Making 2017 My Year - Prioritizing Self Care

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Well, guys, it's been a while since I write a post about how I'm taking steps to make this year my year. As I write this, I'm finished college, but waiting to sit my final exam. I've got a new job. I'm making real progress in my professional life. I've booked the trip of a lifetime to visit my best friend over New Years in Japan. Things are exciting, and moving forward at a rate I nearly can't fully comprehend. And it's great, I'm thrilled. But I'm also run down.

With that in mind, I'm going to jot down a few little tips for self care, to help to boost you up when you're feeling run down and tired.

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Take Care Of Your Insides

Looking after your physical self goes hand in hand with your mental health. I've started taking a multivitamin, and it's nice to know I'm making an active, albeit small, investment into my health, whether that's a placebo effect or not. I feel less sluggish. It's an easy way to keep your energy levels going and ward off any little sicknesses that are doing the rounds. A little boost can help a lot.

Go for walks, runs, to the gym, whatever you like. I like to walk when I can, and usually I will use the time to reflect and think. It's good to clear your head with a little jaunt into the world.

Show Yourself Some Self Love 

This is different for everyone, but you should always take time for yourself, at least once per week to just switch off, and do something that you feel will serve you, and only you. Pamper nights are something I try to do even if it's only just to put on a face pack after I take off my makeup. Some of my favorites are the Montage Jeunesse ones that you can get almost anywhere. Cook yourself a nice meal, put on a DVD, and relax while you paint your nails or something of that nature. It's worth investing in yourself, to remind yourself that (even if its only one evening per week) feeling relaxed and taken care of is more important than that email (which can wait, girl, trust me!), or that call.

Self care can be anything you want, by the way, from a pamper night in to a pint with a friend or whatever you like to do. If you want to do the ironing as a self care activity, that's up to you.

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Make Time For Your Interests

Something I've come to learn this year is that if you have an interest that not everyone else does, that's okay. I love going to art galleries. I like the serenity, the creativity, the quiet violence of a surrealist painting from WW2. I don't share that with many of my friends, really, and that's okay. That's extra Me Time, when I go to do that. If you have a shared hobby with someone, that's awesome, do that!

It's okay to have fragmented interests within a shared hobby, though. For myself and my boyfriend, we love to read. He loves fantasy, and honestly, with the exception of LOTR, Harry Potter, and some Pratchett, I couldn't care less about fantasy. I love non-fiction, Sci-Fi rooted in reality, dystopian novels. I'll read biographies of painters and Ross O'Carroll-Kelly til the end of my days, and he wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. If you like to read quietly with your other half, do that. Make a pot of tea or coffee, curl up at opposite ends of the sofa and share the quiet together.

Find A Meditative State You Enjoy 

If you had told me last year I would be using guided meditation to ground myself, I'd have laughed rudely into your face. But here I am. I use the Headspace app that a friend recommended to me. That's useful during the day if I feel myself zoning out.

At night, I do something a bit weird, but it works for me, so maybe it'll help you. I go to bed around 11pm every night and I put on a Bob Ross video on YouTube. I let that play quietly in the background and I focus on my breathing, while Bob paints his happy little trees... I'll breathe in deeply but gently, and I'll breathe out quietly. I focus on my breathing for a minute or two, and then I'll try to focus on the weight of my legs, then my arms, then my torso and before I know it, I've woken up the next morning. Since I started doing this, I don't have nightmares, I sleep deeply and unbroken. It's been such a helpful tool. The only bad thing is I never see a finished painting! A small price to pay, really.

There are a million other tips I could write about here, but I'll leave it there for today. 

If you have any other tips for me, please let me know in the comments! 

Amy 

xo 

Tips For Self Care

My name is Amy, and, to my detriment, I am a fan of the word "Yes". I will always try to do as many things as I can, for as many people as I can. I put myself under immense pressure, across college, career paths, friends, sports, my relationship and personal obligations. I have only recently learned the word "balance" and even more recently have I come to know and enjoy the act of "self care".

So, with that in mind, I will talk you through my tips for self care.

Book Time For Yourself

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If you take no other advice from me, please just do this one thing. When I look at my Google Calendar, I am acutely aware of how busy I am. By booking in time for yourself, you are making a positive choice for your self care regime. If that hour if filled with eating bread, or going for a swim, or tea with a friend, then you've made good use of it for your personal reasons, and that's the only thing that matters. Personally, I make sure to have some personal time for a bubble bath with Netflix, an hour for tea with a friend, and time to spend with Dex. If nothing else, I get some regular, bite-sized chunks of time and that way, I don't feel so overwhelmed when I'm going to bed late and up early, day in and day out.

Image: Pinterest.com

Take Time For Cathartic Things

I find so much peace in methodical tasks, which is why when I need to take some time for me, I tend to cook and clean. Call me a 50's housewife if you want, but it makes me feel so much better. Not only in the moment, but when I've cooked enough mac and cheese to stock my boyfriends freezer for multiple dinners to come, and left my house looking like a cover off House And Home magazine, the feeling of relaxation and contentment sticks around far longer than just the moment!

Exercise

Take up a sport, go to the gym, run, whatever. Take time for your body. Personally for me, running was the best thing I could do. Every time I took myself out for a run, however short or long, I felt better. If you've thoughts to pick through, or you need to relax, running can be a great help.

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Pamper Yourself 

I don't mean book a massage, but if you want to do that, then be my guest!! Take an hour off for yourself, take a long shower, exfoliate, do a face pack, make a fuss of yourself. This is the kind of self care it can be even more effective to share with a friend over a glass of vino.

So how do I implement Self Care?

I take myself out for coffee, I run myself super hot bubble baths and watch Riverdale on a Friday, I cook, I do laundry (it sounds wierd, but I love it). I indulge in my one passion project that doesn't have anything to do with my career path or sporting life - Scientology documentaries/books. I rope Dex into doing nose-strips and face packs, and every once in a while when I have the time, I take to my bed for a day to watch movies and eat tortilla chips with nacho cheese dip!

Doing the things that make you happy, that take the stress away in that moment, that's SO important. You are important. The things that make your life better are important. Do more of them.

If you're a fan of self care, let me know your recommendations for things to do in the comments!

Amy,

xo

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Getting Myself Grounded!*

A couple of weeks back, I was contacted by Sinead over at Yogandha, about testing out some of her products. When she mentioned to me in the email that they are a combination of beauty and wellness, I knew I was on board. Yogandha is rooted in the belief of the bringing about of instant mood changes by rich, evocative scents. It goes much deeper than just going from agitated to calm, from sad to happy, because there is some serious science behind it - neuroscience, in fact - but I'm not very science-minded.

I'm an anxious person. I get agitated and panicky very easily. It sounds like such a little, meaningless issue, but honestly, it can really make my life miserable. I avoid crowds, hospitals, medical procedures of any kind, confrontation with my peers and superiors alike and I'm very quiet - almost shy - when I'm around people I don't know. I have trouble sleeping, sometimes its so bad that I might only get to sleep when I'm with my boyfriend, or if I go to bed way earlier than everyone else. If anyone needs to be a bit more grounded, it's me!

Yogandha Ground contains Sandalwood and Frankincense, blended to create a sense of calm and reassurance, which is perfect if you've any sort of anxious tendencies. I find this scent to make me feel a sense of warmth and safety, as though you're near to someone who makes you feel secure, which is incredibly soothing to me. The scent from the oils is not overpowering, but it's apparent enough to be able to soothe you a couple of hours after you initially applied it.

The beauty of these oils is that they act as a perfume, with beautifully blended scents, but they actually do something to help you!! Instead of making you sneeze, they put you at ease! The rollerballs are tiny, perfect for your handbag, for some calm at any moment. They're also safe to take through airport security, which makes them perfect for travel nerves!

In all honesty, I keep this on me at all times now, I use it to calm myself in the GP waiting room, when I'm travelling (nothing freaks me out more than a packed Luas), and when I'm having trouble sleeping. It's going to be great for those of you who have to step out of your workplace for a few moments breather, for anyone who has to endure the crowd at a wedding or funeral or a bumpy plane ride, it's also going to do wonders for anyone who generally just feels anxious or worrisome.

Yogandha Ground is currently available for €14.95 HERE on their website! There is also a whole range of other rollerballs for a variety of different ends, to relax, to balance, to energise etc.

Have you ever tried Yogandha? Let me know what you think! 

Amy

xoxo

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Yogandha Ground was sent to me for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own.