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Ultimate Bucketlist
mental health
Literary Tour Of…

My adventures as an expat living in Switzerland.

Tag: hustle

April 17, 2017 + mental health

We Need To Talk About Mental Health

by femalehemingway

Now

Who is FemaleHemingway?

I'm Tess. In 2016, I decided to leave behind my job, my friends, my life in NYC to start a new one in Zurich, Switzerland.

This blog catalogues my adventures in love, life as an expat, and solo female travel.

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What’s New

My Favorite Books of 2020
The inexplicable joys of being alive
I Have Body Dysmorphia
Why You Should Visit Baden, Switzerland
Literary Tour of Zurich: James Joyce

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Been feeling in a bit of a rut lately - it’s tha

Been feeling in a bit of a rut lately - it’s that pandemic exhaustion and post-holiday seasonal depression mixed with regular all-year-round depression. 🥲 As my friend said the other day, COVID has taken so much joy out of our lives — I would literally do anything to sit in a cafe by myself and drink a cappuccino and feel free. 😭

I talked with my therapist about this and he told me I need to do little things everyday to make myself feel like the main character of my own life. Whether that be putting on makeup or making a cup of coffee or having a photoshoot in the woods. Today, I did all three. And even though I still feel sad that there’s not much to do, I admit I feel just a little bit better ❤️❤️ Hope you can make yourself feel like the main character today, too. #femalehemingway

Snowy impressions from Baden ❄️ ⛄️ #visitb

Snowy impressions from Baden ❄️ ⛄️ #visitbaden

Usually, at the end of the year, I wax poetic abou

Usually, at the end of the year, I wax poetic about how great the year has been and all the things I’ve learned and how happy I was to experience life. This year, I won’t be doing any of that. 2020: you were the worst. I hated you. Don’t hit yourself on the way out. 🤷🏻‍♀️ My accomplishments this year were staying home as much as possible, staying (relatively) sane, going to therapy, and wearing a mask. My favorite things about this year were having confirmation that @michi_sensei is my forever, Animal Crossing, and Shirley the cat coming into our lives. 🐈‍⬛ For 2021, my bar is pretty low. I’ll continue to stay home, wear a mask, and get the vaccine as soon as it’s available to me. And I’ll try to stay sane but like, no promises. My plan is to just enter this year quietly and hope that by this time next year I can go back to writing overly introspective NYE captions. ❤️ Stay safe everyone and for the love of god don’t go to a party tonight. 🙄 #2021goals (Fun stay at home NYE game: take a shot every time I say year in this post.)

Every year @michi_sensei and I take a christmas pi

Every year @michi_sensei and I take a christmas picture with my childhood stuffed animal, Muffin, for my family. Here’s 2020’s addition ❤️🥰 Merry Christmas Eve Eve everyone!

It’s okay to enjoy things that society would dee

It’s okay to enjoy things that society would deem “childish.” I don’t know where the stigma came from that after you turn 18 you have to become a straight laced adult who no longer enjoys the frivolities of childhood. It’s weird and I refuse to follow it. 🙄

I’m 27 years old and I can read Dostoevsky and listen to Beethoven and then turn around and make myself a cinnamon hot chocolate with whipped cream and watch Paddington (which is literally the best movie in the world). Those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can get excited about buying a vacuum cleaner and cut coupons while also watching a cartoon or buying a stuffed animal for yourself.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to put up those glow in the dark stars on my ceiling because my mom said they’d look tacky. So as an adult, I make sure not to deny myself of cute things that make me happy. Its not tacky to want your ceiling to glow like stars. It’s not childish to buy a stuffed lamb wearing a hat or to prance around in the snow with your face turned toward the sky. You’re not “happy as a kid” because you’re enjoying looking at christmas lights or carving pumpkins. You’re just happy. Happiness is ageless. You don’t need to find your “inner child” to enjoy things.

Life is too short not to enjoy cute things. So in celebration of the small joys of being alive, here’s a collection of photos of me shamelessly enjoying cute things and not being afraid to show it because I’m still an adult who pays taxes but hell yes I’m going to force my entire family into the Hundred Acre Woods to find Piglet’s house and stop everything to take a photo with a Paddington statue (maybe I just have a love for British bears that talk) 🤷🏻‍♀️ Edit: not sure why the second to last photo is a black square but it was a photo of me at Platform 9 & three-quarters. Imagine it.

I was watching a video of a blogger who lives abro

I was watching a video of a blogger who lives abroad the other day who spoke about how she didn’t feel like she wanted to be her true and authentic self online because it doesn’t resonate with people. She wanted people to be able to see themselves in her shoes by being kind of a blank slate online. That struck a chord with me because this blogger is of course very successful and I guess I never realized that most people don’t want the gritty details of what it’s like to move to an entirely different country and start a new life. They want a fairytale. However, it bothered me because I always feel the need to be completely and unapologetically myself. I didn’t start this instagram or my blog to sell a fairytale — I just wanted to share my truth.

Life is magic but it can also be hard. Picking up everything I’ve ever known to move to Switzerland and follow my heart was an easy decision but my journey hasn’t always been easy. Some days I’m frustrated that I’m not learning German fast enough or I get anxious about simple things like asking for a bag at the grocery store or I feel entirely self conscious because people have a tendency to stare, unblinking, at me on the street (which I now know is something that plagues all expats and is called The Swiss Stare). Switzerland is my home and I feel still so enamored by the mountains and the beautiful streets. However, being an expat isn’t always for the faint of heart. I’ve been lucky to make a lot of friends here but it’s not the case for many — I’ve heard horror stories of how lonely Switzerland can actually be. I’m rambling now but what I’m trying to say is — it’s okay to escape into an influencers fantasy life but don’t feel sad because your life isn’t all ski trips and Glühwein and expensive hotel stays. More often than not, their life isn’t like that either. You’re doing just fine ❤️

(P.S. Using old dreamy pictures here though because I’ve been working from home all day and look like a potato and even though I say be yourself I won’t subject you to my face right now).

It’s not even December 1st yet but because it’

It’s not even December 1st yet but because it’s 2020, we’re launching the holiday cheer a little bit early this year 🎄🎅

I haven’t posted on the grid a lot lately becaus

I haven’t posted on the grid a lot lately because, due to the pandemic, I’m not traveling (sadly) and numbers are spiking in Switzerland so I’m staying home, working from home, and can’t be bothered to put on a full face of makeup to take a picture. 🤷🏻‍♀️ So instead, I’m sharing with you these two pictures from the woods near my apartment because it’s good to be reminded that nature is always beautiful...even when the world feels like it’s falling apart 🍂

I just posted something deeply personal and a bit

I just posted something deeply personal and a bit terrifying to write on my blog. I just recently got diagnosed with Body Dysmorphia and decided it was time to write about it. I have body dysmorphia, yes that’s true. Get a glimpse into my struggle by going to the link in my bio ❤️ Just know you’re not alone.

It’s that time of year where my basic pumpkin he

It’s that time of year where my basic pumpkin heart can finally roam wild & free 🎃 It’s the first day of a much needed staycation and I’m thankful that @jucker_farm exists. Swipe to see an outtake as I watched a little child charge at a pumpkin statue. (Also yes, during October, 90% of my personality is Halloween. Sorry 😘) #pumpkinpatch

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