MUSIC: Positive Playlist.

Hi, hello and welcome! In a previous blog post where I spoke about being positive I mentioned my positive playlist that I listen to whenever I want a 'pick me up'.

So, I decided I would share with you my positive playlist so you could either make one of your own or take some of my songs and listen to cheer you up too.

Not all songs are new, but they're what make me feel happy :-)

Also, if you want to, you can follow me on Spotify where my playlist is, it's just called 'POSITIVE'.

Tori Kelly - Unbreakable Smile.

G.R.L - Show Me What You Got.

Rixton - I Like Girls.

One Direction - Happily, Better Than Words, Kiss You.

Conor Maynard - Talking About.

Chris Brown - Beautiful People.

Nicki Minaj & Beyoncé - Feeling Myself.

Meghan Trainor - Bang Dem Sticks.

Becky G - Shower.

Jess Glynne - Ain't Got Far To Go.

Jojo ft Bow wow - Baby It's You.

James Arthur - You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You, Certain Things, Recovery, Get Down, Is This Love?

Rita Ora - I Will Never Let You Down.

Justin Bieber - Thought Of You, Be Alright, Confident.

Rihanna - Lost In Paradise, Do Ya Thang, If It's Lovin' That You Want, Music Of The Sun.

Beyoncé - XO, End Of Time.

Mariah Carey - Fantasy, I'll Be Loving You Long Time.

Ariana Grande ft Zedd - Break Free.

Daniel Huttlestone, Cast Of Into The Woods - Your Fault. 

Cheryl - Crazy Stupid Love.

Katy Perry - Roar.

Coldplay - Yellow.

Clean Bandit ft Jess Glynne - Rather Be.

McFly - Room On The Third Floor, Cherry Cola, Love Is Easy.

Kanye West - POWER.

Karmin - Broken-hearted.

Jason Derulo - Want To Want Me, Wiggle.

B.o.B - So Good, Don't Let Me Fall, Both Of Us ft Taylor Swift.

Bob Marley - One Love.

Jessie J ft Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang.

Taylor Swift - Mean, 22, Welcome To New York, Red, Mine.

Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks.

Jhène Aiko - Bed Peace, W.A.Y.S, Brave.

Cassidy - Hotel.

Destiny's Child - Say My Name, Girl.

Aaliyah - More Than A Woman.

Justin Timberlake - Señorita, SexyBack.

Fabulous ft Ashanti - Into You.

Whitney Houston - It's Not Right But It's Okay, Million Dollar Bill, My Love Is Your Love.

TLC - No Scrubs.

The 1975 - Girls.

HAIM - If I Could Change Your Mind, The Wire.

Imagine Dragons - On Top Of The World.

Sigma ft Ella Henderson - Glitterball.

Nicole Scherzinger - Your Love.

Trey Songz - Bottoms Up ft Nicki Minaj, LOL :-) ft Gucci Mane.

Little Mix - Move.

Cody Simpson - Pretty Brown Eyes. 

Stooshe - Hoochi Mumma.

Olly Murs - Beautiful To Me, Up.

The Vamps - Somebody To You, Last Night.

5 Seconds Of Summer - Good Girls.

Magic! - Rude.

Ed Sheeran - Tenerife Sea, Little Bird.

There you have it! My positive playlist :-) Until next time..

Natalie xx

Positivity.

Hello, Hi and Welcome! Today's post is all about staying and/or being positive.
“Having a positive mental attitude is asking how something can be done rather than saying it can’t be done.” Bo Bennett. (link) 

Now, I wouldn't say I'm the most positive person(although I try to be) but I also wouldn't say I'm a pessimist, I'm what is known as a 'realist'. I don't live with my head in the clouds and I think more about the outcomes and consequences of situations more than just going through with something.

This past year I am definitely the happiest I have ever been, I've passed at college, I've moved out of my family home and I've worked and earned my own wage. This past year I have also learnt a key skill that I will carry with me forever; How To Stay Positive.

Naturally, as any other human being I am still learning and I'm still trying out different ways myself because sometimes I do something too much and it bores me and doesn't have the desired effect.

But I wanted to share with you my ideas of how I like to have to a positive mindset.

MUSIC.

I don't know about you but I LOVE music.

 I have found that I constantly have to have music on around me, and thanks to the wonder that is Spotify, I can make playlist after playlist of my favourite tunes and name them whatever the hell I like.

I have quite a few playlists such as; FEEL GOOD, 90'S, 00'S and DISNEY(don't judge me it is GREAT). But I also have a private playlist called POSITIVE. I play this playlist whenever I feel down, upset or if I need a pick me up for no apparent reason.

My top songs in my POSITIVE playlist are:

One Direction - Girl Almighty, Ready To Run, Happily, Better Than Words, Alive, Heart Attack and of course, the oh-so classic; What Makes You Beautiful.

Ariana Grande - Piano.

Carly Rae Jepsen - I Really Like You.

Rihanna - You Da One, Right Now, We Found Love, Cheers To That, We Ride.

Rixton - I Like Girls, Appreciated, Wait On Me.

Jason Derulo - Trumpets, Want You To Want Me.

Sigma - Nobody To Love.

Beyonce - Diva, Freakum Dress.

G.R.L - Ugly Heart, Show Me What You Got.

The 1975 - Chocolate, Girls, Talk, She Way Out.

Jhene Aiko - W.A.Y.S.

The playlist has five and a half hours worth of songs so I could go on, and on(but I won't).

I think music is one of the quickest and best ways to make you feel better, you get to decide what you want to listen to, maybe discover new songs you love(who doesn't love that?!) And it can also be very relaxing too.

LOOK FOR THE POSITIVE THINGS IN YOUR LIFE.

This isn't the easiest of things to do - I know that from personal experiences(believe me) but whatever it is you're going through, try to take a step back and list five positive things you can think of right now. This could be something as simple as drinking your favourite brand of chocolate(dairy milk obviously) to thinking about a holiday you're going on in the near future(lucky).

No matter what it is; find what makes your happy.

On Wednesday, I felt quite low and unhappy, and my music wasn't exactly getting me anywhere so I took to my trusty notebook and listed five positive things, these were my five:

1.  I'm moving to Berlin imminently.
2. Get to see Charlotte(my school best friend) tonight.
3. It's my birthday in exactly a week.
4. I feel really healthy at the minute.
5. It hasn't rained although it said it would.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE VIBES.

"To be able to stay positive it is essential to have influences in your life that support you and lift you up instead of dragging you down." (link) 

 Growing up we're shaped and influenced by our surroundings; friends, family, music, celebrities, school, lifestyle choices etc. It's easy as a child or a teenager to feel a pressure to be a certain way, look a specific way, act a certain way but this all down to our surroundings - what we choose and decide is acceptable is totally down to us.

Luckily for me I'm probably the most difficult person to pressure into doing anything(yay for stubbornness), I won't do anything I think is even the slightest bit dangerous. As a teenager I don't think I was necessarily influenced that heavily by my friends.

I was however, surrounded by a mixture of people, and although I wasn't influenced by them physically, I was emotionally. There was a point in my life during college where I wasn't happy at all with my friends, I felt very out of place, very unhappy with myself and very self-conscious.

It took me some time but I eventually realised once I made some new friends that it wasn't me, it was who I decided to be friends with - who I surrounded myself with.

• If you're friends with people because they're 'cool' but make you unhappy - Get new friends.
• If you're unhappy with the friends you have because they make you second guess yourself - Get new friends.
• If your friends make sly comments or make you feel belittled - Get new friends.

Get my drift? Good.

SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD VIBES PEOPLE.

DON'T WORK YOURSELF UP.

If you're upset or worried about something the worst thing to do is stress yourself out so much to the point you start to panic and overthink (I'm a key example of this, I've done this so much in the past - it's exhausting).

At the end of the day, stressing and working yourself into a frenzy doesn't solve anything, it only raises your blood pressure, increases the likelihood of an early heart attack AND makes your cat flick eyeliner you spent a good ten minutes on run half a mile down your face.

Whenever I feel stressed or under pressure I always do one of five things:

1. Listen to calm music. (I have a playlist on spotify with just calm music. If your favourite artists don't calm you down, try whale music - it's supposed to work).
2. Go for a walk for around twenty minutes(whilst listening to music) just to get out of where I am that is making me stressed. (Can I just advise that if you are stressed in a working environment i.e: school, work, college please don't just get up and walk out..)
3. Talk to someone close about it. For me, this is my mum. I tell her everything and she always gives the best advice. If I can't talk to my mum I usually go to my friend Minty because she is amazing with advice as well as cheering me up.
4. Read a book. 
5. Buy an adult colouring book. You can buy anxiety and/or stress-free colouring books, they are so useful especially for me as I can go through phases of having really bad anxiety.

EAT AND SLEEP REGULARLY.

Whenever I was told I needed to eat and sleep better I would roll my eyes and say I eat fine and sleep well. But in actual fact I didn't. I went through a time in my life where I'd eat two meals a day(skip breakfast) and sleep for around four or five hours.

But when I found out how bad that actually is for you I quickly changed my ways. You might not think it; but sleep is so important for you, you need it just like you need food and water. It's not just something you do so you aren't tired anymore, but it's actually important for your mental well-being too as your brain works over-time whilst you snooze. Without sleep you are more likely to pick yourself apart and stress.

I'm a fussy eater - too fussy in fact. And I always find something I don't like more than what I do like, but this past year I have worked on eating little and often just so I have something in me.

Important things to know/remember:

• Starving yourself will NOT make you; cool, thin, accepted, an idol.
• Breakfast IS important.
• It's okay to have fast food but make sure you aren't eating it regularly.
• Even though you can't see it, you need to look after your heart and make sure you choose wise food options.
• Drink plenty of water!
  
  
  

I hope I haven't sent you all to sleep with this post and you have taken some(I hope) things into account. I'd like to think at least one person has had some inspiration!

Thanks for reading - I'm genuinely going to go and colour in now.

Until next time..

Natalie xx