Meditation?

I'll admit it, I am a pretty anxious person, especially during the school year. I get stressed out and I worry a lot, and as studies have shown, stress and anxiety can be bad for your health. There are many solutions, but I don't have time for a lot of them or they just don't interest me.
My mom has recently started meditating and has tried to get me to join her, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to dive right into that just yet. Meditation is very stress-relieving, but it's not quite up my alley. So, in a quest to find my own form of meditation, I came across Zentangle®.
Zentangle is a form of art where the artist just kind of draws, but the end result isn't really a picture of anything specific. It's a tangle of different lines and patterns that all come together to make something really interesting. And the cool part of Zentangle is that it's a form of meditation (hence the "zen").
The Zentangle Method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas (you can learn more at Zentangle.com) and is a really innovative form of meditation for those who lack time or don't like to sit still. In this art form, you focus on each pen stroke and if you make a mistake, there's no need to worry! You can just come up with a new pattern and turn the mistake into something new.
I'm a pretty creative person, so I immediately fell in love with Zentangle. And for someone who lacks a ton of money, one upside is that all you need is a pen and paper. I find it super relaxing , and I often focus so intently while Zentangling that I tune out everything that's happening around me. That certainly is a bonus.
If you need inspiration, check out my Zentangle board on Pinterest here or look at the official Zentangle blog here.
Happy tangling!

The Fault in Not Reading The Fault in Our Stars

Normally, I pride myself in reading books before they become popular. I don't do it on purpose, it just happens, like with The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, and Divergent.

I'm sad to say I have fallen down on the job with John Green's The Fault in Our Stars. I heard about it before the movie came along and it really blew up, but I didn't read it for one reason:
I'm hate emotions.
Well, mostly the whole "sad" thing. I just really, really hate being sad (it doesn't help that I'm an ugly crier).
I knew that the book was a love story about two teens with cancer, and seeing as no book nowadays has a happy ending, I figured the book would inevitably make me sad. So that's why I haven't read TFIOS.
Until now.
I decided to get over it and read the darn book, mostly because I couldn't stand not having read such a popular novel. Although, I never finished the Twilight series. But I digress. I finally got the book and read over half of it in about five hours.
Now, I have the authority to say that if you are avoiding TFIOS because you're an emotion-phobe, like me, stop fighting it. It's bound to happen eventually, so go ahead and give in to the lure of Hazel Grace and Gus and fall in love with them and then cry your eyes out. It's okay. You're certainly not the only one.
As a side-note: John Green is also brilliant and funny and happens to be a famous YouTuber and has a Tumblr. Name one other best-selling author that has a Tumblr.
But trust me, you won't regret reading this book.

Summer Playlist

There's nothing better than new music, especially when summer is right around the corner. In honor of these three glorious months of rest and relaxation, I decided to create a little summer playlist. It's pretty chill, so it's perfect for laying in a hammock with a nice cold drink or sitting in the air conditioning while pretending you're at the beach. Whatever floats your boat.

Here are the songs, and here's the link to listen to my playlist on 8Tracks!
1. Riptide-Vance Joy
2. No Better-Lorde
3. Flowers in Your Hair-The Lumineers
4. Broken Record-Jayme Dee
5. Cabin by the Sea-Dirty Heads
6. Feel the Tide-Mumford and Sons
7. Warming Sun-Dirty Heads
8. Banana Pancakes-Jack Johnson
9. Knee Deep-Zac Brown Band ft. Jimmy Buffett
10. Three Little Birds-Bob Marley and the Wailers
I plan on attempting to make a weekly playlist for you guys, each one with a different theme. So if you have any ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.
Happy summer!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Teenage Digest, a place for the young or the young at heart! I'm Emily, and you can learn more about me by clicking on the "About Me" tab at the top of this page. You should. My life is quite riveting.

The Teenage Digest is a different kind of blog. I don't have an exact label for it. It's not strictly a lifestyle blog or a craft blog or a photography blog. The Teenage digest is a jumble of the things I enjoy and the things I think you will enjoy. 

Some of those things include music for every mood or occasion, books you'll love even if you're not much of a reader (but hey, you're reading this post), some cool Do-It-Yourself projects, maybe a few recipes here and there, movie reviews, and anything else that happens along the way. 

If you have any ideas or suggestions for content, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email, which you can do using my handy sidebar button things. 

This blog is kind of a step outside of the cushy confinements of the comfort zone for me, so it should be interesting to see where all of this goes. 

Who knows?