March was a very interesting month where many things had to settle, where I grieved and all of a sudden things were different, and I had to get used to the new normal. In this March 2024 review I try to capture the essence of this very transformational month. I’m writing this preface at the end of the month and it feels as if I have exited one life and stepped into a total new one.
To me, everything has changed internally. A new level of consciousness I’d say. It’s hard to describe. But it feels good. Something profound has changed and settled, yet there’s still no language to best describe it. INTEGRATION.
So, if you’re going through some similar shifts and transformations at the moment, I feel you. This is truly a powerful year we’re in.
Social Media Detox
I can’t even begin how empowering it felt when I deleted the facebook app on my phone. I kept the Instagram app on my phone since I like posting stories daily. But that might also change in the future.
Over the past couple of months I felt so depleted whenever I was on my social media channels. Let’s spill the beans: I absolutely despise the algorithms. They get to determine what we see more of or less of, or what we don’t see at all but actually want to see. Often, it’s only filled with advertisements or time-consuming material that hooks us with addictive dopamine rushes. And I feel like my life force energy is being sucked out of me whenever I engage with the Instagram app or any social media app, really. TikTok being the worst (simply not my jam).
I also didn’t feel like posting at all. I guess I made one post in 8 weeks. As I was redefining my values and my life that I’m living, I also felt like going into a proper detox when it came to social media.
Nervous System regulation is more important to me than posting and competing in the ever-changing game of algorithms.
Yes, I can totally imagine posting more in the future, maybe even on a regular basis but for now I enjoy the peace it gives me of not engaging too much.
Pinterest is more my jam
I do post on Pinterest though, and I love it. I also love the fact that not many people I know and that know me have ever seen my Pinterest boards and creations I upload there. It feels like I can be a freer artist, writer, and content creator.
The Artist’s Way
I find solace in the quiet corners of Pinterest, where my creativity flows freely without the weight of expectations.
It’s a sanctuary where I can be a “truer” artist – if that makes sense –, where I weave together boards filled with my thoughts, inspirations, and creations. There’s a certain magic in sharing pieces of my soul with the world, yet maintaining a sense of anonymity that allows my creativity to blossom uninhibited. Pinterest is my little secret garden, where I cultivate my imagination and nurture my artistic spirit, away from the eyes of those who know me too well. (And for the reader who knows me well, you’re still welcome to check it out of course 😉).
Women’s Day
I spent a wonderful day with the one and only Miss Victorine. 💚 Here in Berlin, where I currently live, it’s a regional holiday, so all stores and shops were closed except for restaurants, cafés and the like. I love the atmosphere on holidays in Berlin.
And it was such a beautiful, quite windy, but truly beautiful day.
She made walk to take pictures of me.
Celebrating Sisterhood
Sisterhood is super important and I feel truly fortunate and blessed to have incredibly amazing women in my life. Although they are scattered worldwide, I am grateful for the presence of these wonderful women in my life.
I usually don’t have sugary things when I’m at home. But when I’m out with people I love to indulge in vegan treats. And oh, how I love ice-cream. I could have ice-cream even in minus thirty degrees Celsius. No joke. I have a love relationship with ice-cream.
Anyway, I’m digressing. So, of course I used Victorine’s and my get-together for something sweet and oh did we indulge.
New Website Design Takes Time
It’s on the way. I integrated many podcast episodes, worked on my blog and podcast page design. I take my time because in between coaching and studying, I don’t have much energy to spend even more time on my laptop. This month was a deeper dive into internal worlds I haven’t explored. Healing, grieving, integration, making time for proper self-care and doing nothing. Oh yea, doing nothing, I want more of that.
Managing my energy levels
Sure, I could accomplish everything in one shot (Manifesting Generator here), but I need to be mindful not to overextend my creative energy and maintain peak performance consistently. I’ve learnt from the past and I’m still navigating how to manage my time and energy so that I don’t burn myself out again (ManGens when they don’t notice their own body’s cues – that’s also me). And so, as my life undergoes further changes that I can’t even grasp myself at the moment, I’ve been exploring and understanding my energy levels more deeply, maneuvering life as best as I can with the tools I have available.
Novels, Novels, Novels
I love books. I’m a total book nerd. I always have been. But here’s a little throwback to elementary school when I actually feared opening a book.
From avoiding books to devouring them
Well, I’m a perfect example of someone who used to get C grades in reading during early elementary school who then turned into a total book nerd and who can’t put a good book down and is able to finish it in one day (provided it is a good book of course 😉).
I received C-grades not because I couldn’t read, but due to my former German teacher’s habit of always asking me to read aloud in class and then humiliating me whenever I made a mistake. I guess she had a strong dislike for me and seemed to derive satisfaction from it whenever she could pick at me. What a sad soul to do something like this to a child.
From avoiding books to devouring them
And for a long time I thought I cannot read properly, when in fact I was just nervous and scared of failing or being humiliated in front of the whole class. Well, and undiagnosed ADHD in my case. Way back then (in the 90’s, not that long ago when you really think about it) apparently only boys had it.
But at home I would take my books and read through all the stories, rehearsed them long enough so I could memorize every word, just in case someone will make me read out loud, so I can prove to them I can actually read.
I adore my child self
I look back at my younger self and I only have the utmost love and admiration for her. Memorizing so many short stories made me become really good at self-studying and memorizing things in general. I developed sort of a photographic memory (sort of only, really) which made it very easy for me to remember and recite things way faster (but to be honest only things that I was really interested in).
And how this little girl studied on her own, read literature to get more knowledge on things! I’m in awe of her genius.
But I’m digressing here – only slightly 😉.
Novels were almost dead
I’ve always been head over heels for books! I even studied German Literature and Linguistics at Uni because at some point I wanted to become a writer or an editor. Reading books for money, writing for money? – Hell yea!
After my “spiritual awakening,” I spent years solely engrossed in self-help, self-development, and scientific literature. There’s a time for everything, right? But I haven’t delved into many novels, especially in the last few years.
In 2023 that changed
Last year was a very pivotal, fundamentally challenging year. It was when I started reading novels and novellas again. My friend Fritzi sent me two books that she devoured herself (You made a fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi and Wahala by Nikki May), and I couldn’t put those books down either. Losing myself in a great story line – Gosh, how much I missed that!!!
I’m a sucker for rom-coms
Yes, this is my official outing: I’m a sucker for rom-coms. I LOVE rom-coms. Can my life be a rom-com, please?! 😄
I remember those days when I would read books that were thought to be more sophisticated. During my teenage years, I used to force myself to read dense and dull literature simply because it was considered necessary. I also had to read it since my intensive German Literature course at high school required that of us.
I’m honestly very grateful to my tutor back then. It was freaking hard but she taught me how to break the limits and write good analyses. Never really slept (lol), but I learnt a lot from her.
But also, it seemed like I still wanted to prove to myself that I can read and that I have a good general education. What a show-off one might think. lol
Gosh, I’m glad those days are over. Now, I can read whatever the f*** I want.
And here I am: from The Red Room by August Strindberg (most boring piece of literature I’ve ever read in my adolescence. DISCLAIMER: I’m not saying that it actually is boring, but I was simply too young for that kind of satire.) to The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood.
Books I devoured in March
Perhaps it makes you wanna grab one of these books as well. Let’s read together, shall we?!
Someday, Maybe
This book – wow – loved it…Not a rom-com but a rom. I also read other genres, yes. lol
This book fell into my hands right on time. I bought it one day before my little darling girl Merle – my wonderful soul cat of 13 years – passed away.
I wanted to read something on grief and there it was: in my favorite book store in Berlin called “Dussmann“.
Eve and Quentin – a heartwarming and simultaneously heartbreaking love story. Beautifully written with all the thick and deep nuances that loss takes us through, heartbreaking, and healing. It takes the reader through all stages of grief. Depicting grief in all its facets, both the raw and the poignant, is a challenging task, and Onyi Nwabineli did a fantastic job on exactly that!
Great debut! Can’t wait to read her next book coming out in May with the title “Allow me to introduce myself”
Maybe Next Time
From the very first page until the very last one I was completely captivated by this book. It’s been a while since a novel made me cry so much. Couldn’t put it down. Emma and Dan – what a love story!!! I felt and rooted for both of them.
Cesca Major is the author of this captivating novel which is a real page-turner. I highly recommend it to everyone. The message of this book is so important and timely. We all get caught up in our daily lives and chores and forget what truly matters until it’s too late. But maybe we get second chances and can make changes before it’s too late? We see the protagonist Emma reliving the same day over and over again. Can she stop her husband Dan from dying?
Love the author. Cesca Major also writes under the pseudonyms C. D. Major, Ruby Hummingbird, and Rosie Blake. I’ll definitely dig into her other books as well and I honestly cannot wait for her new novel to drop under her name Cesca Major “If I were you” which is going to be released in February 2025 (and which is quite a long wait.)
Thank God there are other books out there lol, such as Ali Hazelwood’s.
The Love Hypothesis
My new discovery: Ali Hazelwood. Gosh, I’m in love with her style. A neuroscientist that writes romantic novels – how amazing is that!?!
In The Love Hypothesis I lost myself and read it within a day. I couldn’t put it down. Olive and Adam, and this fake relationship that they set up to convince Olive’s best friend Anh to date Olive’s former boyfriend. Those twists and turns in the story kept me turning page after page.
I love how Hazelwood portrays the male protagonist, Adam, allowing him to shine, particularly towards the end of the story. Hazelwood offers women hope by depicting genuinely good men who are not players and do not seek to hurt women’s hearts – at least not all of them. This positive representation is something I truly appreciate. It’s important to have more stories like this.
And I simply love the fact that Ali Hazelwood infuses her storylines with so much science and women in STEM. That’s another level of genius. I’ve been waiting for novels like these, and I’m so utterly grateful that I found her books by “accident”.
Love On The Brain
Right after I finished The Love Hypothesis I got myself Love On The Brain, and surprise, I couldn’t put down that book either. I don’t know how she does it, but Hazelwood is a master at writing rom-coms. I told my bestie that I wish I had her brain.
Bee and Levi are nemeses – at least this is what it looks like – and they are forced to work together on a huge NASA project. But soon things change and there’s a lot going on, so many misunderstandings and misconceptions, but all being revealed to bring it home for the reader. Truly captivating.
I don’t want to spoil too much but I simply love the positive portrayal of the male protagonist, Levi. Read it, and you know what I mean.
Loved this book a lot. I can say now I’m addicted to Ali Hazelwood novels. Be sure to see more of her books being reviewed by me in my April 2024 review.
Can’t wait to dig into the next one.
What else was going on in March
From the few pictures I’ve taken in March it looks like not much has been going on. Which can’t be further from the truth. I guess it’s all due to my being quiet and retreating from electronics. But I also didn’t feel like documenting much to be honest. When whole paradigms shift, right…? That being said, I’m still enjoying the things I used to enjoy, such as writing this review. But yea, things have changed and I’m taking my time to get a feel for the new.
But here are some pictures I’ve taken, literally the only ones I have taken.
My Outlook for April
- More outdoor activities: I’m feeling a strong desire to increase my physical activity significantly. Perhaps I should consider taking up running again, as it keeps popping up frequently (especially in the rom-coms I’ve been reading where the main characters run – like all of them). I sense a gentle push from within, reminding me of a goal I had set many years ago. And I want to overcome the fear of my knee being inflamed and hurting again. (I know I’ve healed most of my knee, but I still experience some pain from time to time, especially when I’m running, which has kept me from running)
- Reading more rom-coms, as many as possible, in between work and chores.
- Finishing up my website makeover (fingers crossed haha)
- Upping my (breath) meditations, and meditate even more.
- Resting more and less screen time, taking out the pace.
- Preparing for my launch.
- Blogging more. 😉
