At the moment, with the whole lockdown thing, it's kind of hard on a lot of people's mental health, including my own. Normally, where I'd be going therapy every week I'm unable to do so now (my therapist does do online counselling but unfortunately I can't do this due to the privacy of my home), so I've been trying to find other ways of keeping myself happy and busy and not focusing on negative thoughts. Also, I'm aware of the irony of these photos being totally outside, but I don't have any others and I'm letting them help me focus on the day I can return to London again.
SO here are some ways I've been coping with bad mental health during lockdown.
Having a Skincare Routine
It's literally incredible what having a regular skincare routine does for my mental health. If I don't remember to do it in the morning, it pretty much sets my mood for the rest of the day, and the same with the evening. I end up going to bed just not feeling right. So I've been trying to get up every morning and remember to cleanse, tone and moisturise and do the same in the evening, even if I'm feeling super lazy and can't be bothered to get off the sofa.
It's literally incredible what having a regular skincare routine does for my mental health. If I don't remember to do it in the morning, it pretty much sets my mood for the rest of the day, and the same with the evening. I end up going to bed just not feeling right. So I've been trying to get up every morning and remember to cleanse, tone and moisturise and do the same in the evening, even if I'm feeling super lazy and can't be bothered to get off the sofa.
Doing My Makeup
Another thing that really makes me feel better is doing my makeup, which is weird because I actually love no makeup days. But at the moment, with every day being a no makeup day, it feels a bit like a treat to actually put on a full face and not look like my regular troll self for a day. The opposite end to this is that having a makeup free day also helps with my mental health in feeling cleansed, but not 47 in a row, Chris!
Another thing that really makes me feel better is doing my makeup, which is weird because I actually love no makeup days. But at the moment, with every day being a no makeup day, it feels a bit like a treat to actually put on a full face and not look like my regular troll self for a day. The opposite end to this is that having a makeup free day also helps with my mental health in feeling cleansed, but not 47 in a row, Chris!
Walking My Dog
I've spoken about how exercise really helps with my mental health before and as somebody who is the self-confessed Laziest Person on the Planet, I find it really hard to motivate myself to get up and go out for a walk. Luckily, I have Oscar who loves to stare at me and annoy me until I drag myself out the door and go for a walk.
But lately I've actually been looking forward to our daily walks. I used to go on my own, but now Tom has been joining us too and I really enjoy being able to spend some time with him out in the fresh air and countryside - no phones. We've been trying to find new routes every day, and luckily there's a lot of footpaths where I live so we get to explore new surroundings every day.
I've spoken about how exercise really helps with my mental health before and as somebody who is the self-confessed Laziest Person on the Planet, I find it really hard to motivate myself to get up and go out for a walk. Luckily, I have Oscar who loves to stare at me and annoy me until I drag myself out the door and go for a walk.
But lately I've actually been looking forward to our daily walks. I used to go on my own, but now Tom has been joining us too and I really enjoy being able to spend some time with him out in the fresh air and countryside - no phones. We've been trying to find new routes every day, and luckily there's a lot of footpaths where I live so we get to explore new surroundings every day.
Reading
Reading is another thing that is like my absolute antidepressant when I get into it. It can take me a little while to motivate myself (like most of the things on this list), but when I do I can speed through a novel in a day. There's also nothing more satisfying than adding another book to my reading challenge on Goodreads (if you want to follow me on there, you can!).
Writing
You may or may not know that I have always wanted to be an author and write my own novel, but when I went to university I really lost the love for writing. There's no doubt that I find it way more difficult to use my imagination than I did before I did an English degree (go figure), but I've been brainstorming ideas for my new book and absolutely loving it. I feel like the spark is slowly coming back and I couldn't be more excited.
Having a Project a Day
Now that I'm at home, I'm not able to go to London every week to create Instagram content like I normally would. So instead I'm trying to have one project each day, whether it be an IGTV, a still image or a blog post. That way I'm keeping myself focused and at the end of the day feel like I've used my time productively, even if it's just on one small thing.
I hope you enjoyed this post! I had a lot of requests for me to chat about this over on Instagram so I hope it helps with some ideas. Stay safe and sending lots of love to you all! x
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