So this post is a follow up to my last post Damn
Unpretty (read it here). I thought I would share with you the list of things I
do to cheer myself up when my self esteem or my mood goes on the down swing.
Try any of these when you are having a particularly bad day and I guarantee you
will feel better :)
Nails in Hip Hop by
Rimmel London Salon Pro Plus
Paint my nails - Usually red, red is the
colour of confidence and it seems to be my signature colour (I love that). I
love painting my nails it's really therapeutic and I like looking at them when
I've finished, it gives me a small sense of pride (particularly when I don't
smudge them) and seeing the pop of colour on my nails makes me happy.
Put on lipstick - I think my lips are my
best feature. Elizabeth Taylor famously said 'Pour yourself a drink, put on
some lipstick and pull yourself together.' I love that. Whilst I'm not a
big drinker, I feel like I can face anything if I've got the right lipstick on.
My favourite winter lipsticks are: #1 Seduction by Collection 2000, #500 Diva
Red by Rimmel London & Pom Pom by Soap & Glory. I am also obsessed with
Apocalips by Rimmel London in Apocaliptic (pictured).
Happy Place :)
Go for a walk - I live a five minute walk away from Bedford Park,
which during the summer is absolutely beautiful. Whenever I feel myself
stressed to the point of breaking I put on my iPod, listen to happy music and
walk round Bedford Park until I feel better. It's so peaceful and secluded that
even though I am in the middle of the park it feels like I'm the only person in
the world. It's my happy place.
Listen to music and dance my face off -
I defy anyone not to feel better after dancing around and getting out of breath
and silly. My personal favourites to do this to are: ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long, Journey's Don't Stop Believing, Amii
Stewart's Knock On Wood and Grace Potter's Something That I Want.
Read - There is nothing I love more than
forgetting my troubles and immersing myself in a good book. I don't have a
definitive favourite book because I love so many but some of my favourites are:
The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons, Gone with the Wind by Margaret
Mitchell, How to Love by Katie Cotugno, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne
Collins, Harry Potter (obviously) and The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. I love
anything by Jodi Picoult, she's a fabulous writer. I also just finished reading
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by the gloriously
funny, beautiful and amazing Mindy Kaling, I strongly recommend it.
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Knit - Knitting is my therapy, and I'm
not alone Amanda Seyfried, Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschannel, Julia Roberts and
Tom Hardy all enjoy knitting. It's so therapeutic and calming because you have
to concentrate and can't think about anything other than what you are doing. It
really quiets a frantic mind and I always get something cool out of it. Win-win.
Baking - Is amazing and when done right results in untold deliciousness. It is simply not possible for anyone to feel sad whilst baking and then getting to eat chocolate fudge brownies. I'm not the world's best baker (I'm trying to get better) but I love it so much.
Have a bubble bath -
Normally I prefer showers to baths, I have to really be in the mood for a
bubble bath but when I am there is nothing quite so relaxing as a hot bath full
of gorgeous smelling Soap & Glory Calm One Calm All bubbles (my favourite
bubblebath). My flat only has a shower, so whenever I go back home to see my
mum for the holidays I make sure I have as many bubble baths as I can to make
up for it.
Wear super fluffy slippers -
I was originally going to say wear high heels around the house just because.
But I wore heels out last night and my feet have not forgiven me yet for
subjecting them to shoes that torture them no matter how beautiful. So instead
I'm saying slippers. Slippers are one of man's greatest inventions, closely
followed by Smartie cookies, the iPhone and MAC make up. These beauties are
currently adorning my feet.
Honestly it is not physically possible
to be down about life when I have the plush, yellow face of Homer Simpson's
face looking back at me. Plus if I wiggle my ankles it looks like he's eating
my feet, there are literally hours of fun to be had in these slippers.
Go swimming/for a run/to the gym - I
will be the first to say that exercise SUCKS. However the feeling of
accomplishment when you have finished coupled with the endorphin high does not.
I personally prefer swimming because it's like a form of meditation. I just
zone out and before I know it I've been swimming for over an hour and am
exhausted. Before I came to uni I used to go to the gym at home twice a day.
There were 2 reasons for this 1. There was an instructor there who was so
beautiful and amazing I was hoping he would become the next Mr. Lauren (he
didn't) and 2. I got a little bit addicted to the rush I got after, which is
not the healthiest thing in the world.
SING - Singing has been
scientifically proven to improve mood. On days where I am feeling ugly or sad
(and I have the house to myself) I love nothing more than expressing my sorrows
through the medium of song. My favourite songs to belt out are Barbra
Streisand's Funny Girl, On My Own from Les Mis, Don't Rain On My Parade again by Barbra, Idina Menzel's
version of Let It Go from Frozen, The Rose by Bette Midler, My Man (Barbra again), Defying Gravity from Wicked, Don't Stop Believing by Journey and anything by Queen or Meatloaf (as you can see I do this a lot). No
matter how bad I sound I always feel so much better after. It's really
therapeutic. I find it's best to choose a song where you have to belt out the
notes, because you can let all your emotions out with the song and afterwards you
feel so much better.
I have loads more -
including a Pinterest session involving animals wearing hats/pyjamas, watch a
film or a entire TV boxset (I strongly recommend Scrubs) in one sitting,
facemasks and surfing youtube but I think I might be starting to bore you now.
Hopefully this list helps you go from this...
to this...
Love love love xxx
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