Recently I found myself falling out any routine, my once good habits became abandoned - I think the combination of being unwell, lockdown and moving into a new environment got to me, and I found it easy to push aside those little habits and daily routines, unaware of the impact it would have. After a few weeks of feeling all over the place and noticing the toll of that on my mental health, I realised I needed some positive routine back. So once again I've been developing new routines to follow, of the little things which keep my wellness up.

5 Habits for Happiness:

- Journalling:

- Reading:

- Moving your body:

- Going outside:

So, here's a list of the little life-changer - because little things can make a big difference.

• The Wet Brush: Honest, this hairbrush makes such a difference. I didn't realise how knotty my hair was, how painful running a brush through it felt until I started using a wet brush. I didn't get on with the tangle teaser if anything I found it more painful to use, but the wet brush takes all of the pain out of hair brushing.
• Using a Mooncup: I started using a Mooncup last year, and I wouldn't go back to using pads and tampons. It takes the hassle and spending out of having to buy sanitary products each month, it's easy to use and personally I find it feels more hygienic. 
• Tracking periods - it's good to know where you can blame your mood on your hormones. I personally use the Clue app, but I know there are plenty of others around.
• Keeping longer socks and ankle socks in different drawers. It's probably a weird flex on my part, but it saves the frustration of looking for socks for some trainer socks and pulling out full-length fluffy bed socks.
• Changing the sound of your alarm something you actually enjoy listening to. Mine is a Harry Styles song, obviously.
• Meditation: I've spoken a million times about how great meditation is so I won't keep going on. If you're sceptical, just give it a try, I have this blog post on my favourite meditation apps!
• Not sleeping with your phone under your pillow, not checking Instagram the moment you wake up: You want to wake up with your focus being on you, not trigger comparison by spending too much time scrolling. I now have my phone set to lock the majority of my apps until 9am. On a good day when I get up at 6, that gives me a few phone-free hours, which allows me to have a more mindful morning.
• Having a Monzo account, using the pots to save money: I have saved more than ever since I got a Monzo account. I feel more aware of my finances, and I manage to save money without even realising by setting up pots. If you do want to sign up, follow this link and we'll both receive £5, win-win.
• Give your belonging homes. It's nice not to have to search for a pen every time you need one.
• Make your bed every morning
• Get your bag ready the night before
•  Don't go to things you don't want to go to. No is a word, use it, often and kindly.
• Keep your keys in the side pocket of your bag. It's just not necessary to have to empty you're belonging, after rummaging in your bag for 10minutes to simply get in the house.
•  Get a notebook with dotted paper  (or a bullet journal - which you can find blog posts on here and here, and some youtube videos here) I didn't realise what a difference this made, but honestly, those dots are life-changing.
• Start getting ready 10 minutes before you think you need to.
• Don't go shopping hungry: You just buy so much unnecessary food, which won't get eaten, and you'll spend more money.
• Just get up when your alarm goes off: Hitting that snooze button won't enhance your day.
• Do the purse/phone/keys check before you leave the house.
• Have a savings account. Actually, use it to save.
•  Know how much money is in your bank account, don't spend more than that amount.
• Portable phone chargers.
• Put sanitary products, lip balm, hair bands, grips and plasters into each of your handbags: They always come in handy.
• Step away from Instagram when you're feeling down: There's no need to see photos of beautiful, rich, successful girls when you feel crap
• Do that laptop update you've been pressing remind me tomorrow on the past year
• Clear a decent amount of space on your phone, get rid of the storage full notification
• You know those things you keep having to go to the next room to get? like phone chargers, and scissors? Buy more, have them in every room.

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 As midnight came rolling around on New Year's Eve, I found myself crying while the rest of the world was celebrating. It was not glamorous. On what normally is my favourite day of the year, I felt defeated and sad. Although not my usual for New Years, it was not unusual for me to feel this way, as though life was too much.

In the morning, I wiped away my tears and made a decision. The decision that I was going to like my life. I wanted to like my life when my dreams were coming true, and more importantly, I wanted to like my life when they weren't. I wanted to like my life when I felt lost, and I wanted to like my life while I figured things out.

On the most part - I like my life now. A lot of days I love it. My circumstances haven't changed, at all really but my mindset has.

Now, I'm not talking about moods, because moods are supposed to be changing, and we can't all be 100% happy all of the time. I'm prone to a bad mood every now and then - which I'm sure is relatable. I'm talking about living life to the full, not in the sense going on some great adventure, but to a standard of full for me. A life where the things I do, big or small speak to my soul. A life where the little things matter. Where ever I am at with my goals my life is serving me. Where no matter how big my problems are, I can still enjoy a cup of tea and appreciate the sunset.

Everything about it is cheesy and cliché,  but I'm happy, and if it's cheesy clichés which makes me happy, heck I'll go with it.

So here are my tips to shift your mindset:

Meditation 

I try to meditate daily, it doesn't always happen but that's what I aim for. I find using a meditation app the easiest way to do this. The meditation app Headspace first taught me how to be mindful. It was practising meditation when I hardly understood it, that made me realise I have control over my mindset. That my thinking, and breathing each moment is affecting how I'm feeling and acting. I wrote a full blog post on the meditation apps I love which you can find here if you're interested to find a meditation app which will work for you. At the moment my go-to is Happy, Not Perfect.

Create a to a routine:

A mindful routine that is. A routine which you like. Mornings should be more than rolling out of bed to the sound of your alarm which you hate, skipping breakfast and rushing out the door. If you want to have a great day the chaos of snoozed alarms and no time to shower is not a way to begin it. You want your day to begin it a way which makes you feel good and sets you up for whatever the next 24 hours might bring. If all hell breaks loose that day, you want to know, you at least had a nice morning. The same goes for the evenings. You should actually take some time to wind down - you owe yourself that. (If you're interested in hearing more about my evening/morning routines I'll have full videos on them on my Youtube channel in the next few weeks).

Use time wisely:

 If we don't pay attention, time gets away from us and before we know it, our day has been unproductive, and we feel like crap about it. I want a life where I value and make the most of every moment. Again cringe and cliché but true. I wrote this blog post a while ago on how to make the most of your time. I've found calendar blocking has been a great way for me to see where the hours in my day are going, there's a full video on how I do it here. Anything you enjoy, whether that's binging Netflix or going to the gym, it not a waste of time, as long as you're prioritising your time well.

Make friends and have friends who inspire you:

 I don't make friends with anyone. Go to events and clubs of the things you love, and you'll find people you have things in common with. Your friends should be picked carefully because you shouldn't be giving your time to people who don't make you feel good. You want your friends to enhance your life, lift you up and leave you feeling positive. Friends should feel like platonic soulmates, not someone you find spending time with exhausting. There's so much joy to find in new friendships. I will talk about how to make friends as an adult more in an upcoming Youtube video, so keep your eyes peeled.

Be creative 

 This year I've begun being creative, simply for myself. I started painting again, and began going to life drawing classes - and I've just enjoyed doing it for me. On the days which have been harder, sketching has been a great escape, and on the best days, it's just as therapeutic.

Exercise outside 

Somewhere along the lines, going running has become one of my favourites parts of my day - I eased myself into it by doing couch to 5k (which I'll finish next week!). I run outside, I use exercise as an excuse to be in nature and it feels good. It gives you a chance to take in the world, or listen to podcasts while getting a sweat on.

Embrace failure: 

When you fail, it's usually because you've been working towards something. It's not a loss, It's evidence of the work. For me, this year has been full of unsuccessful interviews and failed driving tests, which at times has been hard, but I've been trying to look at these failures as stepping stones to get where I need to be, rather than dwelling on the loss of something which I never actually had.

Second a day: 

I used the one-second everyday app, where you film a second of your day, and it collates the seconds into a video. I began it, not as an act of mindfulness, but after seeing this video and thinking 'that's cool'. But as I began to use the app, I noticed myself paying more attention to the lovely parts of even the most boring days in search of a second to film. I noticed sunsets more and appreciated the time I had to read. Filming just a second a day, made me pay attention to making the seconds worthy.

Savour moments:

 This year I've learned the small moments often matter more than we give them credit for. Life is better when you taste your food and read without wondering how close you are to finishing your book. I've been practising savouring moments with a cup of tea recently. Taking time out of the to-lists to sit with a hot drink and enjoy it. I was kindly gifted with plenty of loose leaf tea sampler boxes from Adagio Teas (and this amazing tea infuser mug which is bringing me so much joy!) I've been enjoying taking a break from my day to try the different flavours. I've particularly been loving the earl grey-green in the morning and the lavender lemon before bed.

Tea Giveaway!

I will also be giving away several sample packs of Adagio Tea's because they're adding an extra pocket of joy to my day, and I want to share that with one of my readers! I have begun trying and sharing teas with friends, so a lot of the boxes have been opened, as I've dipped into a few of the sample sachets. I have the boxes:  Orchard Herbals, and Teas of India and Sri Lanka which are completely untouched so you can win these, along sample sachets of many of their different black teas (including earl grey moonlight, blueberry, cream, mango iced tea and more), white teas (including white peach, white blueberry and more) and herbal teas (including lemongrass, chamomile and more) and oolong teas (including grapefruit oolong, almond oolong, and vanilla oolong)  you can choose which flavours appeal to your taste, and I'll box them up for you. From most of the boxes, you'll get around 40 cups of tea! I will, of course, send a full list of the teas I have to offer to the winner, so they'll get a full choice over flavours they receive! Make sure you leave a twitter/Instagram handle, or email address in the comments so that I can contact you if you're the lucky winner!

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One of my favourite things to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon, besides eating a massive (meatless) roast dinner, is to get comfy and binge-watching my favourite Youtube Channel.

As it's nice to throw a little positivity and appreciation into the internet world I thought I'd share some of my current favourite channels with you, hopefully, you'll discover a channel you love too, or we might already share some mutual loves here.
Lily Pebbles - I'd say Lily is my all-time favourite Youtuber (I met her once, and she is also lovely). She is very down to earth and real in her videos, her personality is very likeable and she doesn't try to be perfect, which I like. Her videos are both casual and creative. She covers beauty, fashion, tech, and daily vlogging.


The Michalaks - If you want something beautiful to watch, the Michalak is the place to look. The family posts the most incredible weekly films of their life. The Michalak family consist of Stef (Dad), Hannah (Mum), Grayson (Son, 3year old), and they have recently just had the second child, a little boy. Watching their birthing video earlier today took my breath away. They are just very good people, creating content which is far beyond anything else I've seen on youtube.


Arden Rose - Arden posts a mixture of lifestyle, fashion and beauty videos. Her extroverted personality (and probably her experience in acting) shines through on camera as her videos offer plenty of her enduring personality. The quality of her videos are great, and they tend to include the sweetest little illustrations. She also has a great taste in fashion and I wish I were as cool and confident as she is.


MoreZoella - I couldn't not include Zoe's vlog channel. I get the same feeling watching Zoe's vlogs, as I do watching Gilmore Girls, they're just cosy and nice. They're usually pretty long, but they're always full of joy. Zoe is so likeable and normal despite all of her success, and her life is just a great one to watch.



Lucy Moon - Lucychannelnel is another one where there is a good mixture of creative and casual videos. Lucy's 168 vlogs are always beautiful and I feel the branding of Lucy's channel is on point - I could see one of Lucy videos and know it's hers. She is a very normal-seeming girl, who I think is also quite wise (seem like a questionable thing to say, but I imagine she gives the best advice). Her videos are always aesthetically pleasing and interesting. She also writes some music and occasionally posts singing/cover videos and her voice is stunning.


What are your favourite Youtube Channels?

Sorry I've included a lot of these a pretty big names, simply because they tend to be easier to come across, and these are the ones I've been enjoying recently. If you know of any small Youtubers I should check out, please let me know.

It was a struggle to narrow it down to six channels, maybe I'll do a part two in the future!

Happily exploring yesterday...

1. I was informed I'm due a £265 tax rebait - don't you just love it when you're randomly owed money? 
2. I shared something with my friends that I thought they judge, but they supported my idea, maybe I'm not as crazy as I thought.
3. Gilmore Girls is finally on Uk Netflix... I know how I'm not going to be able to get away from my laptop. I think to see my Friday nights turning to Gilmore Girls marathons, because who needs a social life when you can watch Gilmore girls in your pj's. I'm a little too excited for this.
4. I ran out of data on my phone yesterday. Very baffled I went to buy some more, but the website wouldn't load despite the wifi, however, it was not to my knowledge my data tops up today anyway. Lucky I didn't spend that £5 on extra data which would have gone unused.
5. The sun is shining. Doesn't that make everyone's day?
6. I had the nicest day yesterday having lunch with my family and exploring with Matt, and I vlogged it - I can see that become a video I watch back for the good memories!

1. Have a clear out, and surround yourself with things you love. It feels so good to get rid of the stuff which you have no need for that you have just accumulated over time, and when you've got less you tend to appreciate the things you do have more. 
2. Choose to socialise with people who make you happy. If someone isn't making you happy, and doesn't make you feel good about yourself, why would you want to spend time with them, no matter what attachment you might have to them.
3. Take time to meditate and exercise - this is certainly one where I need to practise what I preach but I know when I do both of those things my heads feels a much nicer place to be.
4. Find time to do things you love. I've recently began reading more again, I love reading but I often find myself 'too busy' to find time to read - so I've been allowing myself an extra 10 minutes before bed to read and I feel so much better for having those 10 minutes.
5. Have a creative outlet, and do it your way - I've a very creative person. I express myself a lot through creativity, and escape through creativity. Recently I've realised how important it is to do the creative things your way for them to give same release. Blogging for example is one of my main creative outlets, but last year blogging lost that feeling of freedom and the joy it gives me now as I began putting too much pressure on myself to post about what I thought people wanted to hear, this year I decided my blog was entirely down to me, if I wrote about something which no one cared about it wouldn't matter because I wrote it because I cared enough to write it, and now I love blogging again. I love being creative with my camera and learning new photography tricks and really putting effort and passion in what I write. I am also intended to get back into drawing this year - I think it's important to have creative outlets to share with others and keep to yourself - my art is personal, and I think I need to get a creative outlet which I can enjoy all by myself
6. Go to bed in a clear space, with a clear mind - before bed each night I have began giving my room at little tidy, it feels good to wake up in a nice space and tidy up is also great for the mind, so I usually go to bed in a good headspace, meaning I get a better sleep too.
7. Accept that things are going to go wrong, but also appreciate that things will be very different with time. Yes things may be bad today, they may also be better tomorrow.
8. Catch up with old friends and family, appreciate them.
9. Spend time alone, and enjoy that time. Appreciate your own company, and learn to like (even love) yourself, because why would other people like you if you don't like yourself, and you're the only person to have spend every single day of your life with.
10. Surround yourself with people of all ages, I think you can learn a lot from someone twice your age, and you will also learn a lot from someone half your age.
11. Accept that people might not like you. 
12. Take time to look after yourself - the day always seem more pleasant when you don't feel as though you just rolled out of bed and went straight to work, instead you had time in the morning and you've got a little lippy on.
13. Don't be ashamed of the things you like. 
14. Boys (or girls) you may have a crush on really don't matter as much as you think they do, so stop analysing everything they say/do, actually don't analyse anything anyone say/does, nothing good comes from over thinking
15. Remember that no matter how bad it gets, you will go to bed that night and when you wake up it's a new day.
16. Stop comparing yourself to overs, you are you and that's great.
17. Stop making excuses for people, if someone is being crap, they're still being crap whatever the circumstances, accept that and distance yourself from them and their crapness.
18. Have something to look forward to - this can be something really small, for example is I having a rubbish work day I'll think to myself 'I'm going to go home and type away a new blog post, and that will be a nice thing to do'.

So recently I've not been needed at work much which has led to not having much money and being bored and frustrated at home alone. Yesterday I was feeling pretty down about the whole situation, then I realised feeling sorry for myself and doing nothing is definitely not going to help, and I definitely do not want to become a negative bitter person (sorry this is getting a little deep for a post about how I'm dealing with boredom). I've realised there is no need to be some negative (especially about such little things) after all every cloud has a silver lining.



I've decided to stop being negative and take advantage of this free time, and use it productively. So today I'm going to try to use my time to get all the little things I always intend to do and never get a chance to do. Also, I've got an interview for the most perfect job tomorrow so I want to make sure I'm really prepared for. Anyway, here are some little tasks I want to get done today:

• Tidy and organise my room. It's already pretty tidy but organising definitely makes things feel better, and it just creates a nice environment. Also over the weekend, I'm heading to Plymouth to collect the rest of the stuff, so I need to make sure I have plenty of space for it all.
• Put some bits and bobs on eBay. I recently went through some of my things and have some good quality bits I want to put on eBay to make a few extra pennies, and give some items a nice home (my eBay)
• Sort my underwear drawer. it's literally overflowing
• Paint my nails
• Look up interview questions
• Pluck my eyebrow
• Sort through my portfolio
• Exercise, going for a run always makes me feel great
• Draw
• Read
• and of course.. blog