aerialovely

  • ← back to tiffany julia
  • the lovely shop
    • Cut Files & Templates
    • Printables
      • Cards & Ephemera
      • Full Journaling Kits
      • Journaling Printables
      • Papers
      • Stickers
    • Ebooks + Zines
    • Music
  • courses
    • view all courses
    • free classes
  • journal archive
  • Login
0
✩ musings unraveling

on being a homebody

November 7, 2016

homebody-copy

I like being home. It seems weird coming from me, a person who loves to travel, but when I’m here in my hometown of New York City, I just like being home, inside in my room with my dog, all of my crafty stuff and my imagination (or Netflix) to keep me company. I don’t know what it is, but I become this homebody whenever I return home. Generally, I only leave the house to go to work–if I have work–or those occasional times when I’m up for seeing my friends. But for the most part, even those opportunities to see my friends rarely makes me want to leave my home. For awhile, I thought it was just me–and it could possibly well be just me–but I have a feeling this city I live in is also to blame. (As is the weather though, because it’s getting closer to winter and I hate the cold).

I don’t know about you, but living in NYC is expensive and stressful. Even when you don’t have a job–like my current situation–it’s still a bit stressful. How that can be? I have no idea. There’s just this tension in NYC air that just never goes away. I feel it instantly every time I return home from someplace else. I always think, if it wasn’t so stressful to get on the subway to go somewhere, I’d probably go out more. But alas, I hate the subway because it never works, I hate the people cause they’re mostly rude and it’s super expensive now to just go somewhere and come back. I rather not go through all that hassle and just stay in and watch a movie or two.

But it could also be the weather. I often find myself drowning in a deep case of SAD whenever the season changes from summer to fall and fall to winter. I don’t like the cold. I don’t like wearing layers of clothing or jackets or coats or hats, gloves, boots and the like. I feel so constrained that if I have to dress up in a winter getup to just go somewhere, I’d rather just stay in. I can wear whatever I want in my warm home.

And all of this effects my mood. When I don’t want to deal with something that I can decide not to deal with, I’m just not going to deal with it, you know? I suppose it’s a case of comfort for me. If doing something, wearing something or the process of going somewhere doesn’t appeal to my level of comfort, I just rather not do it. I can’t tell if this is a form of laziness, tiredness or depression, but staying in where I feel most comfortable always seems fine to me.

I sometimes wonder if motivation is a factor in me being such a homebody. Like, I’m seriously unmotivated to do all of those things, possibly because they aren’t things that appeal to me. Or maybe because I don’t have anything to do–like a job or some sort of purpose in my day–it just drives me deeper into my slothness and just the thought of having to spend money that I don’t have to go out and do things seems a bit counterintuitive.

I suppose I’m in a rut. And it’s not because I feel stuck–cause I don’t fell like I’m stuck–I just feel like I have no purpose. And this isn’t all of the time, but most of the time. Because some days I feel good and well motivated to do something. But lately, most days I just feel blah and don’t want to leave my home to do anything. And while I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything, I do feel like I could be doing more. I’m just not doing enough. But how do you accomplish more when you’re not motivated to do anything?

I guess this long rant really doesn’t have anything to do with being a homebody, does it?

 

TAGS:my thoughtsunraveling

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

  • Michelle
    November 8, 2016

    I’m also a homebody and proud of it! I use to be ashamed of it and would force myself to go out whenever there was an event. However, while I was out I felt so uncomfortable and just wanted to be home. My parents still urge me to go out but I’d rather stay home instead and have a party of one. ♥

    mooeyandfriends.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Tiffany Julia
      Michelle
      November 8, 2016

      I am too. I’m not ashamed of it, but I have noticed that my urge to just stay in has severely affected my motivation to do anything. And I totally think homebodiness is a byproduct of being an introvert. There’s just something so nice about being in your own home, away from all the people and things!

      Reply
Previous Post
smile + dream magic kingdom layout | hip kit club
Next Post
decorating my november monthly spread | hip kit club
tiffany julia
Get To Know Me

Get To Know Me

Hi! I'm Tiffany, an art deviant living in New York City. Welcome to my site of life, crafts and love.

Current Location

Current Location

new york, ny

Currently Reading

The Missing Element: Inspiring Compassion for the Human Condition

Debra Silverman

.
55%

We Hope This Reaches You in Time

R.H. Sin

.
22%

Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within

Janet Conner

.
42%

Life

Journaling

Memory Keeping

Unraveling

Wanderlust

site information

Please do not take anything from this site. All content is © Tiffany Julia at aerialovely.com, unless otherwise stated. Please read my site policies for more information.

buy me a sweet treat

Follow on Feedly

View
Open
Started on this piece last night while catching up on a whole backlog of videos from @februaryandjune (my Watch Later list is LONG). Been wanting to dive deep into slow stitching for a while now and my gosh it's such a meditative practice! I've always added random stitching to my snippet journal covers, but never like this. I just went with the flow and did whatever felt right. This piece will probably turn into a journal cover, but for right now, it's just a piece of layered fabric that I'm stitching to my heart's content! So far there's no machine stitching on here and hopefully, it stays that way. I am going to add some beads to it though. Already have a few laid out and waiting to be threaded. Felt very drawn to the blue/green/teal scheme for this one, but I've got some gorgeous pink/coral/beige linens that are calling to be made into a similar piece. I'm thinking I might do a series of them...IDK! That would keep me occupied for a while. Hopefully, by then I'll be all caught up on watching Youtube videos! xx
View
Open
Gathering some pretty things to start on something new:

✩ Antique linens
✩ Fabric ribbons
✩ Embroidery floss
✩ Morganite chips
✩ Aqua glass beads
*need to find some pretty papers to match

I have an idea but haven't figured out how to begin, which means that I just need to do it and start from where I am.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. xx
View
Open
I'm quite behind in sharing my journal pages, but here are my March pages in my #unravelingjournal. 

March was all about learning about myself. I like doing this every year to take stock of who I am. I usually review my personality types—Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Love Languages, my birth chart, etc—and journal my thoughts and revelations. I'm always amazed at all the new insights I gather when I do this—I call them epiphames. Because we know all of this about ourselves already, but depending on where we are in our personal journey, studying ourselves over again always brings with it new insights and ah-ha moments we hadn't recognized before.

I've been really interested in Astrology lately, so for this month, I reflected on my birth chart again. I recently learned about two things—The Four Elements and our North and South Nodes—how you can find out your own from reading your birth chart and what they mean.

I share what I've learned about myself over on my blog, but in a nutshell, I have to be more like Water. I have to learn the practice of stillness and the art of letting go.

I have to learn how to flow. xx
View
Open
Books 4/20: Yesterday I was The Moon by Noor Unnahar
Rating: ✩✩✩

I've been collecting a lot of poetry books lately. A few weekends ago, I purchased four collections from Strand and one of those books was Noor Unnahar's Yesterday I Was The Moon. I've been wanting to read her work for a very long time now, so I was happy to have found a copy at Strand. IDK, I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But it was still a nice read and I love the tile poem very much. xx
View
Open
Stillness—the act of intentionally pausing; of being mindful and present.

I feel like we're all one of three people: one focused on the future, stuck in the past, or living each day in the present. I don't think either is good or bad but the latter is definitely ideal. I feel those who are constantly living for the future forget the good they have now, and those living in the past can't recognize the good right in front of them. The balance between the two is living in the present. Being mindful of all you have and being grateful for it.

I struggle a lot with "living in the moment." I wouldn't be surprised if we all do. Life comes at us fast. There's always something that we need to do, see, or take care of. It's difficult dealing with what's going on in your life plus what's going on in the world. Sometimes we don't have time to slow down and pause. And honestly, I don't think we'll ever have enough time. That's where the intention comes in and when mindfulness comes to play. Like Ferris said, "If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I've enjoyed exploring stillness, this intentional pause to take note of the things presently around me. I find it so hard to do living in a busy city like New York. There are just too many distractions and too much noise. Everything is always "go, go, go" and it feels odd to just stop. I personally struggle with being stuck in my past, something I work hard at being mindful of. My mind can sometimes spiral down that hurt hole and get stuck on what someone did to me or what awful luck I've had—things from my past that I never had any control over in the first place. I try to be mindful of this and I've noticed that practicing gratitude for what I have now helps pull me out of that spiral. 

I've learned that I need to take more time out of my day to pause. It's almost like when you're packing your bag for a huge trip. You're on automatic as you're packing but you always need to pause and take stock of what's on your list. I think we should all pause and take stock of the greatness in our lives right at this moment. It's far better than what we've lost or what we don't have yet because it's here. xx
View
Open
Oh hey, it's #thursday3 and I've got a new portrait of myself that I haven't shared yet...

✩ I took out my paints the other day because I had a whole basket of acrylic gouache that needed to be added to my swatch book. I sat down and swatched them, then purposely left them all out because I will only use things if they are out in the open on my desk. I gessoed a page in my current journal too AND since I had all of that prepped, last night I actually got messy in my journal! Worked on the Expand prompt from Messy May. Honestly, it felt very good to create an art journal page again!

✩ I've been looking for places to escape to this summer. I really just need to get out of the city and since I work remotely, I definitely could take advantage of traveling and working from wherever I am. Been looking at places in New England because it's easily accessible by train. Not looking to drive long distances (if at all really, which also sucks because this country is just built like that). But IDK, it's probably not just me, but everything has gotten so ridiculously expensive and it seems like everywhere I look the crime rate has gone up (and what I mean by this is gun violence), and society, in general, has gotten more mean-spirited, and it all just makes me want to just stay home and never go anywhere ever again and save up my money so that hopefully one day I could buy myself a small home in the middle of the forest and live peacefully amongst nature. I want to say that my brain is exaggerating about how bad it's gotten out there, but also...no.

✩ I've been very deep into my personal self-care/spiritual practice lately. Working through @lizelayne's Water Your Soul course has been a delightful pause in my day. I'm reading @debrasilverman_astrology's The Missing Element, which is very enlightening, and I've been listening to the audio lectures of @alanwattsorg. LOTS of journaling happening in this corner. I sometimes wish I had more time in my day to do more of this. But lately, I've been having to find little pockets of time to read, work on a lesson, or listen to a lecture while I work. But it's been good.

Anyway, I hope everyone is well. Happy May the 4th!  xx
  • privacy
  • terms
  • about
  • contact
  • treat me

© 2022 aerialovely is loved and cared for by Tiffany Julia