An Essential Guide To Dealing With Stress

Initial steps:

1. When you feel stressed, take a moment to breath

2. Pinch your fingers and repeat 'ive got this', 'i am strong', 'i am happy'

3. Remember no mental state is forever, we are constantly changing and the way you feel now will pass!

Steps for long term stress:

1.Ask for help, when we are stressed our mind become confused (watch this documentary by the BBC on the effects of stress) sometimes we dont see things so clearly and are thinking and rational become sluggish, therefore taking time to reason over anything that is causing you stress offers another persons opinion and helps you to slow down and form rational thoughts. 

2.Another way you can aid your thinking is by writing down your thoughts, this helps you you to declutter them and also form an action plan. 

3. See every moment as an opportunity to learn, learn how you deal with stress best, is it by taking time to exercise, doing colouring, playing a musical instrument? Find something you love and make sure it is a part of your everyday routine no matter how busy or drained you may feel, prioritising health is key!

With multiple exams, organising work and study at the moment, these are a few ideas I have found work to keep my stress under control, or at least help me deal with stress. I hope if anyone else is reading this and feeling any form of stress in their lives that it will be of some comfort and help!

Emily x

Are we our own worst enemies, or our own best friends?

Today someone told me they 'were their own worst enemy' and this got me thinking.

We live in a society where we are always comparing ourselves to others as I have mentioned in my previous posts. We have learnt to rely on others to deliver positive affirmations to us, and we have been taught to play down any form of compliment for fear as coming off big headed or too full of ourselves.

This is clearly something everyone wants to avoid, however we dont have to talk ourselves down in order to do that! As soon as you begin talking yourself down it spirals into a habit that becomes a self inflicted prophecy that you end up believing. But how can you prevent this from happening, and how can you get out of this cycle?

It all starts with thinking patterns. 

If you are already in a negative cycle then as soon as you think something negative you have to counter it with something positive. After doing this for 20 days...thats how long it is suggested it takes to learn a new routine/habit, this will become affirmed. The more you think negatively the more positive thoughts will just naturally follow, until you begin believing the positives. Once you have over come this you have to affirm the positives:

Tell them to yourself without a negative. 

Write them down. 

Do this even if you dont believe them trust me one day you will!

'Remember life is more than fitting in your jeans'-Ed Sheeran

I love Ed Sheeran and this is so true, who cares about what you look like focus on personal goals and traits that you love, set yourself goals and targets that arent visual, tell yourself about how you like a part of your personality, or set an aim to be more self-less, more helpful. Just thinking and following these actions will make you feel better about yourself. 

Confidence and Kindness shine through, you look incredible if you are being the kindest version of you you can be :) 

Find something you love and work hard at it every spare minute of the day.

Set your self targets for exercise!

Exercise is an amazing thing. Not only does it release endorphin's making you feel great but it also makes you feel better about your body. Dont worry about aesthetics just try and be the healthiest version of you you can be, eating as well as you can 80% of the time and focusing on finding a form of exercise you love! (I'm a massive fan of walking!) 

finally...

'YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY, YOU ARE TRULY YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND '

these are just my own thoughts, and I'd love to hear what other people think about it 
Emily 

Motivational Monday #2

How is it monday again?

I feel like the weeks go by at the speed of light nowadays, gone are the weeks of my childhood where the days would drag on and a week felt like an eternity.

For todays motivational monday post I wanted to write about self love. I'm at a time in my life where everything is extremely busy and I forget that I need to take a few minutes out each day for myself and my health.

I was thinking whilst blow drying my hair...as you do, that as a society we constantly look to others for reassurance and recognition; likes on an instagram, likes on FB, retweets on twitter, views on snapchat. We are bombarded by other peoples opinions of our lives everyday, its unavoidable and we live in a society that dictates that it is the amount of likes we get the defines us and our self worth.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE.

You dont get a like, for stopping and holding the door for another when their hands are full of shopping. You dont get a retweet everytime you compliment someone on their outfit and make their day. And you dont get a view everytime you take part in a charity event raising money for an amazing cause. We dont need to look to others to recoginse our self worth, we need to set ourselves goals and have confidence in ourselves to be able to achieve these and know that we have. Dont look to others for recognition, love yourself and know your self worth. Once you do this you will beam confidence and feel great. So take time out everyday to learn to love yourself that little bit more, without worrying what the rest of the world is thinking and doing. 

Are You Empowered?

Being a strong and independent woman is something I have always strived to achieve. I feel that we should be proud of who we are and our achievements, no matter how big or small we may perceive them to be. Now in my 20's I finally feel comfortable in myself and I no longer feel I need to act like others to fit in I am myself and if you like it thats great if not then I'm not going to apologies for who I am.

However, I never feel like I can meet my own expectations. Rather than be proud of what I have achieved, I am constantly beating myself up for the things I havent yet been able to do. Yesterday was international womens day and so I watched this video by Louise Pentland AKA Sprinkleofglitter and I would highly recommend you go and watch it! It really got me thinking about why I am always so harsh on myself, and that I should start remembering all the things I have been able to achieve rather than those that I currently havent.

I have a board of these quotes on my pintrest and I would love it if you checked it out.
I think its so important that we dont look at what others have and feel like we are inferior or that we arent as good as them...this isnt the case. We are all individuals and its really important we take other peoples achievements and use them to inspire us to do our best to achieve, and not let them make us feel like failures or to feel jealous! If they can do it so can you!

I thought I would take this opportunity to list out my current achievements that I should be proud of followed by a list of my dream achievements for the future, some of them may be a very long way in the future!

WHAT I AM:
I am a loving older Sister.
I have taught myself a-level biology in 8 months.
I have taken the huge decision to change direction, to follow my dream career.
I have organised multiple successful charity events.
I am non judgemental, kind and compassionate.
I am comfortable in myself.
I will always look for the good in people.
I have inspired others to do things they were scared of.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE:
To be a home owner.
To start a family.
To grow my blog.
To empower others.
To be kind and compassionate in my career.
To start a business.
To write a book.

Please comment on this post with a couple of achievements and dreams you have. Lets build each other up.