Sometimes life is overwhelming. It's easy to get cloudy headed and fall into a puddle of negativity and bad vibes. I find trying to keep a positive mental attitude (PMA) when possible, really really helpful. It's not possible 100% of the time and it's not easy, but here are some things that help when I'm feeling negative and hopeless. I've anointed it my personal 'get out of that slug life,' note to self, for future reference.
❤︎ Read and collect some inspirational quotes. Pinterest quotes always motivates me to get out of a slump and do something. Writing them down in your phone is helpful too, so whenever you feel down you can quickly read some nice words. I have so so many quotes that inspire me but that's a whole other blog post! Some of my simple favs are: 'So far you've survived 100 percent of your worst days. You're doing great,' and 'when you think you're screwed, remember we're all on a big wet ball, floating in the dark.' The latter in particular helps when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and has a kind of grounding effect.
❤︎ Make a positive playlist and put it on repeat. - I have a playlist on spotify specifically for songs that make me feel positive and hopeful. Alternatively, sometimes listening to sad songs can help you feel a bit more understood, but don't fall into the trap of getting bogged down by the sad songs! To quote The Maine, 'no one gets me like the sad songs, when I'm lost and I'm all alone.'
❤︎ Tidy/clean your space. - Cleaning is always quite satisfying. When things are feeling overwhelming, a messy environment sometimes makes things seem x1000 worse. Tackle each area bit by bit if you have lots to do, and put on your comfort music, tv or film in the background to keep the monotony at bay.
❤︎ Make a to-do list and plan your week. Schedule time for getting things done, time for rest and time for everything else. If you don't have a proper diary, just make a week plan on a piece of scrap paper and keep it somewhere easily visible. Schedule time for fun things and relaxation as well as work, so you have something to look forward to, Once you've got a general schedule down, it makes life seem less overwhelming. It's okay if you don't 100% stick to it - don't give up on it, just try again.
❤︎ Make something. Do something creative. I always feel 110% more energised when I've done something creative. This could be your passion, planning a blog post, starting a piece of art, working on that thing, or finally finishing that other thing, taking a photo of something beautiful. Alternatively you could pick up a new book you've been looking forward to, or return to an old favourite for some comfort.
❤︎ Read and collect some inspirational quotes. Pinterest quotes always motivates me to get out of a slump and do something. Writing them down in your phone is helpful too, so whenever you feel down you can quickly read some nice words. I have so so many quotes that inspire me but that's a whole other blog post! Some of my simple favs are: 'So far you've survived 100 percent of your worst days. You're doing great,' and 'when you think you're screwed, remember we're all on a big wet ball, floating in the dark.' The latter in particular helps when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and has a kind of grounding effect.
❤︎ Make a positive playlist and put it on repeat. - I have a playlist on spotify specifically for songs that make me feel positive and hopeful. Alternatively, sometimes listening to sad songs can help you feel a bit more understood, but don't fall into the trap of getting bogged down by the sad songs! To quote The Maine, 'no one gets me like the sad songs, when I'm lost and I'm all alone.'
❤︎ Tidy/clean your space. - Cleaning is always quite satisfying. When things are feeling overwhelming, a messy environment sometimes makes things seem x1000 worse. Tackle each area bit by bit if you have lots to do, and put on your comfort music, tv or film in the background to keep the monotony at bay.
❤︎ Go outside. Cloud watch, gaze into the depths of the universe, just absorb the outside air. If it's winter, put on a coat and scarf and go outside, embrace the cold, even if it's just for two minutes in your garden/street. Go somewhere you love (or just really like) and embrace nature for a bit.
❤︎ Exercise/Shower/Nap. I recommend Blogilates video workouts for some simple and easy ways to get some exercise, you don't need any equipment and Cassey (aka blogilates) is so motivational and amazing! I always feel ten thousand times better after taking a shower, all clean and refreshed. Taking some time to moisturise and look after your body is always helpful as well. Naps are a bit controversial as they're sometimes hit and miss but when they're good, they're good! 30 minutes usually works for me, I set my alarm for about 45 minutes to give myself 15 minutes to fall asleep! Taking time to look after your body is hard when you feel a bit down and gross but I find starting with a shower is usually the way to go!
❤︎ Write your feelings. Find an old notebook and just write your feelings. You don't have to write everyday but if you don't want to talk to someone about your problems, or have no one to talk to, writing your feelings can really help, and even give you a new perspective.
❤︎ Write your feelings. Find an old notebook and just write your feelings. You don't have to write everyday but if you don't want to talk to someone about your problems, or have no one to talk to, writing your feelings can really help, and even give you a new perspective.
❤︎ Cry if you need to. It's okay to cry. Crying is kind of refreshing. I always feel so much better after a good cry. I like to see it as expelling my problems or whatever I'm upset about. Once you've wiped away the tears, it's like a weight has been lifted, and I force myself to stop thinking about it.
❤︎ Talk to someone. Even if it is just a simple conversation, it can really help. Ask them about the highlights of their day, talk about all the good things and the funny things.
❤︎ Talk to someone. Even if it is just a simple conversation, it can really help. Ask them about the highlights of their day, talk about all the good things and the funny things.
How do you get yourself out of a slump? I'd love to hear some of your tips!
Happy international women’s day! What better way to celebrate than an appreciation post for my favourite female music artists.
Music has always been a big part of my life, especially around the ages of 12/13 when I really started getting into music. And by getting into music, I mean becoming a fangirl, and generally listening to an artist’s entire album rather than just a few songs. I pretty much made the transition from being a casual fan to a freakin' hardcore fangirl.
But I never really listened to muisc made by women, it was all overwhelmingly created by men. I grew up listening to a lot of rock and alt music and always assumed I just preferred listening to guy’s voices, until it occurred to me that there are very very few female artists and bands in those scenes. Like ridiculously few. But whyyyyy?? Lack of exposure? A male dominated system fuelled by what seems to sell? Where are all the girls at!?!??!!!?
Coinciding with my increased social awareness, I've gradually been branching out and actively seeking female musicians and bands to listen to. Representation is super important, especially considering there are so few girls, especially in genres like pop punk (in which the audience and fans are predominantly female) succeeding in bands and making music their career.
I want to keep finding and supporting glorious girls and wonderful women in bands and music, and I hope everyone will try to do the same! Supporting women in music has become really important to me so I'm sharing my most inspirational and favourite women in music, old and new!
And just some bonus links to click!! - I really recommend this podcast with Charlotte Church, which highlights the plethora of problems women face in the music industry, and one of my fav intersectional groups dealing with sexual harassment/assult at gigs! Go check them out!
Paramore // Hayley Williams
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex are my favourite punk rock/new wave band from the late 70s. With lyrics like 'some people think little girls should be seen and not heard, but I think, OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS!' and 'do you see yourself, on the t.v. screen, do you see yourself in the magazine?' and also my personal favourite, 'I wanna be a frozen pea' They are so underrated but SO SO good oh man. A bunch of their songs are really feminist and anti-consumerist aka about two social issues I'm always talking about. My favs are Identity, Germ Free Adolescent, Warrior In Woolworth's, and Oh Bondage, Up Yours.
Bikini Kill
The ultimate riot grrrl band from the 90s. Bikini Kill are all about female empowerment. They emphasised the girls to the front mentality at punk gigs and were queer friendly and super awesome and inspiring. Rebel Girl 100% makes me feel like a badass who can do literally anything. Revolution Girl Style Now! was recently reissued and you can bet it's on my wishlist. Also 'revolution girl style now!' is always a relevant phrase. It's my favourite strand of punk rock. My favs are Rebel Girl, White Boy, and Double Dare Ya.
Le Tigre
Their self titled album is hella amazing. It combines feminism and politics with electro beats and it's very very wow and amazing. Hot Topic is pretty much just a shout out to a bunch of feminist icons and What's Yr Take On Cassavetes explores the idea of separating art from artist and it's so good, I never knew music could express these things omg. Eau D'bedroom Dancing is so magical and chill and has a really nostalgic vibe. It makes me all emotional and I can't even express how much I love this album, just listen to it all the way though - it's a masterpiece to me. Eau D'bedroom Dancing (that title though) Deceptacon, The The Empty, and Les and Ray are my ultimate favs!
Lights
Perhaps the first female music artist I fell in love with as a young teen. Her voice is super amazing. She incorporates a lot of electro beats and keyboards and her music is always magical and great. I can still remember the first time I heard February Air and my mind was kind of blown. She's a fan of video games as well and has some amazing tattoos! Fav songs include, Face Up, Lions!, Siberia and Portal.
Marina and the Diamonds
I first heard Marina and the Diamonds agessss ago with her single Hollywood but never listened to her other songs until I somehow came across the album Electra Heart and my love for Marina just snowballed. It's hard to chose favs because her albums are so different from each other and always unique. I Am Not A Robot, The Outsider, Teen Idle, and Blue if I'm forced to chose my notable favs.
Melanie Martinez
Combines amazing music, aesthetics, and lyrics. She only has one album at the moment but it's a concept album and she has this cutesy aesthetic which is simultaneously adorable and subversive. Some of her songs deal with some difficult topics as well, which is always great. She once said in an interview that she writes her songs with a visual concept or music video idea in her head and it's definitely reflected in how creative her music videos are! Favs include Pity Party, Mad Hatter and Cake.
Lorde
Oh lord, I love Lorde (sorry not sorry) Her lyrics are amazing and so quotable. Her voice is so unique and amazing. Everything about her is so refreshing. She's so young and inspirational and I love how she's not afraid to call out other artists/celebrities over twitter. My favs include, Ribs, Still Sane, Glory and Gore, The Love Club, Team, and Bravado. I'm too into Lorde to limit myself to three or four, Pure Heroine is addictive, just go listen to it and prepare to be blown away.
Halsey
When I listen to Halsey I so invincible and inspired, like I can do anything and fight the whole world. Her songs are lyrically amazing and empowering, ('don't belong to no city, don't belong to no man') and I just hella love Halsey. Also she's mixed race (and so am I) so mixed race pride! I love how candid Halsey is about her sexuality and mental health as well, it's super refreshing and they're such important topics to speak up about!! My favs include, Ghost, Color, Hurricane and Control.
Also shout outs to some individual songs by female ppl that are super feminist and/or remind me girls are amazing, girls rock, and girls can do anything; Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, Typical Girls by The Slits, Sugar Water by Cibo Matto, It's My Life by No Doubt, and Bad Girls by M.I.A.
And just some bonus links to click!! - I really recommend this podcast with Charlotte Church, which highlights the plethora of problems women face in the music industry, and one of my fav intersectional groups dealing with sexual harassment/assult at gigs! Go check them out!
Female Bands // Female Leads
Hayley Williams has been my alt inspiration since I was a young teen. Whilst the other members of the band are men, and many people are critical of only focusing on Hayley Williams, I'm okay emphasising her as a successful women in the rock industry! (in which women have historically been excluded) Musically and style wise, Hayley Williams inspires me to be my best possible self and really instilled me with the confidence to just wear whatever the heck I feel like wearing. Anklebiters and Last Hope are my go to songs, and obviously, everyone's favourite, Misery Business.
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex are my favourite punk rock/new wave band from the late 70s. With lyrics like 'some people think little girls should be seen and not heard, but I think, OH BONDAGE, UP YOURS!' and 'do you see yourself, on the t.v. screen, do you see yourself in the magazine?' and also my personal favourite, 'I wanna be a frozen pea' They are so underrated but SO SO good oh man. A bunch of their songs are really feminist and anti-consumerist aka about two social issues I'm always talking about. My favs are Identity, Germ Free Adolescent, Warrior In Woolworth's, and Oh Bondage, Up Yours.
Bikini Kill
The ultimate riot grrrl band from the 90s. Bikini Kill are all about female empowerment. They emphasised the girls to the front mentality at punk gigs and were queer friendly and super awesome and inspiring. Rebel Girl 100% makes me feel like a badass who can do literally anything. Revolution Girl Style Now! was recently reissued and you can bet it's on my wishlist. Also 'revolution girl style now!' is always a relevant phrase. It's my favourite strand of punk rock. My favs are Rebel Girl, White Boy, and Double Dare Ya.
Le Tigre
Their self titled album is hella amazing. It combines feminism and politics with electro beats and it's very very wow and amazing. Hot Topic is pretty much just a shout out to a bunch of feminist icons and What's Yr Take On Cassavetes explores the idea of separating art from artist and it's so good, I never knew music could express these things omg. Eau D'bedroom Dancing is so magical and chill and has a really nostalgic vibe. It makes me all emotional and I can't even express how much I love this album, just listen to it all the way though - it's a masterpiece to me. Eau D'bedroom Dancing (that title though) Deceptacon, The The Empty, and Les and Ray are my ultimate favs!
Female Artists
Perhaps the first female music artist I fell in love with as a young teen. Her voice is super amazing. She incorporates a lot of electro beats and keyboards and her music is always magical and great. I can still remember the first time I heard February Air and my mind was kind of blown. She's a fan of video games as well and has some amazing tattoos! Fav songs include, Face Up, Lions!, Siberia and Portal.
Marina and the Diamonds
I first heard Marina and the Diamonds agessss ago with her single Hollywood but never listened to her other songs until I somehow came across the album Electra Heart and my love for Marina just snowballed. It's hard to chose favs because her albums are so different from each other and always unique. I Am Not A Robot, The Outsider, Teen Idle, and Blue if I'm forced to chose my notable favs.
Melanie Martinez
Combines amazing music, aesthetics, and lyrics. She only has one album at the moment but it's a concept album and she has this cutesy aesthetic which is simultaneously adorable and subversive. Some of her songs deal with some difficult topics as well, which is always great. She once said in an interview that she writes her songs with a visual concept or music video idea in her head and it's definitely reflected in how creative her music videos are! Favs include Pity Party, Mad Hatter and Cake.
Lorde
Oh lord, I love Lorde (sorry not sorry) Her lyrics are amazing and so quotable. Her voice is so unique and amazing. Everything about her is so refreshing. She's so young and inspirational and I love how she's not afraid to call out other artists/celebrities over twitter. My favs include, Ribs, Still Sane, Glory and Gore, The Love Club, Team, and Bravado. I'm too into Lorde to limit myself to three or four, Pure Heroine is addictive, just go listen to it and prepare to be blown away.
Halsey
When I listen to Halsey I so invincible and inspired, like I can do anything and fight the whole world. Her songs are lyrically amazing and empowering, ('don't belong to no city, don't belong to no man') and I just hella love Halsey. Also she's mixed race (and so am I) so mixed race pride! I love how candid Halsey is about her sexuality and mental health as well, it's super refreshing and they're such important topics to speak up about!! My favs include, Ghost, Color, Hurricane and Control.
Also shout outs to some individual songs by female ppl that are super feminist and/or remind me girls are amazing, girls rock, and girls can do anything; Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, Typical Girls by The Slits, Sugar Water by Cibo Matto, It's My Life by No Doubt, and Bad Girls by M.I.A.
Who are your favourite females in the music industry? Leave some recommendations! I want to support all the girls!!
My reading started out pretty well and peaked in summer, but I practically read nothing, coincidentally, whilst I was back at University (what a surprise, am I right?) Let's face it. Reading for fun is hard when you're studying English at University. I always feel guilty when I read a book for pleasure rather than for my degree and then I can't enjoy the book because I'm feeling tired and guilty... the list goes on. 'Meh' pretty much sums up my reading experience of 2015 but here those I enjoyed the most.
This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
This book messed me up in a good way. It was so good, it gave me a mega book hangover. This book follows Elise, who discovers an underground night club which transforms her miserable life into a journey of self discovery, self acceptance, friendship, DJing and a lot of music. All things I'm really passionate about. It has amazing character development, music in its spine and is all round a really great read, especially if you're a fan of music and character development. (I know I am) I even wrote a raving review so go check that out if you want my in-depth thoughts!Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch
Technically this is a comic, but man do I love this series. I reviewed both the first and second volumes of Rat Queens and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them. The art style is great, the story focuses on questing women of varying colours, shapes, personalities and sexualities (yay for diversity!) Definitely check this series out if you want a great woman led comic series to delve into!
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Sometimes I'm a bit hesitant on reading books dealing with mental health but Kinsella did a pretty good job with this one. This book follows the protagonist, Audrey, as she deals with her social anxiety which is pretty severe to the extent that she wears sunglasses indoors and finds it hard to leave her house. Whilst I found the romance a little cheesy and rushed, I really liked the depiction of social anxiety, it was honest and accurate and didn't fall into the catastrophic 'boy saves girl from mental illness' trope.Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion
I found the premise of this book a bit creepy and off-putting, but turned out to be a pleasant surprise. A zombie falling in love seems a bit odd but this was a great alternative to the conventional zombie plot line. I'm such a sucker for zombies and I love finding books which offer a really unique and original spin on the conventional zombie plot line! ALSO THERE IS A SEQUEL COMING SOON!?The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
This one was intriguing and had some magical realism, some mystery, some odd plot lines, and some difficult topics. Even though I read this right at the beginning of 2015, I remember being so intrigued and confused when finishing this book and it definitely left an impact on me.
After writing this post, I feel really motivated to read plenty more amazing books this year!
Have you guys read any of these? What did you think!? What were your favourite books of 2015!? This post is kind of late and maybe a little irrelevant but I'm sharing it anyway!
Have you guys read any of these? What did you think!? What were your favourite books of 2015!? This post is kind of late and maybe a little irrelevant but I'm sharing it anyway!
It's an episodic game, following student, Max Caulfield as she navigates her life after acquiring the ability to rewind time. The decisions you make in the game impact the past, present and future and have different consequences which is always hella fun!
Just some reasons I love this game:
- It's beautifully written and the story involves time travel, a mysterious tornado and uncovering the secrets behind the disappearance of a fellow student. Also reconnecting with a friend and being all teenage and nostalgic.
- It made me feel all the feels.
- It has an amazing soundtrack, so nostalgic and cute.
- Has a female lead.
- The story is very character driven and has a female friendship at the forefront.
- ALL THE FEELS
- Shout out to the characters Warren and Kate, for being cute lil' cinnamon buns.
- The character and complex and amazing.
- The graphics have a hand drawn aesthetic and are very beautiful.
- Time travel woo!
- IT MADE ME CRY FOR AN HOUR
- Has tempted me to invest in a polaroid camera
- And make a polaroid wall (as pictured above)
- I just love this game and a limited edition (including the soundtrack and exclusive art book) has just been released!
Has anyone else played Life Is Strange? If you haven't definitely give it a go!!
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