Thank goodness the sun is shining and the snow has melted away. The last few days in the UK were a whirlwind to say the least. I thought I've escaped the extremities of the cold by staying in the South West of England. I guess there are a few things you just cannot escape.
Like the bad weather, sometimes you just cannot avoid bad situations/thoughts/people. It is just part of life. However, the only thing we can all control is how we react. I'm sure you've heard of this many times. I just want to contribute my personal journey on embracing the positive juju and creating great atmos. Two terms that any George Ezra fan will be familiar with.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I tend to set a new goal for myself every birthday. This year, I've decided to truly embrace the whole 'positive movement' in every aspect of my life. Having said that, it wasn't easy, as life (or self-growth) is never easy. It is a struggle but here are two tips that have helped me be happier with life, come what may.
Social media detox
I think we all know that sometimes social media can be mentally and emotionally draining as we watch stories of other people's lives and automatically compare to ours, which most of the time is just us laying in bed eating instant noodles. While I cannot bring myself to get rid of social media for good, I decided to have a round of detox -getting rid of anything that could make me feel bad about myself. My first step: unfollowing anyone that I can't relate to. This included majority of the Kardashians and 'friends' that I just don't connect with on any level. I've also used Facebook's 'filter' option to get rid of people who post nonsense on my timeline; it's way easier than going through my seemingly endless friends list, something I blame 12 year old me for. It was a phase of adding sprees wasn't it? It made quite a difference when my timeline is just of people that I actually care about rather than a load of social media white noise. I'm still slowly filtering people out as I go and forcing myself to unfollow people. I honestly don't think I have to apologise for unfollowing anyone.
Another half of the detox process is getting some good stuff in. I've started following a few people who are part of the 'body positivity' movement, e.g. @bodyposipanda, @gracefvictory on instagram also a lot of coffee-related accounts (cause coffee makes me feel better). They help brighten up my feed a little bit as I can always take things away from their posts, rather than just blindly double-tapping for the sake of double-tapping. If you have any recommendations on any other positive-spreading accounts, let me know! All part of the great atmos creation.
Doing my favourite form of exercise -Pilates!
So, I've been slacking off on the exercising bit, never really committing to anything. I've even stopped running for awhile after last year's Bath Half. I kept asking myself, 'Why can't I bring myself to go to the gym/go for a run/go for classes?' Then I realised it is because, quite simply, I hated it. The thought of me going to the gym or running in the winter just brings out the sloth in me and I refuse to move my butt. Heck, I even hated doing Tom Daley's Daily workout routine because I just get so bored. Then, I decided to try Cassey Ho aka blogilates' workouts. Two months in, and I'm still going! I finally found something that I can see myself committing to in the long term. Although sometimes I scream at my computer in the middle of a double leg lift, I started to feel more flexible and my posture is slowly improving. I'm hardly a POPster though, I still take an extra rest day or skip a few videos (esp the PIIT or cardio ones) but it is a slow climb up and I'm still climbing.
Also, I love Cassey because she is always smiling or full of energy even in the middle of the most intense moves (which sometimes can frustrate me) but her words of encouragement and pearls of positivity wisdom served as a reminder that we set our own pace in life and that everyone is moving at different speeds. It just helps when you have someone telling you that while you are working out.
~
There you have it, my two nuggets of positive enhancement. If there's anything to take away from, I guess it is that surrounding yourself with amazing/supportive people and doing anything that brings a smile to your face is important. It is far from being selfish because the more good feels you have, the more you want to share it. It is a gift that keeps on giving. Try it for yourself!
Well, that's all from me today. I have a few more things that I want to share with you all but it's taking longer to have the courage to write it down than expected. Hopefully, soon.
Till then,
Liza x