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*

Happy 3rd Birthday to PsychologyIntake!

Yes, as the title states, I will be taking a brief moment to celebrate 3rs of my blogging site!🎉 I know 3yrs may seem like a short amount of time as the days & months go by, but to me, it feels like it has been an eternity! (Even though it hasn't😂)

Throughout my time as a blogger, (so far) I have:

• Talked about the psychology behind certain things, such as social media influencing
• Talked about how sport & psychology go well together
• Showed pictures of things to talk about my personal perspective behind them
• Spoken up about mental health & its effects 
• Shared my research on neurological disorders, such as ASD
• Liaised my work with LinkedIn 
• Shared my research from other sites, such as Psychology Today 
• Talked about why exercising is good for your mental health (Hence the 310,000 steps challenge in aid of Samaritans)
• Spoken up about the benefits of volunteering (Hence my part-time voluntary vacancies with MIND & Samaritans)
• Shared some personal insight about what I do in my part-time paid vacancy with Disability Challengers (As there is a lot of psychology involved in the job)
• Explored the meanings of quotes to understand the psychology behind them
• Done several research projects

Just to bare in mind, that I listed what I've done so far in no particular order. Mainly because I haven't look back on most of my past blog posts since publishing them, and have therefore had to rely on my muscle memory alone.

Anyway, here's to making loads more creative posts!

It's all about the focus

Before you all ask yourself by looking at the title, this is NOT a chosen quote I have picked from the internet for a QOTD, this is just a post that I have decided to do (with the chosen post title) as I made some choices that I wasn't proud of at the beginning of this week, as well as what I nearly ended up doing because of how I was feeling. This was what had inspired me to make this post.

My outcome for this post, is to make everyone reading not feel alone if they are going through something similar, or need some encouragement to keep focusing on achieving what they want to do in life regardless of how long & time consuming it is taking them. What I am about to tell you is not exception.

For the past 4 years, I have been dreaming of a career in the policing. Around the same time, I began developing my passion for psychology, and wish to do something in that industry as well. And because they both combine well together, I chose to do Public Services at college due to there being a ton of psychology involved in that industry. 

That journey to get to where I currently am now had started at doing a L1 Sport & Public Services course, where I got to learn more about what policing is actually like, rather than the stereotypical catching criminals, as well as learn about the basic fitness elements. During the COVID-19 lockdown, all I was doing until I had finished for that summer break was creating online posters on Word promoting sport activities. I thought I wouldn't be able to get through it during that lockdown, but I just got on with it like my future ambition depended on it. I even signed up to the OpenUniversity to get a few psychology related qualifications under my belt as well, just to get me prepared for my future. (Which was going to uni back then)

I then made an easy progression onto the L2 course doing the same thing, but it was more to do with sport & fitness. By that time, I felt confident enough to create my own blogging website to share my then & now knowledge of psychology to an audience. Especially during the 3rd COVID-19 lockdown, where I couldn't do anything else besides coursework for 3 months. I was mainly doing a lot of coursework & practical sport & fitness that relate to mental health, which I really enjoyed learning about, as well as doing. Let me tell you, doing what I did during that 3rd lockdown felt like the hardest thing I had to go through, let alone embrace, but I knew it was important that I get through it, because of I didn't, I wouldn't be able to progress onto doing L3 Public Services.

When I did get onto my 1st year of L3 Public Services, I felt like I've already accomplished a major achievement, just by simply being on the course itself. However, I never expected the FULL-ON assignment workload which layed ahead of me during my excitementfor the first 2 months. I remember feeling the struggle of the workload around halfway through the academic year due to falling behind with my assignments. Luckily, I managed to knuckle down in my free time, so it prevented me from making that mistake again. Before long, summer had hit, and I was able to relax with a sense of relief,  knowing that I have already done well enough to progress onto the 2nd year. In that time, I suddenly wanted a career in the Royal Navy. (After finishing uni)

Because I did the 1st year, I was able to do the 2nd year of my L3 Public Services course. Again, this felt like I've already accomplished a major achievement for just progressing onto the 2nd year. I made sure to get onto doing course right away, so it gave me plenty of time work through them calmly without feeling any pressure to rush them. However, that all changed at the beginning of January, where I had new assignments come out every 2 weeks. From then up until May, I was literally neck deep in coursework that I had no choice but to take a hiatus for 3 months. I also made the decision to not go to uni in that time frame too. Although I still thought it was worth going to 2 open events back in December just to see what uni life would be like.

Overall, I would say that I have experienced some high stress levels throughout my whole L3 course in Public Services. This was because I felt like my whole future depended on getting a decent grade at the end of it, or else I would be screwed.

Back in March, I was reccomended by my tutor that I take the SC route into policing, instead of doing the uni route, so I didn't have to stress over UCAS points, which worked out for me. Also around that time, I was employed by Disability Challengers as a part-time play/youth worker. (A job I'm very proud to have for reasons that shall be explained in another post) Back then was because I was still in the mind of going to uni, and thought this job would pay off my student loan.

Fast forward onto this month, I am not working in the Police Force just yet. This is because I feel like I should just settle down after everything that has happened from January - June. Especially with my job at Disability Challengers, as I want to put my focus on that more during the time being as well. 

*This was where my poor choice occurred*

I was reccomended to do extra credit at college by doing a L2 Health & Social Care course. Because I have done a L3 course, I feel like it's pointless doing a L2 course afterwards, so I wanted to drop out of education by looking for full-time work that would work round my Disability Challengers job. This led me to bunking off college in order to attend job interviews. Even then, I thought I was getting somewhere, but after lengthy conversations with a few people, I realised my choice was getting me nowhere, but trouble.

This was also where common sense hit me by saying that the more time I spend in education, the more qualifications I will have. Plus, the more qualifications, the more likely I will get into my dream career. I then vowed to myself that from next week onwards, will be clean slate. To make this happen, I must embrace my situation by just keeping my head down, and getting on with everything without backtracking my focus.

That pretty much concludes my long arse journey progression talk. I hope this has given you all courage to be more open about your journey progression as well.

Remember, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE FOCUS!

Onwards & upwards.✊🏻

24 months of this blog...

Having realised what today is, (as the title states) I wanted to talk about the soul purpose of the reason why I had decided to create this blog. But also, to compare what this blog is looking like now in contrast to where it all began out 2yrs ago.

*I tried to make the picture above for this blog post as artistic as possible. I had to use my phone to do it all from scratch*

When it had first started: When I had first created this blog, (12/12/2020) I thought about using it to showcase my initiative. And my initiative happens to be posting content on all things psychology. I remember when I got my blog up and running, I became so motivated to making as many publishes as possible by only wanting to do professional content.

What I mean by professional content, is that I would always post random topics consisting of psychological factors that would play a part of those topics. I even used to title all of them with the rhetorical question method, so it made the blog posts I used to do back then look professional to what you see on a entrepreneur style blog. If you was to look back on these posts I did back then, you would see I had spent at least 7 months doing these posts using the rhetorical question method for my title.

How is it going now: I would say for the very least that my motivation for publishing psychological content has taken a big knock. Not in a negative way, but more or less in a way that I need to slow down a bit. Reason being, as I had discovered that if I was to post professional psychological content on here, I would need spend a lot of productive time doing research on a particular topic in order to get all the right information. For example, see: Let's talk about #ADHD This post took me a week to complete, because I wanted to ensure I had all the right & relevant information to make this a professional factual post. I didn't want to just ramble on without any evidence.

Something else I have been using my blog for a lot in recent months is to openly talk about how I have been feeling. Since this is a blog after all, I feel it's also a good idea to talk about my feelings on here. I do follow a blogger who does this all the time. Hence, my inspiration to do the same. (I'll save that discussion for another post) With all that said, I don't just want my blog to be all about professional psychological content. I've realised that it's just as important to talk about myself as well by raising important awareness, such as #MentalHealth.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Since my mindset is now in a good enough place to be working back on here again, I thought about posting some more professional content on here by talking about something which I have learned at college last year. (The title says it all)

Who is the creator?

Abraham Maslow is an American Psychologist whom is famously known for his self-created theory of Hierarchy of Needs. 

What does the Hierarchy of Needs theory mean and why?

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a triangle which consists of 5 individual needs. The bottom being the most essential to the top being optional. It is formatted in the way that is is because the needs at the bottom half of the triangle have to be met before any of the other needs.

*The above picture shows the Hierarchy of Needs triangle containing its 5 needs*

Physiological needs: 

As what is mentioned beneath, these are the most essential needs that have to be met before all the other ones above on the triangle. This is because these are the needs which will keep you alive and breathing by managing to provide basic survival needs.

Safety needs: 

Along with the topmost set of needs, safety needs are the second range of needs which centres around prioritising things that help to maintain your safety. It is important to be able to prioritise your safety, so it keeps yourself secure when out & about doing stuff in the world. All of these mentioned factors play a vital role in preventing yourself from insecure harm.

Love & belonging: 

By the time you've met the satisfactory level of both the most vital bottom needs on the triangle, your mind can start to adapt to working on what your love & belonging is. Of course, family being the most obvious, but you could also utilise this need to think about who else you wish to fit into your relationship circle to help you feel connected with other people. 

Esteem:

Now that you've come up this far on the triangle by working on building up the most essential needs, your mind can start to concentrate on building up a reflection of how you want yourself to be. The purpose of esteem being second top is that it gives you the chance to identify your own strengths & weakness, as well as making room by using them to unlock success.

Self-actualisation:

At the summit of the triangle is where you have met every satisfaction of the 5 needs, so you can go out and be the best person you could possibly be by putting the accomplished needs to perfect use for when you get to use them in the world. Don't forget to also put this need to its best use for when you believe you could achieve absolutely anything as humanly possible. 

Conclusion:

If we are talking about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs in terms of psychology here, it would be defined as prioritising the most essential needs around you to help you survive day in day out to being able to go forth and achieve the best in yourself. In a way, we could otherwise say that you must always start from the beginning to work your way upwards to getting to the top of somewhere, whatever it may be with where you are going in life. There is no skipping this whole process, as it HAS to be done by taking small steps at a time.

For anyone who is interested to learn more about what I've been discussing, click on this link: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html 

How I like to vision clean slate

Thank god this week is nearly over... Not going to lie here, I've really not had the best of weeks. Variations from the crap weather, ongoing personal life stuff and of course... Her Majesties tragic passing.

However, as it's now the weekend, this is where I plan out my clean slate prior going into the new week ahead. Hence, I thought about using this post to talk with everyone about how I like to vision my clean slate. A little moreover on that, I like to to this phrase to make me feel better after any bad week I've had.

Lauren's recipe for a clean slate in 3 simple steps: 

Step 1) Review the week you've had in full, regardless of how good or bad it had been. 

Step 2) After your review, make a summery of all the things that didn't work out for you and use them to make improvements on. 

Step 3) By the time you've made your following week improvement plan, (otherwise known as clean slate) you can start to look into the following week with a smiley gratitude and say: "Next week is going to be better for me".

My overall outcome for this post is to inspire everyone about how they vision their meaning of clean slate, as well as how they intend to improve on themselves. Whatever your thoughts, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

Here's to a better next week.🙂

Quote of the day... (Explained)

This has now been my 3rd recent post in about almost a month of absence... Yes, I did have a reason('s) why. Rather than waste this post rambling on about them, as could end up boring people. I am just going to cut to the chase by saying that I have been taking the lengthy time out to focus on myself. This is because I have, and will probably still have some very important decisions to make in my life going forward. I know for sure that it won't be an easy journey, but me being the determined & dedicated human being that I am, I'll find a way to keep pushing through without giving up.

Back onto the post. The chosen quote I have picked out for you all is called: "Mental Health... is not a destination, but a process. It's about how you drive, not where you're going." - Noam Shpancer, PHD.

Why this quote? Like I said before, I now have some important life choices to make which will require me, as well as my mindset to just focus on driving towards that route of my life journey. This comes with all the best intentions of me wanting to psychically & mentally drive myself down that road, so it helps me to keep within that pace of keeping myself in check that I am actually going down the right road towards my destination.

It's important to keep in mind that's it's not all about just simply getting to my destination in life, because it matters more of how I intend to control my own car (if you like) that will only teach me I must embrace the upcoming challenges stood in my chosen path, so they can be used as learning curbs which will all be part of me gradually becoming more successful in which way I tackle them.

1 Year ago today... I created this blog!

Balloons, streamers and fireworks all round for this post!🎈🎉🎇

As today, marks the 1st anniversary of this blog!

Exclamation mark moments aside, I wouldn't be as motivated as I am today if I hadn't taken up the interest and passion to blog. Here's the timely reminder why...

Once upon a time, unknowingly aware that there was a 3rd national lockdown on the horizon, I was feeling so damn bored with myself, my mind had simply had enough of not being able to find any motivation.

That was the very moment I had decided to use my hidden initiative (at that time) and CREATE MY MOTIVATION. Hence, Psychology Intake was born.

Not only did I want to use my initiative to constantly feed my motivation by taking up blogging, I've also developed a strong passion for sharing my interest knowledge to an audience, as I one day hope to become an inspiration on how understanding psychology can shape the world, let alone people.

As of now, I know that I've still got a LONG way to go on my journey until I reach that goal in my life. But I will never quit trying. I will continue to look for more ways to become a worldwide game changer. Basically, change the world.

What a milestone to celebrate. 

I must take this moment to also thank my viewers (1,769) and those of whom who have given me constant support (you know you are if you have) for constantly driving me to keep going with my blog.😊💜 

Here's to more progress!✊

What goes through your mind when you've achieved something?

Hello all, I hope you've all had a good weekend and enjoyed watching the last of The Olympics. I'd say 4th place was decent for us to finish in, considering the competitiveness of the top 3 countries above us.

Anyway, this will be yet another related post to The Olympics, only this time, I'll be talking about what feelings, thoughts and emotions go through your mind when you've achieved something, as this is a BIG achievement when you think that it's just ordinary people (meaning you and me) doing extraordinary things!

When you finally achieve your very first gold medal after 8 years of waiting, you will first feel your heart jump out from your body, due to the shock that has just entered your mind which says: "OMG! I can't believe I've finally done it!"

You then become speechless, as your mind is still processing all kinds of happy emotions, which causes it to become increasingly overwhelmed with everything around you.

When it eventually settles enough by taking all of the emotions and the achievement in, your mind will keep saying to you: "I am so happy that I've managed to do that. This is something I will never forget, by always keeping it as a memory." Therefore, you still feel excited after what has just happened to you, so you feel the need to announce it to your friends and family, as your mind is telling you that it could do with more praise from other people, to help keep the proudness flowing inside of you.

Not only does it make you feel like that, the achievement can make your connecting people feel just as proud as you are, as they have your full support in everything. Believe me, it feels just as good to applaud people, when THEY are the ones who have achieved something.

This is what is known as using "Reverse psychology" because you share you intend to share your achievement news to your connecting people, so THEY can feel proud of you, in order to make YOU feel proud about yourself in that way.

With that achievement completed, your mind then says to you: "I'm glad that I've finally done that, but do you know what? I reckon that I can go one step better than last time!" This very mind statement will help engage your confident emotion to chase down and succeed that next step. My advice would be to keep repeating it over and over to ensure your mind to stick to it. (Meaning, keeping focused)

That concludes my post for today. 

Thank you for reading through. Please do feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person and enjoy the rest of your week! 

What is beneficial about "Looking forwards in life"?

I'm back!😁 

Yes, I purposely took a long and fore filling break, because A: I've been on holiday recently. B: I've been having trouble with what to talk about. This is why taking this lengthily break helped me to cook up new ideas for some upcoming posts...

In this case, this one is related to our defeat against the Italians 2 Sundays ago. I will admit, when we lost, I felt the tears running around in my head and they were screaming to be let out by me, as I was so whelmed up by everything that's happened during the whole game. In the end, I realized that it was only best to reflect on the team's journey during this tournament and looking forward in life. (Explanation coming up)

 

Fun fact: This is a popular quote which can be explained in many different ways!

What does this quote mean?

It means, that you acknowledge something great is eventually going to happen to you in life, but in order to achieve that greatness, you HAVE to keep looking forwards at your future and not think too much about what happened in your past, as you cannot change it.

What is beneficial about this quote and why?

If you keep reading this quote over and over again, your mind will eventually become so hyper focused on working on your plans and goals for your future.

Don't get me wrong, it is always a good thing to reflect on your life journey, as well as your past achievements, (if necessary) to help give your mindset some ideas on how to succeed for next time and do better than ever.

Furthermore, never forget about all of the obstacles you had to face and what you had to do to progress through them, as they will always be a useful reminder of your mindset tactics in favour of your success. 

What are the best examples to use and why?

One of them being what I was talking about previously. The England V Italy game. I can sense the players' heartbreak and frustration on how they succeeded in every game right up until the final, when the players got tired and were struggling to keep up. 

During their loss at the end of the game, they had the whole night to pause and reflect on their journey and how they can improve for next time. As this reflecting moment was showing on live TV, I can imagine the teary reaction of everyone else watching, as they can feel the players' emotions when THEY show them after their team lost. It was so powerful.

This is where they start talking on their social media platforms, that they were extremely proud of their tournament journey, their teammates and their support. In which, will help encourage them to look forwards to their next journey in life.

That's all for this post.

Thank you for taking your time to read through. Please feel free to let me know what your thoughts are in the comments or in person. Have a good evening!

   

"NO EXCUSES" - Best Motivational Video By Ben Lionel Scott

Hey all, I hope you're all having a good weekend. Today, I'm feeling very generous about sharing my recent watched motivational video with you all.😊

*TOP TIP: When you watch the video, pay very close attention to the narration of how everything is being said, as this helps to capture the audience's attention and imagination*

So, sit back, get those eyes at the ready and enjoy!

Also, check out: @BENLIONELSCOTT on Instagram for more of his inspiring content!

"You VS You"

Hey all, I was indenting to make a post earlier in the week, however, I've been keeping myself occupied with yet more coursework. In addition, my 1st Maths exam is only around the corner now!

Fortunately, I now have some time for myself at the moment, which means that I can fit in a blog post today.😉 

You're probably thinking to yourself: "What does this expression mean?" it means that you keep on saying or doing negative things to yourself to make you feel bad if you were to make a mistake, when really, YOU try to battle it, by taking your mind off it all and working on making progress to make YOU feel better again. Does that make sense?

Example 1:

You are currently enjoying your session at the gym, when all of a sudden... you make a mistake where you thought you didn't push yourself hard enough to be able to achieve your working out goal. (Whatever that could be)

At around this point, that is when these negative thoughts enter your mind and keep on saying to your inner self: 

"Do you know what, I really don't think I can do this, it is too hard for me" 

"I keep messing up all of the time, because I keep on repeating these silly mistakes" 

"If I cannot achieve this goal, then I don't think I'll be able to succeed in life"

This is where your better YOU enters you mind, by continuously looking for every single way to overcome your thoughts, in order to redeem your working out progression, so that you're able to maintain your focus and keep moving forward.

To do this, you need to stop right where you went wrong and have some time to think. I know this is not an easy task to do at this exact moment, as you're currently in no mood to think about anything. A top tip would be to think about how you have achieved your previous working out goals, then by using this strategy to do the one you are working on step-by-step. This way, you'll be able to achieve every little step, as it they allow you to repeat them over and over again if you don't succeed first time.

(Doing revision would be the exact same example given related to this one, as I still struggle with doing it now)

Example 2:

You are someone who has done some terrible things in the past, all because you were suffering from mental health difficulties. By now, you are a completely changed person, however, you sometimes experience these breakdowns of constantly feeling guilty, as these past times re-enter your mind to haunt you.

How can you help your better YOU to feel right again? It may sound simple, but again, not easy! Remember, when you suddenly begin to feel at your lowest, you will be in no mood to think about anything good. 

Talk to a friend/family member, counsellor or alternatively an anonymous help hotline number (if that makes you feel more comfortable) about these constant guilt thoughts, as you're helping yourself to battle your bad self, as well as inhaling all of that encouraging and positive advice to allow you look for further opportunities to improve on yourself.

That's all for today. Thank you for reading through and please feel free to comment or let me know about a similar experience you may have had. Bye for now! 

  

  

Lockdown... A whole year of reflection

Yes, the title illustrates this post as a whole. Also, I promise you, this will be the last time that I talk about COVID-19 and the lockdowns, as I'm sure most people have had enough of hearing those words by now.

However, today of all days, was simply just too important for this topic to go unmentioned, and here's why...

Today, (23/3/21) marks the 1 year anniversary of the EXACT date that the UK got slammed into a full on 'Lockdown' due to COVID-19 killing hundreds of people per day. (23/3/20)

Meaning, we were instructed to "Stay at home" as non-essential, restaurants and education places were forced to close for the foreseeable future. 
    

However, supermarkets and pharmacies had to remain open, as buying groceries and medicine was important for maintaining our well-being and health.

The only time we could leave home, was to go out for daily exercise once a day. (Back then, it was only within walking distance)

                                                                 

How did living in lockdown make us all feel?

I can imagine for most people, it made them feel lonely, bored and frustrated during the 1st month, with not being able to normally socialise with anyone, as well as not being able to go anywhere. To summarise all of the above with one word, we was all experiencing this feeling of "Isolation" as we had to "Stay home".

To share a personal insight with you all, I too, was struggling to cope to terms with being in lockdown for a short while, as I was constantly feeling bored all of the time with being stuck at home. I also didn't like the idea of my freedom being snatched away from me, as I love to go out and explore different places, this includes my education and time with friends face to face being snatched away from me. I eventually got SOOO bored, that I honestly had no idea with what to do with myself during my time in isolation, as I was doing the same routine over and over again. Further explanation in next subheading...

How did I utilise my time in lockdown?

One of the things I did to break my habitual routine, was watching every old episode of Coronation Street from 2008 up towards where I am now. I had to say, I found it very interesting how the cobbles' scenery was so different that long ago!😂 (Still laptop related) I was scrolling up and down the roads of different places on Google Maps to get from A to B. This significantly helped me to get better with my Geography!

Asides from my laptop, I thought I'd improve my cooking, by making a 3-course meal originated from various countries. Also, with cooking puddings too. I actually found cooking very therapeutic afterwards!

During the warm weather, I would sometimes go into my back garden to do a bit of sunbathing, to help me take my mind off the current COVID-19 related news. This also helped me to get my "Relaxation" mood on. Other times, me and my brother would help out in the front garden, by getting rid of all the weed and the bamboo (Don't ask, I had no idea why we had bamboo growing in our front garden?!)🐼😂 Anyway, this was a refurbishment task which we all decided to do, as our front garden was literally looking like a jungle.

Bonus fact: This was the VERY reason why I wanted to create this blog. 1: Because I am very passionate with sharing my psychological knowledge with you all. 2: This is just something which keeps my occupied during my free time.

What have we learned during our time in lockdown?

Ever since day 1 of lockdown, we have learned to help our minds to adapt to this sudden change of how we interact with ourselves, as well as one another from just one household. By doing so, it is very important that we check up on others by texting: "Hey, how have you been doing recently?" This kind of thoughtful message could really make someone's day, by making them think that their friends and family actually still care about them whilst in isolation. This is something which I like to do time and time again, as I am a caring and considerate person.

We have also learned that staying at home, doesn't give us an excuse to sit around and do nothing all day long. In exchange of that, we encourages ourselves to find more ways of unleashing our hidden creativity inside us. You'll never know, this may well could become your new favourite hobby!

Most importantly, we have learned that this ENTIRE nation has the capacity to come together and be willing to help out one another during these dark times. A heart whelming discovery to us all.💗

As of now, a whole year on from our first lockdown, we have been very successful with making the vaccine and giving them out to the public, that I believe half of the UK adults have been vaccinated already!

Thank you ever so much for taking your time to read through. Remember, stay safe and follow the guidelines. Hopefully we'll be out of this tunnel by the 21st of June!🤞 Bye for now.

  

"Feeding your motivation"

In this post, I want to give you all a lectured insight, as to how you can "Feed your motivation". It actually turns out to be really simple! Just simply keep on doing what makes you happy. 

For instance, running makes you happy, and you have a keen interest of becoming a long distance runner.

But... to be able to reach that long-term goal, you need to have the dedication to work hard, as well as push hard to be able to get to where you want to be.

However... you also need to be aware that there are physical and mental obstacles, in which, you HAVE to face, as well as finding a suitable navigation (both physical and mentally) to boost your confidence towards the next level in terms of reaching your goal.

One way of doing so, is looking for inspiration around you. Watch some videos about that certain interest which makes you happy, to see if you can copy their tricks and tactics, in which, helps THEM to succeed in relations to finding their motivation. Or you can ask your friends and family to help give you encouragement, by telling you that they will ALWAYS be proud of you, for who you are, what you are and how far you've come and still progressing to for fill your motivation.

From time to time, you may experience these random depressing feelings, where you suddenly feel like you're not trying hard enough, therefore, you don't feel like you're ever going to reach your goal, let alone chasing it down. This is EXACTLY the type of feeling which can throw your motivation right off guard. To keep refuelling it, you need to convince yourself that these are all lies, in which, this depressed feeling is telling you. The best way to overcome it, is to keep on reminding yourself of all the progress you've made over the years. Alongside that, think of all the encouraging words your friends and family say about you, in purpose to give you that motivation, which will really help you to think more about where you want to be.

To put all of this long advice in basic terms - It's all about the focus! Only think about success!

(The above picture shows me finding my motivation; by working out)

Thanks for taking your time to read. Comment down below if want any advice on motivation and I shall be back soon with another post. Bye for now!   

"Old habits die hard"

The phrase "Old habits die hard" means you're trying so hard to quit doing something that you keep doing, but at the same time however, you can't stop doing it... This can be seen as a good or a bad thing.

Let's talk about the psychological effects of how a habit can be triggered and how it can keep occurring. In addition, how we can overcome it! 

 
*Note to self* 

Everyone has to experience this at least once in their lifetime, as it is all part of how you function as a human being; by knowing that you've made a mistake, as well as being able to learn from it to help remind you.

I've been round that block time and time again.

Example 1

You always seem to like the idea of having maple syrup with every meal you have, but everyone says you can't keep having it all the time, as it's unhealthy for you and can increase your risk of getting diabetes.

Baring in mind, YOU also know this fact and desperately want to end this habit, but you can't, as you now have this feeling that no meal would ever taste the same, let alone great without maple syrup added to it... *The same feeling as learning how to cope with loss - Grief*

One way of overcoming it, is you could perhaps try using different sauces with every other meal you have. I.e. Ketchup, BBQ, Mint sauce or Mustard. These options can be considered as much healthier compared to a sugary filled sauce which could turn you into an unhealthy person. 

Contrastingly, you maybe consider that you want to eat healthier altogether, therefore meaning you want to eat less fats and more carbs, fruit/veg and protein. (Think about the 6-pack and ripped body you'll end up getting!)

Example 2

You are an alcoholic, you like the taste of alcohol, you crave on alcohol and you rely on alcohol ALONE to help make you feel better about yourself. 

Some might say this type of behaviour is called: "Drinking yourself away" because you feel so worthless by everything that has gone wrong in your life, therefore, you felt like ending it there and then, but it's actually known as "Self pity" as you are currently experiencing the moment of failure, as well as comfort in a not so nice way. There is a difference between the two feelings.

A very good and highlighting example of this would be to use your friends/family to help you feel better by talking to them via text or phone call. If you were to inform them about your recent depressed feeling, they will then take immediate action by giving you comfort, as well as reminding you of all of your past accomplishments to help bring your confidence back.

Again by thinking contrastingly, you could research about all the devastating consequences of how consuming too much alcohol can seriously damage your physical and mental health. This is just one of the many things that absolutely NO-ONE wishes to try and attempt doing with themselves.

Example 3

(An OCD related example)

You slowly start to begin to have this feeling of getting germs on you, therefore you feel like having to constantly wash your hands every 10 minutes would be the solution. However, doing so could cause damage to your hands by making them red sore and flaky. This will even have an impact on your mental health, as with thinking too much about catching germs can lead to showing signs of anxiety, as well as slowly developing a new fear of touching any surface. Thinking about germs and illnesses is a prone factor for the constant hand washing.

Find an activity or hobby to occupy yourself with to help distract these thoughts about catching germs or when to next wash your hands. More to the point, it helps to clear the anxiety and make you into a happier person again, which I'm sure your friends/family will be relieved to witness!

But when you come to the conclusion of this habit getting out of hand to cope with, talk to a friend, family member, teacher or counsellor about how this habit has gotten out of control and how you can overcome it. This way, they'll provide you comfort and support to encourage you to move forwards, but at the same time, to be your backbone when you feel like you're going in the opposite direction again.

That brings me to an end with this topic. Please do feel free to talk to me ANYTIME you wish to have a catch up or need cheering up. See ya soon!

Example 1 inspiration credit: An episode from a documentary called: Freaky eaters

Example 2 inspiration credit: Peter Barlow from Coronation Street       

Example 3 inspiration credit: Something similar which a friend of mine dealt with in the past  

The psychology involved with politics

First, let me begin this topic of discussion by saying that I have NO interest in politics, but at the same time however, I find it really fascinating why a large population of the world feel like they NEED to know how the law works in every country. Or even how different political parties work to make a difference in their local area.

Question overall:

How do politics influence us on how we see the world?  

First scenario:

Say if you were someone who was not happy about the current laws in your country, so therefore, you wanted to be the one who made those changes.

Right from this moment on, you start to gain an interest in politics, their parties and what they do. This way, you're inhaling in all of the understanding of how a party works curtsy of your curiosity, as well as what they do to make it work, which will make changes to your local area.

Eventually, all of your knowledge will pay of by joining a local party in your borough council. This will help you gain more knowledge by volunteering for businesses, campaigning for your chosen party and rising through the ranks to become a local MP in your area.

By doing so, this will give you more confidence to push yourself to become an MP for the UK! Which will help you to gain more power on these learned skills can shape the country.

Second scenario:

You have a very keen understanding with how local businesses can bring your whole local community together, and so you start researching some ideas on how to improve them...

You then proceed to share your ideas with your local party, in which, they've agreed to and begin working closely with them to work on their improvements for the community.

All of these improvements can consist of by asking these questions: Should we hire more people? Should we start more conversations with our customers; To help bring a more positive and encouraging attribute to our businesses? How about we include more cafes? Which would encourage more local people to come and spend their time at our businesses.

If all these ideas do come into play, you see a shining light inside you that says: "Well done! You should be proud of yourself by cleverly inventing these ideas to your community!" This kind of positive reflection will boost your confidence to get bigger with your ideas!

Third scenario:

You are very passionate about how different people are treated in this country, (Human Rights act.) but at the same time, you are not happy about how some people choose to diss obey that.

You then feel the need to start up a social media page which is aimed at 'Individual Liberty' and consists of this very question, but with different reasons: Why do people get treated differently because of their age, race, height, weight, gender, sexuality or even face?

By doing so, you'll be sending the message out there to the world, which will also be encouraging them to do the EXACT same thing, so that way, this law shall come down harder on anyone who chooses to go against it. This type of action is what's known as: Activism.

If your motivational account proves to be successful by having a million followers, as well as supporters, your fame and determination will be recognized by the creator of your social media account, and will therefore make it verified, as it will then start earning you money to help you build your activism career to a bigger level! Again, making you more confident to learn more about this topic.

Which now brings me to an end with this discussion. Thank you so much for reading and feel free to let me know how politics help YOU see the world. See you soon.