halloween Wellbeing

10 Things to do this Autumn – that will help you feel great!

The Autumn is officially upon us! The nights are drawing in really fast now and as we lose the daylight, I find it challenging to maintain my mood. So, as the temperature drops, the leaves turn to Red and Gold, I wanted to share a few of my favourite ways to embrace the Autumn and boost the mood over the next few weeks….

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Head out for a stroll. As the days shorten through October and November, here in Yorkshire, I try to make the most of the precious day light and get outside. Taking time to absorb the beauty of Autumn and appreciate the soothing autumn colours whilst they are with us. Seeking experiences that allow us to feel and express appreciation and gratitude are really great for our wellbeing. The fresh air and exercise will brighten your eyes and put a spring in your step too!

Be creative! Now’s the time to take those good intentions and turn them into a reality. How often do we say “This year I’m going to give beautiful handmade Christmas gifts this year”? So if that’s what you’d like to do, it’s the perfect moment to get cracking with your creations! If this feels like a little too much creativity, why not knit or crochet a scarf for yourself?! Giving yourself a neat little sense of achievement into the bargain – good for our self-esteem & mood!

Turn the heat on (a little bit). By October Yorkshire is cold and damp. I try not to turn the heating on until we really need it, wearing jumpers and scarves to keep warm. But, having the heating on, even just a tiny bit, makes this time of year feel really cosy. Set your heating to come on for a short burst just before you get up, so you wake up to a lovely warm home and do the same for when you come home. If you want to wake up to a really sweet-smelling home put a few drops of essential oils on to a folded hanky or tissue and tuck it behind the radiator, as it warms it will release it’s fragrance. I like to use grapefruit or orange essential oil; it’s refreshing and comforting. A warm welcoming environment is a great mood booster.

Make your Christmas cake & mash. So, this one sounds slightly random, but stay with me! As we all know, a great festive dinner is really about all the little extras, such as roast and mashed spuds, 100 different veggies and ALL the sauces. However, preping the endless list of food can be a real pain, so I try to do some of it ahead of time. During October I buy, prepare and freeze pigs in blankets, bacon rolls, bread sauce & cranberry sauce. I make and store my Christmas cake and I do an extra batch of mash when cooking and freeze it; all ready for December. So why not give yourself an extra Christmas present and unload some of the stress and work for a fab Yule-tide, by doing a bit of of the prep in October. Delicious smells and a warm kitchen, coupled with a sense of achievement is a top mood booster.

Have a home-made spa evening. Crank up the heating to sub-tropical levels, lock yourself inthe bathroom with a good book, a beverage of your choice, some great smellies, warm fluffy towels and instruction to the household not to disturbe you unless there is a situation that requires your urgent evacuation from the premises….

Get cosy… Feeling cosy is partly a state of mind and it’s easy to achieve, with the addition of a few bits and pieces and you don’t even need to turn up the heating. For a cosy atmosphere get the lighting right, a couple of small lamps will create a feeling of calm and warm, add in some comfy cushions and a warm throw and you’ve got your own snug space to get cosy!

Do some batch cooking & baking. This is the autumn gift that keeps on giving. first, if you’re batch cooking you’ll be creating some lovely cosy warming smells and the oven will warm your space too. Next, freeze the extra, you’ve made for a warming meal later in the season. Sit back in your warm and cosy space and enjoy the fruits of your labours.

Phone a friend. Before we get lost in the seasonal whirlwind it’s a good time for a catch up. So pick up the phone or brake out a good old fashioned paper and pen or writing set and get in touch with old friend that you haven’t seen in a while.

Check out you and your families winter wardrobe. It’s the perfect time to make sure you all have the right clothes for the up coming season. Are your snow boots still snow-proof? Do you all have warm socks and jumpers and does everyone have a good winter coat, hat, scarf and gloves that will keep the cold out.

Join in Halloween. Halloween can be as elaborate or simple as you like, but do join in, it’s a great way to meet your neighbours and join in with your local community and you don’t even have to take off your slippers or leave the house. So, grab a bowl-full of goodies, stick a handful bats (cut them out of Black Sugar paper) to your front door, pop some eco-friendly solar powered LED candles (DO NOT USE REAL CANDLES, there will be children about) in a carved pumpkin on your doorstep on October 31st and get ready to join in, meet the neighbours and feel part of something!

I hope you find my Autumnal mood boosters helpful and have a great week!

Thanks

Sarah x

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Wellbeing

How To Enjoy A Staycation Summer!

As I write this we’re at the start of summer. We’re slowly returning to ‘normal’ but that’s not going to happen overnight and for many of us a ‘summer holiday’ may not be possible. I was thinking about this and realised that this is something that happened for me and my family before we’d even heard the words ‘lockdown’ and ‘travel restrictions’. Being self-employed is great and has always given us lots of freedom, but the price we pay is an unstable income and cashflow, and we’ve had several years where a staycation has been our only option, so here’s a few things I’ve learnt along the way…

We all need a break and a break is just a change of routine, it doesn’t need to be very long, far away or expensive, but it is vital to our wellbeing.

We’ll need a plan! If you’re looking at (what we hope will be) a long hot summer, with trepidation and wondering what on earth you’re going to do, then the first step to actually enjoying this time of year is to have some ideas up your sleeve.

It’s OK to be bored. Science has your back on this one. Recent reseach has clearly shown that a little boredom is really important to our wellbeing. we can all heave a sigh of relief and relax, knowing that we don’t have to fill every waking moment with entertainment and activity – Phew!

So what are we going to do? Here’s a few thoughts and ideas to keep the summer fun going during your staycation.

Taking care of business. One of the best ways of having lots of fun over the summer is too make sure that the jobs, chores and business doesn’t pile up and spoil it all. So one of the things to do over summer is to ensure that they are taken care of! Make a list of all the things that ‘Need to be done over the Summer’ – front load it, so you get the less fun stuff out of the way and then you’re free to enjoy yourself.

Have a day off. Make usre you get a proper break from routine. Do nothing, achieve nothing. Get up late, go back to bed for breakfast, stay in your pyjamas, do some nature bathing, take a nap, read book, try a bit of gaming, watch TV, take a walk, have take-away for tea. Do as little as possible and just relax!

The picnic is your friend – embrace it. If you take a picnic lunch almost anywhere, you take your trip to another level and you can stay longer and really make a day of it!

Make some sarnies, grab a picnic blanket, a good book, a frisbee, a sharing bag of crisps, some fruit and a pack of sweet treats, fill your waterbottles and go.

Where? A park, river bank, beach, field, a friend’s garden, anywhere that you can settle down and relax for a few hours and enjoy. This is the perfect way to take a proper break from your everyday routine.

Here are some ideas that when added to a picnic make for a perfect staycation! Some are inside home, so we’ve got you covered even if the finances or weather are not ideal!

Visit a museum or art gallery.

Go for a walk.

Visit a park – one you don’t usually visit.

Spend the day at the beach.

Go for a coffee, milkshake or icecream.

Fill the paddeling pool and have a paddle – don’t leave it unattended if you have little ones around.

Air anything that needs it.

Do some art and crafts.

Read a book.

Eat each meal outside at least once.

Play board games.

Visit a new park or outdoor space.

Learn a new skill or trick.

Tidy & declutter your space.

Bake.

Visit friends.

Have a BBQ.

Watch a film.

Cook something new.

Tidy & update your outside space.

Fly a kite.

During lockdown I also made a list of 60+ things to do, so check that post – there’s tons more ideas in there.

I hope you find this helpful and have a restful summer!

Thanks

Sarah x

PS: This blog contains affiliate some links, so if you purchase through them we get a (very) small comission which helps support the blog and pay our bills, so thank you for your support!

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Eco-life Wellbeing

How to Do Nature Bathing.

‘What’s nature bathing?’ I hear you say. Well, very simpley it’s: being in nature, and it has some good research to show that it’s really good for us! On this basis, I think its a good thing and so I had a look at it as an experience and concept. I’ve been practising it for some months and really enjoy it and the sense of wellbeing it brings – also it’s VERY eco-friendly, so I wanted to share it with you.

Nature bathing is all about spending quality time in a natural environment. It’s a little bit more than a quick stroll around your park or garden, but, it can be acheived in most environments. The benefits to your health and wellbeing have been researched and they’re real and significant. We can all do it, so here’s the 5 easy steps to getting the most out of your nature bathing.

Find or create a natural environment. Ideally, the deeper the natural environment the better, but, that being said, many of us live in urban environments and don’t have easy access to the countryside. The important aspect is that you can access the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of nature, so a woodland, the seaside, the countryside, local park, garden, backyard, balcony or even an open window can all work for your nature bathing.
Get yourself into your ‘natural environment’ If you’re in a confined space, position yourself so you can see as many plants and as much sky as possible.
Now get bathing! This means being in your natural environment, without distracting yourself with other things. It’s best to avoid, all devices, no coffee, no excercising, no chatting – just be in your natural environment.
Get comfy – stand, sit, lie down, stroll or even a very gentle jog are all good, and it’s fine to change position during your nature bathing time.
Here’s the really important part: pay attention. Notice and experience each of the different aspects of your natural environment. Take some time to really enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of the natural environment. Engage with the ‘big picture’ experience and also take notice of the tiny details within the environment. If your natural environment is limited, try to guide your attention towards the aspects that are natural, so that you’re not distracted by the none natural elements. For example: if you’ve got traffic noise, take your attention to the colours and textures of the plants, watch the movement in the sky. Finally, engage with your naturing bathing as often as you can and for as long as feels natural – Relax & Enjoy!

Thank you & have a great week!

Sarah x

The Brilliant Bronte Sisters Wellbeing

Emily On The Moor….

Gone to the heather – As we gear back up to our ‘new normal’ things are really busy right now, so as the jobs stack up and the ‘to-do list’ lengthens I’m trying to remember to incorporate Emily Bronte’s fantastic habit into my own daily routine and you should too!

When all the duties and chores got a bit much, she’d take herself off to the place she loved best – the moors to re-charge herself and seek inspiration. She’d ‘gone to the heather’. Here’s Charlotte’s quote about Emily’s habit, it explains, beautifully, just why it was so important to Emily and shows us how important it is to us today.

So get out there and go to the heather – wherever yours is….

“My sister Emily loved the moors. Flowers brighter than the rose bloomed in the blackest of the heath for her; out of a sullen hollow in a livid hillside her mind could make an Eden. She found in the bleak solitude many and dear delights; and not the least and best-loved was – liberty.”
― Charlotte Brontë

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Thanks for reading & have a great day

Sarah x

Wellbeing

And she’s back in the room … Tadaaa!

Hello again, yes it’s definately been a while since I last blogged – over a year!

I’m so sorry I haven’t been able to get to do this for such a long time. We got embroiled in a serious amount of family stuff. My parents health, which is tricky at best, really went off-the-boil, big style and we needed to actively intervene to help them get to a better place (no, I did not bump my parents off). We helped them move to a lovely retirement flat, where they now have the daily support they need and are much nearer to us and their grandchildren – all good.

It did take a heroic physical and mental effort on the part of the whole family to achieve this. We sorted through the entire contents of my mum & dads home, where they’d accumulated nearly 40 years-worth of stuff – which was very exciting! We found a mumified dead mouse, 12 axes (yes really!), 3 microwaves (also yes, three – who needs three?!) and an actual mountain of interesting things. Not a suprise, as my parents are pretty intersting people: my dad used to keep his biscuit stash in his wellies!

Whilst embarking on the mamouth house sorting I did channel the brilliant Marie Condo and used her mindset (keep what you love, everything else can go) and many of her tips and techniques to scale the 5 bedroom house into a 2 bedroom flat. If, as we were, you’re faced with a seemingly ungovernable home environment, then I really recommend that you check out her book – it really did help us. In any case, we did get them downsized, removed the axes and excessive microwaves and into a comfortable & safe new home, so good job (she pats herself on the back).

Please note that my blog contains affiliate links and I receive a small commision if you click on a link and then purchase – this helps fund the blog and pay my bill, so thank you for the support!

Now, I have some time to enjoy doing a bit of blogging, creating, walking, and exploring again, so you’ll be hearing from me a bit more often. I might even make some time to clear out my own clutter now!

It’s really great to be back.

Have a great day!

Sarah X