Postpartum Self Care Tips & Tricks

Hi lovelies,

Indulging in self care is an absolute essential after giving birth, as you must spend some time and energy focused purely on yourself - you deserve it. Figuring out exactly how you can really relax and unwind postpartum needn’t be as difficult as you might initially believe, as there are just a few simple steps that you can utilise to rebalance your thoughts and revitalise your body in no time at all. So, if you would like to find out more, then read on to uncover some of the best top tips and tricks that you can make the most of now! 

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Dressing Comfortably 
Trying to squeeze into your pre-baby wardrobe straight after birth is likely an almost impossible task, and this can mean that you need to invest in a few new items to stay as comfortable as possible. There are many different changes that your body experiences during and after the birth of a child, from the obvious change in weight and size to milk leakage too - failing to work around these occurrences will of course leave you in an uncomfortable situation. Luckily it’s extremely simple to find the right solutions, as there are adjusting outfits that can aid in giving you space to breathe in your clothes, as well as training bras and many other options that can create a more comfortable day to day. If you’ve ever wondered do postpartum belly bands really work then there’s lots of information online that can work as a guide. Though you may want to throw on a little black dress and a pair of heels, there’s really no rush to get back to your old lifestyle - focus on your true needs now, as although baggy sweatpants may not be as attractive as party wear, it functions far better for the task at hand. 

Eating A Healthy Diet
Changing your diet to consume healthy meals and snacks is another key step you must follow, as self care starts with the very basics. Failing to consume nutrient rich foods that are packed full of vitamins and minerals will cause you to feel tired and sluggish, along with many other issues too. Your body has to recover from the act of creating, caring for and giving birth to a child, and you’re going to need as many beneficial ingredients as possible. It’s a good idea to aim to consume more than 5 portions of fresh fruit and vegetables each day, along with complex carbohydrates and lean proteins. Filling up on fatty, salty or sugary foods will not provide you with the sustainable energy that you need to look after yourself and your child, and could even cause intense mood swings and trouble sleeping that will have a detrimental effect on your ability to perform to your full potential. 

With any luck, these tried and tested postpartum self care top tips and tricks will aid you in getting back to your regular happy and healthy self in no time at all. 

How Can I Tell If I'm Losing My Hearing?

Hi lovelies,

Losing your hearing can sometimes happen suddenly, but in the majority of cases, it happens slowly, and you might not immediately notice the problem until it gets worse. There may be some symptoms that alert you to an issue, such as an earache, noise in the ears like tinnitus, or vertigo. You should visit your GP if you notice a problem with your hearing, as you would for any other health problem.

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Signs Of Hearing Loss
It can be harder than you might think to tell when you start losing your hearing. In fact, other people often notice something is wrong before you notice it yourself. 

There are some signs that can tell you that you are starting to lose your hearing. If you have difficulty hearing other people clearly or misunderstanding what they say, especially if this is worse in noisy places, this might mean your hearing is going. Book a hearing test if you need to ask people to repeat themselves as you can’t hear them, need to listen to music or watch TV at a higher volume than other people need to, have difficulty hearing clearly on the phone, find it tough to keep up with a conversation or find concentrating on listening tiring or stressful. 

These problems can be caused by the kind of hearing loss that comes on as you get older. Age-related hearing loss is permanent, but there are options to help, such as a hearing aid. 

Hearing Loss In One Ear
It can be a challenge to tell if you are losing hearing in just one ear, as you will still be able to hear with the other ear. You may have lost hearing in one ear if, your hearing is worse when sound comes from only one side, or all sounds seem quieter than normal. You might find it hard to tell where a sound is coming from or have difficulty ignoring background noise or telling different sounds apart. You may find speech unclear or have a hard time hearing in noisy places.

Hearing loss in just one ear is often caused by something stopping sound from moving through the ear, like an ear infection or a buildup of earwax. Learn more about how this can be checked. 

Hearing Loss In Children
If you have children, you should pay attention to their hearing health as closely as your own. If they’re slow to learn to talk or aren’t clear when speaking, don’t reply when you call them, talk loudly, ask you to repeat yourself or respond inappropriately to questions, or need the volume on the TV up high, then they might have hearing loss. 

If you think your child has hearing trouble, you should contact your GP to identify the cause as soon as you can. One of the most common reasons that children find it hard to hear is glue ear, which is a build-up of fluid in the ear. This is very treatable, so there is no need to panic. 

What to Expect from a Hearing Test

Hi lovelies,

If you or a loved one has noticed some diminished hearing or issues associated with your hearing, you may be thinking about going to a local audiologist or hearing center to get a hearing test. It’s totally understandable if you’re feeling a bit of nerves - any medical tests and screens can be a little stressful. But not to worry: hearing tests are a painless, quick and generally easy process that is well worth doing. Your audiologist can screen you for a variety of hearing issues and conditions related to the ears, and help you get a course of treatment/hearing devices based on your diagnosis. 

So what is the process of having a hearing test like? Yours will likely go just like this:

First, you’ll schedule an appointment at a local hearing center or clinic with an audiologist. In many cases, you’ll have an initial consult where you’ll speak to the doctor about the specific issues you’re experiencing. They’ll ask you questions about your hearing difficulties, any illnesses or injuries you’ve had, any other issues you’re experiencing such as pain, balance issues, and so on. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions also. 

Once the hearing test portion begins, you’ll first be administered a series of tones - this test is called pure tone audiometry, and it’s fairly easy. These tones will consist of a variety of decibels and frequencies, pitches and volumes, and you’ll alert the doctor when you hear them. 

Next, you may be asked to wear a set of headphones, listen to various sounds and words, and asked to repeat what you hear. This test, called a speech audiometry, determines how well you not only hear sounds, but if you’re able to enunciate them clearly back. The accuracy of your speech will determine a number of different things.

You may also have your ears physically checked, a test known as tympanometry. This includes testing your eardrum as well as the muscles inside your ear. 

Once these tests are completed, the audiologist will go over the results with you, letting you know your score and if you got a pass/fail. Don’t worry too much about these results - many people who “fail” their hearing test can still go on to live happy lives without losing their hearing completely. Depending on your diagnosis, you may be advised different courses of treatment, the most common being a hearing aid or device. YOur audiologist will go over these options with you, and should you choose to get one, can help you pick out the proper one according to your needs, preferences, and budget.

The entire process of getting a hearing test is easy, totally painless and free of discomfort, and generally done in a half-hour or so. Many insurance companies cover hearing tests, but speak to your audiologist about payment options if you’re concerned about the cost. There’s no reason not to go and have that hearing test today. If you’re experiencing diminished hearing, make an appointment today to find the solution.

The Lockdown: An Unmissable Opportunity to Look After Your Health

Hi lovelies,

A global pandemic is not the idea of fun for anybody, yet it is crucial to see the silver lining in such a critical situation. If there is one, the benefit that we can all enjoy from this situation is time. Pressing the pause button on our busy, hectic lifestyles and starting to think about our health is something that most professionals never had the chance to do before. And now that there is time, 

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Cook more, eat healthy foods

The summer season is approaching, and an endless range of local fresh fruits and veggies are starting to repopulate our supermarkets and shops. Before the pandemic - we have been tempted to go out for dinner every second night to celebrate the warm season. However, with many restaurants and bars closed, you could opt to fill your fridge with fresh foods and try your hand at cooking. New, healthy recipes can help you stay healthy effortlessly while making your dinner table beautiful. Of course, you don’t have to renounce a glass of wine!

Get into training and fitness - even if for the mind

Going to the gym has incredible benefits, yet it might not be a comfortable place for all of us. Luckily, with online training courses, as well as YouTube videos, you can turn your living room into a small, private gym. Resistance bands and weights are beneficial but not essential. Indeed, you can try out a yoga session or meditation practice, which, aside from helping you build muscles and meet your fitness goals, can help you achieve serenity. Indeed, meditation has been seen to have endless benefits on mood, stress levels, and anxiety. The best thing is that you won’t need to be an expert in any of these practices to start seeing the benefits of it. 

Try out a new routine

Trying out the “no-poo” movement to see your hair shine or making home-made face masks with eggs might not be viable when you have to look presentable at work every day. However, during the lockdown, there are fewer chances for you to appear in public. All this makes it the perfect time to try out a new routine and see if it works for you, without having to worry about how you look. Alternatively, this is an extraordinary moment for radical solutions and changes, such as Silicon Valley Aesthetic Dermatology offers.

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Love your body and mind

Independently on what makes you happy and fulfilled, this is the time to love your body and mind. You might prefer to focus all your energy on training and get that six-pack to show. Or, you would like to bring to life a passion project. Nothing is stopping you at the moment! Trying out a new skin-care routine or finally getting in touch with the friends you have not spoken to in a while can undoubtedly bring endless benefits in your life. However, it is crucial to reflect on this particular time and understand the importance of taking a minute to love yourself and replenish your energy.

Natural Remedies For Common Conditions

Hi lovelies,

Living a healthy life with a holistic approach can be hard when you start to suffer from various ailments that can hit us all. From the common cold to indigestion, hayfever to diarrhoea, there are shelves full of medications to help ease our symptoms. But, what if you want to keep your body running only on nature's gifts to us all? 

For millions of years, there have been symptoms of multiple illnesses or allergies. We haven’t always had today's medicines to get us through. There are loads of natural remedies that can help us through, here are some of the best. 

Nausea
Nausea and sickness can be alleviated by ginger. The best way to calm your stomach is either making a fresh ginger tea or by taking small bites of homemade ginger cookies. You could also put ginger and peppermint into a green smoothie. 

(Photo by Elly Fairytale from Pexels)

Painful Joints
If you suffer from painful joints, then using Turmeric could help. This root is usually found in powder form and contains a powerful natural inflammatory called curcumin. Try the healing powers of this Golden Turmeric Milk. 

Dry Eyes
When your eyes are tired, or you are dehydrated, your eyes can become dry and itchy. This is also a symptom of several allergies. Theralife offers a holistic remedy to this condition which will help restore moisture and relieve your symptoms. 

Toothache
If you have suffered a toothache, then you will know how hard it is to work. Visiting a dentist is your best option, but to treat it at home, you can use clove oil. 

Heartburn
Settle your symptoms using the healing powers of Aloe Vera. This unique plant has a long list of benefits and can relieve many symptoms from skin soreness to heartburn. If you are passionate about living a holistic life, you should have an aloe vera plant at home. 

Sore muscles
Arnica is a plant that can be used to reduce pain in your muscles. It is also effective to reduce bruising and help aid in a quicker recovery. 

Insomnia 
Lavender is a flower with a beautiful fragrance. Used as an essential oil in a sonic diffuser the scent can help relax you and give you a feeling of wellbeing, aiding in a better night's sleep. 

The common cold 
Honey is both antibacterial and antimicrobial. It can help to reduce sore throat pain and suppress coughing. It is famously drunk with lemon in a tea and can alleviate common cold symptoms. 

It is important to remember that living a holistic life is a balance. Modern medicine has a place in your life, so if your symptoms get worse or are persistent, you need to seek proper medical advice. You can speak to your doctor and ask if they can give you some safe, natural options; however, you should never put off seeing a medical professional. Natural remedies offer you relief of your symptoms, and they can’t cure you if there is something more sinister going on! 

6 Reasons Why You'll Come Out of Lockdown a New You

Hi lovelies,

While the world has gone into a spin, and many people are suffering, it can be hard to find the positives. Even if you do find the positives and are enjoying lockdown, there is guilt which comes with that. Still, it’s essential that while you are aware of what is going around you and feel compassion for those who are affected, you try and make something good come out of this situation - if you can. It might be that you now have the time to learn how to sew, or that you get to spend more time with your children. Try to think of the positives and make the most of it. Here are a few more ways you could come out of lockdown a new you. 

You’ll be more grateful
With thousands of people suffering all over the world, you can have a look at what you have and how lucky you are to have a place to live, enjoy running fresh water, electricity, and have the technology to stay informed and stay connected. Things could be so much worse right now. 

You’ll think about what you want
Perhaps before lockdown began, you had plans to start a business, get dental implants, or you wanted to move to another country? However, because these things are no longer available to you right now, you have more time to think about what you want and make sure you come out of lockdown sure of your decisions and with even better ideas. 

You’ll know what’s important
If you are like many others, you have probably spent money over the years, consuming things that you don’t need and not thinking about “why”. Because of this world pandemic, it is now very easy to identify what is essential and how material goods don’t always bring happiness long term.

You’ll value your health
Many people have never even heard of the immune system until now, how it fights disease and keeps your body strong and able to enjoy life. Now we know that a killer-virus could come out of nowhere and be a threat to your life - yet if you are healthy and look after yourself you have a better chance at being able to fight and beat it. 

You’ll have appreciated exercising
Suddenly when you’re told you can’t go to the gym or swim in a pool, it makes it seem all that more attractive. Given that you are allowed an hour to exercise a day, you can use this time to do that. You might not have had the time to do this before, but now there is no excuse. Hopefully getting out for an hour a day and enjoying it will get you into good habits for when the lockdown is over. Not only will you appreciate being able to exercise but you will have had time to kickstart your exercise regime and be fitter than ever before. 

You’ll have plenty of sleep
Sometimes all we need to reset ourselves is a decent sleep, and with lockdown, this has given us the chance to do just that. Even if you are still working from home, you have the weekends and if you need to have a good lie in or take a nap, then you can. Don’t feel guilty about it, appreciate the time you have and do what you want with it, even if that is sleep. 

Actions That Promote A Happy Life

Hi lovelies,

Happiness isn't just a fleeting feeling. It's also something that we can promote in our lives. If we take the right actions, that is. Fortunately, such efforts tend to be pretty straightforward. In fact, you can find out about 4 of the most effective happiness promoting actions below. 

Meditate  
The first action that you can do to promote happiness is both simultaneously the most simple and the most challenging. For most people, that is! It's meditation, and there are a whole slew of benefits associated with practising it. Such as better emotion regulation, more self-compassion, and more empathy for others. 

There are many different types of meditation that you can do as well. With one of the most popular being mindfulness. That is the practice of getting quiet and just observing what is happening in the mind. Without judgment or without being carried along by any particular train of thought. Something that practitioners point out allows you much more control over the actions you choose to take. Thus preventing you from being stuck in a situation where you are always responding in a knee-jerk way. 

Then there are movement meditations like Tai Chi and Yoga. Which folks that have trouble sitting still for an extended period can often find more comfortable to do. 

You may even want to lose a practice called transcendental meditation which is centred around a specific personal mantra. With those people regularly practising it, suggesting that it can really help to boost their energy levels and improve their mood. 

Exercise  
Another almost instant way to boost mood is to exercise. In fact, there have been plenty of studies that show vigorous exercise can be as effective as antidepressants for those suffering with mild to moderate depression. 

Of course, sometimes getting off the couch and moving is challenging in itself. Although finding a friendly gym with workout machines and equipment where you are surrounded by others, exercising can certainly help. Then you won't feel so alone on your happiness boosting quest.

Detox your body
Next, if you are looking to be happier, you may want to take a more long term approach. That is one that may cause you a little short term pain for a long term game, namely detoxing your body. 

Now, I'm not suggesting that you need to do anything as extreme as juice fasting here. Instead, cutting down on refined sugar and processed products may be just enough to help bring equilibrium to your physical body. Something that can mean mood swings reduce, and promotes a calm happiness as the dominant state. 

Detox your mind
Finally, it's not only our bodies that can benefit from a detox but our mind as well. Especially in this age of constant online connection. To that end, allowing yourself some time away from stimulating input and your devices each day can be a precious technique for boosting your mood indeed. 

In fact, you may wish to set aside some time in the evening just before you go to bed for this. Then you can wind down from your day, read a book, and nod off into a peaceful sleep. The latter is also essential if you are looking to maximize the feeling of happiness in your life. 

Why Every Wellness Influencer Loves The Anser by Tia Mowry

Hi lovelies,

Self-care and making sure that we’re healthy from the inside out has never been more important then during these times of self-quarantine and self-reflection. That’s why I’m super excited to reap the benefits of Tia Mowry’s new supplement line, The Anser.

Get the Wellness Scoop below!
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Anser Women’s Multivitamins supports whole body health by working to:
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How to Turn Self-Love into Power Couple Goals

Hi lovelies,

Let’s face it, you can’t talk about romantic love without first talking about self-love, and I say this from my own personal experience. I started my journey to self-love and self-discovery after a string of intermittent and non-committal relationships with men that weren’t in a place to be a true partner to me. But from these experiences I was able to glean life lessons that have led me to live a fuller and more joyful life. They also led me into being in a healthy, loving, happy, secure, and grounded relationship with a wonderful man. It is my hope that these insights do the same for you. 

But let’s start from the beginning. Here I was, an accomplished entrepreneur who founded her own media company, a published author with three books under her belt, an international podcast host, a Georgetown Alumnae, and a financially secure woman, that was choosing to date men that were either emotionally unavailable or financially unstable, and oftentimes both. 

The turning point for me was when the guy that I was dating at the time called me ‘selfish and self-centered’ because I was proud of my accomplishments and was sharing my future professional goals with him. Mind you, he didn’t have a steady job, his own car, or his own place to stay, but yet he had the audacity to belittle and dismiss me for my career achievements. It was gaslighting at its finest. 

Something in me snapped and I decided at that point that I had enough of not being loved, valued, appreciated, and respected in my relationships. I decided that I was done with being emotionally abused. I knew that I had to do things differently in order to find the love that I truly deserved. 

So this time around, instead of looking at the men and shaking my finger at everything that was wrong with them, I took that same finger and pointed at myself to see why I was choosing men that were like them. I had to get brutally honest with myself and look inward instead of placing the blame outward. 

I had to look in the mirror and ask, “What do I need to work on and heal within myself in order to attract a man that not only truly loves me, but was also truly worthy of my love?” The truth was, I didn’t know. So I set out on a personal journey of self-discovery to find out and below are the key steps that I took on my road to self-love.

5 Steps to Self-Love and Power Couple Goals

#1. I went to therapy
Although I love my friends and family, I knew that I needed an objective and professional person in my life that could guide me in my journey to self-love and self-discovery. I found a therapist that I trusted and started going weekly to unpack not only my current state-of-being, but also my childhood and past experiences that shaped the way I see and move within the world. 

I had to tap into my own subconscious beliefs and patterns that were dictating my life choices and that were ultimately sabotaging my love life. It wasn’t always easy or pretty. In fact, it was painful, hard, and challenging to really dig deep into myself and my past to see what was driving me on the soul-level. 

I can’t promise you that there won’t be times when you want to quit, but I can promise you it will be worth it because on the other side of the grit and the fear, is true freedom. The freedom to love yourself for exactly who you are and the freedom to make conscious choices about what you do and do not tolerate in your life because you know and believe that you are enough. 

Power Couple Goal: Seek support and counseling before you need it and when you need it. Going to therapy when things are in a good place is a great way to strengthen your relationship so you have the tools to deal with fights, arguments, disagreements, and problems in a healthy way rather than having things escalate to a negative space and then trying to go back and pick-up the pieces. 

But with that being said, it’s never too late to seek support. So if things aren’t in a healthy place in your relationship, there is no shame in going to couples counseling to get an outside and professional opinion on how to heal and grow your relationship. 

#2: I committed to the process
I took a step back from dating and chose to focus on myself in order to fully commit to the process of working on me. To do this, I had to work on my own self-awareness and fully commit to looking at myself in a realistic and authentic way. The key to seeing my own limitations, my own areas of improvement, my own weaknesses, and my own short-comings, in a way that was healing and not condemning, was to simultaneously hold space for self-love, self-compassion, and self-understanding without judgment.

I would speak to myself in a kind and loving way. I would cut myself some slack and not judge myself. I had to learn how to fully embrace and radically accept all of me and allow myself the grace to make mistakes, to be a work-in-progress, and to not have to be perfect. Being both the shadow and light didn’t mean that I wasn’t worthy of love. It didn’t mean that I was broken, damaged, or flawed. It didn’t mean that I was lacking. It didn’t mean that I wasn’t enough. It simply meant that I was human. 

Power Couple Goal: Commit to each other and commit to the relationship through both thick and thin. Shift your perspective from, “Are we going to get through this?” to “How are we going to get through this?” When you really commit to making the relationship work, your mindset needs to change to knowing that things aren’t going to be perfect and roses all of the time, but that doesn’t mean that your relationship isn’t strong enough to weather the storm. There will be inevitable down and hard times but your equal commitment to being a team and facing any and all obstacles together will sustain your relationship during the tough times.

Also, hold the space for love, compassion, and understanding for your partner. Nobody’s perfect and we all fall short, make mistakes, and have things that we need to work on. Speak to your partner in a kind and loving way and ask the same from your partner. Committing to your relationship is the fundamental decision that will make your relationship stronger after the hard times. 

#3: I took ownership 
I previously mentioned that I took that finger of blame and pointed it at myself, but I want to be clear that it’s not about blaming anyone or about who’s wrong or right, it’s about taking back your power by being accountable and responsible for your own life. As long as I was blaming the ‘no good’ men in my life, I had no power to allow real love into my life because it meant that someone outside of myself was responsible for my happiness and ultimately, my self-worth. 

The moment I took ownership for the choices that I chose to make and what was going on in my life, I felt empowered. I felt in control and left any feeling of victim-hood behind. I forgave myself for any past choices that I made that didn’t serve my highest good. I did the best I could for where I was at in that particular moment and what I needed was self-compassion not self-condemnation. Taking ownership for who you are is the single most powerful thing you can do for your life. It frees you to choose differently and to truly get what you want and deserve in this world. 

Power Couple Goal:
Take ownership for your 50% in the relationship. When things are going well, acknowledge and appreciate yourself for showing up fully and in a positive way for yourself and your partner. Also, acknowledge and appreciate your partner during the good times. Let them know how much you love them when things are going well and not just when you’re trying to get them back on your side after a fight or disagreement. Cultivate your relationship during the good times to build a stronger foundation for the long-term.  

Additionally, take ownership for your part when things aren’t going well. It takes two to tango, so taking responsibility for your part when things are tough is equally as important as holding your partner accountable for their role as well. Admitting your part is a powerful way to gain trust and security with your partner because they know that gives them permission to do the same. They can be honest about their own short-comings without the fear of abandonment because you’re being strong enough to be honest about yours. 

#4: I dated myself 
I’ve been single throughout my life, but just because I was single, that didn’t mean that I was honoring being with myself. I had to choose to date myself in an authentic way in order to discover who I was at my core. I had to discover what my likes were, what my dislikes were, what my needs were, what my wants were, what my passions were, what my pet peeves were, and what my desires were. I basically had to start from scratch and really get to know myself. 

I had to get in tune with my body, mind, spirit, and intuition in order to know myself fully. It was from this place of knowingness that I was able to give myself permission to fully love, accept, and see myself for all that I am. It was through this process that I finally understood unconditional love. It allowed me to love myself intrinsically, for just being who I am, that was enough.  

Power Couple Goal:
Never stop dating each other. Never stop striving to know each other at deeper and more meaningful levels. Carve out time during the week to spend time together and to go out on dates. Keep the romantic spark alive by checking in with your partner to make sure that their needs are being met and be vocal about what you need to feel loved and desired too. Don’t allow yourself or your partner to get complacent in the relationship. Commit to each other to make putting in the effort to keep the relationship fresh, exciting, and new. 

Just like the journey to self-discovery is lifelong and on-going, the same goes for your relationship. The beauty of a healthy relationship is that everyday you get to discover new things about your partner to love and you get to reveal new things about yourself for your partner to love. 

#5: I implemented a self-care routine 
On my journey to self-love and self-discovery, the biggest lifestyle change I had to make was to have a tangible self-care routine in place. I had to learn how to self-soothe during emotionally difficult times and how to create a lifestyle of honoring the unique space that I take up in the world in order to create a life of peace, love, and acceptance. I started meditating, journaling, taking walks in nature, listening to positive podcasts, seeking support from friends and family, and learning how to not take things personally. 

This also meant creating healthy boundaries with friends, family, and co-workers. It meant taking time just for myself and doing what I needed to do to be healthy and whole. It meant not being afraid of having standards and communicating my wants and needs with others. It meant having my ‘no’ be a ‘no’ and my ‘yes’ by a ‘yes.’ It meant working on healthy and effective communication skills. It meant surrendering to a lifelong process of choosing to fall in love with myself everyday and to make my own well-being my first and best priority. 

Power Couple Goal: 
Have a self-care routine in place for your relationship. This means creating the space to have healthy and constructive conversations with each other instead of fighting to be right, asking for space and time instead of ignoring and ghosting each other, doing fun activities together that bring you closer, and making the time to do things without each other so you’re still cultivating yourself as a healthy and fulfilled individual.

Adult Bullies Do Exist: Here’s How Not to Be One

Hi lovelies,

It was your typical Tuesday in the life of an influencer. I was sitting at a fancy blogger brunch, surrounded by the familiar faces of my writer, editor, and blogger friends and acquaintances. As we pushed around the food on our plates and sipped on Rosé, I noticed the mumblings of a conversation between, Nina* and Jane*. 

Nina, “Yeah, the Kardashian’s made curves cool, but that trend is so over.” She then turns, laughs, points to me and says, “Haha, I mean, Candy has the biggest ass here!” My mouth went dry when the meaning of what she said had sunk in. Was she making fun of my body? Was she low-key calling me fat? Was she trying to make the others girl laugh at my expense? Was she exerting her position as the Alpha at the table? Is this was body-shaming felt like? It was clear that the answer was, ‘Yes to all of the above.’

I suppose she had expected the rest of the table to erupt into laughter with her, but when her mean-spirited dig was met with silence, she responded, “Oh, I mean, I wish my butt was bigger!” This back-handed follow-up comment really solidified her mean girl status. 

My friend Eva* looked at me and mouthed, “Are you okay?” I nodded that I was but that was a lie. Even though the other girls didn’t join in on making fun of my shape, I felt a hot wave of shame wash all over my body. I bit my lower lip in an effort to stifle the tears that were threatening to break free from my eyes. 

Here I was, an accomplished content creator surrounded by my industry peers at a professional event being reduced to feeling like a 12 year old girl in the cafeteria lunchroom that no one wanted to sit with. Weren’t we as adults, and especially as women, supposed to be evolved enough to not take pleasure in inflicting emotional and physical pain on others? Weren’t we supposed to know that bringing someone else down doesn’t bring ourselves up? Apparently not. 

When I got back home after the brunch, I started to think about the roots of adult bullying and what was causing another accomplished woman to feel the need to belittle another accomplished woman in the presence of others. But more importantly, I thought of tangible ways to ensure that I never became like her. That I never projected my own pain, hurt, and insecurities onto other people as a way to temporarily elevate my own feeling of being less than. After all, ‘hurt people, hurt people.’ 

So in an effort to repurpose the pain, shame, and embarrassment that I felt that day, I’ve pulled together a few key insights on how not to become an adult bully. 

Identify your own triggers and get some perspective

Getting clear on who you are and what makes you tick is imperative to harnessing your true strength and inner peace. When you’re able to be self-aware enough to know what areas in your life you still need to heal, then you’re able to identify when those triggers are being activated and address them with grace, love, and compassion, rather than lashing out at the nearest target. 

Usually people bully other people because something about that person or experience triggers a pre-existing insecurity or wound within that person. Until we are able to heal our own wounds, we’ll keep wounding others. Actively working on your own self-awareness can be scary, tough, and at-times exhausting, but healing your wounds and taking back your power to choose differently when triggered is the work that we must do in order to become whole, healed, and healthy human beings. 

Key Exercise: Mindfully notice when you feel shame, embarrassment, anger, resentment, and any negative feelings. Then journal about what was said, what happened, and what memories were brought up from past trauma that triggered those same emotions. Getting clear on the correlations between past trauma and present triggers will help you mature and grow emotionally. This way, you’re able to check yourself and moderate yourself, rather than project your own pain onto others.

Practice gratitude 

I know, I know. Gratitude has been a wellness buzzword for the past few years, but there’s a reason for that. When you are full of gratitude for what you have and for what is on its way to you, you cannot simultaneously hold space for jealousy, envy, or feeling less than, which is another root cause of bullying. 

We tend to want to tear other people down because we feel that there isn’t enough love, praise, money, attention, friendship, or whatever, to go around, so we want to make sure that we get it which means someone else has to go without. The feeling of scarcity or the feeling of being less than is a root cause of this faulty mentality which leads to the destructive behavior that manifests itself as bullying.

Getting clear on the fact that who you are is enough, that you have intrinsic value and meaning, is the first step to healing the faulty mentality that you have to compete with others for love, attention, affection, friendship, and success. It’s the first step to focusing on our own life in a healthy way so that you no longer feel the need to bring others down in a false attempt to elevate your own ego.

Key Exercise: Forget about having ‘an attitude of gratitude’ actually practice and implement a lifestyle of gratitude into your daily routine. This means going beyond keeping a gratitude journal, but to changing the way you think, speak, and act both to yourself and others through the lens of gratitude. 

See below for a few tangible examples:

Old way: “I’m sorry I was late, I’m always running behind.”

Gratitude way: “Thank you for waiting for me.”

Old way: “I never have enough time to stop and fully take in what’s going on around me.”

Gratitude way: “I always have enough time. I’m thankful for all of the abundance around me, from the trees, the birds, the sun, and everything else in -between.”

Old way: “There’s only room for one person like me in my workplace/friendship group/etc.”

Gratitude way: “I’m thankful for surrounding myself with people who accept and include me as I am and I love doing the same for others.”

Old way: “Nothing ever works out for me. I have such terrible luck.”

Gratitude way: “Everything is always working out for me. All that comes to pass is for my greatest good. I consciously create my own luck.” 

Old way: “Who does she think she is? I’ll show her!”

Gratitude way: “I love seeing other women own their power in a clear and confident way. I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from her and do the same.”

It is my sincere hope that you found value in my story and in my insights. If so, please comment and share. 

*Names changed to protect both the innocent and the guilty. 

Want To Feel Good? Try This (Especially Number 3)!

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Hi lovelies,

It’s not always easy to feel fantastic. A lot of the time, you will find yourself somewhere in the middle of excitement and sadness. And that’s okay. Coasting along is very much a normal part of life. But it doesn’t always make you happy. Happiness is something that all of us deserve. After all, it feels good to feel good. Yet, it’s not something that you can often just conjure up. Instead, you may find that you need to work on the things that are going to make you feel good. And no, this doesn’t have to be a huge effort. Something as simple as having a good hair day or getting a compliment can work. So let’s take a look at the things that can feel good.

Focus On Gratitude
To start with, one of the best ever ways for you to feel good is to be grateful. When you focus on the things that you’re grateful for, and you channel energy into the things that are great in your life, you feel great. It’s something so small, but it works. So sit down every morning and write out what you’re grateful for. It will always help you to start the day off in a great mood.

Exercise Regularly
Now, it may sound a tad boring and a bit cliché, but exercise is important. When you exercise regularly, you feel good. It’s science. If you know that you want to beat the blues and have more energy, a daily walk, run, or a regular workout plan can work wonders for how you feel.

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Pamper Yourself
This one can seem so simple and maybe even a little frivolous, but it really works. Pampering yourself always makes you feel good. Whether you run a bath or you choose to treat yourself to a spa treatment a little self care goes a long way. Plus, when you’re working on your appearance and aiming to look good, it can help you to feel fabulous as well. So it’s never a bad thing to have a pamper session.

Make Plans
From here, you’ll also find that it really helps if you can make plans for the future. Now, this doesn’t have to be big dreams that you won’t always be able to achieve immediately. Sometimes, short-term plans are much better. When it comes to feeling good, knowing that you have a trip planned for next year or a project to look forward to in a few months, it helps.

Do Something You’re Passionate About
Finally, if you know that you really do want to feel good, then you need to focus on the things that you love. Everyone has a passion. And if you don’t think you do, then it’s likely that you’ve just not found it yet. However, when you aim to find your passion, you have something good to focus on. Whether it’s art or tennis or traveling or writing, when you know what makes you happy in life, you can spend more time doing it. And that always gets great results.

How to Keep your Body in Tip Top Health This Year

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Hi lovelies,

New Year's resolutions always tend to be health related, and this is something you should be proud about! Keeping up with your health is something that will benefit you greatly in the long run, and something often forgotten in the hustle and bustle of day to day life. But how can you better your health from today? Well, don’t worry this article should give you some great ideas!

Diet and Healthy Eating is Essential
A key element to health and wellbeing is your diet. With some people, a regimented diet with a premade meal plan and nutritional values is the best way to adjust your diet quickly. This is not the only way you can diet, maybe you just want to remove the snacks from your life. The food on the go. Studies have shown that regimented times of eating, having the three main meals of the day at the same time every day really helps with weight loss. Combine that with removing the on the move food and snacks in between, and replacing them with nuts, fruit, and salad, will make you into a health and diet ninja! 

Exercise, but your own pace
Everyone has their ‘top routine’ or ‘best routine’ that is bound to work every time. Well, this is not the case for everyone. A highly regimented exercise routine may not suit a working mother or a mother in the first place who needs to care for the children. It may not take into account personal conditions or situations which do not affect the person recommending the routine. Why not try a gym? It can be scary, what if you Slip and Fall and make a scene of yourself, or comparing yourself to the gym buffs? Forget those things. You are achieving something great just by being at the gym if that is something you want to do, so celebrate it!

Engage in some Yoga, help relax the body
Yoga is a great way to get your body toned, exercised, but also relaxed. From the outside, it may just look like some crazy and odd looking body movements. Pair that with some zen music and a calmly spoken instructor at the front giving the guidance. It is actually a lot more than that. You would be surprised how much yoga can help your body. It can stretch and make you more subtle. It will tone your muscles and also the atmosphere will make you and keep you relaxed, which is great for your mindfulness and mental wellbeing as well as your body!

Visit a Chiropractor to Improve your Posture
Talking of bodies, something often forgotten is our posture. If you do a job that requires a lot of sitting and working, this can do all sorts of bad things to our posture. Posture also impacts other areas in life, and gives headaches, and just overall body stiffness and aches. Visiting a chiropractor can do multiple things. One of them is to adjust the body back into a healthy posture, but also help you find ways to adjust your daily like to keep that posture up.

So, that's it for this article, but keep these points in mind and you will be sure to see change! Good luck!

5 Ways to Improve Your Sleep Hygiene

Hi lovelies,

Did you get your beauty sleep last night? You can’t expect to be one of my lovelies without it, now, can you? Although this makes for a nice sentiment, what exactly is the message in the phrase, “beauty sleep”?

Why Do We Sleep?
We—that is, people—have evolved on a planet that has night and day. Our world’s spinning around has made us what we are—taking care of business during the day and resting and recuperating at night. Back in the caveman days, the sun came up, men hunted and gathered, women reared the young, everyone ate what was hunted and gathered, and then the sun went down and everyone went to bed. Every day.

Long having left our caves, today there is night life, homework, television and other media, and romance rituals that have delayed going to bed long after supper. And that’s O.K., but only up to a point.

The human brain needs sleep, and while most see this time as just recharging their batteries, sleep keeps our brains just as busy as they are during the daytime. Sleep is the time in which important short-term memories are consolidated into our long-term memory, which allows us to navigate our future actions. Sleep allows time for the debris of daytime brain activity to be cleared. Simply put, without sleep we don’t learn and then we die.

What Is Sleep Hygiene?
“Sleep hygiene” refers to a healthy routine of sleeping as an integral part of our day. Most sleep specialists (yes, there are such a thing!) feel that 7-9 hours of sleep each night are essential to feel and act one’s best during daytime hours. Sleep, however, is more than just conking out for those hours, but a complicated series of rapid eye movement (REM) phases and non-REM phases. These phases make up the anatomy of your good night’s sleep. Anything that interrupts this orderly process will cause your sleep hygiene to suffer…and there goes your beauty sleep!

How Should You Fix Bad Sleep Hygiene?
No matter how it happens—drinking alcohol, using stimulants, caffeine, or just nightlife and partying—at some point bad sleep hygiene happens to everyone, and you pay for it during the day. This is when it is tempting to take a sleeping pill, such as Ambien, prescribed by a doctor. But this is a temporary fix, designed to re-establish a routine with the ultimate goal being to do that routine without medication. Taking sleeping pills, without the goal of good sleep hygiene without them, is a bad plan. It is abusing sleeping pills, and it is cheating! And it is no different from any type of substance abuse.

So How Do You Do It Without Cheating?

Here are five ways:

1. Enforce your circadian rhythm. Go back to the caveman days. Be busy during your day, and after supper retire to bed at the same time every night (whether sleepy or not) to get your 7-9 hours (your own mileage may vary!).

2. Get up at the same time every day, even if you’re sleepy. This, of course, depends on step 1, above. Getting up may be a drag at first, but you will get used to it. It’s in your genes.

3. Avoid caffeinated beverages after midday—that includes coffee, colas, and energy drinks.

4. Avoid alcoholic beverages beyond what your body can naturally “detoxify,” which is usually one drink every few hours.

5. Sleep with someone you love—the payoff goes way beyond the sleep, nurturing all of the right neurotransmitters in your brain. (Even sleeping with your pet can do it.) We are loving creatures, and love’s chemistry continues during sleep, giving you the same “feel good” neurohormones, but without the addiction.

The Keys To Our Frame Of Mind: Learning To Relax In A Way That Suits Us

Hi lovelies,

Part of living a great life is understanding what you can do to calm down. We live such a stressful existence that learning to relax can be an incredibly difficult practice. So this means that, partly, we have got to go for the simple things, but also realize what is good for us. How can we learn to relax in such a stressful world?

Indulging In Yourself
Sometimes we deprive ourselves of the things that we need that we've got to find those practices that seem incredibly self-indulgent. Whether you are partial to a glass bong and a few tokes or you just want to go and spend an afternoon splurging on your favorite items of clothes, learning to indulge yourself can help you to feel good about yourself which will help you to relax. It's not a bad thing!

Putting A Structure In Place
Part of the reason we feel anxious in life is that we don't have any routine. You may be someone that works 10 to 12 hours a day so you don't have the opportunity to build in any time to relax. If you start to put a structure in place where you focus on relaxing as part of your daily routine this becomes a habit you crave. As soon as you start to structure these things you can find a balance. If you work too much, finding time to relax can give you that all-important sense of perspective. The structure is crucial, especially as we are human beings and we need structure to give us meaning to life.

The Right Relaxation Strategies
Everybody has their own ways to calm down. And if you don't have much of an opportunity to relax it can take some time to find the right thing for you. Some people require time to themselves whereas others need to do something like progressive muscle relaxation. Once you start to find the right strategies that can calm you down you begin to realize what your body and brain need to relax. Everybody has their own approaches to relaxation. Some people find that playing video games is quite a meditative practice, others needs actually barricade themselves away from the world and do deep breathing to calm their nervous system down. It's not just about finding the strategies to calm you down symptomatically but if there are long-standing problems you need to learn how to isolate these and deal with them. A lot of the reasons we get stressed is that there are problems we haven't actually addressed in life. As soon as we start to realize how we cope with specific things this helps us to get the keys to our frame of mind.

Everybody has their own attitudes to relaxation. Sometimes we need to indulge in ourselves so we can prioritize our needs, whereas others need a proper structure. Whatever it is that you require you must remember the learning to relax isn't about being horizontal; it is about giving your mind and body a sense of balance. We can operate with such a deficit that illness soon follows. Look to prioritize yourself and relax.

What To Do When You’re Not Sleeping Well

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Hi lovelies,

Sleep is something we all need, and we can all spot that difference when we lack sleep. It’s important that we try to look after ourselves and improve our quality of self-care. Sleep falls into this category of self-care, and if you’re not sleeping well, then it can impact your health in many ways. Here’s what to do when you’re not sleeping well.

Black Out Your Room
Your surroundings are good to consider when you’re struggling to sleep. Sometimes the light in the room can affect the quality of rest you get, and it might be that it’s too bright. Street lights outside a window or just the general light that shines in from the night sky can make falling asleep more difficult. Try to black out the room if you think this is something that’s impacting your sleeping pattern. You can do this by simply getting an eye mask to wear over your eyes to block out the light. If you don’t like wearing an eye mask, then you can always consider getting blackout blinds or curtains that will help do the same thing. It’s whatever works better for you and will be more effective. It’s worth trying both to see which one suits you better.

Try Listening To Music
Music can be a great way to unwind sometimes, and when you have the right song, it can impact your emotions in a variety of ways. Depending on how you’re feeling, it can change your mood with just one song, and so it might be a good idea to incorporate music into your bedtime routine. When you’re trying to sleep, you want to have gentle, relaxing music. Think spa music or that soft elevator music you find in most hotels. Use these before you go to bed to relax and to help you fall asleep.

Take Alternative Supplements Or Medication
Alternative medication and supplements might be something worth thinking about if you’re really having trouble sleeping. Caution should be taken when you’re using sleeping pills and making sure you don’t use too many, too often. There are also plenty of alternatives to think about, like CBD. The best CBD gummies have been known to be effective in relaxing and helping people with insomnia and sleeping problems. Try different things to see which ones work and which ones don’t.

Ban Electronics Before Bed
Electronics are bad for your eyes and for your brain when you’re about to go to bed. Make it a rule that if you’ve currently got electronics in the bedroom, to take them out when you go to sleep. Either that or you simply don’t touch them and use something alternative to entertain you before bed, like reading a book that’s not from a screen. You want to avoid these blue lights as much as possible.

When you’re not sleeping well, it’s important to focus on what seems to be the issues and finding ways to fix it. Use these tips to help with your issues and hopefully find a solution.

What To Do When The Creative Mind Runs Out Of Juice

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Hi lovelies,

Whether you make a living from your creative endeavours or they’re simply the pursuits that lend meaning to your spare time, the unmitigated frustration of creative block is all too common to all too many. And in this digitally interconnected modern age, where distraction is ever present and the mind seldom has the chance to stop and breathe, it’s become increasingly common to feel mentally exhausted and creatively frustrated by the time you put pen to paper, brush to canvas or toe to stage.  

This feeling can go beyond mee frustration, however. It can lead you to feel that your wonderful talent has abandoned you and that you are no longer at home in the creative arts. That is, of course, nonsense. Your talent isn’t dead, just dormant. Your mind is like an engine that’s run out of juice. Here’s how you get it started again…

Don’t give in to frustration
First of all, frustration can do ugly things to us. It can cause us to be envious and resentful of other creatives. It can make us quick to anger and cause us to lash out at those closest to us. Follow the example of those who work hard to promote Peace and Tolerance. Don’t bury your frustration. That never works. Take the time to understand it and the factors behind it. The more we suppress things the bigger and more insurmountable they seem. If we dissect them by, say, making a list of things that are bothering us or are keeping us from concentrating, they seem much smaller and more manageable.

Stop what you’re doing and take a step back
Creative block only intensifies when we spend hours staring at a blank page or screen hoping that something will happen to ease our creative frustration. Stop what you’re doing. Take a step away. No, don’t instinctively reach for your smartphone. Instead, play some music and really take the time to listen to it. See if you can push yourself into some yoga poses or do some mindfulness meditation. At the very least, perhaps do the dishes or some housework. Something to give your overtaxed mind a rest. You may be surprised at how therapeutic it is. 

Connect with something that inspires you
Before you can create art, you need to be able to consume it. Connecting with the art that inspires you can be a great way to break down the barriers of creative problem solving and get the creative juices flowing again. It doesn’t even need to be directly related to your field. It just needs to be something that inspires you. Whether it’s listening to a brief concerto, watching some hilarious standup, looking at a painting or reading a few pages of a favorite book. There are no wrong answers here.

Take a walk
If all else fails, take a walk. You need to get yourself out of that environment or your frustration will only intensify. A brisk walk, preferably somewhere with trees, plants, flowers, birds and animals can help to elevate your mood and engage your mind, flooding the brain with endorphins, reducing stress hormone levels and helping you to feel much better about yourself when you return to your canvas. 

Don't Let Death Rob You Of Yourself

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Hi lovelies,

They were gone too soon! 

They still had so much to live for! 

I miss them! 

Death is a thief that takes away the people we love. Unfortunately, despite scientific innovations, we haven’t yet found a way to cheat death. We are, therefore, left with no other option than to watch the people we love go. The hardest thing you’ll have to do in life is to stay alive when someone else dies. When you lose someone, you discover an emptiness nothing can fill. But, you can’t afford to let the void take over your life. Grief is a pain you can’t numb, but it doesn’t mean it is a pain that should rule your life. Like all things, grief also passes. You can’t let it take you in the process. While death robs you of the people you love, it doesn’t have to rob you of yourself. 

Grief is a process that happens no matter what you do
Grief isn’t like a math equation you can solve in a few minutes and put away. It is a long and demanding process that happens, regardless of whether you’re working at it or not. Your mind will naturally move through the different steps of grieving if you can relax. Therefore, if you are facing emotional difficulties, you should always come back to yourself and reduce your stress levels. If you are familiar with yoga and meditation, you’d be pleased to know that medication has a healing quality to the soul. While it doesn’t erase the pain, it can help you to accept it. 

You feel alone, but maybe you’re not as alone as you think
Grieving doesn’t have to be a lonely process. While you have to go through your emotional journey, it doesn’t mean you can’t surround yourself with people who can help you with it. The most challenging thing is to understand what happens when someone dies suddenly. Understanding the reason for your loss can help you to cope with the situation. You might even discover that a human error robbed your loved one from you. As painful as it is, you are not on your own. You can reach out to wrongful death attorneys who are tough and talented and can put things right for you. Of course, nothing can replace the people you’ve lost. But it can help you to accept it. 

You can’t carry on in the same way
Death doesn’t only take the people you love away. It also destroys the plans you had with them. Unfortunately, death is not the only event that can change everything. Life does too. The dreams you had a few months ago might have evolved or disappeared by now, simply because life is taking you in a new direction. Grief is a similar process, even if it is more painful. But you have to break out of it and figure out what your new plan in life is. What do you want to do with your life now? Take the time to listen to yourself and reconnect with your inner voice. 

You can’t stop death from robbing you of the people you love. But you can stop it from killing you inside when there’s still so much to live for. Dealing with loss is hard. It is one of the hardest things you’ll have to do. But it should never be something that defines you. Grief happens. But it isn’t who you are. 

6 Tips for Finding the Energy to Live the Life of Your Dreams

Hi lovelies,

Deep down, we all have some idea of just what our “dream life” would look like, if we could just click our fingers and have whatever we wanted materialise front of us at once.

For some people, a dream life would mean a large house in the countryside, regular nature walks, and less involvement in the everyday rat race that seems to take up so much of the attention of society at large.

For other people, a dream life would be more or less the opposite; a life spent living in a penthouse apartment in the city, with a high-powered and energetic career, and all sorts of active nightlife activities to participate in.

One thing is for sure, though: getting the life of your dreams will always inevitably require insight, planning, goal setting, and work. In other words, getting the life of your dreams requires you to have, and expend, a good deal of energy.

Although we don’t often think about it that way, our own personal energy stores are among our most valuable resources. For someone who is chronically fatigued, exhausted, and overworked, the possibilities for exploring any ambitious goals rapidly diminish, and life becomes just a day-to-day cycle of keeping things ticking along as they are.

While chronic fatigue isn’t something that affects everyone, just about all of us could benefit from having some ways of increasing our energy levels, in the pursuit of our dream lives.

Here are a few tips for finding the energy to live the life of your dreams.

Make sure that you address any nutrient deficiencies you may be experiencing
Perhaps the first cause of major fatigue and loss of energy, is nutrient deficiencies.

In developed countries, in this day and age, it might seem strange to talk about nutrient deficiencies. After all, food is everywhere, most people aren’t starving, and on the contrary, obesity is a major and growing epidemic.

There’s a difference, though, between getting plenty of calories in, and getting all the right vitamins and minerals. In fact, deficiencies in things such as vitamin D, and magnesium, are extremely common, with some estimates suggesting that the majority of people are actually deficient in these, and other, nutrients.

The thing is, nutritional deficiencies can ruin your health, your well-being, and your energy levels to an extreme degree – and what’s more, you may not know, for years, that you actually have those deficiencies at all.

Dr Rhonda Patrick is a strong advocate for taking vitamin and mineral supplements, regardless of what your diet looks like. Doing this, in addition to eating balanced meals, might give you a major boost to your energy that you didn’t even know was possible.

Remove yourself from painful situations, and take proactive steps to alleviate chronic pain
It follows reason that, if you are dealing with chronic pain, your energy levels will tend to be dramatically lower.

Ongoing pain takes a serious toll on the body and the mind. It saps motivation, makes optimism and positivity very difficult, and also ensures that stress hormone levels are chronically elevated and that the body’s normal processes – including digestion and immune function – are unable to operate in the way they should.

Sometimes, dealing with chronic pain will mean using dry herb vaporizers and an appropriate range of supplements. At other times, it will mean undergoing a medical procedure that you’ve been putting off. Sometimes, it will mean simply removing yourself from a harmful situation, or from a set of self-destructive habits that you have fallen into.

The better able you are to remove yourself from painful situations, and to take proactive steps to alleviate chronic pain, the likelier you will be to experience a significant boost your energy levels.

Start giving sleep the respect it deserves
For one reason or another, it’s quite common for people to treat sleep as some kind of luxury that they can safely make do without when it comes to finding more time for work, or even just for evening entertainment.

Sleep, though, is actually anything but a luxury. It’s a vital necessity that your body needs in order to function properly.

Going without sleep for long enough will kill you. Meanwhile, chronic sleep deprivation – even just  in terms of getting a couple of hours less per night than you need – will ruin your health in all sorts of ways, including disrupting your blood sugar regulation, creating a chronic stress response in the body, reducing mental function, increasing the likelihood of cancers, weakening the immune system, and more.

If you want more energy in your life, it might be that what you really need to do is to start getting more sleep every night.

If getting out of bed every morning is a struggle, that’s a sign that you aren’t getting the restful sleep that you need, in the amounts that you need.

Tidy up and organise your home, and pay proper attention to your personal presentation
It’s just difficult to feel energetic and motivated to do much of anything, if your home is totally topsy-turvy, cluttered, and generally disorganised.

A messy home environment always contributes to feelings of apathy. You know that you have a lot of different chores to get done around the home, but the messier everything gets, the more reluctant you are to actually set things in order.

Among other things, this can leave a lot of your emotional and psychological energy tied up in the state of your home, and can make it difficult to even justifying doing much of anything else. “Why should I start spending time and energy on that project, if I haven’t even tidied up the house yet?”

In a similar way, the state of your personal presentation can significantly influence how you feel, and how energetic you are likely to be.

To put it simply; when you dress in a way that makes you feel good about yourself, you will just be much more likely to actually feel like getting things done, in general.

Give yourself a good reason to get out of bed each morning – set yourself goals that genuinely motivate you
Energy isn’t all physical – a good deal of it is also psychological, and is connected to your mindset about certain things.

As you can probably imagine, there aren’t very many people out there who are “energetic” about getting out of bed each morning, when they know that they will have to do all kinds of things that day that they absolutely hate.

On the other hand, people who are genuinely looking forward to what the day holds, are usually a good deal more energetic. Just think about kids on Christmas morning.

To give yourself a good reason to get out of bed each morning, set yourself goals that genuinely motivate you. Even if the day will contain unpleasant chores, you’re sure to feel a lot more driven if you know you’re working toward something meaningful.

Reward yourself for positive and productive acts
If you constantly try to bully yourself into doing things that you really don’t want to do, then, sooner or later, it stands to reason that your energy levels are going to falter pretty significantly.

Instead of doing that, try to motivate yourself to get things done, by rewarding yourself for positive and productive acts.

Next time you have a big project to get through, don’t just rely on sheer willpower and grit to get you through. Instead, motivate yourself by deciding that you will have a nice meal, or go out with friends, when it’s done.

Three Ways The Modern Age Is Making Us Ill

Hi lovelies,

Living in the modern age is - in so many ways - a vast improvement on the past. We’ve got more information at our fingertips, it’s easier to travel, and we as people are more free than ever to live the lives we want. It would be churlish, surely, to complain about being born into this digital age. Wouldn’t it?

Well, yes and no. While we certainly have advantages in the present that people in the past would have loved to have, nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and living in the modern age has its drawbacks. For all that we have the conveniences of a 2020 lifestyle, we also have all the unintended consequences of so many years of progress. In a number of surprising ways, living in the modern era might even be making you ill. Surprised to hear it? Well, read on and you’ll see…

We can’t switch off like we used to
It will come as little or no surprise that mental illness is one way in which the modern age threatens our health. Chief among the problems engendered by living in 2020, is the fact that we are expected to be “on” all the time. If you have a job and a cell phone, then there is a real chance that you’re linked to your job 24/7 - with some employers expecting you to monitor, read and reply to emails even when you’ve “finished” for the day. This leads to extreme stress. Imagine for a moment you were never allowed to leave the office - now ask yourself if this “always on” lifestyle is really that much different?

The modern world is shiny and loud
Okay, so the terminology in the heading may be unscientific - but it’s true. As urban sprawl grows, it is becoming harder and harder to find somewhere to live away from bright lights and noise. The more light you’re seeing, the harder it is to wind down, and even when you do fall asleep you’re not getting the quality of shuteye that you need. Additionally, signs are that people living in cities are more prone to hearing loss, needing to seek out solutions from https://www.listenlively.com/ and similar thanks to constant loud noise. The bright, shiny modern world has been shown to impact health concerns like blood pressure and even cognitive performance.

We’ve become too reliant on some forms of medicine
Modern medicine is a wonder. There are treatments that can bring people back from Stage 4 cancer to being free of the illness, while a condition such as HIV, which was once considered an existential threat to mankind, is now largely manageable. This is good news, and most medical advances are along these lines - by and large, we have more to thank modern treatments for than we have to curse.

However, as noted at usatoday.com, the existence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is something that we need to reckon with. Patients have, for too long, been too willing to ask for antibiotics for simple viruses that they won’t even cure - and doctors too willing to prescribe them thanks to time pressure and overwork. Antibiotics are only ever going to be effective in treating bacterial infection - and even in cases of such infection, should probably only be prescribed when the issue is more acute. If we use them for any minor concern, all we do is make antibiotics less effective when they’re really needed.

The above are some examples of how, just because we live in the modern age, we’re not somehow luckier than the generations that went before. We have our own issues, and they’re real - but just like with the problems of past generations, we’re working on curing them, too!

Is There A Subject You Wish You Knew More About?

Hi lovelies,

When you leave school, your time for learning isn’t always over. You may find that you actually wish you could learn a lot more after you graduate, like in these three subjects.

Languages
First of all, if you’re someone that has always wanted to learn a language, you may find that this is what you need to start doing. And if you wish you could speak a second one, you have options. You could use one of the apps that are now available, or take a course online. Or you could hire a tutor to help you.

Art
Are you arty? Do you love the idea of learning more about art or starting to become a trained artist? The you may find that you want to go to art school. Now, you can do this in two ways. You may find that you can go to formal art school and get your bachelors or masters degree, or you might even want to consider going to a local school and doing some part-time classes just for fun.

History
Finally, if you’re interested in history, then you’ll be glad to know that there are a range of ways that you can learn a lot more about it. Not only can you read up on different topics and rent books from the library, but you can also look to take a course too. For more information on military history, and specifically information on the cost of different wars, just take a look at the below infographic.

Infographic Design By Norwich University's Military History Program