Hello, everyone! Tomorrow, the Orthodox Church is celebrating Easter.
And the good thing about being an Orthodox Christian in the UK is that you witness two different beautiful celebrations of Easter in the same year.
My friends from the UK wished me a happy Easter a month ago. On 2 May I will do the same thing.
I am grateful that our Easter is after the official Easter holidays at university, and, most importantly, after my dissertation’s deadline, which was on 29 April. Phew! Finally, I will get the chance to celebrate truly.
Here are our colourful eggs and chocolatey decoration.
Hi everyone! 🤗 I hope you are well, taking good care of yourselves.
I don’t know about other parts of the world, but I’m still waiting for the cold wind in London to stop so that I can enjoy long walks in the neighbourhood in the sunshine.
The Orthodox Easter is just around the corner – 2 May, so expect photos. 😉
As I promised in my latest post, it is high time I shared the most invaluable lessons I learned since the launch of this website.
The Shining Star 🌟 has been present from me going to puberty to becoming the mature young adult I now am.
To all perfectionists out there: you are not alone. I am developing a new podcast as part of the Media Futures coursework, and I will soon share it with you.
I created it to tackle my perfectionistic tendencies or, to be more exact, their negative consequences on my mental health.
It happened to me not to sit down and write due to fears that my musings would not be appreciable enough for a mass audience. Say no more!
Now I develop my ideas without any expectations, and they are better than the ones which I cautiously pitched.
When it comes to proofreading and copyediting, I have to be a perfectionist. But this time, an exuberant perfectionist, not saddened and hot-tempered. 😃
Lesson #2: Whenever something does not work out, there is always something better on the road, waiting for you
I experienced many disappointments in the past eight years, be they events not evolving the way I wanted or simply dissatisfactory relationships.
I have applied for 124 internships via email between Level 4 and 5 of my journalistic studies at Westminster.
I got no answer from 120, and the offers from the other four I rejected because I could not afford to work full-time voluntarily for three months.
To be honest, I felt straight from the beginning they were not for me, but I applied for them nevertheless because I needed at least a ten-day internship before graduating.
Do you know what happened next? I stopped searching.
I focused on refining the quality of my writing, design skills and myself, by enrolling on various courses (see Lesson #8 below).
One of those was astrology – my passion for the subject has been enormous since childhood.
After getting my certificate in astrology before the start of Level 6, I got an email from an editor of an astrological magazine asking me to be an intern at the publication.
I have been subbing pieces, writing, designing covers and ads for seven months.
And the most vital thing is, I feel at my place. Additionally, I had two part-time jobs at university, soo I cannot complain. Remember: great things take time.
Lesson #4: Pursue your dreams, no matter how eccentric they are
I would not have been the person I am today if I have tried to be ”like the others” and fit in a conventional environment.
I have always been moving against the current and, as a result, achieved my goals.
Do not get me wrong – it is strenuous to remain yourself while everyone else wants to put your identity in accepted social frames.
Yesterday I submitted my dissertation on the representation of astrology in the media.
Many tried to persuade me to give up on my idea because they could not understand it. I refused to listen and decided to go with my heart, becoming the first astro-journalist. 🌌
During my three-year course at university, I took up so many extracurricular things: Latin, Astrology, Philosophy, Photography, Painting, Intercultural Fluency, Proofreading & Copyediting, Career Mentoring, etc.
My hobby is getting as many certificates as I possibly can. 🙈
Plus, I started doing some stretches to achieve full splits, and I have never been flexible as a child!
Eight years have passed since I lauched this blog. Wow. Wow. Wow. Plus, it’s Earth Day today. Many reasons to celebrate!
Time flies so quickly, doesn’t it? As if it was yesterday when I started posting my mobile phone photography here, before slowly updating it to a professional one…
I created every post here with much love and appreciation. I grew with hellorainb0w~, experienced abundance and success, hardships and happiness.
In a separate post appearing later today, I will share with you eight things I learned throughout the eight years as a blogger in WordPress.
Spring is here but I am still waiting for warmer weather to do my yoga in the garden. I am also waiting for all coursework deadlines to end. However, I do not forget to enjoy the process of creating something meaningful.
After a month, I will celebrate another website’s anniversary. I am so grateful for my recent follows – this opportunity to grow my audience simply excites me. 🤩
Speaking of which, I recently launched my website for the Final Journalism Project module at university. Feel free to have a look at it – there, I will post the work I have done while at uni and during internships.
The topics which it covers include astrology, fashion, lifestyle, podcasts, interviews, etc. – the ones you may have witnessed here.
The difference between hellorainb0w~ and The Astro-Journalist is the writing style. In the former,I strive to keep to quite an informal way of diary writing, whareas in the latter I am promoting my skills, thus showcasing my potential to employers. It is like an enriched and colourful CV, waiting to be explored.
Meanwhile, enjoy one of my recent paintings (do you know that painting helps you reduce stress? Highly recommend it!)
I will start posting frequently once I am on top of my game 😉.
I hope you had a great year, despite the pandemic and the consecutive lockdowns and restrictions.
You survived a 12-month period of hardships, and you should be proud.
It turns out I have accomplished my promises for last year – I got a certificate in astrology, found time for daily yoga and meditation, learnt how to control my stress levels, landed on the best internship at an astrological magazine, communicated with professionals, met intriguing people (some of them I even interviewed for my university projects) and was even offered to do a talk in one of the oldest astrological associations in the world.
Apart from that, I dyed my hair in ONE colour only – natural brown. I got rid of the unnecessary material stuff and memories from my room.
However, I still have much work to do, like buying a villa on the seaside, travelling the world with my family, finding a well-paid job related to my studies, graduating from my BA course. Wish me luck!
P.S. Here are pictures of the Full Moon in Cancer I took yesterday. The sky was simply magical – the Moon had an enigmatic halo mirroring the colours of the rainbow (my trademark since 2012)!
What have you done in 2020 that made you content? What promises do you have for the next year?
Have a wonderful New Year celebration. Be grateful for what you have and look forward to enriching your life with precious moments.
My attempt to make the BBC’s Sweet potato jackets before Christmas with guacamole & kidney beans was successful
Hello friends!
I hope you are well and staying home this Christmas.
I do not usually cook, but when I do, I pick fancy recipes.
This one is originally vegan, but I broke the rules and added slices of cheddar on the sweet potatoes before decorating them with guacamole and kidney beans.
Please don’t judge my video skills – I was simply experimenting! 😀 What’s the most important thing is that I used royalty-free music to be on the safe side of the law.
Happy winter holidays to my followers.
May Christmas enlighten your lives and prepare you for even a more wonderful New Year. Have hope for the future, and you will be blessed by the Universe.
I know I did not have time for you these days. This was all to do with pressing deadlines. However, I still believe one’s well-being is more important than any urgent task, so that is why I am here, writing those words for hellorainb0w~ – my safe, creative haven to which I can escape whenever I like.
Source: hellorainb0w~
A friend of mine and I are about to start a business with personalised candles (ours are misspelled kandles, to be precise) that will come with a professional astrological reading (written by myself), and a beautiful drawing of each zodiac sign (done by my friend, or, should I say, business partner?). When we launch the site, I will share a link with you in case you are interested.
I started my final year at university in late September (luckily, I managed to write all my coursework for the astrology course before that). Believe me, the first weeks were challenging for me, as I had to scrutinise the nitty-gritty of the enormous projects that I am required to do to graduate – write a dissertation and create a final journalism project (a podcast, a documentary, or a magazine). Now that we have our course entirely online, I started waking up very early and going to bed very late, to get more work done.
I am so proud to have found myself an internship in an astrological magazine. With the help of my astrological tutors, my dream came true – now I am writing for something I love and have much knowledge about. I am also dealing with the mag’s design, which is super, super cool.
Since then I have been draining myself (like usual), as if the deadline for the coursework was not in April, but tomorrow.
One more cup of coffee, one less hour for sleep, much more yoga to do and an immune system to keep…
Kristina Hristova, Founder of hellorainb0w~
It did not take me long to realise that with bad eating/sleeping habits, I would not go further. I was overthinking, overassessing, and overreacting. Something was not right.
That is why I enrolled on a Practical Philosophy Course (online) at the School of Philosophy and Economic Sciences, which takes place every Saturday. (Have you already got a headache from so many extracurricular activities? Let me know in the comments below!)
Our tutor, Nicholas de Mattos, has told us numerous times:
Practise doing nothing twice a day: when you wake up and when you go to sleep. Release all thoughts and just be in the moment
Nicholas de Mattos
We are doing so pleasant exercises such as asking ourselves ”What would a wise person do?” in numerous situations, and the art of doing nothing for seconds, but simply feel, breathe, and perceive without judgement.
Source: hellorainb0w~
This is what I did today, after I experienced a strong headache from reading and using the computer. I surrendered my thoughts for a half an hour to reconnect with my body. The effect was magical. The morning yoga also helps me appreciate the current situation I am in, the process, and not the actual result. The lesson I learned is that
both the body and the mind need a break from mundane activities
Source: hellorainb0w~
Whatever situation you may be dealing with right now, just remember to enjoy the current moment as much as you can, stay calm and positive, an you will achieve your dreams. Good things come with time.
Shining Star 