How to stop stressing out - by a student who never stops stressing out.

I have never been the kind of girl to "chill out". Seriously, when I was a kid, mum would drag me out grocery shopping and I would force her to stick to the shopping list even if she wanted to buy chocolate cookies or something for us as a treat I'd be like ".....but it's not on the list so we can't get it.” I practically needed a minute-by-minute schedule whenever we went anywhere! Thankfully I’m not quite as uptight as I was back then but since being in university the stress is creeping back in. Even on my days off I can’t fully relax because I feel bad for not busying myself or getting any work done, especially now that we’re in (shudder) deadline season. Now everyone likes to switch off in their own way, but as someone who is really bad at it (seriously just ask my boyfriend), I try to refrain from mindlessly scrolling through insta and do something productive in my de-stress time - I know it sounds counterintuative but if you’re like me, doing something that feels somewhat productive makes me feel better about switching off for a while. So I’m going to tell you the ways I de-stress in the hope that I can help out a fellow stress-head out there. 

It is  perhaps a bit of a cliche but the power of a good bubble bath is seriously underrated. And this isn’t just any bath, No. I’m talking candles, facemasks, various lush products, your drink-of-choice (any Zinfandel fans out there?) and a chilled out playlist. I find that instrumental music works the best for me because I can totally retreat from all of my current stresses for a while without being brought back to the present by an absolute banger coming on.

Recently I’ve been really into my podcasts which I listen to in the bath as well or when I’m on my way to/from class. Depending on the type of podcast you listen to you can get a good laugh and learn a thing or two in the process. If it’s something you’d be interested in, I’d love to do another post on my current faves to listen to - let me know in the comments! 

Over the last few months I haven’t given myself time to read a book for fun. Which is what inspired me to write this blog post and take an hour this afternoon to sit in Starbucks with a vanilla latte and get lost in a book I’ve had for ages but not read yet. It was amazing - again I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a kind of book club blog post in the future where we can recommend stuff to eachother - leave me a comment if you’d be interested. 

And If you’re not a big book fan, sitting with a drink and people watching is just as fun, throw in a podcast and you’ve got one chilled out hour ahead of you!

I actually keep this blog as a way to de-stress too, I’ve always loved creative writing and having a project I can work on for fun has been the best thing for me in terms of self care and separating my work and private life. And it’s also super exciting (for me anyway) to know that I might be relating to one person out there with what I’m writing and maybe helping them to de-stress too.
Until the next blog folks!Liv xx