Lush is great! From the company ethics and ingredients to the products themselves, Lush is great! I have been using Lush products for years now and I have loved pretty much everything I have tried! Not even joking, I have not had a single bad Lush experience! In fact, once I met Michelle Visage in a Lush store so I guess I have the best experiences with Lush! (She was absolutely wonderful and bought a bath bomb I recommended)!!

Another week, another Pull Yourself Together post! Hope you enjoy! x

Monday

• Today is just a typical Monday! I'm going to uni, doing some work and I have a meeting! I feel a bit crap so I decided to put on some nice makeup and a nice outfit to make myself feel a bit more pulled together!
• I got quite a bit of work done, posted last week's Pull Yourself Together post and now I've got a meeting with some friends i'm doing some peer support work with next academic year!

• The meeting was super productive and we all sorted our roles within the scheme and set some plans in place! I am looking forward to seeing how this all works out! 
• Chloe and I decided to get some food together so we headed over to Wetherspoons for some nice grub!
• After spoons, Chloe and I had a quick trip to Superdrug and then I headed home to do some work before bed!

I love education. Learning is a great passion of mine and I love to branch out far from my actual degree and to read about all sorts of topics! There are a wide variety of free learning resources out there and I figured I would compile a list of all the ones I have found so far! However, the list is endless and if you know any good ones which I have missed out, please let me know!

So, this post is pretty contradictory to my 'Dealing With Uncertainty' post but, let's be honest, i'm a sucker for planning everything I can! Plus, some things can be planned, even if you are not guaranteed your perfect outcome! This stands for many different aspects of life and i'm going to cover a few in this post... So let's get started!

Career stuff

So, one thing that many people plan for is their perfect career! There is are many steps that you can take towards your future jobs and these are just a few!

It's important to network! This is essential to get your foot in the door and LinkedIn is a great tool at your disposal! Just set up a profile and fill in your education and experience. Then, whenever you take part in anything relevant to your goal career, log it on LinkedIn. If you have an idea of where you want to work, have a search for connections you can make. It is so easy to use and can benefit you so much!

Another useful website for career planning is Prospects. This site has a wide variety of helpful resources including job profiles, a guide for what you can do with your degree, university application advice, job interview tips and CV advice! Honestly, this site is perfect to refer back to whenever thinking about your future career, it just holds so much information and support!

In terms of gaining experience, volunteering is a great way to build your resume if you have the time! You can find volunteer positions in just about any sector and it's a great way to show your enthusiasm and dedication to future employers! It is also incredibly fulfilling and a great way to support causes dear to your heart! I do a lot of volunteer peer support work within my university, as well as mental health and community work roles! In the UK, you can easily find volunteer positions through sites such as Do-it.

The near future

Making plans for the future can be daunting, so planning for the near future can be a good start! This can be as simple as making a to-do list every morning for the day ahead, or as creative as keeping a full bullet journal complete with daily spreads, habit trackers, etc.

Personally, I like to have different small notebooks for different purposes because I have so many different things going on at once and I don't like to muddle it all up! I have a blogging book in which I make all my blog post plans, mind maps and to-dos. It's such a scruffy notebook but it has so many plans in it so I love it! I also have a to-do list pad which I carry around with me because it's easy and compact! Additionally, I have essay planning sheets, a peer-support notebook and my phone notes! I'm a very messy and scattered person but I know many people who have a much more systematic method of organisation and planning. For example, if you search 'bullet journal' on Tumblr, you can see the most beautifully laid out to-do lists and diaries!

Education

Are you a student looking to pick your GCSE subjects, A Level subjects, uni course or any other further education course? Believe me, I know how stressful it can be! It feels like these subjects will determine your life and that this choice decides your whole future! First of all, there are many ways in which this isn't correct! I know so many people who have decided on their career paths later on and have been able to apply whatever they have studied to their careers, no matter how different the subject seems to the job!

One piece of advice that I have for you is to do what you want, not what your peers or family expect from you! At the end of the day, you are tailoring your own education and you are the one who will be taking the classes and sitting the exams! Do something you know you will enjoy and be passionate about and you are so much more likely to succeed! This goes for any level of education!

I also wanted to chat about choosing your university/college! It's a massively daunting choice and you can feel so overwhelmed by the number of courses and universities out there! This is what I did to choose my university!

• Go to open days! As many as you can manage! I was dead set on one particular university until I went to an open day there and it completely changed my mind and set me on the path to a university which I absolutely love! If I had gone there, I would have hated it!
• University league tables are a quick and easy reference which you can use to see how your prospective university compares to all the others! Most of them also show student satisfaction, which is something you should seriously consider when looking for your ideal university! In the UK, this table by the Complete University Guide is such a good resource!
• When you are going to university, it's not just the course and university rankings you should take into consideration! You will be living and studying in a city and you should research the city just as much as the uni itself. Consider whether you would be more comfortable in a city or a quieter area, as I know many people who have dropped out due to being overwhelmed by living in a big city! Have a look at the music scene, culture, events and places you can visit in your downtime. Will you love your new home?
• Prospectuses can also be so helpful! I wish I had known it when I was applying for uni, but WhatUni actually let you choose which prospectuses you want to read and actually ship them to you!

Monday

• Early start for a morning lecture! It was a pretty dull one but I managed to get some good notes done!
• I went straight to the psych building cafe after the lecture to get some work and admin done! I had a really productive few hours!
• I managed to edit and post last week's Pull Yourself Together post and promote that on social media in between my uni tasks!
• I had a very productive meeting with a friend about setting up a mental health mentor scheme in uni and then met Chloe and took the bus to town

• I picked up some second-hand Xbox games and grabbed some food before heading home for a house movie night!
• We all ordered food and watched Howl's Moving Castle. I had a 20-minute nap in the middle of the film but it was a great night!
• Once the film was over, I headed up to my room and played Arkham Asylum until I was too tired to keep my eyes open

Having an uncertain future is terrifying. Working towards something such as a career which is not guaranteed can feel super overwhelming and you can begin to question whether your hard work is worthwhile, whether you are good enough to succeed, whether you will end up doing something you hate rather than your goal career, etc. I am experiencing this right now! I am doing a psychology degree in the hopes of getting into a media psychology masters course and going into content creation and empowerment through media. I am doing my best to get experience AND qualifications but the uncertainty of my future can be so daunting! I am terrified of failure AND of doing well in my academics but still failing to attain my goal career! This is how I have tackled these fears to a point where I am way more focused on the present rather than worrying excessively about something that hasn't happened yet...

Accept lack of control

I know, this seems impossible! I am an utter control freak and the thought of doing this has at times felt so wrong and unnatural to me! However, in time I have realised that there are things that I cannot change no matter how hard I try and no matter how much I plan ahead. By realising that I should focus on what I can control about the present, I  am much more relaxed about the fact that I cannot completely and utterly determine and control my future! Anything could happen and while that used to terrify me, it is now almost a comforting thought!

Take steps towards what you want, no matter how small

Despite not having total control over the future, we do have some control and this depends on how hard we pursue our goals, no matter how uncertain. Although I am not certain that I will reach the career which I desperately long for, I try to make small steps towards it every day. That way, nothing I do feels like a massive waste of time, I am not dedicating everything I have to the pursuit of this one ambition. However, all of the small steps that I take will add up and add some certainty to my career path! Often, you cannot achieve everything that you want to in a single day. It takes work over time. Even small steps can build something certain! For instance, I may not have reached my career yet, but I am certain that I have built up relevant experience and I am certain that a lot of what I do, such as volunteering and even this blog, contributes towards my career. I am building something certain bit by bit until my whole path is certain. If it doesn't all work out, I have my 'certains' to fall back on.

Don't be scared to change direction

For some, the idea of change is just completely terrifying. I was always afraid that if I changed my direction then everything I have worked towards would be an absolute waste. I was planning to go into forensic psychology and I had read up the career options and had chosen a masters programme and was so set for the future. However, in the last few months, I have completely changed my direction. I want to go into media psychology and work towards creating empowering and inspiring content which encourages personal growth, the pursuit of change and the combatting of social and environmental issues. I am still working a lot on my commitments to mental health care, such as voluntarily facilitating group therapies and working towards building a mentoring scheme, but in a lot of extracurriculars, I have been focussing on more media and communication roles. Instead of dropping everything that you are already doing, try to tailor what you are already doing towards your new direction. It makes the change less daunting and means that everything you have done so far still has a purpose in your new direction.

Anchor yourself

It is important to have constants in your life with which you can anchor yourself. These can take many forms and can be a safe and certain place when you are dealing with uncertainty. No matter what happens, these anchors will be there for you to go back to. They can offer you stability and support. One form that an anchor can take is a place. For me, this place is my family home back in Wales. No matter what is happening here in Manchester, when I go back home to Wales nothing has changed. Everyone is still there and I can go on the same walks that I used to take when I was a teenager. Other anchor places can include public spaces such as libraries, museums and cafes, or private spaces such as your home, bedroom or a friend's place. Wherever this anchor is, the comfort that it can offer you in times of uncertainty can help so much!

Anchors don't have to be physical places. They can be people, such as family members, friends or mentors. People who you can go to when you need reassurance, guidance or just a chat. They can also be hobbies; something you can come back to when you need to forget about your uncertainties for a while. For me, this was always acting. No matter what was happening with my college work, university applications, friendship groups or work, I would always attend my weekly acting classes. The same people were always there and it just felt like something to come back to once a week to step out of my various stressful situations.

You don't always need a plan

Wing it! As someone who feels the need to plan absolutely everything in minute detail, the idea that something is uncertain and cannot be properly planned is awful and frustrating! Accepting that sometimes you need to just let things happen without a plan is an important part of dealing with uncertainty about the future. There's not much else I can say for this one, it's hard to let go of the fear of not having control, but so important for your mental wellbeing!

Quotes

I figured that I would end this post by listing some good quotes which inspire and encourage me in times of uncertainty.

"I spent a lot of years trying to outrun or outsmart vulnerability by making things certain and definite, black and white, good and bad. My inability to lean into the discomfort of vulnerability limited the fullness of those important experiences that are wrought with uncertainty: Love, belonging, trust, joy, and creativity to name a few." - Brene Brown

"Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. It is the belief that problems can be solved, differences resolved. It is a type of confidence. And it is fragile. It can be blackened by fear and superstition." - Bernard Beckett

"I don't know where I'm going from here, but I promise it won't be boring." - David Bowie

Monday

• Will woke me up at 6am when he left to go to work! I went straight back to sleep, slept through my alarms, and overslept til noon. Not a great start!
• I felt pretty low and so didn't get out of bed for quite a while. I eventually decided to give up on the idea of leaving the house and decided to act as if it was still the morning and that I was just starting the day
• I put in a hair mask and went through some emails to give myself a slow start to the day
• I finally decided to leave my room at about 2pm to put some laundry in the washing machine and shower
• After my shower, I put on some freshly washed pyjamas and changed my bedsheets in an attempt to make my surroundings feel refreshed. However, I ended up just getting back into bed and staring at the ceiling for about an hour. I won't go into the feelings that I was experiencing, they weren't very good though, unfortunately
• I attempted to do a bit of work but ended up giving up and having a little healthy cry
• I got my clothes out of the dryer and ordered a pizza
• Once my flatmates got home, I spent a bit of time with them as they tend to make me feel a lil better! My lovely friend dyed my hair darker while we watched Moana
• I went to bed and binge-watched Black Mirror before bed

Milestones are often seen as once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-month, once-in-a-decade etc. thing. Don't get me wrong, a lot of them are! However, reaching these massive milestones can take a long time and the space of time between two milestones can feel like a lifetime! Whilst we're busy focussing on the big milestones, we can often miss all those small achievements and forget to feel proud, thankful or pleased with ourselves. Small achievements are often seen as insignificant and too small and trivial to be truly proud of, but this is a pretty damaging mentality. By thinking that only the big goals that we have matter, we can overlook the journey it takes to reach these goals and forget that we are always progressing, no matter whether or not we are close to our big goals!

Why should we care about our small achievements?

How about we stop sizing up our achievements? An achievement is still an achievement, no matter how significant it may seem! Plus, all those small achievements add up! Just think about it, you don't step into a class and find yourself immediately prepared for your final exam! Learning the content for each lesson is a step towards knowing all you need to know for the final exam! Attending each lesson is a small achievement and a step in the right direction! You made it to class, which means you got out of bed, got dressed, left the house and pushed yourself to attend for the sake of your own learning! Each step towards your goal is a step in the right direction and shouldn't go unnoticed!

It's nice to feel proud of yourself! By feeling proud about the small things, you look forward to the next time you have done something to be proud of and it makes reaching a big accomplishment all the more special because you have built up to it! Feeling proud for your smaller achievements is also a great way to build your self-confidence and to gain a better overall outlook on life. I'm not going to rattle on about the importance of positivity because you have probably heard it already (but it is pretty darn important). Sometimes it can be super difficult to feel good about yourself, but building a mentality where you appreciate even the smallest achievements and positives about yourself can really help you!

How do I go about appreciating the smaller things?

Instead of saying "I didn't do..." or "I was supposed to...", maybe try to say "at least I..." or "I made a start on...".

• So maybe, you are writing an assignment which you want to finish early and you have set yourself a deadline. You have told yourself that you will have the assignment finished by the end of the day, but it's getting late and you feel yourself getting sleepy. You know that you need to get to bed but you haven't quite finished the assignment. Instead of punishing yourself by saying something along the lines of "I am useless and I haven't finished this assignment and now i'm falling asleep and I still have a bit to do", perhaps choose to say something like "I am super tired because I have worked hard on this assignment. I am further into the assignment now than I was this morning and I have definitely taken steps towards getting it done". Even if you're just saying it at first without really meaning it, once you make it a habit that's where the magic happens and the words start to sink in!

Hello! January has finally come to a close! After what feels like the longest month in the history of the universe, it's time to write another favourites post! It has been a very stressful month and these favourites have helped me to pull through and have pretty much kept me going! I hope that you enjoy this list and I would love to know what your faves were this month!

The beauty products...

I'll mention my beauty faves first since this month has brought me a new skincare routine, some pretty new eyeshadows and some new faves!

I have been lusting after the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette* for so long, since it came out really! I have been umm-ing and ahh-ing for years and I finally own it! This has been my go-to palette all month and I am so glad that I finally snapped it up when it was on sale! I adore all the colours in this palette and the eyeshadows are such great quality! Possibly even my favourite palette of all time!


The food...

I don't normally include food on these lists but I feel like i've had some incredible meals this month and I have found quite a few new faves! First, I want to talk about somewhere I ate out at recently! I finally went to Northern Soul Grilled Cheese in Manchester (near the Arndale) and I am so glad that I did! I had the simplest grilled cheese that they do and it was still the best grilled cheese I have ever had! It's also pretty affordable so I will definitely be back there soon!


This month I also discovered more veggie sweets! I have been looking for great gelatine-free sweets (other than percy pigs) and I think I have found my favourites! One sweet I was most hopeful to find was a good veggie peach rings alternative and I have found that Goody Good Stuff summer peaches are the BEST! Honestly, I love everything about them! Their texture is perfect and they taste so good! The cola bottles from Free From Fellows are also so so yummy! I have never liked cola bottles but I love these!

The miscellaneous...

Another month, another favourite podcast! Get It On with Dawn O'Porter is a witty and interesting podcast about fashion with some fab guest interviews, including Dermot O'Leary, Chris O'Dowd and Dawn French! It is such a joy to listen to!

• Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa
• The Family Jewels - Marina and the Diamonds
• Controversy - Prince
• Ruins - First Aid Kit
• Stoney - Post Malone
• The Pale Emperor - Marilyn Manson
• Ride The Lightning - Metallica