After an amazing weekend watching the Royal Wedding, I spent yesterday mostly relaxing and chilling out. And yes it was also spent mostly on Netflix! It was just one of those days. But I did also spend it writing and taking some photos and updating my Etsy shop. So it was still quite productive. I may have also had a long nap! ?But today and the rest of the week is going to be a little bit busier. So I made the most of my relaxing day for the week!

In a busy and hectic world, we can often find ourselves feeling quite overwhelmed, especially in our busy day to day lives. Sometimes there’s nothing better than having a day, morning or evening all to ourselves and help us to feel more relaxed and calmer. Just by having some me time, it can really help and make such a difference. I thought I would share with you the 6 things I like to do to which help me feel that bit calmer when feeling overwhelmed.

1.  Read a book.

I find reading to be very relaxing. It’s so easy to get lost in a good book and it really helps to make me forget about the things that are worrying me. I get so involved with a book that those worries just start to melt away. My imagination goes wild and I love picturing the places and characters in my head as I’m reading. A few books that I have really been enjoying are Arcam by Jason Minick, Paris By The Book by Liam Callanan, How Not To Date A Prince by Zoe May and The Little Wedding Island by Jaimie Admans. What books are you currently reading and loving?

2. Get some fresh air.

It’s so important to go out and get some fresh air, even if it’s just having a sit in the garden. One of my favourite things to do, which I find so relaxing, is having a sit in the garden and just listen to all of the birds around me and the different sounds around me too. There’s just so much that we miss during our busy days, and it’s so nice to be able to go outside and listen to the world around us. I also find going for a walk to be very enjoyable, especially when the weather is nice. It’s a good way to wind down and take more time to notice everything around us, things that we may not have taken notice of before and go exploring a little.

3. Declutter.

This is something that I’m still working on, but when I do take the time to declutter, it just makes me feel so much better and feel calmer too, as I haven’t got a lot of mess around me. Having a messy room definitely doesn’t make me feel good and I always end up losing things which makes me worry and panic. So it’s nice just to take a little time out and declutter. You never know what you may find, maybe something that you haven’t seen for a while. It really helps me to clear my mind more when things are starting to look a little bit tidier.

4. Paint.

I haven’t really done as much painting recently as I would like to do, but when I do paint, all I am focused on is what’s in front of me and the piece of art I am creating. This is something I really want to do more of because it does wonders for helping me feel better and calmer. You may have seen in some of my recent posts that I really love doing abstract paintings. You can put so much emotion into them and create some wonderful and colourful. I love mixing colours together and experimenting.

5. Write in a journal.

Writing things down is a good way to help express yourself and write down your feelings. It could be just writing your thoughts and feeling down or maybe expressing yourself with a poem or short story. Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, I don’t always feel like talking, so it’s nice to have a journal handy to write things down in. A journal can really be a helpful outlet when feeling overwhelmed.

6. Have a nice warm bubble bath or shower.

There’s nothing better than having a nice warm bubble bath or shower. Unfortunately, we can’t use the bath at the moment, but I love just getting in a nice warm shower, as this helps me to relax and also if I’m feeling a bit tired from being overwhelmed, it helps to wake me up a little too and feel refreshed. But one thing I do love (when I am able to use the bath!) is getting into a nice warm bath with lots of bubbles. If you like candles, you could have some really nice smelling candles around you, maybe even have the lights dimmed a little. If you’re brave enough, you could also catch up on your favourite YouTube videos. (I’m always afraid I will drop my Ipad into the bath, which definitely wouldn’t be good!) Or sometimes I personally like to take a magazine up with me and read. It’s a nice way to wind down.

There are so many more things that we can do to help us feel calm and above I’ve only listed just a few. But these are the ones I find help me. I would love to know your tips for ways to feel calm?