Welcome back to part two of my blog posts on ‘Self-Love’ all year round, ideally named ‘Self-Love Two’! I thought it was quite catchy, no? Maybe not, but I think it’s a brilliant title! Anyway onto the second part of this blog post on why you should do things all year round in regards to self-care, self-love and ‘hygge’- the awesome Danish word for ‘cosiness’ and all things self-care.
As I talked about in the other part of this blog post I love to read, like really love to read. I read voraciously and can usually read five to six non-fiction or fiction books a week. I love, love, love period murder mysteries; the more of these I read the better! I also like to read historic fiction, thrillers, books on sewing and dressmaking, dress history books and books on psychoanalysis, memory and nostalgia. Basically if it’s a psychoanalytical nostalgic murder mystery set in the 1930s about a dressmaker then I’m hooked!
Reading not only helps lower my blood pressure it helps me to de-stress after a hectic day at work or travelling. I love nothing more than spending hours getting lost in a book with either a cup of tea or pint of my latest favorite craft fire and a cosy fire beside me. That’s very stereotypical ‘hygge’ territory but I don’t care, I bloody love it!
Another thing that I think promote self-care and self-love is yoga and meditation. I practice yoga on a daily basis and I attend a yoga class once a week. I do yoga because I suffer from stiff joints and doing all those fancy pancy yoga moves really helps this.
I might light some candles whilst I’m doing Yoga as it really enhances the atmosphere of relaxation and positive mood that I get from practicing Yoga. I don’t have any lovely pictures of me practicing yoga, but you can see in my YouTube video below me practicing some basic yoga moves such as child’s pose and dog face down. My favorite YouTube channel for yoga is Yoga With Adrienne; this channel has video’s for all abilities and ages!
I also believe taking five to ten minutes out of your day once a day or more to practice mindful breathing or meditation can really give your mind clarity, stability and de-stress your thoughts. I’m not into listening to monks chanting or water sounds, so I use the ‘Stop, Breathe & Think’ app and ‘Take a Break’ app (both should be available for android and iPhone devices) to help me relax and breathe for ten to fifteen minutes in the morning.
I find that doing this daily meditation practice has really stabilized both my mood and outlook throughout the day. As someone who suffers from anxiety, particularly social anxiety, and is an introvert meditation helps me come to terms with stressful and loud social situations.
Last but not least, there really is nothing like a good cup of tea to calm your nerves and promote self-care in the most stressful of times. Yes it might be a cliche that tea cures all ills, but for me it really helps me de-stress in most situations. I tend to avoid caffeinated tea so will stick to herbal tea’s and de-caff regular black tea with some oat milk to help calm my mind and nerves. As Mrs. Doyle from Father Ted says, ‘I do love a good cup of tea!’ I hear you Mrs. Doyle, I hear you!
Please enjoy my first YouTube video below from my re-vamped channel and please tweet or Instagram me to let me know what you think!