anahorvath.com

Tag: writing

  • Tips for Starting and Keeping a Bullet Journal

    Diary meets planner meets to to-do list. Bullet journals have become quite popular recently. So many of the kids at school as well as my teachers have started using bullet journals to organize their thoughts and lives. I too, have started a bullet journal and it is one of the most fun things I do. Bullet journals make great planners and the possibilities are honestly endless as to what you can do with a bullet journal. Here’s a few tips for keeping a nice bullet journal.

    • Get a nice journal. You should pick a journal that reflects you and your personality. I recommend something smaller, that is easier to carry around.
    • Get a collection of pens, calligraphy pens, markers, colored pencils, etc. Having a variety of writing utensils to work with makes working on your journal so much fun. Color-coding things is a great way to stay organized too.
    • Keep a daily/weekly/monthly planner in your bullet journal. Currently, I use my bullet journal as more of a monthly planner because I’ve established a separate system for my planner. There’s a lot of people that use their bullet journal as their planner, and honestly, I think that’s the best way to go. This helps you stay super organized and on-top-of your schedule from a day to day basis. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to create each weekly and daily planner.
    • Create a key and stick to it. This adds to the organization aspect of the journal but also helps with consistency of it overall. With my journal, my key is set up that certain highlighted things represent different parts of my life like: tennis, work, school, and so on. Different symbols also mean different things, like a light bulb may represent an idea or a heart may represent a birthday or special occasion. For tasks, and this goes specifically with my to-do lists, I typically use boxes and when they are completed, they are checked off. If there’s an appointment, that typically gets a box as well, but then it receives a special additional symbol to remind me that it’s an appointment. There’s a lot you can do with a key, just stay consistent and actually use it.
    • Let your creativity run wild. Bullet journals are a fantastic way to express yourself and work on your artistic abilities. For those who aren’t quite art-oriented, Pinterest and the internet in general are great resources for inspiration. Some pages in your journal should be dedicated to doodling or coloring or drawing pretty pictures, and so let your mind do it’s thing.
    • Don’t stress over a bullet journal. Bullet journals are meant to be something you want to do and something you’re willing to spend time on. If you’re stressing about your bullet journal or freaking out about it, you might want to reconsider having a bullet journal.
    • Share bullet-journaling ideas with others. Several of my friends and I spend time weekly showing each other our bullet journals. This is a great way to bond and also a great way to see how others work through their bullet journal. I’ve gotten a bunch of creative and fun ideas from collaborating on my bullet journal. If none of your friends have a bullet journal, there’s Facebook groups for bullet journaling as well as plenty of ideas on Pinterest.

    Organization is key when it comes to bullet journals and I strongly believe that they are a great way to help organize your life. There’s so much you can track in a bullet journal too, from your sleep habits to your mood and even the books you read and the movies you love. If you want something fun to do and a great way to get your life together, try a bullet journal. If you’d like additional information on bullet journals and even more on how to get one started, click here. Happy journaling!

    Bullet Journal

  • Three Years Later, Thank You All So Much!

    This is crazy. I can’t believe I’ve actually kept this up for three years now. Well actually on Wednesday it’ll be three years, but it’s fine. I’ll celebrate today. 😉

    I’d just like to give a big hug and thanks to everyone that’s read my blog. Whether you’re just now reading this one or you’ve been around for a while, thank you. I’ve been able to share my opinions and my writing with you for the past three years and I’ve loved every minute of it. I’ve written about everything from my favorite soup recipe to recently my junior prom. I’ve posted videos of my sister and I making Dubsmashes and I’ve shared a variety of quotes and poems that make me happy. I hope all of this has also made you happy or given you something to think about or some information you maybe didn’t know.

    Without my dad giving me this website, I might not have become the writer I am today. Thanks Dad! 🙂 I might not have had the confidence to write about some of the things I have on this blog and in school. I might not have become more open with my feelings and thoughts. Thanks to all you readers too for dealing with my feelings, thoughts, obsessions, and ideas.

    As of right now, I’m above 5,000 views on this blog which is above anything I ever imagined and this will be the 155th blog post. That’s a lot of writing! Some weeks, it’s been difficult to come up with actual ideas and so I’ve had to dig deep and sometimes they turn out really good and sometimes you get something really random like a post about fruit or polar bears. Sometimes I’m really passionate about something and you get multiple posts on that topic like with all of the posts about JFK and tennis, especially when dealing with sportsmanship.

    I hope this blog is something I keep up for years to come. It’s been fun to write and create posts for the past three years. It’s been fun knowing that people are out there reading my writing and hopefully enjoying it. Once again, thank you for allowing me to share my life and loves with you. Here’s to many more years of blog posts. Thanks again!

    Love, Ana

    signature

  • Why I am a Self-Critic

    Recently in AP Lang, we had a creative writing assignment inspired by a piece by Zitkala-Sa titled “Why I am a Pagan”. I chose to write about why I am so hard on myself and here is that piece. Enjoy.

    Heavy breathing. Sweat dripping. Mind racing. There was no way I’m going to pull off this match. Two hours pass under the glaring sun and I’m still out on the battlefield. My back burns as the heat stabs into it. My feet burn as I dash madly from sideline to sideline in a frantic attempt to keep myself from raising that white flag. My heart burns as I watch the championship match against my nemesis go up in flames. No matter how many serves I sent penetrating the enemy’s walls or how many shots I fired evening the playing field it wasn’t enough. It never seems to be enough.

    My last play haunts my mind as I walk up to the net. “You just had to miss it in the net didn’t you Ana? I can’t believe you just let that happen. It’s not like that doesn’t happen at least six or seven times in a match. You’ve been working on that! Get a grip!” My opponent and I may have ceased fire on the court but that ceasefire hasn’t reached the strident voice nagging me in my head. I hold back my frustration and overwhelming feeling of crying as we shake hands and head off the court to our families.  

    I knew my family would be proud of me. They always are. They’ll see that I worked hard out on the court. Or did I? Was I good enough out there?

    As I fasten my seatbelt in the car, a single tear rolls down my cheek. And then a second. And then a third. And then a flash flood rumbles down the hill. It seems like no matter how hard I push myself out there, I’m trapped swimming just below the surface of the ocean. I’m left to wander and explore the vastness of the watery depths. I’m breathless. It seems like no matter hard I work on the court, I’m doomed to endure the harsh conditions of a summitless mountain. Progress may be made but sometimes it feels like I’m headed nowhere. I see the same old trees on that horrendous mountain and every time I have to cross that river or climb over that boulder, I might vomit out of disgust. “We’re here again?! I thought we were over this already?”

    I look out the window from the backseat of the car and watch as the cars, trees, and houses go by. As my dad navigates through Colorado Springs, my mom turns to me.

    “Ana, you know not to be so hard on yourself. This is silly behavior. You are stronger than this. You made it to the championship, for goodness sake! Be proud of yourself for that! And who cares about some Jessica-messica Do not let that get to you, okay?”

    My mom may be right. I shouldn’t let someone with poor sportsmanship like that get to me. I shouldn’t be my own worst enemy. I shouldn’t hate myself so much for losing a match in the championship of a tournament, but I have to.

    Hating on myself and kicking myself in the butt for making mistakes motivates me to be better. Losing sucks, I’ll admit it, but it allows me to learn from my mistakes. I may never reach the summit of that awful mountain and I may never get to breathe the fresh, salty air by sticking my head above the water, but I’ll be able to learn from my experiences. Being critical of myself allows me to give flight to the strong, beautiful butterflies that were once weak and struggling caterpillars in my life. To some, being hard on yourself is detrimental. It’s pointless. It’s silly behavior. I don’t see it that way. I see it as an opportunity to educate myself and improve who I am. There is no limit to improvement and I am endlessly willing to become better in all I do. If this is self-improvement and growth, then forevermore, at least, I am a self-critic.

    Why I am a Self-Critic
    Credit to artist. Not my piece 🙂

  • Empowered Poem

    I played in a tennis tournament yesterday that went really well. I feel like I’ve been struggling a bit lately to feel confident in my playing, but yesterday helped boost that. I may have won three of my matches and lost three of my matches, but everything I learned will help me improve my actual game as well as my mental game.

    It’s also really awesome that fall is starting to actually show up on the trees here in Colorado. We had a nice, rainy day this week and I got to wear a cozy sweater and feel all bundled up. Winter is definitely my favorite season, but fall comes in at a close second.

    Anyways, I’ve been able to do a lot of writing in my AP Lang class and we recently were able to write poems based off of pictures we took of words throughout the school. Here’s what I came up with. Enjoy!

    No one can make you inferior without your consent
    You don’t need a reason to help people,
    Learn your weaknesses and fears.
    Embrace them, then nobody will be able to use them.
    Everyone is a genius,
    so be kind and love others.
    Your silent presence is more powerful than a million empty words.
    You are worthy.
    You empowered.

    Sorry for such a short post this Sunday. Poems are fun to write and when you have an idea of what you want to write, they’re quick and easy to get done. Gotta love writing! 🙂 Have a great week!

    poems

  • To Eat or Not to Eat

    For the second half of my first semester this school year, my language arts class read Hamlet by Shakespeare. One of our assignments was to translate Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy into something relatable and understandable. I chose to translate mine into “To eat or not to eat” and here it is. Enjoy!

    To eat or not to eat -that is the question:
    Whether ’tis more delicious to eat pizza
    And have a happy stomach,
    Or stay away from all the food,
    And feel the pain of hunger.
    To wait, for your order to be ready-
    No more – and by waiting to say I face
    The wonderful sights and smells
    That each food holds-
    ‘Tis a situation
    I want my food.
    To be happy, to eat-
    To eat, perhaps too long. Ay, there’s the problem.
    For in overeating there comes suffering and stomach aches
    When we wait at the microwave for our food
    Must make us stop and think.
    That’s the idea
    That makes disaster of not eating or eating too much.
    For who really wants to be without breakfast,
    Those delicious Belgian waffles,
    The many options for a wonderful lunch,
    The disappointment in long lines and waits,
    The early dinner that leaves you hungry the rest of the night,
    The overly salted soft pretzel at the big game,
    And the desperate looks
    That starved people have been waiting for their meals,
    When they too may feast
    On days free from any worries?
    Who would heed the large menu,
    To decide and eat whatever they desire,
    But that the horror that their stomachs may growl and food be cold,
    The unknown foods that have yet to be eaten which
    Food critics discuss
    While we stand in a puzzled daze,
    Wishing we had eaten much less
    Instead of seeking the extra piece of cake?
    Thus the chance of missing out does make food-lovers of us all,
    And thus the enjoyment of food so precious
    Is tainted by eye-opening thoughts of lost news,
    And wonderful moments at Chipotle and Wendy’s
    With this regard their paths are cut short
    And those the sufferers of stomach aches favor of those who haven’t eaten.