Tag: black

BLM- How you can help + Resources

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Before I begin with this post, I would like to acknowledge that this current season can be very difficult for some, I know it has been difficult for me

As much as you would want to learn, support, educate, teach and do so much more on this matter- I URGE YOU to take breaks from social media when needed, distance yourself if you need to and renew your mind. You may feel guilty for doing so, but your mental health is imperative at this time. I do have a blogpost on improving mental health whilst in quarantine and I believe it can help in this time also, please read Your Mental Health in this Quarantine Period.

Hey!

We are in trying times right now. The current situation in America, where black people are constantly under threat of losing their lives, for simply being a human being is rising. It has become so severe that it is currently being reviewed by the United Nations as it being “a human right violation” and the debate being held is of a request from Burkina Faso and 54 other African countries (According to CBS News)

Here is a list of resources to help you + help the movement:

1.Justice for George Floyd : https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforfloyd_george_floyd_minneapolis

This petition for Mr George Floyd, causes simply for justice. We have had progress as all officers involved were charged, however we need reform in the way police do their job. They need the correct amount of training, education and awareness and signing this petition can help

2.Justice for Breonna Taylor:

https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/justiceforbre-breonna-taylor-officers-fired?source=coc_main_website

Breonna Taylor was an EMT who was sleeping in her home when the LPD barged in and shot her 8 times after an unannounced drug raid at her home. Since then the “no-knock” warrant which allows law enforcement to enter a property without knocking or announcing prior they are entering, has been made into “Breonna’s Law” which bans the warrant in Kentucky. However, the police officers involved are yet to be charged

3. Justice for Belly Mujinga:
https://www.change.org/p/govia-thameslink-justice-for-belly-mujinga-justiceforbellymujinga

Belly Mujinga worked at London Victoria’s rail station and contracted COVID-19 after being assaulted by a man with the virus. They have since closed her case since after concluding that her death was not linked to the assault. Alongside the protests in America, she has also been one of the main reasons why people are protesting here in the UK.

Resources I have found useful :

13th , Netflix, Ava Duvernay

13th is a documentary by Ava Duvernay which documents how slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment, except as punishment for conviction of a crime, leading to black men being arrested and forced to work under convict labour. One thing that amazed me about this doc, is how black people were portrayed as criminals through movies, adverts and TV shows

When They See Us, Netflix, Ava Duvernay:

When they see us tells the story of the exonerated Central Park 5, who at the time of just being teenagers were accused of assaulting a white woman who was jogging in Central Park at the time. This shocked me the core, especially the last episode which focused more on the story of Korey Wise and his traumatic ordeal whilst in prison.

Time: The Kalief Browder Story, Netflix, Jenner Furst

This docu-series tells the tragic story of Kalief Browder, a student at the time who was imprisoned at Rikers Island, spent two years in solitary confinement without ever being convicted of a crime. It focuses a lot on the prion system, how families are unable to pay bail set at very high amounts. It really does highlight how unfair the justice system is

Thank you for reading, there are many more resources and links out there – and don’t think you are not doing enough, a simple retweet, post or prayer can make a difference.

SKIN.

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Whewww Chileee … she back back !

Hey readers ! I know it’s been a really long time since i’ve written a new post, but second year literally swept me off my feet and I just had to put blogging on a slight pause (wishing you guys can forgive me face 😂) but i’m free now and i’m so excited to share more posts on here !

For the longest time i’ve wanted to share my skin tips and what I use on my face as a routine, I honestly believe that as girls or even just as people we can help eachother out by sharing our tips, whether it be beauty , style , health or just general life tips. I’m no dermatologist neither am I trained in beauty or healthcare in anyway , so these tips are just personal but I thought why not share !

My Skin:

So currently I would say i’ve fallen off the bandwagon of clear skin goals lool , this was mainly due to exam stress , unhealthy eating due to exam stress , lack of cleansing due to exam stress … basically blame exams , yeah that’s the main culprit here.

I would say I have very oily skin , and unfortunaltey it’s something I have had to deal with for a while. No matter how much primer , setting powder or blotting powder i use my face will still produce oil around my nose and my forehead , it used to really irritate me as it looked like i had pored a whole gallon of cooking oil on my face before I left the house but once I realised its a common problem exprienced by many people I learned to just let it go.

My skin is also uneven , i wouldn’t necessarily say its due to hyperpigmentation but I had eczema when i was a baby , and it only appeared on my face, leading to scarring and discolouration on my face (my face and neck are now darker than the rest of my body) i used to have a hard time picking foundation shades as I would question if I should match the tone to my face or to my body , I now choose to match it to my body, but try to bring in dark tones still to avoid looking ashy.

My Routine:

I get asked this question alot , and the answer I give is that I dont have one. I dont stick to a solid routine where i cleanse , exfoliate or tone, in fact i tend to stay away from big brand such as Freederm or Clearasil as they actually do damage to my skin more than they help. By all means if those products work wonders then continue to use them at your own discretion but personally, I dont draw towards these products at all.

What I have used is my Clean and Clear exfoliating daily wash, this is the only product i can say is safe to use on my face , i use it after i feel my face has been exposed to alot of dirt whether it be from pollution or through contact of my hands. I then use fresh lemon juice as a ‘toner’ you could call it, and wipe that over my face with a cotton pad, it burns but it makes me assured that it has removed all of the leftover dirt. Then I use my holy grail product which is aloe vera all over my face overnight- I use this religiously and it really does make a difference in clearing up my skin even if it be small blemishes. I would talk more about the benefits of aloe vera here however I wouldn’t want this post to be too long so this link should explain it better –

https://www.prevention.com/beauty/skin-care/a25995450/aloe-vera-benefits-for-sk

Some General Tips:

– Water :make it your best friend , live with it , marry it, carry it wherever you go and drink it like you’ve never before ! Honestly it makes a huge difference , and even when I ask people who’s skin are far better than mine , i usually get the response of incorporating water into their daily routine.

– You are what you eat: I know for me , whenever I eat unhealthily, be it junk food or just foods with a lot of oil, i start getting spots and my problem area is my forehead. So eating healthy is honestly really important for great results.

-Knowledge: just like if you know you have an allergy , you will know what your skin likes and dislikes , therefore it will be a trial and error process if you want to find out what best works for your skin , for me it took years of testing products and numerous breakouts that followed for me to realise that me and facial products just didnt get along

-Patience : whenever I go through a a breakout the first thing i want is for it to immediately vanish away but as we all know ‘good things comes to those who wait’ 😛 so it will take time for you to achieve great skin and it will take time for you to get a hold and control of any spots that may occur -patience is key

So that was just a quick post talking about my current skin ‘routine’ (I really haven’t developed one yet ). Although this post was to talk about the benefits of clear skin , the message I want to carry across is that we should be comfortable in our own skin and love ourselves just the way we are !

Thanks for reading !

“Look after yourself from within, and your beauty will shine through on your skin” – Shanina Shaik.

#ESSENCEINTERVIEWS 3

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Welcome back to another Essence Interview!

Today’s post consists of me speaking with the lovely Laila, also known as FusionofCultures on YouTube. Her videos range from showing lovely tutorials of rich and bold hairstyles to sharing useful tips on managing all types of hair, whilst bringing positivity and female empowerment to her channel. In addition, she has recently become a business owner, launching her brand Wild Seed Botanicals in 2018, a skincare brand that focuses on vegan products, bringing benefits to the skin, hair and most importantly spiritual wellbeing. Since I haven’t spoken about my hair journey for a while here, I thought it would be great to bring Laila on here to share some tips, and also share her experience with her brand, for any young entrepreneurs who would like some start up advice!

  1. What made you want to be a part of an online platform such as YouTube?

    For me, it’s slightly different to what it is now. When I originally joined YouTube, it was just a video hosting platform and people used it to upload content and videos for their family members to see. It wasn’t necessarily a destination or a search engine as it has become now. For me I initially joined so I could do just that- to have the link to share with other people. I used to be part of an online community called Keep It Simple Sister (KISS), and this was a platform for black women to come from all around the world and share their hair tips, or healthy hair journeys. I was relaxed back then and when I decided to transition, a lot of people were asking me how you are achieving your hairstyles? you should make videos! That is exactly what I did, I would make videos just so I could share the link within that platform and then overtime it started to grow and then I decided to turn it into a channel, just a destination where everyone could come and see the content that I had been uploading.
  2. What has been the biggest lesson you have learned from YouTube?

    YouTube has definitely instilled a mentality of – there is nothing you can’t achieve or can’t have if you put your mind to it. It has made me bold in my approach to life in my career path that I took initially and my career path that I am on now. It has installed that mentality of being entrepreneurial. I don’t think I would have been that if I hadn’t started a YouTube channel.
  3. In 2019, it’s fair to say a lot of women have made the choice to go natural, do you think it’s due to women like you who can educate on haircare or has it become a trend to do so, so people just follow?I’ve had conversations in the past as to whether being natural has become a trend, and for us to be here now in 2019 still asking that question, it’s already been dispelled. It cannot be a trend as it is still happening. Even if it started out as just a trend, trends do start awareness and awareness creates change. So, something that may have been in the beginning a trendy thing to do, has now created long lasting impact within our community which was very much needed. Not that going natural defines your blackness, or defines you as a black women or man, however it does feed into changing the narrative of self-hate. As much as we try and deny it and as much as we don’t want to admit it, for a very long time, our natural hair or the way it grows on our head was seen as something to be ashamed of. Something that needed to be changed, something that was ugly and wasn’t beautiful and now that narrative has changed. I’ve witnessed people that I started out this journey with, being relaxed and changing to become natural and now their children have become natural,, it’s changing generationally and we talk about generational wealth a lot- and it’s not necessarily always about money, but it’s about building economies, building communities and shifting paradigms and I feel like the natural movement has done and surpassed that at this point.
  4. 4. Do you think women who aren’t relaxed feel a certain pressure from the natural hair community? 

    It could be that they do, within any community online, especially, it could be that there are certain agendas perpetuated and pushed in that natural hair community which we can’t hide from. There are people that do have a certain notion about what it means to be natural and they push that, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a certain pressure from non-naturals by naturals. If you dissect within the natural hair community, there are hierarchies even within the natural hair community unfortunately and certain types of naturals even feel that their type of hair isn’t good enough, and they may feel a certain type of pressure to have their hair look a certain way or be a certain way. I think with any other community, there are so many issues internally, that effect those in it and those around it and those who have a certain proximity to it.Coco Oat Bath Milk - Wild Seed Botanicals

How has the journey been with Wild Seed Botanicals so far?

It’s been amazing! it’s been fulfilling, eye-opening and also very difficult. I think that’s the one thing we fail to talk about on the journey, or on anything. If you start something new, or anything that is not intrinsic to you, something that doesn’t necessarily come naturally to you, it can be difficult. On the same side it’s slightly like a dichotomy as although it has been difficult it has been one of the most fulfilling things, I have decided to do in my life to date. I am very proud of it, to turn 30 and to lookback and see the idea that I had, something that wouldn’t of even been confident to move forward with, I took a leap and I did it and I couldn’t be more prouder. And if the business was to fail tomorrow, I would still feel extremely proud of myself that I did it. There are so many people whose dreams remain nothing but dreams. To know that I have actually tried it and gave it everything, makes me proud of where I am and who I’ve become.

Do you feel pressure to compete against other online brands from influencers e.g. hairlines, clothing lines, cosmetic lines etc?

Not necessarily. I believe we have started to move into an age, where I like to participate in a new age of collaborative effort. For me when I see for example other black women that are now entrepreneurial or starting their own business- I never see that as competition I see that as progress. For me, if they win then I also win. If they are able to break through glass ceilings, that means there is a possibility that I could do the same and vice versa. So, in that sense I don’t see anyone as competition, and I don’t feel pressure to compete with other people that have opened their own businesses or anything like that, however as a business, you have to have a certain level of strategy moving forward. One thing that I say to my current intern, when we are online and following brands within the same industry or niche as us, you see these brands as competition only because they are aspirational, following people that are aspirational allows you to strive to be your best, move forward and see something or understand the processes of how the industry works. So, we do have competition – it is business and that is how competition works, but in a broader sense and overarching sense I am more open to seeing a collaborative effort then I am about individuality.

What would be some tips you would give to a young person in starting their own business?

First tip- you need to have a vision that is extremely strong- something you can literally feel tangibly in your mind. You see it, you know what it feels like once you achieve it and you need to visualise every single one of these things because the journey is never easy. Being able to see that vision clearly will keep you moving forward and will stop you from throwing in the towel.

Secondly, unless you feel passionate about it, don’t do it. The passion is the other element that will keep you going and will help you to wake up in the morning, it will fuel and motivate you. There are things in the world that can inspire us but only you can motivate yourself, if you are not passionate about something, it is very hard for you to achieve it.

Finally enjoy the journey, at each stage that you achieve something, you always have to acknowledge it and celebrate every single win, and celebrating the small wins is what will make the times that seem difficult, easier as it would remind you- if I could overcome this, then I could do the next thing! 

CHECK OUT: 

IG: wildseedbotanicals, neffyfrofro
W: wildseedbotanicals.com

Thanks for reading, stay blessed!

Confessions Of An Insecure Girl

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Hey Readers…

So I remember writing this post back in April of what was 2018 , however something prevented me from posting this , but i thought its’s a new year and why let things get in the way of posting your great work and effort … so it’s not an easy post but it i’m sure it would motivate someone who may read this :

So, let’s take a trip down to memory lane… maybe around secondary school times. The early stages of puberty have just kicked in and you see yourself developing in various ways. Ways that maybe you didn’t quite understand. As unsolicited cushions of fatty tissue, unattractive blemishes and wild pubic hair begin to invade your body.

Then the social construct of insecurities comes along, and you start to realise that as your body changes, the images you’re faced with in a daily basis don’t. The covers of Vogue, Grazia and even page 3 of the Sun, look nothing like you. And before you know it, you’re out of the game. You tick none of the boxes when it comes to the world’s perspective of conventional beauty.

When it comes to insecurities, the thought of the body comes to mind, doesn’t it ? Don’t get me wrong, body image- the major player that men and women of all ages have to battle, even as we mature and emotional uncertainties about our bodies tend to remain forever young. This can range from height and weight, right down to awkward physical assets such as boobs or maybe deeper issues such as skin tone. It has been stated that by as young as 13, at least 50% of girls are significantly unhappy about their physical appearance. Upon reading this admittedly, I fell into the 50%.

University intensified this for me. Stepping into a new place where you barely know anyone and first impressions are imperative to making your mark. The first nights out are always the great ones meeting people and making close friends. However, it stood out to me that I was insecure about my appearance when I wouldn’ even wear certain clothes because it exposed certain things about my body . E.g weight gain. I feel like this was the case for many young men who aspire to be extremely built #Gains and women who want the cole bottle curves.

I guess it became quite serious when I was at the point if virtually starving myself, just to get the look that I wanted. The look that “society” deemed to be perfect. Now dieting is completely fine, and it is considered healthy- only when you are doing it the right way and for the right reasons though. Now, I can admit that I was doing it for my appearance and definitely doing the most unadvisable way. I would have frequent periods of simply not eating ; describing it as my way of “fasting” and adding my ideal body weight to my short lost of prayer points.

I fell deep into the dark side of social media and created a new goal for my weight gain.

Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body shape which is mostly influenced by social media. I mean amazing bodies are literally glorified all over timelines and explore pages, and while this virtual fit-fam may seem motivating to one individual, it is a detrimental reminder of a constant insecurity to the other.

With around 800 million people using Instagram daily, it is inevitable to be influenced by the photos posted on the platform and not develop insecurities about it. Especially for a young adult in this generation, you are more or less likely to have at least one type of social media platform you use, whether it be Instagram, Snapchat or even Facebook. So you are bound to have encounters of public figures or celebrities with ideal body types which can be discouraging at times to the viewer.

I really got hit with anxiety with my self when it came to social media. I was constantly checking my weight, my appearance in the mirror, how my makeup looked whenever I was out and constantly reapplying that Fenty glow believing it would magically mask how I truly felt. I was so bothered by how others perceived me and would review old selfies to remind myself of the times I felt I was THE actual sauce. It took me a while to realise that it was in this constant cycle of feeling unfulfilled about myself and how uncomfortable I was to be in my own body. I knew I had to control this urge of wanting to improve something with my appearance, even when there was nothing to work on.

So here are some thing i’ve started to note to ease this feeling of not appreciating myself:

Written affirmations : I would write down my best assets and things that I value about myself and read them over and over again until I started to appreciate these things for their true worth.

My Faith: Being a Christian, I turned to God for help and I found out that Psalm 193:14 really aided me in struggling times, but after a while I started to overcome my insecurities with his help! I started to be honest with him about my insecurities and I started to realise that God has definitely made me the way he is for a reason.

So to end it here , I hope this motivated you to accept yourself for the way you are. This was a long one so thanks if you made it to the end 😂,

Thanks for reading and see you on my next post !

Dear Makeup Brands…

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Source – Instagram (nyamtang)
This is the beautiful Nyma Tang, a South Sudanese Youtuber, who has a channel with over 200,000 subscribers. As you can see she is a beautiful, dark skinned woman with skin to die for. Her inner melanin is filled with glow and sparkle and I am really enjoying her posts on her channel of recent. She is mostly famous for her series #Thedarkestshade where she reviews foundations, concealers and other products in the darkest shade to suit her complexion. This series gained fame as it pinpointed the major problem with makeup brands these days, especially affordable drugstore brands, in getting their shades right to suit all complexions from light to dark. I came across this video from NowThisEntertainment about how she explained her troubles of going to drugstore brands and finding that they don’t appeal to her complexion and often she had to go to higher end brands, which could be quite expensive at times in the US and even here in the UK

Upon watching this video above, I started to realise that for me in particular it wasn’t so much a problem, but for darker skin tones it was a major problem for them finding foundations that were either ashy looking on them or did not match their proper complexion properly. I realised it as I thought whenever I will visit a local Superdrug near me, looking at the brands of Rimmel London, or Maybelline, they would have a range of colours for lighter skin but only have 2-3 shades for darker skin girls. Therefore, leaving them to drift towards higher end brands like Lancôme or Nars who offer great alternatives, however can come at an expensive price.

So I guess the question exactly is, why don’t makeup brands cater towards darker skinned women? I can admit her skin shade would not be something you come across on an everyday basis, it’s unique in itself. However it doesn’t mean popular makeup brands should simply stop catering for their skin shades. Even looking at it from the other way round, most of the light shades still do have a tint of a tan look in them, forgetting that there are paler skin people and that not everyone prefers that tanned look even though it is what is in fashion right now.

Except for black owned brands such as Black Opal Beauty or Fashion Fair who focus on black skin mostly, many brands that are mainly advertised as being affordable for women and easily accessible should take a rise on expanding their colour ranges to suit each skin type. Especially with the rise of popular woman from Nyma herself to other youtbers such as Nikki Perkins or even actors such as Lupita Nyong’o who are gaining prominence in the spotlight.

My hope for the future is that makeup brands will continue to expand on their colour ranges, not only for foundations but other products such as blushers, highlighters and lipsticks (especially lipsticks, we need to stop looking like we have just eaten a powdered doughnut!) so that women will not have to resort to expensive brands all the time, even thought they are of very good quality

I’m no beauty expert myself, but I would really like to know why there isn’t a full range of colours suitable for all women of colour !

Noughts and Crosses – Book Review

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As my summer holidays approached this year, I decided to make it a must to start reading again. As I clearly had all the time in the world now away from school and other commitments, I wanted to stray away from social media and delve into what I enjoyed most which was reading!

Before I got engaged with social media, reading used to be my favourite thing to do. I especially loved studying books where we could learn about characters, themes and hidden messages. So I decided to read more this year and accomplish all the books off of my reading list. One of them being, to read Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses.

Before I picked up on this book, I had heard of her but I had not read any of her books before, so I was excited to see what she had to offer ( I love reading books from new authors). A friend had recommended the book to me and after reading a bit about it I decided why not give it a go. What drew me towards this book was the whole plot of it. Without reading too much into it, I found it really fascinating of how Blackman came up with this story book based on society’s role reversal between black and white people.

Quick Synopsis: The book is based on two people, Callum who is white and is labelled as a nought. Him and his family are lower-class, struggling to survive and have little money. Callum is friends with Sephy who is labelled as a Cross. Her family is black and are very wealthy, in fact all crosses are very wealthy in their town. They are friends, to everyone’s disliking, but endure on a powerful love journey together as Callum gets enrolled at Sephy’s prestigious school.

So the first thing that really shocked me (besides the role reversal of their lifestyle) was the names they were labelled with. I thought it was very smart that they weren’t labelled as just black and white as we are today. But the name nought had a very deeper meaning. It symbolised their position in the story – as nothing. Frequently, they were referred to as ‘blankers’ meaning they were nothing, they had no value, they were just blank. Even in the visual way, a nought is simply a zero which connoted their position in society- simply stating that they had none. Whereas Sephy who was labelled as a cross creates an obvious opposite way of living. They are seen to be more stronger and more powerful in their way of life. Especially when you study the family of Sephy and realise the amount of power they obtain. They were mentioned as black and white in their individual family conversations, but the societal term of ‘Noughts’ and ‘Crosses’ were used by people in the book

The second thing that really struck me was the symbolism and the similarities that the Noughts had to go through, which are totally relatable to the black struggle previously in countries like America. Early on in the book, Callum is smart, which means he passes the test to go to one of the most prestigious schools in their town, which is mainly known for accepting black people only. The book captured his first day, alongside 6-7 other teens who passed the test to be allowed into the school. As they approached the gates, they were heckled by Crosses shouting “blankers, blankers!” and of course they were denied access on the first day. Reading this moment, immediately shot up memories that I had learned in school of the Little Rock Nine students who were denied access to school in Arkansas, due to whites refusing to integrate. I don’t know if Blackman intentionally did this, to catch people’s eye out or if it was done to make people realise that this is similar to everyday life now, but that moment really stood out for me.

Overall, I must say I am very impressed with the book. At times, it did drag on to the exciting parts, especially at the start which made it hard to continue reading on. That’s what is hard for me really, if the first few chapters of a book do not seriously excite me then it is very hard for me to read on until the end. Nevertheless, I continued and I’m glad that I did. The story had a powerful ending to it, and without revealing to much, it allows you to realise the balance of powers between black and white people in terms of the government, those in authority and those who have major control, do we use our privileges against people who don’t have the same  privileges as us? or have we become so used to the fact that we will never be equal to each other in terms of our social status, especially with all the events happening around the world of police brutality to one particular race.

I would give this book 4/5 stars. It hasn’t been better than previous books I’ve read which have left me so amazed that I had to read it again and again, but this book did come with a lot of messages, lessons and good cliff-hangers, so I would definitely encourage anyone to get this book and read it.

I am due to read 1984 or The handmaids tale next so if anyone has read these books, then do let me know how it is!

Thanks for reading 🙂

 

The Get to Know Me Tag

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Hey !!

So I was just recently pondering over all the blog posts that I have done and I thought to myself I haven’t really given much of myself out there enough except from my first post which was just an introduction- even that was just a short paragraph explaining the blog and not much of an insight into who I really am as a person

So I thought to myself, as a blogger my audience should know a bit more about my life, my interests in general and past experiences well before I even go onto to talk about my opinions on certain topics, so I decided since I’m too lazy to write a whole bio about myself why not make it more creative and do a tag. So here I am to do the Get To Know Me Tag, this tag is mostly associated with youtubers however I thought it would be a great thing to do and look at !

1. Are you named after anyone?
I am not directly named after anyone however my middles name which is Sarpong, is from my Grandmother’s name so I guess I am named after her

2. When was the last time you cried?
On Saturday which is two days ago

3. Do you have any kids?
No

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?
Yes, however in certain situations maybe not lool

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
Not a lot, but I love using sarcasm

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?
Their personality, I could tell a lot about a person based on the way they speak or act

7. Scary movie or Happy Endings?
Generally, go for happy endings, but I love me a scary movie

8. What is your eye colour?
Dark Brown

9. Favourite Smells?
Anything that smells sweet, however I love the smell of petrol and fresh leather
(weird, I know right?)

10. What’s the furthest you have ever been from home?
Furthest is Canada, miles and miles away

11. Do you have any special talents?
Hmmm, not that I’m aware of

12. Where were you born?
In the UK

13. What are your hobbies?
Reading, Blogging, watching YouTube videos, Museums, going to the cinema, doing make-up

14. Do you have any pets?
I have three pet fishes

15. Do you have any siblings?
I have 3 older brothers, so yes, I am the only girl

16. Who was your first best friend?
Probably my friend called Michelle, who I am still friends with today

17. How tall are you?
5’3

18. Funniest moment throughout school?
Literally just laughing at things until it hurts and you burst into tears.

19. How many countries have you visited?
5

20. What was your favourite subject in school
History

21. What is your favourite drink?
Cherry Coke – literally my love

22. What sports do you play?
Don’t play sports now but I absolutely love playing Volleyball, Handball, Rounder’s and Badminton (girly sports I guess)

23. Favourite memory from childhood?
Coming home from school, grabbing a pack of Cheese and Onion Crisps and watching Horrid Henry after school every day at 4:00

24. What phone do you have?
I have an iPhone

25. Tell us one of your bad habits?
Apart from the occasional laziness, I have developed a habit of biting my nails which I really need to stop

So here you have it, a bit of crazy info about me , I will probably do another tag later on so you can learn more about the girl behind the screen !

 

 

 

Top 5 Ways To De-Stress

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(Before I even start, apologies for the extremely late uploads, I’ve been drowned in work for the past couple weeks but hopefully I can get back on a roll!)

When life get’s in the way, and you feel like your body has been physically pulled from side to side, up and down with things bombarding you all the time- it can get pretty hectic. However I find these easy steps/ ways have helped me to relax myself and just de-stress as I combat my daily list of problems!

1.Prepare for the morning the night before

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When you’ve a busy day planned ahead of you, with 15 things to remember to get done, you wake up and find you haven’t even prepared for half of them! Doing activities such as preparing lunch the night before, fixing your entire outfit from head to toe and even laying it out on your bed the night before. Packing your essentials in your bag for the next day and organising your schedule for any important meetings or appointments can help you out greatly as it is similar to a checklist. Once the priority is taken care of, you can move onto the next! (saves a lot of time also)

2. Don’t rely on your memory –write it down

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This is a follow up from step 1. Your brain acts as a checklist and along with the other 1000’s of information you have to hold in- there’s only so much it can obtain, making it harder for your brain to function well. Some people are experts in remembering lot’s of info- but for me I’m the complete opposite. Keeping a planner of things to do (to do lists) help a lot as it’s like getting all the clunk and junk out of your head and onto paper. Alternatively, you can find somewhere more reliable and place your important information there, e.g. phone where you have an installed notes app or set reminders.

3. Use time wisely/Organise your time well

This step is one I particularly enjoy, weird fact is that I find it kind of therapeutic to me when I am organising the time I have for the day. But in reality this step really helps especially if you have different things to do in each day. For example, your day can include running errands, answering your emails or files then going for a jog or going to the gym- both completely different activities which can vary through time. However if you begin to calculate how much time you need to spend on each activity, you can stick to your timing and soon everything you need to do for that day will get done ! Try and prioritise your timing to the most important things for example any assignments/essays can have the most time spent on and time for social life and relaxing can yes unfortunately have to be left for the later times- sad I know.

4. Stop saying negative things to yourself

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If you wake up every morning, and look in the mirror and say to yourself ” I am a panda” your more or less going to start believing it aren’t you ! this is the exact same with stressing out about things. Now I had to learn this and apply it to myself as last year I clouded my thoughts with ” I’m not going to do that” or “oh that’ll never get done” or ” I will never find the time to do that”. I realised that the more I was saying these things the more I was doing it and that led me astray from being organised and productive. If you just simply make the small change of pumping positive thoughts of ” I will not be stressed” or even before you leave the house ” I am going to have a stress-free day” it’s most likely that it will happen as your mind-set is in that positive direction

5. Seek support from others/ Prayer

Now of course there are times where life get’s the better of us and we simply can’t always handle things in our control. That’s where the help of close family members and friends help to encourage you along the way of a stressful time. Find someone you can confide in and who will strengthen you to go through a troublesome time. Or , prayer can also help to relieve some stress too. If you vent out to God it’s like a weight lifted off of your soldiers as you are verbally releasing your troubles and stresses onto somebody who can deal with them. Even if you’re not religious, just mediating can help you fall into a relaxed state and relieve you of your stress.

Hope this helped ! 🙂