Girl, you’re not the only one lost in the noise.
Between social media, trying to keep up with that skincare routine, all whilst potentially building a career, it’s easy to get overwhelmed in trying to balance it all.
As soon as the sun comes out you might add wanting to socialise and make summer memories to that list, too. It’s a lot. It’s really easy to lose sight of what would actually make us happy rather than just riddled with anxiety and FOMO.
So, as the weather warms and your energy starts to peak, we have four ways to shut it all out for just a moment and help you feel at home within yourself instead.
No matter the level of adventurousness you plan to have in your life, come Autumn you’ll be filled with enough self-confidence to carry you through the rest of the year.
Create A Playlist Like It’s Your Soundtrack
Think of your favourite chick flick. Legally Blonde? Bridget Jones? Pretty woman?
They all know how to embody their main character energy the instant that dramatic background music kicks in.
You might have caught yourself imagining such a movie sequence in the car or during your commute.
Well… do that on purpose.
It might be easy to dismiss those daydreams as something childish but don’t crush that natural instinct. Instead, make a playlist specifically for this purpose.
Include tracks for every mood, and find time to intentionally daydream. Learn what being the main character feels like in your body.
Imagine how confident you could be if you could tap into that mode whenever you needed it!
Build A Notebook Ten-Year-Old You Would Love
We know you have quite a selection of notebooks in a cupboard or piled on your bedside table, forever cursed to never fulfill their destiny because you’re too scared to mess them up.
If you could break that habit imagine what else you could achieve.
Pick your favourite and give it a purpose; assign it as the notebook your younger self would love.
Go all out. I’m talking handwriting practise, doodling, colouring. Recount your day. Cut and stick magazine pieces into the perfect collage. Fill it with song lyrics. Tell it your crushes. Fill it with dreams and wishes.
Remind yourself what it was like to make something that made you smile so wide when you opened it that you forget about it being perfect.
Take Yourself On A Little Date
If there is something you’ve had on your to-do list since New Year’s then stop putting it off. Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect person. Instead, take yourself on a little date and enjoy the experience of experiencing something new.
It can be as small as a walk in a new park or a trip to the cinema or as big as a solo holiday. Treat yourself to the gift of unhurried time doing something you know will fill your cup.
Make Your Inner Child Happy
Remember that age when you just wanted to grow up? Change your younger self’s mind.
Sit with yourself for a little while, in silence or with calming music. Sit for a few minutes a day if that is easier for you. Listen to what would make younger you the happiest. There is no wrong answer.
Then, honour them by doing it!
It might be baking or dancing in the rain. It could be putting up some fairy lights or rereading a guilty pleasure. Whatever they want to do, pick one activity and commit to it in a way younger you would have loved.
And if you’ve got the ick, remember my favourite quote from Hank Green; ‘kill the cringe, not the part that cringes’.
If you need permission to indulge yourself then consider this your signed and authorised permission slip.
Follow that twinge of excitement that usually you would choose to ignore. Make it nourishing, make it adventurous, make it yours. By following the joyful thread you might find yourself discovering parts of yourself you didn’t even know were lost.
Come September you will be unstoppable!
Words by Gemma-Louise Walsh