Little Steps To.. Relieving Stress

Hello lovelies,

This post is part 2 of my "Little Steps To.." posts. I blogged about ways to find happiness last week, so today is all about de-stressing & how I find ways to switch off at the end of the day.

1. Go outside

I find at the end of the day is when I'm most stressed. I'll come home from work & immediately think 'I've done nothing today, if I was at home I could have done all these things & now I have such a lot to do'. Sound familiar? Yeah, I know right. My job means I am stuck behind a desk for the day, I do get to see the outside world, but I'm unable to actually go out & enjoy it, so I find when I get home all I want to do is go outside. This is obviously a lot better in the summer when the sun is shinning & you can feel those rays on your skin. However, sometimes it is just nice to have a walk in the chilly, frosty air & come back to a nice warm house.

2. Animals

Ah where do I start with this one? I am so grateful every day to have animals in my life & to have been brought up around them. My family have had chickens, cows & horses since I was born. We got our first cat when I was 5 & a few years later, we got our first dog. Since then, we've had dogs ever since & even though we no longer have cows or horses, we still have chickens. All I remember when I was younger was whenever I was upset, my mum would give me a chicken. I'd sit with the chicken & stroke it while it sat on my lap & it immediately calmed me down. Now I don't understand exactly how animals do it, but they are just the most comforting, reassuring things ever. Honey gives me so much love every day & I can't thank her enough for it.

3. Read

I'm hopeless at picking up a book. The only time I really read is on holiday where I get stuck into a book & will get extremely excited & say to myself I'm going to continue this at home, but I never do. It's such a shame because there are so many books out there I want to read but just haven't gotten round to it. What I do manage to pick up & read is non-fiction books. I mentioned the book Calm in a blog post last year which I'm still obsessed with, but I'm also currently loving Hygge (I'm going to do a full post on this in a few weeks time) but I'm addicted to it, anyone else?

4. Colouring

I got some new pencils & a colouring book for Christmas & I'm loving sitting down with it in the evening. You can pick up some beautiful books from The Works at the moment (they have an amazing sale right now!) but I know most places will sell them now as they are making a comeback! 

5. Meditation

Ok, so I touched on this in my Calm post last Summer, but meditation has become such a big part of my life. I sadly don't manage to practice it as much as I'd like, but I can't believe how amazing it is. If you haven't tried, I'd highly recommend it. Calm & Headspace are my favourite apps to use.

6. Planet Earth

Ok, so you've probably got to this one & thought, what the actual **** but hear me out! As I've already mentioned, animals & being outside are two of my stress relievers, so why wouldn't a program all about animals in the natural world relax me as well? I'll give you an example. For my birthday, I'd organised a night out at the local pub for my group of friends to go for drinks on a Saturday night. So, if I'm honest, I put up the event on complete auto-pilot & it was only after I'd selected the people to invite, made the event & posted it on Facebook, my heart sank. I'd organised something on the busiest night of the week, surrounded by people drinking. My head was screaming 'WHAT HAVE YOU DONE'. If you haven't already guessed, this was one of the worst scenarios for me to put myself in, which is silly because I used to do it most weekends when I was 18/19, but I'm in a completely different frame of mind now. I was ok up until 3 hours before we were due to meet everyone & I sat down with James, almost in tears, saying I couldn't go. Being the amazing man he is, he wrapped my up in his duvet & put on Planet Earth on iPlayer & we sat in silence & watched it. Half way through I realised I was ok. My chest felt lighter & I could breathe again. My head was saying 'you can do this, it's your birthday, nothing bad is going to happen'. & I listened. The program ended, I got ready & went out & I had one of the best nights out I've had in ages. So yes, Planet Earth is my saviour.

I would love to know what you do when you're stressed & how you find ways of calming yourself down. Remember to check out my "Little Steps To.. Happiness" post as part of this series if you liked this one : )

Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Bloglovin' / Pinterest / Facebook

Little Steps To.. Happiness

Hello lovelies,

I absolutely love reading these posts, so I thought I'd share what I do to boost my mood when I'm having a down day.

1. Pamper yourself

You know that Lush bath bomb that's been sitting in your bathroom, just waiting to be used? Run a bath, light some candles, put on some music & dunk that bad boy in! Nothing makes me happier than seeing a bath bomb whizz around the water! 

2. Try doing your makeup / hair differently

So, at the beginning of the year I saw on Twitter some bloggers deciding they would stop wearing makeup everyday. I used to be that person that wouldn't leave the house till I had a full face of makeup, but since the beginning of the year (thanks New Year's resolutions!) I've been wearing a lot less makeup each day, only putting on a full face if we're going out for dinner or for a special occassion, but also trying different makeup has made me feel like a new woman. Silly really, but such a small thing can really brighten your mood. Same with changing your hair up a bit. I had mine cut at the very end of last year & I love it, but it can simply come down to how you style it if you aren't comfortable with having a chop. Why not curl it today? Or try out that space bun trend that has always seemed a bit wacky? I find looking online, there are soooo many tutorials now. Why not have a search on YouTube for a step-by-step guide or look up some images on Pinterest.

3. Retail therapy

This one is just my favourite thing to do. Ok, so firstly, I don't mean spending hundreds & thousands, I just mean treating yourself to that pair of boots that have been sitting in your ASOS basket for the past few weeks. Just something to look forward to coming in the post is the best feeling.

4. Netflix

Since James & I got Netflix, I've been obsessed. I've been watching things I never usually watch (The OA for example, which I've reviewed recently & Making A Murderer which we are half way through!) but I find when I'm feeling low, all I need is a bit of time spent with my favourite tv characters. Big Bang Theory is one of our favourites when we need a laugh. The episodes are only 20 minutes long & are extremely funny!

5. Be social

I find meeting up with a friend or group of people will instantly brighten your mood. I know when I'm feeling down, all I want to do is sit at home & not socialize, but it really does help if you can get our the house & see people. My girls always know how to put a smile on my face, no matter what.

6. Plan a trip

So, you might not live close to friends or maybe you've texted around & everyone already has prior commitments. No worries, why not plan a trip to see them? I always find if I have an event in my calendar, it's something exciting to look forward too. James & I are potentially looking at going to Wales soon to visit his friend Tom & I can't wait to start planning our adventure.

What do you do to brighten your mood? I would love to know in the comments below!

& don't forget to pop back to see my next "Little steps to.." posts. I'm going to do at least two more; how to relieve stress & how to reduce anxiety.

Twitter / Instagram / YouTube / Bloglovin' / Pinterest / Facebook