Self-Care ideas & tips for healthy habits; scheduling, boundaries, decluttering, nature & creativity

So good morning, welcome to a new video. Here in my lovely sunny studio, I have to say the light in here in the mornings is so beautiful. So in this video I'm basically going to be sharing the things I've been doing for my well-being, for self-care and to keep myself with my light shining as bright as possible if you like. And I have been suffering a little bit with sleepless nights, so I think that I've mentioned that a few times before and I know I'm not the only one. So I've done some extra things if you like to make sure that I can kind of lift my the balance on my well-being into the right direction if you like because yeah I've been feeling quite depleted but I slept really well last night so I'm feeling a lot better than last week so that's really really good. And it was one of those mornings as well where I was waking up naturally so that was yeah I love doing that. And what I often get asked in here in the comments, thank you for your lovely comments by the way, what kind of things do I do for my own self-care? So I think over the last few weeks I've mentioned a few things like having salt baths and the basics like good food, good pure water, some fresh air and sleep, things like that. So today I'm going to be sharing, I will be sharing some fresh air with you because I love to share my walks and things like that with you. So there is some fresh air in this video and what else am I sharing? There'll definitely be some painting because that's really my happy place and that really helps my mental health and my spiritual health as well. I get out of myself if you like and I go to a different place and it's really magical so painting is definitely going to be happening in this video. And then there's a couple of other things I've been doing with my self-care which I'll be sharing with you as well basically. One of the things I've been doing as well is taking care of my plant babies which I see as part of my own self-care. So there is the leggy, look how leggy she is, that leggy geranium. So and you can see the flower that's drooped which is a real shame, such a beautiful geranium as well. And those two plants over there next to the geranium they are I think they're okay at the moment, they could do with a prune but because they're flowering I'm going to leave those be and then give them a really good prune when they're finished. And then here is my little plant hospital. So what have I got here? I've got the gerbera, the lily, the polylily and then another one, what's that one? Oh that's a chrysanthemum, that's Jane's but I rescued her in lockdown, she went really, really twiggy so I pruned her right back and she came back but I think she needs a repot and also a good prune as well so perhaps should have done these a couple of months ago but again I just yeah I didn't want to go to the garden centre so anyway I've got those to do, that's the situation and I haven't finished all my repotting yet but yeah I did get on with some of them and the studio was an absolute mess with soil and compost everywhere but it was such a joy to do because they in turn bring me so much joy and I really wanted to give them back some love and I think they make an environment really healthy as well as being beautiful and adding beauty and bringing that joy. I think they make an environment really healthy as well don't they? They absorb things and release things so it makes the air really clean and healthy and some of the plants are really good for EMFs and things like that so yeah I do love having them but they are in desperate need of some plant baby love. I think another important job or role of a plant or a flower is to keep our vibes high, lift our spirits and keep our lights shining bright and it certainly happens for me and talk to them and say thank you of course. So what else to catch you up on then? Oh yes the other thing that I've been doing which I think's really really good for self-care and often gets overlooked I think when we're feeling really flat and low energy I think one of the things that you can do to really boost yourself up is to tidy your space and declutter as well not just tidy up everything but go through your things and let go of things that you no longer need or that you just don't use. So that's what I've started doing in here and it feels really really good and now this whole cupboard so this area behind me now underneath this workbench is almost completely clear and not only does it mean that I can get my knees under it it just means that it it just feels better. It's really hard to explain isn't it but I know that you know what I mean when I say you know when you've tidied something up it just really feels really good and a couple of weeks ago I did my wardrobe out and so I've still got clothes to to get rid of if you like the decisions have been made but I haven't actually got them into the depop shop some of the things have gone to charity shop now I have to say but yeah I've still got things over there that need to be dealt with but under here everything's gone and I tidied up my the oval table as well the oval office and that felt so much better as well and most importantly of all what's happened is I've been tidying up this area here the most important area in the studio the area where I actually paint so I've got much more room and it feels much better and I've got rid of the um the dummy here I've moved her over the other end of the studio and she really doesn't get in the way of over there at all but it just means I've got loads of space around me and yeah it just feels great and then I can sort of wheelie chair over there to the oval office and do my bits and bobs on my laptop and then come back over here and do my creativity so yeah it's working really really well and I think I mentioned in last week's video that I didn't feel completely settled in yet into the room even though I thought I was and I think that was partly because I kind of done the first layer on the studio when we moved in and as you can imagine it's quite tiring doing the move out and then moving in so I didn't sort out every area 100% I just kind of plonked things in the right place and James has sorted and organized where the shop is because he manages the shop and so he needs to know what stock we've got and things like that so he has everything tidy and organized over there the oval office is now tidy oval office I know it is it's the oval office the plant babies have been loved and getting repotted and things like that most of them anyway few more left to do and then over here yeah it's a work in progress still there is a little bit of so I didn't tidy up before I went home because I wasn't feeling great yesterday which is why I didn't film and talk to you so yeah sorry about that yeah it just feels really exciting to come in and be able to see all my art supplies and things I've got and have my projects lined up around me and I can feel myself much more inspired than I was and it's really interesting because when I moved into this room I didn't really know where I was going to create so before we brought any furniture in I kind of had a chair in here and I sat in different areas of the room and then James and I planned where we were going to put the furniture with our paper plan and the paper furniture I don't know if you've seen that video when we were moving in but that worked really really well because this unit behind me my easel easel is really really heavy so we brought it in two parts and it fitted so perfectly here and James had measured it and everything so it was perfect but I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy working this end of the room I'm used to working under a window um so I thought I might want to be working one under one of the windows and my standing desk has the the skylight with the light shining from there so it's really bright over there but what I found is that I seem to work in this corner and with the rules of feng shui and everything like that it's it's one of the power corners of the room because it's a bit of a triangular triangular even shaped room so it's a bit of an odd shaped room lovely but it's a little bit odd and I do find that this corner I just feel really settled grounded and yeah safe if you like that doesn't sound silly and this is where I paint so this is my priority space and as I'm sitting here I'm actually looking over in that direction obviously and I can see there is some stuff I need to deal with um so it's definitely still a work in progress I'm by no means ready for an updated studio tour or anything like that I will do one at some point though because I have moved a few things around and got some new bits and bobs to show you but yeah I love this room I love the light you can see how beautiful the morning light is and yeah this corner is my happy place going out for walks and getting out into nature is the most important thing that we are doing for our self-care right now we've been walking barefoot where we can and forest bathing as well and I love the trees and being around the trees I'm a real tree person it really helps me feel healthy and balanced and supports my well-being in a way I can't really explain and it's the combination of the beauty of the landscapes and enjoying the weather the blue skies and the sunshine breathing the fresh air and just the joy of being outside and feeling free and light James and I have always found joy in going for walks together and we have some times where we chatter away and talk about everything under the sun and then sometimes where we just go into ourselves and have quiet time I really hope there's somewhere that you can go to get out into nature and I think even if we live in an urban environment there's always a tree you can go sit under or hopefully a little patch of grass you can sit down on I think it can't be underestimated the importance of the nurture and comfort that nature brings us the multi-sensory experience of being outside and walking among the tree giants massive massive plants years and years and years old the wisdom of that smells the fresh air everything in combination I'm very grateful for the corner of the world that I'm living in and the nature that's just on my doorstep I'm really looking forward to a summer of being in our camper van and spending a few nights away here and there going to the seaside going to different places and trying out some new walks taking a mini art kit with me and doing some plain air sketching and artwork I'm really is super important we need things to look forward to we need things that are going to be joyful we need to get out there again we need to support our well-being in every way we can and whatever that looks like for individuals because obviously we're all different aren't we we all have our own personal unique tools in our toolbox to help support us mentally and physically and emotionally and spiritually and I think going for a walk the simple act of going for a walk and whether it's going out into the country or into the woods or into a more urban environment or to the coast or the mountains it doesn't really matter just the simple act of going for a walk is so healing especially right now throughout this whole experience of the world going crazy going out for a walk was the one thing that we could still do doing that has sustained me and prevented me from yeah losing all my marbles in this strange strange times I think the whole impact of this long long lockdown is starting to actually hit me as it lifts and I'm not quite sure what that means for me and how I'm going to process all that but I definitely think there are going to be things to process from our experience of this strange world we're currently living in but onwards and upwards we push through and I employ Wendy the warrior to help me with that I think we all have an inner warrior and an inner strength that we can tap into and sometimes we don't realize that that person is is in there until the really hard times hit us so I'm grateful for Wendy the warrior so grateful she's got fire and spirit and yeah even though I didn't talk to you yesterday sorry about that I came in and just had a quiet day and I've been working on this week's patreon video on this little piece here my magnolia and I really like how it's turned out and I put a little quote on there and everything as well so I'm going to finish that today and then I'm giving the footage over to James because he's been editing my patreon videos for me because I just can't do it all anymore so I have been filming and editing two videos a week so this is another thing I've been doing for my self-care I've been looking at my schedule and seeing what I want to prioritize with which is obviously my artwork and seeing ways I can actually release things from my schedule so it's not so rich and full if you like so even though I really like the editing process and the creative part of that and then the outcome of the video getting excited when I upload it and things like that I am finding that because editing takes me anyway and I know a lot of other people say this takes me a long time it just made perfect sense to to ask James if he wanted to help with some editing so he's edited quite a few videos for me now and tried a few few bits of software and things like that and we've kind of found our way of working together and that just takes that off my hands so I can concentrate on doing this filming and creating and really pushing my art forwards so that's another thing I've been doing for my self-care which is working out really really well and then you know sometimes now and again I might not put a youtube video up every week there have been weeks when I've really really thought can I actually do one this week but then something's happened and a video has naturally come about so I'm not the kind of person who likes to force things if you know what I mean a natural organic process of sharing what I hope is interesting to some and maybe inspiring to some is you know my aim here but I don't want to be pushing content out that's just yeah just for the sake of it if you like I really don't want to be doing that so maybe now and again there might be I'm just letting you know now but I'm and let you have a video every week on here because I think it's a really nice way to connect and it feels like a circle of love yeah so yeah it's a very unexpected aspect of having a youtube channel it's brilliant it's brilliant for that and it's a lovely place to be able to express yourself as well so I love that side of it and I wasn't expecting that at all I certainly wasn't expecting to be making vloggy type videos I think I was expecting to be making more sort of educational type things and I know I share things in here like that with that kind of nature and some of my videos are like that but at the same time they're kind of vlogging as well so that's just kind of organically evolved over this space of time and in June I think it's the end of beginning of July I will have been doing the youtube channel for one year and I'm going to do a giveaway I'm going to do another giveaway when we get to the one year mark and I'm going to give away something really really nice as a special thank you so that's going to be coming up in a month or two that's just a little thank you for to you for keeping me company and leaving me lovely comments and making it into such a lovely beautiful creative supportive community and some of the ways that you were explaining to me in last week's comments about how you say no it was so interesting to hear those really really was and I've been sent an email from one of my patreons and she said I can share a few of the things that she sent me as well because she sent me an absolute list of ways to say no and some of them are absolutely hilarious so I'll share a few of those perhaps with you later as well so what am I doing today then today I've got a few things to do I'm going to finish filming the patreon video so I can give the footage to James and he can get on with the editing and this afternoon he's going to pack orders for the shop as well and I'm probably going to edit some of this video for you and I've got to catch up on communications as well so I've got to go through my emails and messages and things like that because I'm a little bit behind with that so I'm really sorry if you message or email or something like that I can't always reply to everything but I do my best and I do try and read everything but yeah I do get behind on that these days and that's partly because I'm really wanting to prioritize my painting and my creativity and a few months ago I was noticing that I wasn't making art as often as I wanted to be and I don't mind doing the editing and I don't mind dipping into my communications but I can't do that for long periods of time because it puts me into um right brain left brain left brain it puts me into my left brain which means then I can't get into my right brain to do my creativity so yeah I'm limiting my time on that now and and that's really for my self-care as well I think building a schedule to support my self-care your self-care if you're a schedule kind of person which I am some people aren't I know it doesn't help them at all but I'm really a schedule kind of person and I need that schedule to work for me so yeah constantly tweaking that and changing things and having James come on board yeah just things like that has really made a massive difference I think the things this year that have made such a difference to my well-being has been having my own room having private space to have quiet time when I need to create private time when I need to film that's just made everything all my content flow so much easier rather than having sort of stop starts from interruptions and things like that I've just been able to flow with it and it's just been really really good so that's been a really major factor for me and then the other major factor has been um getting fly away somewhere yeah so having James on board has been an absolute game changer as well so I'm so so lucky and so so grateful and he really enjoys it as well so it's really awesome it's a so I'm going to end this video here and leave you in peace for now thank you so much for watching and keeping me in the best company and all your lovely comments as well try to keep your lights shining bright as best as you can and I will see you in the next one bye for now bye