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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I recently spent the day in London with my Mum. I wanted to go to poetry reading which was on Portobello Road, so Mum and I decided it was the perfect excuse to have a bit of a day trip and spend some time together.