I am both shocked and appalled by how quickly these last six months have gone! I feel as though January was just the other day and now I am writing my first blog post for December! Holiday Season is just about in full swing for almost everyone (and if it’s not for you, let’s pretend it is cause lets be real, you deserve the break too!) and what a better way to start it then by kicking it off with some healthy habits!? 

I’m a firm believer that you determine how your day is going to be from the minute you wake up, the thoughts in your mind and how you allow yourself to feel about the day ahead. Let’s be honest, we all know of someone that wakes up 10 minutes before they have to leave the house causing them to be rushed, late and a little damn frazzled – I wouldn’t say it’s the best way to start the day and sometimes we just need to be exposed to new ways on how to do something. Here are 3 things I do to start my day off;

Wake up early

Now, I know what you are thinking “I am on holiday, the last thing I feel like doing is waking up early” and thats completely fair. Allow yourself a week to recharge, sleep in, mosey around the house and do things that will give your body the break it deserves and when you feel it is right – you can implement this step into your routine. I have never been the type of person to wake up late, even if I tried! So if you are like me, this step may be a bit easier but if you love your sleep and you aren’t so much a morning person then inevitably it will be a little more difficult. However, once you get into the habit of it – it is a game changer! Waking up early allows you to have time to wake up, breathe and think about what you want to achieve for the day and the things you need to do – if you know that you often rush and don’t have time to have breakfast because you wake up late and just jump out of bed, chuck on some clothes so you can get to your next destination on time – maybe it’s time to re-evaluate and try something new! 

I always find that your morning determines how the rest of your day is going to be. I’ve gotten into the habit of waking up earlier then I need to and I find that it really helps set up a productive day for myself. We all love to sleep, but we also love not feeling rushed. Sometimes compromises have to be made, even if that means waking up 15 minutes earlier then what your alarm is set – it’ll make a world of difference. 

Drink warm lemon water

Whenever my body is feeling a bit run down and in need of a good boost, I often turn to warm lemon water. I usually make it 20 minutes before I eat which will help kick start your metabolism and digestive system. Lemon water also has so many other health benefits such as keeping your immune system strong, ridding the body of toxins and luckily for us, it doesn’t taste half bad either! 

Read and take time for yourself

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is get up, make myself some herbal tea and breakfast and sit down and read my book – I enjoy reading self development books, especially before the day has started. I find that it is a motivational and encouraging way to start the day. You don’t even have to read a book, I know many people don’t enjoy reading but luckily we live in an age where we can easily have access to audio books or even podcasts, you find what works for you and do that. Another thing is that you could go out onto the balcony or garden and have a cup of tea or coffee. Just something to give time to yourself, focus on you and be mindful of the present, away from your phone and chaos of the day ahead.

As you can see, it is the small changes in your routine that will make the biggest difference. Often people thing that you have to make the most drastic changed in order to be productive but in fact, it is quite the opposite actually. Do one small thing each day and it will lead to big results!

2018 has come and it has gone. I can’t say that i’m sad to say goodbye to the year but I am thankful for everything it taught me!

First of all, I want to say hello and welcome to my blog – whether you are new here or have come to visit my site before, I hope 2019 brings all the success and luck you deserve! I quickly want to say a personal thank you to my readers, those people that like, share, comment & read my blogs. I’m forever grateful for all the support you guys have shown me over the last year – I absolutely love writing these posts and seeing any kind of response from you guys just makes it all the more enjoyable! So thank YOU!

With starting university in 2018, I didn’t write as many posts as id have liked but when I got a chance – I loved it. Let’s have a look at some of my favourite posts from 2018!

Swimming my way through the ocean exhibit | Two Oceans Aquarium

This day has definitely got to be one of my favourites of the year, swimming with turtles & snorkeling around the edge of the ocean exhibit was the ultimate highlight for me!

Towards the end of the year I started getting a feel for what I wanted my blog to be about & how I wanted to present it to you guys – I think most of my favourite posts from 2018 definitely come from December.

5 Ways to an Environmentally Friendly Christmas | Gift Wrapping Ideas

This post has got to be my most loved of the year – It made me so happy to see people interested in wanting to find ways to be more eco friendly for our environment!

Lessons I’ve Learned in 12 Months | 2018 in Review

I’ve always enjoyed reflecting on the things i’ve gone through and learned at the end of the year. I felt that, although personal this post was one of the most insightful one’s I had written!

I really hope to only grow my blog this year and continue to inspire you all. I’m so excited to see where we can go from here!

For some reason, I have this habit of writing out my New Year resolutions. Whether it be in a journal or a blog post so this year, I thought a blog post was fitting. I find that if I’ve written it down somewhere, I can go back to it and I keep myself accountable for the things I want to achieve throughout the year but also in the hopes to spark some inspiration for those reading this.

Usually at the start if every year I have my plans and goals set out but this year is different, it just feels different. I have this new fire in my belly, this excitement and curiosity for what 2019 has in store for myself. I havent gone into the year putting the pressure on myself to achieve certain fitness goals and to eat clean for a certain amount of days and to be honest, I think that’s why I feel so good about this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely have resolutions and goals to achieve but I feel comfortable with them. I don’t feel the pressures coming from different directions, it’s just me and my goals in my own time. I’ve been thinking about what I want my resolutions to be, for a few days now and I had the same thing pop into my head repeatedly – I want to improve who I was in 2018.

2018 was a huge learning curve for me, I grew a lot and I want to grow on that. I want to do better and be better, I want to be kinder to myself for myself. I know we can all get a little lost trying to see the bigger picture, including myself – I want to allow myself to enjoy the little things without worrying about the big things.

I like to think I am a pretty organised person and i’m sure a few family and friends would vouch for that, however sometimes my organisation gets lost amidst the chaos of university. I want to practice keeping things and areas clutter free to avoid a cluttered mind!

Health and fitness is and always will be a goal of mine, but it’s a consistent goal that i’m constantly working on – one I don’t think will ever be fully complete because there is always room for improvement. That’s why this year, although focusing on those aspects, there are other parts of my life that I was to focus more on. Self-care is a high priority for this year, we can all get carried away by life doing it’s thing, I know I do. Many times last year did it lead me to exhaustion and being burned out, getting i’ll a lot quicker then usual and having no energy for anything but to sleep. We all work best when we are feeling our best so here’s where I am at with this. I had this bad habit of studying for something ridiculous like 8 hours a time and if I wrote an exam every second or third day I would go into complete hibernation and not leave my apartment (how am I not a crazy lady yet? I’m not sure) so I’ve realised that this year I need to practice taking some more time off as well as some me time.

I have many goals for my blog, I want to post more often and inspire those during the most difficult times. Uni is my number one priority however, my blog literally keeps me sane so I want to work on balancing those two things without the added pressure of deadlines.

As selfish as you may think this sounds, 2019 is all about me and contentment, with that said I think it’s the year to make it all about you, too. Without shame, without guilt but with pure love and kindness for yourself. You deserve it just as much as I know I do.

So what about you? What are you doing in your life to make 2019 your best year yet? I’m looking forward to being one step closer to being fully content and if you’re there already, kudos to you, you’re an inspiration to us all!

I feel like i’m forever doing life updates for you guys because life gets ahead of me and by the time I have a moment to write and post, 7 months have gone by!

First of all, Hi. How are you? How’s life been? Also, how is it already August!? The fact that there are only 4 months left of this year petrifies me. These past few months have been some of the best and craziest times of my life and I have uni to thank for that. It honestly feels like I should already be in my third year, thats how long these past 6 or 7 months have been (I mean that in the least negative way possible)

Moving to Stellenbosch, starting university, going through and trying to survive exams and all the stuff in-between is the main reason my blog has taken a bit of a back seat. At the moment, uni is my number one priority and everything else comes second, unfortunately that means my blog too! One of the perks, is that I was on holiday for 7 weeks which meant I had plenty time to work on some content, which means theres content for during uni! I am definitely still trying to get the hang of how to handle both simultaneously, but i’m getting there – slowly but surely!

I am in my first year of studying sports science and so far so good. It’s definitely been difficult at times but i’ve met incredible people, made the best memories and worked my butt off so what’s to complain about really? At the beginning of the year, before uni begun and before I knew how much time and effort it would take, I had planned out blog posts for the whole year. That’s right – the whole year, without taking into consideration what might happen in between that time and where i’d be or what would be going on. Rookie error, let me tell you.

It left me with high expectations of where my blog would be at the end of the year and I made myself feel super guilty for not posting but life happens and I had to teach myself that not everything can go as planned, adaptation is key!

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK (let’s hope for a lot longer now)

Blogging isn’t the only place i’ve been slacking, gym too. My goals for second semester are to get back on track with gym, eat healthy and just focus on balancing everything a bit more, work, gym and social life. I’m now going into my fourth week of second semester and so far so good, balance has been key and i’m actually enjoying this term a lot more than the past two. I definitely want to be a bit more adventurous this semester, I tend to get stuck in my own little comfy bubble and don’t do much being the home body that I am but I want to explore the town some more and do things i’ve never done whilst focussing on work and tests. I definitely feel like I have a tighter grip on this semester, I’m ahead in all my work and have been consistent with gym as well as making sure I save time for friends and some me time. Lets just hope it stays smooth sailing!

Over the next few weeks, you can expect to see content based on health, fitness and beauty! I can’t wait to share more content with you guys, if there is anything you’d like me to write on, leave a comment below or send me a dm on instagram. Suggestions are always welcome and are always appreciated!

I’ll be uploading posts every Sunday  so you can sit back, relax with a cuppa and wind down for the week ahead.

Please like, share and comment on my posts – every single one makes a difference!