Margaret Tries Being...: Personal Post: BRING IT!

First thing's first: OH MAH GOD I'VE HAD AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON SEOULISTIC, MY FAVORITE SEOUL-LIFE HOW-TO GUIDE!

FRONT PAGE, BABY!

I realize, my dear readers, that I was doing an absolutely shitty job of posting during June, and by shitty job I mean no job. I was going through some personal stuff and struggling to get myself enthusiastic about tasks that were becoming increasingly more mundane and disinteresting to me.

My lesson plans were becoming increasingly shitty...

I was doing a shitty job on my diet and on going to the gym consistently...

I couldn't get myself motivated for the things that I normally am totally jazzed to do...

And my romantic life... oh hell my romantic life...

Yep, everything just was kinda sucking the life out of me. Nothing felt right and I was under the sneaking suspicion that I either needed a drastic, super overwhelming change, or that I needed to just suck it up and deal with my problems like a god damn adult.

I'd like to tell you that something drastic happened to make my moods change. That I came to some groundbreaking, life-altering personal discovery, or even that I found something in the city that I love so much to bringhten my life and give me purpose again. Sadly, it wasn't as neatly packaged as all that. It was a lot of minor changes that suddenly reminded me why I'm here and why I've chosen this life, such as it is.

Here's a short list of the things that brought me out of said depression:

1) My incredible brother and his equally incredible girlfriend will be visiting in October! Putting together their itinerary and thinking of all the amazing things I'll get to show them reminded me just how much I love my family as well as how much I love the city and culture I have chosen to call home for the time being.

2) I started working out again. I had to stop for two weeks completely for medical reasons, and once you fall out of the gym habit it's super difficult to get started again. I lost a lot of muscle mass while on mandatory rest and, try as I might, my diet fell completely to hell. I tried restarting my routine several times and failed like the massive fail whale I was steadily becoming. Finally I kicked myself in the ass and went back, I've gained back my muscle mass and started shedding fat at a reasonable pace again, thank shit.

3) The adult portion of my class schedule started up again. For a month I was only teaching children... and I don't like teaching children. They are too..

And I'm too...

At least when I also have adult classes I can get my fill of proper conversation earlier in the day before having to resort to "take.out.your.BLUE.book.turn.to.page.50.FIVE.ZERO!"

4) I've been spending a good chunk of my time with some really cool people. I've also been trying to force myself to really think about whether or not my plans for the evening are actually what I want to do. Rather than listening to what people want me to do or going to the gym for a workout in which I give less than 100%, I just decide what activity will actually make me happy.

At the same time, I'm really trying to make sure this doesn't win...

5) Some things have been really improving as I strive to increase my legitimacy as a person to go to with questions about life in Korea or things to do when out and about in Seoul. I've been asked to contribute articles to Seoulistic.com (you can read my first article, about Korean alcohols, here!) Also, I was accepted to the Seoul Mates bloggers program run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the motto I suggested ("Seoul My Soul") was chosen as one of two official mottos for the program! They even gave me a free, sweet rain jacket as a bonus!