Is Endless Scrolling A Bad Habit Of Yours?

I know, I know. It's something we are all told, but it's also something we are all guilty of doing. How many times have you climbed into bed at half ten at night, told yourself you'll have a look on social media, a scroll on Instagram for five minutes and then it ends up being midnight by the time you next look at the clock. It's not good for us, the blue light is bad for our eyes and tricks our brain into alert mode. Making falling asleep much harder than it needs to be. So with all that said this is why I've decided to ban phones and screens in the bedroom.

Your bedroom needs to have that balance and divide of being the place you sleep in, and not the place you work or relax in. I know, it's hard but there are plenty of activities to do before bed that help us wind down and relax in a way that is better for us in the long run.

1. Read a Book. 

Reading is so good for us and our brains. It helps our creativity, it helps us wind down and it's almost like a telly show, just without the moving pictures. I am very aware reading isn't for everybody and I stand in a kind of unique situation here seeming I read books for University on the regular as part of my English Literature degree. I, however, also enjoy reading in my spare time also. Now the type of book really doesn't matter, as long as you are reading something you enjoy, it's not only stimulating your brain but it helps to wind you down from the day a lot better than any screen could do.

2. Journaling.

Journalling is something that is not for everyone. But journalling is also something that differs for every single person. For some filling out their to-do list for the next day is great as it means you don't have to think about it when you wake up the next morning. Or some take journalling as a more approach of writing down how their day went what happened and how they overcame whatever occurred. For me, I think both work equally as well so it's a personal choice of what you may want to do or try.

3. Colouring.

Although this is something I tend to do while watching telly, I know I'm one of those people who can't sit still. I've always got to have something in my hand, but I find colouring such a relaxing activity. It helps put my mind at rest especially after a busy day at work or just studying for university. You don't have to concentrate hard either so it's great if you suffer from regular headaches like I do.

4.  Practising gratitude. 

There is just something quite wonderful about the whole idea of just lighting a candle while sitting in bed and just closing your eyes as you let your thoughts drift through your mind as you remember the things that matter to you in life.

What is your go-to habit before bedtime that really helps you get to sleep better? I would love to know.

What To Do When You Are Feeling Funky.

We all get that feeling every now and again. Sometimes it's just pure waves of sadness and we are not entirely sure why. Sometimes it's just a mixture of all of those types of emotions and they just make you sort of feel as I call it, Funky. It's not the nicest of feelings so I thought I would create and share this list with you all that help me during my time of need.

Listen to a certain song or playlist that you know boosts your mood and productivity. 

Music is the key to emotions. Some genres of music can increase productivity and staying focus, while others can create an ambience that relaxes you. I find listening to music that makes you feel happy and/or is tied with happy memories, helps in slowly getting you out of the funk you are feeling. It's not an instant fix, as sometimes funks can last for a while. For me, I find listening to the ABBA soundtrack boosts my mood and makes me feel productive to do the tasks on my to-do list.

Get up go out and breathe.

Studies have shown that leaving the place where you are feeling stressed or anxious and going outside even if it’s just for five minutes or going on a walk makes you feel at peace and calmer within your surroundings. For me, I find walking helps clear my mind and understand a situation and how to deal with it to reduce the amount of stress I was experiencing. I’m very much known as a stress head in my everyday life and a bit (my friends would say more like a lot) as a worrier. So anything I can do to help ground myself instead of running around like a headless chicken is appreciated.

Exercise. Move your body around.

Exercising for half an hour to an hour a day it really beneficial not only for your physical well-being but your mental health also. Exercising releases endorphins, the happy drug and gets your blood pumping inside your body. Whenever my head is in a weird headspace I find exercising helps clear my head. Tidy mind tidy workspace is a quote I’ve stuck towards for most of my life. Dancing is something I enjoy doing on the regular but stretching//Yoga or Pilates is another two forms of exercise that I find I really enjoy. Exercise and the words happy and enjoy are not what a lot of people associate with each other.

Relax. Light a candle and have a soak or just have a quick shower.

Whenever I'm feeling down, I find relaxing and taking a bath also helps if I don't have any prompting tasks to complete. I find giving myself the time to be able to really think over what I need to do and sort it out in the near future helps put things into perspective. However, an option, if I have a lot of prompting tasks that need to be done that day, is to take a quick shower to make you feel refreshed and clear your mind and be ready to reduce your mood funk.

Read a book and I'm not talking about an academic one for your University. 
Taking time to enjoy things you love, like for me reading can help reduce the mood funk you are in. When I don't take time out for myself and I'm just constantly working working working, has a massive damaging impact on my mental health and mood. So I like to take a step back every now and again and really look at my work/life/social/hobbies life balance.

I hope you enjoyed reading this week's blogpost! What are your tips/ what do you feel when you are in a bit of a 'funk'?

Toodlepip lovelies! 

Lucy 

x

A Round Up Of My First Year Of University.

University for me was an experience full of ups and downs that differed majorly depending on the circumstances. It was filled with everything I thought it would be (and everything I didn't expect). If you take at least one thing away from this post; it's okay to feel stress in any given situation and that feeling is extremely normal. But please and I stress this part, talk to somebody about it when it gets too bad for you to handle yourself. I encourage you to talk about it, I promise it'll make you feel better as the saying goes, 'A problem shared is a problem halved'. 

Towards the end of my first year of university, I was really struggling. My life at this stage university was trying to write my last essay before the summer break, revise for my end of module exam and trying to balance moving house as well.  It was a lot, I'll be honest here. I struggled, I neglected my own self-care and any kind of balance in my life that it started affecting my social and work lives. I was highly emotional and I honestly hand on heart can say it was probably the lowest I have felt. I'm still going through the waves of emotions right now, but slowly,  I eventually started speaking to someone and asked for help. I'll admit I asked a little too late in my circumstances and I feel if I had sought help sooner I wouldn't have felt so bad on a daily basis. But that's the great thing about sharing things personal reflection can be seen. So I guess with me sharing this on to my little blog and talking about this subject, I hope you can learn from my experiences to ensure that If you or somebody you know is going through a similar situation to me they'll have even the tiniest bit of advice to go with. 

However, my first year of university wasn't all doom of gloom, with rain comes sunshine and I enjoyed several parts of it. One of them is getting back into education. I don't shy away from talking about the fact that my academic life growing up wasn't easy but slipping into university life after taking a gap year was easier than I thought. I found that English was definitely my niché, and something I wanted to pursue after graduation. I don't know exactly what type of job I want to do, I mean I don't need to know until at least my third year, or at least that is what I am reassuring myself with. I loved being able to read books and analyse them for my degree. In some ways, it honestly feels like I'm not doing it for university, (the only time it feels like it's work is when I've been so busy with other things and I'm writing my essay way to close to the deadline). But I guess what my point here that I am trying to say is University isn't for everyone it's a struggle, but if you are studying something you love or working towards something that'll benefit you in terms of gaining a job after graduation. It feels you with motivation to do better.

I finished my first year with a 2:1. Something I didn't expect myself to get. At the start of the year, I wasn't even expecting to gain a pass let alone a good score. I hope my second year goes just as well. 

For any of my readers out there that have been to university or are in university now, how did your academic year go? 

I hope you enjoyed reading this different style of blogpost. 

Until next time.

Toodlepip Lovelies

Lucy x