Loving what you do…

The world is full of millions of people with completely different cultures, ideas, opportunities and lives. Every single person on the planet is different in so many ways, but also very similar in many aspects.

I think that many of us seem to focus on the similarities between us, in the sense of comparing ourselves with one another, but also in the sense of ‘going with the flow’, because we see our similarities and feel that we are expected to do the same as everyone else. I talked about this in my ‘normal’ blog, but I want to write about this theme of individuality in a different way.

Everyone has their own amazing lives, but to make your life matter you have to do something, and that should be something that you love.

Far too many people live their lives doing things that they don’t like, or that they just put up with, either because of financial reasons if we are talking about jobs, or to please people like parents or friends, or simply due to laziness. This may be picking a certain combination of GCSEs because you think that it will help you get into a good university, or just working as a doctor because of the money it pays. These are just a few examples,but what I am trying to imply is that doing something for your enjoyment and love of doing it is much more beneficial than doing whatever it is for the sake of doing it.

No matter how crazy or different your ambitions or ideas may be , if you love doing it, then go for it, because without everyones unique contributions to the world , society would be incredibly dull.

“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” -Steve Jobs

See you soon

Gxx

 

Alone time…

Everyone needs time to themselves, but no one needs it more than a teenager. Now, I know that the stereotypical teenager would lock him/ herself in his/her room for hours, listening to deep, depressing music, and shout at anyone who dares to enter their cave, but that is not the alone time I am talking about. When we were children we probably found it quite funny to look at a teenager and see how grumpy they are. I thought I would never reach that grumpy stage, and I would always have a smiley face, but obviously, that’s not how things have turned out.

I often feel annoyed at people or tired and just want to do something quiet and personal for a bit, so here are a few things that I personally like to do when I need some time to myself:

1. READING- books are currently a huge part of my life, as I have been reading non stop since the beginning of summer. My book list has mainly consisted of young adult fiction, which I love because it is so relatable and just generously lovely to read. I could do a blog post on the books I’ve been reading (let me know in the comments).
2. FILMS&TV- like books, films and TV shows are such a obvious but amazing way to make you happy and relaxed. I find that rom-coms are the best way to make you feel happy and relaxed, as they are light and just so heartwarming.
3. MUSIC- everyone has their own music taste, but I think we all have a type of music we can go to when we just want to breathe. For me, I go to my calm playlist on Spotify and usually fall asleep listening to it, but it does make me feel relaxed.
4. BATHS-now most people love long baths. Especially when you have a bath bomb at hand or some bubble bath, there is nothing nicer to do on a cold autmn evening than to have a warm, long bath and just be calm and stress free.

FOOD- now, this doesn’t mean go and raid the cupboards to find junk, but it’s so nice to sometimes get something that you just love to eat, and bring it up to eat infront of the TV.

I hope this helps you to keep relaxed and feel fulfilled when you have some time to yourself.

see you soon.

Gxx

Summer…

Summer holidays are a long period of time when you can basically do what you want. It is a time to be filled with fun and enjoyment, maybe because the sun is out, or maybe just because school is not something you need to think about.

We should all try and embrace our holidays as much as possible because sooner than we think we will be stressing about physics homework and waking up at 6 am. The best way to do this is probably by spending as little time indoors as possible, especially if you are tempted to spend hours going through your feed on Instagram.

Spending time on social media does not only mean that you have less time to have fun and make your own amazing memories, but  it can also lead to making you think that you are having a rubbish holiday.

When we see the holidays of all our friends through the eyes of social media, we often come to the conclusions that since that person is smiling in that picture and in an incredible place, that they must be having an incredible time. But this is not always the case. In photos it may look like people are having the time of their lives, but we have no way of knowing whether, behind all the filters and beautiful views, they are unhappy or having a bad holiday due to a thousand mosquito bites.

So instead of looking at other peoples holidays, try hard to have the best summer ever, full of laughs and amazing memories that can make you happy while in the sun.

see you soon

Gxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to get through a bad day…

We all have bad days, where we can feel depressed, low on energy, or just generally angry.  It is a horrible feeling to seem unhappy and  angry, but it is something that happens to all of us. Here are some ways to help you get through that kind of bad day:

Make a to do list

When we feel awful, we often tend to feel sorry for ourselves and either stay in bed or just spend the whole day being lazy and not getting off the couch. This is not a great way to get through bad days, as it means that you will spend most of the time thinking about how depressed you feel, instead of trying to stop feeling like that. Making a ‘to do list’ can act as a motivator for you to actually do something that day, and stay active to keep your mind busy instead of feeling sorry for yourself.

Leave the house

Following on from making the to do list, leaving the house is a fundamental way to get through your bad day. Firstly, getting some fresh air in your lungs can make you feel a lot less down, and a bit more lively. Also, anything active will make you feel less unhappy, as you are being productive and taking your mind off the negativity.

Have a bath or shower

When feeling unhappy, the worst thing is to also feel dirty, as it builds onto making you seem even more unenergetic and depressed. Washing yourself will not only make yourself feel clean and fresh, but also relaxed and less angry.

Avoid using social media

Looking at other peoples lives can make you feel even worse about yourself, especially when you are already feeling down. Avoiding social media would mean that you wouldn’t feel any worse about yourself as you see how much fun people seem to be having, even though most of what you see online is untrue.

Do something you love

Doing something that you love, whether that is watching friends, eating pizza, or gardening, can really help you feel more content and fulfilled, as it is probably something that tends to bring you happiness. It can also give you time to reflect on your emotions, see why you are feeling this way, and realise that this is just one day in your life and you are not always going to feel like this.

Talk

The worst thing that you can do on a bad day is isolate yourself. Talk to people who you trust, as they are very likely to improve your day, by having a laugh and supporting you. You will also realise that everyone has bad days, so you are not alone.

So next time that you have one of these days, try and remember that this is just one day in your life, and that you can only make yourself better.

See you soon.

Gxx

 

 

The future…

When I was little, and I’m sure this is the same for many of you, my career options were huge. I dreamed of being a ballerina, a bee, a librarian, a doctor, a teacher and so much more, but as I have grown older, most people’s dreams have narrowed greatly. People my age often worry more about the money that their main career option is going to pay more than whether they actually like it.

Jobs are a very exciting thing, and I know that many do have certain areas of work that they want to enter, but we must try our best to have a variety of options for the future to make sure that we are not setting out our life’s path. What I mean is that we would be happier and  achieve more if we avoid saying things like ‘I will work in…’, or even ‘I will go to this school’, because the truth is that we are going to change, and should always have open minds to allow for this change.

If we only base all our studying and our life on that one job, then we will probably have very boring lives, because not only may that area of work not be right for you and leave you with no other career options, but we may have missed chances to do with other things that would have suited our life much better than the career we ended up choosing.

So overall, I think that it is very important that we do what we love in our lives, but also that we open our eyes to see other possibilities that had never occurred to us.

Bring out your inner child and dream big.

See you soon

Gxx

Make a difference…

The other day, on the way to school I was on the tube when I looked around me. Everyone was either on their phone, reading a book, reading the newspaper, muttering to a friend or just minding their own business. There was absolutely nobody doing anything out of the ordinary. At that moment, after a bit of thought, I really wanted to stand on my seat and shout (in a ‘respectable’ way) and tell everybody to do what they wanted to do to make their own mark on the world.

Lets say that you do only live once. Imagine dying after a life of achievements that no one but the people you spoke to know about. Imagine dying after not leaving even a fingerprint on the world. When I talk about dying, many of you are probably thinking that I am being incredibly dark and negative, but I don’t think of dying as something negative, as it is something that is going to happen to many of us- but that is for a whole other blog post.

Personally, when I die I want to have made a difference to the world for good, or at least have my mark on the earth that people will realise. I do not understand how people are expecting to live and make their voice heard in the business of the world  if we can’t even be ourselves in public.

Now, I am not saying that everyone should right now walk out into the street and scream, or do anything else to express yourself, because I understand that that would take a huge amount of gut and courage, but I just want the whole world to stop being full of isolated individuals, and turn into a place where you can sing out loud as you walk your dog, or start dancing on the tube, without everyone thinking your really strange. The only reason why we are not all making differences to the world is because we are scared of society turning around and staring at us, and so we prefer to hide.

So I encourage everyone to do small things to help make a difference, and don’t be afraid of the consequences.

See you soon

Gxx

ps. If anyone has any questions about what I write about, or has any blog ideas that you’d like me to write about, then please leave a comment. xxx

 

 

Normal…

The other day I was at the nail salon and an old lady with pink hair and green nails came to sit next to me. She glanced at the cover of the book I was reading called ‘The Art of Being Normal’ and said “never be normal; normal is boring”. Now, these words kept coming into my head throughout the day for two main reasons.

Firstly, I often don’t like to use the word ‘never’, because it is a word that sounds foreboding and  is too vast a word to be used. You don’t know whether in the future, your life will be different and all of the ‘nevers’ will turn out to happen. But, I thought that the way the lady put it was right and a rare occasion when the word never can be used.

Also, when I was thinking about what the lady said, I began to ask myself what is normal? I think that in society we generalise the term normal as being vaguely pretty, kind of clever and not having any serious issues, but really, we all have our own interpretations of the word normal. Personally, I don’t think that normal exists and I also don’t believe that someone can be classified as normal.

Often, the feeling of being ‘normal’ as in just fitting straight into the world brings a feeling of comfort and safety to people as they are just doing what is expected in society; not standing out and acting similarly to everyone else, but it is actually more important to be yourself, no matter if other people make it out that you are not ‘normal’, because in the end, being ‘normal’ will not matter. What is the point anyway? If this is our only life, then wouldn’t you want to stand out and make a mark on the world by not just following everyone else.

So I think that the lady at the nail salon was right when she told me that normal is boring, and we could all try being a bit less ‘normal’.

see you soon.

Gxx

p.s. the art of being normal is and amazing book…

go and check it out@ :

http://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/childrens/the-art-of-being-normal,lisa-williamson-9781910200520

Loving yourself…

The world has turned into a place full of labels. There are so many images of what a ‘beautiful’ girl is, but really, what we don’t realise is that we must stop hating everything that we are not, and start loving everything that we are. Everyone on this planet is different, so there is just no point in trying to find perfection, because the most perfect you can be is yourself.

Loving yourself may be the hardest thing that you’ll ever have to do, but if you don’t love yourself, how will you ever know what you deserve, what you want or who you are. We can’t just expect other people to love us so we may as well love ourselves.

Even though loving yourself may seem like a massive step forwards for many of us, it is actually just a small pace. What I mean is that if we start loving ourselves, everything else will fall into place. This will lead to accomplishing our dreams and having greater happiness, when we realise that the main person we are trying to impress is ourselves.

Now, when I say ‘love yourself’, I am not talking about over confidence, although loving yourself can lead to better confidence, but it is not at all selfish. Loving yourself simply means to discover your personal courage, self-respect, integrity and self-esteem, which are all fundamental qualities we should all have.

You are the only person who you can entirely know, who can love you whenever you want to be loved, and who sees exactly what you see, so we must all stop worrying about what other people think, as all that really matters is how you feel. We must stop setting out  boundaries  for ourselves, and just have fun. Having fun is the key to love, so do what makes you smile to make you love yourself.

See you soon.

Gxx

 

Take a risk…

Sometimes we look to the future and think ‘but what if…’. We worry about doing thinks when we don’t know what will happen and if there will be consequences, but we have to take risks. When we look back on our lives, I’m sure we would all much prefer to look at the past and think ‘I can’t believe I did that’, not ‘I wish I had done that’.

Taking risks is part of all our lives’ journey, so, to live a fulfilled life, we must take them. Overthinking things makes our lives so much more complicated than if we just lived it, accepting ourselves and the actions we take. Remember that taking leaps is fine, and the absolute worst that can happen is that we ‘regret’ taking that move, and feel unhappy. Now, firstly, you would never have known that the risks would be ‘mistakes’ if you hadn’t taken them in the first place, and anyway, you can only learn from your mistakes. Secondly, you should not regret anything, especially the things that make you smile, as they cannot lead to anything worse.

In the future, you may look back on these memories and laugh, or you might look back and cry, but this can only add towards the person you will become.

Staying ‘safe’ and just playing by the ‘rules’ will just make your life unexciting and boring. What would you be saving yourself for if you didn’t take these chances. If you don’t accept these opportunities, you won’t get anywhere in your life.

To reach your true ambitions, you must take risks. Meryl Streep, one of the most amazing actresses, who had always dreamed of being an actress, went to an audition and was told that she was ‘too ugly’ for the part. Meryl Streep could either let that ruin her dreams and stop acting, or she could take risks and try harder. She chose not to listen to that one opinion, and in the end she has been nominated for nineteen academy awards, which is more nominations than any other actor or actress in history.

This shows how important and valuable risks are, and how taking them can only change your life for the better.

See you soon

Gxx

True Friends…

We all know how complicated it is being a teenage girl for many reasons, one of which being friendships. Especially in our teenage years, we begin to create friendships that will stay with us for life, but also sometimes even the closest of friends can grow apart. A friendship is supposed to be a relationship full of trust, respect, honesty and kindness, and having a friend who you share these qualities with is a wonderful and vital thing. Every person should have someone who can always be there for them, but sometimes, the people you think you can trust turn out to be those who make you feel upset or just naturally distance themselves from you.

Huge conflicts between friends can end a relationship, but also make it seem like the biggest thing in the world. The truth is that one day, we are all going to move on in life, realising who our real friends are, and making new ones.

Now, all friends have moments of disagreement between them, so it is not all conflicts that ‘end friendships’. What I mean by huge conflicts are times when something comes between you and your friend, and you realise that this person is not a true friend who you should waste your time with. So many people are going to jump in and out of your life, and that doesn’t matter-it is a natural process for everyone.

Something that we don’t always realise but is really important in a true friendship is difference. All of us are different, inside and out, and so we cant keep expecting too much from others. For example, if you have always helped your friend in her down times, and then suddenly one day you are having a bad time, and she doesn’t offer to help you, you shouldn’t race to a conclusion and be upset over the lack of respect she is giving you, because she is different. She may not be trying to be rude, that is just her character. Life is not like that anyway, with people doing  exactly how you would like them to. We must also remember that what we see is only other peoples actions, not their intentions.

I think that a true friend is someone who will respect you for who you are, sharing trust, honesty and kindness while staying by your side, despite the conflicts and differences between you.

I hope this helped with realising and valuing your true friendships!

See you soon

Gxx