Becoming an Adult

Hi

So today (or any random day, depending when you read this...) I went to a Cheap As Chips store. Which does sound like a delicious low priced sea food restaurant but you are wrong. For those who don't know (do they have Cheap As Chips everywhere? I don't know, and google would mean opening another tab and that's not going to happen - anyway). 

For those who don't know Cheap As Chips is just a store full of pretty much everything you could imagine (bits and bobs) that are just incredibly cheap. They do flowers, candles, decorations, tables, pillows, toys, candy, fake plants, really unflattering sunglasses, you name it. 

So I'm at Cheap As Chips and I stumble across this candle. But not just ANY candle.. this one comes with it's own little holder or 'tray' as I've been calling it. 

Just Your Average Candle

At this point, I'm thrilled. I love candles and I've truly believed they're quite literally the mark of being an adult. Don't get me wrong, this is not my first candle. I've been dotting candles everywhere I can for a few years now to create the illusion of maturity but I don't feel it's ever really worked for me.

Alas I find the aforementioned candle. You may be thinking "Wow, it's a cheap candle on a dish. Great job, genius. You're all grown up. Enjoy your taxes." And to that I say fair enough and also, rude. But I'll forgive you because I KNOW there's more to this candle that you might think. Once you turn it around...

KIDDING: PEBBLES.

BOOM. TINY PEBBLES. You get to decorate your own candle. It comes with a tray, a candle and a packet of pebbles for you to place on the tray and then display proudly to everyone who visits your home.

I know what you're thinking now. "Wow. Pebbles. That must have cost her a fortune. Ten dollars at least. Those pebbles make the value sky-rocket."

Hey Big Spender

INCORRECT AGAIN, MY FRIEND. Although the value in my heart skyrocketed. The value on the price tag says three dollars. 

And it is now, looking at the sort-of-creation that I feel I have truly succeeded as an adult. I have decorated. 

Grueling Process

Inspirational

It turns out that it's not leaving your parents house, paying your own bills, your own rent, buying your own food, your own petrol, having a job or starting University. It's candles. Candles are the key to your feelings of success.

Don't be me. Don't wait until you're 23. Do it now. Do it while you're young and don't spill the pebbles on the floor while trying to open the packet.

Adult

Prosper. 

Change

Hi

I'm sure you're aware that as we get older we naturally change. Sadly, yourself and those around you won't all change at the same rate. This can be a little hard to accept.

I've found recently that I'm at a point in my life where I just don't have the energy to put into things that shouldn't need it. For a while I wondered why I was so disconnected from the people around me lately and what had happened to everyone. Turns out, they're all pretty much the same but I've (for a while, unknowingly) changed. A lot.

Change is good and you can't avoid it. But sometimes you change in a way that takes you from those around you.

I found the hard way that I had people in my life who were just not good for me. I didn't realise this until I'd started getting a little more confident in myself, realising what I wanted and standing up for myself. These people were quite cruel to me; controlling and unkind. But I'd been around these people for so long that I honestly didn't realise how cruel they were being until I decided to stand up for myself. Then it hit me. I was always anxious, waiting for them to be cruel. Waiting for the moment they would turn. I just never knew if I was going to get 'nice' them or 'mean' them and it was horrible. I didn't want to live my life like that, even if it meant losing my friends.

I'm not going to lie, change can be lonely. I probably feel more isolated now than ever before, and I'm still waiting for the day that I'll get horrible messages of anger towards me for distancing myself.

But I'm not okay with that being my life anymore.

Sometimes you have to break down before you can build yourself back up.  All you can do is know that in the long run you're doing what's best for you, even if it's tough now.

Why ME? (Dealing With Embarrassment)

Hi

Now, I am someone who for some reason ends up in a lot of embarrassing situations or embarrassing things just seem to fling themselves right at me. I don't know what it is about me or why it happens but anyone who has been around me will probably agree that I am an embarrassment magnet.

I have many stories I could insert, from the time my mum invited someone I barely knew over for a sleepover when I was 14 and we sat in silence for literally the entire night to the time I first went for a pap smear (too much information? sorry). But whether it be something little or something huge, almost on a daily basis I'll end up doing something stupid. This could be because I really dislike serious situations so I tend to make a joke out of everything... Turns out not everyone is always ready for sarcasm. Anyway... Seeing as my entire life has been and probably will continue to be a stream of humiliating events I thought I'd share a few things to keep in mind and help you through your own embarrassing situations:

1. It Wont Last Forever

That moment when you're doing a presentation in front of a huge group of people, you're really nervous and you go to make an enthusiastic introduction but while doing so you get a little too enthusiastic, end up throwing your speech notes over the other side of the room while opening your arms into a "welcome to my presentation" motion and have to scurry over to pick them all up while everyone is staring at you wondering how you've made it this far in life? Yeah, I've been there. Only, I'm incredibly prone to my entire face going bright red so add that to the scenario and basically my mind decides that this is it. I've had a good life but at this very point I'm better off on another planet. I don't know if anyone else does this (I assume they do..) But I will go home, sit on my bed and try to distract myself with anything I can while making endless plans in my head on ways to never leave the house again (yay for supermarkets delivering now!).

But, sadly, life doesn't stop so you can take the seven thousand years you feel like you need to recover. The next day you have to go back and maybe face those people again. But, they will forget. It is much more of a big deal to you than it is everyone else. No one else has gone home and spent 12 hours thinking about what happened, only you. Besides, if someone does bring it up, you can just be the 'quirky funny one'. Which brings me to number two.

2. Laugh With Them

If you've done something embarrassing, everyone is laughing and all eyes are on you: Your very best bet is to join them. I think in life it's excellent to have the ability to laugh at yourself. However, I will admit that when you're red faced and wishing that people would focus on absolutely anything but you... this can be hard to do. But if you laugh, even if you don't feel like laughing, and acknowledge what's happened... then you're letting them know that you're in on the joke and you think it's funny too. "You can't hear them laughing if you're laughing louder" <-- I don't know who came up with that quote but it's brilliantly true and I love it.

3. You'll Become More Confident 

A bit of this could have come with age... BUT the more you embarrass yourself the less you'll care. This may sound obvious to some people or completely stupid to others but in my opinion it works. I used to be so, so shy. Let me tell you, when you're incredibly shy and also incredibly... for lack of a better word, goofy... well life can be hard. It didn't matter how hard I tried I would seem to have people looking at me. Don't get me wrong, I still hate people looking at me. But I don't care anywhere near as much as I used to. In fact, things that I look back on and found horribly embarrassing five years ago, if they happened to me today I wouldn't care at all. Now, if I do something stupid and people laugh I don't have to force myself to laugh with them, I just do. The smaller things aren't so much embarrassing anymore but funny.

4. Nobody Is Thinking Badly Of You

This is something I used to struggle with a lot (and still sometimes do). Whenever I would do something embarrassing I would be convinced that everyone was looking at me and thinking I was an absolute idiot who didn't even deserve to be in the same room as them. But let's be honest... If I look at it from a logical perspective pretty much no one is thinking that. Most likely, people are a) glad it's not them, b) feeling bad and wishing they could help or c) not paying attention in the first place. There may be a select few people who are just generally pretty miserable sitting back going "idiot" but these people are rare, and they would be thinking that about anyone whether they had done something embarrassing or not. Nobody likes those people anyway. Which brings me to my fifth and final point...

5. You're Likeable

People like people they can relate to, and let's face it... clumsy people are relatable. We're all a bit clumsy and we all occasionally do embarrassing things. I find I like the person that gets up and does the speech red faced or almost falls over the shopping baskets at the supermarket. Especially when they're able to laugh it off. Those people are the fun, relatable people that others will like. I don't want to hear from the person who has done everything in life perfectly, I want to hear from the person who once ended up falling face first in the sales bin at the chocolate store or the person who went to put an apple into a bag at the grocery store and the entire shelf of apples fell on them. THEY are the stories you want to hear and the people you want to hang out with.

I hope this was some help to someone, have a lovely day!

x

Weight Loss For Lazy People

Hi

Now, I am not someone who enjoys exercise or healthy food. I'm not active and I'm at my happiest when I'm laying in bed surrounded by pizza watching British comedies. But I'm at a point where while I'm not horribly over-weight I am also not exactly confident in how I look. 

Instead of staring at myself and willing the extra pounds to vanish with the power of my mind alone I've decided to do something about it. 

In the past I have gone about weight-loss the wrong way. I dramatically changed my diet and made sure I exercised to the point of suffocation every day until I was happy with my weight, then of course I decided I deserved a treat and would have pizza and I would eventually just fall back into old habits and end up exactly how I was before I started. This brings me to where I am now. This time I'm going to make a plan that is sustainable, that I won't eventually resent and I won't feel like I deserve a break from.

I find it easier (as you may have noticed) to present idea's or tips in list form. So here are my tips for sustainable weight loss for lazy people (like myself):

Food:

- Swap unhealthy things you would normally eat for a slightly more healthy option (i.e. instead of eating white bread opt for rye bread, instead of normal pasta go for wholegrain etc). By doing this you're not depriving yourself of the things you like, you're just changing them up where possible.

- Be as healthy as you can 80% of the time but allow yourself those treats that you love occasionally. That way you can still get something nice when you go out for dinner or have that dessert you love on the weekends. 80-20. Healthy 80%, treats 20%. Balance is key!

- Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself unable to resist a treat. I find I'm very guilty of this, if I've eaten well for a while and then I can't help myself and have some chocolate I will find myself really annoyed with myself and will often think "What's the point? I've already ruined my diet. Might as well quit all together." But that's not the case, in the grand scheme of things, a few pieces of chocolate aren't going to hurt.

- Don't dramatically change your diet right away. If you've gone from eating sausages for breakfast, a McDonalds burger for lunch and pizza for dinner (basically me) then suddenly start eating salad for every meal you're going to get awfully sick of your new healthy eating awfully fast. Change things slowly, start with swapping what you would normally eat for a slightly healthier option of the same thing (Rye bread instead of white bread). Slowly start swapping one meal at a time for a different healthier option and go from there. It's slower, but you're more likely to stick to it and not hate what you're eating.

- Drink water. You've heard it before and I hate being told to drink water but it's better for you than anything else out there and it helps with headaches. You may not suffer from headaches but I do and drinking water really does help. You can still have what you would regularly drink at first, perhaps just at meal times have your regular favourite drink and have water for the rest of the day. Then slowly cut back on your favourite regular drink until it's an occasional thing and you're mainly drinking water.

Exercise:

- Do it. I know, I hate it too. I find work out routines to do at home from youtube for the times I can't be bothered going to the gym.

- 30 minutes a day. Now, I do 30 minutes on the treadmill while at the gym while listening to my music and most days I love it. I create a scenario in my head where I'm a famous singer or something and get lost in it while I walk.

- Of course some days I go "nope, can't be bothered" and that's when I bring out the 'at home work out' where I do kicks, sit-ups, squats etc. Admittedly I don't do half an hours worth of these, but perhaps when I'm a little more fit I will. Riiiiight? Probably not.

- Exercise doesn't have to be intense routines or the gym. Go for a walk around the  block, force your dog to go with you if you feel self conscious, then you can say you're doing it for your dog not you if anyone gives you weird looks. That's what I do!

- Vigorously clean the house - That's a work out. Anything that gets your heart-rate up for a substantial amount of time counts!

- Sometimes I do sit ups in bed while laying watching TV Shows.

- Sometimes I lift light arm weights while laying in bed watching TV shows. Who says you need to give up being lazy to tone? Not me.

- As you feel yourself getting fitter, you'll want to do more. I know people always say that and when you're heaving for breath on the treadmill after ten minutes while drowning in your own sweat you don't believe it. I know I didn't, until one day I found myself walking at the place I usually did for half an hour and hardly felt exhausted at all - Then I realised it was working and I needed to up my game!

- Try to stick at it. By that I mean make it a regular thing, but don't be upset with yourself if  something comes up and you miss a day or you're exhausted from work, school, uni or what not and just want the afternoon to rest. You're human and that's fine, all your hard work won't go away because you miss a day.

- Set aside maybe the weekend where you don't HAVE to work-out, unless you're starting to love it in which case, go you! I usually have my weekend off.

Life In General:

- Don't get deflated and want to quit if you get sick or something happens and you miss a week of exercise and in that week you also fall back into your not-so-great eating habits. This is where I've just decided it's too late, not worth it and give up on the whole thing in the past. But it's not at all, a week or so isn't that long, it may take you a little bit to be back to your healthy self but don't let a set back hold you back completely!

- It's never too late to start again. If you DO decide it's too hard and give up, you can start it up again whenever you like. As long as you're trying, that's all that matters! It doesn't matter how many times you stop and start, the fact that you want it and you're still trying is better than never trying.

- You'll enjoy feeling yourself become fitter and healthier. That amazing feeling when you one day notice you've managed to carry all the shopping to the car in one go and you're not puffed is an excellent feeling.

- You'll enjoy that your clothes may start to fit a little looser. That is also an amazing feeling.

- Don't get too caught up in a vigorous exercise schedule (I tend to because it works for me to do it that way, but it doesn't for everyone), If you find that your schedule really only allows a work out three times a week then that's brilliant! That's more than you were doing before and you'll still see results.

- Be patient. Unfortunately fitness, health and weight loss aren't something we can see instant results for, which is what tends do throw me off. I walk around the block, come home, get changed and will always find myself checking for my amazingly slim and toned muscly body. I know it won't happen after one walk but I will look anyway because I am not missing out on that dream moment of happiness if it does!

- Scales are evil and you don't need them in your life. They won't tell you all that much anyway, especially not at the start. If you do have a goal weight in mind or want to check your scales, do it once when you start and then once again a few months down the track. Don't check it every day or every week. They will go up and down and all around and can really put you off if they've gone up. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing - you build muscle when you exercise which helps you lose weight. Not to say you'll be the hulk in a few months. You'll still lose weight, but the scales will fluctuate.

- If you're angry - Exercise. Whenever I'm angry I head straight for the gym (luckily, mine is 24 hour) and I just go for it. Not only do I feel less angry after, especially because I've been listening to angry music while running and also imagining all the scenarios where I say the right thing at the right time in the situation that's made me angry but because when I'm done I look down and the machine goes "you've burnt 300 calories". Yes.

I have gone on for long enough I feel. Most of what I've said here, you probably already know. None of it is ground breaking, doesn't involve a magic pill, won't happen over night and does involve a little effort. But, in my opinion, it's better than an intense diet that you'll stick to for a few weeks then end up hating and going back to all junk food all the time. Plus, it's worth the little changes. In my opinion, anyway!

I hope this helped even a little and that you're having a lovely day!

x