Tag Archives: summer

anxiety

When I tell you, I’m so excited to be making this post, I think excited is an understatement. Last school year, I really struggled with anxiety. I was super anxious, and really my mental health was not the best. At the beginning of 2018, I was not doing that great. I remember debating about going to therapy with one of my friends and I got to the point where I was like that’s really not for em. But after addressing how much I was crying (I would say like three+ times a week) and how I felt overall, I decided I needed to do something. So since therapy just wasn’t for me, I turned to yoga and meditation. I was determined to get closer to myself and to God.

I’ll say this, I’ve been doing yoga and meditating on a regular basis for years now. But what I did was incorporate it into my daily activities. Before I feel it was more of an “i’m already stress i need to release it”, to more of a preventive measure. Like I go to yoga and meditate to continue being in my space and as a process of releasing.

It was life changing, therefore it was uncomfortable. I have changed the way I viewed relationships, love and life in general. I think all of these changes have been positive. I realized how far I’ve come this summer, when I was working at a summer camp. I was discussing with one of my coworkers about anxiety and I thought- “I haven’t had an anxiety attack in months.” I was nervous to go back to school because my mental health and emotional well being were doing so much better, but I realized that I would just have to implement what I learned into my life at college.

This journey has been full of lessons, but the most important one I’ve learned is I have to put myself first. My second favorite lesson was that I need to be where my feet are. Within the last two days, I’ve had a couple of small anxiety attacks (which were not nearly as bad as they used to be). I decided I needed to go to bed earlier, do some yoga and eat a yummy dinner. I almost instantly felt better. I was so proud of myself and I truly feel I’m learning how to take care of myself.

It’s important to take care of yourself, constantly. Doing so will change your life. Trust me, I’ve done it. 

Summer Hair Tips 

Summer is in full swing, July has just arrived and the heat (hopefully) is coming. In the summer it’s easiest to let your curls be free but you have to make sure you’re taking care of them to the best of your ability. This means moisturizing, conditioning, deep conditioning and oiling your scalp on a regular basis. This summer I’ve tried a few new products I’ve really loved. I decided to try a new conditioner my sister told me about, Ogx thick & full, biotin & collagen conditioner. The conditioner is supposed to promote hair growth and keep your hair healthy. I like the conditioner because of how nice it leaves my curls, and how good it smells (the smell test is so important because you don’t want a smelly conditioner). I use it almost daily with my curls as a deep conditioner. This week I’ve been protective styling, deep conditioning daily, combing out my curls (wide tooth comb) and French braiding my hair (halo French braid, two of them connected in the back). It seems to be working nice. Protective styles for the summer are a must, along with moisturizing your hair. Recently I’ve also done a couple hot oil treatment. I used Jamaican mango & lime, pure Jamaican black castor oil. I left it on for about twenty minutes, washed my hair then conditioned it like normal. It seemed to work really nice on my hair. The newest deep conditioning method I’ve used is one my moms hair stylist told her about. I used conditioner and coconut oil, put that all over my head, put on a shower cap, heated up a wet towel for one minute, wrapped it around my head (left it on for five minutes) and rinsed out the conditioner after. That worked really nice on my hair. Remember that night time styles are important to because you want to protect your curls as much as possible. Happy styling!