Every year around spring, I notice the same thing happening to people.

The first warm evening suddenly appears out of nowhere and everyone starts acting slightly more alive again.

People stay outside longer.
Windows open.
Music gets louder.
Group chats wake up from hibernation.
You start craving lighter food, cleaner spaces, movement, change.
Even your thoughts somehow feel less heavy.

Nature is waking up again after months of surviving winter quietly, and whether we realize it or not, humans respond to that too. Spring always feels like life gently asking:
okay… do you want to start again?
Not in a dramatic “change your entire existence overnight” way.
Just slowly.
Softly.
A little at a time.
Not in a productivity-guru way.
In a real life way.

And I honestly think there’s a reason for that.

I think spring is one of the best seasons for self-growth because it doesn’t demand perfection from you. It just invites movement. Tiny shifts. Small decisions. New energy.

So if lately you’ve been feeling stuck, uninspired, disconnected from yourself or simply tired of your own routine, here are a few things that genuinely help me feel refreshed every spring.

Sometimes I randomly stop in the middle of an ordinary moment and think:

wait… I’ve already been alive for 36 years?

How is that even possible.

Life honestly feels less like a long timeline and more like someone snapping their fingers repeatedly. One second you are a teenager thinking adulthood sounds impossibly far away, then suddenly you are buying groceries, healing childhood wounds, worrying about taxes and stretching your back before bed because you slept “weird.”

Time is such a strange thing. The older I get, the faster it feels. Days can feel endless, but years disappear almost disrespectfully fast.

And I think what makes it harder is that most of us are never fully where we are.

We spend so much time mentally living somewhere else.

The past pulls on us constantly. Old mistakes, regrets, embarrassing moments, things we should have done differently, versions of ourselves we miss, people we should have left sooner, opportunities we think we wasted.

Then the future arrives immediately after.

What if this doesn’t work?

Yes, I cut my hair. I removed the extensions. And I also took off my lash extensions. Not because of a crisis, not because something went wrong, but because one day I simply felt a very clear urge to let it all go. It was one of those moments when you don’t overthink, you just know. And for me, that moment felt right. ✨

I want to be clear about one thing though – I loved my old look. The long hair, the volume, the lashes that did half the talking for me. It was beautiful, it was fun, and it definitely had its era. I’m not here to say it was fake or wrong. It wasn’t. But looking back, I realize I was maintaining an image of someone I didn’t fully feel like.

This isn’t a dramatic goodbye forever. I’m not saying I’ll never have extensions again, or that I’m suddenly anti-beauty or anti-glam. Maybe one day I’ll want it all back. The difference is that next time, I want it to come from a different place. Not from habit, not from expectation, not from “this is how I should look,” but from a genuine want for all the good reasons.

Right now, I’m choosing to fully accept what I have. My fine hair that will probably never grow into long lengths no matter how patient I am. My eyelashes that are actually just fine the way they are. I’m learning to accept both the good and the bad parts of myself, without constantly trying to improve, fix or hide them.

There’s also a very practical side to this decision. Extensions are expensive and time-consuming. Every two months, nearly 250 USD just to move them back to the roots (and it means a full day of sitting in a chair at my hairstylist). Lash refills every three to four weeks for another 50 USD (2 hours work). Add the appointments, the maintenance, the constant planning around it – and suddenly you realize how much mental space it takes up. Life genuinely feels so much easier without it.

I feel lighter. Happier. More like myself. I wake up, get ready faster, and don’t feel like I’m constantly maintaining something. And honestly? That freedom feels really good.

I don’t know what the future holds. I’m unsure, and that’s okay. All I know is that at this moment, this decision feels right. And sometimes that’s all you need. Everything real has to come from within anyway — the rest is just decoration.

XO, Zuzi 🌼

I don’t really believe in New Year’s resolutions anymore. They always feel a bit heavy, like suddenly everything should change just because the calendar did. This year, I’m choosing something else –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ new ways of moving through life, small mindset shifts, quiet promises to myself that feel doable and real. These are the mantras I’m carrying with me into the new year. Not as rules, but as reminders. ✨

There’s this tiny, tender moment every year –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ when the last golden leaves cling to the branches, the air sharpens just a bit, and suddenly you realize… We’re shifting! ❄️ Fall is packing and winter is slowly knocking on the door with her twinkly frosty fingers.

Before I step fully into the holiday season (and yes, I am absolutely already humming Christmas songs), I wanted to share a few last snaps from those crisp fall days. You know, the ones where everything still looked warm and alive before the world started turning soft and sleepy. 🍁

But this year –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ oh, this year feels different.
Because I made a decision.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ who we’d be and what we’d do if the internet didn’t exist. Can we even imagine? Would we be the same people? If the answer is no, maybe that’s a sign to pause.

I notice that the most magnetic people online aren’t usually primarly creating for an audience; they’re simply living their lives and sharing bits of it along the way. That feels like the right attitude –⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ life first, sharing second.