Sober Wednesday - think how far you've come

When I think back to my drinking (and particularly my student) days, my mind boggles at the wasted money, the wasted days hungover, and the wasted opportunities to look after myself better.

It's easy to want to kick myself, but there's nothing we can do about the past, is there? We can only keep moving forward and keep doing the best we can.

Here are some silly decisions I made when I was drinking:

1. I had a bar job, but basically used my wages to go out drinking. If I hadn't been drinking, I wouldn't have needed that job. So I could have spent that time working towards my degree.
2. Being hungover on important days still haunts me. I was late and hungover to my own 21st birthday party that my family had lovingly organised for me. I thought it was hilarious at the time, now I cringe.
3. I spent my time with men who were totally wrong for me. Enough said.
4. I wasn't practising socialising without the help of alcohol, resulting in me still suffering from bouts of shyness at almost 30 years of age.
5. I put on weight and went from slim to slightly-heavier-than-average. Now that I'm in my late twenties it's harder to get back into the shape I would like to be.

Let's contrast this with today:

1. My income is low, but my spending is under control and I'm still able to save for holidays and other priorities. I have the energy and where-with-all to look for ways to increase my income.
2. My family mean everything to me and staying in touch with them is top priority. I would never treat my parents with the disrespect I gave them on my 21st birthday. My mum was inspired to give up alcohol at the same time I was and her health and weight have improved dramatically.
3. I have a loving fiancé who also doesn't drink. We go out and drink water and become exceedingly hydrated. 
4. My confidence is growing and I no longer feel the need for alcohol in social situations, and, I no longer feel awkward when I tell people I don't drink. Hurray!
5. I'm prioritising my health, have rediscovered my love of yoga and meditation, and working to clean up my diet. I hardly weigh myself but when I do, I'm always a little bit less than before.

Have a think about how your life has changed since you gave up alcohol and let me know in the comments. The changes are subtle but they all add up and I much prefer this new version of me.

Sexy Monday - get ready for compliments

Although it feels to me now that the changes I’ve made in my lifestyle are small, over time they all add up of course. I regularly receive lovely comments from friends and family saying I look well, that I’m ‘glowing’ or asking if I’ve lost weight (not sure about that one as I haven’t weighed myself in ages).

If you make these little changes then people will start noticing, maybe not right away, but they will. I went through a phase of feeling like I was getting these comments almost daily, it was amazing! 

I’ll use this post to go through what I’m focusing on at the moment in terms of health and beauty, and hopefully I can give you a few ideas to get you glowing too.

Let’s start with nutrition as I believe what we eat is the most important factor we can control to achieve optimal health:

 - still mostly vegan 

 - no alcohol

 - very very few fizzy drinks

 - one, maybe two coffees a day, in the morning

 - lots of fresh fruits, salads and vegetables

I’m also going to try intermittent fasting, where you limit your eating to between ten and twelve hours per day. Sounds pretty easy and it works with our natural circadian rhythms. I’ll let you know how I get on with that.

Fitness:

 - I’m in training for a 10k run in September, but please don’t think I’m some amazing runner, I’m probably the slowest person you know (honestly). But I like running in that you are only really competing against yourself, an improvement is an improvement, and that’s fab.

- I’m prioritising doing yoga and meditation most days, probably nine out of ten days I’ll do a short yoga flow from Gaia and a ten minute meditation from my Calm app. The combination of these two things really calms me down and gets me in a good headspace for the rest of the day.

Beauty:

- although I’ve chatted on here before about fake tan, I’m now moving into a more minimalist phase with my beauty regime. Partly this is to cut down on my plastic use, but partly I want to focus on honouring the skin I have and taking care of it, rather than trying to change it in any way.

- it’s a heatwave here in the UK at the moment, and while I love the sun I’ve been really careful to wear sun cream when I know I’ll be out for extended periods. I always, always put facial sun cream on before going out for a run. Freckles are cute and I love mine, but they are a sign of damaged skin and I want to protect my skin as much as is practical.

- I’ve ditched foundation! This is a biggie. When I’m going out I’ll put concealer and mascara on but that’s kind of it and it is so liberating. My skin can breathe and it has definitely improved considerably since not wearing foundation. Healthy, moisturised skin will look beautiful so if you have problem skin at the moment I suggest you try going without foundation for a while, your skin will be so happy.

- I’m trying to cut down my plastic use, so once I run out of something I’m going to try to do without. Coconut oil is a lovely moisturiser (use very sparingly) and places like Lush have lots of plastic-free, natural products, which must be better for your skin than the chemical-laden products we find on the high street generally.

So there we go, did any of these resonate with you? Let me know in the comments.

Let’s chat soon,

SSV x