Tag Archives: Self Care

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 2: What Makes You Special?

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In an effort to inject some positivity into my daily mindset and the online world I have created a Daily Gratitude Challenge and I am inviting everyone to participate. If you have missed my introductory post that explains the challenge and maps out the daily post schedule, visit here.

Daily Gratitude Challenge Day 2: What makes you special

Day 2 of the Daily Gratitude Challenge focuses on you. In a world where image is seemingly everything, it’s easy to forget to be not only kind to yourself, but to appreciate and be grateful for the qualities about yourself that you admire. We’re often taught that being positive about ourselves and confident in our own abilities equates to arrogance, but I am always reminded of an article I read on Facebook a long time ago in which a woman took the compliments that she regularly gave to others and started saying them to herself every morning. I found it to be rather an alien concept at the time and quite a revelation – I like to say nice things to my loved ones but rarely took the time to acknowledge or be grateful for anything positive about myself. Continue reading →

Great February Bullet Journal Spread Ideas

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This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small amount of money if you make a purchase from any of the Amazon links included.

All of the images included were given with full permission from their creators and I have linked each account.

After what has seemed like forever, January has finally ended for 2020. (Incidentally, if you missed my Great January Bullet Journal Spread Ideas, you can visit here).

I like February – I have been able to get myself back into a routine and start preparing content ideas for a later date, and as always, my Bullet Journal has been instrumental in allowing me to organise myself effectively without becoming overwhelmed.

Instead of focusing on Valentine’s Day during the first half of the month, I like to spend the month being more conscious of self-care and wellness. I find it equally as important to take care of my own well-being in the same way I do for The Bloke. Consequently, some of my spreads are specifically targeted towards taking some time for myself when things seem a bit too much. Continue reading →

How to Live a More Simple Life

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I’ve had a busy week / few weeks / month seems to be a staple sentence within a number of my blog posts. It’s isn’t an exaggeration as it’s rare that I get a long period of uninterrupted time to myself, and when I have logged off on a Friday night my brain has often felt more than a little fuzzy. However, being busy doesn’t equate to stress in the way it did when I was teaching – I’m lucky in that a lot of the things that I do and experience during each week vary widely and are usually lots of fun – but over recent months I have been trying to consciously trying to take steps to make life more simple. I have created lots of habits individually which I have blogged about over a period of time, but even just focusing on one of these could make a large amount of difference to your stress levels.
 Continue reading →

When Facebook Actually Leads to Good Things…

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I’ve wanted to get back into some form of regular exercise for a while. The Bloke and I are fortunate enough to go out on a lot of day trips and date nights, but working from home means that I spend a large amount of my time sitting. I like sitting. I’ve adopted our living room space as my office which allows me to work from the comfort of the couch while binge-watching the latest series of whatever is available on various streaming services.

Unfortunately, while I find this extremely soothing for the soul (especially on a rainy Monday morning when everyone is battling their way through the traffic on the way to work), it isn’t particularly beneficial for the body and as a result my health has started to suffer for it. I repeatedly mentioned to The Bloke that I needed to start being more productive, but even the thought of it has proved to be rather intimidating. Continue reading →

Simple and Effective Ways to Build Healthy Habits

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Simple and Effective Ways to Adopt Daily Healthy Habits

As my workload has increased over recent months I have found that my general feeling of anxiety and overwhelm has grown with it. I have recognised the fact that I easily slip into a familiar and comfortable rut when I feel like this, and so I have had to develop a consistent routine and adopt healthy habits to continue to be productive and motivated. Everything is instantly easier when done in moderation, and so I have taken the time to make sure that these daily habits are broken down into small chunks, becoming part of my routine instead of perceiving them as extra tasks to add to my permanently large lists. Here are some healthy habits that I have incorporated into my day.

Mindfully focus on the positive. I have a specific set of mantras and quotes that I remind myself of each morning.

Wake up earlier, even if it just by fifteen minutes. While the prospect of dragging yourself out of a warm comfy bed is the last thing that most of us want to do (particularly if you already have an early start), but those extra minutes will give your brain chance to wake up for the day. Use the time to stretch, do some deep breathing or meditation exercises. I also avoid using the snooze button.

Plan, plan and plan some more. I’ve mentioned on more than a few occasions about utilising a Bullet Journal Notebook to help organise my mind and daily activities. I use a daily tracker for my client jobs, a monthly calendar to keep an overview on upcoming events and activities and a daily log for individual tasks that I need to complete. Before I go to bed I fill out the tracker for the work I have completed (which takes five minutes as it is simply filling in some boxes), look over my monthly calendar and then write my jobs list for the following day in my daily log section. This means that I have a general idea of what I need to do when I start work and saves me the time (and inevitable anxiety) of having to figure out a plan when I have just woken up. Here’s a great post on useful Habit Trackers to develop in a Bullet Journal.

Develop a routine, schedule your time and avoid sabotaging yourself. Procrastination is a huge time waster – block out what you need to achieve and give yourself a reasonable time frame to do it, focusing on just one thing.

Continue reading →

Home Alone

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Today I found myself in a rather unusual situation. 

I have the whole house to myself. For the whole weekend.

I am officially home alone for three days. 

The Bloke is away on a course with one of his favourite photographers in Manchester. The course and walk-round session on Saturday takes up most of the day, so he is staying in a hotel the night before and after. He’s nervous, but I’m incredibly proud of him for putting himself in a situation that I know makes him hugely uncomfortable – he doubts his abilities as a photographer (despite the fact that his photographs are fabulous) and I’m hoping that it will prove to be a huge confidence boost and a great opportunity to meet some new people. Continue reading →

How to Survive the January Blues

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Surviving the January Blues

After a few weeks of excitement, joy, celebrations and consuming my entire body weight in chocolatey goodness, its back to work for many of us. The decorations have been taken down and my house looks quite dull and bare, I feel sick and lethargic after eating so much and I’ve already managed to overwhelm myself with my to-do list. On a day like today, where it has been dull and rainy all day, it’s difficult not to sink into a wallowing state of mind.

It’s not a new thing – I go through the same cycle at the start of every year, but each time I have found ways to cope a little better. Continue reading →

Guest Post: Me Too

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**Trigger Warning – Domestic Violence and Abuse**

The allegations surrounding the predatory culture within Hollywood has once again highlighted the frequency and acceptance of sexual harassment and abuse, with a whole host of celebrities (both female and male) sharing their own personal and horrific experiences. Unfortunately, while the majority of the focus was initially directed towards a single person, it is not an uncommon nor new story and it’s something that takes place daily in every walk of life, prompting thousands to share their own stories, or simply respond with ‘Me too.’

Today’s post is an extremely personal one from Em Linthorpe. I have the upmost admiration for her courage to discuss such an experience, and I will leave the comments open below for you to respond with the courtesy and respect she deserves…

 

First I want to mention two bloggers who after reading their posts this week, inspired me to write about my experience with domestic violence.

Just Another Blog From a Woman  

I’m Sick and So Are You

Thank you for giving me the strength to write this, friends. Continue reading →

Baywatch, a CV Meltdown and a Busy Week

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I always wake up with the intention of writing a post, but it seems that of late it hasn’t happened. It has been a busy, exciting, tiring and frustrating time, and I’ve had to focus daily on self-care activities and mindfulness in order to keep myself together at times.

The view of Yeovil

Half-term week was one of the best I have had in a while. I attended my friend’s wedding, which was absolutely perfect, and I’m delighted for her that everything went so beautifully. It was also an extra-enjoyable time for The Bloke and I for the opportunity that it provided to have an extended break away from home for a few days. As the wedding was an almost three hour drive away, we decided that it would make more sense to stay overnight in a hotel in Yeovil (that I will refer to as ‘The Town Where the Internet Goes to Die – I had no signal whatsover for the majority of the time) to avoid potential traffic chaos on the motorway and we ended up having an impromptu date day and night. Continue reading →