What my own Lolita lifestyle is like

So the next topic in the 52 lolita posts challenge is what my own lolita lifestyle is like. Before I start on that though, I'd like to touch on lolita lifestyle as a whole, or the lack thereof. Lolita doesn't have a strict lifestyle like many other alternative subcultures. Ask a goth what the gothic lifestyle is like and they'll probably tell you something along the lines of "listen to gothic music, visit goth clubs, wear a gothic style and have a spookily decorated house". As a lolita what the lolita lifestyle is like, and you might get answers ranging from "there is none" to "living in a cottage in the woods and baking cookies in your Angelic Pretty finest". There is no defined lifestyle, made more difficult by the vast differences between sweet, classic, gothic and the many little substyles of lolita. Because of this, I'll be looking only at things in my life that I think fit with a lolita lifestyle. Maybe you'll agree with me or maybe you don't, both are fine! This is no checklist of what a "real" lolita is like, it's nothing more than my view on the subject.

Now, onto the bulk of the post!

I bake. A LOT. Usually at the very minimum one baked good or batch of cookies a week. It's not great for my waistline, but it's fantastic for reducing stress! I find nothing as soothing as baking like they did in the 1800's, without any electrical appliances. There's something very pleasantly mindnumbing about hand-whisking batter or kneading bread. It's come to a point where when I bake a lot, my mother asks me if I have exams coming up!
My go-to recipes are cakes and breads, but I've been trying to expand my repertoire by trying out new or foreign recipes. Some successes from the past few weeks include Cantonese peanut cookies, homemade grapefruit curd and cardamom-sesame-lime cake.

I sew. I haven't yet made any lolita main pieces, but I have fixed up several brand pieces that had tears or needed re-made straps. I also have a load of patterns from the GLB laying around, and I really want to try making a full dress sometime! I haven't sewn all that long yet so I've only made a handful of normie pieces so far, but my first big project -a Dutch Golden Age costume- is nearing its completion and I'm very proud of it!

I love tea. I drink probably over a liter of it every day! I have probably around ten loose-leaved teas in my stash, not counting the biiiig big stack of samples a friend gifted me a while back. I find a cup of hot black tea incredibly comforting, especially combined with a blanket and a rainstorm outside.

I have my own garden. By no means a lolita staple, but considering how many fruits and flowers you can find on dresses, not exactly far-fetched either. Plus it's great for cooking, no need to run to the store for berries when you're making a pie, just head into the garden and get them for free! Right now my little plot is barren (aside from a rosemary bush that could probably survive an atomic blast)  because it's still so early spring, but I have already started sprouting my vegetables for this year in the kitchen. I love watching my little sprouts grow, there's something very endearing about a tiny little plant fighting its way upwards and growing into a big fruit-bearing plant. That is, is my cats don't dig them out first!

I live in a vintage den.This one isn't actually on me! I, like a lot of Dutch students, still live with my parents, and I happen to have a mother who is deeply invested in vintage decoration. Read: she's a bit of a hoarder. We have so much stuff she's started a little shop in vintage goods. It does leave the prettiest pieces for our house! A lot of our furniture is antique and we have little bits and bobs everywhere: our dinner plates are from the 20's, our big living room cabinet is adorned with an antique suitcase and cameras from the 50's, my mothers bedroom door is decorated with a Victorian chemise on an old hanger and so, so much more.

I'm creative. I've loved drawing since I was a little kid. I've gone from cheap pencils and crayons all the way to $8 a pop copic markers and I'm looking to get into an art academy next year. I've also dabbled in painting and coloring pencils and I do calligraphy, but my heart lies with copics. At the moment I draw a lot of traditional Asian garb, I've made a lot of kimono, several hanbok, a Korean bride and a sketch of two girls in Vietnamese áo dài. There's something very lavish about Asian clothes that I adore, and the silk fabrics can be imitated beautifully with markers.

I read. Again, I've loved it since I was a kid! I'd regularly stay up until 12 o'clock and then arrive at school incredibly tired. The day I got the last Harry Potter book I stayed up all night without even noticing! These days I've come to love books about history or other cultures, be it scientific views of them or romantic stories. Some books I think are great are the Rice Mother (about the life of a Malaysian woman in the 30's, from birth to death), the Ramses II-series (a series of I believe 6 books about the life of pharaoh Ramses the Second, written by a historian who specializes in him)and Lesley Downers books (she writes about Japan in the messy ages of 1870, as Japan was starting to modernize drastically).

I do my own thing. Onto the more abstract ones of the list, I feel that this one pretty much comes with wearing lolita. After all, it's pretty difficult to wear something so attention-grabbing when you care a lot about what other people think of you!

I aim to improve myself. Now this one might just be me and maybe I'm romanticizing lolita too much, but I have a hard time imagining a lolita with no ambitions. Wearing something so decadent and dare I say uncomfortable, yet not doing anything, it feels counterintuitive to me. My own way of improving myself is to always keep learning. I learn new languages, new techniques to use in art or sewing, or just new unnecessary information. If it keeps my brain active, it's good to me!

Now to contrast with the ones above, I wanted to also write down some aspects of me that do not fare so well with a lolita lifestyle. I'll keep them short though, as they aren't what this post was meant to be about.

I'm messy. REALLY messy. On an average day, half my wardrobe will be on the floor, my makeup will be strewn across my desk and there will be teacups and books everywhere. I always tell myself I'll put things back where they belong after I use them, but I never actually do it!

I'm always covered in scratches. I have a lot of cats, and anyone with cats will know how you'll always have some inexplicable scratches somewhere. Plus, when I get nervous I pick at my skin, which doesn't help at all either.

I'm a procrastinator. It's pretty bad. It's also great combined with being messy! When I have a day off I always tell myself I'll go sew or bake or take a walk or draw something, but I'll usually end up browsing Facebook for hours on end. It's just so...soothing.

 So that's it! I think this list describes who I am pretty well. You might notice "wearing lolita daily" isn't on the list! That's because I don't think wearing it daily is really a requirement to be a lifestyle lolita. For some of us, its just not possible. You might have a uniform or a strict dresscode at your job or school. Me personally, when I make myself wear the same style over and over again it gets boring real fast, so I like to switch between lolita and other styles to keep it special and something I can feel pretty in. The rest of my wardrobe is filled with Liz Lisa and Axes Femme, so I like to imagine I keep at least somewhat of a lolita element with me!
What do you think of this list? Does it make sense to you or do you have a wholly different opinion? Do you think wearing lolita daily is a requirement for a lifestyle lolita, do you think a lolita lifestyle doesn't exist? I'd love to hear!