@LYDIAKIVELA

What’s your favourite color?
Ughh, that orange-yellow-green colour the leaves are when the sun shines on them in the arvo or just anything soft and pastel lol.

What’s your favourite ‘go-to’ recipe?
Vegan curry with rice and papadams. Let me know if you actually want the recipe lmao.

What self-care habits do you intertwine into your daily routine?
I gotta stretch at least once/ preferably twice a day or I just feel weird.

What's your favourite book and what book had the largest impact on you?
Is it bad I don’t have one? I’ve started reading Kafka on the shore like three times and never made it past half/three quarters of the way before I forget I’m reading a book lol. But I do genuinely enjoy the read, it's tight. I should pick it up again :/

Who can you talk to when you need to get something off your chest?

Thankfully any of my close friends.

Where’s your safe place?
I’m not sure hey, my Cancer ass makes me feel itself at home anywhere so I guess if I feel safe I probably am.  Then again I always feel instantly safe when I’m with Soph (Layrea) especially at her home in Eumundi.

Have you ever dealt with anxiety? If so, what triggers it and how do you calm your mind?
Low-key all the time, I’m just now getting better at identifying when/how much I’m anxious and the different levels and forms it shows itself/comes out in cos it doesn’t always take over your whole body, sometimes it's a soft fog you don’t really notice till it's gone. But stretching for sure calms me, or even laying on the floor of this emptyish room I have with a dim orange light on. Also making sure I’ve eaten enough/fruit and vegetables - too much sugar and coffee ain't it. And different forms of release (breathing, dancing, screaming into a pillow or just letting out whatever noise you gotta let out lol) tarot cards can be comforting too if you bout that life.

Have you or someone you love ever been in a dark place? If so, what were the steps taken to get out?
Yeah for sure. I was in a cookedddd place a few years ago so I bought a lil spirax note book and just wrote down how I felt in it at the end of each day till one day I realised I'd stop writing in it because I didn’t need to anymore. Being productive also helped heaps, turning my thoughts into art or just kicking it with my mates. But writing out my feelings helped me recognise that I could make it to square 50 one day then the next feel like I was at square 1 again then back to square 30 and that's really just part of the process. One day it just wont hurt anymore - trusss. Also pay attention to your surroundings! Outer influences and energies affect us a lot.

Do you think social media affects your mental health or has any other negative impacts on you? If so, how do you best deal with it?
Hundy. Social media can be such a mind fuck but I just try to remember that it's literally its own world. Monitoring your usage is heaps healthy and almost gross when you realise how quickly 2 hrs on instagram goes by lol. But yeah, aiming to be as present as possible I think is key and definitely helps me. Also asking yourself what your intention is - “am I making/filming/etc this to post it online or because I genuinely want to create/etc” neither answer is wrong but just so you know why you're doing what you're doing. It's way too easy to get caught up in the hype and place peoples values within their likes and followings and how cool their feed is but if you remember we really existing and living and breathing on this earth it's easier to separate the worlds and just actually be here and be happy with that. I’ve been aiming to be offline and more present in my body lately, its lit.

What’s the biggest change you can identify within yourself in the past year?Just being way more/genuinely honest with myself and realising who I actually am. (Still a work in progress) but I feel myself becoming noticeably more physically and mentally aligned.

What changes do you want to see within yourself in the coming year? 
To keep at it with this honesty thing. I’ve recently recognised theres a lot of healing from my past that needs to be done and is affecting the reactions I have today so I’m scared and excited to deal with that. Future me can hopefully thank past me later.

What’s one of the hardest things you’ve had to go through in life? How did you get through it?
Thankfully just getting my heart broken for the first time. ref to Q8 for how I dealt with it.

What advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
Stop adoring people to the point where you lose sight of your own self worth and capabilities. Pedestals ain't cute. Also he ain't shit.

What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve learnt?
Obvs identify whether or not you're just stalling, but take YOUR f*cking time sis.

If you could change one thing within society, what would that be?
I'd abolish toxic masculinity.