I originally had this switched with Day 19: Go For A Walk Practice Mindfulness, but that didn't happen. Yesterday I planned on going to the beach and have a relaxing walk, but I applied for a job and the application took a little longer than expected. I ended up not having time for the walk so I decided to switch it again Day 26s challenge.

As I went about my day yesterday, I made mental notes of my stress levels. I applied for a job yesterday, and I was stressed out because I found out the job application was due that day. I've been trying really hard to get a job. I want my cover letter to be really good and make a good impression, but because of that I set high standards for myself and work really hard on the application that I get stressed out. I just really want a job and it's really disheartening knowing that you apply and don't receive anything.

I'm going to end it here because this is the only thing right now that contributes to my stress. The sad thing is it won't stop because I can't. I can't stop looking for a job.

I've procrastinated on this for too long. This was suppose to be written on Thursday, but I'm doing it now because it's better late than never. Here are my list of people and things that I am grateful for, and should remind myself everyday because I tend to forget to cherish what I have.

1.  My mother. The woman who is the most selfless when it comes to her family and has made me the person I am today.
2. My best friend Himi. He puts up with me a lot, more than he has to, but he's always there for me when I need him. I'm really happy he's still in my life. 
3. My cat Moty. This little kitty came into my life and has completely stolen my heart. She has given me so much joy and happiness. 
4. The fact that I live in a home where I have shelter and food in a time where I can't financially support myself. 
5. That I went to UC Irvine. At this school I met my best friends, got to travel the world, earned two Bachelors degrees, and learned so much knowledge that I don't think I could have learned anywhere else. 
6. That I am a U.S. citizen who can legally work at any job I want. 
7. My friends: Gaby, Car, and Rachel who tell me what I need to hear and the thought that we will always be there to encourage and be happy for each other. 
8. Yoga. This might sound strange, but yoga has changed my life. Before yoga I was insecure and would constantly compare myself to others, it wasn't healthy for me. Now that it's been a year, I am confident in myself and it's the best feeling in the world. 

I thought today would be impossible. I used to not watch TV, but since I got Netflix and started watching Gilmore Girls I can't seem to think of anything else. I need to know what will happen to Rory and Dean. Somehow, I was able to spend the whole day without watching TV. I didn't think I could do it, but I did to an extent.

Today was actually quite productive. I woke up and applied to two jobs, which I feel really good about. The more applications I send in, the more chances I have of getting hired. After that I had to occupy myself with something else. Since I couldn't watch Gilmore Girls, I thought of how I could spend my day. The challenge was to read instead, so I did. After I finished watching the anime Nana, I decided I would pick up where the show ended and read the manga. I haven't been able to get far into it because of GG, but I since this challenge forced me to read I ended up getting far in the manga. I actually really like it. I was hooked and all I wanted to do was read and find out was going to happen.

At the end of the day I kind of cheated and watched TV for an hour. Everyday at 8:00 p.m., me and my family watch a Turkish soap opera we have been hooked on for months. The series is ending in three days and I couldn't keep the challenge. It didn't seem right to skip a day. To me, it seemed fine because I didn't spend the whole day watching TV. It was only a small hour of my day where I wanted to do something enjoyable with my family. I think my decision is justifiable.

I'm not going to lie, I'm glad the day is over because that means I can watch Gilmore Girls again.

Yesterday night was quite easy for me. I feel that my bedtime routine is already relaxing. For the past couple of days I've been lighting a candle next to me while I turn off the lights in my room with only the lamp on my desk on. Something about a dark room with minimal light relaxes me. I used to be crazy for candles a couple years ago, but then I stopped burning and buying them altogether. It wasn't until I moved back in with my parents that I found a lot of candles in my room. Instead of having them collect dust, I thought it would be better if I burned them. Looking at the flame while inhaling the sweet aroma instantly relaxes me.

I ended up spending the night watching a couple of episodes of Gilmore Girls. I just started watching the show two days ago and am completely hooked. It's going to take me a long time to finish the series, but I'm determined to do so.

I'm really enjoying my candles and TV show; I think I will continue to do this as long as I can. Once I start working, this seems like the perfect day to relax after a long day.

I am a writer. You would think that I would write in my journal every day, but I don't. I actually just found my journal two weeks ago. Aside from this challenge, I don't remember the last time I wrote in a notebook. I believe it was when I was still in school, which was three months ago. It was quite a strange feeling to do it again.

When I started writing, I decided to do stream of consciousness and just let my thoughts come to life on paper. It turns out I think a lot and my thoughts jump from one thing to the next. What surprised me was that I wrote down the things that have had me worried these past couple of days. I never realized so much worried me until I wrote it all down. They weren't life changing things, but to me it was what kept me from making big decisions. I tend to worry and think about how my decisions will affect those around me. I want to do life changing things, but it's really scary to get out of your comfort zone.

After writing I realized I don't really like to journal. I have messy hand writing where I can't even read it. I think faster than my fingers can write on paper. I prefer to type my thoughts down, but journaling allows me to really write what I'm afraid of because no one will ever read it. It's nice to know no one can judge me for my thoughts. It's a calm feeling.

Yesterday was suppose to be no TV all day, read instead, but I watched Nana on Netflix and TV with my parents, so I decided to switch it with go bare-faced. This was actually really easy because I don't always go out with makeup. If I'm running errands and just hanging out with my parents I won't even bother with makeup. For the past week I had a hormonal breakout which left me with red swollen skin. I wasn't feeling my best so I would cover it with some concealer, but my skin has gone back to normal. When I looked at my self in the mirror I thought I looked good and didn't feel like I had to wear makeup.

This would have never happened a year ago. Back then I was still insecure and would always leave the house with someone kind of makeup on. Now that I am secure and happy with the way I am and look, other people's opinions of me don't matter. All that matters is how I feel about myself. Some people might say that me and other women (or men) who don't wear makeup are brave, but I don't think so. We are simply being human, the way we were meant to be.

Day 19 was suppose to be go for a walk and practice mindfulness, but I was really lazy and ended up not doing that. What I did instead was leave a whole day unplanned. This was pretty easy because now that I'm still unemployed all of my days are kind of like this. I usually don't plan my days because I have nothing to do. When I was in uni I relied heavily on  my planner and would mentally plan my day by the hour. I found it to be very efficient and the best way for me to feel motivated and accomplish everything I needed to do. Now that I don't have a job or school, I don't plan anything and for that reason I'm the way I am now: not motivated and unproductive.

Yesterday I spent the day with my mom running errands and then I took a nap, which is what I do everyday. When the day was over I kind of did something a little different, I started applying for a job. Last night I decided that every morning I'm going to be applying for at two jobs every single day. I've also decided to expand my horizons outside of LA. I'm going to be applying to cities throughout California and out of state. This is really scary, but I don't feel like my home is my home anymore. Yes I grew up here, but I feel I need to expand my horizons and move somewhere new and create new opportunities for myself.

On Friday I deleted quite a bit of people from Facebook. To be honest, I was kind of excited for this task. I would scroll through my newsfeed and would find the strangest and oddest things from people who I went to high school with. I usually don't delete people from my social media accounts unless they're an ex I never want to see or hear from again, or someone really annoying whose constantly writing pointless statuses.

For this process I went through a couple categories on how to determine who I deleted.

1. Is this person my friend? If not I deleted them.
2. Do I talk to this person? If I haven't spoken to this person in four years and I have no intention of doing so, I deleted them.
3. Have I ever had a good time with this person and have no animosity towards them. If not I kept them

As I was looking through my friends and thinking about my list it became easy. One by one I started deleting people who I knew I wouldn't miss. Once I started I couldn't stop. Delete, delete, delete. I ended up deleting 65 people, which is a lot for me.

Deleting people is hard because now friendship is measured on who follows who on social media. People get hurt if you delete them. It's kind of the new way of cutting people out of your life, but it shouldn't have to be that way. We should be allowed to be friends with someone and not have them on our social media accounts. I personally don't want everyone looking at my information, just people who I'm close to. I don't regret my decision at all.

This is something I really need to work on. I multitask a lot and jump from multiple projects at the same time. I like to be busy and work on a lot of things, but because of my habits I end up not doing what I needed to get done because I got distracted with something else. I get bored with what I work on that something else seems more exciting to me and grabs my attention. I think if I mentally make a note to myself to stop getting distracted and focus at the task at hand I can practice single tasking.

Yesterday wasn't that hard. I spent the day driving, had a job interview, and spent the day with my friend and family. Since I've graduated and am unemployed I don't have many projects going on simultaneously. It's a little easier now to single task, but once I start working I hope I can remind myself to single task.

On Wednesday my challenge was to go 24 hours without buying anything. This was very hard for me because I am a shopaholic and I like to spend money and buy nice things. It wasn't too bad just because I live at home now and I don't go out much. When I do go out, it's usually with my mom and she buys the food we eat at home.

I ended up going shopping that day with my mom. I didn't buy anything, but I noticed how much my mom spends in a day. It's kind of impossible to do anything without money. If you need somewhere to go, you need to buy gas for the car. If you're hungry, you need to buy food. It's very hard to do anything if you don't want to spend money, but it's very hard to save money because our daily activities require us to buy something in order for our day to function.

Todays challenge asked me to examine my everyday habits from my morning routine to my evening activities. I quite like my morning routine, I wake up take a shower and eat a good breakfast, but one thing that's missing that I used to do at uni is drink a cup of green tea. Green tea is so good for you, but since I graduated I've been taking caffeine out of my body to be healthier. Eating breakfast without something to drink isn't ideal. I don't drink a lot of water, or at least not as much as I should be drinking. I don't drink soda or coffee, which cuts a lot of sugar out of my diet, but I need to be more hydrated and will start by drinking some at breakfast.

Like every other day, I've been saying that I'm going to clean my room. The problem with this is that I'm so lazy. I'll go in my room and put away two or three things and then get distracted and stop cleaning. I do this everyday until it's finally clean. I can't function in a dirty workspace, so I don't see why I continue to put off cleaning. I've know this is a problem and I think from now on I'm going to work on stop being so lazy and getting distracted from my everyday activities. I need to change my mindset and from there I can really focus on what I need to get done.

Yesterday I was suppose to take the time to learn a new skill. I ended up not doing it because I couldn't think of anything I wanted to learn. I thought that new skills required investing money into it, but that isn't the case.

Cooking has always been something that I've wanted to learn, so today I asked my mom to teach me how to cook. For lunch today she made a red soup with rice, fish, and shrimp. My aunt made me this when I was in Mexico and I loved it! My mom asked her how to make it and she got the recipe. Even thought my mom was teaching me, this was her first time making the soup too.

To my surprise cooking isn't very hard. The trouble I have with it is that when I'm hungry I'm impatient and don't want to wait. Instead of making myself something I'd rather heat up frozen food. I also don't know how to make a lot of things from memory. I really rely on recipes and cookbooks, which I don't really like.

The soup turned out good. I thought it needed a little bit more salt just because I really like salty food. I think I'm going to keep on learning how to cook and help my mom out in the kitchen.