BEDA Wrap Up

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It's the end of April, and therefore the end of blogging every day...well...almost every day because I missed yesterday, but you know what? I'm not as bothered as I thought I'd be. If I let missing one day affect my achievement for the whole month then that would just be ridiculous. I've done 29 blog posts in the whole of the month, and coming from someone who would sporadically post whenever I felt like it, that's a big deal. 

Coming up with new content every day is hard I tell you - I applaud all those fantastic bloggers that do it on the regular because it's something that I really couldn't do for a long period of time (a month was enough for me). However, on the flip side, when you do think of new ideas, it can often lead to more new ideas - it's like a cycle of ideas, that once you start you could potentially keep going for a long time. I know that sounds contradictory to what I initially said but let me explain. I've discovered over this past month that I'm very much a mood writer; I will only write what feels good to me at the time despite having a plethora of ideas listed down somewhere. I could have a million and one ideas and not want to write any of them at any given time, so that's where the content creation part became difficult.

I'll tell you something, my perfectionism was really tested to the limits this month as for the most part I wasn't 100% happy with everything I was putting out. Not that my content was rubbish, but I've got this little voice inside of my head that tells me things aren't good enough or aren't at the standard I want them to be. This voice is the biggest bullshitter ever, but it's still in the back of my mind, so for me to do a months worth of content just for the sake of content was a massive shift in mindset for me. I was creating to be creative, and to be quite honest, there's no such thing as perfect anyways - if I always strove for perfection in every single blog post then I probably wouldn't post much at all (hence the lack of posts pre-beda). It's helped me realise my potential if I just put myself out there and go for it. Get a post together, make it work, make it happen - you can only get better with practice, but you need to just start!

One massive thing in particular that I have discovered is a motivation and drive within myself. For the past few months, I've been on a massive downer and my anxiety was at an all-time high, this affected my motivation so much. Having this project to focus on gave me a purpose to get up in the morning, a purpose to get up early to smash out a blog post for the evening because I knew I wouldn't have time otherwise. All through the month of April, I was constantly thinking about my blog whether that be new ideas or planning my day around when I could get something written up - it pretty much became my life. 

Although I don't think I'll be writing daily posts any time soon, it has really sparked something within me to carry on - I know I can do this and I get so much enjoyment out of it. I've genuinely loved seeing my blog so full, and it's really established a sense of pride in myself and my work that I haven't felt in a long time - I definitely want that feeling to carry on. I'm proud of myself for sticking to it (all bar one day, I forgive myself) and know that I can do whatever I set my mind to. It's the end of BEDA but it's the start of a new chapter of my blog.

Playlist Spotlight: Deep Focus

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I listen to music almost religiously; all day every day no matter what I'm doing - in the shower, walking to work, tidying my room, in the car, scrolling the internet, playing games, anything! Anything other than working, however; and when I say working, I mean writing my blog, or figuring out my business. 

It's especially when writing my blog that I can't concentrate with music; writing and listening to lyrics (or words) has never worked for me, and I've never been able to fully commit to it without getting distracted. However, a few months back I watched a video on YouTube (I can't for the life of me remember who made it) and they suggested a "Deep Focus" Spotify playlist to work with and it worked WONDERS.

The playlist has rock/pop/alt vibes with lyric-less repetitive sounds - it's almost relaxing. The repetitiveness of the music almost makes you forget that you're actually listening to music, you kind of tune out to it and this is perfect. Ever since I found this playlist it's been a saved favourite, and I'm even writing this blog to it right now. If you have trouble concentrating with music then I'd highly recommend giving this playlist a listen.

Tips On Starting A New Job

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I started a new job on Wednesday and it occurred to me that starting a new job can be scarily daunting for some people - don't get me wrong, I was scared shitless (for some reason) before I stepped through the doors officially for the first time, but more often than not, these worries that we have are all in our heads.

I've made a list of a few tips that will get you off to a good start in any job, and probably put you in a good light with your employer too:

‣ Ask lots of questions
Don't be afraid to ask questions and get people to repeat themselves if you're not sure - you are not annoying anyone I can assure you. The more you ask, the more you'll know, and the quicker you'll know it. I'd much rather someone ask me a million questions than go around not knowing what they're doing messing everything up - you don't learn if you don't ask.

‣ Shadow as much as you can
Whenever there's a chance to watch what somebody's doing then I'd take that up - don't wait until you need to do it until you see how it's meant to be done. There's no point winging it when you can see what someones doing first hand. For example, I've been watching my colleagues booking in large parties into the restaurant and finding out what kind of questions they ask, how they book it in, what procedure they use, etc.

‣ Introduce yourself
Don't be a wallflower; introduce yourself to every new person you meet. This is a simple icebreaker that often improves your confidence early on if you're able to do that. I know this may be a really daunting tip for the more introverted types, but I'm a big believer of "fake it till you make it" in the way that if you act confident you will soon become more confident.

‣ Arrive early
For the love of God, don't be late to your first shift! If anything, be 5 or 10 minutes early so you have time to settle in and talk to your manager or senior colleague if necessary.

‣ Be yourself
This is probably the most important thing and the most self-explanatory. The more yourself you are, the more at ease you will be; act as though you've known everyone your entire life (this goes along with the fake it until you make it thing too). I'm not saying tell everyone your deepest darkest secrets straight away, but show your personality off. 

I'm aware that some of these are a lot easier said than done for some people; I used to be the kind of person that would be observant in a new job then come out of my shell when I've got comfortable and got to know everyone a lot better - there's absolutely nothing wrong with this either. These are just my personal tips for starting a new job.

What are your tips?

Listen To Your Body

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I've mentioned a couple of time now that my body seems to have just collapsed with exhaustion from the past couple of weeks. This whole move has taken place in approximately two weeks, and that's not a lot of time at all. I've managed to compress a shit ton of stress and worry in a short period of time; work (new and old), my accommodation, credit checks, what to bring, what to leave behind, is this really the best option for me, am I making the right decision? I never really had time to let anything sink in and was basically running on adrenaline a lot of the time, so now I'm really paying for it.  You know what though? It's teaching me a valuable lesson in listening to my body and what it needs.

I had all these plans when I moved to go exploring, meet new people, drive to new areas, go and work in coffee shops, etc, and I wanted to do them all straight away. I'm just too tired to do any of this stuff right now and for the tiniest minute I got upset that I wasn't out doing everything I wanted to from the go. I took some quiet time to myself and realised that there's absolutely no rush to do anything, but I need to take as long as I need to recuperate so I've got the energy to do all of the things - I'm here for the foreseeable future so I've got plenty of time. What's the point of doing everything, being more tired from it, and not appreciating or enjoying the new experiences? I only moved here 3 days ago for goodness sake!

I'm learning how to listen to my body mentally and physically and have been acting accordingly:

‣ I've been doing light stretches to remove the kinks that are causing me aches
‣ I haven't been setting alarms so my body can get as much sleep as it needs
‣ I've been meditating to clear my mind and focus on what's necessary for me
‣ I've been doing things that I love (from home) to make me happier like reading and blogging
‣ I've been drinking plenty of water
‣ I've been plain and simply not doing anything too strenuous to regain my energy

If you force yourself to do something when your mind and body isn't in the right place it'll probably do more harm than good in the long run. In today's day and age everything is fast-paced and needed to be done now, but everyone seems to forget to look after themselves every once in a while and take a break - that doesn't mean you need to take a week off work, but it could mean taking 15 minutes each morning to work on yourself in whatever way you enjoy or deem fit. The number one thing to do though is just really listen to yourself, because only you know what it is that your body needs right now.

The Gratitude Journal #2

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I now have a designated gratitude journal, and as per Rhonda Byrne's book "The Magic", I am now not only writing what I'm grateful for, but why I'm grateful for it. Being grateful is slowly changing the way I live and the way I view things; it's helping me appreciate the little things in life, and when I feel down it makes me realise that the bigger picture is a lot more positive.

This is becoming a daily habit of mine, and it's nice to look back over all the pages and see how much I have to be grateful for in life. I have been writing down 10 things that I am grateful for each day, so I shall give you 10 of my favourites so far looking back:

‣ I am grateful for negative people because they make me realise how much life really does have to offer if you make the time to look for it.

‣ I am grateful for friends that share and having friends I feel comfortable sharing with because it means I don't have to go through my worries alone.

‣ I am grateful for meditation because it helps me truly relax and feel centred each day.

‣ I am grateful for the sun because it lights up the day for us and makes me 100x happier.

‣ I am grateful for being appreciated because it makes me feel needed and loved.

‣ I am grateful for saying "thank you" because it's polite and it's something small that can mean so much.

‣ I am grateful for my body healing through a headache because it shows how incredible the human body is.

‣ I am grateful for a bed to sleep in because not everybody has that luxury.

‣ I am grateful for not putting pressure on myself because I can be a little bit happier in everything I do.

‣ I am grateful for coming home to flowers on my desk because it really brightens up my mood.

What are you grateful for?

Life Update: Post-Move Exhaustion

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I'm gonna be honest, I'm not feeling too great again today - I think all the exhaustion from stress and lack of a good sleep is finally catching up on me now that I've actually moved - as mentioned yesterday, I'm now all unpacked and ready to start my new job tomorrow in Peterborough.

I did plan to write and schedule a load of blog posts today, but that went out the window when I went on my run of errands. When I eventually got back, not even completing everything on my list, I was so tired that I just crashed and had a nap (which probably made me feel worse, I hate those kinda naps). When I visit my Nan in Norwich, I tend to get sleepy a lot; the air is clearer up there so it tends to make me fall asleep more often. I'm not sure if that's what's happening here or whether it just is plain exhaustion, but I'd imagine it's a bit of everything.

I'm less than a week away from completing BEDA, and if I stop now I will be extremely disappointed with myself for not sticking to it. This is the first time in a long time that I've proclaimed I was going to do something online and actually stuck to it, and you know what? I'm so freaking proud of myself and I'm not afraid to shout it from the rooftops!

For now, I'm going to settle down for the night, grab a big mug of tea and read my book: I'm currently reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and I need to catch up on my reading challenge before I crash out. It's very good by the way.

Letting Go

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Today has been extremely busy with moving (more on that to come) so I've pretty much only just settled down now for the night to blog at 10PM hence why I'm late with this post - I probably should have pre-scheduled a post for today, but you know, that's sensible! 
I came across this quote on Pinterest and feel it hits home quite hard. I'm letting go of everything I've known and have moved to a completely new city away from my hometown which I have lived in pretty much my whole life. As much as I had no problems with living there, it wasn't doing anything to further me in life; or more like, I wasn't doing anything there - it was time to move on.

It hasn't quite sunk in that I've moved just yet, but I have a feeling I'll probably have a little cry about it, and you know what? That's okay! We're all allowed to be upset, I'm changing a big thing in my life and moving away to a strange place where I don't know anyone - it's bound to be hard. I've just got to push through, make the most of my situation, and continue to make positive changes in my life. 

It will all work out okay.

I Can Do Anything

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When I decided to go straight to New Zealand from my time in Australia, the one thing I had to do was do the Nevis bungee jump in Queenstown. This is the highest bungee jump in New Zealand, standing at a whopping 134M with an 8.5 second freefall - that's the time it takes before the rope stretches and bounces you up - it's a long time when you think about the fact that you'll be falling from about 440 feet off the ground with nothing but rocks below you. If I was going to do a bungee jump it had to be the highest one!

Now, don't get me wrong, I was absolutely scared shitless to actually do this despite it being at the very top of my New Zealand bucket list. I'd already skydived in Australia at 14,000 feet, so the height wasn't an issue, it was the idea that I actually had to jump myself; they're not allowed to push you for obvious reasons. I met a few people who said they'd much rather do a bungee jump than a skydive, and I could never understand why - when you skydive, you don't need to do anything other than be strapped to someone who does all the work, whereas with a bungee you have to literally fling yourself off a ledge of your own accord. My parents knew that I wanted to do a bungee jump in New Zealand, but I didn't tell them I was doing it until after I'd done it; I knew my Mum would be absolutely sick with worry. I was the one flinging myself knowingly from a massive height, not her, haha!

 Plenty of people before me advised that when they count down "1, 2, 3...bungee!!!" you just have to go, don't think about it, so that's what I did - I just let the adrenaline drive me and did the one thing that was scaring me. Guess what? I'm alive and it was AWESOME! I let my fear fuel me and I was so proud of myself, and still am - it's the one thing that I look back on and think "I did that, so I can do anything!"

If I can jump 134M with nothing but (pretty much) a rope attached to me, then I can definitely do all the things that I've been wanting to try - nothing seems quite so scary anymore once you've done something like that. I'd massively encourage everyone to try something like this - maybe it doesn't have to be this drastic, but doing something massively out of your comfort zone could be the key to doing all the things you've been too scared to do. If you can do that one big thing and still be breathing, then you can do anything.

My Try List

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This list has been something that I've been wanting to make for the longest time; it's a list of things that I want to try. In my previous post on finding purpose in my life, I touched at the end on wanting to go out of my comfort zone and try new things, well these are some of those said things:

‣ Take a yoga class
‣ Take Zumba class
‣ Take pole dancing class
‣ Learn a language
‣ Take an art class (get back into art)
‣ Learn calligraphy
‣ Learn how to edit videos creatively
‣ Learn how to code websites
‣ Start an art journal
‣ Learn about personal branding
‣ Learn how to animate

Even though I finished school a while back I'm starting to realise that we should never stop learning - I used to run away from any kind of learning activity, even if it was something that I wanted to find out about because quite simply, I didn't want to invest the time. Now I realise that my point of view was quite ignorant and I actually have plenty of time to do these things and find out if they are things that I want to pursue further. 

I want to challenge myself to learn something new and to try different things that I've been wanting to do for years now; it's funny how pretty much all of these things are creatively based. I lost a lot of my creative inspiration and drive when I was a teenager for reasons unknown, and I've always wanted to get back into it, but I could never really be bothered - I want to be bothered now. I want to get back into doing things that I enjoy and finding new mediums in that craft to get involved in, I want to rekindle my love for this and get passionate about something again. 

I'm excited to journal my experiences and take you guys along with me.

Five On Friday #2

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In this weeks Five on Friday I'm gonna be talking about some music favourites, these are ALBUMS THAT I LOVED GROWING UP. To be honest, I still absolutely love these albums now, but they are ones that I particularly remember growing up and listening to on repeat for hours on end.

The Singles - Basement Jaxx
Basement Jaxx had already released a lot of music before I started getting into them; I was young and hadn't heard of them, this isn't a place for the hipsters who liked them before they were famous. The first album I properly listened to, therefore, was their "greatest hits" album - I always used to hear random songs (from different albums) and absolutely loved their upbeat electro songs; so to find an album with all my favourites in one place was amazing. Basement Jaxx never fail to put a smile on my face with their music.

Favourite song: Good Luck

Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters
I have no idea why, but when I was younger, I was slightly ashamed of liking the Scissor Sisters - they were this weird, wacky, extremely camp band that created music that if you really listen to it is kinda strange. I used to call them my "guilty pleasure", but now I'm not afraid to admit that I absolutely adored them and owned pretty much everything they brought out. They produced catchy pop tunes that you would be singing for hours, even if some of the unreleased album songs were very risqué - but then again, every song left, right and centre nowadays revolves around sex.

Favourite song: Return To Oz

Songs About Jane - Maroon 5
I absolutely love every single album that Maroon 5 has ever released - they are one of the bands I believe can do no wrong. This album in particular though is their first and in my opinion their most iconic - it reminds me of the hours I would be playing Final Fantasy 8 on my Playstation because I had this album on repeat the whole time and didn't get bored. I pretty much know every single word to every single song on the album, and always know what song is coming up next.

Favourite song: Harder To Breathe

 We Sing. We dance. We Steal Things. - Jason Mraz
Jason Mraz is just the King of Chill; his laid-back songs with his soothing voice just mash for a wonderful relaxing experience. He's just so addictive and every song seems to have a little something added to it whether it's a rap, skat or just his lyrical genius. Lyrics are what I appreciate most about music, and Jason Mraz's lyrics are genius; they're clever and have meaning. The funny this is, is that I think I randomly came across one of his songs on Spotify, and the love continued from there.

Favourite song: The Dynamo Of Volition

Billy Talent - Billy Talent
I've definitely left the best till last, and like Maroon 5 every single album that they have released is absolute perfection, and they can just do no wrong. I literally can't even choose a favourite album of theirs though, or even one that I prefer over the rest because I'm in love with each and every one of them. I'm pretty sure an old friend introduced me to this band, and I'm always grateful for that fateful day (I make it sound like the world stopped spinning when I found Billy Talent - it almost did, haha). I could listen to their pop-punk-rock tracks all day, and not get bored as they are still my favourite band of all time.

Favourite song: Nothing To Lose

For me, all of these albums are timeless and bring back so many fond memories of when I was growing up. I can remember certain events that I can link these bands to and I just love reminiscing over my favourite tracks. Sometimes you hear a track you used to love which reminds you it exists to go back and listen to the album again, and it just brings back so many happy memories.

What are some of your favourite albums from growing up?

You can check out last weeks post here if you're interested.

Bullet Review: Furyborn

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Furyborn (Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand
To Be Published 22nd May 2018 (approx) by Sourcebooks (Kindle Edition)
Netgalley Review Copy
★★★★★

Follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.
When assassins ambush her best friend, the crown prince, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing her ability to perform all seven kinds of elemental magic. The only people who should possess this extraordinary power are a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light and salvation and a queen of blood and destruction. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven trials to test her magic. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
A thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a mere fairy tale to bounty hunter Eliana Ferracora. When the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom, she embraced violence to keep her family alive. Now, she believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes without a trace, along with countless other women in their city. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain on a dangerous mission and discovers that the evil at the heart of the empire is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other. 

I'm excited to announce that this is my first 5-star fiction book of the year, and it was definitely worth the 4-month wait to get to it. This may be a quick review because to be quite honest, there wasn't much I didn't like about the book, so let's start with that shall we?

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
• The only character that I didn't like in the entire book was Rahzavel. I felt he was quite pointless, didn't really add much to the storyline, and just always seemed to appear out of the blue to fight with Eliana randomly. It was almost like a stereotypical villain trait to just pop up with "Mwahaha, you thought you got away, but I've got you now!" kinda thing, and it just felt kind of childish.

 WHAT I LIKED
• The kickass female leads. The story revolves around Rielle and Eliana; thousands of years apart, but linked in a way. They're clever, determined, fierce, and just plain badass to be quite honest. It's been quite some time since I've read a book with a female lead that I actually loved.

• The character development in this book was amazing, you definitely saw every single character change throughout the book, whether it be in a good or a bad way. You just got to know each character on a really personal level, and even if I didn't know everything about one, then the mystery element definitely kept me hooked. You felt connected, and I almost cried on a couple of occasions...I didn't, but the fact that I almost did is a big deal, because I'm generally an emotional robot when it comes to books.

• I loved the plot. I know this is really vague, but I genuinely enjoyed everything about it - the fast-paced action, the twists and turns. There was never a point in the book where I was bored, as I was constantly on the edge of my seat - I think it helped that each chapter ended on a cliffhanger. Each chapter alternated from Rielle and Eliana's point of view and I just wanted to keep reading on to find out everything that happened.

• This is honestly something that I don't say often because I'm not a massive fan of it in general, but I really enjoyed the romance in the book. Without going into too much detail it just felt real and honest. It was all pretty gradual and had none of this "love at first sight" bullshit where two characters see each other and then are suddenly irrevocably in such a deep love like they had known each other their whole lives....and BREATHE. I could write a whole post about how much I generally hate how romances are written in books; especially ones that don't need them at all to advance the plot. Okay, I'm sorry, I digress, the romance progressed nicely without rushing. I mean, as I mentioned before, I felt attached to the characters massively so I feel this was the perfect addition to that.

• The author isn't afraid to tackle dark themes in the book, and because of this I'd maybe put this in the category of NA rather than YA? Themes such as death, violence, gore, loss of a parent, loss of a loved one, sex, abduction and torture. It wasn't a dark book per se, but it definitely had dark themes running through the entire thing which in a weird way I found oddly refreshing in comparison to the lovey-dovey YA books I'm used to reading - but as I said, I think this has steered a little bit away from YA because of this. It was hard-hitting, impactful, and made the story that much more interesting to read because it was so different.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I don't think I can fully express how much I loved this book; I just genuinely loved everything about it and cannot wait to read the next book in this trilogy.

Little Thoughts: Better Weather

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Guess what I'm doing? I'm sitting outside and blogging...outside...in April. We've finally got some better weather and I'm taking full advantage of it. I know it's the UK and we're not exactly going through one of our renowned 30-degree "heatwaves" which we are mocked for by the rest of the world, but just having a bit more of a warmer climate always boosts my mood tenfold.

I'm an emotional mirror in the way that my surroundings affect the way that I'm feeling, and maybe that's why in the Winter months I have depressing spells. I think the way I'm feeling now is mainly to do with my mindset and my refreshed view on life, but the weather definitely plays a big part in how I feel. Right now, I'm feeling happy and ready to do things! 

The only thing that bugs me about this weather is the way that everyone else reacts - all the guys will start going topless at the first sign of sun, you will begin to smell BBQs everywhere, and suddenly everyone's walking around in shorts and flipflops. Yeah, I get that it's nice but it's not that hot and everyone's just playing into the massive British "Summer" stereotype! It's not even Summer, and I've already started hearing people throwing the term around. Okay, I'll stop, that's my only gripe with this weather, but on the whole, I'm making the most of it while it lasts, because knowing our luck it will bloody snow next week or something.

Okay okay okay, let's step back a moment and have a look at something that I've just seen on Twitter - I literally had this blog post finished until I saw this hashtag which epitomised everything I've just been saying. Let this sink in.....#heatwave! HASHTAG FREAKING HEATWAVE! It's 20 degrees as I write this, and at it's highest it will be 22 degrees. Would you call that a heatwave? I know I wouldn't. This country can't handle any kind of weather without it turning into an epidemic of sorts.

Rant over! Let's relax and enjoy the sun while it's still here, I'm off to sit in a pub garden and drink cider with ice - it's my day off afterall. How're you enjoying the day?

Finding Purpose In Life

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I'm a massive advocate for personal development, but I'm often the person who will read tons of the stuff, and then not apply it to my life. I've started reading "The Magic" by Rhonda Byrne (the author of The Secret, which you've probably heard of) and she is a big believer in the law of attraction and gratitude. My friend Shelby recommended this book to me for the 28 days worth of gratitude practices which are included in this book, and even from just reading the introduction and the first day, I can tell it's going to be a good'un.

At the beginning of the book it urges you to find the time to maintain a list of your dreams through the following categories:

‣ Health and Body
‣ Career and Work
‣ Money
‣ Relationships
‣ Personal Desires
‣ Material Things

These are things that you will need to be clear of in your mind so you have a direction that you want gratitude to change your life. These can be things you want now, this week, this month, this year or even in 10 years time, as long as they are things that you actually want to do and are willing to work towards. That's the crux of this situation; they are things you are willing to work towards.

A lot of naysayers dismiss the idea that gratitude gets you everything you want in life because all they do is think their gratitudes rather than act on them. You can't just expect that thinking about success will grant you success, you need to take action and work towards what you want as well as being positive and grateful for everything that you have - it's a process that involves you in mind and body.

I have made quite an extensive list of things that I want in life in all of the above categories, and I will be adding to the categories when I think of things too. Really thinking about what you want in life is very therapeutic and focusing - it brings a lot of clarity to your situation.

I managed to go onto 2 pages for "Personal Desires" but struggled a lot with "Career and Work" - I've only got vague dreams for my job life as I'm not entirely sure what I want to do. For example, I know that I want to be self-employed and earn enough to quit my full-time job but I don't know what I want to actually be doing. At first, I saw this as a failure, but then I saw it as a learning curve - I need to find what my true work passions are, but I can only find by doing.

I need to start doing more of what I love, try new things that may scare me and go completely outside of my comfort zone. I may find something that I'm truly passionate about, I may get inspired to where I want my life to take me, but I definitely won't find anything out if I just stay in my little bubble for the rest of my life thinking about what I want to do - I've done that for way too many years that it's now time to start living and figuring out what I want. I don't want that "Career and Work" heading to stay vague for the rest of my life. I want a purpose. I will find it.

Playlist Spotlight: Covers

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I've always had this guilty pleasure (I hate that phrase) of preferring cover versions of songs to the originals a lot of the time. This can vary from remixes, acoustic covers, mash-ups of different songs to whatever else you can think of.

My only thing is that it's gotta be different - if somebody covers a song and they don't have their own personal swing on it then I don't really like it, there's gotta be some personality and style in the music to warrant a cover in the first place. 

One such cover that comes to mind when I think of drastically changing the song is "Comfortably Numb" - originally by Pink Floyd but covered by the Scissor Sisters. The original Pink Floyd version is a slow dreary little number with feelings of sadness, pain and anger, whereas, on the other hand the Scissor Sisters cover version is the complete opposite with psychedelic disco-pop beats. The high-tempo beats of the cover make the song seem happier than it is despite the dark lyrics behind the music. People hate me for this, but I honestly prefer the Scissor Sisters version; that's partly because I can't stand slow dreary songs as I'm more of an upbeat music kinda person.

Below is my covers playlist, a lot of the music I find to put in this is just happened upon by chance and not necessarily searched for. It's always a happy surprise when I come across an album with a cover song which I absolutely love.

I think my favourite on this playlist is the I See Stars cover of the Hozier song "Take Me To Church" - the acoustic vibe and the harmonies are to die for. Do you have a favourite cover?

  

Don't Let Doubt Control You

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I absolutely love makeup; I love experimenting with different colours, different techniques, and just generally practising my skills - I have a side hustle makeup business which has definitely helped add to the love of it all.

On Saturday afternoon I did my makeup early for work and randomly decided that I would try a cut crease on my eyes - this is a technique that defines the crease by "cutting" across it with a contrasting colour. I tried once before months ago and failed miserably, the cut crease line was incredibly messy, and there was no way in hell that I could ever save it. My first failed attempt was actually filmed on Facebook Live which adds to the hilarity of the situation, but I guess practice makes perfect, and the second time around, practice definitely helped.

I blended my powder eyeshadow then used a peachy nude cream eyeshadow to create the cut crease itself, I then blended out the outer edges using concealer. I was so unbelievably happy with the result that I just couldn't stop looking at it - I'd finally managed to successfully create a cut crease eyeshadow look that I was happy with.

Then came the doubt. As much I absolutely loved the look, thoughts started coming into my head like, is this suitable for work? Will I get moaned at? Will people like it? Is it too much? I'm not even joking when I say that I almost scrubbed the entire thing off to put on some liquid eyeliner and mascara like I usually wear. These ridiculous doubts almost stopped me rocking this look at work, but they didn't!


I pushed aside all the unnecessary thoughts in my head and wore my makeup with pride - I knew it looked good. I got so many compliments on it as well which was amazing and definitely a massive confidence booster. The best thing? It lasted all night and didn't rub off which I am so happy about (top tip: eye primer is LIFE).

Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself when doubt tries to take control of you is to do what makes you happy. I was genuinely happy with the way my makeup looked that day so I decided to just feel the fear of being judged and go out anyways not caring what other people thought. You can take this example and switch it around to whatever situation you are in - feel the fear and do it anyways is one of my favourite mantras. Your mind can be very controlling when it wants to be, so don't give it the chance to, don't let it take away your happiness and try as hard as you can to push through it. You'll probably find that those worries were kind of meaningless, I know I did!

Reasons I Blog

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I've been blogging on and off for years now under different names. I'm one of those people that will create a blog and stick to it for about a month, completely forget about it, then 6 months later decide to start again with a new account so I can start "for real this time". This is the same for a lot of other aspects of my life, but that's another story for another time. At the end of the day, I always come back to blogging because I absolutely love it and I enjoy writing in my little corner of the internet - here are some reasons why: 

Something to focus on
I'm a very distracted person by nature, so to have something to focus on other than my own thoughts is awesome for me. I've committed to completing BEDA (blog every day in April) this year, and I haven't and don't plan on missing a single day. I'm almost halfway through the month and it's definitely not been an easy task so far, but it's keeping me busy and giving me something to look forward to doing. I'm one of those people that sometimes needs to be forced to do activities, even if I do love them, and blogging every day certainly isn't second nature to me so it's a much-needed challenge that I'm thriving from. 

I know I've created a habit when I can't stop thinking about when I need to write a blog post, what I'm going to write about and if I've scheduled a tweet or not. When these thoughts, and ones of a similar nature, start popping into my mind I know I'm on the right lines. I'm now slightly obsessed with keeping my blog up to date and this is something that I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. It's definitely a positive thing that's been keeping me going in recent weeks.

It's a creative outlet
Since I was very young I have been a creative person; I've never been into academics and always liked the more hands-on subjects at school like drama, art and graphic design. Even when it came to exams, I never failed but I was never a top of the class A* student - I just got by. I seemed to excel when it came to coursework throughout the year though, rather than the one-off big exams we had to take. 

Since school, however, I haven't been as creative as I would have liked - I stopped art, I stopped design...but fast forward a few years and I've found blogging. Although it's not art as the general concept of the word goes, it's an "art form" and I definitely use my blog to fuel that love for creativity. I love curating my own blog from the words, the pictures, to the general aesthetic of my work - I like to be proud of what I put out there.

Gets me out more
I find myself sitting at home scrolling my internet feeds a lot of the time, and this is something that I need to get out of the habit of. I like the idea of blogging about my experiences from restaurants, days out, holidays, hanging with friends, etc, and I can't do that if I sit at home 24/7 with a laptop on my lap. It's kind of obvious, but I need to experience things to be able to write about my experiences; I don't think anyone would be interested in "top 5 tips to not get pins and needles when sitting in the same position all day". 

I want to get out more in general; I signed up for a Cineworld card to do just this, but I also want to use content for my blog as a reason to get out more too. Getting out more, seeing different things, and taking a lot more pictures - that's the goal.

I can express myself
As much as I use this platform to express myself creatively, it's also a great place to express myself emotionally. Although, on the whole, I like to create a positive place for myself and others on the internet, it's also natural to discuss negative things too, as nothing is ever perfectly positive all the time. We all have down days, and sometimes it's can be massively therapeutic to write everything out and put it on your blog; you never know, there may be someone out there reading your blog who can relate wholeheartedly with how you're feeling right now. Some people might find writing something so personal and putting it out there a bit daunting, but more often than not when I do it, I feel like a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders. 

Do you blog? And if so, why do you blog?

Five on Friday

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Let's make some Friday favourites - I'm not talking about things that I've liked doing, seeing, using, etc, during the week. I'm talking general favourites; different types of books, films, makeup, whatever the hell I fancy writing about on that particular week. Let's be real here, I can't write general weekly favourites to save my life and I'd spend most of the time just thinking about what my favourites were (and struggling) than writing the post itself. So this is what we're gonna do, and this weeks theme is: HYPED BOOKS THAT I'VE LOVED. 

 These are books that have been talked about a lot in a positive light that everyone seemed to love, and for once, I loved them too. I normally have a thing against overhyped books fyi, so this list is pretty special to me!

 The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
This. Was. Magical. I knew that everyone was raving about it, but I picked it up not knowing too much about it. Actually, my Dad got it for himself at the library and I wanted to give it a go myself so I read it after he did. It was beautifully written and I just loved the idea of a magical circus; I'm a massive fan of magic in books in general, but adding a circus to the mix was just a perfect combination waiting to happen. It was darkly mysterious with wonderful characters and an interwoven plot line which I absolutely adored. This is probably a book that is due a reread because as much as it's still a favourite, the plot has become a little bit blurred around the edges in my mind so I need a refresher.

A Darker Shade of Magic - V.E. Schwab
I read "Vicious" by the same author (which again was hyped up) and found it mildly average, so I went into this book with very low expectations. Boy, was I wrong (when have I ever said "boy" in my life like that?). Schwab has created worlds within worlds, and what's amazing about it is that every one of these worlds is the same but completely different - they all revolve around "London", but they all have very different ways of life, different landscapes, and even different languages; she created LANGUAGES for crying out loud. I just loved everything about this book, and this post has literally just reminded me that I need to read the second book, haha!

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
I know there is a lot of controversy surrounding this book with regards to the author, but I'm looking at the story on its own and nothing else. This book was absolutely incredible and had me hooked from the word go, despite the monotonous tones of the book; let me explain. Ender ended up in a military school of sorts and you followed him climbing the ranks through war games, physical activities and other such lessons. This is pretty much what the book is based around, obviously, there's a back-story and a reason behind it, but on the surface level that's what it is. However, the way that Orson writes is absolutely enthralling; the characters development, the thought processes and the build-up to the massive "I DID NOT SEE THAT COMING IN A MILLION YEARS" plot twist. This was one of the only books that literally made me shout out loud when the plot twist was revealed.

 Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
If you haven't read my review for the movie then you probably won't know (you should) that this is my ALL TIME FAVOURITE BOOK IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. When I first read this book I was absolutely blown away, and since that time I haven't read a book that comes close. It's fast-paced and imaginative whilst still creating believable, relatable characters with an 80s gaming theme running through the entire thing. I found myself going through a plethora of emotions while reading this book; I was smiling, laughing, on the edge of my seat, sad at times, and with a splash of angry added in for good measure. If you haven't read this book, then I'd wholeheartedly recommend that you do, and now! This book still has a lot of hype and to be honest, I'm creating a lot of it myself.

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson
This trilogy is one of my all-time favourite series - it's the only series where I've loved every single book and there have been amazing plot twists in each one. Each book in this series was fast paced, action packed and had lovable characters who you felt massively emotionally attached to. Brandon Sanderson is an absolute genius when it comes to magical systems, and Mistborn isn't an exception; this magic system revolves around metals, and people having the ability to use them to pull themselves through the air, move objects towards them, or even sense when someone is nearby. There is no way that I could ever explain the true extent of the magic system so please read this series - it's a big one, but it's so addictive that you will find yourself flying through it. 

 Have you read any of these books? What are your favourite hyped books?

30 Reminders For Anyone With Anxiety

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Sometimes life can get a little bit overwhelming so take some time to breathe and give yourself a few reminders:

1. More people care about you than you think
2. Don't be afraid to tell people how you feel
3. Change your mindset, change your life
4. Don't be afraid to do something different
5. You are your biggest critic
6. You are not as alone as you feel
7. Your mind creates scenarios that are never gonna happen
8. Remember to take a deep breath and carry on
9. Your anxiety is real, don't let anyone tell you otherwise
10. Let go of toxic friendships that are holding you back
11. Sometimes people just grow apart
12. Don't believe everything you think
13. Write it out whenever you feel down
14. You are loved
15. Things will get better
16. You are the only person that decides your happiness
17. Having a small group of friends isn't a bad thing
18. Don't listen to the little voice in your head
19. Remember that your thoughts are not your reality
20. Losing friends doesn't mean that they hate you
21. You are not an annoyance
22. You are not alone
23. Don't feel obligated to do what people tell you is best for you
24. The past and the future can't hurt you
25. Worrying won't change the outcome
26. If you can't control it, there's no need to worry
27. Get some fresh air and clear your mind
28. Trust and have confidence in yourself
29. You are more than capable of managing
30. Stop rushing and slow down

Do you have any reminders for yourself?

Unpopular Opinions #1

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Let's talk about some unpopular opinions, more in particular, unpopular opinions of things I hate. Yeah, hate's a strong word, but it would be a bit of a weird theme if I wrote "things I have a mild dislike of", would it? 

Avocados. They don't taste of anything, how can you love something that tastes of nothing.
Celeb Crushes. I've never been drawn to films because of certain actors getting half naked or really fanatasised over anyone in the media whatsoever. It just all seems pretty pointless to me.
Six Packs. Yes, it's good that you're fit and healthy, blah blah blah, but I just find them unattractive and try hard.  
Adele/Coldplay/any other depressing artist. I just can't stand any artist/band like this. Why would you wanna sit and listen to depressing music all day? What would you even do at an Adele concert? Cry all the way through? A friend actually told me that she did this; I don't understand why you'd put yourself through that.
Football. If you wanna see overpaid grown men act like children faking their injuries then be my guest. Got some award winning performances in this sport.
Sweet Potatoes. In Australia I worked on a sweet potato farm to get my second year visa. No, this didn't make me hate them, it just made me hate them more. I just hate the texture of the vegetable and just plain and simply think they taste gross.
The smell of Lush shops. I literally can't go into a Lush store without gagging, I only need to walk past one to have a sensory overload and feel physically sick. Don't get me wrong, I love their products, but I have to order them online to get them because I can't stand the smell of the place.

I think I'm gonna stop there and create a series out of this with different themes; hate, love, films, music, etc. It's always a good point of discussion and I love having mini debates about things like this; I've had people question their friendship with me over sweet potatoes and avocados for instance - I never knew people felt so strongly about these things, ha!

What's some things that you hate that everyone else seems to love?

Weird Things You Didn't Know About Me

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I absolutely love reading random weird facts about other people; things that you wouldn't really know unless you got to really get to know someone. You know when you're in new group situations at a class or something and one of the ice breakers is to go around the circle and tell someone a random fact about yourself, well these would be my answers:

I have a handwriting perfectionism 
I love the physical act of writing, not just on a keyboard, but with an actual pen and paper - I absolutely love it. My writing does tend to change depending on what pen I'm writing with, and I find myself screwing up pieces of paper because I'm not happy with the way that my writing looks. I'm even talking about when I write shopping lists, meaningless shopping lists have to be written perfectly before I take them out. 

I don't like bananas that smell like bananas
I finally met someone that understood what I meant and completely agreed with me the other day, so I was extremely happy about this. Basically, I can't stand bananas that have any kind of brown on them, and when that starts to happen they start to smell like bananas - I know that sounds stupid, but when they're at the greeny-yellow stage, they have no smell whatsoever. I like that. 

I hate velvet but I have to touch it
I don't have a phobia per se, but I absolutely hate the feel of velvet; I've even told a friend to not come near me (savage) because they wore a velvet dress on a night out once. However, whenever I'm in a clothes shop and I see something velvet, I have a massive urge to touch it. I guess, to make sure that I still hate the feel of it, but every single time that I do it I regret it, because every single time it makes me cringe so hard.

I love cutting mushrooms
I don't know what it is about cutting mushrooms that's so satisfying, it helps that I love them, but I think it's the texture and the way the knife glides through it. There's nothing more to say on this one, haha.

I can spend hours putting makeup on just to rub it off
I've done this so many times, but I spend ages putting on my makeup and getting it right, only to scrub it off because I'm not happy with it. On times like these, I rub it off and just put my usual eyeliner and mascara on because I don't feel confident enough to rock a full face of makeup. This doesn't happen much anymore but it does occasionally. 

Does anyone agree with any of these? What are some weird facts about you?

Life Update: When Worries Are Lifted

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I've been extremely distracted recently and I've been getting behind on my blog posts every day in April. Don't get me wrong, I've still released a post every day, but I've been getting them out late and it's made me feel like my posts were somewhat rushed.

The reason for my distraction was my new move to Peterborough, and more specifically my new accommodation. I sent in a deposit and my application, and have been waiting for what seems like forever for my application to get approved after credit checks and references. I knew in my heart of hearts that I would be okay, but there's always that slither of doubt that creeps in and makes me panic - and panic I did.

Thankfully, I received a confirmation today that everything has gone through smoothly and I can stop worrying and start getting excited - I'm still shit scared, but it's something to look forward to now. I'm heading up to Peterborough again this week to check out the room for a second time to establish what I can and cannot bring with me and it's all getting very real. I've even got a rota for my new job and I've already started my online training, so everything's go go go!

I'm still sticking to blogging every day during April, but I'm hoping to be a bit more organised with my posts, and staying organised will make for a more confident Katie. I'm massively proud however, that through this time I've managed to keep to a post a day, but I'm upping my game and planning a bit more in advance from now on.

Ways You Can Practise Productive Procrastination

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Sometimes I like to say that my middle name is "procrastination" because of the amount of time I have spent avoiding doing important things in my life. I get distracted so easily - especially from my phone and the internet in general - that a lot of the ideas in my head just get wasted and nothing gets done. 

I honestly can't remember where I read it, but I happened upon a practice called "productive procrastination" and the way it was interpreted was that when you're feeling distracted and can't be bothered to do what needs to be done, then you should do something that's going to benefit you rather than just scrolling social media for hours on end. 

This will probably be best explained by giving you a few examples:

Read/listen to some personal development
Learning how to better yourself, love yourself and know your worth and potential is probably one of the most fulfilling things I have discovered over the past few years. Simply reading a book on this has given me a whole new perspective on how I view life and the actions I take to push me towards my goals. It's definitely been a complete game changer for me.

Meditate
Learning to control your thoughts, your feelings, your worries and just focus on the present is the most refreshing thing. It helps you remember to live in the moment and that you needn't worry about things that are beyond your control. It most definitely has left me feeling calmer and more relaxed after doing it. 

Exercise
Coming from me, this sounds a bit hypocritical, but when I say exercise, I don't necessarily mean having a hardcore session at the gym. It can be anything from going for a walk, doing a bit of yoga, or just having a stretch in the morning. Anything to get you moving and get your blood flowing is great for you and can also help to clear your mind.

Start learning that thing
Is there something that you've been wanting to do for ages? Learn photography? A language maybe? Whenever you have a spare 15 mins or so, do something that will lead you towards "that thing" that you've been wanting to do for ages. A little every day gets you into good habits, and it may even lead to a bigger project for yourself. Even doing things that will help towards what you're procrastinating will be massively helpful; so as before, let's say you've got a photography project, you could be researching cameras or collecting inspiration for example. 

If you do things that will better you when you don't feel like doing what you're supposed to be doing then it's a million times more beneficial for you than just sitting around mindlessly scrolling the internet. I know I'm going to start actively trying to do this more often!


3 Things I Couldn't Live Without

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Whilst travelling, I learnt how to live my life out of a single suitcase and not rely on material things. It was definitely something that I'm glad I did because it made me realise that I don't really need anything to make me happy and helped me minimise my life to a certain extent. It definitely spurred me to have a massive clear out as soon as I got home, to try and transfer that travelling life to my "home" life as much as possible.

Saying that, there are some things that I couldn't live without - in my list I'm not counting my laptop or my mobile phone, because I see those objects as being quite obvious choices that probably everyone nowadays would choose.

KINDLE
When I was younger I had a massive dislike for the Kindle, I thought it could never be as good as holding a physical book in your hands. However, despite that, I spur of the moment decided to buy one from Tesco randomly because I kept seeing adverts, and I have never ever looked back on that decision. My Kindle is the best purchase that I have ever made; that's over my MacBook and my mobile phone. It doesn't go everywhere with me, but I'm constantly reading on it.

EYEBROW PALETTE
A couple of years ago you would never have caught me doing my eyebrows; I was pretty proud of the way that my eyebrows looked, as they are pretty shapely and fuller than a lot of other peoples. However, as soon as I purchased an eyebrow palette my entire life changed and now I look back on my eyebrows and wonder what I saw in them - your eyebrows are the frame to your face, and a good pair of eyebrows really does make a difference. I mean you may be blessed with perfect eyebrows, but I now realise that I wasn't, so my eyebrow palette is my saviour. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to go outside with absolutely zero makeup, but my eyebrows give me a massive confidence boost.

SPOTIFY
My Kindle is the best purchase I have made, but my Spotify premium account is the best ongoing purchase that I make each month. A few years back I listened to Spotify on the free version, this included adverts, and after a while it limited the number of times you could listen to one song, which for me wasn't ideal as a person who listens to albums on repeat for months. An old colleague recommended premium to me, which at the time, I didn't want to pay for, so I got it on the free trial and have never looked back. I literally listen to music on Spotify every single day, and I'm even listening to a focus playlist as I write this post so I'm most definitely getting my money's worth.

What are some things that you couldn't live without?

Your Mild Anxiety Isn't Irrelevant

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I've been wanting to write this post for quite a while now, but haven't felt that I could find the right words to portray how I feel - and that right there is an example of how I've been feeling in general. I don't know that I can't do something unless I try, so this is me trying.

I've spent a lot of my life overthinking everything; what people think of me, what people are saying about me, do people like me? Most of my life has revolved around trying to be validated by everyone, but not caring about how I'm affected. I care more about other people and their opinions than that of my own and this is something that I really need to get out of the habit of.

In the past year or so, these thoughts have definitely amplified tenfold, and I've felt myself getting ill and overwhelmed with worry because of it. I never felt so bad that I couldn't do general tasks, I never felt so bad that I couldn't go to work, or didn't want to meet up with my friends, and because of this I never associated myself as having anxiety. There were people that were so crippled by it that they couldn't do anything, and I wasn't one of those people - I kept denying the fact that I had anxiety because "I didn't have it as bad". I almost felt guilty for even thinking that I had a problem; I thought people would think I was attention seeking, or being a hypochondriac (again).

As mentioned whilst talking about fresh starts, I went through a rough patch in Winter and tried to combat it with drinking on the weekends. I thought that I needed to socialise more to be happy, and socialising meant going for drinks with friends, and drinks meant getting really drunk to forget everything "bad" that was happening. This only resulted in the anxiety hangovers that I always get; no matter if I know I did nothing wrong, I will constantly go through absolutely everything that I did the night before and panic worry till I end up crying about all the things I may or may not have done, and what people were saying about me. Drinking most definitely did not solve anything.

I have come to accept now, thanks to the help of some amazing friends, that I do have anxiety, and although it may not be as bad as some peoples are, it's still anxiety, and it's still relevant. I think the hardest part has been the acceptance of that fact, and the next step is figuring out the best way to deal with it. I don't believe you ever get "fixed" but I believe that you can quell the feelings inside of you to get a better mindset and perception of the world around you. You decide the way you think, the way you feel, and the happiness that you create; I just need to find a way to make a habit of doing that.

The Gratitude Journal #1

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Whenever I'm feeling low I like to make a list of what I'm grateful for; this helps me remember that I've got so much to be happy for in life and that having a bad day isn't the end of the world. It grounds me and takes me back to reality, instead of staying up there in my head with my own thoughts which could lead to hours of unproductivity (is that even a word? It doesn't look right!).

I'm also a massive fan of writing lists, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing something that you love! In fact, I'd recommend it daily. So here's my gratitude for the day:

● Everything in my life if slotting nicely into place.
● I'm doing something that I've been wanting to do for the longest time, and that's moving somewhere new.
● I have been working hard on doing things I have put off for so long
● I have loving and supportive family and friends
● I don't have any long-term commitments that keep me from moving
● I'm learning to discover myself again
● I will get to explore somewhere new
● I will get to meet tons of new people
● I will get to experience a different way of life in a city rather than a town
● Knowing that I can't control everything that happens to me
● Learning to listen to the sound of my breath and stay calm
● Learning to meditate
● Learning to take a break

Even just writing out these things gives me a massive release and reminds me of all the good things that are happening or will be happening in my life that I have every reason to be grateful for. What are you grateful for today?





#GirlBoss Youtubers

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Over the past couple of years, I have found a massive passion for all things personal development; some might say I almost drowned myself in reading these books, listening to podcasts and watching YouTube videos all surrounding the topic of bettering yourself.

Whilst searching YouTube I stumbled across a #GirlBoss niche of videos and instantly fell in love - it was everything I'd been searching for and more. There was a plethora of videos with information, tips and tricks on mindset, business, law of attraction and anything else of the sort. I've got a business and low motivation on most days (unfortunate, but true) so this had helped me tenfold. 

Here are three of my favourite #GirlBoss Youtubers. They all cover similar subjects but with a different way of looking at things which I absolutely love:

Kalyn Nicholson is an absolute breath of fresh air. This girl focuses on organisation and mindset in a lot of her videos - mindset is a massive key in the journey to your kickass boss babe life, and although you can have all the information you need, if you're not in the right frame of mind then you will come across some massive obstacles to overcome with your business. Her content does vary from week to week from vlog to sit down type videos and there is definitely a lot of variety in what she puts out each week, but she comes across as the sweetest girl with the kindest heart and you can just tell that she wants the best for every one of her viewers. Her YouTube (alongside her blog and shop) is her business!
  

Hannah Ashton is an inspiration to me, and makes me wish I had her attitude when I was younger. She gives entrepreneurship advice for young people and teenagers, as she is only a teenager herself. It's absolutely amazing what she's achieved at such a young age; the determination, the drive, the passion. She runs this YouTube channel as well as running her social media courses with a team that she's selected. This hardworking teen creates videos of her school morning/night routines, how she gets a lot done in the day and many other things that can be helpful for anybody still at school wanting to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.
Erin May Henry was the first babe who's videos I came across in this niche I'm pretty sure. Erin helps women entrepreneurs create their personal brand and navigate the online world to help build their own personal businesses. Her YouTube content is mindset and business based for the most part, showing you how your mindset can affect your work, how to overcome obstacles and how she, personally, deals with the stresses that can come up as a self-employed boss babe.

These women seriously inspire me with every single video that they put up. The energy and the passion that they put into every one of their videos is astounding to me and I look up to them with the highest esteem. Is there anyone that really inspires you?