Tag Archives: life

Jul5

The First Steps To Switching Careers

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The First Steps To Switching Careers

You’re not the same person that you were when you first joined the workforce; life happened, events were experienced, and you learned from any mistakes you have made (hopefully!). As a result, you grew as a person, developed new interests, and discovered skills you didn’t realize you had. It’s no wonder that you might be entertaining the idea of a different career. However, if you’ve climbed a significant portion of the career ladder in your current industry, it’s not exactly a thrilling thought to start at the bottom of an entirely new field all over again. A new career might seem exciting, but is it really the right move for you? Here are a few things that you would have to consider before you make the switch:

Do you really hate your current job?

Yes, it might get boring and frustrating doing the same thing 40 hours a week, but do you really hate your job enough to completely leave it? Once you start down a path of switching careers, it can be very difficult to switch back, so you need to be sure that you’re doing it for the right reasons. If your inner reflections reveal that it’s your boss/colleagues/job that you hate, then maybe you just need to find ways to make work more tolerable or put some feelers out for a different job within the same industry.

A change of scenery can work wonders if you do enjoy your work but are having issues within the company. Consider similar fields or opportunities in various locations and see what strikes your fancy. It could be in a different city, state, or even country. However, if you are interested in working abroad you will need to learn how to get a right to work share code to be eligible to work at your new destination.

You’ll have to start at the bottom:

Whatever career you’ve chosen next, you will have to start all over again. Unlike when you were in college and you were free to experiment with different options, everything you do from here on has to be in service to your new career path if you want to get there faster.

Say you’ve decided that you want to pursue a new career in the fashion industry; you’ll likely have to go back to school to get the proper qualifications and find a job within the industry that can pay your bills and give you some relevant experience. Since you’re starting from the bottom, most jobs available to you will be in retail clothing stores, so make sure that you read this if you plan on filling out a Victoria’s Secret application. If you’ve realized pretty early on that you made a bad career choice, then starting from scratch might not be such a hassle as long as you’re sure that you are following the right career path for you.

You need a plan:

Resist the urge to march into your boss’ office and hand in your resignation once you decide that you want a career change; you still need a job while you come up with a viable plan for your next endeavor. Take your time and start by narrowing your options. Start by deciding on what you don’t want to be doing. If you hate doing paperwork in your current career, you can eliminate admin and office jobs. You can free yourself from being chained to a desk by choosing an outdoor job or one that involves more movement. If you’re hoping to end up in a top position one day, a five year plan can outline the steps that you need to take to get there. Your plan should outline how you’re paying for new qualifications, the position you’re hoping to get, and where you hope to end up after a few years of experience. The options are endless, but your perfect job is out there waiting for you.

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Planning party!!

You need the skills:

Chances are you won’t have the necessary qualifications for the new job that you want. But don’t let this put you off! You can learn the skills that you need by going back to school full time, through an online course, or signing up for part-time classes. Even if you change your mind all over again, furthering your career with education is never a bad thing. It’s going to be exciting to learn something completely new through continuing education programs from IOSMT (if you are opting for a new career in physical therapy), a trade school, or wherever else you choose!

Studying part time while maintaining a job will show employers that you have enough drive and motivation to go after something you want. The degree itself will also help you develop a wide range of skills in addition to learning about the subject itself. Technical and vocational schools like ATA College are excellent for balancing an education/work balance and can give you the know how to get a job as soon as you complete your respective program. If you don’t quite have the funds for a formal education, you could also try volunteering to gain some valuable skills and experience.

There is nothing worse than going to a job that you despise every day. Switching careers can be a scary thing but can have a major payoff once you’re at an amazing new job!

Featured Image By: Wikimedia

Jun8

Live Well Today To Avoid Illnesses Tomorrow

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Live Well Today To Avoid Illnesses Tomorrow

So many of us associate old age with bad health, but actually, it doesn’t have to be this way at all. Unfortunately some people are struck down with illnesses and diseases that have nothing to do with their lifestyle, however many of us could massively increase our life expectancy and live a far more happy and healthy life when we’re older just by making simple changes today. Here are some of the ways that you can live well today to avoid preventable illnesses and have a healthier tomorrow:

Eat A Healthy Diet and Exercise: Heart disease, high blood pressure, and type two diabetes. These are all very serious illnesses and in many cases are fatal – and can be avoided simply by eating a healthy diet and exercising. You don’t have to be ‘perfect’ and give up everything that you like, just practice moderation. Every day aim to get your five portions of fruit and veggies in. A glass of orange juice in the morning, some dried fruit in your granola, a side salad with your sandwich at lunch, and two portions of vegetables with your dinner and you’ve reached it. Things like tinned fruit and vegetables, smoothies, and nuts all count too. Aim to eat clean as often as you can– which is eating foods as close to their natural state as possible. Then, treat yourself now and again to something that you really like.

Now, onto exercise, which helps to strengthen bones, muscles, and increase endurance. Living an active lifestyle and staying fit helps to set you up for good health later on in life. Don’t see exercise as a chore and try to make it part of your day. You could walk instead of taking the car, have active hobbies, and socialize with friends by playing sports, running, or hiking together.

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 Annnd break!

Avoid Pesticides and Other Chemicals: Another food and drink related point is to eat organic and drink filtered water whenever it’s possible. Non-organic food is sprayed with pesticides and herbicides which have been linked with cancers, ADHD, infertility, and even Alzheimer’s. While there is excellent private duty care for those with the condition these days, it’s a serious issue and, of course, something to be avoided if possible. Around one in ten people over the age of 65 have the condition, it’s complex and there are many causes, but pesticides in food could be one of them. Knowing this information, it only makes sense that you would pay a little extra for foods free of these chemicals to help your chances for a healthier adult life.

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Yummm

Attend All Screenings That You’re Invited To: As we age, we become more susceptible to different cancers and illnesses. Screening processes help to make sure that everything is as it should be, and if there are any problems, that they can be picked up early. They’re not a test, just a preventative measure. Screenings can be a little uncomfortable, but for a few minutes out of your day for peace of mind, it definitely seems like a no brainer.

A healthier lifestyle doesn’t mean that you have to make drastic changes, just smaller day by day alterations to help improve your overall health.

Apr7

Bored At Work: What Comes Next?

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Bored At Work: What Comes Next?

There comes a point in any working environment where you begin to sense that you need more. A job that once seemed overwhelming in its complexity has become mundane; the challenge has gone and you can go through your daily tasks without batting an eyelid. For awhile, being the master of a job is enjoyable – you know what you need to do and how you need to do it, and that feels good.

Over time, however, it becomes boring. So you find yourself seeking a new challenge. The obvious first instinct is to look for a new job with a new company that offers a brand new challenge:

Is This An Option For You? Whether or not switching jobs is an option for you depends a lot on the role that you are in. There are certain fields where you reach the top relatively quickly. For example, with administration: there is only so far that you can go up that chain. You might be able to move sideways in the company, but there will inevitably be a moment where you reach an end point.

For other occupations, there is always somewhere for you to go. With medicine, for example, even if you move up into supervision, a click to visit 360HealthCareStaffing.com will quickly show you all of the possibilities. Fields like law enforcement, caring services, and those in the media tend to always have an upward curve that you can latch on to.

So first, evaluate if you can progress with the skills that you already have. What you may find at a certain point in your career is that you have reached the top of the tree on the existing knowledge that you have, and then you are faced with an option…

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Should You Add Training? This is a valuable consideration that should be given some thought, too, – even if your first instinct is to pull away from the idea of going ‘back to school’. While we see the idea of education and training as being something you do before a career, it also has its place for the sake of career progression. It may have been a while since you were in a classroom, but if you’re no longer finding your job satisfying, it might be the best way to change things up.

For example, if you are a nurse and have reached the top of the ladder, then additional training could allow you to be a nurse practitioner. If you work in administration, then learning some tech support skills can be beneficial. These types of in-work qualifications allow you to take your existing knowledge and experience and build on them to craft a new challenge for yourself.

Not only does this have the benefit of giving you the skills that you need to do something different with your career, but it also looks very good on your resume. It shouts out to new employers that you are not the type who is comfortable to sit on their derriere and do nothing, coasting through life in exchange for an easy paycheck. It says: “I want more than this, and what’s more, I have gone through the effort of taking the time required to invest in my future.” It makes you look more dynamic as an employee; someone who is open and receptive.

Speaking of that resume – has it been a while since you updated yours? If so, brush up with some ideas from www.TheBalance.com and ensure that you’re up to the current accepted standards. If it’s been a while since you applied for a job, you need to make sure that you’re right on target, especially with your resume.

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Study Up!

What Are The Other Options? There are numerous reasons why you might not feel that moving to a new company or entering training are viable options for you. Family commitments, liking the environment of your current job, or something as simple as knowing the commute and the people at your current job can make it difficult to leave something behind. The best option if this is the case is to look for progression within the company.

Moving up in a company can be a pretty daunting task. It’s one thing to know that you’re good at your job and could do something more advanced, but it’s quite another to say this to the company that you work for. It can feel like you are advertising your dissatisfaction, saying that you are unhappy in your current role. Given that employers tend to like their employees to be reliable, it feels like you are taking a huge chance if you voice the fact you are unsatisfied.

While it’s the dream that workplace politics don’t exist, the reality is that they do. If you are seen to be hankering after change, there is a chance that this will go against you. So to an extent, you have to be careful with how you do this – but not too careful so as to look like you’re not serious about wanting something different. There’s no doubt that it’s a minefield.

If possible, look for opportunities within the company that are not directly related to the department that you work in. If you’re a nurse, rather than looking to advance within your sector, you could look for a move into the research side of hospital life. This means that you have the chance to discuss the need for change without any concerns about insulting anyone in your current position. If this isn’t a possibility, then you have the ultimate weapon in your arsenal: ask for a performance review.

Why A Performance Review? A performance review of your current job and how you do it might sound daunting, but it’s the only tool that you have left. That’s because it’s not specifically a review; it’s a chance for you to ask about progression and let your superiors know this is something that you’re looking for.

Everyone has the right to a performance review, especially if they have been working in a job for some time. Make the request informally, asking that it would be good for you to review things. Not only will you look like a conscientious employee for wanting to ensure that you’re doing your job to the best standards, but it also provides a natural vehicle for you to bring things up in a meeting about the future. You never know, you might not even need to, as in the course of the review they see you are clearly ready for more than you currently have.

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Performance review party!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Apr5

Living With A Disability: Overcoming Everyday Challenges

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Living With A Disability: Overcoming Everyday Challenges

Disabilities can be very hard to come to terms with, even if you were born with one. No disability or long-term health condition is the same, and they each come with unique challenges that sufferers have to overcome on a daily basis. Even though there can be major differences between them, there are still some similarities. Here are some things that everyone who has a disability will have to face on a daily basis, as well as some ideas for how to deal with them:

It’s OK To Get Assistance: Some people who suffer from long-term disabilities try to be more independent than what they should be, and try to get by without the assistance of wheelchairs and walking sticks. This often does more bad than good, as it can be ever so easy to end up falling or having an accident when you try to avoid equipment that can assist you. The main reason why people try to get by without the likes of wheelchairs is that, then, their disability isn’t so visible. But, at the end of the day, you shouldn’t care what people think about you and your illness. It is much more important to get the help and assistance that you need to keep yourself in good health.

The same goes for support at home or considering assisted living. If your disability is preventing you from safely completing household tasks like cooking or cleaning, you are putting yourself in danger every day. Programs like Sunnysights disability support (or something similar in your local area) can provide help while maintaining as much independence as possible. This can include assistance at home or with accessing the community for appointments, errands, and fun.

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And That Goes For Financial Assistance, Too: With the cost of doctor appointments, medications, and different therapies, a disability can be expensive. Thankfully, there is plenty of support from the government that you can claim in benefits. You can also find details here about how to claim compensation after a personal injury that might have caused your condition. Make sure that you are clued up on all of the financial help that you are eligible for as these can make your life a lot easier to manage as you will be able to afford a lot more help and support.

If your disability is a result of an accident or personal injury, now is the time to start researching law firms that can help you like Long & Long Injury Attorneys (or a similar practice in your local area). You can assist in this process by keeping meticulous medical records and all documentation related to the incident. Do not be afraid to shop around to find the best fit for you as you will want a lawyer who is easy to work with, trustworthy, and well reviewed.

Self Advocacy: One of the most important things you can do as a person with a disability is learn how to advocate for yourself. This will ensure that your rights are protected at all times and enhance your quality of life and relationships. Self advocacy can be easier said than done, especially if you have never done it before. You can find disability help here that can provide self advocacy workshops as well as teaching skills in negotiation, problem solving, and coordination assistance. These are all valuable skills and can offer a whole new lease on life.

Lean On Your Friends And Family: I’m sure that your friends and family will all be there for you to help you live your life to the fullest. Their offers to help and assist you are made because they love you, and is something that there is no shame in accepting. Your friends and family will all want to help you improve your quality of life, and they will also be able to keep your moods up in the process. So, let them help you rather than ignore the offer or feel embarrassed over it. That really is what friends and family are for!

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Push Yourself Every So Often: It’s also good to challenge yourself and push yourself every now and then. You might be surprised at what you can do even with your disability! These challenges can be as big or as small as you need them to be. The main thing is that you keep them personal and achievable. For instance, the first challenge you might set for yourself could be to take five steps unaided, if that is something that you struggle with. Once you ace this, you might want to take this to the next level and aim for ten steps.

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Mar30

Spring Clean Your Life!

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Spring Clean Your Life!

Spring has well and truly sprung, and there is now no time like the present to get the spring cleaning done. Don’t worry – you don’t have to reach for the mop and bucket just yet. It’s more in the sense of clearing out your wardrobe, makeup, and even your lifestyle to make way for bigger and better things.

Clothes: Quite a few of us are holding on to clothing items that we no longer need – either due to nostalgia, wanting to fit into them at some point in the future, or pure laziness for not clearing them out. It’s a vicious cycle that we often find ourselves in, but you will benefit so much more for having more of a bullet-style wardrobe than having clothes hanging around for the sake of it. They would be much better suited on another person or going to a better cause. Have a look through and sort out your wardrobe. If you have been holding onto something longer than a year without wearing it (taking into consideration season changes, which can affect how often you wear a certain item), you don’t need it cluttering your storage space.

Offer unwanted clothing around to your friends, take them to a charity shop, list them on a site like eBay, or give to a school or community project. There are a whole host of places that will take your clothes from you with no questions asked and no extra strain upon yourself. This shouldn’t leave you short of things to wear, but it’s a good excuse to get shopping for more updated items to line your wardrobe with. There are online clothing boutiques  available for you to get your staples from, and it’s never been easier to order from the internet. It gives you more choice than going into a store and saves on fuel, too.

Hair: This is more about going over the products that you have related to your hair and thinking about whether you need to replace, replenish, or reuse what you’ve already got. Hairbrushes need a thorough clean out of all of the build up of loose hairs that accumulate within them, but this should be done more than yearly for hygiene’s sake. It also provides a great time to rid yourself of any bottles of shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, and all other products which you’ve gotten to the bottom of but still are clinging on to with the hope that you can squeeze one more use out of them. It’s time to throw them away!

On the back of bottles there is usually a time span for the amount of life that they are meant to have once opened (e.g. 12 months, 24 months for the most common examples), but if you’re at the end of the bottle and you’ve been hoarding it for a long time, it only makes sense to throw it away and buy a new one. If your brush is missing bristles, your comb has a few teeth missing, and shower scruffies are reaching their straggly last days, it’s time to replace these, too – for the benefit of your hair and body over anything else.

Makeup: Makeup should regularly be sifted through and sorted out, but a spring clean gives a great opportunity for you to remember to do so. This goes for the things that you use to apply the makeup with, too – brushes should be cleaned with designated shampoo or a mild baby shampoo if you don’t have the proper stuff – it does the same trick. Go through everything thoroughly, and if it’s looking a bit gooey, cakey, doesn’t glide on correctly, or isn’t holding the same pigmentation as it was when you first bought it, it’s time for it to move on to a better life … in the bin. This is more for your health and safety than anything else; there have been a lot of skin conditions which have been attributed to wearing makeup that has gone far past its best-by date.

Friends: You shouldn’t have to wait until the spring to rid yourself of any toxic friends or family members that you may have, but it sure does get you thinking about it. Those who are in your life only to give you a hard time or bring you down aren’t worth keeping – no matter how long they’ve been a part of it. You want to surround yourself with people who don’t necessarily have the same interests as you (as that would be boring and leave little to no time for debate and reasoning), but have the same moral principles as you and the same vision for their life. Seek out the friends who can keep secrets and not use them for gossip, those who are kind, hard-working, and motivated without stepping up and over people to get to their place on the career ladder. Think about what you look for in a friend and hold the people you surround yourself with to those standards.

Your Environment: There are certain things around you in your home which will need a fair bit of TLC and a spruce-up, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be all about keeping it clean. Simply decluttering your bedroom can have a massive effect on how you lead your life and your mood when you first get up in the morning. This can then impact how your day goes. Choosing new bed sheets, picking new ornaments and pictures to be hung, and even moving furniture around your bedroom can be a great take on the spring clean – and a better way to get you feeling focused, motivated, and ready to take on the months that lie ahead. Spacing it out so that your room has more of an open, airy feel is akin to the freshness that this season brings, rather than the cozy and muted winter that we have just come out of.

Isn’t this version of spring cleaning loads better than actual cleaning?!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Mar12

I’m NOT Lonely

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I’m NOT Lonely

Hi everyone and happy Sunday! So, I’m not sure if those of you who aren’t my friends on Facebook are aware but my year and a half long relationship ended (by me) a few months ago. And, believe me, I’m fine. Even if I wasn’t the one doing the dumping, I think that I would be fine. But, the absence of someone who you used to talk to every day for the past year and a half is a little bit difficult to deal with.

I was having this conversation over drinks with my sister last night and I swear, I must have emphasized to her that “I’m NOT Lonely” at least five times. Because I’m not. Really. However, a void has definitely now been made in my life from the time that I used to spend hanging out with and talking to my former significant other. It’s not a feeling of loneliness but I’m more left with the feeling of “what do I do now?”.

It’s just freaking annoying. Like, when you have a boy or girlfriend, you have a built in social life from it. Dinners, movies, drinks, or just simply hanging out. But, once the break up happens, you are left to your own devices. I guess this wouldn’t be a problem if I had a buttload of friends but, in all reality, I have like three people that doesn’t include my sister that I like to spend time with.

It’s weird, because everyone thinks I’m this little social butterfly – but I’m so not. I’m actually quite shy when it comes to new people. I’m not the girl who’s going to go strike up a conversation with a stranger and I’m definitely not the girl who’s good at making friends. So, that kind of leaves me floundering around trying to figure out what to do next.

The way I’m feeling right now is really conflicting because I am totally content with my social life. I am able to see my girlfriends at least weekly, which is super nice. I love going to the bar, the mall, movies, or whatever with them and we always end up having a lot of fun. So why do I all of a sudden feel like I need a brand new friend group? After typing this out, I guess I am trying to “fill the void”, so to speak. It seems that now, it’s more of a matter of finding productive things to do to help use up some of this newly gained free time. Blogging, planning my Europe travels, et cetera.

Wow. Okay. Good one sided talk, everyone! Glad we had it. So, to emphasize again, I’M NOT LONELY:

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Lolol, JK. I just need to focus on doing some things that make me happy rather than focusing on such an apparent loss of someone’s company. Yeah? Yeah. How have you dealt with the post break up void? Has anyone ever felt similarly to what was described in this post? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Mar8

How To Improve Your Physical, Mental, And Spiritual Health

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How To Improve Your Physical, Mental, And Spiritual Health

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it can seem almost impossible to find the time to look out for Number One: Yourself. Creating a healthy lifestyle not only for your physical well being but for your mental and spiritual self, as well, can only benefit you in the long run. In this article, we will explore some simple changes that you can employ for a better, healthier you:

Your Physical Health

Start Eating Well: There’s nothing better for your health than making sure that you eat good food cooked from scratch. Convenience foods may be handy but they often contain more sodium and sugar than you should be eating, which can affect your fitness and moods. Start meal planning so you don’t get stuck for what you should have for lunch or dinner and make sure that you eat breakfast so you aren’t tempted to snack on candy and junk food during the morning at work.

Get Physically Fit: If you don’t feel as though you’re at peak physical condition, now is the time to change that. You don’t necessarily have to go to the gym every day after work – instead, start walking more and make sure that you start to take the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. Start a class like yoga or Zumba – you could even take a friend along with you for moral support and a good laugh!

Take Care Of Your Senses: As much as we may rely on them, we often overlook our senses when it comes to making positive changes for our health. Ensure a routine hearing check to get the full scope of your hearing health, and to see whether you might need hearing aids or not. Make appointments for eye tests, as well. As we get older, the chances of changes to these senses increase exponentially, so we have to be proactive in addressing them.

Pain Management: If your aches and pains feel constant, it is not only a huge deterrent to your physical health but mental health too. This is not something that you should simply live with but find a way to improve. Clinics like next pain management roswell (or something similar in your local area) can provide personalized treatment plans to help you get back to feeling your best. With excellent pain management, you will notice a boost in your energy levels and overall sense of well being.

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Namaste!

Deal With Your Chronic Conditions: If you have any chronic conditions, then it’s important that you deal with them carefully and that you get healthy to whatever extent that you can. If you have asthma, make sure that you use a preventative inhaler to stop yourself from getting tight chested and suffering from asthma attacks – Ventolin can be ordered online. If you suffer from chronic pain, make sure that you stay active and do gentle exercises to help ease the tension in stiff joints.

Your Mental Health

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Learn Coping Strategies: If you suffer from panic attacks or depression, then it’s important that you try to learn coping strategies that will help get you through every day. Learn to identify issues that will affect you – perhaps you don’t like crowded trains or there are certain things that your boss says that rattles you – and focus on how you can better deal with them. Breathing deeply often works wonders as well as giving yourself plenty of time to deal with anything that might arise.

Go To Your Doctor: If you think that you may be suffering from mental health difficulties, then go to your doctor. It’s an illness like any other and you shouldn’t feel ashamed if you’re affected by a condition like depression or anxiety. They can negatively affect a lot of areas of your life, which means that you need to get them sorted out as quickly as possible. Therapy can help a lot of people, as can medication. Remember, you’d medicate a physical health ailment so why not your mental health, too?

Sleep Better: It’s very difficult to get much done during the day if you aren’t sleeping well. If the light comes into your bedroom in the morning and wakes you up, then why not invest in blackout blinds? You should also make sure that you turn off all of your technology like your laptop and phone before you go to bed, because they can keep you awake. Instead, use the hour before you go to sleep as an excuse to have a lavender scented shower, read a book, or light some candles and meditate.

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Zzzzzz…

Your Spiritual Health

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Learn To Be Alone: If you don’t spend much time by yourself, now is the time to start. Learning to love yourself begins with realizing that you’re an interesting person to be around. Make sure that you indulge yourself in your hobbies – you can go to see movies alone, you can go to galleries, to shows, to concerts. Take a solo vacation and luxuriate in the joy of having only your own whims to attend to.

Be Around Good People: One of the battles of everyday life is instantly won when you’re around good people who truly listen and want the best for you. If you have any old friends who don’t make you feel good anymore, it’s okay to gently phase them out of your life. Friends who challenge you and make you think are great but if your friends don’t support you, they might not be a healthy fit for your current lifestyle.

Be Kind To Yourself: Finally, you need to make sure that you treat yourself with as much kindness as you treat others. Cut yourself some slack – make sure that you have a night in by yourself if you feel tired and worn out by other people and don’t beat yourself up too much for any little embarrassing moments. We often tend to treat ourselves a lot less kindly than we would treat others so try to remember how supportive you’d be for someone in your situation and treat yourself the same way. And remember: You’re one hundred and fifty percent totally awesome.

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Take some you time!

Featured Image By: Pexels

Mar6

My Unhealthy Obsession With Social Media!? Likes & Dislikes

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My Unhealthy Obsession With Social Media!? Likes & Dislikes
Hi everyone and happy Monday! I hope all of you are having a wonderful start to your week and are not suffering from the Monday blahs too much! If there’s one thing that’s important to me, it’s featuring guest bloggers on my page. I want lifewithlilred to be a place for everyone. Whether it be via random articles or a full on guest bloggers series, if someone feels so inclined to want to be on my page, who am I to deny them that?
The article below is written by a young lady who’s new to the blogging world, Janicia. Please be sure to check out her page and give it some love and encouragement because even the most experienced bloggers were new once, too!

My Unhealthy Obsession With Social Media!? Likes & Dislikes

There is this constant battle and argument on whether social media has enhanced our lives or totally hindered our mental state. The question is. Where do you stand? Are you that person who is constantly switched on to the latest celebrity gossip and social media trends? Or are you someone that has the capability to put their phone down without having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)? Unfortunately, I fall under the FOMO side of things!
The unfortunate truth is that social media isn’t all glitz and glam. The divide between reality and fiction is often blurred. There is another universe within our devises which exists and it’s kind of scary! We’ve been given an illusion, a distorted vision of what is true and what is false. Why is it, that we always chose to follow people who portray a perfect life? Is it because we’re envious or is it a form of encouragement? Perhaps they are just GOALS. As soon as we come across an attractive picture or person, the first thing we do is stalk their page and one hour later we’ve traveled ten accounts too deep! Are you lost? Or do you follow my gist? It gets to a point where you’ve pretty much found your future husband, met your in-laws, his relatives, and his two best friends John and Matthew! We’ve all been, there, right? Right? (I totes have…multiple times! -Sarah)
There comes a point, after having seen so many pictures of perfection on various profiles, that we begin to analyze our own lives and current situations. “How did they acquire all this success”, we ask. “She looks amazing! I wonder how much it would cost to get that body sculpture”. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it! It is a new phenomenon in our society, especially in the entertainment industry, where women are paying for the perfect body. If you had the money, time, and energy to do so, wouldn’t you do it too?
That said, social media has narrowed the borders of our vast world significantly. You’re now able to connect with people all over the world who have similar interests as yourself, which is fantastic! All you do is click follow and you are friends…well, virtual friends! You now have access to private and intimate images and videos of people you would never have seen otherwise. If you are an entrepreneur, you have direct contact and access to your target audience by sending out tweets, Instagram pics, and Facebook posts to the world at no cost of your own. The uses of social media are endless, it is how you exploit it that will either hinder or better your agenda.
I, like most, will continue to spend 50% of my day glued to my phone, computer screen, or tablet while surfing on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and my favorite: Google! The struggle continues and hopefully one day we (and I!) can find a healthy balance. A happy medium that gives us the opportunity to spend a lot more time away from our screens and more time living and enjoying our actual lives!

^^^ Thank you so much to Janicia for her insightful and humorous guest post! Who suffers from FOMO without being glued to their smart phone? How has social media impacted your life? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Interested in guest blogging for lifewithlilred? Shoot me an email at: sarah.mush6794@gmail.com! ❤

Feb27

You Are The Butterfly, Think About The Effect You’re Having

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You Are The Butterfly, Think About The Effect You’re Having

From Fichte to Lorenz, many meteorologists and philosophers have acknowledged the effect the present can have on the past. We’ve seen the butterfly effect in literature and movies time and time again. You know the scenario; the main character travels back in time and makes a small change with catastrophic results. But, have you ever thought of applying the butterfly effect to your life? Of course, you aren’t going to be traveling back in time. But, the effect can be simpler than that.

Every choice that you make, good or bad, has an impact on your future. From what you choose to eat to how you act throughout the day, everything counts towards where you’re heading. If that’s the case, why do so many of us live each day as though it’s inconsequential? With the butterfly effect in mind, you should spend every day trying to make your future as good as it can be! If you’re anything like most people, you don’t do that as it stands. But, it’s time to make a change. If you need convincing, here are a few ways your actions now can affect your future self:

As your job takes up the majority of your days, we’ll start there. Your job offers the clearest evidence of the effect that your actions have. You achieved the job you have through your qualifications or lack of them. You got those qualifications by making choices in your early life and acting on them. Or, you made different choices that mean you don’t have the skills that you need.

It may be that you made the right decisions and are happy in your career. Or, you made the wrong ones and ended on a career path that doesn’t suit you. Either way, your past is what shaped where you are now. Think back to what caused you to make those choices. Was it where you were living, who you were friends with, or something that you saw on television? The smallest thing can shape the largest part of our lives. Often, a huge choice has the most inconsequential start. That goes to show how much of an impact the tiniest decisions can have.

Choices don’t only affect your career, either. Though the path of impact is harder to follow in other aspects of your life, it’s there just the same. Take your teeth, for example. The way you look after your teeth comes from your mother, who learned from her mother and so on. If you care for your teeth the way you were taught, you should have no dental problems as you grow older. But, if you choose to break from the path your mother set, you could run into problems. Say you skip brushing for one day. A piece of food lodges between your teeth and starts to rot them. That piece then causes weakness, which grows, even if you brush every other day. Then, you decide not to clean again, and the weakness gets worse. Before you know it, you’re faced with the task of finding an oral surgeon and having serious work done. All because you didn’t brush for one day! This may seem like an extreme example, but it’s a good way to show how important each decision can be.

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Flickr Image

This theory also applies to your health. Let’s be honest, we all make unhealthy choices more often than we would like. For the most part, though, we laugh them off as though they’re nothing. There’s no need to go into too much detail here because you get the gist by now. But, again, each wrong choice adds up. When someone is diagnosed with an illness, it’s often their unhealthy choices that got them there. Those choices can be anything as simple as eating the wrong foods or smoking for a year when you’re in your twenties. Remember, cause and effect. Everything you put into your body has an impact. It may be years before you see that effect, but that doesn’t mean that you should put it out of your mind.

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So tempting!

So, what’s the point in all this? In short, it’s time you started making the right decisions. Instead of laughing about your bad choices, acknowledge the effect that they could have. If you always keep your future in mind, you’re less likely to make unnecessary mistakes. Next time you’re faced with a choice, take the time to weigh up what it could mean for your future self. That’s not to say you need to live in the future. Living in the present is always best. But, the right choice for your future self is often the right thing for your present self, too.

And, you don’t have to wait for a choice to arise before you make a change, either. You have the power to make your own changes. If you’re in a job that you don’t love and are now thinking you’re stuck, think again. Look at where you are, and acknowledge if it doesn’t make you happy. That can be your moment of impact. Then, learn what you need to do to achieve the new job you want. Set your sights on a new job and do what you need to get it. Sign up for evening courses and send CVs to the right people.

Visit a dentist regularly to ensure your teeth stay in good health. And, make sure to keep up with your brushing routine. Remember, even one missed brush can lead to problems! Think, too, of your health. Make positive changes by embracing a healthy lifestyle. Find out what foods you should be eating. Cut out bad habits, such as drinking and smoking. Think, too, about finally getting around to that exercise routine you’ve been avoiding. All these things will ensure that your health improves and stays good in the future. Anytime you feel your habits slacking, remind yourself how important it is to get it right. There’s no time like the present!

Featured Image By: Pixabay

Feb23

Which Life Adjustments Are Worth It?

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Which Life Adjustments Are Worth It?

There are many adjustments that we make to our lives over time; some drastic, some not so much. It all depends on a lot of factors, including finances, family, influences from our friends, and our drive to get to where we want to be. So what are the main things that we are choosing to change as we get older?

Our Job: None of us stay in the same job forever. At some point you will want to or have to change to further your career. There are so many options available to us to get us further into the field that we are interested in, and not all of them are age-considerate. For example, you can earn a high school diploma from online distance learning or at an evening college class if you never graduated, and college is available to go to at any age. There are so many different ways to learn, especially with the internet at our disposal; simple tricks, trades, and hacks can be learned online, even if it’s just picking up a remotely-located job to do for a couple of weeks to build up your experience.

With mediums such as LinkedIn and Facebook available for us to network around and build up our career portfolio in an accessible place, there is no reason for us not to give different occupations a go. A job change and the opportunities that they bring, such as traveling to new countries and the ability to work from home are on the increase and are now easier for us to find than ever. It’s no wonder that we get bored so easily in one job knowing that there will be something bigger and better waiting around the corner for us.

Our Friends: Friends come and go and it’s up to you to decide which ones you want to keep for the long-term. The associates that you may have had in school or college could have grown up to have completely different ideals to you, and that’s okay – diversity is what makes the world go round and it’d be boring if everyone were the same. However, it’s when people get too different from each other to be compatible that the problems start to occur. Surround yourself with those who you know will be on your wavelength for the foreseeable future and you’ll be just fine.

Ourselves: We diet, we exercise, we lose weight, we gain weight. We know what looks good on us at some points in our lives and don’t in others. If you want a more drastic option you can find it from Roxy Plastic Surgery, but otherwise we stick to changing our clothes, hair, and makeup to offer us the changes we need to get ourselves through different stages of our lives.

Our Perspective: Our attitudes and values change; what we may have held dear to us when we were fifteen could be totally different now. There are so many things that are accountable for this, but most notably is the formation of new relationships and big events happening in our lives, such as becoming a parent. Everything changes once our lives are flipped around and shared with somebody else; embrace it.

Featured Image By: Pexels