Rachel Nguyen

Creative artist and content creator: youtube.com/thatschicblog 

Why do morning routines matter?

A lovely morning leads to a lovely day. Routines offer stability; however, it feels like the intimacy of routine has been commodified by the wellness/beauty industry and has kind of stripped the personality of care. I don’t want my mornings to feel like endless repetitions; I want them to feel like a spell I’m casting upon my day.

What's your morning/skincare routine?

How would you define an aesthetic experience? Does aesthetics matter?Aesthetics are everything! Everything has a language, and our environment deeply shapes our experience. It’s like stepping into a non-rational space to be emotionally open to what’s happening around. It’s an opportunity to transcend the ordinary. I don't know how to further articulate it other than with questions and ideas:

• What does it feel like to sit in your living room?

• What does this dress make me feel?

• Who can I talk to when I wear it?

• Is the soundscape adding or distracting to the vibe?

• Will I feel more inspired next to a lit candle?

• Does coffee taste better in a handmade vessel?

• Are the things around me handmade or machine-made?

Going on a run in the woods vs. the city, making a beautiful dinner for yourself vs. impressing guests, admiring something pretty and not Instagramming it, putting on red lipstick to wake up, laying down in an open grass field to soak in blues and greens, intoxicating a room with sandalwood incense and cooked jasmine rice, listening to ambient techno to be productive, writing with a number 2 pencil that will eventually be chiseled away vs. a plastic pen, floating through a museum, arriving at a sick house party where the lights are dim, people are smiling, eyes are locked, music is vibrating, smells are lush, snacks are delightful. The same goes for a good restaurant experience.

Aesthetics just help with our sensory experience, which is so welcomed when a lot of our waking hours lack that when we’re working digitally. Aesthetics just help with our sensory experience, which is so welcomed when a lot of our waking hours lack that when we’re working digitally.

How does your bucket list bring you closer to the life you desire, and how do you handle the imperfections of the process?

Because it’s the beginning of the year, my head has been in the clouds. I’m in full-time daydreaming mode, but I haven’t given myself the time to dream in years. I feel like I touch the ideas, but I don’t try to bake them.

I saw this on TikTok but kinda made it my own. On January 1st, I wrote out 11 wishes. I took a photo of them so I wouldn’t forget, then later rewrote them in my 2024 journey. After that, I cut up each wish, folded them individually into a copper bowl, and burned a wish every day. Ten days of burning wishes. It feels so right, ending this procedure on 1.11.24’s new moon in Capricorn. There’s a lot of Capricorn in my chart, so I don't know, it feels like a really good time to be focused on what I want so I can see the roadmap more clearly. It’s also 10 days of burning, which feels right because my birthday is on 12.10, and it’ll have been a month of being 34. The TikTok says you don’t burn the last wish, so you read it, and that’s the wish you are responsible to make come true.

That was a total blurb of nonsense, but all that to say is… I’m manifesting hard, and I’m not thinking about the imperfections because life is so kooky as is. Actually no, life is perfect. Life is exactly where it should be right now. Because when I look back on my year emotionally, I'm like it was bleh. But then I wrote everything down, and I’m like, damn, I have so much to be grateful for. Headspace, man.

What do you do to nourish your own creativity? What content do you consume, what books do you read, and what do you watch on screens?

By the time my creativity needs nourishment, I find myself so full of information, nonsense, and thoughts—some my own and some not. I require time to decompress and process without looking at anything. Although I never finished The Artist's Way, one of my most significant takeaways was from the week where we had to deprive ourselves of consuming anything created by another person: no music, movies, podcasts, or books. It was a practice in keeping myself entertained with only myself, and it was incredibly enriching.

Remaining curious is a nice practice. When I have nothing but myself, it's like, 'What do I do now?' I need to eat, so what can I cook with what I have without looking at recipes? I browse superettes, boutiques, and estate sales looking for things that will fit into my life. I clean my digital and physical surroundings and fall down memory lanes. I miss stimulants, so I look to paint colors to satiate my visual senses. I drive somewhere I've never been, draw nature, teach my dogs new tricks, take really long showers, stare at my pores, group like-minded objects into little collections just to have something curated. I shop inside my closet and create different outfits. I love doing that, actually. Playing dress-up in my clothes. Writing that makes me want to run into my closet right now.

Then suddenly a week has passed, and I'm ready to consume again, but this time, a little more thoughtfully. Interneting on my computer versus my phone is significant. Are.na is an amazing website to discover ideologies and collections. Mubi is great for contemporary niche films, and I love reading pragmatic books. However, I got lost in a lengthy novel last summer and loved the atmospheric read.

What is it like to be a content creator, and how do you deal with privacy?

It’s honestly demented, lmaoooo. Making content of your life to share is such a strange act in this modern context. Of course, this isn’t new—storytelling is as old as time. But the internet is so weird.

I’m still figuring out privacy. I really don’t know how to balance it. I’m either completely out in the open or completely closed off. I’ve been more the latter and practicing opening back up. A nice framework for content that I enjoy is: it’s on the tip of the tongue, not on the nose.

If content can respect that framework, there’s a beautiful vulnerability that doesn’t explicitly expose one’s private parts.

How do you navigate through life's challenges, and what do you believe is the best way to care for ourselves during these moments?
The phrase 'don't be so hard on yourself' has lost its meaning, but its practice is still so impactful. Speaking from personal experience, it's really difficult to admit or see that we can be down on ourselves—especially when we are (or want to be) perceived as positive. The story we tell about ourselves sometimes outweighs what's really happening.

But then I do catch myself in a negative think space, and I think, 'Wait, I'm so bent out of shape over WHAT?' Really, nothing worth losing my joy over. I'm also kind of tired of the social pressure to make yourself more miserable as a sacrifice to show your empathy towards a difficult world. That's not empathy. I hope more of us choose levity to raise the collective—somehow that feels more impactful to me."

A short message for women/artists trying to find their way in life.
Lock yourself up for a while. See no one—this includes the lives and faces posted on social media. You've studied and thought about what you want to do enough. Start doing the thing that has been eating at you with the permission that it won't be perfect. Perfection is a trap anyway. It doesn't evolve. It's a fixed idea that prevents fluid thinking. We're here on Earth to experiment. Give yourself the permission to be disappointed because you trust yourself enough that you can do better.

Emerge as a new butterfly.

Benefits of journaling?
It's like this immediate tangible relic of your subconscious. Pencil to paper is kind of magic. It's also a nice practice in fluid thinking.

What is a culture you admire, and why?
Just because this is top of mind; I find myself going on these wormholes at least once a quarter, and today was a day. I admire Hawaiʻi so much that I don’t even feel worthy to speak upon the culture because it’s so rich. But even from the surface, my experience with the people and islands is unlike any place I’ve been.

I hope for Hawaiʻi’s sovereignty, free from all capitalistic intentions. Did you know the Hawaiian language was banned from Hawaii schools until just the '90s? The racism is still so close and rampant. Despite all this, the culture’s kinship with the natural world holds such great pride in the people; it’s like they transcend the limitations imposed on them by oppressive superpowers.

Meditating on a non-touristy island for a silent week was one of the most powerful experiences I had. I felt ohana. My sweetie and I felt immensely grateful to be human, to live with the earth, to feel her warmth, to have each other, to help others. I’m forever grateful to have that experience and can only thank the native land and its people for giving me this lifelong gift.

Your favourite mantras.
https://youtu.be/1s6Wan03SW4