personal – The Estella Initiative

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?- Daily Writing Prompt

Published on July 16, 2026July 14, 2026 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

I am a firm believer that finding joy and happiness in everyday things is important to maintaining motivation to get through tough times. Even when times are not as tough, everyday things that bring happiness is a way of relaxing after a busy day or is a way to make the day even more enjoyable.

For me, I have several everyday things that bring me happiness. Out of all the things that bring me happy, five stand out to me. Even if these things are not everyday things, they still bring me happiness whenever I encounter them.

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A Little Update on What I’ve Been Doing on My Blogging Break- July 2026

Published on July 9, 2026October 29, 2026 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

For the past few weeks, during my blogging break, I’ve been working on cleaning out my house. It was not the only thing I did during my break, but it is the activity that took up most of my free time. I have a lot of things in my house and it’s time to let a lot of them go. I wanted to do this major clean out of my house for many years, and I have been going through my things for years and getting rid of them, but that wasn’t enough. So, I’m committed to focus on cleaning out my house as much as possible whenever I have the time to do it.

Since this takes time, I haven’t been able to think of a lot of a lot of blog post ideas. Even if I have ideas, I don’t have the time and/or energy to work on them. Still, I’m thinking about things and wondering what direction I want to take my blog and posts towards.

During my clean out, I found many things I want to get rid of, but don’t want to talk about online. I just want to search through things, decide what to do with them, and actually do what I decide to do with them. I don’t want the added stress of explaining my reasons for my decisions online!

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5 Things I Do For Fun

Published on February 27, 2026February 20, 2026 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

Like many people, I’ve had very stressful times in my life… like right now. *sigh*

During these times, I find it hard to do something for myself or something that I can do for fun. This is why it is important to remind myself of the things I really enjoy and is fun. Since I’m going through a pretty stressful time in my life right now, I wanted to list five of the things I do for fun. These are not the only things I do for fun, but it is something I know will bring me stress relief!

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Beauty Product Shopping, Higher Prices, and Adjusting to Accommodate for My Allergies

Published on November 3, 2025November 2, 2025 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

Sephora’s Savings Event is happening right now and, after holding back from shopping for new makeup and other beauty related things, I decided to shop at Sephora. Since November is my birthday month, it is also the time for me to collect my gifts from Sephora.

In order to prep for the sale, I decided to search for my old favorite products and to see if there was anything new I would like to buy. After my search, I’ve been feeling really frustrated by the selection of products and the prices of them.

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Reading Books, Reading Books Via Audio Books, and My Desire for More Transparency for Online Reviews

Published on June 13, 2025June 23, 2025 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

For a few years, I struggled with comparing my reading habits to people I see online. Comparing my reading habits goes back to when I was in elementary school when others read less than I did, but I did have problems reading and writing caused me to test poorly in reading speed tests. Today, I enjoy reading and I can speed read pretty well, but I’m still pretty sensitive about it and I can’t speed read as fast as someone that doesn’t have my problems. Because of this, I don’t like to call myself a bookworm and I like to read a book at least once before I review it online.

This sensitivity began to rear it’s head when I started to watch videos reviewing books I was interested in. Although I didn’t have an issue with people who read faster than me, (Obviously they don’t struggle with reading like I do) I began have problems with people with reading disabilities reading more than I do. One person in particular began to review multiple books, some of them over 400 pages long, every month. I couldn’t fathom how this was possible. I can read a 400 page long book in a small amount of time, but I can’t read many of them over the course of the month.

Many theories began to form in my head, including they may have way more time on their hands than I do. (They are full time social media influencers after all.) Late last year, while watching one of this person’s videos, I found out my answer: They listen to audio books.

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Update on My Vehicle- What’s Going On and What My Next Steps Will Be

Published on April 22, 2025April 18, 2025 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

Since February, I’ve had vehicle problems. I mentioned these most recent problems on this blog, but I decided to hold off talking about it until there was a calm in the chaos this issue caused.

Today, I’m happy to write that there is a solution… sort of. I’ve gone back and forth about what to talk about, so I decided to talk about what happened to my vehicle, what is mechanically wrong with it, and what is next for me vehicle wise.

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Thoughts on the Passing of Queen Elizabeth II

Published on September 9, 2022September 9, 2022 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

If you haven’t heard, Queen Elizabeth II, the oldest and longest serving monarch not only of Great Britain but in the world, passed away on September 7, 2022. I thought about publishing today’s post as scheduled, but I decided to postpone it until next week. Even though I am not British, I always admired the Queen. She served as the monarch for seventy years before she passed away. Even though her reign was not perfect, she provided a stability for her country that few of any generation could ever do.

Whenever someone passes away, it is always hard to explain their feelings. I feel that way right now. I feel sad that she is no longer here and her presence will be forever missed. Yet, she left behind a legacy that is awe inspiring and is something people of all ages will look at in admiration. I’m happy she will be with her husband, Prince Phillip, who passed away in April, again. Even though I will miss her, I am happy she is in a safe place. A place without stress and worry about the world’s affairs and all the stress she had as Queen. May she, and her husband, Rest In Peace.

Well, that’s all for now. Thank you for reading.

Featured Image by Pixabay on Pexels.com

5 Types of Clothing I Love But Don’t Look Good on Me

Published on August 17, 2022August 2, 2022 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

Every August, I look for new clothes to wear during the fall and winter. I’m lucky to live in a warm climate, so our fall and winters are mild. Despite this, there have been times when cold snaps happen and I need to drag out my heavy winter clothes. This is why I like to look for new clothes starting in July and August to purchase.

This year, my health has improved a great deal, which means I could find clothes that look good on me. Usually, I purchase clothes with the intention of hiding something on my body that is a health problem. Even though I should be happy about this, inflation and less clothing available in the area where I normally shop had made this a very upsetting time for me to shop for new clothes. Despite this, I still want to search.

While searching for new clothes and outfit inspiration, I realized I love outfits with clothes I cannot wear. Many years have passed since I was diagnosed with my illness. In that time, I forgot many of the outfits I love to look at will never look good on me. It is not because of my health problems. It is because the shape of my body does not look good in these clothes.

Since this a topic I thought about a lot lately, and loved to focus on because it releases my stress from other things that are going on in my life, I decided to write a post about all the types of clothing I love to look at, but really don’t look good on me. Continue reading “5 Types of Clothing I Love But Don’t Look Good on Me” →

Things I am Looking Forward to This Holiday Season- 2021

Published on December 1, 2021September 17, 2021 by essieofwhoLeave a comment

Happy December and the first day of Blogmas! I’m very excited to write new Blogmas posts every day for the next 25 days. I hope nothing goes wrong with the publishing posts and I can finish writing all the posts I wanted to this month!

Since this is my first post for Blogmas 2021, I wanted to talk about the things I’m looking forward this holiday season. The holidays this year is going to be different for me than in previous years due to changes in my life. I don’t want to talk about these life changes in this post, but there are things I can talk about. So, without further ado, here are the things I’m looking forward to this holiday season! Continue reading “Things I am Looking Forward to This Holiday Season- 2021” →