyone! Welcome back to my space 🙂 Today I’m going to be talking about the most common problems or situations I have surrounding food and nutrition and “keeping healthy” So, shall we begin?

I wasn’t always interested in nutrition. In fact I didn’t know that there were courses on nutrition and until I came across it while doing some research on what university to go to. But I was a big foodie (I still am now!) and I think that’s what got me to think “I really want to learn more about food”. I was originally a media student but it wasn’t a practical career field I saw myself in.

Adapting from being a media student in the Arts to doing Nutrition in Applied Sciences was a huge change. I swear the first few lectures were gibberish and the first year I would wait until I was home to properly take notes and understand the lectures!

Apart from learning about nutrition I tried to pay more attention to what I ate and I had a lot of struggles. Some of them maybe some of you will be able to relate to. Something that I had struggled with in the past is snacking. In my opinion I think snacking is a bad habit and for us who should be eating three meals a day, that should be more than enough to satisfy our energy and caloric intake during the day. In the past, I used to snack a lot and it often lead to binge-eating. So recently, I have tried not to eat anything in between my three meals and occasionally I still snack on something (unhealthy, usually!) but I am working on it more.

Another struggle I had ever since I was a student was stress-eating. A-levels were a particularly hard time for me, even harder than university and because of my bad habit of snacking I used to stress eat a lot. I’m glad that with time I can now say that I’ve completely eliminated that struggle!

Finding time to exercise is a struggle I can say that there are some of you who can relate to this. The NHS guidelines for physical activity is 150 minutes of moderate activity. I really wanted to achieve that, but working a part time job while being a university student meant I had barely any time on my hands. I’m not really comfortable with completing exercise with others and it’s something I like to do on my own so I don’t go to a gym. We have a treadmill in our house so I usually go running 2 or 3 times a week. Occasionally I also find a YouTube video and follow a Yoga or Pilates routine! But any type of physical activity is great! Just getting your body moving and being active is all that’s required!

After three years of learning about food I can tell you it’s not just black and white. The constant pressure to eat healthy and stay active isn’t as simple as gaining weight or losing weight. That is not the only goal, yes it’s amazing if everyone can be a healthy weight but that’s not the only goal. Foods are so much more complex and believe it or not, what you eat can prevent you from having diseases and being ill in the future. Having a good diet and exercising often can improve your health so much, do you ever see some people that look in their early 40s and they’re actually so much older? The chance of that is because that person has a good diet and they are active. Food is amazing and there is so much more to it than what meets the eye.

That’s all I have for today, but if you have any questions then let me know in the comments below!

University is complete

May 22, 2020 trulyraisa2 Comments

Hello! Welcome back to my space! Now that my final assignments are complete, I have officially finished university! I decided to write a post about it! Shall we begin?

First year was the best! I went to university with the mindset that I would just put my head down and work and I didn’t really care for making any friends, I just wanted to do well. But nothing goes as planned, but in the first year I made some really cool friends and it was a really chill year for me! I did well in my assignments and I was just enjoying my time. The only thing I would say that I struggled with was with the lectures, because this was my first time studying nutrition and I didn’t have a science background so I had to really learn a lot.

The second year in the first semester began to get harder, only because I wasn’t doing too well with my assignments as I would have liked, I passed all of them but not with the grade I wanted so that only made me want to work harder. In the second semester I did pretty well then, I started going into university to complete my assignments rather than at home because I get distracted easily. In the second semester we had to pick our dissertation topics and I begun to get more excited just thinking about it! I actually wrote a blog post on what my dissertation was about here : Dissertation topic

I think the highlight of second year was picking my dissertation topic and also reconnecting with an old friend and becoming close again!

Third year I had never felt more stressed. The first semester wasn’t actually too bad, the modules we studies were interesting and we started planning testing for our dissertation project! The second semester the stress just started kicking in because we had a lot of testing to do for our dissertation project and in such a short time but we managed to get through it all. The worst thing was back in the end of March when our country went into lockdown because of the Coronavirus and working from home wasn’t the prettiest.

After just over a month, I managed to finally have my written dissertation ready and submitted, along with some other assignments and I felt a heavy burden being lifted off me. But I still had a few more assignments to go and finally (yesterday actually) I submitted my last ever assignment and now I’m a free woman!

But actually the real stress is beginning now, because finding a job amidst this pandemic is going to be really really hard. So wish me luck because I have no idea what I’m going to do! 😦

Snacking is the problem!

May 13, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello! Welcome back to my space! Today’s post is all about snacking! It’s a problem 😦 Shall we begin?

Let’s face it, we all eat when we’re bored. Don’t even deny it, we all get bored at sometime at home and end up in the kitchen cupboard or the fridge looking for food. What if I were to tell you that most of the time people gain weight not because of the three meals a day they eat, but because of the snacks they eat in between.

I’m not going to deny it, I’m also guilty of it! But its something I am trying to eliminate. Well, I guess you don’t have to completely eliminate the element of snacking, maybe if we change what we eat then maybe it can make a difference.

If you’re someone who doesn’t like eating fruit……..shame on you (I’m joking) because you should be eating five a day anyway.

I know there are a lot of people who say to swap your snacks for fruit but you can make the fruit any way you feel comfortable! There are a lot of recipes out there to make sweet, delicious snacks from fruit in your home! It’s a few ideas to try while we’re stuck in quarantine too!

I created a Pinterest board with some ideas and recipes to try out: Fruit Snack Ideas!

There are also other things that are considered healthy snacks too, such as popcorn, crackers that you often get from the supermarket, oat bars and more! So maybe swap that bar of chocolate for one of these snacks and you’ll benefit much more!

Help a girl out…

April 11, 2020 trulyraisa2 Comments

Dear readers…..

Welcome back to the Goodnite club! It was a long awaited day.

I’m afraid this post is going to be more for girls. Actually I was browsing the internet and was trying to look for some skincare products to use at night. Lately my skin has been breaking out (probably because of all the unhealthy foods I’ve been eating 🙂 ) and I don’t have any specific products that I use. What kind of products would you recommend?

That’s all I have for today, sorry for the short post! If you have anything else you would like to talk about then leave a comment below!

To the stars who listen….

April 9, 2020 trulyraisa3 Comments

“To the stars who listen and the dreams that are answered” – Sarah J Maas, A Court of Mist and Fury

Dear readers of the GoodNite club…..

Everyone, how was your day? Did you do anything special today?

Because of the virus, every day looks the same for me. I wake up and do the same thing that I did yesterday. Isn’t that the same for everyone recently?

Recently I don’t like to wake up in the mornings. A new day, another day closer to my deadlines. Another day to stress about university assignments and realise that I’m only one more day closer to my deadline. It’s frustrating and boring at the same time.

This is why I like the night time a lot. It’s free time for me to do whatever I want! I end up watching a TV show with my friend first and then I come here and then maybe watch something else after? But it’s fun and stress-free and so I like it!

And then I dread the morning that comes after. It’s the same endless cycle.

Everyone, what do you do at home these days to keep yourself entertained?

Leave a comment below and I wish you all a good night!

It’s a night to start something new…

April 7, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

“Good Night” is a saying used to say to someone who is about to sleep. But what about those who can’t sleep? Wouldn’t they have a good night too?

GoodNite Club is now open so come on in and let’s talk and enjoy this night with all it’s stars and wonders…

Dear readers…

Welcome to the opening of GoodNite Club! For the longest time I couldn’t write any more blog posts because I felt like I had nothing else to say. Actually these days I can’t sleep well, I end up staring at the ceiling either worrying about something in the present or worrying about tomorrow. And so I started to keep a diary.

But that didn’t work out well. I wanted to write but I wanted to interact with others in the same position as me. And so I decided to use my blog and take it into a new direction!

I want to interact with my readers more and so every night I will come here to the GoodNite Club and post something and let’s have a talk in the comment section. If there’s something worrying you or even if you wish someone to listen to you, I will lend you my ear.

So when you can’t sleep one night, let’s meet here and dream of the stars…

Is there anything you would like to talk about? Write a comment and let’s talk!

Getting back into routine after the holidays!

January 28, 2020 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hello everyone! I’m back with another post! As you all may know from my previous post I went on holiday for the month of December to Dubai and Pakistan and we all know getting back into routine after a holiday is the hardest thing to do. That’s what this week’s post is going to be about! Shall we begin?

As you all may know from my long hiatus and from my previous post I went on holiday for the month of December. If you missed the post you can click on this link and read that first Dubai 2019! . I missed all the days where I can just wake up and have no checklist or anything to do but do nothing.

Work and student life can get stressful sometimes and a break away from it all sounds amazing sometimes. So then the long-awaited holiday comes and you’re living your best life and it all passes by pretty quickly and the dreaded journey home finally comes. Dreading going back to work and back into studying can be the worst. I was absolutely dreading it when I had to come back and I only had 6 days to revise for my exam! I spent 6 days cramming revision in when I wanted nothing more than to be back on holiday again. After my exam had ended it was the biggest sigh of relief but I still hadn’t got back into any routine. My diet was a mess and I so badly wanted to go back to my regular exercises but was too lazy to do so.

I slowly went back to work but only once or twice in the week where the rest of my days were spent either at university preparing for my dissertation or at home being the lazy ass I was.

I spent about two weeks being lazy and watching too many dramas with take-away twice or skipping dinner altogether. One thing I am happy is that I am reunited with my laptop and my blog! There is nothing I wanted more than to write a post as I am now!

I started getting back into routine last week and started running after work and applying for some work experience and jobs. This is my latest struggle. I am studying Nutrition in university and want to build on my work experience but haven’t been able to find a placement. If there is anyone in London who is a fellow Nutrition student or even a Nutritionist and has any advice about where to look for work experience please comment some advice below and help a sister out! 😦

I also kind of lost most of my appetite since I’ve been back, I’ve been skipping breakfast and lunch when I’m not at home and I’m quite used to it because back in Pakistan I used to skip breakfast and lunch too and just eat dinner at weddings or something. Now before any of you say that it’s not good to skip meals I know it’s not, but I can’t force myself to eat when I’m not hungry because that can easily turn into binge-eating for me so I need to find a healthy balance soon.

Now you can see my struggle of getting back into routine 😦 University will officially reopen next week and it will be back to the same old stresses about dissertations and assignments but, I plan to build a healthy routine and get a head start on my assignments soon so I won’t be stressing too much!

That’s all I had for this week! I’ll be back next week with another post, if you have any topics you want me to talk about let me know in the comments below!

-Yours Truly Raisa

Update: Where I’ve been.

November 14, 2018February 3, 2019 trulyraisaLeave a comment

Hey guys! Guess who’s back after her long hiatus? Well it’s not me, so time to cry buckets. 😦 But I am back to give you an update on where I have been and when I will be back! Let’s get started!

So for the past few weeks, I have been just so busy working on all my assignments because I am such a good student that I have to be on top of everything. (It’s a joke, I’m probably the most laziest!) So me being me I was stressing over all my assignments.. I also had a few family weddings to attend which also ate a huge chunk of my assignment time so it lead to more stress but ultimately more procrastination (As I am totally doing right now!)

Now that that part is all done I have even more of a headache because in 2 weeks I have a presentation to give which date isn’t even confirmed *smacks head against a lot of books* but I also have a report due on the supposed same date which I have only written like two lines about! Well technically I was doing my research on that so it doesn’t count as procrastinating but my progress level is literally 1.

That being said, the next two weeks will be filled with more stress but knowing myself I tend to get shit done on time. But I have another week which will be filled with last minute packing for my trip back home to Pakistan!

I will be taking my iPad with me so I will be able to blog and show you some pictures! But I also need to be revising for my exams so I will also be cramming revision (Does the stress ever end?)

But dont worry, I’ll be back before you know it with some more entertaining content that I have planned! So all should be fun in the New Year! But for now, it’s really farewell for the next month of so…. 😦

-Yours Truly, Raisa

Tag: stress