Paula’s Blog

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23 Jun
For all my life, I have prided myself in being very positive, optimistic, and full of joy. I always have a smile and a hug for everyone and I love to have fun and laugh. I never showed any weakness or asked for help when I needed it because I thought that was what being strong was all about. I also never really learned how to feel and process my emotions or learn to be vulnerable. No matter how I was feeling inside, I kept a bright, smiling facade that I always showed the world. I kept myself so busy, jam-packing my schedule with work, meetings, projects, events, dinners, nights out, parties, and dates. I surrounded myself with people and had no time to really listen to myself and know how I truly feel. During the past year, because of the drastic changes that have occurred in my life, I decided to start seriously working on myself: finding out what I want on my own, what gives me joy, what I want to cut out of my life, what I like, how to be vulnerable, how I want my life to unfold, where I see myself in the future, and the impact that I want to leave on the world. Then COVID hit.
02 Jun
WHICH SUNSCREEN IS RIGHT FOR ME? Summer is almost upon us, and with that, comes increased sun exposure. Sunscreens protect the skin by preventing and minimizing the damaging effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun. These damaging effects can cause not only sunburns but skin cancer, pigmented spots, premature aging, and wrinkles. We all know that this is beneficial, but with all the available choices and different sunscreen formulations and brands, how do you pick what’s right for you? If you’re like most people, too many choices can confound you, give you anxiety, and you end up just giving up and not even choosing anything, or worse, make an uninformed decision. But fear not, dear reader, I have the solution for you! I have broken down the science of sunscreen to a more palatable and understandable way.
18 May
As most of the world begins to open up from a global quarantine, I look back at what really got me through this uncertain and chaotic time virtually unscathed. Meditation The quarantine afforded me the time to truly go inward. My cats would wake me up at sunrise then I would start meditating before I start work. I probably would have gone crazy had it not for this really great meditation app called Insight Timer. It has really changed my life. Initially, I would wake up grumpy as I am not a morning person. I usually jump off the bed and get my morning started without even making my bed. Now, the early mornings allow more time for gratitude, bed-making, meditation, and even breakfast! I also end my day with an evening meditation. I even created a SoundCloud sleep meditation playlist.
14 May
As one of the millions of Americans who suffer from rosacea, I know first hand how impactful it can be to your quality of life. Your skin looks red, feels tight, itching, burning, painful, dry yet oily at the same time, and sometimes you can even have bumps all over. It affects your self-confidence and makes you feel not only physically miserable, but makes you not feel so good on the inside as well. So, I wanna delve more into it: what causes rosacea, what patients can do on their own to make their lives better and decrease flare-ups, but also which products I use and love when I have a rosacea breakout.
11 May
Hi there, You're gonna notice that I took an uber protracted hiatus from writing. I have to be completely transparent with you, dear reader, but I went through a drastic change in my marital status last year. It was a complete upheaval and I was truly unable to write (nor did I have the motivation to write). Not only did I have to say goodbye to someone I loved, but I had to say goodbye to who I thought I was as a person. Put it this way, when I got married at 21, that marriage was so intrinsically attached to my identity that I really felt quite lost there for quite awhile. I didn't know what I wanted, who I was, or who I wanted to be. About 90% of who I thought I was no longer existed and I had no idea who or how to be.
08 Jun

Last weekend was a big lesson on non-attachment. In the Buddhist and Jainist philosophies, attachment or attraction to worldly possessions and wealth make a person more unhappy because he or she is more likely to commit sin to acquire and hold on to what he/she...

09 May

Most Americans want the newest, latest thing, especially when it comes to clothing and fashion. But did you know that over 70% of the world's population use secondhand clothes, and the US is largest exporter of second hand clothing? It exports over a billion pounds...

27 Apr

This year, I vowed not to buy any new clothing and only buy vintage, secondhand, or repurposed clothing. Doing this reduces my carbon footprint and makes me a more conscious consumer, among other things. Plus I may have a very tiny obsession with vintage and...

25 Mar

You have probably heard of microneedling sometime or another. Lately, this has been one of the more popular procedures I do for my patients with excellent results. I’m going to talk about what the procedure is, who the best candidate is, what to expect before,...

21 Mar

At the start of the year, I vowed to not buy any new clothes, shoes, and accessories. Instead, I resolved to only buy vintage, second-hand, recycled, and upcycled items, as well as shop my friends’ closets, but most especially my own. When I first moved to...