Why you should ask yourself why

beauty inside out, essential, glow up, holistic, intention, lifestyle, mental health, natrual, self care, serenitee

EVERYONE WANTS THE INSTAGRAM LIFE RIGHT…..

Instagram lifestyle

But the realiTEE is life is full of decisions- soooo many decisions. What option to choose? What if I do nothing & let life just happen? These are questions I am consistantly asking myself. Should I? Or shouldn’t I? Welcome to my daily battle….

I’m convinced it isn’t just myself that has this daily struggle and therefore have read many articles, blog posts and books on the important questions you need to ask in order to design the life you want.

The good news is there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, there are 3 questions that keep coming up in all the different content I’ve read/ listened to.

Designing your life

So I thought as a result I would summarise my research & share the 3 main points with you in the hopes that they will bring value into your life or business.

I’ll be real I have not found these easy and it takes a conscious effort daily to put these into practice.

So far I have focussed on my personal life & these three questions have provided me with vision & focus. I feel clarity & there is something very empowering about knowing you have made your decisions in life, not let life just happen and allowed yourself to be a victim of life.

If all this post does it get you thinking & doing your own research then I’m glad you stopped by.

Let’s get into it- shall we?:

1.) WHATS YOUR WHY:

You don’t have to share your why if you don’t want to, it can be completely personal, but it shouldn’t be anything like money. It is clear that many people in history that have only chased money have played a VERY short game! Look at the Wolf on Wall Street… yes he was filthy rich for a while but he’s why was just money and he got so carried away he didn’t look at the wider picture. I recommend you check out he’s podcast, hell tell you himself that now he’s why is to help people he is such more driven. There has to be something more meaningful. Something that gives purpose.

I have been there focused on the money and the short term & as a result made bad choices. These bad choices led to a tormented conscious & a LOT of anxiety… this is because I wasn’t being honest to myself or becoming a person I was proud of.

Your WHY is like a compass let it lead you when creating your life/business. If you don’t have a concrete WHY, you will give into things that you probably wouldn’t have given into in the first place. If you have a strong WHY when you’re hit with the hard choices you’ll have a idea of where you want to go and what you want your outcome to be. It will make choices easier & give you confidence in your decisions.

It is proven that hand writing out your WHY & looking at it daily, refer to it daily, tell your closest friends, let them hold you accountable.

My WHY is building a like-minded community. My boyfriend sparked this idea in me almost a year ago when he told me to go & find more friends who had similar interests to me… my search for like-minded people has led to me branching out in the content I consume & for the first time in my life I stayed committed to a promise I made myself & produced content for a whole year. I’ve connected with woman from around the world & I’m so grateful for that. I love hearing like-minded people coming together sharing their tips & tricks in an unapologetic way. It’s amazing what you can learn if you stay open minded & un-judgemental.

2.) DECIDE HOW YOU WANT TO LIVE:

Let’s face it leaving a bad day at the office and coming home a bundle of joy is not a natural human trait. I really struggle to not take something personal especially when I’ve poured my heart & soul into a project. My boss & I recently sat & had a long discussion about this, it turns out he also reads the Daily stoic & he’s advice was to acknowledge that people are hard on the task not the person. My boyfriend is very good at this, app& when annoyed or agree he’s very good at addressing a issue and consciously moving on. He’s fabulous at not holding a grudge & this is something I’m really trying to learn from him.

Back to the point: what kind of life makes you happy?

Get as creative as you’d like here, write it down, draw it if you’d like. Create a strategic future by design. My boyfriend is a fan of having a year, 3 year & 5 year plan. List systems to get to your goals. To do lists. Habits. It’s all good stuff.

Here’s the caveat…. don’t get tied down by the plan. The outcome is key but you need to be flexible. I get so tied down with the plan & experience stress & anxiety at new levels when something I can’t control goes wrong. I always have to take a moment, breath & remind myself ‘the best laid plans of mice & men’

As for the kind of life I’m creating for myself is simple: freedom. Freedom to come & go as I please, to travel to the far corners of the world whenever I want. Freedom to provide for myself without the panic of not knowing if I’ll have money left at the end of the month. Freedom to DO ME unapologeticly.

Freedom to me represents a peaceful & happy life.

I also believe that this goal helps my relationships. I’ve been stuck in a relationship where I was dependent on the other person & I felt resentful.

Knowing that I don’t need my boyfriend I chose to be with him because he makes my life better makes me value him so much more & I’m grateful everyday. This doesn’t just go for my boyfriend, there is no one in my life I am dependent on. The people I keep close to me & engage with regularly are people that I want to surround myself with.

Getting to this realisation wasn’t that easy, a lot of people will tell you they want freedom but that looks different to everyone & what has driven you to that desire will be completely different to mine.

I started with a list of things that were important to me and for each one I asked myself why 5 times… & almost everything on that list lead to freedom for me.

You get the drift.

Spend some time on this one. Write out a list of what makes you happy & a list of what makes you sad…then simply do more of what makes you happy.

The art of not giving a…

3.) OTHERS SUCCESS DOESN’T TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR HARD WORK:

THIS IS SOMETHING we are all guilty of.

Whether you scroll through Instagram & wish that was your life or you’ve sat there and thought ‘I’m so behind in life, Sandra is married with kids at 30 and I’m still living at home.’

As long as you have your WHY & your END GOAL then you’re on your track!

Let Sandra do Sandra.

Let Billy do Billy.

& Janet’s new outfit every time you meet for cocktails…. not your business!

Becoming obsessed with other people’s lives is NOT SERVING YOU! It doesn’t effect your actions & your output.

It just doesn’t. Drop the judgement.

We are all a work in progress.

We are all diamonds in the rough.

For me I’ve never understood the race to finish line, because there is no finish line. If there was it would be boring when you got there anyway.

Imagine never growing or learning anything else…

What I want to learn & work on are completely different priorities than my cousin who wants to achieve so much. It’s okay that we want to learn & growing different ways.

I wish her all the best & I’m so proud but her growth doesn’t make me any less of a human.

However this is difficult at times when you feel like everyone is running off & you’re stationery. I have moments where I will literally catch myself before I wreck myself.

Brave new girl

Girl stop apologising

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

So I hope this not so brief post has provided some perspective & helps you to gain some clarity.

Stay in YOUR own lane. Focus on YOU. Go towards YOUR goal. Stop looking around, Who cares what everyone else is doing?

Make your choices. Own them. Define them.

Honey just do you….

Tee x

How to embrace ME time

essential, glow up, Health, lifestyle, mental health, running, self care, serenitee, tips

Hey hey hey!

Sooo…. Now that I’ve moved in with my boyfriend and live a short distance from my office I’ve found myself with a lot more alone time. My boyfriend leaves before me each morning and arrives home about 2 hours after I do each evening.

This is a total 180 compared to living with my father who was always home.

At first it was kind of weird but I couldn’t actually remember the last time I had had time by self.

Alone time

So I decided to embrace this me time and make a list of ways I like to spend time alone (I love a list, really helps me organise my thoughts… I can’t be the only one doing this surely 🤷🏼‍♀️)

6 things to do alone:

1.) Go outside: this includes taking a walk/ run and using that time to listen to a podcast. There are so many little side streets and areas of Birmingham that not even I’ve explored, my favourite route is via the canal. I just find water so relaxing.

Birmingham library

2.) Cooking: Okay this I do and time so dinner is ready for when my boyfriend walks in, sounds soppy I know but honestly I don’t like to eat late! I find cooking so relaxing, again I may have a podcast on or a Netflix documentary playing on the iPad or just music while I dance around.

Homemade meals

3.) Light a candle: add a cheeky dessert maybe a bit of music playing & just chill. I’ve seriously been craving cinnamon buns lately & after I found this recipe for vegan options I just had to make them. Honestly sitting down to enjoy this in peace & quite easy pure joy & satisfaction! Most of the time sitting down and lighting a candle goes hand in hand with reading a book. Reading is one of my favorite things to do, I honestly believe it makes me a more rounded person and I love the fact you can never run out of things to read. Sitting down with a cup of tea, a good book & a candle is one of my ideas of HEAVEN.

Candlelit dessert

4.) Go to a restaurant: ALONE! Okay I’ll admit I had never actually done this until recently when I found myself waiting 3 hours for breakdown to come out and fix my car. But OMG it was life changing! Now I love it I get to go a try places that I don’t normally go to with other people and just enjoy a meal maybe a cheeky cocktail and just people watch! Also there’s no one there to pull a face at my kale salad followed by a little cheesecake! Nothing like eating alone at a restaurant : ). It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite things ever.

Eating solo

5.) Drink a cup of coffee & CHILLLLL: I loveeeee enjoying a cup of coffee l. I really savour it! & as much as I enjoy going home to meet my dad in our favourite place I do enjoy a nice stroll to a local independent by myself and doing a bit of reading. Right now I’m feeling so festive and having a moment with coconut milk, sometimes I’ll have it as a mocha and other times a dirty chia latte but ALWAYS with cinnamon. I fully zone out in a morning while enjoying my coffee, honestly the barista asked me a question the other day and actually made me jump!

Perfect coffee morning

How do you like to spend time alone?

– Tee, xx

Why you need a beauty roller

anti againg, beauTEE, beauty, essential, flawless, glow up, inflamation, life hack, lymphatic drainage, natrual, natural beauty care, self care, serenitee, skin, spa

They see me rolling, jade rolling.

We’ve all seen them.

Every beauty blogger has one.

They’re the most talked about beauty tool of 2019… but what’s so amazing about them.

It’s an ancient Chinese practice that’s been used for thousands of years to help maintain facial fluid, it rejuvenates the elasticity of skin, repairs your skin cells, fights inflammation, improve circulation, reduce wrinkles, replenish your facial muscles and well it just works!

Jade roller beauty

Still not sold?

Firstly I mentioned jade roller as that’s what I have, but these little tools come in a multitude of stones from jade to rose quartz to amethyst (which I’ve just learnt is known for helping creativity so seriously considering investing in a little something made from this for my desk, anyway…)

I wanted to get into why I think these little things are worth the investment, and also to clarify they’re not big bucks! I’ve seen some for £80+ but don’t know anyone who paid that.. Personally mine was £15 from amazon.

Must do:

• Keep it cool. I keep mine in my fridge, some people keep theirs in little beauty fridges or just somewhere nice and cool. The cool stone on your skin is a great way to A) help depuff your face first thing or reduce any swelling/ water retention and B) stimulates lymphatic drainage. Also around the eyes it feels amazing in a morning.

• ROLL UPWARDS! This helps sculpt your skin and you never want to drag the skin down.

• Always remember the neck, don’t leave your neck out it’s just as important you want to take your routine down to the chest if you can.

How to use a jade roller

I always apply serum to my face first (currently using this amazing vitamin C serum to help boost the brightness of my skin) this also helps lubricate the skin allowing the roller to move smoothly over your skin.

The added bonus is that the stone doesn’t absorb any of the serum just helps to work it into your skin making sure your skin gets all the benefits from your chosen serum.

Why I’m so in love:

• It’s skin care

• Mindcare (I just sit there for a couple of minutes rolling my skin listening to a podcast or just breathing, kinda like meditation)

• It’s selfcare

It’s all of these wrapped into one pretty little tool!

Breakdown of the different rollers:

Rose quartz: this stone is associated with bringing love into your life. I’ve also read that cleopatra bathed with this stone.

Jade: is associated with luck and is considered to bring balance.

Amethyst: as I mentioned this is associated with creativity and is a Kardashian favourite right now.

Which is your favourite?

Love,

Tee

One confidence shot please.

5, beauty, essential, flawless, glam up, glow up, intention, life hack, lifestyle, mental health, self care, serenitee, style

So you know how I love to talk wellness on Wednesdays & today is no different. I consider wellness to be an element of beauty as without a balanced life how can you really shine? You can’t reach your full potential, if you can it’s a tiring struggle. Today I want to talk about confidence, & what it means to you. Let’s face it, confidence is essential.

Confidence is

Firstly whether you love to strut around like a VS model in a pair of sexy heels or you prefer the more hippy chic look and wear your kicks everywhere. I don’t care if you wear tight mini skirts and low cut tops, or if you love a onesie and never want to come out or if you are one of those girls that live head to toe in their gym wear. YOU ARE RIGHT. What ever makes you feel confident, what ever makes you feel your best and flatters you. YOU ARE RIGHT. Not fitting into a stereotype does not make you less of a woman (or man, or whichever gender you relate to) & if you haven’t figured out what makes you hold your head up high like a badass boss have some fun working it out. Personally I love a dark edgy look with tight jeans and a pair of statement heels as much as I love a denim mini skirt, t-shirt and pumps. You can dress everything up or down so it’s all about finding your balance. Now to own it…

Heels or kicks you decide

Why you should own it? When you’re feeling more confident it shows. Like really shows through, it’s in your walk, it shines through your pores, it’s the slight change in the tone of your voice. AND it’s contagious. Genuine confidence is contagious, people are attracted to that kind of energy, but it has to be genuine if you try too hard people will pick up on that & you’ll come across more annoying than confidence. (But that’s not to say you shouldn’t fake it- see below).

Confidence looks good on everyone!

Okay I get that all of this is much easier said than done… in today’s society we have more anxious surroundings than ever before, and that’s just by unlocking your phone. One thing I hear repeated over and over again is ‘I’m so self conscious in the gym I feel like everyone is looking at me and judging.’

Please please PLEASE… stop looking around the gym and judging people. Because I can grantee the 99% of the people in the gym are there to be themselves and the best version of that they can be. Which brings me to my next point, & one I’ve mentioned a few times lately in different forms but it’s so true and the secret to beauty. We are all unique, you are the only you out there. Just do you & own it.

Here are a few of the things that help boost my confidence when I most need it;

1) Always be grateful – Simple but efficient. If you stop & think about it there is always something to be grateful for. Walking into your first fitness class ever… no everyone can do that and you should be grateful you found the strength to get out of your comfort zone & go for it. There’s something to be said for stopping to smell the roses (or even the rosé). Smile. Laugh. Enjoy life. Today I’m grateful for family, friends, boyfriend, my car, spinach pasta, my favourite trainers & the ability to read & write. Below is a book on confidence that I loved, and was so surprised at how many badass woman out there lack it.

2) Do you- okay this is something I struggled with for soooo many years. I was so focussed on what everyone else was doing, wearing, eating, was I doing it right? OMG The stress it takes to live like this, the anxiety the pressure. I got to a point where I would make myself so ill, it just wasn’t worth it. Do you and forget what everyone else is doing. Evolve at your own speed, what feels right and natural for you. Push yourself to do better against yourself. I love the saying ‘if you judge a fish on it’s ability to climb a tree you’ll never know how intelligent it is.’ This is because we are all different, all unique. Being you is a superpower, embrace it.

3) Get fancy – I love love love dressing up, the hair the makeup the right outfit, splash of lipstick. Who am I making all this effort for? Well me! I deserve to look good for me. & so do you. Now please don’t think I take hours and hours to get ready, time is not a luxury I often possess & even when I do I much prefer to be out out having fun then getting ready. Some basic moisturiser (with an SPF obviously) bit of foundation or a CC cream with some thick luscious lashes, thick brows and a tinted lip balm with a badass outfit and you’ll be amazed at how great you feel 40 minutes later. Find a look that suits your style, keep it flattering & dress for you! I brought the below dress last year and everyone I showed it to before hand had reservations but I knew it would look fabulous… (thank you ASOS).

Strut it

4) Break free- breaking out of your comfort zone is something I wrote about here. It’s a real confidence booster when you realise how far exactly you’ve come. ALWAYS step out of your comfort zone, even if it’s just one small thing. Recently my cousin & I attended a networking event for woman. Neither of us knew what to expect & had both considered dropping out, we didn’t, we went along & actually really enjoyed it. It may be scary as hell, but once you’re out of that comfort zone you’ll see and you’ll want to keep moving forward. Break through one zone at a time.

Dance like no one is watching

5) Keep it positive- No matter what, always try and keep it positive. Even with the words you are using, I do this more and more and it’s slowly becoming a natural habit. Instead of saying ‘I hope nothing goes wrong’ try ‘I’m sure it will all go to plan’ Focus on putting that positive energy out there, and it will also tell your brain to be more positive. As I said earlier you can’t fake confidence but you can do things to help trick yourself into believing it and by the time you realise you were faking it it may no longer be fake. I honestly thought for well over a year that I had no idea how to do my job, that I was just faking it and one day someone would call me into the office and sack me. Turns out that by going to work each day and trying to figure it out and doing my best, I actually learnt how to do my job without ever shadowing anyone.

Now your turn… What do you do to feel more confident?

Love,

Tee

Importance of mental clarity.

essential, glam up, glow up, Health, intention, life hack, lifestyle, mental health, self care, serenitee

Like everyone my life seems to come in phases, I’m either plodding along or everything is going like crazy at 124908 WTFs an hour. And with my next exam less than 24 hours away and crisis meetings at work it definitely feels like this hamster wheel isn’t slowing down any time soon. Side note, I’m not complaining about this I much prefer living fast, but what is important and what I want to talk to you about is mental clarity and how to keep it together when life is none stop and to help stop you turning into an absolute PSYCHO. I’ve always been one to ‘burn the candle at both ends’ even as a child, I was all about keeping up with the Jones’s and I wanted to do everything and do it well, original Everything girl.

When I was younger I’d really struggle with managing everything which lead to A LOT of panic attacks. These days I still over commit myself but have a system in place to help battle brain fog and keep focused. 9/10 times this works really well, but sometimes (like this week) enough was enough and I knew it was time to step back.

Tired AF

I knew I’d hit that wall when I just felt overwhelmed, tired, lethargic and exhausted. Let’s be honest there is nothing special about running yourself down like this, even though we ALL do it. I recently wrote about the importance of sleep and I stand by this, your body has limitations and you ned to listen to them.

You can’t bet your PT running time if you have zero energy, you can’t smash an exam if your brain can’t focus and you can’t stay awake until all hours of the night trying to get everything done if your body is ready to drop. (Okay I may be speaking from experience here)

Yes this is a fitness beauty blog, but when was the last time you were exhausted and looked fabulous? Doesn’t happen does it. It’s so important to take care of every part of ourselves, physically and mentally and sometimes I think we all forget there is a synergy there.

There’s a saying in the diving community, ‘Stop. Breath. Think’ if you don’t stop to breath you’ll most likely hyperventilate which will starve your brain of oxygen and you wont be able to accomplish anything.

Most of my mornings look like this:

Get out of bed and put the kettle on for a peppermint tea.
Drink tea and meditate.
Go into the living room and open the curtains for a pilates workout or head to the gym.
Whatever the workout stay HYDRATED
Shower and cleanse face
Podcast while getting ready.

However I’ve had a few days lately where I’ve just switched off the alarm pulled the blanket over my head and gone back to sleep. When I wake back up I still feel awful and now I’m late! So I end rushing around getting my stuff together not having any me time and not working out, which for me is super important. No surprise that this is setting the tone to my day in completely the wrong way. My brain ends up scattered, I know I have stuff to do and instead of being focused I jump from half finished task to half finished task and nothing is to my usual standard.

Having spent another day feeling like I haven’t stopped but achieving nothing, (I hate busy days over productive) I reached the conclusion I need some serious mental clarity.

More sleep. More reading. More resting. More sweating. More stretching.

Working out is so important to me, I really feel like I get that time for just me, it’s also one of the few times I can honestly just switch off. I focus on my form, on what I’m doing, on counting. It’s kind of like mediation for me.

Sometimes we all need to hit that off button. I’ve started to crave that time away from work, from French classes, from my studies, from my phone.

Reset

We all talk a lot about mental health and physical fitness but not about positive mental health. I realised this one night when I found a quite area of the gym where I could just do my mini stretch routine in peace. Sweating and working out isn’t just for losing weight, isn’t just about toning up. It’s about your mind as well, we know exercise is good for your mind and mental clarity. If you’re going to take care of your body why would you not take care of your mind. You are a package.

If you want to get quicker, lift heavier you’d train. If you want your mind to be sharper, if you want that edge (as my boyfriend refers to it as) then sometimes you’ve got to take time out for you. Strangely I think we live in a society where this is something to be ashamed off but there is nothing ‘weak’ about looking after you. In fact it’s actually a lot harder to find that time to recharge and to prioritise yourself, even if this involves an hour to get a facial. One of my favourite sayings right now is ‘you can’t look after your community if you don’t take care of your garden’ meaning you can’t be there for others unless you can take that time out to be there for yourself.

So this is where I’m at, I found a small corner in one of the most beautiful modern libraries I’ve seen and wanted to share this with everyone because I felt like it needed to be shared, if it only helps one person stop, breath, think.

Birmingham library inside

And now I’m going home with a face mask!

How do you deal with the hamster wheel that is life?

Share your sanity tips below.

Love,

Tee

Zzzzzzzzz…

Health, intention, life hack, lifestyle, love, mental health, must do, self care, serenitee, you

You know when someone tells you something for the seventh billion time, or you google something, and all 13,787,546 pages of Goggle have the same answer. You sit there and think, YES I KNOW THIS ALREADY!! Well maybe, just maybe, it’s because ‘cliché’s’ are sometimes all be it the most obvious answer in the world but also the best. Why am I rambling on about this you ask? There is a point, I promise. While thinking what would be beneficial and inspiring to write about in this week’s Wellness Wednesday post I realised, I was unmotivated, feeling flat, bloated and exhausted! That’s when it hit me. The number one wellness tip in the world, the number one beauty tip in the world, the number one health tip in the world… SLEEP

Wake up call

We all do, we all need, and there is somebody doing it every minute of every day.

There’s a part of society that see it as cool to be like ‘I got 4 hours sleep last night’ Well this is NOT cool. Sleep is so important to all of us. It causes personalities to change (and not in a good way) if you’re deprived of it. Everyone’s body needs to rest, heal and recover.

But it’s not just about getting in those zzz’s it’s about the quality of sleep. Last year I struggled to sleep because my brain wasn’t being challenged enough in the day that it didn’t feel like it needed the full 8 hours. These day’s I’m so specific about what I plan each day that when I do finally settle in for the night it’s a welcome 7-8 hours. If I’m extra lucky I’ll get a cheeky 9 hours on a weekend and it feels SO GOOD! (maybe better than sex…maybe)

Bed time

Before we get into a few things that help you sleep here’s why you should get some sleep:

Lack of sleep can make you fat! I don’t even need to see the evidence on this one. It’s not worth the risk, get to bed earlier and your body will thank you.
Improved Concentration and productivity. We all know this is true, if you got 3 hours sleep last night and do 9 hours at work the next day did you achieve anything? Most likely not! You would have been much better off getting 9 hours sleep and 3 hours of work but going into the office and smashing it!
Poor sleep can effect inflammation in your body. Woken up after 5 hours feeling puffy bloated and awful? Go back to bed and sleep it off.

When it comes to getting those zzz’s in I can’t help you but here are a few tips I do to ensure that when my head does hit the pillow the quality is as good as the quantity. THE BETTER THE SLEEP THE LESS STRESS

No coffee

Coffee cut off! I love coffee and yes it’s a stable part of my morning routine, I love the smell the taste and the simple enjoyment of drinking it. However I do not drink coffee after 2pm and that is on a very bad day! Most day’s I have one 8am coffee, if I’m really struggling or it’s a Tuesday (I take a French class on Tuesday evening so it’s a rather long day for me) 2pm is the VERY latest I can drink coffee. 14:01- sorry you’ll have to get through. Coffee has an absurd shelf life in your system so if you are drinking coffee late into the day then that caffeine is still in your system when you go to bed. You are literally going to bed wired. Cut the coffee and see if it helps, I’m confident it will.
Reading. I have always loved to read but last year I managed very little. So this year I was determined to set a 2019 reading list and go for it. Admittedly I’ve discovered ‘Audiable’ and love an audio book on the way to work or while running however there’s something about a real book in your hands, turning the pages and of course…the smell. I’ve you’re no0t a book person you are probably thinking WTF right now, what a werido, but for all you book people- you know what I mean right? Anyway I’ve found that sitting down for 20-30 minutes a with an actual book really helps me get out of my head and let go of the day. I listened to a podcast a while back now (I forget which one sorry) but the theme was stress. The theory was that when we go home and replay in our heads a stressful experience then our bodies relive this and trigger all the same chemical reactions. Reading takes you away from all of that, transports you to another world. When you do put the book down (if you can) every worry from the day will seem so far away it won’t be as relevant. Now you can relax. Tonight I’m starting Lonely Planet- Vietnam!
Acupression Mats! I LOVE THIS!!! Seriously it’s so good, I even take mine with me if I’m working away. These mats (I got mine from Amazon) have so many benefits; they relieve stress from the body, relaxes the body & mind, helps blood circulation and can help with back pain. This last point I can really vouch for this week.

Bed time read

So there you have it my 3 simple tips for getting some good quality sleep. Try these out and let me know how you get on.

Leave your comments below or on my latest Instagram post!

Can wait to wake up and see them all.

Night,

Is it time to Fika?

life hack, lifestyle, love, self care, serenitee, you

During one of my endless scrolls through Instagram, I came across an image that featured a word, a word I had never heard or seen before… Fika.

A simple four letter sound but it’s meaning really struck a nerve. Technically, fika is a coffee break traditionally around 10am in the morning and maybe with some cake, not much different to the traditional British elevenses. However, the meaning of the word has since evolved into so much more.

It’s now considered to be a whole new concept, a state of mind or attitude and most importantly it plays an important part in the Swedish culture.

Why do I think this is so important? Sweden is consistently rated as being one of the top 10 happiest countries in the world. So why not incorporate more of their ways of life into yours? I don’t know about you, but coffee and cake always make me happy!

Loosely translated fika means ‘break time’ and I know that’s not something I make nearly enough time for. Remember being a kid in school? Turn up, do a couple of lessons have a break do one more have a lunch break then a couple more have an afternoon break before one last class and go home.

Unfortunately, such nice to haves are a taboo in adult life. I’m ashamed to say that I eat at my desk at least 3 times a week, although this is my choice as I chose to run during my lunch break if my work load allows it and the break from my screen and desk, along with the fresh air is a great distraction from my work responsibilities. I still put my headphones on and block out the world. I don’t interact, I don’t take part in social engagement until the end of the run when we stop and say good work to one another as we upload our workouts on Strava.

Fika is about engagement, spending time with people, slowing down and appreciating the good things in life. It’s less about keeping up with the Jones’s and more about stopping to smell the roses.

This doesn’t just happen in the Swedish culture! The French and Italian’s are well known for taking their time enjoying food and the company that comes along with it. Less coffee-to-go, more let’s chat over coffee and cake. (Coffee in it’s own right has created multiple communities across the world which I wrote about here).

I have so many friends that have busy lives and at times, WhatsApp chats of us trying to check our diaries can be so frustrating that you don’t even want to go out by the time you’ve finally arranged something. Have you ever sat there and thought I don’t want to go now? Or turned up in a bad mood. Honestly when you’re with people you care about and are close to those bad feelings melt away so quickly, it’s the power of being social.

FUN FACT: Thousands of years ago, humans had to be social creatures and communicate with each other, tribes would educate other tribes on what plants to eat and which ones not to eat. Move forward 2000 years and we now discuss what products to use, what brands do the best lipsticks. We share tips and tricks on EVERYTHING!

We are social animals by nature, even the most introvert ones.

Even if it’s just once a month seeing your friends and catching up IN PERSON, there are so many more benefits than chatting over the phone than you think. Following someone’s life through social media is not knowing them, we only post things that make us happy and you can easily misinterpret that as their lives being amazing, when in actual fact they’ve been going through something and could really use a friend.

RECOMMENDED:

I recently listened to the Deliciously Ella Podcast, Season 2 ‘Lessons in Happiness from Around the World’ which features Helen Russell, journalist and author of ‘A year of living Danishly.’ She talks about happiness around the world and how it’s perceived, very interesting and you can pick up a thing or two. There are things that we may talk for granted that other cultures truly treasure.

What’s your favourite social activity? Love a comment below.

Love

Tee