Bullet Journalling: The Parenting Savior No One Tells You About

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Even if you don’t realize that you need a bullet journal in your life, you were drawn to this post for a reason. And, that reason is that journaling in this way could be your parenting savior.

Attention: Fix Your Posture!

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Don’t let posture pains stop you from playing with your kids. Flickr

Everyone’s unique in their own way, but there are also loads of things that the majority of people have in common. These days, almost everyone you come into contact with has bad posture. Unless they’re a ballerina or an athlete, then their posture sucks! It’s an especially problematic issue for parents, as you’re often stuck doing things that make your posture worse.

I think all people and parents need to fix their posture, and I’ll explain how to do this later on. First, I want to discuss why this is so important:

Get rid of chronic pain

How many of you are stuck with a stiff neck or sore back all the time? Most of us, right? This usually comes down to lousy posture as it means our spine and hips are just in wrong positions, which causes pain. So, when you fix your posture, it gets rid of your chronic pain, leading to a much better life. This is also good for parents who might be too stiff or sore to play with their kids, which is never something you want to admit to yourself. By working on your posture, you can become more mobile, flexible, and pain-free! So, picking your kids up and running around with them becomes a breeze.

Good posture makes you much happier and positive! pixnio

Improve your mental wellbeing

Yes, your posture links into your mental wellbeing! Most people assume that issues with your mental health are purely mind-based. However, it’s often physical things that can put you in a bad frame of mind. With poor posture, you’re very rounded over, and your body language is quite closed off. Plus, there’s the soreness to deal with every day, which can make you negative. When you fix your posture and get into proper alignment, then everything feels better. You’re standing up taller, your body language is way more positive, and all the pain has subsided. As a result, you end up in a much better mental space!

Keep your body healthy

The worst thing about having lousy posture is that you don’t realize the effect it’s having on your body. Staying in an uncompromising position will put so much strain and tension on different muscles or joints. This can lead to serious problems like arthritis or it can even lock your body into unnatural positions. If you don’t do something about it, then you could end up like a hunch back all bent over or your lower back essentially gives out because there’s too much tension there. As a result, you could be asking for a one-way ticket to a wheelchair. If you look after your posture and work on improving it, then you help keep your body healthy. This helps prevent future issues like these, meaning you can stay in better shape for longer. Hopefully, you’ll still be fit as a spring chicken when you have grandchildren so you can play with them as well!

As you can see, your posture plays an integral role in your life! If you have kids, then lousy posture can ruin things for you. Simple stuff like trying to pick your child up will be painful for you. Your constant soreness means you don’t want to play with them as you’re in too much pain. So, you really need to focus on fixing any issues, and here’s what you’ve got to do:

Strengthen your core muscles

Most people’s posture issues are caused by muscle imbalances - usually centered around your core. This is basically your abs, lower back, and a bit of glute in there as well. When you fix your posture, it inevitably means you strengthen all of these muscles. Why is this a good thing? Well, strengthening your abs can help to flatten your stomach, which instantly makes you look slimmer and leaner. More importantly, it keeps your spine in a more neutral position. So, it’s not over-arching or rounding in the wrong places, meaning your pain goes away and you’re more balanced. There are loads of exercises you can try, but a classic plank is probably the best one - and here’s a video to help you do it correctly.

Strengthen your back muscles

Along with your abs and core muscles, you need to strengthen your back muscles as well. This helps pull your shoulders back into their proper position, which stops them rounding over and causing all sorts of pain and soreness.

Stretch out your tight muscles

As well as strengthening your core and upper back muscles, you need to stretch out your tight ones. Inevitably, these end up being on the opposite side of your body to the weak muscles! So, stretch our your chest, shoulders, lower back, and hip flexors/quads. This loosens them up and stops all the tension and tightness that can pull your spine out of position. Again, there’s a video below that shows you some good stretches to try out.

Sit less and stay active

The number one reason for bad posture is that we sit too much. We drive the car everywhere, we sit at work, we sit on the sofa - and so on. This causes all the muscle imbalances that throw everything out of place. So, if you sit less and maintain a more active lifestyle, then the previous three tips will start to be more beneficial. There’s no use strengthening and stretching if you aren’t changing your bad habits at the same time!

Posture is a massive issue for the majority of adults around the world. It’s worth noting that women have more to worry about as well! With the effects of pregnancy - added to the fact that there’s some extra weight on our chests that can make us round our backs - it’s easy to get bad posture. I hope this article has done an excellent job of explaining why you need to improve your posture, and how you can do it. Once you’re aware of the problem, it becomes much easier to focus on fixing it for good!

Working Through The Pitfalls Of Life

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Pexels

No matter how many systems govern our lives, and how effectively convenient and optimized our daily lives can be, the human experience will never be as well-oiled as a machine can be. We don’t run on algorithms.

The Life Lessons That Debt Gives Us

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Looking After Your Mental Health As A Parent

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From Pixabay

The role of a parent is one of the most rewarding in the world, but it can also be quite difficult. You spend most, if not all of your energy looking after your children, and, as amazing as that is, it can leave you with very little for yourself. Everyone deals with stress now and then, parents more than most, but, when you ignore this stress, it can have harmful and potentially permanent consequences. To help prevent this, here are five ways to look after your mental health.

1. Exercise As A Family

Everyone knows that exercise is essential in weight control and physical fitness, but, what many don’t realize is that it’s key in mental health too. For this reason, you need to make sure that you find time to work out several times a week, if not every day. Instead of giving up time with your children for this, you should try exercising as a family. There are plenty of things that you could do together, including walking in the park, bike rides, and active games, like football.

2. Plan A Balanced Diet

Like physical activity, the food you eat affects your mind as much as it does your body. To ensure that you feel your best, you should eat a nutritious and balanced diet containing plenty of fruits and vegetables. Of course, with work, household chores, and the children, preparing these meals each night can be tricky. Because of this, you should write a meal plan and cook what you can at the weekend. This way, you can freeze your meals and simply reheat them on the right night.

3. Get Plenty Of Rest

Lack of sleep, for which parents are known for, can have incredibly damaging effects on your mental health. Because of this, it’s vital that you combat anything keeping you up and ensure that you get enough rest each night. You should create a night routine for you and your children so that everyone is starting to feel tired and prepared for bed when they should be. You should also make sure that the house is kept cool, quiet, and dark, and that everyone feels safe and secure.

4. Do What You Love

When you do something that you enjoy, you instantly feel happier. With that in mind, you should make sure that you do something that you love every day. If you want to work, but have children at home, then consider the many stay at home mom jobs out there. With so many to choose from, it’s likely that you’ll find something you’ll be happy with. You should also make time to catch up with friends and pursue any hobbies you’re interested in.

5. Know When To Accept Help

Far too many parents try to struggle through life and never ask for help when they need it. If and when this starts to affect your mental health, you need to take a step back and know to accept support. This could be from a friend or family member offering to watch your children for the afternoon or a doctor or mental health professional suggesting ways to manage your stress. There’s no shame in getting support, so don’t go through hard times alone.

Looking after your mental health can and will make you a better parent, so take care of yourself and follow the advice above.

Turning Your Life To The Next Chapter

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(Image Source)

When most people think about it, there is something in their life that is holding them back. They might not know the cause of the setback which they are facing, but they will certainly see the results, and this can be incredibly frustrating to live with.

Sneaky Hacks That Will Convince The Whole Family To Exercise More

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Being a mom is a full-time job. Not only do you have to wash clothes and cook meals, but you’ve got to safeguard everybody’s health and wellbeing, too. And yes, that goes for the man of the house as well! Apparently, he’s too lazy to bother about cholesterol and working out and thinks he can get himself go.

Reasons to Keep a Journal When You’re a Creative Person or NOT!

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Whether you’re a writer, graphic designer or artist, maintaining your creativity can sometimes prove to be a real challenge. So, what can you do if your creativity starts to falter?   Really though who cares if you characterize yourself as a "creative"?  We all need help sparking our creative juices sometimes.

A journal is an excellent tool you can use to keep your creativity alive. This isn’t the type of journal you use to write your innermost thoughts and feelings (though you could use it for that purpose if it helps). Instead, a creativity journal focuses on helping you to solve problems, brainstorm ideas and practice creativity.

Here, you’ll discover just some of the reasons to keep a journal when you’re a creative person.

Helping you to practice and refine your skills

One of the best reasons to keep a creative journal is because it helps you to practice and refine your skills. Creativity doesn’t always come naturally. In fact, it often takes a lot of practicing to maintain it.

There’s always something new to learn and existing skills need to be maintained. By writing your ideas down, or practicing your drawing technique in the journal, you’ll continue to develop your skills.   

They have multiple uses

Creative journals tend to be disorganized in comparison to standard journals. This means they can be used in many different ways. 

You can turn it into a sketchbook, notebook, scrapbook or day planner. Whatever function you need it to meet you can use it for that purpose. 

Ideal for brainstorming ideas

One problem you’ve no doubt faced many times is coming up with new ideas. 

For example, a writer often struggles with “writer’s block”, finding it hard to know what to write. In this instance, a journal could be used to write down ideas, in no particular order. Free-writing can really help to get the creative juices flowing and help you to overcome that mental block.

You can use the journal to draw your ideas. You may find after doodling your ideas down, it all starts to come together. 

Silencing your inner critic

If you tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to your creativity, it could really be holding you back. That inner critic can literally kill creativity, with everything you create seeming to turn out wrong. 

A journal can help silence that inner critic. There’s absolutely no rules as to what you can and should put into it. There’s no wrong thing to write, plan or draw. It’s a safe space where your creativity can flow without being judged.


These are just some of the reasons to keep a journal when you’re a creative person. They really can help you to not just maintain your creativity, but nurture it too.   

Flawesome Award

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The fabulous Imogen nominated me for the Flawesome Award. This award was created by Sophie Ismaa and is all about celebrating our flaws and turning them into strengths.

The Rules

• Link back to the creator and thank the person who nominated you.
• Display the award on your blog.
• List three flaws and turn them into strengths.
• Tag 10 other people to celebrate their flaws too.

My Flaws

1.  Perfectionism

I tend to be extremely hard on myself.  I used to cry in grade school if I couldn't figure out a math problem.  I also beat myself up when I got my first B in 3rd grade and cried to my teacher and mom.  This, however, is a good thing because it has made me successful and driven my life long love of learning.

2.  A Superior Need for Control

I get seriously freaked out if things are out of my control.  While I was struggling with PPD, this became even more apparent.  As we all know, most of our life is outside of our control - you can only control yourself and your reactions.  It has made me a great planner at work at parties.  You name it - I own what I am doing/trying to accomplish.

3.  Extremely Emotional

I cry at commercials.  Yes, I'm that teary-eyed one if there's a baby on the TV.  My friends have made fun of me for years for how sensitive I can be.  I honestly don't know any other way of living and it has given me a huge heart.  I will give you the shirt off of my back if you need it.  I'm a great hugger and always there to be a shoulder to cry on.

Sorry for the brevity in the post, my 2-year-old is trying to attack me while I'm typing this!

I nominate

Joan Senio

Work Play Chardonnay

Victoria Austin

QuietStorm

Llama Punch

Tales From Home

Real Mom Blog

Sam Bolton

Hello Bexa

Momleficent

Does Happiness Start With Money?

Is this even a question that need answering? Because yes, at the route of everything, we think that money does equal happiness. It controls us. From the foods we buy, to the clothes we wear, to the lifestyle we’re able to live. There’s not much you can do without money, and there's not many people out there who are constantly on the hunt for more money at some point! Of course, things such as family, friends, and pets all give us a large amount of happiness, but for the most part, it’s money that we’re searching for. But, how often do you think we’re actually happy with our financial situation? Do you not think we’re more focused on the negative aspects of money, rather than focusing on the positives? We think that most people are. So we want to show you why, and how, your happiness can start with money, and that money actually does make you happy!

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How Can Money Make Us Happy
Money can and does make us happy, as we have stated. But we want to go into more detail about the things in life that just give us freedom. Money can pay for a lot of things, and one of them is the freedom to own a home and have independence. We always view owning a home as a negative. They cost so much, things seem to break a lot and we always have to buy new things to keep it up to date. But, without owning a home, we wouldn’t be able to live the life we want to live. It also allows us to travel, which is probably the best thing that we could mention! Travel is exciting, yes costly, but truly freeing. All you have to do is save for as long as you need to save, and make sure you plan in advance. Half of the reason why money does the complete opposite but give happiness is because people really aren’t preparing for the worst!

When Doesn’t It

The question for some of you should be when does it. Situations where money might not make you happy, is when you might not have much of it. If this ever happens, you should look for the quickest and easiest solution, which for us, is a small loan. Loans are easy to take out, easy to pay back, and a real big relief when you feel like you’re running low. You can use personal loan interest rates comparison to make sure that you’re getting the best deal that you possibly can, and you should definitely never take out more than one loan at a time, just to make sure you’re keeping on top of your finances in the future!

How To Live With Minimal Money In The Bank

Sometimes you’re just going to have to come terms with the fact that you won’t have much money in the bank, and that you’ll need to cut down on things just a little. Our best advice would be to do a money plan, cut out pretty much all luxuries for a while and wait until your finances rise again! The less you spend, the quicker they’ll recover.

Nurture Your Creative Mind Through Journaling

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Nurture Your Creative Mind Through Journaling

Journaling can really help you to nurture your creative mind.  Whether you’re a photographer, artist or writer, your creativity is crucial to your ability to carry out your job.  Therefore, it consistently needs to be nurtured. So, how can journaling help with this? Below you’ll discover how to nurture your creative mind through journaling.

First things first – Choosing the right journal

If you want to get the most out of your creative journal, you’re going to need to make sure you actually enjoy using it.  As silly as it may sound, the first step to this is to ensure you like the look of the journal.  You will notice I mention this in almost every post.  I can't tell you how many journals I've stopped using because I didn't like the paper or pens bled through all of the time or it had lines.  Whatever.  #papersnob - what can I say?

How the journal is presented can make a surprising difference on how inspired and motivated you feel to use it. So, take your time to browse through the various journals on the market and choose one which speaks to you.

The benefits of a dream journal

There’s a lot of ways you can use the journal to inspire creativity. However, one you may not have considered using is dream journaling.  Many authors, artists, and musicians have discovered dream journals can help nurture their creativity. Dreams take on many different forms and can, therefore, be used to inspire creative ideas.

The lead singer of the band “Train”, famously opened up in an interview that the smash hit “Drops of Jupiter” was written after he had a dream.  So, if you are stuck for ideas, recording your dreams can be a great way to unlock your creativity once again.

Learning to trust the authority in your voice

When you start to keep a creative journal, it trains you to trust the authority in your voice. So, what does this mean? Well, it basically means you learn to stop double guessing and questioning your creativity.  A creative journal doesn’t have rules. Instead, it encourages you to write or draw freely. There are no corrections made to anything and nothing you put in the journal is ever wrong. So,  you’ll start to trust your creativity, rather than question it.

Growing your thoughts and insights

Creativity often stems from thoughts and insights. After you’ve jotted your thoughts down into the journal, you can go back to them another day and expand upon what you wrote.  Look at the ideas you’ve written down and see how they can be expanded. Often, it’s just the initial ideas which are the hard part. Once they’re written down, you should find it easier to expand upon them.

As you can see, nurturing your creativity is pretty simple if you follow the above ideas. The key is to use the journal every single day. You may need to force yourself to use it some days, but the effort you put in will definitely be worth it.

What to Do When Mental Health Becomes a Disability

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When we think of mental health problems, we tend to look at the symptoms of given conditions, but don’t really take time to consider how they can impact an individual’s day to day life and navigation of the world. They can actually become a serious disability, negatively impacting the quality of someone’s life in various ways. So, if you feel that you or a loved one’s mental health problem is becoming a disability, here’s everything you need to know!

When Does a Mental Health Issue Become a Disability?

When people are dealing with mild mental health concerns, they may be able to carry on with their day to day tasks uninterrupted. However, if you find that the symptoms and experience of a mental health issue are interfering with your day to day life and making day to day activities difficult to carry out, it is likely that it has become a disability. Some mental health issues are more likely to interfere with your general functioning than others. Conditions to note include:

• Dementia
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Depression
• Bipolar Disorder
• Schizophrenia

However, it is important to remember that any mental health condition could develop into a disability, so if you feel that you are struggling, contact a medical professional who will be able to diagnose you, survey your symptoms, and measure the degree to which they are impacting your day to day life.

Dealing With Its Effects on Your Professional Life

If your mental health concern has become a disability, you are likely to notice that it impacts almost every area of your life, including your professional life. This can be extremely frustrating, as not only will you be experiencing the negative symptoms that come hand in hand with your condition, but you may find yourself in difficult situations, such as finding that your work contract is terminated due to an inability to attend work, an inability to make it into work on time, or an inability to carry out expected tasks and roles for a given period of time. Alternatively, you may find it difficult to land a job in the first place due to your condition. This can have a profoundly negative impact on your finances, placing you in an even worse situation than suffering from the disability alone. If you feel that you are experiencing prejudice when being interviewed for a job role, are experiencing prejudice in the workplace, or have been wrongfully expelled from the workplace due to your condition, you may want to file disability claims.

Dealing With Its Effects on Your Social Life

Mental health can also have a negative impact on your social life. If you do not inform loved ones of your condition, they may take offense to your behavior or actions. This can cause tension. However, if you are open with others and explain why you might not be as social, active, or involved, they should be understanding and help you through these negative times. If you are feeling alone, there are plenty of support groups and helplines out there to help you through this difficult experience!

Hopefully, the above information has helped you to understand how mental health problems can be linked to disability, and how to deal with their effects on your life in general!

Bullet Journaling 101: The Fundamentals of a #Bujo

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Bullet Journals 101

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past several months, you have probably heard of bullet journaling. However, understand exactly what it is and what is involved is a little trickier.

Boost Your Creativity with These Journaling Ideas

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Boost Your Creativity with These Journaling Ideas

Are you looking to boost your creativity through journaling?

While a creative journal can really help to develop and nurture creativity, it can be difficult knowing where to start. There’s also going to be times where a certain journaling method may stop working for you for a while. Whether you’re looking to start a creative journal, or you’re simply looking for a new method to try out, below you’ll discover some awesome journaling ideas.

September Reading List - a little late!

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A little late with my September reading list, but I did quit one job, start another, and have just generally been really busy.  

Depression, PPD, and Decades of Living Through It: When Postpartum Strikes

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This will hopefully be the last chapter I have to write on suffering through depression. In case you missed the first installments in the series, you can find them here.

The trial was over - yippee! We could finally focus on the goodness we had going on. Our little LB was coming soon.

Helping You And Your Family To Be The Best Versions Of Yourselves

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When you have a family, you just want everyone to be the best versions of themselves. You want everyone to be happy, healthy, and successful. It’s only natural to care about your loved ones. Of course, it can be hard to be the best version of yourself and ensure that your family members are striving for the same goal. But you shouldn’t have to support your family on your own, as we’ll discuss in this article, a group effort is needed. The following pieces of advice should help you and your family to be the best versions of yourselves.

Enhance Your Blog's Image with These Visual Tips

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Making your blog visually appealing is key to getting people to read it. If it looks boring, cluttered or out of date, it can put people off. Whether you write about your life or you try to offer informative posts about a specialist subject, your readers will be more likely to stick around if everything looks good. Don't worry if your blog isn't currently looking its best or you're just getting started with a new blog. You can create a beautiful blog that is pleasing to the eye and encourages people to keep reading. Here are some things you can do.