Well hello there, my names Evette ( but everyone calls me Eve ) I am a new travel, food, lifestyle, and fitness blogger. I am a 22-year-old South African currently living and working in China, to be very honest I have never had much interest in reading and writing but I have been told by many that my life is extremely interesting and adventures and that I should start sharing my life experiences, so here’s a small look into my current life.
1. What have you been doing to keep yourself busy during the lockdown due to Corona Virus?
Well let me start off saying this isn’t my first lockdown as I live and work in China so I have been facing these terrible times since last year November, as well as traveling in the northern parts of China and South Korea during the coronavirus, but I am lucky enough to say due to certain flights being canceled I got to come home, so I’ve been lucky and fortunate enough to be spending this time with my family which I haven’t been able to see in a year, I’ve been training every morning in my backyard, which has been really good for my mental health, I’ve been baking and cooking things I haven’t been able to in a year as I don’t have an oven in my house in China, and of course during lockdown, I began blogging which has been keeping me very busy with all my travel blogs, I’ve also been socializing with friends via video calls which has been an absolute blessing as I think I would have gone crazy.
2. Besides blogging, what else do you enjoy doing/what are your hobbies?
Well I’m known as a flower child, I’m weird, Crazy and adventures, something I’d consider as a hobby would be that I’m constantly wanting to learn new languages and cultures which comes from traveling the world and living in a completely eastern culture it’s made my curiosity for the world grow stronger, so you can always catch me on a language app, as well as as an ex personal trainer I enjoy being in and out of the gym, or going for morning and evening runs as that for me is my personal self-time to take in life as many take it for granted I use that time to be fully aware of myself and where I was and where I am at now.
3. How do you manage time to run your blog efficiently? Are you using any apps to assist you and which ones? Let me not lie I’m not much of a writer or a reader as I’ve only read about 2 books my whole life I find it very boring, but when it comes down to making time for blogging I really need to be in this spiritual mood that gets me going and once I start there’s no going back, for me, it’s pretty easy making time for my blog as I’m not usually that busy, but when it comes to traveling I don’t even want to think about my blog where most would travel and blog while traveling I’m one that lives in the moment of my travels and writes after, the only apps I really use for my blog is Twitter and Instagram as I’ve noticed that’s where most of my viewers are, other than that I don’t really use anything else.
4. What is your biggest fear?
My biggest fear is death, I am absolutely terrified of dying, and I have been since the day I was born, I guess I’ve lost so many important people in my life that I’ve become so overwhelmed with the idea that just thinking about it, makes me so upset, it’s the idea of not knowing what’s next and where you go is there really a heaven? How will I die? When will I die? It absolutely terrifies me... I’ve always been afraid that I would regret not living the best life I could have, life and death are equally interesting but both terrifying because they are both unknown, no one really knows how to live the best life, and no one knows what’s life like after death...
5. If you could have any superpower what would you choose and why?
I’m not sure if this is even a superpower, but the power to heal, to heal the brokenhearted, to heal the poor, to heal sickness, to heal all of that pain hurt and suffering humans face, as personally I’ve felt a lot especially through my teenage years I’ve always wished someone could have healed me, as pain can stay with someone for years, and at some point can destroy you. Why would I choose this stranger superpower? Well, think about it, how many people commit suicide every minute? It’s a number larger than what you think it is, and it’s not always because of depression, it could be stress, self-worth, work, family damn even life, body image, and the list continues now imagine being able to heal all that hurt, pain, depression, and thoughts, that for me wouldn’t just be any superpower it would be a gift to the world and human race. and the power to heal wouldn’t just be limited to humans but for the world as well, the suffering of the earth is just as bad as suicide, the earth is slowly dying we all know that it has been for years, and not much has changed. Like I said it wouldn’t just be a superpower it would be a gift to the world!
6. Who are some of your favorite bloggers and why?
There are so many bloggers out there and me being one of the new bloggers in town I’ve only now just realized how many there really are, one that I’m constantly reading is actually a friend of mine from Britain that has this amazing travel and lifestyle blog here name is Bobbi and I thought why not just leave her link here so you could see for yourself. https://www.bobbisblog.co.uk
7. What have been your biggest achievements so far; in blogging and life?
Wellbeing a new blogger my achievements have been that I have received more views than what I expected, which for me is absolutely incredible as I didn’t think it would be such a huge success so early, but personally, for me I’m beyond proud of how dedicated I have been toward blogging as I didn’t think I would ever be writing about life as for me it’s such a personal thing so that for me already is such a massive achievement. What’s my biggest achievement in life outside of blogging that would be growth, growth as an individual, I’ve changed in such beautiful way, I’ve made mistakes but I’ve grown and I continue to grow, I’ve met such wonderful human beings during my life journey that has taught me so much about love, friendship, hope, and many more wonderful things, I believe growth and acceptance is one of the greatest achievements life has given me.
8. What did you want to be when you were younger and what are you now? Are you enjoying it and why? I always wanted to be a pilot, and not just any but a fighter jet pilot, I was unfortunately never able to achieve those dreams but I still went into the same field, that being aviation, I became a flight attendant as well as a mechanical aircraft engineer where I fixed and rebuilt aircrafts. What am I currently? I am now an international English teacher teaching in China for over a year, and I am absolutely blessed with the best job ever, I grew up being told that education is the best gift life granted us with and I stood by that for many years and for me being able to be the best teacher I can to a younger generation especially one that is not of an English background is something beyond beautiful and magical, as not only do I get to teach these students another language but I get to share my life, my culture and my traditions with these amazing students of mine, and that for me is beautiful because I get to show them how much bigger and how much more beautiful this world is. And in return, I get to learn more about life, education, and new cultures new languages which for me is absolutely incredible, and to walk out of every class with a smile on my face that’s the best job ever knowing that I gave my students everything I possibly could.
9. What would you say is the biggest challenge facing young women today?
Acceptance, in this generation that we live in today everything is constantly about fitting in, and it’s absolute rubbish, it’s all about dressing a certain way to fit in, and what you wear and what you post all of a sudden puts you into these categories that start classifying you either as a slut, hoe, smart, bitchy and the list continues, as an old Instagram influencer I experienced a lot of hate just because of what I posted and if I wanted to post a bikini pictures it’s as if my body type wasn’t right, I was all of a sudden some slut, what because I’m not a professional model I don’t deserve to be proud of my body, I don’t deserve to post what I am proud of? Society and social media are controlling the way women should dress, act and behave, that’s absolute nonsense, it’s a shame actually I feel sorry for the younger generation of women how they will grow up, what will be expected of them? I think as women we should be proud of who we are, what we are made of and especially what we look like there is no need for jealousy and name shaming instead of tearing each other down, be a better person, be a better friend, because words hurt more than actions do, and what you say could stop young women from taking her own life.
10. What is the most difficult challenge you've ever had to overcome and how did you overcome it?
This question got me thinking and thinking as so many things came to mind, my sister having cancer and nearly losing her, my best friend passing, me moving to China... and that’s when I really had to think about something That honestly was extremely hard for me, what’s the most difficult challenge I’ve overcome, life, life is the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to overcome from being the happiest little girl in the world to being destroyed by depression, I had faced a very difficult time in my teen years, from suicidal attempts to nearly succeeding to being rushed to the hospital, to drugs, to rehab. It’s always a difficult topic for people to talk about or even to read about, and it shouldn’t be because it’s real, it’s out there and if we don't start facing it, things could get worse. It was something I struggled with constantly, it’s as if I couldn’t be happy, I forgot what happiness felt like. Even though I kept pushing away every single person in my life I came to a realization that not many people can when they get sucked in to deep where all you see is black and white, which was the point I was at, this was not the future I wanted it was not the life I wanted and I was not the person people wanted in their life, I woke up one morning and flushed all my pills down the toilet, my dad in the other hand wasn’t the happiest but I made a promise to myself and to my family that on that day I would turn things around and that’s when training and gym became a massive part in my life as it still is today, it was a place where I would let out everything it might not sound good but all my pain I took it out on my body I worked through it one by one, and before I knew it I started seeing color again, I was finally free of the pain and suffering, I started accepting my past and my present as it came to me, and there are many people out there that need that hope, that faith that everything will be okay.
But enough about my life and my personal experiences I hope you are all doing well please take care of yourself during this crazy thing we call life.
And as always stay strong keep smiling much love Eve.