The Journey to Self-Care 2017

The Journey to Self-Care 2017

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Journey to Self-Care 2017

So it has got to that time of year where hormones are all over the place, mood swings are inevitable, morale is at an all-time low and self-care is seriously neglected. So why is it that during winter we neglect ourselves the most? We do we stop taking time out of our day to journal? or paint our nails? or even to run ourselves a bath? Why do we continuously strip ourselves of the things that we love the most? Why?? Because for many of us we lead busy lives, right? It is sometimes incredibly hard to take a simple 30 minutes out of our day to run ourselves a bath when we could be in and out of the shower in 10. We assume that we are saving ourselves those vital extra 20 minutes that could be better spent elsewhere?? Wrong. By not allowing ourselves time to wind down and have "me" time, we are ultimately contributing to self-neglect.

Now, hold on all is not lost here, we still have time to make amends. Starting with making time for ourselves, and when I say "make time", this can be anything from spending the afternoon de-cluttering your bedroom/work space to sitting in a nail bar all day getting manis, pedis and everything in between. Hey, if you want to spend however much on yourself then DO IT, and please do not feel guilty for doing so. We are allowed to treat ourselves from time to time, after all we are only human so you do you boo - no judging here.

Now I realise that "self-care" for some isn't as easy as "just getting yours nails done" but I do think that it is a contributing factor in making yourself feel better and improving your self-esteem, because if your nails look cute then you automatically feel cute! Maybe for some of you it may be that you take up a sport/hobby that you've always wanted to do and you practice it regularly until you have mastered it. 

I think that it is equally important to take time off social media too, sometimes we get too dependant on it and take things too seriously, when in reality the majority of what we see isn't even real. Instead, hit up your bffs invite them over, get the cheap Aldi wine out and the movies on. Now, I always find that spending time with my friends makes me feel 10x better and helps me to get out of my bad mood.  

Meditate, Meditate, Meditate!!! 

I cannot praise this practice any higher and the best thing about it is that you don't even have to be religious in the slightest to meditate. All that it involves is taking time out to sit in complete stillness and practice your breathing techniques. Before, I got into meditation I didn't think that much of it and didn't believe that it could play a vital part in altering my mindset but it really has! I currently use an app called "Calm"  which is on the app store and its super easy to follow along. 

Recently, I have used meditation a lot to help me de-stress and feel less anxious about my uni deadlines, also it has allowed me to feel more grounded and appreciative with my life. If you are generally speaking, a negative/pessimistic person then meditation is something that you definitely need to try, it will allow for clarity and increased self-care.

And yes, this process may be short for some of you and for others it may prove tiresome and longer but definitely stick with it. The important thing to remember here is that some days you will have down days and this is okay. Society

somehow convinces us that we look weak for struggling from time to time, but this is all apart of the process to self-love and self-care. You need to envisage yourself as a golden beam of light, everything that shines out of you is pure and radiant. Your body is a temple and you must treasure it with everything you own. 

Please do not neglect yourself and please look after yourself

Ps. Keep at it and keep faith, change doesn't come straight away but you will notice improvements if you implement these practices into your daily lives.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post, lately I have been inspired to write semi-motivational blog posts in hope that it will help one of you or even to encourage you all to look after yourselves better. 

Love Leah xx

FIRST YEAR OF UNIVERSITY...RESULTS, NIGHT LIFE, LIVING ON CAMPUS ....WAS IT ALL WORTH IT?

FIRST YEAR OF UNIVERSITY...RESULTS, NIGHT LIFE, LIVING ON CAMPUS ....WAS IT ALL WORTH IT?

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Hi everyone! I can't believe that my latest blog post was dated back to December last year, I am sooo bad at this blogging malarkey but I vow to try and get back into the swing of things. Lately I have been suffering from writers block and although I had loads of new ideas for content on here, I couldn't find the time or words to sit down and express all of it to you guys. So for that I apologise, and now lets jump straight into the topic for todays blogpost......UNIVERSITY! 


So some of you may know that I have just finished my first year of uni at UWE Bristol, I can hand on heart say that I have had a blast and met some of the nicest people that I will be friends with for a very long time.  I received my results from Year 1 today, and I kind of had an idea what they would be based on my progress throughout the year. 

For those of you who don't know I study BA Business Management with Marketing and I am pleased to announce that I scored 68.13% as my average for the year, which translates as a high 2:1. I was a bit gutted at first that I didn't get a 1st (70%) just because I know how close I was to getting it and I wanted for once to prove to myself that I am intelligent and can achieve anything that my little heart desires hahah. 

Nevertheless I am still very proud of myself and whilst I know that Year 1 doesn't count towards my final grade for the end of my degree, I know that achieving a 2:1 puts me in a good position to apply for placements in third year. As you need to have at least a 2:1 or 1st in Year 1 to do placement. 

Now onto the nightlife.... Bristol is one of the busiest, most expensive cities to live in, in the UK. But who really cares when you have the likes of Motion and Lakota on your doorstep??? Not I 

One thing that I really love about Bristol is the vast, diversity of people that you will come across, everyone is so unique yet their hearts are filled with gold. In other words, you can walk down to your local shops wearing a bright yellow neon skirt with makeup everywhere at 3pm on a Monday afternoon and no one will bat an eyelid (trust me, I've tried this before), hahaha no really I am joking but I have definitely gone to the shops on campus wearing pajamas and no one has looked at me twice. That my friends is the BEAUTY of Bristol... and if that hasn't swayed you enough to transfer uni's to UWE then you can doing it COMPLETELY WRONG. 

I officially moved out of halls two weeks ago and I haven't felt the same since....

I know what you're all thinking, why is she being so dramatic right? Wrong, when you've gone to uni yourself and lived in halls for a year I guarantee that you will feel a similar way. I think for me, more so than anything it is the convenience of it all that makes me miss it so much, if you're lazy like I am and prefer living 2 minutes from all of your friends flats, the campus shops, the gym and lectures then you will understand the pain that I am enduring.

However living on campus means living so far away from town and the night life in Bris, which results in paying ridiculous prices for Ubers and Taxis. I mean who do the taxi drivers think they are?? We are students, not millionaires and I struggle to understand how they can justify charging £20 to drive 10 minutes into town... 

But next year I will be living in a house which is half way between town and uni with 5 overly hormonal, dramatic, & hilarious gals. It is safe to say that Bristol won't know whats hit it...

(Yeah and I bet you've heard that one before)

So far I am only one year into my degree so I cannot comment on the rest of my years yet but at the moment, it has definitely been worth going to UWE. For someone who 3 years ago would have never considered university as an option, I have come a long way and feel like I have made the right choice. In regards to my degree course, I do kind of wish that I picked either English Literature or Philosophy instead just because I have a strong interest in both fields and would someday like to become a writer (ahhhh, I've finally said it...theres no going back now Leah). I know that I can always do a Masters in English Lit afterwards if I wish or I can do online courses at home to earn a Diploma in Creative Writing/Blogging. Using this platform to blog regularly will really help me to develop my style of writing and skills set so watch this space haha

Thank you lovely's for taking the time to read my first blog post of 2017!!!! Wow it feels weird writing that, but anyways stay tuned for similar blog posts and if anyone has any feedback or questions please feel free to comment below :) 

Love Leah xx