How creative work can be a way to release your inner stories | podcast ep.13 🎙️

Expose yourself to new places, new hobbies, new situations. The things that you think you're "wasting your time" in can be the door or even the road for you to get to learn more about yourself and the world.

As I've been delving into my other interests and trying to find ways to connect everything that exists around me, I'm learning more about myself and how I can make the most out of my strengths, and I hope this podcast episode can help you to do the same.

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I hope you can find the segments we go through to ignite some sort of softness, playfulness, hopefulness, and kindness in our lives.

Timestamps:
0:00 growth is like a staircase
1:56 intro and new lighting!
4:15 brewing some of my own roasted coffee beans
4:57 on musical adaptations and Death Note
7:09 new hand grinder (feat. KINU)
8:18 going to World of Coffee 2026 in San Diego!
9:01 more on the grinder lol 
9:26 back to talking about World of Coffee lol 
10:21 how watching live performances can change you
11:37 learning from people in different industries
13:12 what I’ve learned from modeling, photography, beauty and acting
17:34 not all professionals are created equal for you
18:15 my new obsession and life lesson from Glass Heart
22:11 how creative work can be a way to release your inner stories 
23:28 hobbies are amazing! they can change your life!
24:28 spring is allergy season but also a time of creative abundance
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See you all next week!

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for happiness, always
Sincerely, Nadia

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

We all know the story of the tortoise and the hare, and there are a lot of different interpretations that we get out of that story. Whether it's going at your own pace to get to the end point actually wins the race, or whether it's staying steadfast on a particular goal and not looking elsewhere, just going at your own pace to that goal will get you actually ahead of other people. There are different ways to think about it. And recently I was thinking about how small changes can be very similar to how the tortoise was taking these small steps towards the bigger goal. He probably didn't even see the goal, he just kind of followed the road to be able to get to where he needed to. And I think it's the same with when we're trying to develop new habits, when we're trying to change our lives in some sort of way to get to a new version of ourselves or to achieve a new big project or to run our own business. When we have smaller changes, we kind of don't really see the end goal, but the small changes are kind of like steps. And I say the same thing with languages as well. I actually think that a lot of times learning curves aren't really like exponential or logarithmical, depending on the field that you're studying. I think it's actually closer to stairs. What I mean by that is that when you first start learning, it seems like you're at a brick, you're at a wall, you don't really see any improvement, you don't see any growth. But once you keep studying and studying, at one point you don't even realize that you're at the next level. You can all of a sudden know, because we're talking about languages, continue on that metaphor, that all of a sudden you can actually hear the words apart. Things that sounded like mumble jumble before actually sound like words that you can actually type into a dictionary to figure out what they mean. And then after that, you hit that brick again. But then you realize, wait, I can actually read full sentences and pages of this language. I can actually have a conversation and understand the other person's full intention. So it's kind of more like steps. So by burning through something and just keeping at your own smaller pace, those small changes and the small actions that you take does actually lead to a bigger improvement and skill, but also in a bigger confidence that makes you feel more ready to approach the new step. Hey guys, it's Nadia. Welcome back to Health Bloom. I'm super excited to have you back this week. I know that a lot of you guys, if you've been following me for the past couple episodes, I've been talking a lot about developing new skills, trying to find connection between random skills and random, I guess, talents that you may have, and trying to experiment on myself firsthand to show you what it means when people say glow up, quote unquote, and how that can be applied to your life and why it's not necessarily just like a beauty influencer thing to go through this kind of glow up season. I am a barista trying to do the same myself, and in the process, I wanted to update you weekly on the different, I guess, changes that I've been going through. But of course, this isn't the full, you know, topic of the podcast at all. I just wanted to give you guys updates about my personal life and apply them into, I guess, like life lessons for you, as well as give you guys random like coffee tips and tricks in the process as well. So before I continue talking about the intro in more depth, I actually have some coffee that I want to brew today. I'm back with my hand rip today. But even before talking about the coffee, let's address the elephant in the room, which is I don't know if you guys can tell if you're watching the video, but it's a lot brighter, isn't it? Despite the fact that it's actually nighttime outside. I bought a new light. It's a little extra. Maybe I'll show you guys it in a future video sometime, but it's enormous, and I'm super excited about it because it gives a soft glow and less of a shadow. And I think the video quality of my camera, which is just the iPhone, is actually really well done. So for the longest time, I've been really craving a camera, but I realized that a lot of the effects and the better quality comes from the editing, the planning, and also just the lighting. As I've been taking a lot of photo shoots recently, I've been learning a lot more about lighting and the positioning of lighting as well. So I'm still in the process of learning it all. So I just have one key light today. But yeah, so if you guys are listening on only the podcast, make sure to go to my videos and see the improvement and be proud of your girl because I've been pushing off buying a lighting for my I guess my production because I've been kind of like bouncing back here and there to a lot of places. But I like this setup of for my podcast for now. So yeah, okay, so let's brew some coffee. I actually low-key, I don't really recommend this, guys, but I still have coffee that I roasted from like November when I was like wrapping up my cafe, and the lighter roasts actually taste pretty good. My darker roasts are are kind of dying on me now. But I have this Peruvian coffee with me that I roasted that I want to brew tonight because I don't know. I think I did a really good job roasting this coffee. And here, I don't know if you guys can see on camera. Can you see it? Yeah, so it's not like super super dark, but it's like I would say it's a medium to light roast. So 20 grams of this coffee. And yes, I'm using my hands because I'm just gonna be drinking it myself. So as we're waiting for the water to boil, I need to talk to you guys about my shirt. I'm wearing a Death Note shirt. It's from the musical here in Korea. I was never a huge fan of going to watch musicals in another language, especially if the original work is in like another language. So Death Note is a Japanese manga, and so I loved watching the anime, and the voice actors and the particular characters have just stuck with me. It is actually the second, I think, big anime that I watched after Shugokera that really really got me into anime. Because I have this like ideal version of Light, Yagami, and also Elle, I never really took it upon me to like watch the musical. But last year, I think it was like more, it was like two and a half years ago, maybe three years ago, I followed a friend because she actually really liked the actor for Light at the time. And I didn't really know any one of the other actors in the production at the time for that day, but I was absolutely obsessed with Elle. The actor was completely, I was taken aback. The set was amazing, it like actually rotated 360, and the actor is Kim Sang T, which I think that was the first time or one of the very few times that I actually watched something in person and was like, that guy is actually so talented, I want to learn more. And I think being able to see that kind of reaction from me really does tell how much of a talent that this person has. So I recently watched it again with the same guy, and of course, when it comes to goods that I really like and it's practical, I can't resist it. I also have some other goodies that I want to like film for you guys for another video. But when it comes to like anime goods or like people goods and it's practical, like stickers especially, and t-shirts and just wearable stuff in general, I tend to like not be able to control myself. So this is the Death Note shirt, but the back is actually really cute. If you guys are like watching on the YouTube here, I'm gonna show you real quick. Do you see how amazing that is? It's like I love it when the backs of shirts and stuff are like really extra, but it's hard to show when you're sitting down. I hope you can understand how excited I am about this. There's so much stuff to talk about even before I start brewing. Oh my gosh. So I also have this gorgeous grinder here. This is probably the most expensive hand grinder that I'm ever gonna own. Look at this pink color. I love it when brands do like really spankin', like beautiful, like sparkly colors. And this pink is like the epitome of the pink that I love. And it's you know, it's pokut season, it's cherry blossom season. So, what better color to you know pull out for the season than this? And as I was trying to set the grinding size for this, I actually tasted it and looked at the grind size, and this is from Kinu. Sorry I didn't mention that. It's from Kinu. This grinder is the classic version, so it is expensive. I think it was around like 340 or 350 euros. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the grind size is incredibly even. This classic version is so smooth to actually grind, it doesn't really require that much energy when I'm actually grinding it. And the bottom is magnetic, so it's super easy to use. Like everything about this is just gorgeous. Yeah, it doesn't have a lid on the top of it, but that doesn't, I so far hasn't caused me any issue. You know, the funny thing is though, I'm actually not gonna be in Korea for the cherry blossom season. I'm actually going to the States next month. For most of April, actually. The world of coffee is in San Diego, and I decided, you know what, I'm gonna go back to California for that event. So I'll be actually brewing at a couple booths. I probably will pull up a schedule sometime to see if anyone can come and see me at any of the booths. But I'm super excited because I've actually I haven't brewed in the states since college days. I remember going to the New York Coffee Festival, so I'm super excited about World of Coffee because it's gonna be big and a lot of brands are going. And I also know a couple like Korean brands are also gonna be there as well, so it'd be really cool to see and interact with them in a different space. So if any of you guys are going, hit me up. I'd love to be able to see you there. Also, what I really like about this grinder and the fact that it's very even is that it actually gives a very clean and direct flavor taste. So when you are working with single origin coffees, especially, and you want that like particular accent of a flavor from that bean to really come out at you. It doesn't have to be a single, but like that characteristic really come out at you, then this grinder is gonna really do that for you. But yeah, so the world of coffee is from April 10th to the 12th. I'll be there for all three days. It's gonna be different, I think, to be brewing coffee as a adult, adult adult in English again. I probably will stutter a bit talking about like the specific details of everything, but I'm excited to be able to talk to a lot of professionals and see how the world of coffee is in the States again and see how I can take my journey again there. I'm going as like a hobbyist and as a Zaparista because I'm not there necessarily as like my own roaster, but more so to be of help for anyone else at the event. So yeah, this will be exciting to be going back to my hometown area and brewing for everyone again. I don't think I actually finished my train of thought with the whole Death Note thing. I hope you guys understand that this podcast is kind of like me talking to a friend. So as an ADHD-ish kind of person, I always jump around all over the place. And so what I wanted to say about the Death Note is of course that the fact that seeing an actor perform like that and being completely entranced by their performance is one thing that I realize is the beauty of live events. But also, I think it's just you completely get mesmerized in that kind of content. So if you aren't a musical or opera or theater goer, I really highly recommend trying a couple because there are some shows that will be better than others, and I'm pretty sure that there's going to be one that will wring your heart more than others. Because for me, the first one ever to do that was Wicked, and I was kind of also scared with Wicked because I liked it since I was in fifth grade, and I really, really, really wanted the original cast. But of course, by the time I was in college, it was like what 15 years later, I wasn't gonna get the original cast, and so I was kind of scared that I had listened to the soundtrack for many many years, and so I had that particular image, that voice, that I guess feeling that I wanted to get from the musical. But lo and behold, the actors and actresses were absolutely stunning, and I came out crying at the end of Wicked as well. And so, more and more I find these creatives really special, and especially with actors as well. I never really deeply thought about the world of acting as well. As I've been doing all of these like different challenges, you know, getting skincare done, going to like photo shoots, I'm learning more about different industries, what the passion is for all of these people, like what is it about the particular work that they do, whether it's taking photos or acting, what is it about that particular job, that role that they play that makes it so special? That what is it that makes it so interesting for them? For even in coffee, too, right? When we see different baristas, everyone has, I guess, their different selling points that made them really interested and invested in coffee. For me, it wasn't actually the flavors that really got me into coffee at first. It was the idea that every single time I would brew coffee, it would taste different. And being able to see the improvement over time constantly was super interesting for me, and it seemed like a research thing that I wanted to, you know, get better and better and better at. And when I saw people really enjoying coffee and the space I was able to provide for them, and the connections that they were able to have and the stories that they were able to tell, that kind of interaction I thought was just so special and something that I was able to produce that no one else really could. And so people have their different, I guess, approaches. Some people really want to present coffee as a cherry fruit seed and showcase the importance of it. Some people really do value the extra, you know, qualities of coffee, like the stuff that I talked about with the connection and community and things like that. But ultimately, the more you get into a field, more of the logistics come into play. So, of course, that's why we talk about how coffee geeks are all about like the different flavor profiles and all of that. I think this coffee is my favorite these days. It's so good. And so the two different industries that I've been getting a lot of inspiration from recently is two or three actually, is modeling, photography, also makeup artists and hairstylists, and also acting. And the reason why is because I've been talking to a lot of these people, and particularly with photography and makeup artists and stylists, what I notice about these people is that they go through so many different people all the time. They have to see how different people pose, they have to understand body structure, the anatomy of a human, which is basically body structure, to be able to understand how to bring out the best of that person. But also when you have characteristics, when you have, you know, personalities, all of that has to be shown. It's a visual art, right? You have to see everything, they have to capture all of that, they have to showcase all of that. And so, what I really have been enjoying with doing all of this modeling photography stuff recently is I'm not a professional at it at all, but the thing that I do really appreciate about it is the fact that you're able to get to know yourself better. So I'm actually one of those people who have a really bad understanding of myself objectively, and it's hard to see myself in the mirror and say, Oh, I look good in this, oh, I look good in that, this is the style I want, how can I get there? It's very difficult for me to be able to put myself in that position. And you know, fashion is one of those things where I'm actually still learning, but when I talk to photographers, they tell me, Oh, like, oh naughty, your smile is actually a very strong point of yours, or oh, like this kind of bone structure on your face makes you a really good, like, runway model style kind of person, etc. So I've been getting a lot of different kinds of opinions about myself, and it's not a bad thing at all. It's not necessarily like a judgmental thing, but more so trying to like understand the strengths that you have that you can appeal to other people. And you don't also have to appeal any of this to other people, but for someone like me who is really interested and wants to be able to like present myself better and know myself better, knowing these different characteristics of myself makes me feel more confident in portraying those aspects of myself rather than trying to hide them because I never liked being tall, for example, and now I regret not kind of showing that off. And because I was always tall, I developed like a hunchback and round shoulders and never really cared much about my body, but I realize now that being able to like stretch out your body and like be tall is something that requires a lot more, I guess, attention to taking care of your body. Um, there are different ways of training and exercising your body when you were taller versus when you were shorter, and those are things that I kind of ignored my entire life because I didn't know how to deal with my own body. And if you can't deal with your own body, if you don't know how to control it, if you don't know its strengths, its weaknesses, then you're going to get ill eventually. Because different bone structures, different heights kind of really affect the way that you should exercise or pose or carry your body. And if you're not letting that energy flow into the right areas because you don't want to show it off, or because you are forcing it to do things that it shouldn't, or that it's a little too burdensome on your body, then eventually those areas will ache, they will hurt. And I'm saying this as I'm getting older, and I feel the different body parts that I've kind of been ignoring all of my life start to hurt. So it's actually a pretty practical thing to keep in mind as well. This whole like body thing. But yeah, I think those people, of course, they have also their own bias when they're looking at people's bodies and faces as well. But I do think that being able to talk to them and understand like what they like about their roles and what they want to bring out in people as well is very interesting to hear and applicable to my own coffee journey as well. Because photographers, for example, they really want to bring out the charm or the mediocre, as they call it, of the people in front of them. So when they're taking a photo of a person, whether it's outdoor, you know, street shots or profile studio photos, they want to make sure that they can really bring out the particular person's mediocre so that they can show that to other people, whether they're actors or models as well, they want to be able to present that well to different agencies, different places for auditioning, different, you know, companies. And so when they do that over a long period of time, they try to bring that out as much as possible, and they kind of know what to do when they have a person in front of them. And of course, one other thing is that not all professionals are created equal for you. What I mean by that is that even though someone can be insane professional, it's hard to find someone who is going to bring out the best of every every single person out there, right? And it's the same with coffee. Like we, as baristas, will do our best to make coffee, but we can't satisfy every single person's taste. Everyone has different tastes, also in makeup and beauty, and also in the photos that people take as well. So I think even in that, there is a need to find alignment in the people that you work with, and that's why it's really, really hard to develop a team, work with a team, and nowadays, especially to make friends because of all of the things that need to work well together. I want to also introduce you guys to a drama that I am obsessed with. It's called Glassheart. It is a Japanese drama, it's on Netflix that came out last year, and I had been pushing it off for a while. The main actor in this is Sato Takeru, and I don't know if I talked about him before, but he is my like favorite favorite actor, probably of all time, just because of the history that I have with him. He was in Kamen Naidadeno. Yeah, I did talk about it before, right? But seeing this drama kind of made me see how an actor can put their life into a product or into a project. And so Glassheart is basically about a genius music producer, musician who doesn't know how to control himself of creating music because there are so many sounds that he wants to that are just like bleeding out of him, basically, that he needs to put on paper. And he eventually forms a band called Temborank or Temblanc Temblanc, however you want to say it. And this group is basically composed of a pianist, a guitarist, and a drummer, and of course the vocal slash Sato Takeru. And the four of them, of course, they also are super super talented people who can do well on their own perfectly fine. But he brings them together because he wants to create a band, and I think there's different reasons why he brings these people together, but they're all super passionate about music in general. And of course, that friendship and that development of a band is all great and all, but the development of the character, especially the way that Sato Takeru acts throughout this entire drama, is as a fan, I think it's amazing because I think there's a lot of acting, there's a lot of roles that he's been wanting to play, and this is kind of sings to the creative side of him that he hasn't been able to put out there before. And seeing especially episode eight and nine, I haven't finished yet. I was bawling through the last like two episodes because basically by episode eight and nine, it's at this climax area, their plot is thickening, and so there's like struggles and fighting and stuff like that as well. So I won't spoil it for you guys, but basically, he goes through a moment where he goes through an interaction with each of the band members, and every single one of those interactions is absolutely gorgeous, and especially with the the female drummer, the way that they interact at the end is probably like the most one of the most gorgeous kind of love story moments that I've ever really seen in a drama. It's cringe at the same time, but it's also so gorgeous and so Sato Takiru that I was obsessed, and I still see that scene and rolling in my head constantly. I was just super excited for the actor as well. Basically, what I want to say with this storytelling that I just did about this drama is that the more you get deeper into a particular field, the more you kind of bur like go through it, you are able to release different opportunities to partake in the production of that, the more you get to know it. So for Sato Takeru, he was just an actor before, maybe, but then he gets more involved in the acting process, the improv that he has to do, and maybe other directing things that he has to do in the future. And it's the same, I think, with a lot of artists as well, like performers. Like if they don't start out as sing-a-song writers, a lot of idols, for example, will eventually partake in writing lyrics and they'll do the directing and the producing of the songs, they'll have one song, they'll have two songs in their album, etc. etc. You get involved more and more in that particular field the more you get into it, and the more that you continuously study it and research it, and kind of like let yourself completely get immersed in that world. And the more you do that, I think the world between the two. Kind of start to mix together and you become that particular being, the way that Sato Takiru ended up becoming his character in some sort of way. I could literally see a particular part of him within that character. And with La Sara Femme, one of my favorite groups out there as well, what they pride themselves in is that every single song, every single moment that they're performing, they are putting their life story inside of that. And I think that really works for people like myself and for Yunjin and also for Satu Takeru because they are so I guess creatives. Both of them are so involved in the work that they do that they have incredible deep thinking of that particular world that they're able to bring out a lot of these different feelings, these ideas into presenting a I guess clean-cut product, whether it's a drama or a song. And I want to be able to do that as well because I feel like there's so much bubbling of deepness within me that I want to like splur it out. And so finding these differ different creative outlets, I think has been one way of doing that. And coffee, of course, was one of that, and it was the easiest thing that I could get people to like, you know, just consume to be able to feel me, feel my appreciation, my positivity, my energy, my love for the world and for coffee, for any for them, for for you guys as well. And so I think there's a lot of connections that I'm seeing, but also differences and things to learn from other categories and other worlds as well. So I guess this is an encouragement for you guys to go out there and delve into your hobbies because your hobbies are not things that you should be embarrassed about. Hobbies are actually the outlet and also the inlet to understanding yourself and improving yourself and learning about the world and learning about yourself to be able to get to a better level, to be able to get to a higher level of yourself. They are hobbies because there is a curiosity and a craving within you that you want to exert and also to escape to so that you can develop yourself and feed yourself and feed your soul. And by feeding your soul, you'll actually be doing better in other categories that you may actually not feel as positive about or things that you actually want to do more of in the future. So I think hobbies are amazing. The more you have, the more you get to know yourself in a deeper level in various categories. Because eventually, if hobbies come and go, some last more than others. But having hobbies is never a bad thing. So I encourage you guys to delve deeper into that hobby that you've been wanting to delve into, whether it's figure skating or reading more or learning more about fun trading. All of these can be hobbies that will give you more insight to who you are. And of course, in in the process of doing hobbies, you'll be able to meet a lot of different people in the field who are probably doing it a little bit more professionally than you are, and by connecting to those people as well, you'll be able to get a third-person perspective of yourself more as well. So it's also a bridge to meet new people to gain more ideas because sometimes we can't do everything on our own. So I'll leave you guys with this last question for this episode. As we're heading into our warmer spring season, it's almost picnic season, it's flower season, it's also allergy season. So for all of you friends who have allergies the way that I do, because my eyes are killing me already, make sure to have your antihistamines and take showers at night again. Let's get off all of that dust and pollen. And really, this transitional season is really the time to charge up on your energy to start something or develop something in a deeper level. And it again, it doesn't have to be big steps, it can be little steps at a time because that will develop your confidence. You'll be able to gain a new skill, and those small improvements will give you a better confidence, and you might not be satisfied with it, you might never be satisfied with it, but it'll still be able to give you insight to yourself. And I think that's the most important thing is to be continuously working on yourself, to be understanding yourself. So, again, what is the hobby or creative project that you are working on that you want to bring into the spring season? Let me know, and I'll see you guys next week.