How To Deal With Temptations...

Human beings face lots of temptations from their surroundings, social media as well as what others do or say. It's, indeed, quite common nowadays to be lead into one temptation into another as we can see throughout our experiences.
Children do it all the time, unconsciously, but so are adults! We may not be conscious of it, but temptations are rather funny little sneaky obstacles of life! 

The act of tempting or the state of being tempted especially to evil is quite common, always have been! 

For instance, let's come back to our teenage years! 
Back in school, your friends were are getting into the gym to play basketball, when one of them decides to sneak into the other girls' restrooms. They push you towards the restroom, convincing you that the girls were changing into their P.E. clothes. The temptation of going in there to see girls changing was indeed, tempting, so you go in and give in the temptation. 

Another example...
Let's bring it back to even earlier years!
You are at home with your cousins who are about the same age as you. The three of you are about six years old, sneaky and all of you love candies. You are in your house, and you know where your mother hides the jar full of candies. You tell your cousins about it, and you all plan a sneak attack on the jar.  You convinced your cousins to get the candies as well! The temptation is real when it comes to sweets! Evil enough you all three did not ask to get some, you just went and take yourselves. 

The last scenario happens much later on in life... 

You are a political person running for senator, and your people are going into amazing length to get some voters on your side. It wasn't your idea to go run for senator but your close family members. Dinner time, gathered around a wonderful meal, your family talks about your political views and the power you would be getting if you became a senator... You thought of it all night long in your bed, and you came to the conclusion of having some power and more money is rather tempting, so you start running a campaign. The temptation was clear and you became a senator, more power, more money... 

These examples are extreme, childish and common... 
Children are tempted by sweets as common sayings, "Don't talk to strangers" and " Don't trust a stranger even if he gives you candies".  Easy to give in the temptations when you don't fully understand the consequences of giving into temptations. 
Teenagers are an easier catch! Drugs and alcohol are now commonly used in their worlds! One kid offering, other give in temptations of feeling high or drunk... And when they are underage, the danger of getting caught is just pure adrenaline. 
Adults comprehend the danger of giving in temptations, yet, they still give in like children give into temptations! As we grow up, we are interested in different things, more dangerous! 

Temptations aren't simple, aren't healthy or safe! You could be tempted when it comes to food, but your health is beyond horrific so your doctor advised you to have a diet, strict diet.... But the smell of fast food come from your office when you work every day. The smell makes you want to eat, but you can't, yet, it's too much, too difficult to hold back so you go and buy some food. Next thing you know, you collapse, then wake up at the hospital! The temptation caused you to collapse on the floor of your office, and you almost died from a very bad health! 
I could go on like this, giving examples, showing you how dangerous temptations can be, but it would take hours, months, years, many, many, many books! 

Why do we give in? Because we are humans, and somehow temptations are obstacles, clever ones which are able to look amazing and yet dangerous! You never know what the consequence may be. Hospital bed, sick stomach, or even a coffin! Giving in temptations may lead to your death, then again, who knows...

Be careful with temptations, you never know what may come!

"Temptations are as thick as the leaves of the forest, and no one can be out of the reach of temptation unless he is dead." - Robert G. Ingersoll

~Bella

Titles After Titles...

Novels, short stories, essays, jokes, little paragraphs.... Every reader will enjoy them... I know I love to read either it's a novel, a textbook, or a short story, an article, a magazine, I will read it if I'm interested.

Sadly, oddly enough, I ain't one to read many American writers. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of amazing writers, but I can't seem to enter their world. The writing is rather different from an Australian, British or German writer. Now, I'm still in love with novels, I can't stay away from them, no matter what will be in my way. But we also have an American writer who came to me via a friend of mine after they let me borrow a book.

Obviously, I can't buy every book I'd like to, I would need an entire room just to store them, show them off like a little library... But for now, I make lists, and buy a few! I wanted to share the latest 10 books with one review...

I. Me and You by Niccolò Ammaniti, an Italian author. "It's a beautiful book, a perfect tale. Painful and moving. Surprising, even for a writer of such a pure and inimitable talent, a sort of island without archipelago in the panorama of Italian fiction."- L'Unità (Italy). Ammaniti was born in Rome where he still lives. One of his novels was listed for The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. 

II. The First Book of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz. "A mash-up of Margaret Atwood and Roald Dahl" - Lady Magazine (UK). Lichtarowicz was born in Cheshire and studied English literature at Durham University. When she isn't writing, she makes television documentaries. 

III. 13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough. "Mean Girls for the Instagram age." - The Times. Pinborough was born in the United Kingdom, she is an award-winning YA and adult thriller, fantasy and cross-genre novelist and screenwriter.

IV. The Girl With No Name by Diney Costeloe. " Gripping"- Somerset Life. She is the daughter of a London publisher and has been surrounded by books all her life. Her early published work included ten romantic novels, several short stories for magazines and radio. 

V. The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley, an Irish writer. "Full of family secrets, exotic flowers, tragedy, and redemption... A sweeping, poignant saga that will enthrall fans of  The House at Riverton, Rebecca and Downtown Abbey."- Shelf Awareness. 

VI. Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher, an amazing British author. "A gorgeous, gloriously romantic read with buckets of charm." - Jill Mansell. An incredible woman who I come to inspire a lot through her writing, her vlogs, and her husband, Tom Fletcher. 

VII. The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien. "One of Edna O'Brien's best and most ambitious novels yet. The Little Red Chairs is personal and political; charming and grotesque; a novel of manners and a novel of monsters."- Maureen Corrigan, National Public Radio. Edna was born and raised in the west of Ireland but has lived in London for many years. 

VIII. The Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut. "Poignant and hilarious, threaded with compassion and, behind everything, the cataract of a thundering moral statement." - The Boston Globe. Vonnegut is a master of contemporary American literature. He has quite a dark humor and unbelievable imagination which makes me love his writing. 

IX. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut. "A free-wheeling vehicle... An unforgettable ride!"- The New York Time. 

X. The Sirens of Titans by Kurt Vonnegut. " His best book... He dares not only to ask the ultimate question about the meaning of life but to answer it."-  Esquire.

I have to go through them all, but I'm still waiting for a few other novels that are suppose to be arriving soon enough... Can't wait to be able to read them!  
Books are a way of escaping life, real life, to go on adventures, make you travel to insane places while being in bed under warm covers and a cup of tea on your bedside. So when I receive a book, I just imagine myself going into another world, another place. 

"I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."- J.K.Rowling

PS: Sorry about last Friday's post, I couldn't get one online, I had to go to work and do other things right when I woke up. To be honest, I kind of forgot about it before leaving to work. 

~Bella

That's shameful ...

WHAT A SHAME! 

A couple weeks ago, I was on my Facebook, looking at the feed when I came across a video. I watched it out of curiosity and then learned something incredibly shameful! Ok, I'm sure you want to see it, yet I spent a good hour looking for it. Dumb little me didn't save the video, so I'm apologizing because you might have enjoyed it if you like to learn information like this! 

The video started saying that a certain percentage of students didn't know how to boil an egg or do their own laundry. 
I don't know if it's just Americans, but in the video, they made the study in America so Americans had to be targeted... Saved me from looking stupid... Just kidding!  Thanks for being European! 

So first, apparently, students cannot cook at all, not even boil an egg, or make pasta (I mean come on, that's so easy), and they can't do laundry as well... What the hell! Don't parents teach their kids to do their laundry or help in the kitchen so later on, when the kids live on their own they know what to do? If I was a parent, I would teach my children to do the basic like cooking, cleaning, laundry... 
After watching the video, I was ashamed of our society. It's gone sideways, downhill! I don't expect kids my age or around my age to perfectly cook, but at least know how to use water

correctly and the time management. With today's technology, I'm sure you can find a simple recipe online. Just use the internet wisely! I'm young, turning 20 soon, and when I look at people my age or slightly younger or older, all I see is immaturity! The mature people are rare, and that's sad, it shows how society has not involved well. Don't take it personally, I'm generalizing people. It's not you personally, it's the majority of people that just take things for granted and honestly, they should really take a good look at life itself. 
I have my own share of bad things, I ain't perfect, but I've got the basics. I know how to live on my own! I know how to manage laundry, cook, clean (I hate cleaning though), going grocery! Now, I recently learned a great lesson, and I'm trying to change a few things. It's difficult  to change for the better, ameliorate your views of life... So, if you are just like me trying to be better, I believe in you! 

Being adult can be challenging, frightful, and irritating! 
After turning 18, I was feeling sick, I had to act like an adult in some points and still act like a child in others. That age is annoying, especially for me! I didn't spend my teenage years like the others, I had too many responsibilities, so now it seems like I just want to be back again and act like a teenager who can be mean and do dumb things! I'm realizing that I did indeed miss out on my teenage years, growing up faster and mature up quicker than people my age. 
Turning 20 and I'm still at that age when I'm not really considered an adult and not a child anymore. It's in between, some actually still look at me like a child and others expect me to be an adult who does adult things! People make up your mind! 

The things I'm realizing, slowly but still I am... 

Say goodbye to the fact that being invincible is over! That time is gone forever! We all did some crazy things growing up, I know I did (just a few things), but when you grow up, you have to see the outcome... While when you are a kid, you go for it and don't care about the result. 

You have to take more responsibilities, start caring for yourself! That can be quite challenging! I don't want to talk about my experience as it is quite awful, too young and now it's like I'm on a strike! But I love being independent, it's nice! 

Where did everyone go? You lose touch with people so easily. The only people that will stay in your life is your real friends, the others will eventually leave and do their own things. It's sad but true, just like junior high going to high school, but this is college to life. 

Oh, new things will interest you! Maybe you'll stop listening to Blink-182 or stop going on hikes... You will end up liking new things! It's like you'll be the person you laughed at during your high school years. That boring person you thought you'll never be... It will happen!  

Free time will be precious! Between the job, maybe the family you created, and friends that want to make plans because they barely see you... Some free alone time will be appreciated because it will be rare! 

At the end of the day, you should know the basic to become an adult. Even if it means asking for help at first! Seize the day... Being an adult will eventually have to come, so make the best out of it. Don't worry too much and live day by day. Be spontaneous, and believe in yourself! I know you will be able to boil an egg, I BELIEVE IN YOU!

"Now you know why Peter Pan didn't want to grow up."

~Bella