Survival Tips for when life feels overwhelming!

Life at times can seem to be in a whirlwind with so many things happening all at once. When life is like this it is no wonder we can feel swept off our feet and spinning like we are in the tornado with Dorothy and Toto in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. However, my following survival guide for getting through these times of severe weather suggests: to take the journey step by step, get things done bit by bit and get through what is ahead day by day!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. “

Bible Verse: Matthew 6: verse 34 (NIV NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION)

WHY IS WELLBEING SO VITAL TO OUR HEALTH & HAPPINESS? How being a Wellbeing niche blogger is inspiring & my top Wellbeing posts of encouragement!

Why is our ‘Wellbeing’ so vital to our health and happiness?

WELLBEING definition:

The state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.

synonyms:

welfare, health, good health, happiness, comfort, security, safety, protection, prosperity, profit, good, success, fortune, good fortune, advantage, interest,  ponderousness, successfulness

Handy ways to get prepared, focused and be ready for all that’s ahead in the future: Focus Words, Goal Setting & Promises to yourself!

Set your future intentions with Focus Words, Goal Setting and Promises to yourself – as ways to be prepared, focused and ready for all that’s ahead…

When looking ahead, I like to do things that will get my mind focused on the future. I still want to carry with me the lessons learnt from the past, but in order to then go forward, being clear on my goals and my intentions for the year ahead.

If you’ve read my post Be ORGANISED & FOCUSED in life, with these TOP 3 ITEMS to keep you on track! you would know I use a few different items such as a diary, journal and calendar, in order to keep myself prepared and organised in a practical way.

However, below is a list of other things I do at the dawn of each new year instead of traditional resolutions, to get myself focused and ready for the future:

• Choosing a focus word for the year ahead.
• Setting my goals and intentions for the year ahead.
• My New Year Promises to Myself.

However, whatever time of the year you are reading this, you can start to implement these things to help you get focused in life. In this post I will go on to explain just how I do each of these future focusing exercises and why. With the aim of inspiring you to do the same no matter your circumstance – if you are a business executive, stay at home parent or a chronic illness warrior. We all need a direction, plan, vision, goal and dream to work towards and focus on!

“Wave goodbye to the past but take with you it’s lessons. Say hello to the present with focus and determination for all that’s to come in the future…”

– Helen’s Journey Blog

The Power of THANKFULNESS! Top Tips for logging GRATITUDE, to bring more happiness & inner peace into your life, through the joy of gratefulness! (Including a FREE Printable: WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY!)

The Power of THANKFULNESS & Top Tips for logging GRATITUDE.

Including a WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY free printable, as my gratitude gift for my readers!

Here we are again, it’s that time of year full of events that make everyone stop in their tracks and actually think about what they are thankful for. Nearly everyone enjoys Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day & New Year’s Eve and not just for the food and festivities! Whether you know it or not, it’s also because of the high that thankfulness and acknowledging gratitude, can bring during this time of year too.

Let’s discover more about this together and then at the end of the blog, I will give you tips and tricks on how you can incorporate the ‘power of thankfulness‘ into your everyday life not just on specific days like Thanksgiving and Christmas Time. I will also give each reader A FREE PRINTABLE ‘WEEKLY GRATITUDE DIARY’ SHEETas my gratitude gift just for you!! 😉

Life Lessons that the Season of Autumn/Fall can bring for us all and how to stay positive through seasonal changes.

Life lessons the season of Autumn / Fall can bring to all… and how to stay positive through seasonal changes.

Like most things in life, how we experience the change of season and weather, is down to our personal perspective. This post is all about purposely choosing a positive perspective as we transition into a new season…

Believe me, as someone with a chronic illness that is worsened in the colder weather I know oh too well the amount of dread the colder weather months can be met with and the effect of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) depression that seasonally comes in the dark Autumn and Winter months.

However, learning to see the beautiful life lessons of the season helped me to embrace the change instead of dreading it – as it can’t be changed through dread or worry, so instead might as well be enjoyed for its positives even though it brings along negatives too. ‘Balance’ and ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ come to mind.

“What possible lessons could the Autumn / Fall give me?” I hear you ask. Let me explain…

Kirkstall Abbey – A free day out in Leeds any time of the year, surrounded by beauty, history and fun for all ages and abilities.

Looking for a free day out in Leeds?

‘Kirkstall Abbey’ is a day trip full of history, beauty and fun for all ages and abilities – any time of the year!

A cool place to visit while in Leeds is a place called ‘Kirkstall Abbey’ – so cool in fact I visited twice in the space of four months! It is easy to get to, being three miles from the City Centre of Leeds, off the A65.

Kirkstall Abbey is a Cistercian Monastery founded in 1152 and one of the best-preserved monasteries in England.

What I’ve learnt from 3 years of growing my hair for charity, to make a wig for a child with cancer

“SHORT HAIR DON’T CARE” to           “LONG HAIR COZ I CARE”

Have you seen the hashtag floating around on social media #shorthairdontcare ?

Well, this was always my reality, as I’ve almost always had short hair, even as a child as I made washing my hair such an ordeal as I hated getting water in my eyes (mix of eczema, sensitive eyes and being a diva) and disliked getting my hair brushed too! I think it was just easier for my mom to let me have the shorter hair I wanted.

Yet for the past 3 years, as I’ve been growing my hair an extra 12 inches in length, for a charity donation my hashtag became #longhairdontcare instead, as I grew my hair the longest it has EVER been in my whole 34 years of life at the time.

Only now, with ‘the big charity chop’ being two weeks away, my reality has now become the opposite of that hashtag. As now it’s more like #longhaircozicare

I know my Mom will have some difficulty working that out so here it is ‘un-hashtagged’ (I know that isn’t a proper word Mom, but maybe it should be a modern addition 😉) “long hair coz I care” – Let me explain…

“Fibro-my-what?” Let me explain… All about the health condition FIBROMYALGIA

Fibro-My-What?

Let me explain…

The 12th of May is ‘Fibromyalgia Awareness Day’ – So what better way to become aware, than by reading this blog post!

You write it: FIBROMYALGIA

You say it: Fi – bro – my – al – gee – ah.

The origins of the word:

“fibro”for fibrous tissues such as tendons & ligaments

“my”indicating muscles

“algia” meaning pain.

Also referred to as:   FMS (Fibromyalgia Syndrome)

“Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition of widespread muscle pain, profound fatigue & sleep disorder, along with many other symptoms.”

www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org

According to the National Fibromyalgia Association; 3-6% of the world’s population has Fibromyalgia syndrome. 

Facing Your Giants! Encouragement for how to be as confident & as bold as David, in defeating your life’s Goliath.

Everyone has giants to face at different times in life, some bigger than others. However, this blog post will reassure you that no matter the size of the giant, they all give you the chance to prove to yourself, just how strong you really are!

What I’ve Learnt from over a Decade with Chronic Illness! Top 5 Life Lessons Fibromyalgia has taught me!

A reflection I am writing as I am undergoing treatment:

As I type this, I’m currently on a hospital bed receiving treatment for the chronic illness I’ve had for just over 11 years. As I am laying here with an IV drip going into my hand pumping anaesthetic around my body to try to numb my nervous system down, I find myself reflecting on the life lessons chronic illness has brought along with it…

• You never know what’s around the corner.
• You find out who is willing to make the effort for you, when you are simply unable to do it back.
• There is a big difference between being alive and actually living.
• Life comes down to love.
• There is always a way to do it or an alternative.
• You find out what your passion is when you can’t do it any longer.
• You discover your core relationships.
• The power of the mind and destructive thinking.
• The danger of owning your diagnoses.

I could really let my fingers carry on and list a thousand things, esp as I’m on this IV drip for a few hours…but I’ll only pick a few from this list to explain in more depth:

HOW TO GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK when life makes you HARD ON YOURSELF! A free printable Affirmation, to encourage Self-Love, Forgiveness & Letting Go.

This post also includes a free printable affirmation, to encourage self-love, forgiveness & letting go…

How negativity affects your health and mental health:

Being too hard on ourselves has damaging effects, not only on our mental health but also our physical health too. It is scientifically proven that negative thinking and negative thoughts worsen a person’s health, lowers immunity and affects the brain’s function. Chronic stress, worry and negative emotions can unbalance our hormones and the brain needs a certain level of specific hormones to create the feeling of ‘happiness’.

That is why ‘self-love’ or ‘being kind to yourself’ is sooooooooo important in life, esp when you are already in ill-health or struggle mentally with issues of self or low mood.

Deaths reminder to treasure loved ones and work towards the legacy you’ll leave behind…

Today’s reflection is one of importance: to TREASURING YOUR LOVED ONES and work towards YOUR LEGACY that you will leave behind!

This blog is a gentle prompt to enjoy time with your loved ones, making precious memories and treasuring having them in your life. Hold them close and be grateful for all the blessings they bring and the challenges they bring also – as they both make an impact on your life. Generally treasure the people you spend the most time with and all those that make contact with you just to say “Hello, how are you?”.

Be ORGANISED & FOCUSED in life, with these TOP 3 ITEMS to keep you on track!

As I type this post another new year is fast approaching. My thoughts go towards a sense of preparation and planning, as most people do at this time of year when we start setting ourselves New Year Resolutions and goals for the new year ahead.

However, if you have an overactive and creative mind like mine, your thoughts can run away with themselves and you end up feeling confused, overwhelmed and like you can’t even remember everything that you just spent ages thinking about as there is just too much of it! *AND BREATHE!*

So the best way I find to get the lists and ideas out of my brain is to write them down and log them in some way. To do this, as I am in my season of preparation for the future, I have got 3 items to help get me organised and focused:

Remembering the REASON for the SEASON! A short Christmas Day Reflection to remember the life lessons the nativity story can bring to all.

This post is a Christmas Day reflection, to remember the life lessons that the nativity story can bring to all, believers as well as non-believers.

The big day is finally here; CHRISTMAS DAY! The photo I took that inspired today’s post is one inside my childhood Church St Boniface. As you can see, I perfectly positioned the camera to get the altar and the cross wall hanging in the photo, along with the Christmas Tree. For me, it is the perfect reminder of the reason we even celebrate Christmas! Although not the official date of Jesus’ birth (Yeshua (ישוע) in original Hebrew text) and also pagan origins of using evergreen fir trees that aren’t linked to this – it is what Christmas Time and the symbol of a Christmas Tree has meant for the generations of people alive today.

“LIFE IS LIKE A FRAGILE ORNAMENT” Christmas Reflection and a Life Lesson relevant for every day of the year!

Some people love Christmas & the joy in counting down the days by opening the day’s advent calendar door. While others get more stressed the closer the date gets to 25th December so they don’t enjoy having an advent calendar.

it makes you feel, I invite you to join me each of the 12 days till Christmas, as I share daily Christmas Reflections and of course an accompanying Christmas image! (I just love taking photos & sharing pictures so it’s only right each post is inspired by my own photos.)

Today’s chosen image below is of crystal glass angel Christmas ornaments. To some may be a reminder of the angels part in the nativity story, appearing to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds to deliver the News of ‘Jesus’ (originally ‘Yeshua’ in Hebrew).

When I first saw them in person, i just fell in love with them, so pretty and precious. However, looking at them today with fresh eyes, they make me think they represent just how fragile life can be. More of a reflection of what’s going on for me & my family right now, but a reminder for all.