Tag: self esteem

4 min read

Health Wellness Zoe

Zoe’s Self Care Routine

Zoe

November 30, 2020 4:57 pm November 30, 2020

4 min read

2520 views

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4 min read

This year, 2020 has been a very mentally challenging time – the pandemic. With the new year right around the corner, I made a pledge to myself to get in…

This year, 2020 has been a very mentally challenging time – the pandemic. With the new year right around the corner, I made a pledge to myself to get in the best mindset for a fresh new start. We all deserve it. That is why i’m going to share my simple self care tips with you.

I’ll start off with what gets me stressed. I am one of those people that gets overwhelmed easily. I struggle with having a million jobs to do and nothing getting done or, if I do get things done, I will beat myself up feeling guilty for not having quality time with my children.

During lockdown, I was forced to face myself. Spending so much time on my own gave me the opportunity to improve my day to day life and lift up my mood.

Bubble Bath

Pour it all in! Turn the lights off. Phone away and eyes closed. oh it is just so relaxing…until Mole runs in. It occurred to me that there is little time in the day I am by myself. My boyfriend works from home and I have Mole and Frankie glued to my hip. A hot bubble bath allows you “me” time.

Painting

My Grandad use to paint landscapes and it has always fascinated me. The detail, patience and talent involved to make the picture look realistic is truly a work of art in itself. The best part is you do not have to be good at it to enjoy it. Just make patterns on paper. I aim to paint once a week. It is surprising how quickly your mind can become lost in paint and any worries or stresses disappear.

Learning

Expanding my knowledge is very important for my mental health. I like to still feel I can hold a conversation in interesting topics and have enough understanding to form an opinion.

I enrolled on an online course that studies Bitcoin and the Fintech movement. There are so many free online courses to choose from. You can give an hour a week over a number of weeks and trust me, when I tell you how amazing you will feel afterwards.

Seeing how much learning a new topic was making me feel content, I decided to download an app to my phone that pops up with new vocabulary every couple of hours. It is the simplest thing but I feel so good for learning something new.

Create a folder of your best memories on your phone

When times get tough and I start to miss my family and friends, I go through a folder I created on my phone full of happy times. It puts me in a positive mood and makes me look forward to the times ahead.

Lift Heavy

No matter how tired or drained I feel, getting in a workout is vital for my mental health. Any stresses or anger are taken out. You have to move your body. Spend at least 20 minutes working out. I can promise you, your head will feel clear afterwards and you will have a better nights sleep.

Do something for someone else

Feeling good about yourself doesn’t mean you only have to do things for yourself. I started putting time out of my day to help others.

Donating toys, clothes or money can make a difference to someone else.

Whilst I had nothing physical to give, I began creating free revision tools for Computer Science students to download. The feeling is amazing reading the feedback.

Pamper

Hair mask, face mask, manicure and self tan make me feel fresh. I love dedicating a full evening to take care of my body. There is just something about the next day when you wake up with soft glowing skin and polished nails. If you are ever feeling a little bit rubbish, take the effort to look after yourself. I can guarantee you will wake up with a spring in your step.

Let me know your favourite self care tip in the comments below!

Look after yourselves, speak soon,

Zoe

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3 min read

Wellness

Should you tell your daughter she is pretty?

Zoe

July 22, 2019 12:44 pm July 22, 2019

3 min read

1533 views

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3 min read

When the question “should you tell your daughter she is pretty?” first reached my ears, I was really confused. I started to question myself if I was doing the right…

When the question “should you tell your daughter she is pretty?” first reached my ears, I was really confused. I started to question myself if I was doing the right thing as a parent and began learning to understand the reason why so many parents of daughters today are avoiding calling their daughter pretty.

Mole is incredibly cheeky, she loves to dance and waves her arms to the music. Her favourite thing to do is to shout out different animal names or the noises they make when she sees them on TV or in her books. In my mind, Mole is the most beautiful person I have ever seen. My heart is incredibly full for her. But, I have decided that I am going to make a conscious effort to stop telling her she is pretty.

Here is why:

Every single morning, when Mole was dressed, the first thing I would do is give her a big hug and tell her how pretty or beautiful she looked. Once I realised I was doing this without thought, I caught myself saying it through out the day too. The more we talk about a topic to our children, they begin to understand that this topic is important. It could be anything from manners to sharing. Basically, I don’t want the topic of physical appearance to be something that Mole understands as important or more important that any of her other qualities she has.

Living up to expectations

Always making a point to someone that they are pretty or clever will give them the mentality on what they have to live up to. They can get stuck in a comfort zone and waste time and energy worrying about this. When instead, they could be spending their time and energy into being more knowledgable and opening themselves up to a full range of experiences.

What I do to boost my daughters self esteem:

I focus on praising her process rather than the outcome. I will praise her for her hard work and time and effort she has spent on something. This may even be when she is older and has spent time on her hair. Commenting on that rather than just saying “You look pretty.”
I Tell her how much she matters to me. Showing and telling her how important she is to me and how much she is on my mind will make her feel amazing and loved.
I will look at her other qualities. Make them stand out whilst also using words like “pretty” and “beautiful” so she can gain a wider understanding of how beautiful and pretty doesn’t just have to be based of physical appearance. E.G. “Mole you are beautiful for being such a good friend and sharing your toy.”
Asking her lot’s of questions. Not only does asking your little one lot’s of questions help to boost their memory and language skills. but, asking questions really shows that you have an interest in their life. I love to ask Mole questions on where her favourite toy is or which animal am I pointing at.

So focus on your values and how you can get them across to your children. Becoming aware of your words will help you to stop focusing on how looks are more important than how your child behaves or thinks. Even when it is unintentional.

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