READY, STEADY LET’S GO 2017!!!!!

29th December 2016

Hey Guys I’m so excited to welcome my mate Ameriie as my first ever Guest Blogger. Check out her tips for 2017, they are sooooo helpful to get us ready and excited for the New Year! Make sure you follow Ameriie for her music, opinions and general amazing energy here! 

NEW YEAR, DO YOU

Platitudes are ushered in with every new year for a reason: a new year is the perfect clean slate. There’s New Year, New You, but I like to think New Year, Do You because it’s not as if the new year is going to magically transform you with New Year Magic. You have to be the change you want to see in yourself, in your life, and in the world. Sounds heavy, but a lot of that has to do with taking care of yourself and just going for it, already, whatever “it” means for you.

The following are a few tips I like to keep in mind.

Know where you’re going…
Visualize your ideal life. In your wildest dreams, what does your life look like? Don’t bog yourself down with parameters and “realistic” boundaries. In this visualization, are you happy? Who’s with you? What are you doing? Where do you live? Did you just arrive home from work, or do you work from home? Again, what does your life look like?

If you know where you want to go, it’s a lot easier to figure out how.

Your body is a temple…
Whether or not you love the way you look, having a healthy body is a blessing. Even if you aren’t in perfect health, show appreciation for the health you do have by not mentally putting yourself down and by taking care of yourself. Eating better doesn’t mean overhauling everything in your fridge and cupboards; little changes lead to larger ones.

Simple changes:

1) add a small salad to your daily intake
2) toss in a bit of spinach or kale into your berry/fruit smoothie
3) if berries and superfood powders are too pricey for every day, store frozen berries and superpowders in the fridge, and only make two or three times a week
4) add virgin coconut oil to your diet (Google its wonders!)
5) when feeling snacky, reach for real food instead of the cookie jar

Soon you’ll begin to crave “fresh and crunchy” the same way you might crave “sugary and bready.” It won’t eradicate all of your bad-habit cravings, but it will add a healthy one to the mix.

Feed your mind…
Books have a way of opening your eyes, increasing your empathy, and exposing you to interesting experiences. To paraphrase an old saying: A reader lives a thousand lives.

If you’re looking to read more:
1)  exchange a bit of your TV time for reading time
2)  consider audiobooks (in the States, the Overdrive app allows you to check out books from your local library but there may be a UK equivalent; also, Audible is a great audiobook subscription service)
3)  instead of scrolling through social media, read on your iPhone via various apps, such as Kindle, nook, and iBooks

I also have a few recommendations if you’d like a starting point:

Science fiction/Fantasy
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill, Dark Eden by Chris Beckett, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

Contemporary
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

Non-fiction
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Wash away your worries…
In a world that seems to grow increasingly busy, it’s important to give yourself time and permission to unwind. I like to go to the jimjilbang (Korean spa), where I can relax all day in the hot and cold rooms/pools complete with cleansing herbs, as well as get a body scrub. Sometimes I’ll light candles and drop a Lush bomb into the bath, creating an oasis in my own bathroom.

Shut out the noise…
We’ve all but completely squeezed out “quiet time” from our minds. Constantly checking our phones for email and social media has greatly reduced our attention spans and triggered within us frightening drug-addiction-like behavior, which—get this—it has been designed to do.. There’s a great TED talk by Dr. Cal Newport on this.

I’m not saying that you eliminate social media from your life, but I think cutting down might not only increase your productivity, but also your overall happiness, as it will likely cut down on anxiety and stress.

A few tips:
1)  give yourself a time limit regarding how long you’ll check/be on social media
don’t jump on social media before you even get out of bed (the only voice you need to hear this early is your own so that you can feel grateful, peaceful, and have clarity to plan your daily goals)
2)  instead of checking social media while waiting in line, experience whatever’s happening around you
3)  try to stay away from your phone while out with friends

Be present. Don’t live in your phone. Why spend so much time watching someone else live their life when you can live your own?

YOU CAN DO IT.
Whatever goals you dream up, yes, you can do it.

1) Do take an opportunity that last year you wouldn’t have.
2) Don’t be afraid to try the hard things, whether that be physical or mental.
3) Do be unafraid to say “no” sometimes; if you’re overextended, love yourself enough to not create extra stress and anxiety.
Finally…
Whatever your visualized life looks like, remember that you have the power to make the changes you want to make. It’s a new year, so just do you. Whatever happened in 2016 is whatever happened in 2016. As for 2017? You got this.

Wishing you all the happiness and blessings in your new year,
Ameriie