Feel Good Friday: Chill Out Tunes

This week I wanted to share a few chill out tunes that I've been playing on repeat these last few days. I'm currently sat at home (my main home) with a very long list of work I need to do, so to make sure I don't go completely insane from boredom, I thought I'd put a little playlist together that will keep me calm and ready to power through.

I've really been loving a lot of deep house and chilled electronic music lately, I love anything that is a little different and has unusual sounds, so I like to troll through Radio 8 and Soundcloud finding more unknown artists. This isn't because I'm a pretentious hipster who doesn't listen to 'mainstream' I just find my ears like to hear things I've never heard before, which means listening to a lot of unsigned DJs and bands.

So here Is my little playlist to chill you out this fabulous Friday, due to technical difficulties just click on the image to go to the playlist. 

Feel Good Friday: Living Your Dreams

As of today I have exactly 10 weeks until I finish University for good, that's it over, adios, goodbye education. And as appealing as that sounds to me right about now, it's also the most terrifying thought in the world. I have to grow up, be an adult and get a job, pay bills and find my own life. If I had a dream, a goal to reach for, I think I might be a little calmer but as it happens I don't. I honestly haven't got a master plan, a life dream that I want to work hard achieve, I just have interests and ideas.

At the moment I pretty much have three solid (ish) options I can choose from. Option A, move back home and continue with the job I've been doing on and off for the last 3 years whilst trying to find a full-time job. This option isn't my favourite I have to say, in fact the thought of going with this option makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry. Then we have option B, to move back home and look for a social media/PR internship in Manchester hopefully in the fashion sector. This is one of the two that is a strong possibility, in fact this is the strongest possibility. I will be poor yes, but I will gain experience and hopefully get a job that I'm genuinely interested in and enjoy doing, which is pretty much my main goal in life. Then finally we have the big cheese, the scariest of all of the options, apply for BUNAC's Work America programme. This actually makes me want to run and hide when I think about it but I also get excited at the prospect of having an adventure! 

I plan to look more into the Work America programme, I need to really sit down with someone and see if I can actually do it. Because I graduate in July, I have a clash of availability. Most of the work is from June onwards but I have to be back in Cardiff to collect that diploma I'm currently working hard for. Oh and I'm also absolutely terrified about being on my own in a strange country that I have never ever been to before for about 4 months.

The easy option would be to go back to my old job and look for full time work, but taking the easy route is never exciting. I wouldn't be content stuck in a dead end job in a town I hate, I'm basically condemning myself to misery and why would anyone do that. But then there is the fear, the crippling fear of doing something extraordinary and unique, the fear of being alone and completely independent. But maybe that fear arises when we are faced with the right decision, maybe it's actually our bodies way of telling us the correct path through life. There's only one way to find out I guess. 

Feel Good Friday: Happy Valentines Day ❤

Happy Valentines Day one and all. Despite my single status, I refuse to spend this day moping around being alone and having Bridgett Jones moments. No, instead I plan to go to my local cinema, purchase one student ticket to The Lego Movie, buy a large bag of Pic 'n' mix (with extra fudge and chocolate mice) and eat myself into a sugary coma whilst laughing my backside off. I'm actually rather excited! 

If you are alone this Valentines Day, do not be disheartened. Think of your most relaxing and enjoyable things that you love to do and plan a night of doing them. Valentines Day shouldn't just be a day of showing the person you love how much you appreciate them, it should be about the love you have for yourself. We are so hard on ourselves the majority of the time we should take this day and use it as "me" time. So here is one of my favourite poems about/based on love. It's by a little known poet/playwright called William Shakespeare, any of you heard of him? 

Those lips that loves own hand did make

Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate'

To me that languished for her sake;

But when she saw my woeful state,

Straight in her heart did mercy come,

Chiding that tongue that ever sweet,

Was used in giving gentle doom,

And taught it thus anew to greet:

'I hate' she alter'd with an end

That follow'd it as gentle day doth follow night

Who like a fiend from heaven to hell is flown away.

'I hate' from hate away she threw

And saved my life, saying 'not you.'  

William Shakespeare - Sonnet 145 

 

Feel Good Friday: Stitched Together With Good Intentions

(Image Sourced From Pinterest)

"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions." I don't know about you but that sums me up pretty well. This pretty much links back to one of my previous Feel Good Friday posts about comparison. It is easy to forget when we look at others, that they have just as many flaws as you do. It's how we as humans are created, flawed creatures guided by trying to do the right thing. Our flaws are what make us unique and special, they allow us to stand out from the crowd.

For me, the issue is that I'm too blunt in my opinions. Many times I've been told that I'm 'too truthful', which I find strange, shouldn't we all be truthful? In my opinion, life is too short to be tiptoeing around what you actually want to say, if you have an opinion, make it heard. Here's where the good intentions come in, I would never say or do anything that would harm or upset someone on purpose, which some people seem to overlook. I am always tactful in what I say and how I say them so as to get my point across in a helpful non-hurtful way.

I've never been one to follow the crowd, I have my own tastes, likes and dislikes and when you are young this can be social suicide. My friends never really got me and I never felt a part of the group. Because I didn't want to segregate myself further from them I would sit and nod and pretend like I agreed with everything they were saying and doing. Once I left school I started to realise I had wasted all that time hiding my opinions and views and that it was time to stop. Yes I am outspoken and blunt but that is my flaw, my individual flaw that makes me, me. I have embraced it, harnessed its power for good and now use it with good intentions. What are your flaws? Do you think embracing your flaws is justified if you have good intentions?

Feel Good Friday: Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy

I discovered this quote from watching a video on SoulPancake's YouTube channel, it's called 'That's What She Said | Beauty and Body Image'. The video shows a panel of women talking about what makes them feel beautiful and their own thoughts and feelings on their own body image. It's really interesting to listen to a group of grown women talk about their own body image issues and reminds us that no matter what age we are, we are all the same. 

'Comparison is the thief of joy' is a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. I'm pretty sure that at the time he wasn't referring to women's body image issues, but it doesn't make it any less relevant to the subject. Around this time, when we've all gotten a bit fat from Christmas chocolate, and fitness DVDs are being shoved down our throats by advertisers, it can be easy to get bogged down with worries of image. 

The one thing that you need to remember is that we are not all built from the same materials. We all have our own unique DNA that makes us look and act the way we do, even twins. As human beings we have developed this natural instinct to judge, we judge when we meet new people, we judge when friends or family members make decisions we may or may not agree with. The internet and social media are giant big balls of judgement! I frequently go on sites like We Heart It and Tumblr and I am instantly bombarded with images of thigh gaps and washboard abs. We can't escape from airbrushed images of beautiful people who are meant to motivate us to eat well and workout, but all it does is make us down and depressed that we don't look like these fitness gods and goddesses. 

With all that happening in front of our eyes, why let it get inside our heads? Comparing ourselves to those images or anybody that isn't you steals your thoughts away from the positives in life. It consumes you and pollutes your mind. Joy can't enter when you have built a wall of shame and guilt for not being what others say you should be. But this stretches to other areas other than body image, comparison to others can be literally anything, lifestyle, personality, finances even material possessions. You are you and that's OK. If you're not as perky and bubbly as the girl that sits in front of you in class, that's OK because you are you and no one else can give to the world what you can. 

So let's set a challenge. In the upcoming days, if you find yourself thinking 'I wish my abs looked like that' or 'why can't I have a mansion like Angelina Jolie?' replace those thoughts with the positive things you have. It can be something you like about the way you look or something in your life you are grateful for. Once you let go of the negative you make room for the positive, so let's make room for the joy.