Blog - Page 6 Of 10 - Written By Chanee

woman holding a cup of coffee at right hand and reading book on her lap while holding it open with her left hand in a well-lit room

Real Talk

The Productivity Treadmill: 3 reasons why you need to stop

You’re tired. You’ve done a lot — too much, in fact. You are busy making your way through list after list, wading through piles of ‘to-do’s,’ working yourself to the ground in the process — stop. Seriously, it’s time to stop. I know, because I’ve been there — too many times. It can feel almost addictive, running on the Productivity Treadmill. But the rush of energy isn’t endorphins — it’s adrenaline, and it’s likely to be pushing you over the edge. Does this sound like you, or something you’ve dealt with in the past? Here are 3 reasons why you need to get off the Productivity Treadmill, and allow yourself a ‘Get nothing done’ day.

21 February 2021 No Comments

Happiness

The Lockdown Wake Up Call: it’s about enjoying the simple things

I had all the right intentions. I packed my iPad, zipped my keys and phone into the front pocket of its case, brought along my cooled water bottle, straight from the freezer, and drove to the beach. It was a familiar drive, one I could do without thinking. I’d come to the same beach, the same turn-off, dozens of time during the Melbourne Lockdowns. I arrived, pulled into one my usual spots, opened my iPad, turned my phone into a hotspot, played my usual writing playlist through Spotify, and…nothing. I literally wrote nothing. Or maybe I typed out a random sentence first, before seeing that my well thought out plan wasn’t going to eventuate. Not today.

15 February 2021 No Comments

Letters

When’s the last time you received a handwritten letter? Happiness letters are back

Nearly 10 years ago, I hired a young web designer that I found through Gumtree, paid him $100 to design a site, and launched a website called Happiness Letters. And now, I’m bringing Happiness Letters back, just in a different way.

31 January 2021 No Comments

woman holding yellow and gray leaves during daytime

Creativity

3 things 2020 taught me about enhancing creativity during tough times

I realised tonight during my walk, that I had developed an almost visceral need to use my creativity this past year. I started this blog last year in March. I made a few short videos, took hundreds of photos, and wrote, wrote, wrote. Yes, I’ve always considered myself to be somewhat creative, but this was different. This desire I had to create all the time felt driven by something else – and it was. I used my writing as a coping mechanism, and the photos and videos I took felt necessary to my survival. Yes, it really was that extreme.

27 January 2021 No Comments

Summer

Lap swimming, copywriting and finding the perfect Kiehl’s lip balm

A month of new starts, fresh planners, and its fair share of resolutions, January is a bit of a strange month. But if you break it down, it’s really just like any other month, with up’s that go along with down’s, and good things that march along with hard ones. I’ve rounded up a few of my all-time January Faves, things I’m doing, feeling, or can’t get enough of right now.

22 January 2021 No Comments

black cordless headphones on brown wooden chair

Music therapy

Top 5 dance tracks to get you moving and happy no matter where you are

Have you tried any kitchen-dancing lately? I’d highly recommend it. Especially if you happen to be in a funk, like I am at the moment. It’s nothing terrible, this funk of mine, just a typical under-the-weatherness. You know the type, I’m sure. It’s subtle, invisible, almost imperceptible but annoying like anything. So, I did the only practical thing I could tonight: I turned on this exact playlist, raised the volume, put my phone to rest on the kitchen counter, and just, you know — danced.

17 January 2021 No Comments

gray dress shirt hang on brown wooden rack in front of window with white curtain

Reflections

How less clutter restored my sanity and paused my frantic life

An hour and a half on the freeway, and we were there. A small town with wide gravel roads, roundabouts instead of traffic lights and a city centre with a Myer that felt like it had been trapped in a time warp since 1995. It was quaint, it was quiet, with hidden laneways and old, stately buildings pushed up against clean, modern structures, all edges and glass. It was the chalk to Melbourne’s cheese. We could have been anywhere.

6 January 2021 No Comments

Life

Did you bake sourdough in the pandemic? The best and worst of 2020 rounded up

At the beginning of March of this year, I started writing again. It wasn’t intentional or planned. But the world was spinning and I needed an anchor, so I grabbed onto the only one I knew that had grounded me in the past — my writing.

27 December 2020 No Comments

Reflections

Chanukah: the festival of light and abundance

I’ve always liked the festival of Chanukah (Hanukkah). I mean, what’s not to like? It’s low key, it’s easy, there are no strict commandments to follow, it’s the lighthearted cousin to the rest of the Jewish festivals. Sure, there are traditions, but they mostly centre around eating oil-drenched foods. See — what’s not to like? And then there are the candles. What is it about candles, anyway? They are so mesmerising to watch, and so fulfilling to light. Something tugs at my heartstrings each time during the lighting ceremony, and I’m not altogether sure why.

17 December 2020 No Comments

person wearing white converse all star high top sneakers standing on green grass during daytime

Just because

Top 5 things I’m weirdly nostalgic about from the 90s

Life was simpler in the 90s. It was a slower time, and there was less of everything — less choice, less complications, less drama. But having less meant we actually had more, and there was something intrinsically satisfying about it all, especially looking back. In the prehistoric days before internet, we had to create our own fun — so we did.

29 November 2020 No Comments