Hello people.

Today I want to talk about something very important, yet very underestimated: Self-Care.

Especially since my days are jam-packed and I feel like I am drowning in work, I often felt the need to shut the world off for a while and just care about myself for a while.



There are several different ways I've done that during the last couple of days, so I am going to present them to you:

1. Pamper.
Might seem like an obvious one, but I want to include it anyway because I never really saw the importance of it until like two weeks ago.
When I pamper I first remove all of my make up, cleanse my face and then put a mask on.
While that is on I like to brush my teeth or paint my nails. If you're a bath kind of person you could take one now, but I am really not about that bath-life. I usually shower to wash my mask of and then properly clean my body, with shaving, conditioner and sometimes a body scrub.
After showering I moisturize my body and face.
Afterwards I always feel like a new human, fresh and pure and ready to face anything.

2. Turn off electronic devises. 


I found that I often get stressed by social media or generally anything on my phone or laptop. And if it is just to receive an unwanted text which makes me not wanting to open whatsapp. (I know we've all been there, don't lie to me)
With social media you are available for people 24/7. Which can be good but it can also be the worst thing ever if you had a stressful day anyway and the least thing you want to do is to answer 20 unread messages on your phone. Or even get involved in any kind of argument due to misapprehension (again, we've all been there.)
SO I decided that I would sometimes go on a "digital detox" (kinda) in which I just turn off laptop and phone. I found it so relaxing to not check my phone every 5 seconds or have the guilty feeling of neglecting friends.
This actually leads me onto my next point:

3. Do stuff that doesn't require electronic devices.
Because after having turned off phones et cetera you still want to do something. So here are the things I most enjoy doing without my phone:
- read a book. 

calms the mind and carries you away into a different world (if you are sick of your current one at that moment). Grab a cup of tea and a blanket and have some cozy reading time.
- practice an instrument. 

For me it is the piano. And I actually often forget to practice the piano, so this is a positive side effect. Just the feeling of growth and improvement I get when I finally nail something I failed so many times at is so addictive. And if you don't play an instrument: Learn one! Like the ukulele! You can buy cheap ones on amazon and there are so many tutorials on YouTube that even I can now kind of play it.
- talk to a friend or a family member. Socializing always helps me to clear my mind. Especially if I am having a particularly stressy day it helps me to just talk about it.
- write in a diary. 

I often feel like my days are so filled with bad and good stuff and I want to remember everything I do and be able to have the memory available in a few years. DIARIES. Honestly, the best thing you can do to make you feel better now and to give yourself loads of enjoyment later. And if it is just a page a week writing about how you felt or about something that upset you, it will make a difference and relax you.
- exercise. Obvious one. Exercise is always good. As you read on the internet all the time: "Exercise is therapy".
- go outside. 

Fresh air plus moving your body a little equals inner peace. You didn't know? Try it!

4. Sleep. 



Enough sleep is always mandatory for me to have a good day in general. If I had less than 6/7 hours of sleep my day is instantly 20% worse.
So I try my hardest to go to bed early and get my 8 hours of sleep. It re-energizes my body and I know that the next day will be better. (Another lovely aspect: You escape your the stress for a while and are just completely calm.)


So these are the things I like to do after a particularly stressful day that calm me down to regain my energy.
I hope that I helped some of you, especially since exam season is coming again and for me it is time to study for my a levels. kill me. 

Please tell me your advice in the comments so we can learn from one another.

Hey people.

Yesterday was my first day of school after the winter holidays.
And in every lesson our teachers greeted us like so:

Hello class! Happy New Year! Especially for you! This will be exciting. Like, this is the year!  I hope you'll have a successful year. This year will decide over your future! Who knows what you'll be doing today in a year. Hopefully you do. 
Your last year in school, that is indeed exciting. When are your A-Levels? OH, in two months already, well, I hope y'all have started studying already? No? Well that's not good..
Anyway, let's talk about all the things you have to know for your A-Levels because it will definitely be important somehow. 

Like, THANK YOU, I am already stressed out but that you for adding to that.

In English class we even had to form groups and talk about our future and we literally called our group "Team Existential Crisis".. that says it all.


But jokes aside.
It is very scary to think of everything that way.
The last year in which I'll go to school.
The year I am writing my A-Levels in.
The year I am moving out.
The year my whole life will change.

...How is that not scary to some people?
I do have plans for my future, like, many plans. I want to go to England in September. I want to study to become a teacher for English and Music. I want to travel a lot. I want to meet a lot of people and be happy.
But that is the point. What if all of this does not make me happy?

What if I am in England (IF I manage to find a job and a room eventually) and miss home and just feel like I don't fit in and don't find my place.
What if I start studying and notice that I am really hating it or that I am not good enough or that teaching is just not the thing I want to do the rest of my life?
What if..?

source: tumblr

My future, and I am talking like very close future, consists of a lot of "What if's..." and a lot of challenges.
But, as my English teacher said today, challenges always have a small connotation of fear and anxiety. Because you have to possibility to fail the challenge. And depending on what kind of person you are, you focus more or less on the bad outcome of the upcoming challenge.

Weird, isn't it?
Because thinking: "Oh, I might not like teaching." doesn't get me any further, it does the opposite, it makes me step away and reconsider for the hundredth time, just to be where I was before I started panicking.

Where do I go from here? 
Well, as simple as it sounds, it is very true: My future is completely in my hands and depends on my decisions. That is partially the scary part, but also the exciting and, in a way, encouraging part.
If I don't get up off my ass and start to properly look for jobs and rooms in Brighton - I can't go.
If I don't inform myself about different carriers and paths I could take instead of teaching I can't compare and might not be able to do what I really want to do.

I have the power to completely design my life the way I want it to be.
And I want to use it.
If that means to study for my A-Level exams even though I absolutely hate biology (lol) I need to do it. For my education, my exams, my job, my life.
Sounds simple. Doing it isn't so much, but I'll try and stick to it.


What about you? 
Have you already finished school?
Are you also currently where I am, deciding what your future will look like?
Or do you still have many many years to go?

I am actually curious, please tell me in the comments!