How to Celebrate the Everyday

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There are 24 days left until I drive back to Wilmington for the summer. I'm trying to make them count without losing sight of the simple, everyday joys. I was reminded last night how life is far more than last minute projects or wishing for the weekend. Celebrating the little moments -- like the anniversary of a great friendship or a successful outcome to a meeting -- are necessary to living a life of happiness. Enjoying these cherished snapshots of life can be challenging, so below are three ways to find joy in the little things. 

1. Write your joys down.

At the end of the day, write down three things you are grateful for or experienced during the day that had you slowing down and enjoying the moment. These can be a kind smile or word, coffee with an old friend, or a picturesque skyline on your drive into work. They don't have to be over the top or exceptionally unique, just lovely snippets of your life. This exercise opens your eyes to the little moments rather than constantly waiting for the next big thing. 

2. Breathe and engage in the moment.  

You can only enjoy the unique moments if you are paying attention. If you are in a situation where you default to staring at your phone, I encourage you to put it down and be present. Take a deep, solid breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Look around you. What is new? What is different? What is beautiful about your surroundings? Is there someone around you reading a book you love or wearing a pair of shoes you think are wonderful? Tell them, ask them, engage with them. You'd be surprised of the beauty found in green tinted trees just starting to bloom or the quick flash of a smile of a person caught in pure moments of enjoyment. 

3. Always have essentials on hand to celebrate or turn the day around.

While I will freely admit to disengaging with my surroundings or not being as grateful as I could, this is one rule I follow adamantly. I always keep champagne in my fridge to celebrate the little things like promotions and exciting news or to simply turn a frustrating day around. Champagne for me reflects the mood I seek in times of frustration or celebration; it is bubbly, different, and classy. Your simple way to turn a day around doesn't have to be champagne, but something that takes you away from 'the struggle' (i.e. balloons, flowers, a special coffee drink, etc.).

How do you enjoy the everyday moments? 

Tag @yourfriend_em on Twitter or Instagram with your favorite way to enjoy the everyday moment. Share this with people who could use some celebration in their lives. Hashtag #thegreatvibesguide to spread the Great Vibes! Xx

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P.S.S.S. Have you checked out all of the
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The Productivity Trick I'm Using Most This Week

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Emily Schuman of Cupcakes & Cashmere wrote last week on some time-saving tips, and after reading her suggestions, I'm truly taking her number five to heart. It's called the Top Two Trick.

Here's how it works:

Identify the top two most important items you have to accomplish each day -- ideally the night before, and put them at the tippy top of your to-do list. Choosing two items that without-a-doubt will be done by the close of the day means your day revolves around accomplishing those tasks. Depending on how time-consuming or resource-draining those two pieces are of your day, you'll probably get other things done as well! This concept really helps focus your day on what is most important. If you know exactly what must be accomplished, at the end of the day you feel productive while minimizing those overwhelming thoughts that often come with a mile long to-do list.

It's a lesson in recognizing that life is not "all or nothing". You can get very important work done in a day even if it isn't every little thing you wrote down in a panic. For an added bonus, pick the most-involved two tasks of your week and place them on Monday or Tuesday where you have more focus and determination to make it through the week. Come Friday, your to-do list seems downright lovely (even if it's still far too long for anyone not falling in the superhero category).

Just in case you're still struggling to see how it works, take my today for example: I have to do a problem set for my one class and study for a final in another. Both will take about 4.5 hours each. While I am getting this blog post in, meeting with a client, etc., those two are taking the cake in terms of focus. I'll know that by the end of the day, I will have completed that assignment and studied for tomorrow's exam. And to be honest, no matter how stressful or long this day will be, I feel relieved knowing they are a sure thing.

+ What do you do to stay on track?

[UP NEXT: fight anxiety with one surprisingly effective tool]

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5 Signs You Have Anxiety and Don't Know It

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anxiety-underwater.jpg

I've written previously (here & here) about grief and sadness and being okay with not being okay, but I thought I'd share with you something I wasn't expecting at all from all of my emotional mayhem...

I became incredibly anxious.

When I say incredibly anxious I mean outstandingly so to the point of doing nothing but crying and wanting a cup of tea and my bed and my heart rate to slow down. It felt as if there was a weight in my stomach, a vise on my head, and my thoughts raced around unstructured and frustrated.

I'm telling you this because it's not uncommon. These feelings of overwhelm and stress have become second nature to society, a pseudo-desire of hard work and progress if you will.

I'm telling you that's bull****.

You can be successful, celebrated, and revered without stress or anxiety. It's not easy by any means, but it's worth putting in the effort.

Here are 5 things you might not know about how stress can affect your mind and body ...

1. You might be grinding your jaw or clenching it tightly.
When we are stressed, we tend to tense our muscles, like you would if someone were about to hit or punch you. That kind of tension is part of the natural fight or flight response. Tension caused by anxiety or stress is rarely relieved, meaning your entire body is in this constant clench. Cue sensitive teeth and painful chewing.

2. You might have stomach and intestine complications
The gang's all here in the form of indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, etc. Anxiety can make you feel jittery and high-strung, and while it's affecting your mental state and ability to breathe, it's making your belly just as jittery and high-strung, and it'll react by making you uncomfortably bloated or running to the bathroom every so often.

3. You might experience body aches like never before.
Like with excessive grinding of your jaw or clenching it tightly, the rest of your body is still doing that. It might feel like you've run a marathon or just done crossfit 10 times over even if you haven't left your bed. Your body is tightly wound at this point and making you aware of it all.

4. You might be sick more frequently.
When our bodies are on go-mode all of the time, our immune system cannot keep up. Most people suffering from anxiety or stress have difficulty sleeping or eating foods that boost their bodies health and these factors can wear down the body even more, making us susceptible to colds, flu and stomach bugs, and other germs our bodies would normally be capable of fighting off in good health.

5. You might have dull hair and skin or have more breakouts than before.
Stress and anxiety in our bodies release cortisol (the stress chemical, really). This can lead to an excess in oil production on our skin, so we can say helllooooo to breakouts. It can also lead hair to go into telogen phase where it is falling out easily. When we're not eating well or paying attention to our health, we're not getting the vitamins and nutrients our bodies need to survive and thrive.
 

How does that all relate to your life right now? Are you finding there are similarities? Differences? Variations on the theme? Making this post today, I was amazed at how one little word causes so much trauma in the body. But that list is no beuno!!!

Luckily, we have the control to turn anxiety around - most people think it lies in medicine and forgetting all about it (and for some that might work) - but almost always it comes with digging down to the deep, dark, root issues and spend a lot of time asking the hard questions: Why is this happening? What can I do? How is this affecting my life?

In other words, the winner of life (not that there is such a person) is not the most anxious who still manages to succeed. The winner is the person thriving without stress or anxiety and rocking a life of Great Vibes. You have the power to be the latter every single day.

It's time to tap into that power!

Cheers to Great Vibes!
Xx. Em

UP NEXT WEEK:: So I Have Anxiety, What Do I Do About It?

+ What is your experience with anxiety? Share in the comments below!

P.S. I don't know why the font is so small, babes! Technology, I swear ...

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P.S.S.S Have you checked out all of the
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