Browsing Category

LIFESTYLE

Parlons-en

Thoughts on creativity

13 August, 2014

revehotelcostesbylouisesk

Staying creative is crucial to me in order to be balanced and having a fulfilled life (or at least a week). I have found it to be extremely difficult to work in a large corporate firm and still remain creative. During the first 6 months, I took a break from blogging and made sure to maintain some creative activity by going to drawing sessions every Saturday. As I felt that my priority for that moment was to focus on the job, I had made my mind in advance where my priority was. When the 6 months had gone by, I felt that I had more freedom in my mind to resume my creative pleasures. But suddenly I felt that even though I wanted this again, I didn’t know where to begin, what to write or photograph. Very naturally, the cooking came back (obviously) and with some getaways I found some inspiration and started writing again (in paper notebooks).

Now how can I make sure of maintaining the creative work? There are so many features you better learn to smoothly work your way up the corporate ladder which are in contradiction with being creative. How do you keep both and not become fake or - dare I say it? - a bit schizophrenic ^^?

Let me explain. For example, in theory, vulnerability in a firm is - uhuh - not good. You show weakness, you are slowly going to fade out. Of course it is not as harsh as in The Hunger Games, but you get the idea. On the other hand, vulnerability can foster creativity. When you are willing to let yourself be vulnerable, you allow yourself to try out new things, even though they don’t work from the very beginning, you gotta start somewhere. Being vulnerable as in being connected to your feelings enables you to express yourself in whatever artistic way you please. Brené Brown made a very soulful Tedx speech on vulnerability back in 2010: The power of vulnerability. With a lot of humour, she notes that creativity is fostered by vulnerability (even though it is not the fundamental part of her speech).

What can also help staying creative is setting out a “creative workout” like my friend Rodolphe calls it in his piece “Why I built a weekly creativity routine“. He explains how creativity has become a part of his daily week-life just as much as going to the gym for some or having brunch with your gang for others. I completely agree with this idea, if you don’t set dedicated time aside for creativity, there’s a big chance you won’t come up with that many new ideas, especially if your job isn’t within creative surroundings.

Do you also feel that being creative is important to being balanced? How do you maintain your creativity?

 

Picture taken in Paris, Hotel Costes, Faubourg St Honoré

Tweet
Bien-être

About coffee

10 May, 2014

coffeebylouisesk

Le café commence à avoir raison de moi. Ceux parmi vous qui boivent déjà du café se disent probablement “Pff… évidemment, comment est-ce possible de vivre 26 ans sans café ?!” Vous en êtes peut-être au stade où vous essayez la vie sans café pendant un temps comme Leandra Medine la semaine dernière. Mais j’ai toujours été contre la consommation de café en théorie ou en pratique. Ce n’est plus tout à fait le cas.

Tout d’abord, je n’aimais pas le goût (mais l’odeur hmmm), ce qui est une assez bonne raison pour ne pas en boire. Peut-être pas pour tout le monde, puisque le café est également devenu populaire pour ses effets. Ensuite, jusqu’ici, à chaque fois que je prenais un café, mon coeur se mettait à battre intensément et même un latte pris après le déjeuner rendait mon sommeil impossible jusqu’à 4 heures du matin. Sans exagération, c’est arrivé pas plus tard qu’il y a quelques semaines lorsqu’on est allé au Café Pinson.

Je ne buvais pas de café parce que ça rend dépendant, ça “toxifie” le corprs et le stimule de manière non-naturelle ce qui entraîne un état de chute libre une fois les effets de la caféine terminés. Aussi, j’ai toujours été une fan engagée de thé donc il n’y avait pas vraiment de raison pour moi de changer de boisson chaude. Jusqu’à 5 mois après le début de mon job.

Les matins sont sans problème, j’ai accumulé assez d’énergie avec le sommeil, mais après le déjeuner c’est tellement dur de se concentrer, être efficace et encore plus d’apporter des réflexions pertinentes. C’est comme savoir qu’on peut potentiellement faire mieux mais être restreint parce qu’on a pas pris de potion magique. DONC, un jour j’ai essayé un cappuccino. Je dois être une adulte maintenant parce que j’ai adoré. Et il n’y a rien à dire, ça m’a vraiment boosté. Depuis, je prends 2-3 cafés par semaine et maintenant c’est presque tous les jours. Je crois que je suis devenue accro.

Au début, je pensais qu’il fallait trouver un équilibre comme Gwyneth Paltrow et sa cigarette hebdomadaire. Ensuite j’ai creusé un peu le sujet et ai découvert comment le café peut - avec modération comme toujours - avoir des effets bénéfiques sur la santé. Harvard School of Public Health a publié une étude il y a 2 semaines qui montre comment le café peut par exemple avoir un effet positif sur les diabète de type 2. Bien sûr, on peut trouver n’importe quoi pour prouver n’importe quelle idée, mais Harvard School of Public Health me semble être une source plutôt convaincante. Donc une tasse de café par jour n’est peut-être pas so toxique.

Pour conclure, même si le café sera commandé plus fréquemment de ma part, quelques bonnes habitudes peuvent être attachées à sa consommation.

  • sans sucre ajouté
  • lattes et cappuccinos avec lait végétaux sont à préférer lorsque cela est possible (une question de bon sens)
  • pas plus d’une tasse par jour (je me demande combien de temps ça va rester d’actualité)
  • j’arrête si ça m’empêche à nouveau de dormir

 

Et vous, quelle est votre relation au café ?

***

I’m starting to grow something of a coffee addiction. The coffee drinkers among you will probably go “Duh… how have you been able to live 26 years without drinking coffee?!” You might even feel the need to try life without coffee for some time like Leandra Medine last week. But actually I have always been against drinking coffee, in theory and practice. It’s not exactly the case anymore.

First of all, I didn’t like the taste of it (love the smell though), which is basically a good reason for not drinking coffee. Maybe not for everyone as coffee has largely been used for its effects. Secondly, every time I had a cup of coffee, my heart would start beating rather intensely and even a latte taken after lunch would make it impossible for me to sleep until 4 A.M. No exaggeration, that happened no later than a few weeks ago when I went to Café Pinson.

I didn’t drink coffee because it makes you dependent on it, it “toxifies” your body and stimulates it in a unnatural way which means facing a heck of a downturn once the coffeine has done its job. Also, I’ve always been a committed tea-lover, so there really was no reason for me to switch hot drinks. Until 5-months into my job.

The mornings are fine, I have a lot of energy from my beauty sleep but then comes lunch and it is just so hard to focus, be efficient and least of all bring relevant input. It is like knowing you could potentially do better but choosing not to. SO, one day I tried a cup of cappuccino. I must be an adult now because I liked it. Like really liked it and nothing to say, it really gave a boost. Since that day, 2-3 times a week I would have a cup and now it is almost everyday. I swear. I am hooked.

First I thought that it really is all about finding a balance like Gwyneth Paltrow and her weekly cigarette. Then I started looking into the subject and discovering how coffee can - in moderation like everything else - have a positive impact on your health. Harvard School of Public Health released last week a study showing how coffee can have a positive effect on type 2 diabetes. Of course, you can find anything to prove any point out there, but Harvard School of Public Health seems pretty convincing to me.

To conclude, though coffee will be ordered more often on my behalf, some good habits can remain attached to the consumption of it:

  • no sugar added
  • lattes and cappuccinos with vegetable milk is preferred (that’s just common sense though)
  • no more than one cup a day (I wonder how long I’ll be able to maintain this rule)
  • stop if it keeps you from sleeping after a decent hour

 

***
What is your relationship to coffee?

 

Tweet