The other day Instagram launched "ask me a question" on their stories someone asked me...

This is a little journal entry I wrote of what I have realised about how my thoughts can impact my life... 


don’t fight it. try accept things as they come. we make things worse when we think about how something should or shouldn’t be when sometimes we just have to surrender to what is. 

embrace life for what it is. I know this is different to my previous instagram post but I wanted to share that not every moment of life is perfect and it’s okay to feel down and burnt out. but I say to myself - just remember to try not to be so worked up. its so easy to get worked up over things, but it just zaps our energy. anxiety is a feeling i’m most familiar with and I am often catching myself out for overthinking and over-stressing. 

but i’ve come to realise life, things, events ... anything is as bad as we make it or as GOOD AS WE MAKE IT. we can make a huge deal out of something and create thoughts in our heads when it doesn’t have to be this bad. it’s easy to run away with our thoughts but its more important to stop, breathe and become aware. 
- life is as hard or as easy as we make it- 

I for one don’t want stress to control my life. So realising that we can actually make things in life easier just by the way we think about them, is huge. They say attitude is the difference between an adventure and an ordeal and i couldn’t agree more. Sometimes we just have to breathe, accept things and try to carry on. 

Stop, Breathe and Become Aware of how our thoughts affect us. 

They say we spend about a quarter of our day if not more, using screens. Unfortunately, in this day and age using screens has become pretty much unavoidable. I am constantly on my computer for work or uni and am always on my phone... This has led to problems with my sleep and my eyes. I don't have a glasses prescription, however, I do get eyestrain, sore and dry eyes almost everyday.  And anything I think might help my quality of sleep - I try. So I decided to give out Exyra's glasses a go. 
















I have come across articles about these types of glasses and their benefits but once I came across a study done by Columbia University Medical Centre that found people who wore protective amber tinted glasses got "greater duration, quality and soundness of sleep, and overall reduction in insomnia severity" I thought this was definitely worth a shot. 







Since using these glasses for a few weeks, I have definitely noticed a difference with my sore eyes. I have also found that it has become much easier to fall asleep at night! Which is a huge for me! Plus I love how they look :P 




Need more convincing here is more info behind Exyra's glasses and their benefits: 

Blue Light Filters absorb and reflect the high-energy blue light that can otherwise strain your eyes.

Reading Enhancement designed to increase the magnification of your sight. Improve your screen time by helping your eyes to relax.

With busy schedules, brain fog and chronic illness sometimes books aren't the easiest to read or commit to. So I have found magazines to be a calming alternative. The way they are broken down into sections and articles make them much more manageable. I love how the variety of topics always keeps me engaged.



So I have been branching out and trying new magazines over the last few months. I wanted to share some of my favourites with you all!

UniquelyMade 

...is a new magazine collated by Leon Ernest Connell. It features articles, artworks and creative pieces from a wide range of contributors. It talks about pain, perseverance and mental health. They are soon launching an online publication too - so keep an eye out! And the exciting news is... I was lucky enough to feature in their Spring 18 issue that came out this month! So go check them out :P

Breathe

I truly love this magazine - it provides insight into the way we live, along with our wellbeing and mindfulness. The articles are a decent size but are easy to read and are always accompanied by incredible photography. I love their ideas for getting creative too.

Frankie

... a classic magazine. I love the variety of their articles from real life stories to rants, observations and crafts. I especially want to talk about an article from issue 82. They featured a fellow blogger and dysautonomia sufferer. Coming across this article was such a happy surprise because it is so rare and touching to read about someone who has a similar condition to myself. It was lovely to read and really brightened my day. I think raising awareness of chronic and invisible illnesses will help sufferers to feel less isolated by informing others. I am a huge believer in sharing our stories and struggles because I think it is a great way to learn, grow and help one another.

Bella Rae 

... is a newer magazine designed for adolescents and young adults. I love how they promote the importance of self-love. As well as the effort they make to teach and remind us to embrace our uniqueness and individuality. It is from Toowoomba and I really love how not only is the production close to home but also the stories they feature.

The View from Picnic Point Toowoomba

A few weeks ago my sister and I ventured off on a 24 hour round trip. We have always wanted to see  the sunflower fields and when we found out the flowers were dying off it quickly put our plan into action.

On our way we stopped in at Lake Apex for a picnic lunch. It's such a lovely place to relax by, with hardly anyone there. It may be lacking in people but not in wildlife -  there were so many beautiful different types of birds.

After we drove all around searching for the beautiful flowers and followed the directions given to us by friends and articles online. A popular route is the 'Sunflower Route 11' of course - HOWEVER after driving this route I can safely say there are no actual sunflowers on it (well not anymore anyway). We called up the local Warwick Information centre - something I would definitely recommend you do if you ever go - and we found out from the locals that the signs are in fact old. The route is no longer laced with sunflowers like it was a few years back. The locals proceeded to tell us the best spot is 1 km from the Glengallan homestead. Having driven hours we stopped at the beautiful homestead on the way and had a milkshake :P

We left at 11am that morning we finally came across the sunflowers at 4pm, but oh my it was worth it. I could not believe how beautiful they were! It seemed almost never ending.



The next day we went to Picnic Point in Toowoomba for breakfast. The breakfast was delicious and the view was amazing! I have been to Toowoomba once before and couldn't believe I had never been to this place! It's so lovely and super easy to get to.

Before leaving Toowoomba, we stopped at the lovely Queens Park Gardens. Toowoomba being famously known for its incredible gardens, as always it did not disappoint.

And that was our 24 hours in Toowoomba. I had a lovely weekend and can't wait to go back to the lovely country town sometime soon. Have you ever been?