It is liberating to be alive.
To be alive and healthy is something I take for granted, and that’s completely normal. But today, in the beautiful sunshine, I was smiling to myself. I was so happy to be under the sun, living with my family! It’s those little moments when you realise ‘I’m so lucky to be alive’ that make your day. Hope you get this feeling, too. Take care of yourselves, lovelies! Sorry for the abundance of six word stories, I’ve just been super inspired lately.
I can’t contain my excitement to announce this new initiative! For a while I’ve been considering starting my own hashtag because they seem to be really popular on Instagram at the moment. Also, since The Positivity Project, I’ve been searching for new ways to spread happiness even in the darkest times. After a couple of late nights and brainstorming, I thought of the perfect idea: Stay At Home Sunshine!
In its simplest form, this hashtag is a hub of positivity. However, just photos was too simple for me. I’ve decided, taking inspiration from the amazing Emma Blether, to create questions each week for people to answer in their captions, via photos or as blog posts. They won’t be any random questions either, always sticking to the initial idea of positivity. This week’s question is ‘What are you grateful for?’ Can’t wait to see your answers on Instagram, or even over here on WordPress! Just make sure to tag me so I can see it straight away.
Not only will this hopefully increase levels of happiness for my followers, but also growth! Hashtags are a great way to boost engagement and find new people. Plus, if all people posting to that hashtag are passionate about positivity, you’re curating your feed to be a good space! This seems like a great idea in my mind, and that’s why I need your help.
Creating a project like this one requires a lot of energy. To see all of that effort wasted, due to people not responding, is so disheartening. Please, if you have the time, participate in my positivity project! Every comment is dearly appreciated, from two word answers to paragraphs of inspiration. Don’t forget to add stayathomesunshine to the bottom of the caption either!
My Instagram feed at the moment is so inspiring. Loads of people have been spreading love and happiness, and that’s the main reason I began this whole thing. It’s you, my wonderful followers, who make it possible. I can’t thank you enough for that.
So, in response to Week One of Stay At Home Sunshine…
YOU!
Hope you all have a great week, whether you’re participating or not. Remember to head over to my Instagram because that is where the bulk of the project will be shared. However, I’m also hoping that if we get some lengthy answers then I can compile them into a blog post (with the author’s permission of course!) You may also want to be aware that I’m going to like and comment on every post under the hashtag. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Can’t wait to see your responses.
Lots of love,
Spread the word! I’d appreciate if you could reblog, share the link with a friend or even leave a like. Anything to help get more people involved is worth it! This project isn’t about boosting engagement or followers, it’s about being happy even in the darkest of times.
Instagram (where they party music is playing!)
Today I bring you a really exciting post: a collaboration with Emma Blether! We’ve all been struggling during lockdown, and many people have been recommending to ‘stick to normal routine’. How do we do that? Emma and I wrote 5 tips each for you to follow. You can check out my ideas on Emma’s blog after you’ve read these ones! Now on to Emma’s recommendations:
My first tip is to break the days into segments. What I mean by this is plan what you want to do during each part of the day. If I was breaking my day into segments I would have: morning, afternoon, evening. You could break it down even less if you wanted to, for example: before breakfast, breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, after lunch, mid-afternoon, late afternoon, dinner, evening, night. I would plan to do certain things in each segment for example before lunch I want to have finished writing this blog post. Or between after lunch and mid afternoon I want to have my English essay written.
This one helps especially if you work Monday to Friday or attend school etc.
Having a routine during the week will hopefully help me to sort out what school work I need to do, helps me with deadlines and just generally be more productive! I want to try and make the weekends my time for no routine and just relaxing, being with my family and working on things I enjoy doing! (YouTube, blogging). For example I might set a target to wake up before 8 between Monday and Friday but on Saturday and Sunday either set that time later or I don’t set an alarm at all 🙂 Doing this should hopefully allow you to have time to work hard and get things done during the week but also relax during the weekend. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t spend time relaxing, keeping active and looking after yourself during the week. Try to keep a nice balance, but maybe stick to a routine on weekdays.
Having a tidy space can make you feel in control and ready for the day so starting with a clean room can help you stick to your routine because it simply motivates you.
I’m still working on this. I am trying to be strict with myself so that I actually go to sleep at the time I want and can get up relatively early so I can get my day up and going. Making sure you stick to a sleeping pattern means you will be more active, awake and will be less likely to wake up late and more likely to follow the routine you have set for yourself.
Friday is for being thankful. Let’s take a step back and appreciate everything that has happened this week, even the little moments. I encourage you to write out a list of all the things, big and small, that you are grateful for. In my journal I occasionally write out the little things I’m grateful for, such as: sun shining on to my bed, a livestream starting when I’m on Instagram or having the exact amount of sugar left in a bag when I’m baking (weird but instantly satisfying). In this post I’d like to write the big things I would like to show more appreciation towards:
Clearly we have the health service to be immensely grateful for at this time. Without them, our country would be in pieces. While we are all insanely terrified at home, these people are still going into work every day. Even before the pandemic, I always recounted to myself how lucky I was to have free healthcare. It’s brilliant that we have this service, and now more than ever we need to support it!
Luckily, my family have always had enough to support themselves. I can’t ever remember a meal time where I’d go hungry. It’s truly a blessing. Though I am greedy sometimes, I have always wanted to give up my meal for someone who would better appreciate it. Since we can’t go out, we can’t donate physical food to local food banks. However, just look through some fundraising sites! You can donate money to charities who will buy food for the less fortunate. If that isn’t available to you, just appreciate your next meal or snack. Really savour it and think to yourself how lucky you are.
I really take for granted the fact that I can drink clean water without hassle: just turn the tap on and it’s there! In my shower, sink and bathtub I have clean running water. It’s so necessary to my daily life yet so under-appreciated.
For my whole life I’ve never been alone. Behind me I have a supportive family. Now, more than ever, I’m really glad to have company (though sometimes other people can be a hindrance XD). Even my friends act as family, which I really appreciate. Without them I’d go insane! For those of you that are alone, I want you to know that you’re also not alone. There are many people in your situation! Try to reach out over the Internet and start a conversation and I promise you will feel better. Though it may seem, not everyone is out to make you unhappy. See the light in things, you know?
Quite weird and random, I know. But having the products to clean myself and my clothes with is really important to me. I know people who don’t have enough of these things and that makes me so grateful to have it. Things like a washing machine, or even as simple as shampoo. I can have a shower as and when I choose. I can wash myself with soap and shampoo. I can even moisturise when I step out the shower. These little things are so big in other people’s eyes, and puts into perspective my greed. I just take this stuff for granted because I’ve never done without (apart for a week’s camp which didn’t have any showers, just portaloos. Surprisingly I would like to have that experience again!)
Here’s the completed rainbow! I created then stuck it in my window, as a way of saying thank you for the hard work the health service are putting in at this time.
Hope you’re all doing okay! It’s really hard to put yourself together in these difficult times. To even have the energy to get up and write this post is a miracle. I’ve been in a self-isolation/Easter chocolate coma for the past week! Take care of yourselves, and don’t forget to live in the moment (easy way to do this is switching off social media and the news for a bit. Try reading a book or getting on with an old hobby!)
Make the comment section a collection of happiness for anyone feeling a bit low!
Throughout these difficult times, a group of my friends on Instagram decided to form The Positivity Project. Created by Emily, this project aims for people to be more happy even in the most difficult circumstances. To launch this project, I will be posting every single day this week: updating you on the recent prompts and how to complete them. I would like you to head on over to Emily’s blog (and Instagram) because she is the amazing person who create this idea. Let us both know how you’re staying positive in the comments of this post! Or go a step further and tag us in photos on Instagram.
In this new year I would like to bring a focus. I see ‘words of the year’ all over social media and thought it would be a good idea to try it out for myself. The word for 2020 is Lykke, the Danish word for happiness. As one of my new years goals is to become a RAKtivist I thought it would be appropriate to use a word that would tie in with the idea of kindness. A RAKtivist is a person who commonly displays random acts of kindness. You can sign up on the Random Acts Of Kindness website and get a free calendar for each month. It is quite unrealistic for me to aim to do one random act of kindness a day but doing it sometimes is better than nothing.
Being happy was something I didn’t get much of last year. I had a phase through the autumn wherein I was demotivated not only to blog but to simply wake up. I was building up to the new school year and expected it to be great but it felt so mundane. Luckily a spark was reignited and I managed to get back on my regular schedule before the new year began. Doing the second-a-day challenge gave me a great sense of gratitude for the little things. And being grateful brings me happiness.
Nothing will ever be perfect. I used to think there was a way to have an unflawed life but that was a foolish notion. Now I have lived through enough new years to know what I should expect from myself. I do have my new year’s goals coming on Friday if you’d like to have a look at them.
Happiness is that feeling that comes over you when you know life is good and you can’t help but smile. Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness.
My main aim for 2020 is to spend less time dwelling on what could be, living in the moment and feeling lykke. You will be the witnesses to see if that happens!
Thank you for sticking by me through the years. I can’t believe that I’m entering my third year of blogging. And if it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be sitting on the sofa staring into space.
Best wishes for the new year,
