Just some things I'm really proud of...

This week I have been thinking about the things I'm proud of and I came to the conclusion that I don't just have one thing, so here's my round up of things I'm proud of...

In no particular order -

1. Proposing to Daniel my darling fiance and husband to be. And reaching our 5 year anniversary is another thing I'm proud of too! It's the longest relationship either of us have had and we have both grown a lot in the past 5 years. I'm really proud of what Dan has achieved with work, travel (for work and with me) and just being together.

The ring is engraved and says "Will you marry me?"

He said Yes!

Here we are with our flatmate Loren - photographed by Gareth from Duo Photography -

2. Making a future for myself and sticking with study, even through the tough times, illness and failures. Everything has helped build me up to be the woman I am today. 

In under six months I'll be all done with study and exams... And in less than a year I'll be walking across the stage at Graduation!

3. My nails - just having long nails and going to see my nail lady Serenity every month - has filled me with pride. I used to be a chronic nail biter from anxiety.  

 

4. Furthering my skills through online courses and courses from the university - just creating a better future for myself. To be doing what I love and learning lots every chance I get is amazing.
Recently I completed a few courses over the break from uni with Shaw Academy for Blogging and Content Marketing; learning how to be a Celebrity Fashion Stylist and Event Planning courses through Skill Success.
These cheaply found courses online have helped me to develop skills I didn't know I had to make me a more employable person. I've decided that Fashion Styling isn't for me, but the skills I've gained in learning how to tape shoes and such skills I've learned from these courses may be beneficial in future.

5. Working through my Anxiety and Depression and finding an awesome counsellor and doctor who helped me work through and learn techniques to help me control my panic attacks and keep calmer in exams. I must be doing a great job of it because I sat two exams recently without fear and without having any panicky feelings. So I'm really proud of myself for pushing through the tough times and persevering! I'm also really thankful and grateful for Daniel sticking by me throughout all these times, the good and the bad.

6. Having friends, family and flatmates who are there for me when I need them, and when they need me. They know who they are.

Until next week,
xo, Lisa.

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." ~ Maya Angelou

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

~ Maya Angelo

What I've learned from blogging and a beg for Help

In may 2010 I decided to create this blog, through all the life changes the one thing that has been there constantly is this blog...

It's starting to feel a lot like summer

It's coming into Summer time for us here in Kiwi Land.

I've been super busy organising dinners, and events. And I have another conference coming up next week on top of everything else I've been up to!

The days feel longer and sunnier.

 I'm currently enjoying listening to the birds chirping in the trees next to the car parking building next door. I just noticed that the neighbours cat is playing with a bug on the window sill. Adorable.

If you follow me on Instagram you'd see I've been growing out my nails, they're nicely longer now. Nail biting is a horrible habit to have. I am thankful to have done treatment this year to help my anxiety levels and my mental health overall. I'm using a clear nail polish (it's a top and base coat in one) to just have on my nails so I see it's a little shiney. This has helped me stop biting them, so has to be good.

The tree in the lane behind our apartment is lush with new green leaves, they've been there a little while now, maybe a month or so. It's great to look out and see beautiful nature instead of just bland concrete crisscrossed with graffiti,  spray painted art and other tagging.

The local streets have been pulled up and re-sealed around us too, which made for some construction noise filled nights. Wasn't so impressed at being kept up at the time. But the streets look great. I just hope they won't bleed tar everywhere all summer long! (Has been known to happen if the stones weren't thick enough over the tar).
Luckily I've learned some tricks for tar removal - such as using butter, or peanut butter, on the object that has tar on it. Getting it when it's freshly on helps too.
Just spread the butter onto the tar and then rub it off with something you don't care for (like paper towels) as you'll have to throw it out.

Hope everyone is well where you are.

Until next time,
L.

Fashion clothing and another update

Clothing.
I tend to throw on whichever clothing is cleanest and go about my day. 
I rarely wear make up. (Will that change soon?) 
I put my bamboo brush through my hair and I'm off to enjoy my day. 

Am I unique in 'not caring' about my appearance? Probably not. 

One of my Demons

Today my post is taking a bit of an educational direction - talking about a mental health condition I suffer with  have to deal with on a daily basis. I'm talking about Nail Biting. Onychophagia.

This article is a good one which explains what Onychophagia is and how to deal with it.
For me I think my nail biting started back when I was 7 and had an incident with a cousin with long nails, a tennis ball fight and a resulting scratched eye. Ever since then I'd had short nails, shortened not from cutting or trimming them, but from biting them. It's not something I'm proud of... It is something I face every day to challenge myself and aim to stop doing.

Nail Biting is a Habit, but it's also a mental health condition - technically it comes under an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and as such is not as easy to break as a regular bad habit would be. It takes years to work through therapy and months to see real results.
Treatment varies from therapist to therapist, mine told me that mine is likely linked to my mental health (anxiety and depression) and when those flair and times are hard, bad, rough etc that is when I'm more likely to bite them. I think that is a pretty accurate description, so now my goal is to try and work through those triggers without biting my nails. So using my other techniques to deal with the issue/s at hand, rather than taking it all out on my poor nails.

Here is an article on the medical side of things with Onychophagia and another here.
Here is the wiki. The usual treatment is the use of a foul tasting nail polish containing Denatonium Benzoate - however from using these in the past (such as "stop it" nail biting preventer) I found that it wasn't effective for me - especially since I like to have finger foods I can pick up to eat (grapes etc), which meant I'd have to change my eating patterns and that isn't really a good idea for me.

One of the ways I'm working on being Accountable for my Actions is sharing my photos regularly on Instagram. This means I'm sharing my photos and reflecting on my self. My nail growth in the past few months is big for me. I have White Tips on my nail tips! For me that is a big thing, before I'd bite them before they could get them.

I'm also much more aware of how long my nail polish stays on for... chips on my nails annoys me so I remove it and start again. It does mean I'm re-doing my nail polish every few days or so. I'm slowly learning that using things like a nail polish base and top coat is very important! (I have a couple of base and top coats now)...
Pale colours (closer to my skin tone) don't show the chips as much, so they seem to last a little longer. Dark colours seem to show chips a lot more easily.

I'm also moisturising my hands more now too. Still only once a day - at night before bed. It's become a good ritual.

Taking the time to show my skin some love is having it's benefits too, I'm also taking a multi-vitamin - and my hair is growing more and more too...

There are photos of my progress up on instagram (linked above).