Why I Love Journalling

I have 4 different journals that are laying around my house, each of them holds some sort of purpose to organize my thoughts. I will explain each one and why I find it useful, and hopefully it will give you some ideas if you are looking to start journalling, or to find a reason why you should.

1. My “Goals” Journal

This is the journal I would say I go back to the most. It holds my financial goals, health goals, travel goals and overall life goals. It’s important for me to revisit so that I can stay on track, or re-evaluate my previous goals if needed.

I like to throw in some motivational quotes, or just phrases to help me when I’m feeling incredibly unmotivated. It’s also nice to look back at what I accomplished for when I am feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything. Some things that I thought I would never do, I end up doing and some things that I thought would be easy might roll on to the next page of goals so I can make a second attempt.

I also like going over my finances here so I can simplify what’s going on in my bank account and to find ways to minimize costs. It’s easy to just ignore what’s happening with your money online, but sometimes I need a wake up call. For some reason I find it fascinating to have a plan on how to spend my money and when, so I never feel guilty about making big purchases if needed.

I think my health goals are most fun to go through, because I most definitely need a wake up call for that sometimes. Whether it’s healthy eating or physical fitness, I need to go back to remember why I want to continue working towards these.

I also like to write down places I’d like to visit and jot down things I’ve learned about how to travel to each place and how to prepare. This includes thing I would want to buy in order to make it happen, or writing packing lists. This even includes things for camping, or road trips in general.

I like imagining a bright future and sometimes I get overly involved in that to the smallest detail, but I often find it fun rather than stressful. I think it can be quite beneficial to work towards accomplishing goals, whatever they may be.

2. My “Feelings” Journal

This sounds incredibly cheesy, but for someone who overthinks everything and has all sorts of chaotic thoughts floating around, this is a good place to understand what I’m feeling and why. My imagination has a habit of going wild which can be good for creative or optimistic endeavours, but when it starts going full tilt into more negative thoughts, I need to slow the heck down.

This is where this journal comes in handy. Sometimes my brain doesn’t have time to make sense of why the emotions that are coming up have arrived, such as sadness, anxiety, anger, or anything else that is a bit more uncomfortable than usual. As I’m writing, it slows down my thoughts and makes them into things that are just on a page – all of a sudden, they don’t seem so bad!

There have been numerous times where I am SO frustrated and I go grab this journal and begin writing so fast my pen wishes it stayed at home. By the end, happy thoughts arise and I feel much better. Not to mention, if you are someone who accidentally takes it out on a loved one, this is a great way to stop that from happening! I learned that the hard way. My poor boyfriend…

3. My “Creative” Journal

This is where I jot down ideas for YouTube videos, recipes for my cookbook I would like to create one day, and sometimes I just sit and doodle a bit. This journal is a bit sporatic, since I technically have more than one place for these ideas. When I’m out and about I will jot down a note in my phone, when I’m on the computer I’ll write ideas on Google Docs, but it usually will all circle back to my physical journal I keep in my house.

It’s quite often that my boyfriend will throw together a dinner with whatever we have, and it ends up being good – despite my constant nagging that “you shouldn’t mix those together it’s weird and will taste gross.” I honestly don’t know how he does it.

Overall, it’s fun to have a place to look back at your own creations and ideas.

4. My “Travel” Journal

This is something I bring with me when I travel, usually somewhere that is out of the country (which unfortunately, isn’t that often). This is something that my parents used to do whenever we went somewhere and it kind of stuck with me. Sometimes I forget a few days while I’m on vacation, but I try to at least write about stories that happened rather than what our schedule was like that day.

Of course, as a Lord of the Rings fan, this journal had to be a leather, old school journal (the one pictured above) so I feel like a true traveller. However, I’m a little too impatient to write the whole thing in calligraphy as Bilbo Baggins did.

This journal is nice to read when I’m feeling a travel bug coming on, but am unable to go anywhere. It’s funny to find things that I couldn’t remember in a million years, but as soon as I read my own memories I instantly am living in the moment. It’s easy to remember moments looking through my pictures, but in my journal there are often details that get overlooked and it’s cool to look back on.

Yes, I know journalling isn’t for everyone, and I might be a little hardcore with all of the journals I have, but I find that it’s a great way to reminisce about memories and achievements, be creative, work through hard times, and have goals to accomplish for the future.

Do it Now, Do it Now, Do it Now!

This quote from a Lululemon bag has been stuck in my head for years now. It’s very simple and doesn’t seem to hold a lot of meaning when you just read it once. In addition to this quote, a similar thing that stuck with me is a concept that Mel Robbins has been teaching the world, which is the power and the science behind making 5 second decisions. She found that once we have a gut feeling about what we need to do to make something happen, it only takes 5 seconds for our mind to start defending itself and protecting us from any potential dangers.

It can be anything from very small decisions to very big decisions, but either way, I absolutely believe “doing it now” without giving your brain enough time to think of why you shouldn’t is a great way to get things done. For example, if you want the dishes to be done before you go to bed so you can wake up to a clean kitchen, just go do them. If you wait to long your mind might say, “well I could just do them tomorrow morning, I would rather keep watching TV.” How does this make any difference at all? Well in the morning, you will wake up to a pile of dishes which is bound to make you feel lazy and/or put you in a negative mood. You might end up leaving them to do later, keep adding more dishes, and by the time you actually do them it takes an hour to clean and you have just lost time to yourself, not to mention how awful it would be to wash dishes for an entire hour.

Mel Robbins said she started with counting down from 5 in the mornings to help her wake up to her alarm, rather than hitting snooze multiple times. How easy is it to tell yourself the night before that you want to “wake up early and be more productive,” but when the time comes all of a sudden you hear the alarm, then think “oh yeah I wanted to wake up early today” …followed by, “but I feel tired and it’s warm in here and I don’t NEED to wake up?” Most of the time we know what we need to do to make changes, and that being lazy and putting things off never feels good in the end. I think by making these small changes, it can lead to the bigger changes you have been hoping to accomplish.

What Makes A Morning Person? Scientists Identify New Genetics ... — Source: https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/what-makes-a-morning-person-scientists-identify-new-genetics-behind-early-risers

I decided to write about this today because this morning I didn’t wake up when I said I would, had to do all of the dishes from the day before, couldn’t find anything to wear since the laundry has piled up, was too lazy to workout, didn’t want to write a blog, and just didn’t feel like doing anything in general. Luckily, I remembered this quote and realized I needed to meditate to change my mindset. I meditated for 4 minutes just listening to my breaths.

For the past few days, I’ve said I want to wake up early with my boyfriend who is still going to work, to meditate in the mornings to start my day with a positive mindset, and to exercise to keep up with my physical health. After I meditated, my negative thoughts changed and I realized I have been doing a lot of “thinking” and not a lot of “doing.” I don’t think it’s possible to always remember this rule every second of the day, however, it is something to keep in the back of your mind for when you are feeling unmotivated. I’m glad I had the morning I did, otherwise I would have been stuck in a lazy and unmotivated routine for more than just a couple of days. When I had the thought again that I should write a blog today, I just stood up, went to the computer, and started writing. It’s as easy as that! Don’t give your brain time to talk yourself out of doing something productive.

If you are reading this, I challenge you to stick to your decisions and act on them before the 5 second window approaches especially during quarantine where you can lose motivation in a split second. Start small, and perhaps this will help you with bigger, more uncomfortable decisions in your life.

How to Wake Up Early to Exercise - Thrillist — Source: https://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/how-to-wake-up-early-exercise

Take Advantage of Quarantine

If you are laid off like me, or at least have reduced hours due to COVID-19, take advantage of this time you have to yourself. Yes, it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of fearing what the future might look like, but it’s likely to get back to normal, or at least a “new” normal. I have been surprised to hear from quite a few friends that they secretly are loving this time. I think right now everyone is feeling obligated to be stressed out and hoping things will get back to normal, but it’s totally okay to actually enjoy the “break” from your normally fast-paced life. If anything, I think what we learn from being in quarantine will actually help us in the long run. Let me tell you why.

1. Spending less money

For us, we are saving a ton of money just by cooking at home. We usually go to a restaurant to eat at least once a week, especially when our sports leagues are up and running. Yes, it’s still possible to order in right now, but our problem was we went just to get a different environment, be around people, and to get out of the house. Now that we can’t do that, we are forced to cook at home. This is something that will teach us that it is easier than we thought to make things homemade and prepare meals ahead of time.

We are also not driving as much since we can’t go and visit friends and family and thus saving money on gas. Obviously we miss being able to do this but the upside is saving the money. Again, on road trips we would usually stop and get food along the way as well.

We are unable to go to the movies, go bowling, or any recreational center so we need to depend on other things for entertainment. I think this will really benefit us in the future for when we are bored and need something else for entertainment. We have tried a bit harder for watching movies at home, making “nests” and homemade snacks instead of going to the theatre. We have also been filming YouTube videos as a source of entertainment which we are having a lot of fun with, and it’s something that we would have never done before. I think in the future we will try harder to work with what we have and think twice about spending our money on food and entertainment.

2. Planning ahead

This mostly has to do with getting groceries. Normally, we would have to go a few times a week because we would be craving something, or forgot things for the meals we want to make, or ran out of something that we didn’t expect to. Now that we are trying to only get groceries once or twice a month, it takes a bit more planning ahead. It turns out that it’s not that time consuming and it’s pretty easy. We look at everything that we have already, and think of meals around that.

We are getting much better at using what we have instead of loading up our pantry and forgetting about half of what is already in there. We are also more cognizant about how long fresh food can last and how we can make the most out of it. I hate to admit it, but an example I have is with spinach, we would use it a lot at first, forget about it for a few days, then it would get all wilted and we would throw it out. Now, if it’s starting to get a bit old, we have just been freezing it so we can use it later for spaghetti sauce or casseroles. I’m sure this sounds like a no-brainer to most people, but we honestly just didn’t pay enough attention to what was in our fridge.

There are also a few things we have figured out how to make last longer, such as growing store-bought green onions in water, or storing asparagus or celery in water will make them last longer too. We have learned how to make your own kombucha and sauerkraut, and have pre-made snacks that can be stored in the freezer.

3. Relaxing

Sometimes without trying, I’m sure that everyone ends up with a busy schedule. With work, recreational activities, meeting up with friends, baby shower invites, birthdays, meetings, phone calls, along with household tasks and trying to squeeze in your own hobbies – it’s easy to forget to slow down.

At first it was a bit shocking to go from 100 to 0 in a matter of a few days, but now that I’m settling in, I have found ways to take “me” time that I never gave myself before. Whether it’s cooking or baking something I never have before, colouring or painting, looking back at my old travel pictures, or doing yoga, I am realizing that I have been neglecting both my mind and body from what it needs. Of course, this is from the perspective of someone with no kids and no pets to worry about – that would be a different story.

Usually on my days off while I’m working, I am constantly thinking of what I should be doing to be productive. I am used to completely exhausting my mind by the end of the day to the point that all it can handle is watching TV. My boyfriend would quite often say, “you’ve done a lot, you don’t need to do everything in one day, just relax for the rest of the day.” This is something that I just couldn’t listen to. You could argue that it’s good to be busy to get ahead in life… but this also leads to spreading yourself too thin to the point of burnout.

I have found enough to keep me busy that I feel productive, but I have also allowed myself the time to breath especially now that I have so much more free time in my day. It actually feels wonderful giving that time to myself, and I feel like a better, happier version of myself instead of a stressed out stress ball that’s anxious all the time. I will definitely be more mindful of how I’m treating myself in the future.

4. Time to reflect on life

This sounds deep, I know. I think it’s important to notice what you take for granted every day, what isn’t working in your life, and what you’d like to work on for the future. Like I said before, I have learned that it is much more fun to not stress about everything and to dive into self-care. I also wrote a blog on being a creator and not a consumer, which I have been taking very seriously now. I didn’t realize how much I was consuming – on my phone particularly – outside of work. In the first couple days of quarantine I didn’t really know what to do with myself so I would just go between watching videos and scrolling through memes. I made the decision to delete some apps and took up some hobbies that I could do instead. I think this made a world of difference on keeping my mind busy in a more positive way.

I hope that despite the circumstances, you are able to take this time for yourself and make minor improvements for your day to day life. Now is the time to reflect on your values, make some positive changes, and exercise your creativity in the process.

Nature is Nurture

I never truly realized how much I needed nature until I moved from Vancouver to Kelowna as an adult. I grew up in a few different small towns throughout my life and nature was just something I took for granted. After getting consumed by the city for 4 years, I was used to being around concrete 24/7. Although Vancouver is one of the greenest cities on the planet, it’s still very easy to forget to force yourself to go on hikes or just sit by the beach.

I think there is a specific type of nature that can immediately calm me down. Of course I appreciate being outside in any climate, but when I think of having a campfire by a lake or in the forest, I can immediately relax. I also love the smell of the fresh air wherever I go – I feel like it wakes up my senses immediately.

As I am getting older, I am learning how much of an effort it takes to implement nature into my life. This seems so wrong… humans are meant to live in nature, but our lifestyle has changed so much that we have to make a plan just to go outside of the city?? I definitely didn’t care about this concept as much when I was going to university, but now that I am so focused on my mental health and how much it can be affected by our day to day lives, I NEED to schedule in some time in nature. It’s quiet, fresh, and beautiful. I would like to start making an effort to see the amazing things in my own backyard – here in British Columbia. It seems like in order to accomplish that, I need to spend a lot of time and a lot of money.

My ideal summer

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/6832426/alberta-camping-reservations-cancelled-coronavirus-covid/

Obviously there are numerous hikes available – not right now of course – that are free. However, in the summer in the Okanagan they can get quite overcrowded so it doesn’t really feel like you’re in nature any more. So what is the solution for this? Well, if I grew up in Kelowna I would know all of the best places to go that no one knows about. Luckily, I have made a few friends who are very outdoorsy and can show us where to go and what to do, but this leads to a different problem. A lot of places require a heavy duty vehicle like a truck to get to, and the super adventurous endeavors require excellent camping gear.

It’s difficult to know what to invest in, because if I only get the basics of camping gear then I would have to go to a campground to have a safe trip which costs money and you’re usually around quite a few people. Or, I could invest in top quality camping gear that makes it possible to do some overnight hikes, but then I would have to know where we are going assuming there would likely be no service. We could invest in a GPS, or maybe just go with a knowledgeable friend. I also think it’s possible to avoid the need to upgrade from a car and still have good adventures.

Another summer activity that my boyfriend and I have really wanted to take up is mountain biking. It is a little discouraging that most alternative outdoor sports require good gear, so you really have to commit to what you want to do and make sure that it will be a hobby you enjoy. Not only would we need all of the actual biking gear, but we would also need to figure out a good bike rack to get as well. At our age, we could get a bunch of used stuff to save money, or we could get everything new so it will last a life time and have the best features. I think in the end, all that matters is what can get us active and out in nature right now.

My ideal winter

My ideal winter would be skiing every weekend. Maybe some snow-shoeing here and there, and maybe skating once or twice. I would be happy to have some campfires or try ice fishing. But mostly, I would like to ski.

Obviously the first barrier that comes to mind is the pricey seasons pass. Lately, I have been just paying for a day pass since I only make it out once or twice a year, but I think getting a seasons pass would force me to make the effort to get out and ski. Thankfully I already have my gear, so getting the early bird pass is definitely a possibility. I have some friends that start their payments in July and are fully paid out by the time the ski hill opens.

Other than the price of the pass, it seems to be so dependent on the weather, and the availability of friends… who ski or board… who want to spend the money… and have the time. I have a goal to get more involved with the Kelowna Adventure Facebook groups, as I know there are quite a few of them. For myself, I would rather go with randoms than go by myself. Another option worth looking into would be to join some sort of ladies ski club, so I can learn from other people who ski at the same level as I do. Of course, this would be another investment to make.

Make it happen

Regardless of the most ideal way you’d like to enjoy nature, the most important part is to do what you can, right now, to implement nature in your life in one way or another. It’s good to have dreams and goals as to what your life might look like, but even going for a walk outside to see some trees and flowers will give you a taste of the nature you need because it will nurture your biological need to be outside.

Let Your Ideas Flow

A good friend once told me that the best way to write something was to just write without going back to re-read what you put down. She said that once you stop to go back, you will disrupt your flow and not be able to get back into it. I always need to remind myself to trust the process instead of constantly doubting what I’m doing. I believe this concept applies to more than just writing.

Self-doubt is a killer when it comes to creativity in my opinion. The more your process or flow gets interrupted the less likely your brain can fully finish a concept. That is something that I have been working on for a few years now with any form of creativity. It’s so easy for me to go back and change something immediately or to stop altogether and never go back. This is the main reason that I don’t paint or draw as often as I would like to – which is funny because the more often you paint or draw, the better you will get. I think I depend too much on instructions and doing things the right way sometimes and I don’t leave room for my own thoughts and opinions. I think what stopped me in the past is when my friends in school would comment that my art is “weird and doesn’t make sense,” or that it’s “too abstract.”

This may sound easy to get over, but it’s so nice when people can appreciate the creativity you put into your art work. This is a prime example of why you shouldn’t take things personally, because there are billions of different styles of art work in the world and it’s one thing that absolutely does not have a right or wrong answer. Yes, there are courses on writing, drawing and all sorts of genres of art… but as soon as you finish your own piece of work it doesn’t matter what all the rules are of certain colours that go together, or certain ideas that flow in an article.

There must be a reason why using art therapy is so popular. It’s something that provides an open space for non-judgement, and allows you to understand yourself in a new way in whatever form that may be. I think it would be especially useful for people who don’t think they are creative. You don’t have to be able to paint a self-portrait to be a good artist. It can come in all forms – some people are good at taking pictures, whereas some are good at motivational speaking. The only thing that gets in the way is self-doubt.

So whatever way you want to let your creativity out, I encourage to start and don’t look back and criticize. It’s not so much the end result that you should be focusing on, try to enjoy what you are experiencing in the moment and perhaps every once in a while you’ll have created something you are really truly proud of.

Source: https://www.ronitbaras.com/family-matters/parenting-family/handy-family-tips-5-kids-artwork/

The Circle of Life – Laundry Edition

Something occurred to me the other day. I was cleaning the house and putting in the laundry then I thought to myself… why does life seem to be mostly sleeping, cleaning and eating? Will I look back at my life and remember all the good times when I did the dishes? Then I got really deep – “WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE?!”

Seriously though, we spend about 8 hours sleeping, then a few hours eating, and 8 hours working for a lot of us, then a couple hours cleaning our environment or ourselves. It’s funny because most people consider a fulfilling life to look like a lot of highlight reels going around on instagram right now. You’ll see people skydiving, hiking alps, skiing, bouldering etc… but this is such a minor part of their lives. For most people anyways… but it’s weird when you realize everything else they did that day. First they slept, ate some food, showered and got ready, washed their dishes if they weren’t too lazy, maybe drove for hours and hours and took a nap at that point, went through getting rentals or what have you… Then took a super cool looking picture.

So why do we focus so much on wild things we should be doing “like everyone else”? Most of our lives consist of routine, everyday tasks so we might as well enjoy it. I’ve considered making a post saying “I washed, dried, AND folded all of my laundry today, I hope you can too! We are in this together!” but I guess that’s a little strange to most people. All the necessary cleaning that goes on seems like such a chore, especially after such a long day. I can’t even imagine how it feels with kids. So I have a few thoughts to consider in how to make the most of your life and come to accept the tasks it consists of.

Laundry – the never ending cycle

Why do we do laundry? Well it makes our clothes smell good, gets rid of dirt etc that has been collected throughout the day, and gives us confidence when we are walking out the door. So there you go, we do laundry in order to feel better about ourselves.

Dishes – the worst

Why do we do dishes? Well it allows us a vessel to put food and beverages in, and to be able to make fun food creations also known as meals. It’s a lot nicer to have a satisfying shiny plate to eat off of rather than a well-used one. It’s like creating a blank canvas for the endless possibilities of food consumption. Exciting… isn’t it?!

Vacuuming – the easiest form of physical activity

Why do we vacuum? Well it cleans the floor so we can walk around without socks on. Very liberating… but also it’s like playing Pac-Man, you can see all of the items on the floor so you’re able to chase it around until it gets eaten by the vacuum. Having fun goals like these is the most motivating way to get you moving around the house. Not to mention you need to turn your cleaning music on super loud since you can’t hear anything. And what does loud music lead to? DANCING.

Sleeping – priming for the activities ahead

Why do we sleep? Well there’s tons of science as to why we need to so let’s just accept that we use those 8ish hours to prime for the day ahead. Once we get over the fact that 1/3 of our ENTIRE LIFE is spent rather unconscious, then we can be grateful as to how a great sleep can affect everything else. I’m sure a lot of you believe you will never dance and enjoy vacuuming, however, what if you had an amazing deep sleep and started the day bursting with energy? And you just got a promotion? And you realize you baked cookies last night and see them on the counter? Had it not been for a 10/10 sleep, maybe you wouldn’t quite feel like dancing. But thanks to our amazing bodies and everything it does while we are sleeping, we can be fully recovered and prepared for a whole new day of eating, cleaning and after our energy is depleted, sleeping!

I hope you look at today with a slightly different view – all the things you don’t want to do are actually so worth it and not a waste of time. Have fun with it any way that you can. I would love to know what you do to make every day tasks more exciting!

The Joy of the Morning – Where Did it Go?

Source: https://www.poynter.org/tech-tools/2019/in-praise-of-the-morning-newsletter/

When I was young, my favourite time of day was the morning. I would immediately spring out of bed as soon as I opened my eyes, full of energy and excitement. I loved waking up to the sun shining in my room and knowing that my parents were already awake and starting their coffee. I loved all breakfast foods – breakfast used to be something I needed to have as soon as I woke up. I got to start a new day and choose what I feel like wearing, how I want to do my hair and I would think of all the things I can play all day. The smell of the fresh air in the morning especially in the spring and summer brings back so many memories and can be considered a part of my “happy place”. I definitely didn’t need coffee as a child because I had all the energy I needed. Even when I was at sleepovers, I would always be the first one awake and would have to sit and wait for everyone else to wake up. Going on trips with my family I was definitely way too excited most of the time and would easily wake up early and keep everyone on track.

Now, as an adult, I’ve experienced far too many sleep deprived, stressed out, anxious mornings where I absolutely dread waking up and starting my day. I feel tired, ugly, unmotivated and would rather just lay in bed all day. I don’t want to think about what to wear, my hair sucks and I couldn’t be bothered to wear make up. I skip breakfast a lot of the time now, partially to shorten the amount of hours I am eating, but also to save money. Most of the time when I am on my way to my car to drive to work, I just walk directly in a straight line and I don’t notice anything around me. Not the smells, the flowers, nothing – just dreading about how I have to show up to work and do the same old thing. On the weekends all I want to do is sleep in and go to bed early. The only thing that seems to remain from childhood is the fact that I get excited to travel and will still happily wake up early – the only difference is now I have room to stress out about my flights and everything that could go wrong.

If it’s not obvious at this point, the morning seemed a lot happier as a child. So what happened? You could say as you get older, your energy levels change among other things that happen in adulthood. I think that it’s a result of all of the baggage that starts to weigh you down. Anything and everything that has contributed to fear, anger, embarrassment, guilt, shame, or any negative memory definitely makes it difficult to want to jump out of bed and take on the world.

Now that I’m laid off and in quarantine, I have had a lot of time to think about things. I refuse to accept that my life will look the way it does in adulthood so I’ve been brainstorming how to bring back my love for the morning. I have really started to break down my habits to see how I can improve upon them. This is what I would like to share with you.

1. Phones are for Alarms Only

Yes, it feels good to wake up and see all of your new notifications and to check all of your favourite apps. It’s extra good when you are nice and warm in your bed and know that you have 15 minutes before you absolutely NEED to get out of bed. However, this also runs the risk of all the negative things you might accidentally see on your phone whether it’s news, someone’s highlight reel, or even just the temperature outside. So perhaps if we just don’t look at our phones at all, other than to turn off our alarm, nothing bad can happen to our precious mornings.

2. Gratitude Actually Works

Now that we have gotten rid of any chance of getting negative thoughts in our heads, begin the morning with thinking about what you are grateful for. You can even say it out loud. If you have a partner/spouse you can take this time to tell them what you appreciate about them. Usually, we would both go on our phones and/or complain about how we hate working. It makes a world of difference to just wake up, look each other in the eyes and say why we love one another. But gratitude can be anything really. Maybe you’re happy to have functional hands, or that you have food in the fridge, or that you are alive and breathing! This can be a very humbling experience and leaves no room for negativity.

3. Routine is Everything

I’m sure most of you know that your body functions much better when you stick to a routine. Going to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time helps regulate your circadian rhythm. Even doing this throughout the weekend is important. When I am working this is definitely something I find to be quite difficult. I honestly think it comes down to my routine at night which is also something that I’ve been working on – I might have to make a separate post about this. The more overwhelmed with work I get throughout the week, the more I want to stay up drowning myself in memes or TV shows until late at night when I should really be taking more drastic measures for relaxation – baths, yoga, dim lights etc. More on this later, but for this post, waking up at the same time every day will eventually lead to not even needing an alarm. When I am going solid on a routine and going to bed at an appropriate time, I find myself waking up a few minutes before my alarm every day. This is definitely more ideal than hearing the sound of an annoying wake up call.

4. The Perfect Morning

Instead of thinking about how the mornings used to go and how much they suck now, I’ve had time to realize that I can make my mornings go the way I want to and to figure out what my perfect morning would look like. This is as easy as writing out the problems and coming up with solutions.

Problem #1 – Feeling exhausted
Solution – Stick to a routine, make sure to get enough hours of sleep

Problem #2 – Feeling unmotivated
Solution – Insert gratitude here and everything else will follow. You don’t have to be motivated for something specific every day, as long as you keep moving forward.

Problem #3 – Feeling “ugly”
Solution – Take the time to wash your face or shower, brush your hair, wear something nice, anything that might make you feel better.

Problem #4 – Nothing to look forward to
Solution – What’s something that you would look forward to on a beautiful morning on the weekend? For me, it’s a nice cup of coffee or tea. For some reason, it’s a guarantee that I will have a better morning if I can to sit and enjoy the flavour of a nice warm beverage. Most mornings I am driving or at work while I’m drinking my coffee… both not ideal to truly enjoy it. I also love food… giving myself enough time to make a meal and find time to enjoy it makes a world of difference.

Problem #5 – Tunnel vision
Solution – Stop and smell the flowers. You don’t literally have to do this exact thing, but make a habit of noticing something around you. Stay in the present moment to get out of your head. For me, I need to remember to smell the fresh air and enjoy it the way I did as a child. It’s a quick reminder about all the good things that life has to offer.

I hope that you can find ways to appreciate every day, and enjoy each and every morning among the chaos that can be overwhelming in every day life. We all deserve to live a happy fulfilled life, so why not start to give your mind and body what you deserve. I truly think changing some habits and having a different mindset each morning will only provide positive benefits. If you have other ideas on how to make each and every morning the best one yet, please leave your ideas in the comments below.

How the KonMari Method Changed my Life

For those of you who haven’t heard of the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, I hope I can convince you to go and read it. Either that, or maybe binge watch a few videos on the steps to take. I’m not going to go into detail about what you are supposed to do and how to do. I just want to share how it was worth every minute to get rid of useless items and keep it that way.

It provided an organized system that I couldn’t think of myself

I’m particularly talking about clothes here. I have always folded my clothes the same and squished them into drawers and eventually every few months I would have to pull everything out and refold it all because it just became a huge mess. I had dozens of clothes I wore once, or never, but I couldn’t let myself get rid of them. There was a tremendous amount of guilt built up when I thought about the fact that I bought them with my own money, or they were a gift from someone else.

Only keeping the items that truly spark joy around was such a cool concept to me. Why would I want to keep looking at ugly or useless clothes and feel guilt every time I looked past them? I have so many clothes that I grew out of when I grew up and I’m sure I can only remember a couple of them that I actually liked and wore a lot. So why do I need to keep clothes around that I’ll never wear? This truly made sense to me, more so than other methods I’ve tried using such as “have you worn this in the past 6 months?” With that concept I would just think “no, but I might want to wear it 6 months from now.” This definitely didn’t work. Ever.

The new method of folding my clothes CHANGED MY LIFE. I can SEE everything in my drawer easily, and it all fits and is neat. However, it also probably fit better because I got rid of probably 35 articles of clothing. That’s besides the point… once you get used to folding your clothes a different way, it is easy and I have been using the same method for two years now. I still can’t believe how long I’ve been doing this for… usually new habits take forever to implement but this all just made so much sense to me and was what I’ve been looking for in order to keep a clean, organized living space.

Source: https://justagirlandherblog.com/filing-method-of-folding-clothes-konmari-method/

I’m no longer attached to items

Growing up, my parents were able to provide us with almost everything we wanted. We would get birthday presents, Christmas presents, and were able to go on trips and buy souvenirs. I have always liked having a clean, organized space, but most of the time I would become overwhelmed with everything that was there and I just couldn’t bring myself to get rid of anything so I tidied as much as possible whilst having a ton of things around.

I would sometimes do some “spring cleaning” and donate clothes and items that didn’t mean much to me and that I didn’t use at all. This was usually very minor though. However, after I used this method to go through each category around the house and do it all in one day I was able to get rid of a TON of stuff. It’s true, once you start going with one category you just can’t stop! And it starts to feel GOOD! It’s a little weird to talk to your items before you get rid of them and thank them for what they provided you… but I can be a bit spiritual and appreciate doing it because it actually helped. I have found I can get an emotional attachment to things so talking to them as if they were human actually helped me out.

The result of becoming less attached to items is that I now think twice before I purchase something. I think to myself, do I actually need this? Where will I put it in my living space? Will it become clutter?We recently went to Mexico (before the pandemic was a thing of course) and all I bought was a hat. I only own two hats now, and I actually needed it in Mexico, and for when I play ball in the summer or am going to the beach here in Canada. I didn’t buy a sombrero, or poncho, or tequila, or a blanket, or anything that was being sold everywhere. No magnets, or cheap t-shirts or maracas. I feel so good about this decision because I not only saved money, but now I just have pictures to go back to instead of items that have no real place in my life.

The time to tidy up is now!

Like I said at the beginning, I highly encourage anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by clutter to go and learn about the KonMari Method. I truly think this is a well thought out strategy to keep your living space clutter-free. Turn on some music, start early in the morning on a Sunday (like she suggests), bring everything into your living room and change your life!

Be a Creator, Not a Consumer

Every day, we consume information in all sorts of forms. We wake up, look at our phones to check messages, emails, social media and everything in between. We hear what other people have to say, we have decisions that need to be made and not to mention, our jobs take up 8 hours of our day! For some people these 8 hours are spent doing boring, mundane tasks given to them by their manager or supervisor. Consuming can be beneficial for learning or for fun, but over-consumption doesn’t leave room for our own thoughts and ideas.

What happens after work?

I’m speaking from personal experience here – what do I do after work on most days? I come home feeling tired, lazy and just want to numb out any thoughts. I either cook dinner or order in, but immediately want to watch a show on Netflix while I’m eating, after I’m eating and can’t think of anything else to do except browse my phone, play video games or watch MORE Netflix!!! It’s like my brain cells have been completely used up by work and I no longer want to think. If you don’t have room to think, how can you create?

We spend most of our days at work, and especially for younger people who are trying to grind in order to make a resume look pretty. Can you imagine what we could think of or come up with if we had nothing but time? Well I’m finding a lot of free time during quarantine and I am happier than ever – I don’t feel stressed, anxious or depressed. I feel positive, inspired and optimistic. This seems strange during a pandemic, but I didn’t realize how much of my energy was going into the daily work I was doing that was for someone else. There’s truly something special about creating something by yourself that is very liberating.

Why is it important to create?

When something feels like a task it usually no longer feels enjoyable. I could type out an essay about how to be a creator and not a consumer at a desk job as a project, however, I would probably have to follow guidelines, it might not have been my idea and I would have the time pressures of getting it done. Right now as I sip on coffee and am in my super comfy housecoat, I am loving typing this out because I’m excited to share my idea with the world to help inspire others.

Everyone on this planet has their own experiences, their own brain and there are infinite possibilities with what can be created. Imagine if you sat down to paint a flower instead of look at memes on your phone for hours. Why would this be beneficial? Well first of all, you would be learning a skill. You would be mindful in what you are doing. And you would end up with something that YOU created! Before sitting down to paint that flower, you didn’t know what would end up being on that page. But now it’s there. ISN’T THAT AMAZING?! Would you feel the same after looking at hundreds of memes on your phone? I don’t think so.

Implement creativity every day

I think a huge factor that could help save our brain power has a lot to do with using our phones, as most of us cannot change what we need to do at work. I’ve researched many ways on how to treat our “phone addiction” because I find it fascinating how much I use my phone without realizing. It’s also quite worrisome as to how much I say to myself “only one YouTube video before bed,” or “I’ll only browse through Reddit for a few minutes this morning,” or, “I don’t need to see all this stuff on social media” only to find that I’ve spent hours doing all of these things.

One thing that I’ve found to be useful is to delete apps that aren’t useful to you for your own personal growth. Especially if you want to work towards something and are procrastinating, getting rid of all distractions is essential. In addition to deleting useless apps, try not to use your phone for an hour after you wake up, and to put your phone away an hour before bed. I’ve heard of people who have baskets in their house for everyone to put their phones in so they can interact with each other and connect on a human level. So far, I’ve found that I have enough self-control to just leave my phone and block out times throughout the day to check anything new that has come in. I have found that my conversations with my boyfriend are wholesome and it’s much nicer knowing we are both listening to each other rather than kind of paying attention while still being on our phones.

So how can you implement creativity every day? Perhaps write a list of things you enjoy doing and why you enjoy doing them. Or anything that you’ve wanted to do for a long time but haven’t gotten around to doing. I’m sure all of us can think of at least one thing that requires creativity, but we haven’t been able to do it because our brains are already full of other things. Once your main distractions are gone, really dive deep on what interests you and just do it! Just start. There is nothing to lose when you are creating something and leaving a mark in this world, but there is valuable, unique talent wasted when you are consumed by everything around you.

Source: https://society6.com/product/wild-rose-watercolor-art-pink-flower-painting-nature-art-flowers_print

COVID-19: What a Time to be Alive

Although many of us are facing the consequences of what this pandemic has created, I am feeling rather optimistic about the whole thing. I’ve been laid off from my job and for the first time in a while, I am motivated to work towards my passions. Usually, after working all day I would dwell on work and just think about how I have to work the next day. All day long I am consuming information with little to no room for creativity in other aspects of my life. Now that all I have is time, and an excuse to stay home, I feel more positive than ever to take up hobbies that can hopefully lead to new opportunities.

I think that despite the fear that is currently instilled in everyone, we have the opportunity to take a step back and realize everything we have been longing to do. I have been connecting with friends and family much more than normal, and all I have room for is to exercise my creativity! I have learned several new recipes, I’ve been forced into making things homemade and it has actually been quite fun. I am now working on my blog which has been neglected for almost a year, and today I started my first podcast!! Yay!!

Everyone should take advantage of this time we have to ourselves, with no obligations or responsibility (other than staying home) and find what truly brings joy. Please stay safe, we are all in this together!