Style: Embrace Your Feels – Monki

So when I was sent this Monki t-shirt it gave me a chance to reflect on my feelings and how to embrace them!

Hmmmm. To be quite honest, I call bullshit. Change can be incredibly positive, but it definitely isn’t as good as a rest. In fact, as queen embracer of feelings, I find all change, good or bad, utterly exhausting.

You may have noticed I’ve been a little absent on the blog-front and social media for that matter. About 8 weeks ago I started a new job. I went from nearly 3 years of freelancing to a full time, in-house job. And quite frankly I’m knackered. Totally and utterly exhilarated, challenged and thriving, but knackered. I have always used social media as an outlet, a place to work through my feelings. Good or bad. The community I have built and the friends I have made have been my saving grace. But it’s true that sometimes, social media can also be overwhelming.

Now there’s a saying I can get on board with. It’s true. It’s not a new concept either. Long before social media, there was always that concept of keeping up with Jones’. Something I had been guilty of for so long… But…

I actually think I’m learning and changing. For a while now, I have just found myself not caring. People’s posts or lifestyles that would have bothered me in the past simply don’t affect me anymore.

But why?

I was worried for a while I may have been dampening down my feelings. Ignoring them if you will. But the fact of the matter is, I think I’m learning to manage them better. I feel like I’ve changed. I can feel a shift in the way I deal with things. The way I deal with people. Am I finally growing that thick skin everyone would talk about? Or more accurately am I responding differently to life’s challenges?

I’m learning what to hold onto and what to let go of. I’m choosing what I let affect me and what doesn’t deserve my time and energy. And I *think* that’s the key. It’s not easy. It’s not plain sailing. It’s not always going to work, but right here, right now, I can honestly say I feel the most balanced, honest and real I’ve ever felt in my life.

I’ve made a lot of decisions over the last 4 years based on my own happiness. I’ve taken back control of my life and I’ve become less afraid. I’m not getting any younger, I’m 40 this year and it’s about bloody time I crafted a life that works for me. And the same should go for social media. Craft a space in which you feel safe and nurtured. Your feeds should inspire you, or just simply make you smile!

Mental health is cruel, it doesn’t discriminate. It comes and goes when it pleases. But if you can make your life a little easier and softer, it could just give you a little buffer when the black dog comes sniffing around.

• Create a life you deserve (you deserve the very best).
• Make small changes with big benefits (be selfish, do things for you, unfollow dicks).
• Do what works for you (pjs and tv kinda vibe, great. Party all night babe? Brilliant).
• Live unapologetically (you don’t anyone, anything).

Embrace and acknowledge those feelings. Good and bad. What’s important is how you deal with them. Turn them into lessons.

** I was gifted this t-shirt by the lovely folk at Monki. They are working in collaboration with Mental Health Europe who are committed to the promotion of positive health and work closely with their large network to end mental health stigma. If you’d like to learn more, head to the Monki page**