How to unwind during the Christmas holidays

Happy Saturday everyone! Now that it's officially the Christmas holidays, it's also that time of year where I try to do my upmost to just chill out, unwind & focus on the being in the present moment. Especially where the Christmas period is all about spending time with the people you love.

As the above title states, I will be sharing some useful tips on how to unwind during the Christmas holidays, as this is an important time of year to take care of your mind & wellbeing, so you will be able to reset for the new year.

These tips are what personally helps me to unwind during the festive period, so my mind & wellbeing feel refreshed for the next year ahead. For anyone reading who find it difficult to unwind during the festive period, do at least a few of these tips to help you, as you too can feel refreshed & ready to tackle the next year ahead!

Go out for a walk once a day: 

I know I have droned on about this in my past blogs a lot of times a few years back, but walking is genially good for your physical & mental health combined. There is proven evidence that states that you must try to go out on a 30min walk everyday where & when possible, as 30mins will be enough time to get your happy endorphins up to a satisfactory level. I personally like to be out walking for a WHOLE DAY, as this gives me enough time to clear my mind of negative thoughts, as well as numb my mind from all of the negativity. Here are some useful resources: https://www.verywellhealth.com/walking-30-minutes-a-day-8748945 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/walking-for-health/ 

Make some festive treats:

What better way to contribute to the festive cheer then to make festive treats! I love baking in my down time whenever I get the chance. I especially love baking cakes! It's a good way to occupy your time if you have some free time for a few hours during the daytime. Plus, there's no better rewarding feeling than eating your own treats afterwards!

Have regular communication with friends & family:

Many people will be stuck at home during the festive period, so this would definitely be a good & convenient time to keep in touch regularly with those you care about. Especially if they're working throughout the Christmas break, or if they're finding it hard to cope due to Christmas being their least favourite time of year.

Do something that you enjoy doing:

If you suddenly end up feeling bored, and have no idea what to do with yourself, just do something that that makes you happy. If you happen to have a continuous hobby, go for it for as long as you want to, as utilising your hobbies will help distract your mind from being stuck in the hellish trap, known as "boredom".

Enjoy the present moment:

During this time of year, it is important that you take each day as it comes, and to just simply enjoy the present moment. After all, it is important that you reflect on how you have intended on spending the Christmas break, as it only comes around once a year, and there's personally no better feeling than enjoying every moment on the fantastic things you are doing during the festive period. Especially getting to reflect on how fantastic it went after New Year!

As mentioned before, these are the tips that I personally find helpful on how to cope during the Christmas holidays, and hopefully it'll inspire you to do the same too.

I know that Christmas may not be everyone's favourite time of year, but how YOU choose to spend it by doing the things that YOU love doing, will make all the difference.

With that said, I'd like to take this moment to wish everyone reading this a Happy Christmas, and a Happy New Year, as I won't be back blogging on here until early next year.

If I had to sum up 2025 in just 1 word, it'll definitely be - Monumental.

I say this, as I've done SO many things all within a short space of 12 months. It feels more monumental even just thinking that I've done & achieved so many things within a short space of 12 months too. 

Whilst there may have been some downers in between (Especially over the past 3 months), it still doesn't undermine the fact that 2025 was a year full of successes!

Now, if y'all excuse me, I'm off to enjoy the remainder of this "monumental" year by doing what I enjoy doing, and allowing my mind to reset for the next year ahead. 

Over & out!🤚🏻

*I began this post on the 20/12, but didn't finish it until the 21/12*

What does the word 'Reflect' mean to you?

Hello all, and I hope you're all having a great 2024 so far! I know I'm 2 days late here with this post, but if I'm being honest, I really couldn't be bothered to post on NYE.

Anyway, as the above rhetorical-questioned title states, I am curious to know what reflecting means to you. Does it consist of reflecting on yourself? Last year? (2023) Or even a few or more years back? Whatever your thoughts are, do feel free to type them in the comments. I personally, will be using this post to reflect on how 2023 has been for me. Although I'm not one of those people who tends to have a priciest opinion on how each year has been for me, I can definitely say, without a doubt & as a fact, that 2023 has been my best year so far. And I'll tell you for why...

What does reflection mean to me? If I was to choose how to best answer this rhetorical question, I would say looking back over the past 4 years on how far I've progressed with myself, compared to where I am now to this day. If I was to think deep about it, my mind just feels like it wants to explode with disbelief. It's also if my mind still cannot actually believe how long my self progression has been!

Let's go back to late 2019, where I had manifested my interest & passion for psychology. A.K.A, pre Psychology Intake times. (And of course, COVID-19😂) The most I was doing, in terms of anything psychology related, was looking up psychology quotes on the internet. I was pretty much doing the same for the 1st 5 months of 2020. A short while after that, I random began looking up the psychology behind some old children's TV shows I used to watch when I was in my single digits, as well as actually watching them on YouTube myself. (I think I can be excused for doing this, being that I wasn't allowed to do much back then😂)

In December 2020, I suddenly had the idea of starting my own blogging site, where I can distribute my knowledge, as well develop more knowledge on psychology. Most of which had consisted of the psychology behind something to shape it how it is. I was fully active on here back then as well. In terms of my education, I was doing a course in Outdoor Activities at college, where I got to undertake a lot of sport & fitness. As I got to learn a lot about mental health in sport & fitness, I was able to do a couple of posts about something on the lines of the the psychology behind keeping yourself active. (I know I wasn't being accurate here, as I've not looked back on my previous posts lately)

Moving onto September 2021, where I got accepted onto a 2 year Public Services course at college. This has been, without a doubt, the most stressful 2 years of my life, but I can happily wholeheartedly say that it was worth it! Not just in terms of getting closer into my dream career, but also there was a huge amount of psychology on that course I had found interesting. An example of this was to learn & understand about conformity.

In March 2022, I undertook the 310,000 steps in March Challenge for Samaritans. This challenge had taught me that I can achieve absolutely ANYTHING at all, if I can put my mind to it. This was also where my walking had turned into a regular hobby by going out as much as possible in my spare time. During that year, I was a wee bit less frequent with my blogging on here, but I was fairly active. My mind was rightly cautious to stay focused on my 1st year of my Public Services course.

In January of last year, where I applied for, and began working at a local MIND shop. I knew I needed to boost my people skills & employment. My 3 month absence period on here (forcely) occurred a month later, as my mind was sensible enough to put my coursework first due to it being the most important get done, or else I'd fail the 2 years of hard work & effort on that course.

In April & May of last year, I attended 2 major sporting events up in London, ad I had signed up to be a Samaritans Events Volunteer. This had also helped my to build up my people skills by doing thing out in the community. (I'm hoping to do some more voluntary work with them this year)

Also in April last year, I began my part-time job with Disability Challengers, where I got to put my psychology skills to good use by working with children & young people with different behaviours. I'll tell you what, after 8 months of working with them, I feel like a different person. (I'll save that for a separate post)

In terms of my blogging site for the remainder of 2023, I had spoken out about the work that MIND do, and shared it with LinkedIn, so I was able to gain more recognition of what I do on my blogging site. In fact, I did the same for some of my other posts that raise awareness about importance topics, such as ADHD. (I intend to do much more of that in the future)

Finally, in November of last year, I became a member of the Surrey Youth Commission, which is where I meet with a group of other people in my county area to discuss how crime is impact ing people in communities. Again, another "putting my psychology skills into good use" & a another step closer to my dream career industry opportunity there.

And that was how 2023 had earned its title "best year ever so far." Now here I am in this day & age, looking to make 2024 a bigger & better year for me... Although I wouldn't want to jinx it though, as my mind has the important job of opportunity hunting. And that itself, is no easy task.

I just want to say, if anyone has survived reading down to this point of the post, thank you so much!

*I began this post on the 2/1/2024, but didn't finish it until the 5/1/2024*

What to expect from this blog throughout the new year, as well as the future

Hello everyone! First thing's first, I hope you've all had a great start to 2023! Regardless of whatever that may be. As for me, I am now currently in the exciting process of looking for bigger & better things for myself. 

What I mean by this is I am throwing myself into psychology communities, which will help me to give me more confidence with connecting with other people in those communities that share the same passion as me. As a bonus, seeing what people post on these psychology communities will help to give me inspiration about what posts I should do, as well as sharing my blogging content with them. In other words, some of the future-coming posts on here might not be hand created by me. Meaning I will be sharing other people's psychology content on here too.

Speaking of my blogging content, I am fully aware that last year hasn't exactly been the best year in terms of me keeping up with publishing on here, (see "Into each life, some rain must fall"  to see why) which is why I want to spend this year fully committing myself to keeping my blog active.

Finally, if anyone (including myself) was to look back at my posts in 2021, you will notice right away that almost all of them I did back then had a rhetorical question as their titles. When I think about it, in a way, it's like I was trying to make my topics sound philosophical. This was mainly because I wanted to be able to answer what people tend to ask about. Call me a guesser, but I'll hold my hand up by saying that I'm really no philosophy expert. But at the same time, however, I would like to develop a better knowledge on what philosophy is all about. Just to be basic here, if there is anyone reading who is unfamiliar with the term philosophy, it revolves around thinking. Yes, I do mean actually thinking in general. This is another something I want to add more of onto my blogging content. 

So there we go. Apologies for repeating myself yet again, but I honestly feel good about 2023 being my year of success! Even as I sit here on my bed just thinking about it, I sense the feeling of optimism running through my mind like it's constantly reminding me. 

Oh, earlier in the week, I came across something interesting on Psychology Today that caught my eye, and I thought about distributing what I saw onto my blog. I aim to get myself working on the research, as well as to have it published on here by this Sunday - 8/1/2023 the latest.

Stay tuned!