Tag: self care

Lifestyle, Self Growth

5 Simple Ways To Jump Start Spring

mindbeautysimplicity

There’s something refreshing about the days getting a bit longer, brighter & the air becoming warmer. Opening the windows & allowing the warm breeze to refresh the home, embracing extra spring cleaning & displaying florals for a sense of nature. Being someone who has been practicing the simple life, I find spring to be the perfect time to reflect, refresh & regain a sense of control of our clutter filled baggage. Luckily, there are tons of simple ways to refresh your life for spring & possibly start a new. Here’s how…

Refresh Your Home From Top to Bottom

This is the perfect season to conduct a full blown sweep of your space. This means vacuuming as well as cleaning the baseboards. Go through every single drawer & corner of your home & ask yourself if anything needs shifting. I always tend to find a few unwanted items to donate, trash & even sell. It’s important to cycle through your items & make space for the new.

I tend to downsize my decor at this time after the sweep of holidays that occur during the winter. I’ll even go one step further & downsize any decor that is placed in storage like from previous holidays.

Formulate Your Style

I love decluttering my closet & creating seasonal capsule wardrobes. This spring I plan to incorporate more bright colors & floral prints to embrace these warmer days. In the spring, I tend to take everything out of my closet, hold each piece up & ask myself if I still wish to own the item. More bulky items like sweaters & coats are put away in storage or a spare closet within our home.

This way, I can make space for pieces that coincide with the season at hand. I also love to experiment with my style at this time & determine if there are new items I’d like to add. I don’t necessarily like to over shop, but I do like to treat myself to a few fresh items.

Change Up Your Digital Aesthetic

Digital declutters are just as important as declutters within our homes. I tend to refresh accounts I’m following, creatively brainstorm photo ideas & even delete or clean up ones I no longer want shared. I try to stay rather intentional with my digital space these days by posting less frequently & even living more so outside the world of social media. This is a perfect time to establish healthier screen time habits. Our mental health is strongly affected by social media whether we want to believe it or not, so if you find yourself drained of certain social media platforms, this may be the season to delete or cut back on these apps.

Plan A Few Fun Adventures

One of my goals for this year is to travel more often. My husband & I have already brainstormed a few beach vacations for the summer months as well as a Caribbean cruise. I’d also love to travel to a few other places with my brother & family including Chicago, Salem, & Europe.I believe it’s important to plan a few adventures to look forward to & to break up our humdrum routines. You can even choose more simple adventures like local hikes, sport activities or bed & breakfasts.

Check in With Yourself & Your Goals

Since we are a few months into the year, it’s a great time to reflect on those new year goals & determine if anything needs to be tweaked. With each season, I like to have a self care moment with myself, see how I’m doing & determine if there’s growth needed to be down or not. In most cases, there is always room for improvement. But I also like to reflect & celebrate any wins I may have had along the way.

-B

intentional living, Self Growth

How To Be More Present & Live in The Moment

mindbeautysimplicity

You know what habit I would love to break this year? Scrolling endlessly on my phone. I think a lot of us can relate to waking up & immediately picking up our phones & placing energy & hours scrolling through Tiktok or Instagram which is a never ending pool of content. It’s like we develop this irrational fear of missing out. When in reality all we are missing out on is the occasional photograph of someone’s brunch or a grainy sunset picture. And I’m just as guilty for falling into the trap of being sucked into this fake aspect of life. It’s frustrating to me because I have slowly adapted to a more minimalistic way of living. I’ll get rid of bags & bags of junk throughout my home. But I have yet to fully embraced one of the most crucial aspects of simple living, which is actively being present & looking up from that screen.

In A Technologically Sound World – How Can We Escape The Noise?

As the world has progressed technologically from the coming of age of dial up computers to having mini computers at our finger tips; it has become much more difficult to turn off the noise. And in some ways, technology has allowed us to grow in such positive ways. But like anything in this life, while something may be beneficial; there can be an equal amount of aspects that make it toxic. And that is why there needs to be a balancing act to the process. As a blogger for instance, without social media & the internet, my blog would be rather nonexistent to the world. I am able to express my creative talents in ways I couldn’t imagine. In the same breath, I find myself battling thoughts of imposture syndrome or comparison. And although we know the common quote, “comparison is the thief of joy,” you will still see me scrolling through someone’s highlight reel & deciding how I can make mine just as nice if not better. With the help of the minimalistic mindset, I want to let go of these feelings & truly unplug & start living with intent.

So, How Do We Break The Cycle?

I’m not saying you need to deactivate all your social media platforms & convert back to flip phones. Although, there are some instances where I miss the so called “good ol’ days”. I’d rather practice being more mindful & use these platforms as tools to help us grow. And remember, your presence on social media doesn’t define who you are as a person. I think we all tend to get caught up in the “character” we seem to play as we curate those aesthetically pleasing feeds.

Don’t Let The First Thing You See in the Morning Be Your Phone

Everything seems to be synced to our phones now a days – even our alarm clocks. And this is why it tends to become ingrained in us to turn off the alarm & immediately swipe though notifications, calls or messages. I suggest to put the phone down & take care of those essential morning tasks first. Grab a glass of water, brush your teeth & fully wake up a bit before placing your attention to these phones of ours. Most of the time, these notifications can wait at least a few minutes. Plus, if you allow yourself to wake up properly, you are able to articulate those messages better. And if you are ones to fully embrace old school ways of life, maybe consider purchasing an actual alarm clock.

Turn off Notifications

Once I turned notifications off of certain apps on my phone, I became less distracted & more productive. Apps like Instagram, Facebook or TikTok are perfect examples of social media that don’t need to constantly grab our attention. And quite honestly – I’ve learned posting on these apps regularly really takes away from our real lives. Even email apps can become distracting to me. I’ve learned to turn off the notifications and check my inbox when it works best for me.

Not Everything Needs To Be Picture Worthy

I love capturing moments especially since we have cameras at our finger tips. But I feel like there are times where we choose to do something just because it’s picture worthy. The “pictures or it didn’t happen” mindset can take away from the experience. If you are taking photos simply for the sake of your social media feed, I think you need to reevaluate your perspective. Now, I still love capturing moments in still form & video. But I do it for myself & my sentimental memories. I’m a bit old school as well & love printing photos & creating flip through albums.

Oversharing Leads To Lack of Mystery

One of my biggest pet peeves is when you are catching up with someone & you are telling them about a trip or something that has been going on in your life & they cut you off by saying, “oh yes, I already saw it on your socials.” It got me wondering if I too was getting caught up in the habit of over sharing. And I think we all are in the habit of over sharing our lives to the outside world with technology. When we have the luxury of typing out anything that is on our minds in a given moment, it’s not always good. Sometimes thoughts need to be left unsaid or kept to ourselves. Whether it’s a photo of our breakfast or a play by play of our weekend – I think we all have fallen into the trap of capturing the moments for the views, likes & attention.

are you looking to change your technology habits & routines? maybe you too, are looking to downsize your social media consumption & look up from that phone of yours…

-B

Self Growth

Feeling Burnt Out? | 5 Mindset Shifts To Consider

mindbeautysimplicity

I’ve been experiencing quite the burn out lately in all aspects of my life. And I’ve touched on being creatively drained quite a bit on the blog; but when I found myself drifting into this feeling with my personal life, I knew it was time to reflect, make a few changes & of course write about it. My life has changed a lot in the course of the year – with battling grief & coming to terms with the changes of my dad no longer being here & how certain milestones & life has been because of that hurdle. But along side all of this, there has been the usual “new year new me” mindset of setting healthier goals, establishing better routines & focusing on self growth. In general, I want this year to be a time where I really evolve as a person & gain happiness in more authentic ways. In today’s blog post I want to share a few ways I’ve been managing my burnout & actively making changes in my life to better my mind & soul.

Change Your Surroundings

One of our goals for this year is to at least start the process in finding a new home. Whether it’s driving through different towns & new neighborhoods or searching the web, I want to start manifesting a new home for ourselves. For the time being, we have rearranged our furniture in our living room, decluttered a few items & added some new decor to spruce up the place. I’m really loving how the space is more open & appears larger. It’s funny how a simple change such as this really brightened my mood & gave me more motivation. Sometimes although you may be wanting to make a more drastic change like move to a new town, you need to first start with your present location. Ask yourself what would make your space more cozy. For me, decluttering sessions & reorganizing can really make a difference.

Take Social Media Breaks

I’m trying to learn how to be more present. This means spending less time updating my Instagram stories & more time away from my phone. I love documenting my life & sharing my interests online. But I think we all can get caught up in our digital personas. I can’t tell you how much time I waste scrolling through my feeds & other people’s stories. It has gotten out of hand. Ever since I started making the habit of hiding the app or putting my phone down, I’ve found myself being more productive & in a general better mood. Whether I want to admit it or not, I tend to play the comparison game or feeling the pull to constantly update people about my life for validation. And I’d much rather establish a healthier social media mindset where I post for my enjoyment only & allow myself to spend a few days a week unplugged. You don’t have to share every photo or moment of your life. You don’t need to post things right away either. You can practice digital mindfulness. Most importantly, spend time away from technology more often & give yourself a break from that world.

Don’t Forget About Yourself

You can be equally there for others while also prioritizing yourself. It’s not selfish. It’s crucial. Make those doctors appointments, go on that walk, take a nap, eat a balanced diet, reflect on your passions, apply to that job & learn something new. When we put time & energy into ourselves, we can actually be more helpful to others. When we are all one sided, we immediately feel off kilter & that’s when burn out can rear it’s head. I’ve been making small changes of making to-do lists & sticking to them. I no longer push things to the side & say “I’ll get to it when I get to it”. I’m more proactive in my day to day errands & business tasks. And in the process, I’m growing more as an individual. I’d also like to mention, if you need to rest – let yourself fully rest it out. I think we all tend to make ourselves feel guilty to take a break. We confuse this word with laziness & that mindset needs to stop.

Don’t Overfill Your Plate

When I’m creating to-do lists, I try to keep to the saying “I need to get these done, but not all at once.” Sometimes I get lost in the idea that being productive means being very busy, have a packed schedule & no time for anything fun. This is not the way to be. I have actually became more productive & motivated when I slow down & take my time. Even though I take things slow doesn’t mean I’m being lazy. I am teaching myself not to rush & that tasks can be taken care of in a timely manner. As someone who can get overwhelmed & anxious, I have mindfully taught myself to slow down on purpose. I choose a few tasks per day to complete & try not to make them feel like the end of the world. Easier said than done, I’m sure. But I have seen a positive difference in myself with these subtle shifts.

Declutter Your Space

It wouldn’t be a Mind Beauty Simplicity blog post without the discussion of decluttering would it? I strongly believe your space reflects your mind. When my home is disorganized & cluttered, I immediately feel out of control. As a practicing minimalist, I have successfully downsized my life in half. This removal of literal baggage is one of the main factors to my overall well-being. I tend to conduct seasonal decluttering sessions where I take inventory of all aspects of my life: my belongings, my home, my digital space, my social circle & my habits & ask myself “what is no longer serving me?” If you are feeling overwhelmed & burnt out, maybe this would be a perfect moment for you to do the same. And you don’t need to be heroic about it either. Start small & choose one area of your life that may need sorted. I can guarantee this small realignment will make a difference.

Have you been feeling burnt out lately? Let me know which tips you found helpful in the comments. If there are other ways you combat burnout, please feel free to share.

-B