Life

The Philosophy That Will Change Your Life | March For Mental Health

/ Catherine / 4 Comments

“Do your future self a favour and work hard today”

I first heard this quote on Alfie Deyes’ YouTube channel a long time ago. It’s in the back of my mind somewhere and I try to put it into every day action. However, I don’t completely agree with it.

The most extreme instance of this would be on your deathbed. If you had seized all the opportunities you were given, you’d be happy. However, if you had regret you wouldn’t want to die. Most of us live with regret, but we also live with achievements. Don’t the achievements feel much better to acknowledge?

I don’t believe you should work you ass off with the mindset ‘this will all pay off one day’. That is not living. You should push a bit harder now and you will have better results. But make sure you have time for life among your work. Go and meet up with your friend for a coffee, or arrange a holiday. Working hard now doesn’t mean you’ll have a better future. In fact, you are not doing your future self a favour. Time spent with friends is more prominent in your memory than when you got a promotion.

The reason I am putting this out on the Internet is because it changed my life. You’ll be reading thinking: what? How?

Simply, if you make yourself dinner your body will thank you. If you had a takeaway your future self would be like: “ugh, I feel so gross.” Making a sandwich may take a bit more time, but your future self will say: “thanks, past me. I feel better for eating this over a takeaway. And now I have extra money to buy that book I’ve always wanted”. 

Stop saying ‘my healthy lifestyle will start tomorrow’. Sorry for sounding morbid, but what if there is no tomorrow? How would you feel for being stuck in bed on your last day on Earth? Cliches are cliches for a reason. 

Do you think about your future self when you make decisions today? 

erin x

(It took a lot of courage to post such a cringy post. I can’t read through it twice without thinking ‘eww that’s so cringe!” LOLOLOLOL I am not posting this. Someone I know finds it and then our friendship is gone forever. This is actually a big risk. Should I post it or not? Will it benefit my future? Or am I putting at risk everything I have ever lived for? Or am I overreacting? Someone help me out here!)

Looks like I posted it anyways…

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The ‘M’ in March Means Mental Health. This month I am sharing with you a series of mental health related posts. There is such a stigma attached to mental health and we all need to realise how disrespectful it is to overlook this issue. In the UK, about 30% of young people have mental health problems. That is a huge number. That’s approximately 1 in 3 people! So, for those of you suffering, I hope these posts gives you some help. And for the other 70%, I hope these posts remind you to be more aware of your own mental health. Caring for your mind is just as important as caring for your body. So please tag along in this journey as we all shares our thoughts together. An overwhelming number of people wanted to help in this cause so I’ll also share with you their perspectives on mental health too!

7 Places & Countries I’d Love To Visit

/ Catherine / 16 Comments

Inspired by my good blogging friend Arabella (Sparks Of Ara) I’ve decided to share with 7 places I’d love to visit! As much as I love travelling, I’ve hardly been outside of Europe. Today’s post is going to be a little insight into my life goals. I’m very fortunate to be able to dream about where I want to go in life. I have friends that don’t have the money to go on holiday so I do feel really privileged to have experienced the things I have. Sometimes I can get carried away by ‘dreams’ and ‘wants’. Like any ambitious teenager, once I’ve finished university I’d love to go around the world! It’s been on my bucket-list since I can remember. If you have been/live in anywhere I mention in the post then I would love to chat about it!

ALL OF THE PHOTOS IN THIS POST ARE NOT MY OWN

Norway

Arabella chose this one too, but I think that Norway is such a wonderful country. It would be great to see the Northern Lights and have a little biking trip around all of the cute villages. However it would be a pricey ordeal so I don’t know how long it will be until I get to this one!

Provence, France

I’ve visited France twice, but always in the North. I’d love to venture South into the lavender fields of Provence! It is a very picturesque landscape and everything looks so stripped back and tranquil. 

New Zealand

Imagine if I could visit every continent before I die (possibly excluding Antarctica)? If I was to visit Oceania it would be to see the sights of New Zealand. My dad has a friend over there so it would be possible to have accommodation free 😅 I’m not as intrigued by Australia but seeing a performance in the Opera house would be stunning!

Japan

Full of huge stationery shops, wonderful nature and the birth place of Pokèmon – I wonder why I don’t live there already? Recently there has been a surge of people on social media visiting Japan and I’d just like to hop on the bandwagon. It is also home to the world’s biggest stationary store. I could spend by days flicking through art paper and trying out pens!

Morocco

I can’t handle heat but I would love to visit Africa all the same. A few people I know have visited Morocco for a holiday. I wouldn’t go for the culture but more of a ‘kick back and relax’ sort of destination. 

Canada

Learning French does me a favour because a lot of the world speaks it, even in Canada. If I could only visit one city out of the whole country I would go to Quebec. Or Toronto. I suppose I’d have to look into it more! 

Rio De Janeiro 

The only continent I’ve missed off this list is South America! Rio is a really lively and interesting place. It’s a hotspot for tourists and full of culture. I’ll have to improve my Portuguese before I even think about going though! I don’t know a word in Portuguese (other than the ones in the Twilight novels 😂)

Do you have a travel bucket list? What is the favourite place you’ve visited (even if it’s in the same country that you live in)?

erin x

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My Christmas Bucket-List | 5 Activity Ideas For Winter

/ Catherine / 22 Comments

Thank you so much Zoe for the idea for this post! Make sure to check out her blog, YouTube and Instagram if you haven’t already. Between now and Christmas I’d like to complete a few festive things (big and small) and this post is going to be a place for all of those ideas! Also, if you don’t know what activities to do in the holidays, then this is a perfect place to find things to do.

  • Go to a Christmas/local market

This is an item on my list that I have already completed! Last Friday I went to a nighttime market after school and it was very jolly. All the Christmas lights are up in town so that definitely added to the coziness (despite it being freezing). I love buying local produce and this market was a hive for that sort of stuff!

  • Make a gingerbread house

This one is a bit ambitious but with patience I’m sure that I’ll be able to achieve it. Usually we buy a kit and just do the decorating. However, that doesn’t usually take long. So to make the project last a bit longer I’ve had the idea to make it from scratch! If it goes well then I’ll definitely post it on my Instagram.

  • Roast chestnuts

We do have chestnuts and we do have an open fire! Now the only thing we need is time.

  • Watch Christopher Robin on the sofa with a hot chocolate

This activity is much less demanding from the money-aspect of things. My mum and I really love Winnie-The-Pooh and when Christopher Robin came out we were immediately obsessed! We don’t yet have the DVD so that’s on the Christmas Wishlist. Christmas can be super busy so it would be nice to find a free afternoon to do this!

  • Make a Christmas/Winter wreath

Back in Autumn my friend and I made autumn wreaths out of all of the fallen orange leaves. I’d like to do the same but for Christmas. There’s not much foliage about in Winter but I’m sure I’ll be able to find some evergreens and pinecones! If all else fails we do have a wreath for the door but I thought that it would be nice to make my own this year. If you get your friends or family around it can be a great activity to do with them!

And that makes a perfect five things to achieve this season! If you end up recreating any of these ideas then do let me know via Instagram. I am aware that not all of my readers are Christian but hopefully you’ll be able to do some of these things without the Christmas twist! (such as making a winter wreath, or going to a local market) Thank you all for reading and have a lovely week!

What are your favourite Christmas activities? Do you have any winter traditions?

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The Little Book Of Lykke | The Danish Search For The World’s Happiest People| Book Review

/ Catherine / 12 Comments

Title: The Little Book Of Lykke

Author: Meik Wiking

Publisher: Penguin Life

Number Of Pages: 288

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis 

It’s easy to see why Denmark is often called the world’s happiest country. Not only do they have equal parental leave for men and women, free higher education and trains that run on time, but they burn more candles per household than anywhere else.

So nobody knows more about happiness – what the Danes call lykke – than Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and author of the bestselling sensation The Little Book of Hygge . But he believes that, whilst we can certainly learn a lot from the Danes about finding fulfilment, the keys to happiness are actually buried all around the globe.

In this captivating book, he takes us on a treasure hunt to unlock the doors to inner fulfilment. From how we spend our precious time, to how we relate to our neighbours and cook dinner, he gathers evidence, stories and tips from the very happiest corners of the planet. This is the ultimate guide to how we can all find a little more lykke in our lives.

My Thoughts

Reading this book was really fulfilling. It’s the first non-fiction book that I’ve read cover to cover this year! I really enjoyed the casual tone and I learned so much in a short 288 pages. I know that Hygge is now a popular lifestyle throughout the world though its origin is in Scandinavia. Similar to Hygge, Lykke is the idea of happiness and finding fulfilment in the little things. This book had a constant theme that material things do not bring fulfilment and I agree! I found it almost like my old self giving me a reminder and it felt like meditation whenever I was reading it. The book was split into categories and then the final categories was a round up and I found that really helpful. I finished it this morning and now I find myself off to a good start! I would really recommend this book and though you can find most of its content online, nothing beats the contentment of reading in bed. I feel like the message comes across more prominently when reading. 

Have you read about Lykke? What are your thoughts on a Hygge lifestyle? 

I hope you all get a chance to implement Lykke into your life today,

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October Bullet Journal Spread | Warm Tones, Cosy Nights & Fairy Lights

/ Catherine / 4 Comments

It is finally the time of year to drink pumpkin spice lattes, burn lots of candles (sorry, polar bears) and put your jumpers on. October is one of my favourite months because I have finally got into the regular school routine and all of my clubs have started again. It is a very busy month but the evenings are rewarding with their beautiful (sometimes warm) golden hours! I love reading and writing in the late afternoon sun. The absence of rainy days is noticeable now. I can’t say I look forward to plans being cancelled but staying at home on the weekends is a treat! I often spend rainy days in the library and read book after book (not that good for my health but my mind benefits). Today I am sharing with you my first autumnal bullet journal spread. I stuck to warm, brown tones and October’s theme is fairy lights. Though simplistic, I hope you like it.

I rarely do a cover page but drawing is very therapeutic (I recommend book tube in the background). I made the fairy lights as simple as possible: just a wire with little dots in alternating colours. I was going to try doodling bulbs but that would take more hours than I wanted to spend!

My month-at-a-glance is where I document events and upcoming dates. I don’t need a lot of space to do this so I used the spare third of the page for habit trackers. So far this year I have kept up with my habit trackers; I hope that means I will fill them out this month too! I also included a master to-do list. This is where I write things that need to be done but not on a specific date (just when I have the time). I haven’t, yet, done anything with the remaining space but I might add a quote if I find a good one. The best quotes are hidden in books!

In October I am attempting a mood tracker spread. I used to use an app called Daylio but having a record offline somehow affirms my mood better. Journalling with pen on paper feels much more relieving than to write on a computer: I don’t know why! If I do fill this out daily then I will show you the end result. To add in a bit of Halloween, I made the last lantern pumpkin-shaped. Going with a full-on Halloween theme isn’t really my thing because I don’t celebrate it much. However,  pumpkin carving is a tradition!

I’m very excited for what October has to bring. In September I implemented new habits, routines and hobbies. With luck, I will finish 10 books and keep fit (sounds ambitious but I’m really going to push myself).

What are you goals for this month? How are you going to try and achieve them?

I wish you all the luck for October and thank you for reading!

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