What if I offered you more freedom, more independence, more kindness, less fear of failure, improved mental health, a more positive mindset and an increased sense of self-worth? Would you take it?
What if I said, all of this is available to you but the path to this involves self-acceptance? Self-acceptance of the kind where you embrace everything about yourself, all your good bits and your not-so-good bits and be ok with it all? Would you be able to do it?
There are two pieces of skincare advice I stand by… you should wear a broad spectrum** SPF every day and makeup stays on better with primer.
Despite knowing & believing in these beauty rules I had yet to have any success in finding either a great SPF or makeup primer, and believe me I have tried a lot. The SPF would usually overwhelm my skin and make it near impossible for makeup to stay put. And nearly every primer would clog my skin and cause breakouts.
For anyone who has ever received a piece of jewellery from a loved one, be it a family heirloom, engagement ring (or maybe even one half of a ‘BFF’ heart pendant) knows it holds a significance far more meaningful than it’s actual financial worth.
Jewellery can tell a story and holds the power to become a statement of who we are & what we hold dear.
Whilst at a beauty expo a few months ago, I happened to meet a very inspirational person, her name is Alison Swift. A published author, she was at the event to promote her book ‘My Wellness Toolbox’, a self-help book to empower you to simply & effectively manage your anxiety.
She handed me an affirmation (one of her wellness tools) and we got to chatting about her story.
In the late 90’s Alison noticeably began experiencing anxiety & panic attacks. Over the next 8-9 years, these became increasingly worse to the point where she had such crippling anxiety she couldn’t even open her front door.
In August 2006, Alison hit what she described as her rock bottom. It took days for her to be convinced to leave the house to seek help from a doctor. But thankfully she did.
As part of her recovery, she underwent Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and was introduced to the idea of a toolbox. A metaphorical box full of ‘tools’ to help her cope & overcome the anxiety she was experiencing.
Visiting Hever Castle has been on my want-to-do list for a very long time now. I have a love of history, especially the Tudor period, so a day spent at the childhood home of Anne Boleyn was always going to be a wish of mine.
However, when you’ve got kids it’s not necessarily somewhere you feel confident in taking them to. So Hever was often moved lower on our where-next pile. But that all changed when our recent East-Sussex staycation found us near the path of this historic castle. Fate was telling me it was time & with a little bit of apprehension, I roped husband & kids into a day-trip there with me.
And thank goodness I did! Visiting Hever Castle with kids in tow far exceeded my expectations.
I’m so pleased to welcome Simone from parenting blog 11 Years of Nappies. Her blog is inspiring, impactful & designed to give hope to other mum’s out there. What a brilliant ethos! I’m grateful to her for joining us today to discuss self-awareness in greater depth, over to you Simone…
Let’s start by defining self-awareness — it is a noun. A conscious knowledge of one’s own character and feelings.
Self-awareness is having a clear perception of YOUR personality, including YOUR strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation, and emotions. It allows you to understand other people, how they perceive you, your attitude and your response to them in the moment.
Self-awareness is the foundation of your own success. In one’s personal development, self-awareness is the first aspect you would need to look into.
In case you missed my post discussing the many positive benefits aromatherapy offers to us, let me start by saying this – through the right use of aromatherapy (the use of scents to alter our moods) we can experience a subtle yet holistic effect on our bodies and minds.
Essential oils are a simple, but effective tool to help boost our sense of well-being. Whether it’s helping to calm us or energise us for a productive day ahead.
So when OYL’E London let me know about their new aromatherapy Pulse Point Rollers*, I was more than happy to give them a try.
And we’re back! Yes, the school summer holidays are at an end and normal service is resumed. So with this in mind, it’s time to tell you all about our new well-being focus for this month.
Please join me in welcoming my friend Sunna from lifestyle blog – Inspired in the City – to Living.Pretty.Happy today. As part of involvement month, she’s kindly sharing some great tips on helping to reduce wedding planning stress! I sure could have done with these when I was planning my own wedding 15-years ago! Over to you, Sunna…
As a newly engaged happy couple, your head is in the clouds. Every friend and family member wants to make plans to grab a celebratory drink together and hear about the proposal in great detail. Every day is filled with congratulations and happiness.
So, when you finally sit down to start the real wedding planning, it can knock you back down to Earth with a bit of a thud. Where do you even begin with an event so large and so important? How will you ever afford it? With so many difficult questions to consider, it is easy to start feeling stressed.
Having begun my own wedding planning journey earlier this year, I know first hand how stressful it can be and how many arguments it can cause.
Planning your big day will always be a challenge but there are plenty of ways to help you make the process a little less daunting and a lot more fun!
“All you need to do is cleanse & follow with this,” said Lauren, (one of the sisters behind the award-winning British skincare brand, By Sarah London) as she handed me their Signature Organic Facial Oil.
I was sceptical. Just one product? No other lotions or potions? And an oil, on my combination skin? But I’d read the reviews, I loved the ethos of the brand & I was more than a little swayed by the packaging, so I bought one.
In all honesty, I’m beyond pleased that I did!
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Volunteering was something I never particularly wanted to do. Who has the time??? Sounds awful of me doesn’t it? I’m not alone though right?
“Would anyone like to volunteer?”. Often meant with the best of intentions, this question has been known to have grown-adults running for the door, feigning hearing loss or just employing ninja-like skills to avoid eye contact at all costs. Why does the notion of volunteering for something cause our stomachs to flip & make us want to throw a ‘you’re a hero’ party for the poor person who caved and raised their hand?
I was very much of the notion that I would like to help, but that if I did, it would open a non-closable doorway through which I would always be stuck in a volunteering loop, lose any and all precious time I had to myself and make me curse the day I ever picked up a charity bucket and uttered the question, spare any change please? whilst wearing a chicken-suit.
I was never going to be a ballerina. It wasn’t through lack of trying, I just wasn’t built for it. However, in any ballet exam I ever took, there was always one thing I scored well on – smiling. I don’t know why they score you for smiling, but they did and that’s where the majority of my marks came from. I guess I was just a natural-born smiler (who couldn’t dance very well).
I’ve never grown out of it either. You could say I’m that slightly crazy person who always smiles at people, even if I don’t know them. If I catch someone’s eye my go-to response is just to smile. I hope it lets people know that I’m friendly and approachable rather than strange, but either way I can’t help it.
And I won’t apologise for it either. You see in my opinion smiling is highly underrated. Why do I think this?
I’m breaking away from the previous well-being focus format a bit (where I talk about what’s coming up for the month) and instead I’m going to talk more about this month’s focus – plus share some handy tips – within this post. So buckle up folks…
5-minute makeup has been a necessity most mornings for me for years now. Nothing will throw you off a perfect smokey eye quite like the sound of a toddler as it wreaks havoc around your home – all before 7 am.
Even with a more hectic lifestyle, makeup remained (still remains) a much-loved part of who I am and how I identify. So it was important to me to work out how to continue to use it without causing any additional stress.
Maybe you want to look more polished, but struggle to find the time? Or maybe you just want to reduce the time it takes to do your makeup in order to free yourself up for more exciting things?
Whatever your motivation, you too can also achieve a your-skin-but-better look easily within the space of 5-minutes.
– You’ll naturally require less makeup if your skin is in good shape.
– Adopt healthy skincare habits such as cleansing, toning & moisturising daily. Remove your makeup thoroughly every evening.
– Look after yourself from the inside with a balanced diet, keeping hydrated & exercising regularly
– Wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen daily.
– Get as much sleep as possible.
Can we all just agree that holidays (or vacations) are brilliant? Let’s face it, if we weren’t happy on holiday, we wouldn’t keep taking them, would we?
There’s something about a break away from the every day that guarantees to raise our spirits. Whether we’re off to relax, experience new cultures, try new experiences, spend quality time with loved ones, have some fun, tick-off somewhere on our bucket list – holidays rate highly on our happiness meter.
So whether you simply want to take your holiday happy vibes to the next level or are looking for ways to increase the chance of a disposition even sunnier than the weather…
I’m so delighted to be joined by Kate from All the Trinkets today on Living.Pretty.Happy! All the Trinkets is a fantastic creative lifestyle & personal growth blog (and Kate just happens to be one of my favourite bloggers). As part of Optimism month, Kate has kindly written this thought-provoking article on fostering a healthy positive mindset, for me to share. Over to you Kate…
Growing up, I was a cynic kid. Like the kind who has her arms perpetually crossed and an eyebrow forever raised. Whenever someone told me to “think positive,” I would scoff and roll my eyes and blow a raspberry to that person. Thinking positively, my twelve-year-old self believed, was like denying reality. To be positive meant that you’ve reframed your mind to think only of pink fluffy clouds and rainbow unicorns.
If you ask me now, I have zero idea where the heck I got that belief. What I do know is this: Twelve-year-old Kate is wrong… and right.
Allow me to break that down.
Have you ever tried a colouring book for adults before? I hadn’t, until one moment a few years ago, when shopping with my Sister-in-Law, she announced how she loved it and found colouring very therapeutic and calming. I was sceptical, my eyebrows raised slightly but then thought – why the heck not, I’ll give it a go and bought it. Colouring is now something I really enjoy and use to de-stress.
The same can be said recently when my Aunty requested I take her to bingo. I had never been before or felt the desire too – the thought of a bingo hall had previously made me cringe – but I love my Aunty, wanted to make her happy and as a wannabe good niece, we went. Well, you can call me Cilla, because surprise, surprise, I had a lot of fun. So much so, that when the Bloggers Inspired team & I were invited to Players Bingo in Camden recently, I jumped at the chance – I even won some money on that visit!
Quite light examples I grant you, but this sort of thing has happened (at various levels) a lot to me throughout my life so far. Opportunities put in front of me which I’m initially sceptical of, but actually, turn out to be positive experiences when I’ve just opened my mind optimistically and given them a go.
