10 THINGS TO START DOING TODAY THAT YOUR FUTURE SELF WILL THANK YOU FOR

This post is kind of a tips post - state the obvious love... - and if I'm being totally honest, I'm always a bit hesitant producing tips post. You see, I love reading them, I love coming away from a post with knowledge and feeling like I know the writer a little more. But when I make them myself? Despite the fact that I love writing them and sharing some completely pointless useful tips, I kinda' feel like a bit of tit at times. I think it's the fact that I'm not very confident/have the self esteem of a pea (anybody else look in the mirror and see Princess Fiona Shrek staring back at them?) and have an ingrained lack of self confidence that makes me feel like no one will give a shit care about what I have to say. And they probably don't, but here's the thing... I feel like a lot of blogs have become all about what they think their readers want to see, or what will become popular on the Bloglovin page, rather than what they actually want to talk about. And whilst I love making posts that my readers will love - any special requests Mum, just let me know... - I also think it's important to think about why you started in the first place, to share information/photo's/knowledge/[insert your own random blog post preference here] that you want to share.

Jesus Christ, move over Oprah!

So today I'm growing some balls and writing about little changes or choices that you can make, that your future self will thank you for. Because whilst I'm all about living in the moment - "I am eating this Kebab and I am thinking about nothing else" ;) - I also think it's important to invest in the future, because there is no better time to make a change than now.

Let's move on to the post before you all gag from the level of cheesiness in the above preaching shall we? Yes you say? Great, here goes...
1. Exercise - I thought I'd start with the obvious/slightly boring one, and that is to start exercising. Anyone that knows me will probably spit their tea out with laughter reading this point because I am notoriously fat, lazy, sloth-like loathing of exercise. In fact, I don't loathe exercise... I just don't do it. At all. And this needs to change because a) I will not have this metabolism forever and eventually thrice weekly Indian takeaways are going to start sticking (preferably to my arse #MoveOverKimmyK) and b) more importantly, exercise isn't about "looks", it's about health. I am incredibly unfit and can just about make it upstairs without keeling over... so very recently, I made a pact to start getting into this fitness thing. I started with Yoga - and more specifically Yoga with Adrienne - and I finally get Yoga. It's so relaxing, it's fantastic for people with overactive minds that struggle to shut off, it's brilliant for zoning out of day to day stresses... basically, it's something that I will continue to do for the foreseeable future, alongside introducing some form of Cardio (that doesn't include shopping) because I know that my future self will really thank me for being flexible, able to zone out/switch off, and able to actually make it to the top of the stairs without having a heart attack.

2. Healthy Eating - Along the same (slightly boring, soz) line as exercise, is to start making better choices food wise. Having been diagnosed with coeliac disease 5 years ago, I do actually have quite a lot of knowledge about good nutrition. The problem is, it's hard to chose kale upon kale upon avocado upon some more Kale when at the moment my metabolism can more than handle multiple takeaways and outrageous portion sizes. Recently I had a bit of a breakthrough with this mindset however. My health isn't amazing, and hasn't been for over 7 years now.... and I can't control that. There's nothing I can do about that whatsoeve. But what I can do, is feed my body with goodness and give myself the best chance at good health that is possible for me. This doesn't mean no junk ever - I am all about "Exercise? I thought you said extra fries" - it's just about making better choices for the majority of the time.
3. Read - on the subject of reading; did you know that according to the NHS, those that read regularly are at a much lower risk of developing dementia. Incredible, right? This is why we should all be reading more. Not only does it broaden your horizons, keep your mind healthy... but it's also an amazing feeling to get lost in a book, taking you away from your daily worries. If only for a little moment.

4. Save your money - If you are anything like me i.e love all the clothes, all the makeup, all the homeware etc. then I know that this will be hard for you too. I'm not saying don't spend anything, I'm just saying maybe don't buy that pink lipstick that is almost identical to 15 others that you already have. [insert guilty face emoji here] One day you'll need a deposit for a house, or savings for rainy days, or a baby to provide for (#ShitABrickTimes) and having that little pot of money saved can really relieve the pressure at those times.

5. Make time for fun - This is something that I definitely need to "practice what I preach" in. I'm a freelancer (full time Blogger, occasional TV Producer and writer) so while I have the option to chose my hours, to go out and have fun whenever I want, I don't. I wake up at 6:30am and I pretty much work through to 10pm. Which is fine, I love my work and I'm used to working hard... but this isn't sustainable, and eventually you will burn out. I now make an effort to take one whole day off per week, and odd hours in the week to go and see friends, or go shopping, or just go to a park and read (Sometimes I am just far too rock 'n' roll for my own good ;) #Granny) and I feel so much happier and relaxed for it.
6. Take a leap of faith, follow your dreams - Can we just take a moment to appreciate just how cheesy that phrase was? 'End of a Ryan Gosling movie' eat your heart out. You know that hobby that you can't stop thinking about, the one that you're constantly dreaming about but doesn't seem very achievable so maybe you'll just leave it? Stop right there girlfriend. There is nothing that you can't achieve if you put your mind to it and work your bloody arse butt off. Dream it, plan it, work for it, make it happen. Not happy in your current job? Leave. Save some money to keep you going for a few months to follow your passion. That's actually exactly what I did at the end of last year and I genuinely couldn't be happier!

7. Don't compare yourself to others, be exactly who you are - For me, this is probably the most important lesson I learnt/thing that I changed am attempting to change. Growing up, I constantly felt like I never "fit in". There were so many things that I wanted to do, clothes that I wanted to wear... but was filled with embarrassment and the lack of confidence to just be me. I think this is definitely something that comes with age and at the grand age of 22, I finally feel like I know exactly who I am. (A bit of a twat? A complete granny, loser?) A deep thinker, an over-analyser... but someone who chased a dream. I'm really proud of that. That doesn't mean to say that I've got this "Yo, I'm me, I'm happy, I never compare myself to anyone" [*insert yoga "om" sound effect here*] thing down... because I haven't. I constantly compare myself to others and in the process, am generally left feeling pretty shit. But another thing I've learned with age - Hi, I'm, Elle and I'm officialy old - is that it is so time consuming and quite frankly, exhausting to compare yourself to other people. So what, if someone has better hair than you, so what if someone's prettier than you, so what if someone has more followers than you... put things into perspective; you're alive, you're well and you're loved. Surely that's all that matters right?

That's not to say that if a fairy godmother plopped on to earth and offered to transform me into Rosie Huntington Whitely that I wouldn't happily oblige... but small steps eventually make a big difference and all that ;)
8. Start each day with a grateful, positive heart - Okay, don't worry, I haven't gone all Hippy/Tree hugger on you, what with this and the yoga and all... but I do think it's so important to put life into perspective. It's so easy to stress over trivial things - I am a perfect example of this "I feel so down about my blog today" Get over yourself you pathetic bitch - but keeping things in perspective, realising how lucky you are and starting the day with gratitude and positive thoughts, really does make a huge difference to your mindset, and generally just your day.

9. Travel - This is the one thing that I am really falling short on. (Well, in reality I probably fall short on a lot of these things but especially this one). I haven't seen anywhere near enough of the world... and this eventually needs to change. Over the last 6months or so I really pushed this "goal' and explored Dubai - stunning - Cyprus - unbelievably relaxing - and New York - mind blowing, don't even get me started - and I can't wait to expand that list. Travel is expensive, but experience is priceless (... so I tell my seriously pissed off bank account)

10. And finally, the most important of them all... buy the shoes. Because nothing haunts you lke the clothes you didn't buy. And because YOLO, and absolutely no other reason is necessary ;)
I'm going to wrap up this beast of a post here, because I am clearly not doing so well with my "Don't bore your readers to death you boring bitch" New years resolution. This is a different post for me so I really hope you enjoyed it. I would love to know which changes you think you could make that your future self would thank you for? Are there any points in this post you agree with? I would love to hear your thoughts :)

As always, thank you so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed this post!

xx

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