Wednesday 15 February 2017

9 ways to cheer yourself up



Hi everyone,

This post is sorta personal and different from what I normally write (I might delete it later too) but I wanted to write it anyway. 

I guess you could say 2016 was a bit of a rough year for me. Since 2014, I have been told by two doctors and about three psychologists that what I am experiencing is depression and anxiety. It ebbed and flowed between 2014 and 2015, but in 2016 it was pretty persistent.

I've done a lot of counselling classes, both individual and group stuff. I gave up being vegetarian, despite being a dedicated one for about two years. I also tried to incorporate working out into my daily routine, and trying to create new coping mechanisms to help me on my bad days. Today, I wanted to share them, ranked by what helped me most, to try and help anyone else who maybe is in my position, or anyone just having an off day.


1. Have a hot bath or shower.

2. Cry. Let it out because it feels so good.

3. Have a list of positive affirmations and say them to yourself in the mirror — or write a list of things you are proud of to remind yourself.

4. Write down how you're feeling — or draw it, if writing isn't your thing. We once done this in a therapy class at university and, even though my picture looked like a 5-year-old drew it, expressing myself in a different way felt pretty good.

5. Sing in the shower because everyone sings well in the shower.

6. Phone or even Skype someone who cares about you, and who you care about. 

7. Go through your closet and throw out (or donate) clothes you never wear. This always makes me feel like a new person.

8. Go for a walk. Skip around a forest all alone. You may feel a bit stupid doing it but it might make you laugh at yourself, too.

9. Take yourself out on a date. Get coffee or window-shop, but try not to let shopping become your coping mechanism (which I sort of did, not a good idea).

Friday 10 February 2017

almond & strawberry oatmeal



Hi everyone,

I hope February is treating you all well. Today, I wanted to share a recipe because I haven't done that in a while. My next recipe post will hopefully be a baking type of thing. I used to bake a lot, but sorta lost the motivation earlier in 2016 and then I didn't really bake that whole year... Oops.

Anyway, I want to try and bake/cook more things, so in the coming weeks I will be uploading more complicated/adventurous recipe posts.

Almond & Strawberry Oatmeal
Ingredients
1/2 cup oats
1 cup of almond milk
1 tbsp almond meal/almond flour
2 tbsp maple syrup
almond granola
strawberries (to top)

Method
1. Heat the almond milk (or any type of milk you want) and oats in a pot on the stovetop.
2. Once the oats are soft, add in the maple syrup and the almond meal to make it even more almond-flavoured.
3. Then, put the oatmeal in a bowl and top it off with granola, some brown sugar, and strawberries.

Sunday 5 February 2017

this week, happiness was...


Skipping a lecture to nap

Getting through a tutorial presentation with only one pause (and being able to answer everyones' questions about it afterwards

Splurging $5 for a hot chocolate and it becoming my new favourite drink

Hanging out with my best friend on a day I was feeling really down

Wandering around the bookstore and looking at all the knick-knacks

Leaving a midterm and actually feeling pretty good about it

Spending Friday with my favourite brother (... unless Milo is reading this, because then you're my favourite)

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