As the year is coming to an end, we start to reflect on what we did and what made an impact on us this year. Each contributor of Her Campus Waseda put together a list of things to share that sum up their 2015! This week, contributors Miki, Lena-Grace, and April share their lists!
15 Ways I Relaxed This Year by Miki Okamura
1. Yoga: Doing yoga at the end of the day is the best way to calm down and refresh my mind.
2. Photography: Whether if I am taking a photo or developing the images in a dark room, photography always allow me to slow down.
3. Ukulele: Playing and listening to ukulele songs are one of my favorite things to do. Music is essential in my life.
4. Drink coffee: Delicious coffee always put a smile on my face. I try not to have it everyday, but I reward myself a couple times in a week.
5. Sleep: If I have time, sleeping is the easiest way to relax. Waking up is the hard part.
6. Light up some candles: I simply LOVE the smell of candles. I sometimes forget to blow them out before going to sleep.
7. Wear comfortable clothes: My go to comfortable clothes are sweatpants and sweatshirt. I’m sometimes guilty of wearing them in public.
8. Watch film/TV: I love good old comedy movies like Home Alone and also television shows like F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
9. Read magazines: I may not have time to go shopping, but reading a magazine gives me the feeling of it.
10. Draw: Ever since I was a kid, I loved to draw. I’m not an artist, but arts is definitely part of my life.
11. Cooking/baking: I’m a big foodie, so as much as I love to eat, I love to cook as well.
12. Knitting: I used to do a lot of arts and craft as a kid. I remember knitting in a colder season always gave me a warm feeling
13. Taking a walk: Sometimes I just need a fresh air. I wish I had a dog that could accompany me.
14. Window shopping: Trying on clothes and spending the money I don’t have could be stressful. As long as I could fight off my temptation, window shopping is fun to do.
15. Tanning at the beach: I used to do a lot of this while studying abroad in Irvine. I didn’t succeed in getting some color, but I sure enjoyed lying down by the beach!
15 Words by Lena-Grace Suda
1: bond(s)- met loads of new faces/ in they come & out they go/ like the tides except you never know when they’re coming back/ the only thing you’re sure of are the bonds you made with them
2: spontaneity- random, unplanned nights spent with creatives/ drinking and dancing with no restrictions/ saying yes to possibilities/ from ‘maybe’ to ‘to be’
3: change- let’s be blunt and clear/ i shaved my head/ we keep on changing/ and god, does it feel good
4: borders- flew across countries/ seen things I’ve never seen/ their taste and their smell/ still remains in my brain
5: reflection- they say you see yourself in others/ do i like what i see?/ i see so much anger and hate/ maybe i need to be nice to myself/ so that i can see that in others
6: empathy- be gentle, be kind, be tender/ these are the words i live by/ try to understand others/ try to feel their pain & kiss their wounds goodnight
7: softness- don’t be afraid to be soft/ ditch hypermasculinity, hypermachoness/ tune into your inner ‘woman’/ why not use our ‘feminine’ attributes?
8: creation- give birth to something you love/ work hard for your baby/ take care of your creation, creativity is beauty
9: discovery- i will never know everything/ but i am ok with that/ because everytime i discover something new, it gives me the chills
10: ephemeral- everything is ephemeral/ you and i/ but that’s why every moment is overwhelmingly precious/ use your time with care
11: intimate- intimacy doesn’t mean sex and vice versa/ you can feel intimacy when things are platonic/ it’s a quiet hush hush, a lovely whisper, an inside joke for yours to hide
12: awareness- shed your ignorance/ it’s no excuse/ obtain awareness/ and put it to use
13: support- your family & your friends/ are your support system/ the love i feel from them/ makes me blush with happiness
14: sound- music, music, music/ need i say more?
15: eternity- nothing lasts forever but/ the idea of eternity flirts with me/ space is expanding/ just as we speak/ & maybe our infinity lies/ there
2015 SUMMARIZED by April Chuang
1. Wolfie – Wolfie was my pet hamster. He was a really good boy even though he chewed up the rubber part on a pair of earphones. He was the cutest thing to ever grace our meager planet.
2. Brunch and Mimosas – Brunch is my favorite meal. I love how I can combine two meals into one and make it extra grandiose. Also, I love yolky eggs and the combination of sweet and savory that only seems appropriate for brunch. Oh, yes and I love drinking during the day.
3. Vice MUNCHIES – Munchies is probably my favorite thing to watch. Great content. Badass chefs/food connoisseurs. Wickedly delicious food. 10/10.
4. Beach – Was planning on going to Fuji Q with Daiki but we missed our bus by 5 minutes therefore we opted to go to the Enoshima beach instead. The hawks at the beach were aggressive and really scary, so we fed them lots of chips as a peace offering because they were watching us from a distance and hovering above to intimidate us. When we weren’t looking one of the hawks snatched an unopened bag of chips and flew off with it.
5. Detoxifying – Now, getting rid of the toxin in your body is just the first step. For me, I’m also trying to eliminate the toxic features in life, which includes getting rid of bad thoughts, bad vibes, obstacles that hinders me from excelling. By detoxing, I’m tossing out all the detrimental factors and surrounding myself with positive vibes and realness.
6. Aristophone’s Speech in Plato’s Symposium – I love this a lot because this is where the concept soulmate originated from. Super quick summary: Back in the days there were three genders – male, female, and male-female. Those humans had two sets of everything, which means two heads, four arms and legs and two sets of genitalia. The Greek Gods felt threatened because the humans were strong and proud. Because of that, Zeus decided to weaken the humans by splitting them into half with lightening. After being split into half, with only one set of genitalia, each human started looking for the other half of his/her soul, longing to be whole again. When the two souls find each other, there is no greater happiness than that.
7. San Francisco – Love this place.
8. Wham – Wake Me Up Before You Go Go – Discovered this song fairly recent, but there’s something about this song that automatically makes it so easy to jam to, (I caught myself unconsciously humming this song so I figured that it ought to have a place on my 2015 most remarkable things list.) If you hate waking up in the morning as much as I do, make this the ringtone to your alarm and I guarantee you this will send jitterbugs into your brain and you will wake up feeling refreshed. Baby steps to combat morning grogginess.
9. Bahn mi – Vietnamese-style sandwich= Warm and crispy baguette + daikon + pickled carrots + fresh lettuce + cilantro + your choice of meat. People who know me know I always rave about Bahn mi cause it’s my favorite after school snack to nosh on… If you haven’t had one yet, do yourself a favor and go get one, cause this isn’t your typical sammich.
10. “Real or not real” – Even though I’m using it out of its context, this is actually a quote from The Hunger Games Trilogy (Haha.) I try to apply “real or not real” to my daily life to remind myself to stay genuine, or to at least try to be as raw and as true to my existence. This is my equivalent of WWJD.
11. ‘Her’ – This beautiful movie directed by Spike Jonze has been my favorite movie ever since it came out in 2013. I still watch it from time to time because I love how it explores the delicacy of emotions, it tugs on my heartstrings every time I watch it.
12. Mexican Food – I was pretty apathetic towards Mexican cuisine (which is considered blasphemy to Mexican food fanatics, I know) but unexpectedly, I started craving for more Mexican because of the exceptionally spicy habanero sauce I had on my burrito one time. I am now proud to say that I have my own Taco Tuesday every Thursdays.
13. Gorgon City – https://soundcloud.com/gorgon-city The link is pretty self explanatory.
14. Colgate toothpaste – I’m not a big fan of Japanese toothpaste so I always try to bring Colgate toothpaste back to Japan or have someone get it for me.
15. Knowing that I’m enough – This is a constant reminder for myself. This is so important. This will probably still be on my list for 2016.