Tag Archives: mental health

Shazzy’s 5 Top Tips For Digital Sanity in 2017

I don’t know whether you’ve heard, but I have been getting VERY grown up lately.

Having neglected my adulting duties for the past year while Ass Monkey and I frivolously threw a wedding bash for ourselves in December, I kick-started 2017 with a plan to get my shit together.

There have been wardrobe overhauls, clear-outs, housework schedules, actual correspondence with the bank and even a request to PayPal to remove my mother’s credit card details from my account.

I mean, really, it was time.

A big part of my plan is to get on top of my digital life. Really, I’ve just been skimming the surface of my online accounts, my digital photos, my email accounts and apps.

My laptops and phones have consistently threatened to explode, resulting in my copying everything to an external hard drive about once every two years and then losing those digital hard drives.

In short, I’ve had no control or management over my online life. Which accounts for about 74% of my actual life, obviously.

But no more! I have a FOCUS now, ya see, and there are gonna be a few digital rules around here from now on.

Rules like;

Get Over Yourself. The online world will not stop turning because you haven’t checked your phone for 20 minutes. The sooner you realise that, the less likely you will feel like live Tweeting about your Granny’s colonoscopy. Probably.
No Phones After 9pm. If, like me, you check your phone for multiple social platforms, email correspondence as well as news and current affairs, the chances are your brain is fried come dinner time. Do yourself a favour and pick a cut-off point every evening. Mine is 9pm midweek when I put my phone down and forget about it ’til morning. Upside: I’m reading more books and sleeping a bit better. Downside: I missed really important updates about a road closure near our house last week that would have saved me a one-hour round trip. Them’s the breaks.
Unsubscribe, Bitches. If, like me, you find yourself spending a LOT of time deleting mail-shots that you don’t even read.. then what’s the point of them? Just unsubscribe if you’re not excited to read them and save yourself some extra time back in your life. And Twitter notifications.. please jesus will someone tell me how I can stop all the Twitter notifications?!
Clear Yo Shit Out. I cleared out 1000 emails between two accounts last week. I know, I should be ashamed of myself. But, ya know, I was keeping stuff to ‘read later’.. about two years ago. I have made a solemn promise to myself that I’m not allowed more than 20 unread emails EVAH. I have to open, read, delete. The end.
Get The Pics And Vids Under Control. My iPhone is a disaster. It is constantly threatening to run out of storage despite my having paid for extra. It’s because I can’t stop with the photos and the videos, I know. So that’s a job for this week – upload them all to my laptop and then save them to an external hard drive so I can..

..oh wait, shit. Noooo… it can’t be done!!!

*Like this post? Why not try another, huh?!

Why ‘Damp January’ Is The Only Way To Start The Year – RaisingIreland.com

8 Ways To Keep The January Blues At Bay

January. Who’d have it? Can’t we just skip it in the calendar year and head straight from the day after New Year’s Day (to give the hangover a chance) and straight to February?

You see, the thing about January is that is has nothing going for it. It’s like an under-achieving student whose meeting with the career guidance counsellor is going like this:

“Your pal Christmas pulled out all the stops to pitch itself at the top of the class rather successfully. It offered us mulled wine, presents and the opportunity to stuff vegetables and bread crumbs up a turkey’s arse. February isn’t doing too shabby either – it does it’s best with Swarovski-encrusted underpants and the likelihood that your four-year-old will send you a soppy card about how much they love you. You, on the other hand, are a disappointing underachiever. All you have to say for yourself is ‘start eating horseradishes and get thee to the gym’. You are expelled, January”.

While I normally power through January, rebelling against all resolutions by emptying the house (via my gob) of all booze and sugary foods.. I just fucking hate it this year.

In saying that, I am doing my best to be kind to myself during this feud with the first month of the year by attempting the following;

1. Walking

Yes, yes, everyone says get outside for some exercise and fresh air when you’re feeling a bit shit. But when you ARE feeling a bit shit, it can be hard to get out for a walk. So let’s call it what it really is; look your dog in the eye and feel guilty about not walking them enough and reluctantly bundle up to go for a walk around the block every evening. You might be a bit allergic to it but it will definitely helping your mood, I swear.

2. Sleeping

Get into bed as soon as you absolutely can and sleep it off. Having the January Blues can leave you feeling all kinds of exhausted so add at least an hour onto your usual routine – you need it.

3. Crying

‘Better Out Than In’ is my motto – there is nothing wrong with having a good cry so release some of that sadness or moodiness if you want to. I always squeeze out a few tears over a really powerful song that means something to me so will get the earphones on when I need to have a little tear to myself.

4. Dancing

Dancing with the kids to fun music always makes me feel better so we are listening to the Trolls soundtrack daily and are having a good boogie.

5. Kissing and Hugging

Having small kids around when you’re not feeling yourself is brilliant because they just love giving their parents hugs and kisses. Every now and then I just pack in the organising/cleaning/cooking malarkey, get to the couch and demand hug parties. They really work.

This little lady cheers me right up

6. Laughing

I have been listening to the Mortified! podcast when I’m out walking and it is really making me guffaw at the old diary entries that people are reading out. It just makes you forget yourself for a few minutes and releases some of that tension or anxiety.

7. Being Quiet

I’m normally talking and organising and texting and rounding up and chattering and discussing and planning and generally being hyperactive all the time, so at the moment, I’m just being quiet. I’m reading books, I’m taking time out to myself, I’m sorting through paperwork and I’m turning down events that require me to be too social at a time when I don’t feel like it. Peace and quiet is rather lovely.

8. Talking it through

The best thing for anyone to do who is having a hard time is talk to someone they can trust about it. Even if they are letting that person know that they just need a bit of quiet time to themselves at the moment, at least that person can keep an eye out for them. And when the blues lift – WHICH THEY WILL – you and that lovely person you confided in can head out for a pint or a hike or a big piece of cake and you can laugh about how January got expelled from school for being SUCH a pain in the hole.

*We hope January is being kind to you. If not, please look after yourselves as much as you can or talk to someone if you feel too overwhelmed. Loads of people love you, including us, so remember that!*

When Life Gets You Down, Always Remember Your True Colours

I have been feeling a hardening up lately, a desire to shut down and make unavailable certain parts of me that I ordinarily give away so freely.

Xmas can make me cranky despite my best efforts to enjoy it – I think I’m generally just really tired and in need of peace at a time when life is more hectic, loud and busier than I need it to be.

Add to that the post-wedding blues which I will determine to write about in another post because really, I can’t believe it’s hit me so hard (and furthermore, I’m quite embarrassed about it!)

I know I can get pouty when I feel a bit disappointed by people in my life who don’t consider me as I do them – not in a ‘OMG I just do SO MUCH for everybody and nobody does anything for me!!!’ kind of WAH WAH.. but just in a ‘I can’t believe that people aren’t much nicer to each other, including me’ WAH WAH.

I talk to my lovely mum about this despondency regularly and she counsels that no matter what, I have to stay true to myself and my own way of doing things.

“You’re lovely”, she’ll say. “You just keep being the way you are”.

It’s great advice but it does gets hard from time to time, wearying, to see that other people carry on about their own lives, oblivious, and don’t seek to go out of their way for others. I think of them and wonder if WE (Ass Monkey and I) are the real dopes for running around so much and that if we spent more time concentrating on our own family and interests, would we perhaps not drop the ball on things like our kids’ notes from school or when they are about to lose a tooth or two (scarlet).

I sometimes want to be harder, to not notice when someone needs something, or to not offer to assist when I have an option to. I want to put my head down and walk through the crowd, oblivious to what’s happening around me, just like everyone else.

I’ve been trying to do that lately because I’m so fed up and I’m so tired.

But then Ass Monkey and I brought the kids to see TROLLS yestrerday which was just 74 thousand shades of amazing and went a long way towards cheering me up.

Afterwards, we went to Ruby’s Pizza and Grill which has a fairly decent vegetarian menu. Ass Monkey had a falafel burger and I had a veggie pizza which was gorgeous.

Before our food arrived I noticed that Jacob was waving at a baby sitting at the table next to us. The little one was only about a year old and loving all the attention she was getting.

When her parent’s food arrived, the baby started crying because she didn’t want to be taken away from her waving game with her new pal Jacob.

So even though I was in a fowler – even though the rude woman at the Sugar Dolls nail bar wouldn’t entertain my appointment because I was 10 minutes late (the customer service rage rages on) – even though I was determined to never be nice to anyone ever again..

..I offered to take baby Millar (what a fantastic name!) so that mum could have her grub in peace and the kids could have some fun together.

And you know what – five minutes of doing something nice for a total stranger did me the power of good. It didn’t hurt that baby Millar was lovely to snuggle and a total DREAM too.

Doing something like that is the true essence of me and I’m happier for it so I’ll determine NOT to change if I can help it.

Now I have this song from the Trolls soundtrack on repeat around the house. It’s kind of making me cry a bit but the message is getting under my skin which I really, really need.

Like my mamma says, you gotta stick to being yourself, girl x

This can be a very tricky time of year for lots of people. Please reach out to someone if you are feeling low – take some time for yourself; go for a walk, listen to your favourite music, drink more water, hang out with someone who makes you laugh, eat cake, cuddle your kids and.. go see Trolls. You’ll love it. Mind yourselves x