5 Signs You’re Heading Towards Burnout & How To Prevent It.

Hello my lovelies! Can you believe we’re already at the end of November?! It’s madness, festive and great but madness that the year is nearly through. It feels like only yesterday the year began.

With the festive season well on its way, we’re all getting busier and busier getting things ready for Christmas and trying to put in those extra hours to make the most of this time of year and it’s festivities. And because we’re so busy, we often forget to take care of ourselves, which can lead to burnout.

Burnout is when you feel exhausted emotionally, physically and mentally and is caused by prolonged stress that has built up over time. Burnout, if not tackled can lead to mental health challenges and health problems.

So how do you know if you’re heading towards burnout?

Well, here are five things you can look out for:

• Feeling tired and exhausted no matter how much sleep you get and what you do.
• Feeling little to no pleasure or motivation to do any of your hobbies and/or work.
• Your space is becoming untidy when it’s normally clean and organised. This one is a big que for me, when I’m feeling overwhelmed it can often come out in how messy my room will get!
• Neglecting yourself physically or taking part in unhealthy behaviour patterns.
• You’re thinking about work, when you’re not at work.

Now that you know what burnout can look like, what are some of the things you can do to stop burnout?

As someone who has experienced burnout myself, I’ve come up with 5 tips for dealing with burnout. Also, you should never be ashamed for struggling with burnout, it’s actually pretty common nowadays with the always working on yourself culture that we have.

Here’s my tips!

1 . Make sure you’re getting enough sleep. – If you’re struggling to get to sleep and find yourself laying awake with thoughts going through your head like me then I highly recommend an app called PocketCoach. It had guided meditations, courses on how to change negative thoughts and has great breathing exercises. I use their sleep guide often aa it helps me fall asleep straight away.

2 . Make time to relax and do nothing. I can’t stress this enough. Sometimes, with our busy lives we forget that we need time to recharge, as an introvert myself, I need lots of time away from busy crowds to build my energy back up. It can be hard to make time to do nothing as we often feel guilty when we do, but it’s so important that we take that time to recharge and build our energy back up.

3 . Have a social media break. I try to post regularly on my social media, particularly Instagram, but if you’ve been checking my insta over the past week or two, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted as much as I do usually. This is because I started to feel a lot of pressure to keep uploading more during the week, so I took a little break. And guess what?! Nothing drastic happened whilst I was away!

4 . Spend some time organising, decluttering and tidying. This helps me put any stress I may have been having subconsciously about my surroundings being untidy to bed which in return makes me feel a lot more relaxed and like I’ve got my shit together.

5 . Do something active that you enjoy. For me, working out with the be.come project has helped me more than any other form of exercise ever has. It’s transformed how I feel about my body and I always have a clear head and feel great after.

So, those are some of the signs of burning out to look out for and my tips on what can help in the event of burnout and to prevent it. How do you keep on top of your wellbeing and stress levels? If you’re worried that you may be suffering with more than burnout then please do talk to your GP and your loved ones as they can offer great support!

And with all of those tips said, I’m not off to do a bit of decluttering and then veg out on the sofa watching all of the star wars films! Have a great weekend everyone! Be sure to make time to relax!

Love,

Birthday Reflections.

Thursday was my birthday!! Which means I ate cake, got pampered and did a bit of reflecting on what I want for the next year of my life. I guess it’s a little like new years resolutions but without the guilt if you break them. Reflecting on what I want for myself in the next months is something I’ve never really done before, but the time just feels right.

So, lets get into it!

1 . I am learning (and loving) how to be unapologetically myself.

2 . I want to wear whatever I want, no matter how wacky, weird or boring without fear of being judged, because my opinion is the only one that matters when it comes to my appearance!

How cute was my birthday outfit?! I love that jumper and accessories so much!

3 . Not feeling guilty for any food I eat or workouts that I don’t do.

4 . Be proud of myself for my little achievements.

5 . I want to schedule away at least one day a month for a selfcare day.

6 . Continue to push myself out of my comfort zone and try more new things.

7 . I want to read more books, I love reading but struggle to find stories I get sucked into, so I am on a mission to find some new books!

8 . Learning to love my hair when it’s natural and style it without heat.

9 . Continue blogging as it has brought me so much joy, and I love being creative!

10 . Giving people compliments when I like something about them, whether it’s a piece of clothing, their personality, attitude and/or anything really. It’s always nice bringing a smile to someone’s face, and you never know how much of a difference it can make to someone’s day.

Well, that’s what I’m going to be doing for this upcoming year, and I can’t wait to see what it’s going to throw at me! And I cant wait to see where I’m at in another years time.

So here’s to being another year older, wiser, happier and more comfortable in my own skin. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Love,

 

 

What Is Classed As Selfcare?

It’s #SelfcareWeek ! And it’s got me thinking, what do we actually think classes as selfcare? For me, I typically start thinking about face masks and bubble baths. And well yes that can be classed as selfcare; but as amazing as those things are, there are hundreds of other things you can do. And over the last few days, I’ve been partaking in a few of these myself.

The thought for this post came to me whilst I was walking home from the gym; it occurred to me that even though I think of lots of luxurious things as self-care, there are lots of small things I do for myself that make me feel good, and these count too.

Here’s a few things I’ve been doing for myself that aren’t always considered self-care:

• Going to the gym, and doing what I want there, if I don’t feel like doing the stair climber today, I just don’t do it and I refuse to feel guilty about it!)
• Buying myself a hot chocolate when walking home after going to the gym.
• Putting on my moisturizer.
• Listening to the Peptalk app (I highly recommend this one for when you’re commuting and walking anywhere, it’s a great motivational tool!)
• Watching videos by Glamour, Ladylike, As/Is and the Try Guys.
• Self Affirmations.
• Watching Nikkietutorials (believe it or not I watch Nikkie’s videos when I’m at the gym and they make me so happy!)
• Cleaning my room.
• Playing with makeup.
• Putting on makeup when I’m not going anywhere!
• Lighting scented candles.
• Having a bubble bath.
• Unfollowing any social media profiles that make me feel bad about myself.
• Watching my favourite films.
• Cooking my favourite food.
• Singing in the shower.
• Talking to friends.
• Finishing work ON TIME.
• Related to the above – not looking at work emails when I’m off work.
• Making myself a great breakfast.
• Blogging.
• Painting, drawing and being creative.
• Getting 7/8 hours sleep.
• Wearing thermal socks.
• Using a 99p face mask.
• Chatting to my sister.
• Seeing my Niece and Nephew on FaceTime reeking havoc in my sisters house.
• Driving round to look at Christmas Lights when they go up.
• Making myself a cup of tea.
• Meeting up with friends for a chat/food/movies (basically spending time with the important people in your life)
• Wearing my favourite clothes.

Honestly the list could go on and on. I love selfcare, sometimes I do still feel selfish or guilty for spending time on ourselves, but we really shouldn’t. We’re stuck with ourselves for life so we better take care of that person we see in the mirror.

And at the end of the day, if something makes you happy and feel good, it’s probably your own version of selfcare. We’re all different so it’s impossible to say that one thing will work for everyone; telling someone to go take a bubble bath to relax if they hate having baths is pretty pointless. It’s a personal thing.

Some of the things in my list you might not consider to be selfcare, but for me, they are. Just doing one small thing for yourself a day can make such a difference to your mood and wellbeing. And myself from a year ago would say something along the lines of “I’ll start next week or in the new year”, but that’s not how I think anymore, the time to start is now.

That’s all from me today, I’m off to go get myself a hot chocolate and sit in a blanket with a book. Have a great weekend lovelies! You’re all amazing!

Love,

P.S. The UK Blog Awards are now open for voting! It’d mean the world to me if you could vote for me my lovelies!! 

Why I Started Blogging

 

Hello my lovelies! I can’t believe we’re in November already!

So, I’ve been blogging for a few months now, and something I get asked quite often when people I know find out I have a blog is why did I start blogging? What pushed me into pursuing blogging for myself?

Well, this week I’m going to let you into the reasons what made me want to start theweightofmyworlds and what pushed me to actually going forward and creating/publishing my blog!

Part of the idea to start blogging came after reading many blogs and thinking about how amazing and fun they look to write. When the initial thought popped into my head to begin my own blog I thought maybe I should just treat it like a sort of journal or diary of my life? And then I thought back to doing English at school and never being amazing and doubted my ability to write.. however, even though I wasn’t great at the typical English lessons it did occur to me that I was pretty good at writing as if I were talking to people and doing some creative writing.

As you can imagine, all of these thoughts to start writing popped into my head as I were about to go to sleep (which is when I seem to get the most motivation to do stuff, am I the only one with this??). So, I decided to type the general idea into my phone reminders so it would pop up in the morning and actually remind me of last nights idea to start my blog, which it did.

For a few weeks after this I then put off beginning my blog because I still doubted myself a bit and I just needed that extra push. And that came in the form of my younger sister Phoebe.

Here’s my younger sister Phoebe, without her giving me one of my initial ideas to start blogging, I wouldn’t be where I am today!

Well believe it or not what pushed me into starting my own blog was when I thought of a project I wanted to do to help my sister as she was growing up (she’s growing up way too fast for my liking!). I wanted to create her a sort of ‘guide’ for everything that she’ll go through growing up and going through school. And then it occurred to me that that can become easily outdated and with technology moving forward so quickly that maybe I should just go for it and create my own blog that she can visit for advice and general life stuff.

Whilst all of this was swimming round in my head, a bit of a life re-adjustment (well I guess that’s what I would call it?) happened for me. That was the final push I needed to really kick start what you’re reading this on today!

The life adjustment that pushed me to start my own blog was that I began my own recovery journey from an eating disorder. I know, heavy stuff.. I’ll be brief (there’s previous posts about this you can find on here anyway) and I thought that writing my story and things that I go through would help me in that recovery. And that’s part of why my blog is called ‘The Weight Of My Worlds’.

Since beginning my blog it has allowed me to really own what I want to talk about. I love speaking up about body positivity, de-bunking fads that do no good to our mental health, talking about fashion, food, fun projects from Pinterest that are actually feasible.. telling you all about my weird, wonderful and down right funny life experiences and generally interacting with this amazing community that I have been welcomed into with open arms.

I was actually planning on writing this post for my blog’s one year anniversary, but I decided that what better time to talk about how far The Weight Of My Worlds and I have come than now. Reflecting on your achievements and what/who pushed you towards doing great things not only for yourself but others too is a great thing that we shouldn’t have to make a plan or schedule talking about it. Any time is a great time to celebrate your own victories! Especially the small ones, they all add up to great memories.

Why did you start blogging? What do you love about it? Let me know in the comments!

And with that my lovelies, that’s all from me today! Have a great weekend everyone!

Love,

 

My Hair & Skin routine

We all love having silky hair and smooth skin. And for me that’s been a bit of a journey; over there last year I’ve managed to put together my own extremely simple routine that does everything I want it to whilst still being pretty cheap.

I’d definitely recommend trying these quick and simple routines out for yourself as all of the products I use are less than the price of a fancy coffee.

I can’t guarantee everything will work for you, but it’s always nice to try something out!

So, my skin care routine. Well as some of you know, I have suffered with adult acne for a long time and also suffer with psoriasis, so finding skin products that work for me is sometimes a challenge. (Check out my Acne Journey here!)

I use acne medication prescribed to me along with a few other things to keep my skin in tip top form. (If you think you’re suffering with any form of acne then I highly suggest going to your GP where you can find something that works for you.)

My skin routine goes as follows:

1. First thing in the morning I take my first lot of acne medication, ‘Doxycycline’ with breakfast.
2. Then after breakfast I wash my face with just cold water and put some ‘Simple Kind to Skin Protecting Light Moisturiser SPF 15‘. That’s it for the morning, nice and quick!
3. Lunchtime is when I take my next acne medication, ‘Co-Cyprindiol’ (you have to have frequent check ups when you’re on this one as it doubles up as contraception.
4. At the end of the day (this bit is typically once a week) I use a microdermabrasion skin care machine to exfoliate, promote blood flow and just generally get any nasty stuff out of my pores.
5. Before I go to bed I then apply my ‘Adapalene’ topical acne cream medication.

Some things I also do to help my skin stay clear and healthy are:

• Drinking mostly water. I know I know, we hear this one all of the time, but water helps keep us hydrated and out skin looking moisturised.

 

• I try to not touch my face as much as possible, (don’t want to spread any oils or any traces of stuff that could be transferred onto my face!).

• Wash/Change my pillow case often. (dead skin cells, sweat and all sorts get on these and can cause breakouts after build up!)

 

• I ALWAYS take my makeup off before bed. – I cannot stress this one enough!!

• A balanced diet; this doesn’t mean eating super healthy all of the time, it’s about not eating mountains of sugary, oily, fatty food all of the time, you can still have your favourite guilty pleasures, but just in moderation.

 

• Speaking of food: I always wash my face after eating any form of takeaway; I always feel super greasy after eating foods like Chinese or Fish & Chips, so washing my face after stops me from developing mountains of spots around my chin.

 

• Sun cream. Wear sun cream no matter what weather it is, you skin is always vulnerable to the sun even when it’s cold outside. And if you’re not great at remembering to put it on, get a moisturiser with SPF already in it!

 

Now, onto hair care!

A bit of background on my hair journey:

My hair has been through it. Like really through the ringer. It’s been blonde, brown, auburn (so jealous of all you natural red heads out there!), orange, red, pink, green, strawberry blonde and several other colours. There was once a week where I decided I wanted to go from bright red to blonde.. my mum and I decided to do it in the space of two days; it involved 4 lots of bleaching and a lot of laughing. I’m incredibly lucky to still have hair on my head to be honest.

I have cut my hair off numerous amounts of times in order to salvage what was left of it after copious amounts of bleach and box dyes. One time I decided to go red again after bleaching my hair and putting blonde box dye on it and my hair was so damaged that after one wash my hair had millions of blonde and pink patches where the dye could no longer stick to my hair.

That leads me to now, I cut nearly all of my hair off in September last year in order to finally give up what had become a hair dye addiction (fellow hair enthusiasts know the struggle haha). And from January this year I have been growing out my natural hair in order to get it as healthy as possible again and not felling like straw. I am also slowly getting my naturally wavy and curly hair back!

Here’s just a few images of my hair journey over the years:

Here I am as a baby next to my older sister, that’s me on the right, and as you can see my hair is pretty curly and mad naturally.

As you’ll see in these photos, my hair goes from nice and healthy to getting more like straw and shorter as it kept snapping off!

Here’s me at 12 years old, my hair was still completely natural here!

Here I am at 14 years old, I think my hair might have been bleached slightly at this point?

Here is where my hair escapade starts to go downhill.. I had dyed it a few times by here so it’s big, frizzy and very straw like hair!

I dyed my hair red when I was starting sixth form and you can see how damaged my hair had become by the ends of my hair!

About 2 months into sixth form I decided to bleach all of the life out of my hair and fry it constantly by making it wavy every damn day.

After sixth form I decided to cut my hair into a pixie to try and salvage it, I then dyed it brown and then as it was getting healthier and growing out I decided I wanted blonde hair again.

A year later came around and I couldn’t stop myself from going auburn again, and here you can really see the damage!

My hair survived for a little while longer by going brown for a few months and it grew to a good length, then I wanted to go blonde so bleached it to bits, then I decided I wanted red hair again..

As you can see here, when my 21st birthday came around I decided to try and get my hair healthier again by cutting it into a pixie, and it was bleached blonde during the summer.

I actually have healthy hair in this photo! Here is my hair a few months after I turned 22, I’m starting to grow out my pixie here!

So that is what my hair went through, I’m sure there are more photos all over the place of even more hair colours but that’s something for another day, you’d be here for hours!

Here’s my hair now! It’s finally healthy and all my natural colour; I’m working on styling my natural air dried hair as it’s a big crazy at the moment!

So now you know a bit about my hair past, on to my routine!

1. I brush my hair to get rid of any knots or tangles before I wash it in the evening.
2. I then wash my hair with warm water, using ‘Tesco’s Pro-Vitamin B5 shampoo damaged hair’; I stumbled across this when looking for a new shampoo to try, and for 90p it’s a bargain! This shampoo is absolutely amazing on my hair and I definitely recommend it; it lathers nicely and is super cheap!
3. I then use ‘Tesco’s Pro-Vitamin B5 conditioner for damaged hair'(it is nowhere on the website at the moment but you can find it in store!) on the ends of my hair and work my way up avoiding my roots, like the shampoo, the conditioner is also 90p and makes my hair feel so silky and less frizzy.
4. I then rinse the conditioner out with cold water (it takes a bit of strength to not jump out of the shower at this point haha!).
5. When I get out of the shower I wrap my hair in a micro-fibre hair turban (you can get them from wilko for £1.15!).
6. Then, if my hair is feeling a bit dry I put some spray in conditioner onto the ends of my hair. I use one I picked up by chance at Aldi (it was on their special buys) which is a dupe of the ‘Aussie Miracle Hair Detangler Conditioner Spray’!
7. If I have time I’ll let my hair dry naturally and if I’ve got to be somewhere then I’ll dry my hair on the cool setting with my hair dryer.
8. I usually leave my hair overnight and style my hair with my straighteners in the morning, this is usually straight, but if I do style my hair in the evening it will be curly ready to be clipped half up the next day.

And that’s my hair routine!

Some things I do to help with my hair growth and health:

• Brush my hair before washing it so it isn’t too knotting when I wash it and there’s less damage when I wash it as your hair is a lot weaker when it’s wet.

 

• Rinsing my hair with cold water is something I found makes my hair less frizzy, shinier and it helps promote blood circulation to your scalp, which helps with hair growth!

• Use heat protection sprays even when just using the hair dryer. I recommend putting heat protection spray on your hair when it’s wet, as you avoid potentially making your hair feel greasy when applying it to dry hair.

• I avoid washing my hair everyday as this can strip my hair of it’s natural oils and prevents any oils from penetrating into the hair.

So that’s my skin and hair routines! What’s your hair journey? And what is your skincare routine? Let me know in the comments, I love reading and responding to them all! I hope you all have a great weekend my lovelies!

Oh, and don’t forget, there’s still time to enter my giveaway! Check out how to enter here!

Love,

 

 

Finding A Lump.

This is a post I’ve been meaning to write for quite some time. And what better time than than a few weeks before ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month’ begins. Just warning you now, this might be a bit of a long one, but I think talking about these things more does a lot of good, and if this helps anyone out there then I’ll be happy.

Only a small number of people know this about me, but about 1 1/2 years ago I was doing a quick breast check after reading about boobs in an article (I think it was from somewhere like cosmo?) and I found a lump.

Lucky for me, it ended up being labelled benign which means it’s cancer free and shouldn’t impact me. I recognise that I am incredibly lucky that my lump ended up being benign as not everyone is so lucky.

Let me take you back to when I found this lump, I think I was reading an article about why all boob shapes are beautiful (being a girl just wanting to like her body for what it is and all that.. still working on that now haha) when it occurred to me that I hadn’t checked my breasts recently.

So that was when I decided to give my boobs a once over. And that was when I found a pea sized lump towards the bottom left of my left breast. It was like the entire world had stopped when I felt it, then the panic set in. That was when I got my mum to see if they could feel it and that I wasn’t going mad for nothing.

Unfortunately they could feel it too, which meant the next day ringing up the doctors to get an appointment. Sadly my doctors are a bit short staffed without as much people as they probably need for the area I live in, so I had to wait a little while before I could get booked in, but I know that they’re doing everything they can in the current funding situation.

The day of my appointment came and off I went to the doctors absolutely terrified because in the time waiting for my appointment my anxious had wreaked havoc with my head and I had basically come to the conclusion that I was going to have to have surgery or it meant death. Some people may think it’s silly that this is what I was thinking, but that’s the reality of anxiety for you, it’s not rational and you can’t control it.

Once I went in for my appointment the doctor was so lovely and she calmed me right down; she asked me about what I’d felt, where and if I was in any pain. For the record, I’ve suffered with chronic chest pains for about 6 years in the left side of my chest reaching round my entire back and through my shoulder blades (I’ve been back and forth to the doctors for years about it with no avail), so I mentioned this in my appointment to see if this lump could be the cause of the pain if it had trapped a nerve or something, I didn’t know what it could be because I’m not a doctor and no amount of googling was helping me out.

I’ve recently found out the pain is actually coming from a few other conditions which I’ll talk about in another post, but I am okay and getting treatment so it’s now being managed. Right, back to talking about boobs!

After talking about what was going on, then came the examination. It was pretty nerve wracking getting my boobs out for a complete stranger, but it had to be done. She got me to show here where the lump was and then she felt my breasts for lumps. That was when she confirmed to me that I was right and that there is something there.

The doctor did then confirm to me that yes there is a lump, but the good news was that it was very small, around 8mm-1cm big, which meant it was probably benign which is great news. In order to just double check everything from my appointment, I was then given an appointment for an ultrasound so we could actually see what was going on.

The hospital appointment came round about two weeks after my doctors appointment which was pretty fast in my eyes. And I was glad because I just wanted to know what was happening and if I needed to start thinking about how I was going to potentially tackle the big C.

I brought my mum along with me to this appointment because 1.) We love doctor/hospital shows like 24hours in A&E and stuff like that, and 2.) She’s always there to support me in whatever way I need it. Going in for my ultrasound was pretty surreal, I walked into this dark room with 3 medical professionals in it, a load of equipment, a medical bed, 2 chairs and a curtain. My mum stayed with me for the entire thing, which helped a lot with the nerves.

So, I said hello to all of these very welcoming women in this dark room, took my top and bra off and laid down on the medical bed. It’s pretty weird having 3 women that you met 5 seconds ago staring at your boobs I’m not going to lie. The main doctor there did another examination on my breasts and then she put the coldest gel in my boobs I’ve ever felt haha. Then came the ultrasound machine, the doctor pushed it all over my boob until we came across a dark blob on the screen. My lump.

Here came the good bit for me. After a bit of moving around the blob the doctor came to the conclusion that my lump is definitely benign, and that I actually have something called a fibroadenoma. Fibroadenoma’s are a range of solid breast lesions that can feel hard, soft, smooth and rubbery, a bit like a pea, but they can be larger. Fibroadenoma’s are usually painless, but if they are causing significant pain they can sometimes be removed; you should also keep an eye on the lumps and go back to your GP if anything changes.

It’s pretty strange looking at an image of your boob on an ultrasound screen, especially because you only ever see ultrasounds happening to check on pregnancies.

So, once my ultrasound was done, I headed out with a leaflet about fibroadenomas and a huge sense of relief. I was and am incredibly lucky that my lump isn’t anything that serious.

At the beginning of this year, I thought my lump might had gotten bigger; but this was also around the time that I had lost a lot of weight, so I wasn’t sure if maybe I could just feel the lump more. So along came a second round of appointments to the doctors and hospital and lucky for me, nothing had changed other than myself losing weight.

This was great news for me as you can imagine. Some people aren’t as lucky as I am and I will be forever grateful that my lump is nothing serious. I’m still living with my lump at the moment, and it does cause some achiness now and again, but I know things could be so much worse.

What I want everyone to take away from this is to make sure you’re checking your breasts on a regular basis. You never realise how lucky you are until you have a scare like this. Even if you’re a man reading this, check your chest too, because men too can breast cancer. If you’re looking for some more information about what signs to look out for when checking your breasts, you can find that here! You can download a leaflet on what to look out for here!

I hope you’ve all enjoyed finding out a bit more about me and have found this useful; I know it’s been a bit long winded, but it’s an important issue that needs to be spoken about.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you! And I also want to say a big thank you to all of my lovely readers for all of your support, and to celebrate my first 100 subscribers and say thank you to you all, stay tuned for a giveaway at the end of the month!!

So that’s it from me for today! Have a great week everyone! Love,

10 Cheap Things To Buy Yourself For Self-Care

We all know that feeling when pay day hits; you know, the feeling you get when that little voice in your head says treat yo self! You deserve it! And then you go and buy a load of stuff that you forget about until you’re surrounded by loads of mystery packages.

I’m pretty bad for buying stuff that I don’t need when pay day hits, and I always forget about budgets and keeping track of my spending habits, which is until the week before pay day where I don’t stop checking my bank balance.

This is why I’ve decided to create a list of 10 presents you can buy yourself for a treat which are great for some self-care without breaking the bank! And they’re all available on Amazon!

Lets get into it!
1 . Success & Inspiration in a Jar. £14.99

Because who doesn’t need a little pick me up every now and again? These are little quotes, inspirations and motivations to give you a boost every day for a month and are great for if you’re having a bad day and need a little positivity boost!
2 . Mini Elephant Shaped Candles Gift Set. £5.11

These are just so cute! They are all scented as follows: Purple is Lavendar, Green is Jasmine, Pink is Rose, Red is Strawberry and Yellow is Lemongrass. These would be great for when you have a big bubble bath to relax!
3 . BiC Coloured Pencils. £10.00

Coloured pencils are always a good treat, and are necessary when you buy the next gift for yourself!

4 . Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom Colouring Book. £7.19

Colouring isn’t just for little kids; it can be really therapeutic and great for mindfulness. I personally love tuning out and doing a bit of drawing, so being able to chill out and just colour is great!

5 . Bath Bombs Gift Set. £8.99

Bath bombs are great for going with those cute elephant candles and these are a great gift to buy yourself and forget about. They come in a cute box so it really is like getting a present in the post!

6 . Bluetooth Shower Speaker. £17.99

This one is a little more pricey than the rest but still less than £20. And is great if you’re like me and love singing in the shower!

7 . Bumper Retro Sweet Selection Box. £11.50

Sweets and chocolates are a great way to do a bit of self-care; and retro sweets are so yummy! This should keep you going for quite a few weeks too, and are great for a movie night!
8 . Weighted Fitness Hula Hoop. £12.99

We’ve all heard a million times about how exercising is good for our mental health as well as our physical health, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun! Which is why I’ve put this fitness hula hoop in here!
9 . Glow In The Dark Star Stickers. £11.99

I’ve had these for quite some time now, and they’re just plain great. I will warn you though, I stuck all of mine above my bed on the ceiling and it took about 1/2hours in total. But the result in completely worth it! Especially as someone with mental health challenges, these really help my mind settle when I’m trying to get some sleep.
10 . Burt’s Bees Tip and Toes Kit. £9.99 in the sale and £12.99 usually

Finally, good ole Burt’s Bees! Because who doesn’t like stuff from Burt’s Bees?! A great way to take care of yourself is with a bit of pampering, and using things like this are a great way to distract yourself from any anxiety or panic thoughts.

So that’s it for this weeks post! I just thought that a little bit retail therapy never hurt anyone? Well at least these prices won’t! And the majority of these can be bought with prime so you get free next day delivery!

And remember, no matter whatever some people may say, ‘self-care is not selfish.’

Have a great week everyone! Let me know if you decide to get any of these gifts to yourself! Love,

Life Lessons To Remember

So this week I’ve realised that 1.) I’ve come a long way with my eating disorder treatment, and 2.) I’ve learnt a load of lessons not only about myself but about how I should see the world; and this is why I’m writing this today. What made me come to this realisation is the fact that I got my haircut, well, I got bangs.

Why would getting bangs make me have this big realisation you ask? Well because I had been thinking about getting bangs FOR AGES (I was totally inspired by Devin Lytle’s hair – fellow thin hair gal who is amazing, who works for Buzzfeed and is in Buzzfeed’s Ladylike which I LOVE along with all the ladies there so you should defo check them out!) but every time I went to get booked in at the hair dressers I chickened out because I thought it might look bad and that people would think I looked stupid. That’s when it hit me, why am I worried about what other people think?! All that matters is what I think and if I want bangs then I should just get some damn bangs cut!

Once this realisation hit me, I decided to book in a haircut to get bangs, and because I’m ridiculously indecisive I actually ordered some clip in bangs to check if I definitely wanted them. Here’s the bangs I ordered:

Once these arrived I did ask people what they thought, and they weren’t sure that it would suit me and then I realised that if I liked them, and I wanted them, I should get them cut no matter what anyone else thinks.

Something I was scared about was that my boyfriend wouldn’t like how I look with them, especially since he wasn’t sure that they’d suit me; but guess what, he told me to get them cut anyway because he knows that my opinion is what matters most and that he’ll love how I look no matter what (and to be honest, he’s seen me at my worst so I couldn’t get much worse than that haha). And with that sense of ‘it’s my hair so I’ll do what I want with it and I’ll rock it no matter what’ in my head, I went and got it cut.

And guess what?! I think I look pretty with them.. (that feels weird to say but I’m trying to be nicer to myself).

Ok, now that I’ve rambled on about my hair for long enough, let’s actually get back to why I’m writing this post.. here’s some life lessons I’ve finally learnt:

1. If you want to try something new with your appearance (or really anything in life – providing it isn’t harming anyone duh) and are unsure, just give it a go; you’ll often find that you’ll rock it and look great!

2. Confidence is key. (I’m still working on this one but I’ve realised that if you act like you’re confident even when you’re not, everyone around you will think you’re a boss ass b*tch. And you’ll look good because quite frankly, confidence is sexy and looks good).

3. When it comes to your body and appearance, your opinion is the only one that matters, and anyone that tells you how or what you should look like can go f*ck themselves because you’re perfect as you are.

4. Self care is not being selfish. You gotta take care of yourself! After all, you’ll be living with yourself for the rest of your life.

5. Learn to accept compliments without putting yourself down after hearing them. If someone is complimenting you, (unless it’s unsolicited catcalling from a stranger, in which case.. they can eff off) it’s because they want to, no one is forcing them; and why wouldn’t they want to compliment you?! You’re great!

6. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength and you’ll find you feel so much better after asking for help. Plus you’ll find that you’re probably going to make some really great, reliable friends along the way.

7. No number defines your worth, whether it’s on the scales, on your clothing labels, social followers/likes or your bank account. You are worth so much more than any stupid numbers!!

8. And finally, sugar and chocolate WILL NOT KILL YOU. Eat what you want, when you want it. Nothing is unhealthy in moderation so try to stop labelling food, because that’s all it is. Food. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just food that tastes good and nourishes your body.

So that’s what I’ve learnt recently, and if you’ve ever had some realisations of life lessons yourself, definitely let me know what they are! Also, to finish, to the right is a selfie of me and my new hair in case you haven’t seen my insta, because why shouldn’t I show this off?!

Oh and buy the way, I totally recommend trying out clip in hair pieces (when it’s cheap) if you’re thinking of changing up your look but aren’t sure yet, here’s the clip in bangs I bought (I did trim mine but do what you want with them!).

Hope this helps any of you out there who tend to worry about what other people think about your appearance (aka people like me.. I’m working on that haha) and remember, your opinion of yourself is the most important!

A little life quote to end: “A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms”.

Have a great weekend everyone!! Love,

A Letter To My 10 Year Old Self.

Dear Victoria,

It seems a bit bizarre writing this letter to you, since I am you(just older), but here we go. It’s been 12 years since I was 10 years old, and it honestly feels like a lifetime ago; so try not to waste a moment. You may not realise it now, but time is a truly precious thing.

There are so many things I want to tell you about. You’re 10 years old at the moment; which means you’re about to go through some pretty big changes soon, like moving up to a big secondary school, becoming a young woman, finding love, creating friendships and so much more. You’re going to get stressed about grades, homework, being bullied and getting a boyfriend. Try not to freak out at this point. I know it’s already sounding like it’s the end of the world moving schools and growing up, but there are so many great things that come from it. I’ll tell you about them a little later on.

One thing you should know; all of these worries and stresses you’re having, well.. everyone around is having them too. Yes, even the ‘cool’ girls. And believe it or not but the second you go to secondary school you’ll understand. Speaking of secondary school, there are some things I’ll let you know about in advance.

• The FIRST day.

You’ll spend the majority of this day learning teachers names, trying not to get lost, finding your form group (and yes, you will have to put up with them for 5 more years.. so do your best to make friends!), your timetable and clinging to the one person you recognise from primary school. Oh and just a heads up, you’re gonna miss the bus home.. yes, on the first day. So when this happens don’t panic. Mum will come and get you within half an hour and all will be well. Just know that when you miss the bus again (you only do it two more times so you can breathe a bit haha) you’ll know what to do and not to freak out.

• The Bully.

You’re going to come across bullies in all walks of life. Sometimes you’ll know why a person wants to pick on you, other times you wont. What’s important is that you don’t let it get you down too much(easier said than done I know), because you are worth so much more than that. And yep that’s right, you do get bullied. (I know, I can sense your heart sinking already). Don’t dwell too much on this. It actually makes you a better person in the end and we meet some great people who are going through the same thing. Also, I’m not proud of it, but one day you will hit a bully back. Hard. Then you’ll apologise profusely. It just goes to show that we’re a good person because even when we hit someone back after being repeatedly punched and kicked in the ribs, head and back for a laugh, we still knew hitting someone was wrong. On the plus side, you’ll learn that you’ve got a fairly good right hook if you ever need it.. haha. The bullying will end once you leave secondary school, and although that seems like a long time, you’re better off for it. It’s made us who we are today.

• Picking your GCSE’s.

You’re going to be stressed and think you’re picking the wrong things and you’ll question yourself a million times. Just know that mum and dad are here for you and will help you through it.

You’ll find that they’re the most supportive people you know, and if you ever have a row it’s usually because they want whats best for you(and they’re right..). They’ll encourage encourage you to take the subjects you enjoy. I want to say right now, do the subjects you enjoy. Taking subject you enjoy is so important especially if you don’t know what you want to be when you’re older, which I’ll say right now is not the end of the world. I thought it was the case for a long time, but in the end, everything works out alright!! And if you decide at a later date that you want to go down a certain career path, you can always go to college or university in specific subjects. It’s not all worry and stress with GCSE’s though, because you’ll actually find that you love school and learning; and you’ll work hard and pass them all(go you!).

• You. You and more you.

So, since you’re 10 at the moment, you’re going to be going through puberty pretty soon and with this will come a few things, body hair, getting smelly, getting boobs, spots and hormones going mad. I know it sounds like a lot. It doesn’t all hit you one morning like a slap in the face, don’t worry. You’re going to want to change your body all the time, you’ll hate certain parts of yourself and I hate to break it to you, but you’re going to have a lot of bad hair and makeup days. But you know what, when you’re older you’ll realise that the things you wanted to change about your body are beautiful as they are. And you are unique, clever, strong and pretty. Don’t think that you need to look like girls and women in magazines or on telly, they’re photoshopped and fake and are there to make you want to buy stuff. You’re going to be scared to experiment and go against the flow of what everyone else is doing. But please do it anyway. You’ll find that you will enjoy yourself more and love how you have something different about you. Find your own style, however weird and wacky it may seem. After all, you’ll look back at those times and smile because you’re only a young kid once.

Remember when you’re going through tough times, just think, it’ll all work out in the end. Because it will. Because you’re smart, beautiful, independent, have a top notch personality and can do anything you put your mind to. When it all feels like it’s getting too much, you can always turn to mum or dad and there’s loads of people you can call up for free just to talk. Don’t take them for granted, you’ll appreciate how much they mean to you and how much they do for you as you get older. And lastly, don’t waste any opportunities, you’ll be terrified of doing something wrong or making a fool out of yourself, the only thing you will do is regret not taking a chance.

So, that’s basically it from me. You’ll realise when you’re older how amazing you truly are, it may not seem like it always, but you are. And it’s important that you take time to take care of yourself and love yourself for you. No one else.

Love,

10 Ways To Make Your Mornings More Productive

You ever see those people who look so perfect, polished and wide awake first thing in the morning? Does a little bit of you hate them for it? Yeah, me too. It’s not that they are bad people or are mean, I think it’s just that I wish I were more like them.

So.. This week I decided to try out 10 tips that will hopefully make my mornings even more productive. Especially since at the moment all I manage to get done before I leave for work is just about slump out of bed, have a coffee, eat some breakfast and spend 30 minutes deciding what to wear for the day.

Let’s get started!

1. Wake up as soon as your alarm goes off and don’t hit snooze. Or if you struggle to get out of bed even after hitting snooze, put your alarm clock on the other side of the room, this way you’ll have to get up to shut it up!!
2. Pick out your outfit for the day the previous evening.
3. Create a morning ritual to keep your morning organised, for me this is getting dressed, having a wash, doing my hair, making a daily to do list, having a coffee and then eating breakfast whilst watching Gilmore Girls. If you have a morning ritual then you’re less likely to forget stuff this way too!
4. Drink some water. I’m rubbish at doing this but this week I tried to drink at least 1 pint of water first thing.
5. Do the task you’re dreading doing the most, first. Maybe it’s having to iron a shirt or make a not or appointment before you head out. Get it out of the way and you’ll feel loads better.
6. Don’t spend all your time on your phone. This one’s a given since it’s pretty much said to help everything nowadays.
7. Take some time to make yourself breakfast. They always say it’s the most important meal of the day!! (I don’t exactly know who ‘they’ are.. but hey, it’s a good thing to start doing!)
8. Wake up to the sun. This is something I started doing a long time ago, partly because my room has slanted ceilings and is generally dark and partly because I’m too lazy to put my blinds up and down every day.. But anyway, I found waking up to natural sunlight very helpful in starting my day.
9. Have goals set for the day.
10. Fit in some ‘me time’ before you head off to work, or start work if you work at home. What I mean by ‘me time’ is spending time for yourself. This can be anything from sitting down and meditating for a few minutes, playing with a pet to painting your nails; all that matters is that you do something for you.

With any tips and tricks to try out, some will work for you, and others won’t. That’s just life so I completely understand that. With that being said, what worked more me was definitely fitting in a bit of ‘me time’ – which for me was simply writing down one great thing about myself to boost my confidence and picking my outfit for the following day the night before. This saved me at least 30 minutes of time that I can use to either sleep some more or make myself a really good lunch, setting myself up for the day.

What do you do first thing in the morning? I found these tips helpful in fitting more stuff into my mornings and helping me to wake up and get going! What’s your favourite thing to make for breakfast? Let me know and I’ll do a post trying them all out!! Have a great weekend!!

Love,