4 Tips for Jump Starting Your Recovery

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The road to recovery is far from being an easy trip. This is a journey that has a lot of bumps, ups, downs, forks in the road, and lots of obstacles. There may be an array of reasons why you’re wanting to begin the recovery process. Maybe you’re fed up with your past decisions? You could just want to end this dependency, maybe you just want to improve your life for the better. There are plenty of reasons why addicts end their addictions, and it’s possible.

 If you’re looking to end this, it’s first important to understand how difficult it’s going to be but how worth it that it’s going to be in the end. No matter your reason behind this big decision, here are some tips to help you get started on this recovery journey. 

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 Start by being honest about your motives

It’s fantastic that you’re wanting to begin living a sober life! With that in mind, it’s very important to understand why you’re wanting to do this. What is the cause behind wanting to get sober? What was the cause of your addiction in the first place? Was it due to trauma? A physical injury? Mental health? If you’re wanting to get mental health treatment, then you must first begin by addressing what caused you down the path you were on. These questions and thoughts must be raised, they cannot go unaddressed. If left unaddressed, then there is a higher chance of a relapse.

Look into services you can use to help out

There are thankfully plenty of ways to seek help for addictions. While there are plenty of different types of addictions, it’s important to find a helpful service or facility that can help with yours. If you’re addicted to alcohol or substances such as drugs, then it’s very important to look for rehab. If you are someone with other addictions such as food, gambling, sex, shopping, or anything else then it’s very important to find the right mental health professional to assist you.

Recovering from an addiction isn’t entirely a one-size-fits-all. There are many different types of addictions, reasons for getting an addiction, and other factors that need to be taken into account as well.  This is why it’s very important to do thorough research on a service, facility, or specialist that can help you out.

Read success stories

Reading success stories can help a lot. This is a great push to remind you that if someone else can recover, then you can too. Sometimes, we just convince ourselves that we’re not strong enough. This is already making you lose the battle! You have to surround yourself with positivity. You need to believe that you can recover and reading other people’s recovery success stories is going to be that helpful push you need to remind you that you’re more than capable of getting through this recovery journey.

Don’t be afraid to open up about your recovery journey

Simple practices will help your mental health and they’ll also help you with your emotions. This also massively helps with health checks. If you want to build up a strong support system then you can’t shy away from this journey. Be completely open, as this is going to help your communication skills, and it’s also going to allow you to cope with this in a healthy manner. Your support system is still going to be there, and they’re still going to love you. Even during your low points, they want to be there to help. So you have to be open about this, don’t be afraid to open up about the milestones that you reach. 

PPD & Me: 5 Tips That Can Help You Manage The Situation

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Post Partum Depression is a very common issue facing new mothers and the symptoms can feel even worse in the post pandemic era. After all, we all (not just parents) have been more prone to bouts of sadness and a lack of energy. The truth is that there is no magic cure for the situation. On a brighter note, however, you can learn to manage PPD in a better manner.

The first step is to accept the situation and realize that it’s not your fault. You wouldn’t punish yourself for any other health complaint and should never consider ignoring PDD. Focus on the following responses, and you should see a noticeable improvement in the way you feel.

Focus on providing for your child

Becoming a parent changes your life forever. Even when you do not feel in control of personal matters, giving your child the best start in life will be a major triumph. Experts at Foryourlittleone can help you find the perfect baby products for the nursery and daily life. Aside from the right surroundings, you will want to master some nutritious meals for when your baby reaches the wearing stage. Remember that your childcare workers are available to answer your questions and provide any advice that you may require too. 

Establish a sense of organization

PPD can often leave you feeling all over the place. Therefore, restoring a sense of control should be one of the top items on your agenda. While it’s great to set long-term goals, learning to take each day as a new challenge is equally vital. There are many reasons to create a daily routine, but it will ultimately allow you to stay on the right track at all times. Likewise, you will find that a schedule is hugely beneficial for your child. It may help you with issues like establishing a positive sleep routine.

Talk

As a new parent, most of your time is dedicated to your child. While it is an amazing and beautiful thing, there is no doubt that it can leave you feeling a little lonely from time to time. Social activities with other adults will have a positive impact, and this should include time with non-parents too. Perhaps more importantly, you must also remember that keeping your PPD locked up inside will do you no favors. Mental health experts are available while even using forums like Whattoexpect can be useful. You will no longer feel alone on this journey.

Try to reduce stress

It would be impossible to eliminate stress from your life. However, high stress levels will continue to make your PPD symptoms feel worse. So, any opportunity to reduce stress should be grabbed with both hands. Gaining control of your financial health is a good starting point. Avoiding people and habits that trigger stress or responses that indirectly cause stress will help. If nothing else, it will free your mind and allow you to enjoy the moments where PPD isn’t in control. 

Live Healthily

As a new parent, your child will be the priority. Still, you must remember that a healthy and happy mom is a better mom. With this in mind, there should be no sense of guilt about taking care of yourself. Make time for meditation and exercise. Eat the right foods. And be OK with the fact that you need personal hobbies and daily activities that focus on you rather than your child. In many cases, your baby will still be involved. Even when they aren’t, the balanced lifestyle will allow you to become an even better parent while also reducing PPD.

How To Improve The Aesthetics Of Your Home

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We spend a lot of time inside our four walls, so when we plan home improvement projects, we tend to prioritise those that take place inside the home over those that take place outside of it. While this makes perfect sense because we live inside, not outside, it is worthwhile to spend some time investigating ways to improve the exterior of your home. First impressions matter, and you'll be surprised at how different you'll feel about your home after transforming the outside space. Keeping this in mind, here are four tips for improving the exterior of your home.

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Consider its kerb appeal

Approach your home with fresh eyes and consider the overall first impression. You will then want to break down this impression into finer details and determine which areas require attention.

A new front door can do wonders and completely transform the frontage. Similarly, window replacement can improve both the appearance and the insulation.

Your driveway may benefit from resurfacing, and any fencing and gates may need to be replaced. Maintain even and weed-free pathways to ensure that they are both attractive and safe for visitors.

If you have a garden, try to keep it tidy, and if it's difficult to maintain, consider covering it in gravel and putting a few pots out there instead. This will give you a very tidy and appealing low-maintenance appearance.

Maintain your roof and brickwork

This is probably the least exciting project on the list, but it is also the most important.

First and foremost, you must ensure that your roof is in good working order. If you have a flat roof, it may have a shorter life than a pitched roof, so consider EPDM rubber roofing to improve and resurface it. If you find any leaks or notice that heat is escaping through it, call in an expert for advice and quotes.

As brickwork weathers, it may require repointing, and you may also need to consider cavity wall insulation or damp proofing installations. Again, bring in professionals to seek advice in these areas.

Spend some time on your garden

Your garden can drastically alter how you use and perceive the exterior of your home.

A garden, unlike other areas of your home, is constantly changing, so this can be an ongoing project. You could try different elements each season for a year or two to get it to the point where you're happy with it.

You can design features, pathways, lawns, container areas, wildlife areas, fruit and vegetable plots, beautiful shrubs and flower beds, and more. Add to that an inviting seating area, and you'll want to spend a lot more time outside.

You could also include a garden room to increase your living space while also creating an interesting feature and focal point in your garden.

Give your doors a lick of paint

Finally, if you don’t want to replace your front door but it’s looking a little worn down, consider repainting it to freshen up its look. Similarly, you could do this for any other visible exterior doors such as a garage or side door.

These simple but smart ideas will help you improve the aesthetics of your home.

Making Effective Use of Social Media for Your Business

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Running a business isn’t easy these days. There are countless different things you need to consider and you’ll end up spending a lot of time managing aspects of your business that you never expected. A great example of this would be social media. Nowadays, using social media platforms to your advantage is a common business responsibility, but it requires a lot more attention and work than you might think.

With billions of active social media users to attract, it’s become one of the best ways to grow your business. This is especially true when you’re on a budget and you’re looking for an inexpensive way to build brand awareness and develop stronger customer relationships. So if you’re looking to make more effective use of social media, here are a couple of tips to help you out.

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Make sure you have a plan for your social media usage

Businesses all use social media in different ways and for different purposes. Social media is great for day-to-day use and sharing your pictures and thoughts, but as a business, using social media is completely different and takes a couple of important considerations. As such, your presence on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter need to be calculated.

It’s a good idea to start with something simple such as choosing your handle. Normally, this is just your business’s name but there will be times where the name is taken or it’s too long to be used as a handle. Shortening your business’s name can be helpful here, but you need to take into consideration how you want to be referred to in conversations and online. Don’t think too hard here as the important thing is to just have some kind of presence. You can always change your handle in the future.

Next, you’ll want to start thinking about your objectives and goals with social media. What do you plan to achieve with a social media platform? Are you just looking to establish some kind of presence, or do you eventually want to hire a social media manager to help you engage with your audience, or do you just want to do the bare minimum and let your audience know whenever you release a new product? Every business has a different goal with social media and it’s vital to decide how far you want to take it.

Finally, you’ll want to do a bit of research into various different things. This can include researching your competition to see exactly how they’re using social media, but it also includes looking into social media automation to potentially reduce the costs of running your social media account. There are many different ways to make effective use of social media, and it all stems from your goals as a business and what you want to achieve with it.

Using the right platform for your business

It’s a good idea to look at the different platforms available so you know which one has the biggest chances of growing your business.

Platforms such as Facebook are great for general use and pretty much all businesses will have some kind of presence on the website. The audience is extremely varied and you have billions of users to attract to your business. However, you may also want to consider platforms such as Instagram if you’re a more creative-focused business.

Platforms like Instagram can be fantastic because they’re focused on visuals. It even comes with certain features that other platforms don’t have. As explained in this post at https://backlightblog.com/edit-hide-delete-instagram-comments, you can actually delete Instagram comments on your posts. This is something you can’t do on Twitter right now. However, Twitter does have other interesting features, such as locking replies to people you follow. Depending on how you want to interact and engage with your audience, it can be helpful to carefully choose a platform.

Remember to track your progress

It’s also a great idea to track your progress with the help of analytics and various metrics. This will give you an objective look at your social media presence and also give you some advice to assist in decision making. Most social media platforms give you access to various metrics, so this isn’t something you need to pay more for. However, it may be helpful to record a few of your own findings, such as when your audience is most active and the types of messages and posts that garner the most attention so you can replicate their engagement success in the future.

Smart Features To Boost Your Home's Exterior

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The exterior of your home matters as much as the interior. It will help sell the home as well as act as a safe haven for you to relax and spend your time. If you feel that you have neglected your garden over the years, then don’t worry. Today, we are sharing the best features to add to your home’s exterior to boost its appeal.

Image by Stanly8853 from Pixabay 

Lights

Lighting up the home will make it more inviting. It will also ward off intruders when you are not in during the evening. 

Furthermore, adding lights to your back garden is a great way to increase the time you spend there. The best solar landscape lights will light up your garden and make the work you’ve put in stand out no matter the time of day. You will be able to show off your garden day and night when the grass and surrounding flowerbeds stand out. You will be able to host a gathering or simply sit and enjoy nature yourself in the evenings. When the evenings draw in the garden will stay alight and enable you to spend as long as possible out there.

Utilize the spare space to produce

Growing your own produce couldn’t be easier if you have spare space in the garden. Even if you have a small flower bed spare, you can grow enough vegetables to feed a small family. There, you can grow your favourite fruit and vegetables. 

Adding a produce patch will encourage you to spend more time in your garden, boost its appeal, and increase the sustainable solutions in your home. Sustainable solutions will make your life more eco-friendly and be great for future buyers. Furthermore, it will also educate you on how to plant, grow, and harvest.

Tidy up the path with stones

A messy pathway will not look attractive to you, guests, or future buyers. The best way to maximize its appearance and your time is to add stones. You won’t need to attend and cut down stones as you would grass. 

Adding stones will make the pathway clear and inviting. It will act as a guideway to enter the house, which will boost its overall appearance. If you align the colour of the stones with the rest of your exterior, it will tie in well and make your home look well kept.

Along with the stones, you could add small flowers. These will brighten the pathway and make it appear more inviting. Faux plants may be ideal for those with little gardening skills or time.

A fresh front door

Your front door is one of the first features that you and your guests see. Thus, refreshing it will make a huge difference. A quick paint refresh will make it look brand new. 

Furthermore, you could add smart features to enhance the modern feel of your home. You could add a smart doorbell that allows you to see who is at the door from your phone. These features will also enhance the safety of your home as you can always keep an eye on your front porch.