my first sit down chat: answering more personal questions

it can be really hard to talk to the camera so  this is really good practice for me i was gonna   do a q a in october but just things worked out  in a certain way that i realized it might be   just better to do it this week instead and if you  are not interested in a q a don't worry at all   i will be back next week with my more usual  content i thought it would just be fun to   get a little more personal and learn about  you guys as well because i would love if you there was a a paraglider in the air and  my dog saw him in the sky and just freaked out   he's he's still freaking out some people wondered  how you pronounce my name one thing that i do to   explain how to pronounce it is that it rhymes  with hola in spanish like hello in spanish   hola rhymes with my name paola so you kind of  break it up you go la paola the other common   question was my birthday and i was born december  5th i am 24 years old i'm gonna be turning 25 this   december which feels monumental so it's really  exciting my brother he is 23 and my sister is 27   and her name is lyanna and my brother who you  guys kind of know already his name is rohan   so another question i got was about my parents  and the languages i speak and my father he was   born and raised here in washington state actually  and my mother she is native puerto rican i would   definitely say i am fluent in english and spanish  but my spelling in spanish is not very good i had   quite a few people ask me how i'm doing and i  thought that was really sweet so i wanted to say   thank you i'm doing very well thank you very much  for asking it's been a very relaxing lovely month   for me if you had to choose a different  path for yourself what would it have been   if i had chosen a different path i think there  is a likelihood i would have gone on to do more   advanced studies in english literature  and i might have become a professor but   it just it just wasn't the right time you know and  and i wanted to experiment a little more with my   more creative side it was very important to me to  find ways to involve my art and creativity into my   daily life and being a professor didn't seem like  the right path at this time also when i was much   younger when i was a teenager i was very convinced  i was going to be a veterinarian i cared a lot   about animals and working with them and it  was something very meaningful to me i think   i will always have rabbits in my life they're  such sweet and kind and gentle creatures if   you were able to raise them from very young and  teach them to be comfortable with humans i've just   always enjoyed them but yes being a veterinarian  was definitely not the path for me another great   question i got was what do you do to relax and i  wanted to go over that because it's probably some   things that might surprise you i actually am a bit  of a nerd and i love board games and thankfully   my brother and my dad and my boyfriend all love  board games as well that is one thing i love to   do to relax it's always wonderful because i get  to spend time with my family too and recently one   of my favorite games to play is called everdell  and i will show you some images of it because   you will see why it is all based off around  little adorable animals and it's it's really   cute so this is definitely not a game for people  who have never tried board games before because   it is a bit complicated to learn but if you're  already kind of experienced with more nerdy board   games you will definitely enjoy it i think another  thing i do is that i have a little mini projector   it's really cheap so the image quality is not that  great but i love to project it on my wall at night   and it has a speaker too so i can play  kind of ambient music and i really enjoy   that at night it's very relaxing i also love  lighting candles that is actually a brand new   hobby of mine so i have recently amassed  a little bit of a candle collection and   i really love them and there's a adorable  fantasy inspired candle business i love that i   shout out on instagram a lot because how much  i love it and um i will leave the link to them   down below too if you're interested in some fun  little more nerdy candles as well so i also love   to go to fantasy fairs and renaissance festivals  i've not been able to go to that many this year   because none of them have been happening but there  is one happening soon that is outdoors where you   can still kind of keep social distancing and so i  think that's really great you know um so i hope to   go to that one and i will definitely share that  one with you so those are some ways that i like   to relax there's many more but kind of those are  the main ones candles board games fantasy fairs   projectors you know it's it's all sounding  more and more nerdy as i think about it but   yeah obviously reading too i love reading um and  listening to audiobooks i got a lot of questions   and requests for book recommendations so to  prevent myself from talking for three hours about   my books and not getting to any other questions  i've put a lot of my favorite books down below   as well as taken that opportunity to answer some  really common questions that kept popping up if   your question isn't answered on the video please  check down there and if i still don't get to your   question i hope to do another one of these at some  point in the future so one very good question i   got from several people was what are the downsides  of living rural what are the downsides of your   lifestyle right now and there is definitely  downsides of living out here as opposed to   the city one of them is that when you are in such  a rural area there just aren't that many people   you may not be able to find a large group  of people that share some of your hobbies   or interests and so that is definitely something  that you need to keep in mind before moving very   rural that that can be challenging but also  you know my experience here has been that   i really have embraced learning about  new people with all types of different   backgrounds and interests and even though  they don't share my interests i can still   learn and gain a lot from knowing them  so it all depends on your personality and   how important it is for you to have a large  group of people that are similar to you or have a   similar background to you another downside for me  personally is kind of a very silly one and that is   internet connection it's not always easy to find a  really good internet connection it would be really   nice to have wi-fi in this house just because it  would make working a little bit easier i wouldn't   have to move somewhere else in order to use my  computer and all that it's something silly i don't   need it so i and i make it work i think living  rurally sometimes forces you to face a lot of   small inconveniences you are forced to separate  what you need with what you want and seeing   what you want as convenience things that aren't  always necessary to live happily you know so it's   it's been really good it's for me you know but it  completely depends on who you are and what type of   job you have you know some people are completely  prevented from living more rurally because they   need to rely on a very stable internet connection  so it completely depends i got one really cute   question that i just had to answer really quick  and and it was what is your favorite flower   and that changes every single day because i  love all flowers and i'm obsessed with them and   sometimes i put way too many flowers in my  house and it just pretty much smells like pollen   so yeah i love flowers but i would say currently  my favorites are flax flowers another question   i got was what made you move to your cottage  from the city and i think the answer to that   is really boring i needed a job so again like i  mentioned before i i worked in customer service   and i lived in a university town that really  only offered more minimum wage customer service   positions and it would it was really hard  to find a job that helped me move forward   a little bit and put some savings in the bank  and be able to really plan for the future so i   i applied to be a school teacher over here and i  was able to get that position and it gave me the   perfect amount of stability while i worked on my  art business and got that going and now i've been   able to do that full-time that is that is a dream  come true so i'm so thankful to all of you who've   shown your support you know to have to to be able  to have my um business allow me to be creative   but also have something that is completely my  own and to be able to create art and even these   videos and all that has just been so meaningful  and it's just transformed my life in many ways so   i'm i'm very thankful for that so i  really i'm really thankful for that okay   another question i loved was what is the most  exciting thing about the countryside for you   and i love that because again wherever you live  there are positives and negatives you know and   for me the positives are being able to  hike and walk anywhere and i just love that   it is just so much fun to take my dog and let him  you know really experience the world so freely   and being able to bring my camera and share those  places is so exciting because i feel like i can   support this valley and support  this area and one of the most   meaningful ways for me which is to be able to  bring awareness to natural areas and consequently   help preserve them and plant trees and you  know inspire people to get involved but that's   definitely been a driving force in everything i  do in regards to this channel another fun question   was about safety a lot of people were interested  in what it's like to live so near wildlife and   i always find this question very interesting  because i personally have never experienced a   lot of anxiety about wildlife but i have  come to realize that a lot of people do   these animals especially predators and they want  to be left alone i'm not fearful of them but of   course that is never a reason to just throw  caution to the wind you know you want to go   on your hikes with your bear spray and you know  whatever you need to go with to feel safe but   it doesn't feel dangerous to me another question  i had was about being alone and being lonely   in the middle of nowhere you know and that's also  one i wanted to address because i have very active   relationships with my family i have my boyfriend  in my life i have a lot of people in my life but   i care a lot about not forcing people to be on  camera if it makes them uncomfortable even though   i have neighbors and i have a lot of people in  my life they're not seen on camera very much   i hope that explains things a little bit one of  the very first questions i got after i asked it   on instagram was if i get angry and if i lose my  temper and i laughed at that one because it was   really funny i've actually had a bit of a journey  in regards to that i am not someone who loses   their temper very often and i don't think i feel  very intense anger very often and i don't think   that is always necessarily a good thing because  for some personalities it can be really hard   to be assertive and sometimes be louder and to  be very clear with how you feel and what you want   and what is frustrating you while that doesn't  mean losing your temper and being disrespectful   to other people or you know there's nothing  wrong with getting upset sometimes and being   very clear with how you feel in fact it can  be very liberating to be honest with people   when you really need to while losing your temper  may not always be the best thing i don't think   suppressing how you feel and not being assertive  when you need to is a good thing either for me   i've actually gone on a bit of a journey of trying  to be more clear with what i want and more clear   with what is frustrating me and what um i need  another common question i get is where is your   clothing from and there is a reason that i have  never answered this question and that is because   i have a lot of family members and extended  family that gift me clothing and i have a lot   of clothing that i get from thrift stores which  is one of my favorite places to find clothes   i don't share the brands because i'm not  i don't want to encourage people to just   go buy brand new clothing from these brands i  try to wear you know the clothes i already have   and secondhand clothes and i enjoy dresses and  all that but clothing isn't a big part of my life   every dollar i spend on something else  could be something i spend on a book   so you know if anything is going to grow  exponentially it's going to be my book   collection i got a question about my boyfriend  and how i met him we were actually set up   by my mother i wasn't happy about it initially  but uh things changed and worked out very well so   i had one question from a woman asking what  strategies i use in order to deal with grief and   that's a hard question because i think it you  know every person deals with grief differently   but i will say this and it is some words that  were given to me by an old friend they described   losing for example losing someone important  in your life or having a really a time of um a   loss as you become a living memorial to the people  that you have lost i really like that idea that we   continue to breathe and walk this earth as  memorials to people we have loved and we no   longer have in our lives and through that we keep  them alive i i love that way of looking at it a   time of grief after losing someone will always  be transformative while you cannot physically   bring back those people in your life you can  share their story i hope that makes sense but   thank you for that question you know it's one i  will have to think more about and speak more on in   the future another question was what do you think  is the bravest thing you have ever done i will say   a silly thing and a not so silly thing i think the  silliest brave thing i've ever done is gone skiing   i spent a portion of my childhood in puerto  rico and then i spent a lot of it in the   south of the states as well and my mother  is from the tropics as well so we just never   experienced winter sports very much and i went  skiing for the first time last year and it was   just about the scariest thing i've ever  done my mother is outside it's okay another thing that i would consider brave is  something i do try to do often and is to be open   to yourself and really seeing your actions  and your feelings and everything in a very   honest light and authentically asking yourself if  you are wrong i encourage myself to look at things   from different perspectives and understand people  i think it's very brave to try to have those   interactions with an open mind one of the bravest  things maybe is to come up to someone and say i'm   sorry or also when equally necessary to say i love  you saying sorry and reminding people we love them   are two very important things that all of  us need to do not all human interactions   are about who's right and who's wrong  you know sometimes it's just about love   are there snakes here yes there are snakes  there are rattlesnakes and bull snakes and   all all types of snakes in this area yeah  but again just like bears and cougars and   predators they really don't want to be bothered  you know so um it's definitely something to be   aware of and be careful about some people thought  i had built this cottage and that it is off-grid   and um i have not built this cottage i've built  fairy houses before they've been about this big   and very foundationally unsound so there you  go the second and last question i got was about   english and what i studied in university i assume  there are at least several students watching this   so i don't know if this will be helpful to you  but at least i can share kind of what i did   so i ended up applying to university college  of dublin in ireland and i had a lot of fun   i i did gain a lot from it and i enjoyed it  and i enjoyed studying english over there but   i ended up wanting to go back to the united states  once my parents also moved back there i've always   been very family oriented and it means a lot to  me to just be near my my parents and my siblings   so that was always the motivating force in all  my decisions even coming over here so yeah i   finished my literature degree and actually in  a western washington university in bellingham   i think with a lot of degrees in the arts you  can make it a lot more or maybe even slightly   less challenging depending how you approach it  and how much time and energy you put into it and   i cared a lot about my degree and i was thinking  about being a professor so i put a lot of effort   in my english degree and it has been extremely  useful and it has helped me a lot especially in   the area of presenting myself in writing in a very  eloquent way i learned a lot i read a lot of books   i create started my love of just historical  children's literature and yeah and it was very   very fruitful i i really enjoyed it lastly  a couple people were wondering if i'm ever   going to write a children's book and for sure  yes i have a lot of ideas for children's books   i would love to write one in the future i have  not quite had time but i am actually working on   a book for adults right now so that is  something i've been working on for about   three three four months now and i hope to  have something produced by next year so   i'm very excited about that it's been a lot of  fun and i'm trying to do a lot of illustrations   for it and photography so we will see where  that goes but but definitely i will write   a book and a children's book in the future that  is an enormous goal of mine again i answered   a lot more questions in the description bar so  if i didn't answer it do check that out because   i didn't want this to be too verbose well i  know that you guys asked a lot more questions   but i can't remember any more of them right now  so um i think i will leave it there but yeah i   hope to introduce you to my family very soon they  have agreed to be part of a future video and i   would love for you guys to meet them and that's  something else that will come up in the future i   will see you next week with my more usual content  but let me know if you enjoyed this because um   it's kind of fun to do from time to time and  i would love to get more comfortable in front   of the camera because that's a goal of mine and  it's hard to do i don't know how so many people   do it so well so wishing you all a wonderful day  or night and i will see you next week goodbye you

Channel: TheCottageFairy

Views: 210,877

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Id: iyisP7jtkmA

Length: 21min 25sec (1285 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 29 2021