What’s up tumblr, it’s been a minute but I’m trying to get back into the fanart game between freelance projects. Here’s a drawing I did of Lin from spirited away for the character design challenge this month.
Here’s my Princess Mononoke piece for Guzu Gallery’s new show Anime Wonderland! I absolutely love this movie, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do a proper illustration for it.
Here’s my Princess Mononoke piece for Guzu Gallery’s new show Anime Wonderland! I absolutely love this movie, and I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do a proper illustration for it.
you’ve gotta stat romanticizing your life. you gotta start believing that your morning commute is cute and fun, that every cup of coffee is the best you’ve ever had, that even the smallest and most mundane things are exciting and new. you have to, because that’s when you start truly living. that’s when you look forward to every day.
live your life like a ghibli movie where literally everything is charming and beautiful
Good advice
I remember reading something a while back about Miyazaki saying this is basically what he tries to show in his movies, that the every day things we do hold meaning and can be just as beautiful as something else.
I’m seeing some comments from people with mental illnesses / mood disorders how seemingly impossible doing this is, and I can really relate to that struggle ♥
Romanticizing my life was one of those things that I used to do naturally when I was becoming a young adult – but then trauma happened, and it triggered Borderline Personality Disorder, which mostly amplifies negative emotions (so instead of feeling irritated, you feel angry; instead of feeling concerned, you feel paranoid; instead of feeling down, you feel depressed; etc.) – and I’ve been trapped in the hole of being basically at the mercy of these horrifying emotions turning me into someone I never wanted to be, especially because I didn’t realize I even HAD BPD until about 8 years later. I knew something was wrong with me, but I didn’t know exactly what… for a long time, I actually thought it was PTSD.
Anyway, so I’d lost that ability to romanticize my life almost a decade ago… but I’m really working on retraining my brain to find the positives again - in situations, in other people, in myself - in daily life, and finding things that I can praise and compliment. It’s actually starting to help me! And finally having a counselor that specializes in DBT is very helpful, too.
I guess what I’m trying to say is - even if you have a chronic mental illness / mood disorder, not all hope is lost! You will have a harder struggle than most, that’s true - but it’s not impossible. But before we get into a couple good exercises to (re)train your brain to find positive things in life, there are a few basic, but very(!!!) important things, that you NEED to take care of in order to actually recover / cope better:
First of all, seek out help (especially professional) where you can! If you can afford / need therapy, take care to research what kind of therapy you need for your disorder in particular, and if you don’t care for your therapist - don’t give up!! I recommend giving it a couple of sessions, to be sure (unless you feel uncomfortable to the extreme, of course) - and if it’s just not jiving with you, then find another one until you find one that “clicks”! Remember, you are hiring them to help you, so don’t be afraid to get your money’s worth out of it! For instance - for me, because I have BPD, just chatting about things that hurt me all of the time did the opposite of helping me, and actually made the situation much worse because my brain already has a problem dwelling on negativity far too much - so what I personally needed was not so much to vent, but to learn to work through my trauma with something called DBT (dialectic behavioral therapy), which basically teaches you to rationalize with your emotions to develop a “wise” mind. Here’s a great video that I highly recommend about getting the most out of therapy ♥
If transportation for therapy is an issue for you, then I highly recommendBetter Help - it’s an online therapy service, which I personally use, and it’s very helpful! You can share journal entries with your counselor, message them at any time, and schedule weekly sessions via a live text chat, a video call, or a phone call - whichever one makes you feel more comfortable :) And if you don’t like your therapist, for whatever reason - there are thousands of therapists that work through that website, so it’s very easy to find another one!
If you can’t afford your own personal therapist right now, then I can’t stress enough the importance of finding advice from licensed therapists about your particular disorder via articles, videos, etc. - there are TONS of resources available out there on the internet, so please take advantage of them!! A good place to start is a video channel by a licensed therapist (discussing a wide array of disorders, methods of coping, therapy techniques, etc.), Kati Morton! ♥
If you don’t feel like you have enough of a steady support system (friends, family) - please seek out support groups that understand your disorder / situation in person, online, or by telephone – and there are a WIDE array groups, i.e., coping with depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, autism, eating disorders, amputees, veterans, trauma, grief, divorce, stress management, anger management, single parenthood, youths with mental illness, caregivers, survivors of incest, abuse, substance abuse, and many more! I personally (and to my big surprise) really benefited from group therapy during my stay in a psychiatric ward, so I highly recommend giving this a try! Here’s a list for some online / telephone support groups andhere’s another one for finding support groups near you ♥ And, again, I can’t stress enough the importance of having a healthy rapport with a therapist / psychiatrist!!
If your disorder necessitates meds (depression, anxiety, ADHD, psychosis, etc.), then please take your medication seriously ♥ There is nothing wrong at all with needing meds! I know side-effects can be such a huge pain the ass to deal with, so be honest with your psychiatrist about what you’re experiencing, and work with them to keep finding the best possible one for you - but please take your meds seriously as a necessary part of your treatment plan!! ♥
If you can’t afford medication / doctor visits - do lots of research to find out if any low (or no!) income options are available near you at all! Personally, I live in California - and my finances are really strained right now, so I applied for Medi-Cal(for low / no-income families in California) - and it turns out that I qualified, meaning that so long as a doctor accepts my insurance (and lots do), I can now visit them for free! If you live in America, but not California - that program would be called Medicaid! I’m not familiar at all with how it would work in other countries (that obviously don’t provide free healthcare), so research what’s available for you - and this process will probably mean filling out a lot of paperwork, and making a lot of phone calls, and that part always sucks - but you’ll be sooooo glad that you did this once it’s all done!
Remember, if you don’t properly research your disorder, your treatment plan, or take it seriously, then your recovery, ability to cope, and ability to find joy in even the little things are going to be exponentially harder – so PLEASE take your well-being and treatment plan very seriously!! ♥
Every effort to cope better and have the healthiest life possible is WORTH it!!!
Finally, all of ^that^ being said – when it comes to (re)training yourself to romanticize your life,try to find four things you liked about your day, every day, and write them down. After a while, your brain will naturally start to look for things to appreciate so that you have something to write down later ♥
Andgiving compliments is great because it not only feels good to look for something to praise and to strengthen our interpersonal relationships, but it feels good for the receiver to feel noticed positively, too! So work on giving at least one compliment a day, and maybe increase that goal by one more every week. It’ll do a lot to retrain your brain, and improve interactions and the relationships in your life. And if you’re not sure what is best / appropriate for a total stranger, or a colleague, or a friend, or your significant other, or your parents, or children - here are some ideas!
If you have kids, teach them to say one thing that they liked about their day, and one thing that they like about themselves, every night before they go to bed - so that they can learn to do this, too ♥
We can do it Believe that you can, because you can.
Hayao Miyazaki is still one of my favorite artists and story creators. His work is what inspired me to become an artist. I still remember the first time seeing Spirited Away on Cartoon Network when I was nine and being amazed at all the beautiful backgrounds and animation quality. Won’t lie, I was a little scared too… (there are some pretty dark elements in that movie).
