5 ECO-FRIENDLY ITEMS I CARRY WITH ME

Sunday

This is a guest post by Caroline from Enviroline Blog.

This year is the year of the staycation. As annoying as it is that we can’t go abroad, it’s much better for the planet and it reduces your carbon footprint. Did you know that a flight from London to Rome produces 234kg of CO2? That is the same amount that the average person in Sierra Leone produces in a year! A flight from London to New York is 986kg of CO2, which is more than the average person in 56 countries use per year, including Paraguay. (figures from The Guardian) 

eco friendly shopping bag with recycle symbol on phone
Image by Ready Made on Pexels.

I don’t tend to fly because I really hate going on aeroplanes, but my parents and I usually take the ferry to France or Spain. The last time we went was 2 years ago, obviously not last year! Although I was very much into helping the planet, I wasn’t so aware of constantly carrying around eco-friendly alternatives with me. However, now there are 5 items that I always carry with me - as well as the obvious keys, phone etc. 

Tote bag 


This seems fairly obvious because you need a bag to carry things around in. I’m not really a handbag kind of girl, I’ve always liked to carry a tote bag. I love the fun messages they have on them! The reason why they are so useful is that they can fold down. If you are walking to the shops, you could keep your purse, phone & keys in your usual bag and fold down the tote bag to fit in too. I sometimes do this with spare plastic bags in my tote bag. 

Another great thing about tote bags is that quite often you can get them for free. If you are visiting a uni, most of them will give you a tote bag. Ironically I didn’t receive one when I visited Bournemouth Uni, which is where I am now! 

Reusable water bottle 


When I first decided that I wanted to be more sustainable, I decided to stop buying plastic water bottles. This sounds simple but I get thirsty very easily when I’m out and about. For example, I would be in town with my friend and wouldn’t be able to buy any water because I didn’t want to buy a plastic bottle. Sometimes I had to cave, I mean your health is number 1. Though, this is actually what forced me into remembering to bring a reusable water bottle wherever I go. I now take one with me everywhere! It doesn’t have to be a big heavy one because you can refill it in a cafe. 

Spare bags 


Carrying on from taking a tote bag with you, bring some plastic bags. Plastic bags are made to look really bad and as much as they are awful, if you have to buy one, reuse it as much as you can! If you throw it away because plastic is bad, it will end up going to landfill so much quicker than if you use it until you can’t. 

In lockdown, I quarantined my food or wiped the packages down with antibacterial spray before using them. I didn’t want my tote bag to be contaminated too, so I used to line it with a strong plastic bag. I did that for another tote bag too, for when I was having a bigger shop! Everyone has that bag of plastic bags, they are much better in use than sitting gathering dust. 

Cutlery 


I would really recommend carrying a cutlery set in your bag. This could be a bamboo set you have bought from the shop or spare metal cutlery you have from home. Either way, it needs to be reusable so something that you can wash. A little bag to keep it in is useful too, so that it doesn’t get all dirty in your bag - pencil case size would be perfect. It still astonishes me how shops provide plastic cutlery in the ‘food to go’ section. Saying that, I have also seen bamboo cutlery wrapped in plastic! It makes no sense. I like to include a straw in mine too, some travel mugs include a straw hole so it would be very annoying to forget that! 

Having a reusable cutlery set is great if you are worried about the cleanliness in restaurants. I’m sure that they have a high standard of hygiene, but sometimes I just prefer to use my own. Just before the UK went into lockdown, I had my 18th birthday meal out with my friends and I was so worried about Covid, so I took my own cutlery along. It might seem a bit excessive, but it makes me feel safer. 

Travel mug 


A travel mug is a definite must. You never know when you are going to want a coffee. I feel like it’s just one of those spontaneous moments, like if you are out with friends shopping, I guarantee someone will want to get one. Even if you don’t, you could lend it to your friend so that you are still reducing plastic. I went to Starbucks the other week and was unsure they would let me use my own mug because of Covid. But, luckily they really welcomed it. I just placed my travel mug in one of their ceramic mugs so that neither of us touched both the mugs. It was a super simple process! 
Thank you so much to Lauren for letting me guest post on her blog! You can find me over at Enviroline Blog for more environmental posts, as well as mental health posts. 

What eco-friendly item do you always carry with you?
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WOMEN DON'T OWE YOU PRETTY BOOK REVIEW

Saturday

So I finally got round to reading Women Don't Owe You Pretty by Florence Given and thought why not share my thoughts with you? This is my first time writing a book review so I hope you enjoy and let me know if you'd like to see more of these.


First of all, the book was written by Florence Given, who is currently a 22-year-old writer, artist and influencer - the same age as me!


Women don’t owe you pretty book cover


What is the book about?


It's a non-fiction book that talks all about the different areas of being a woman. There are different chapters about relationships, body image, building an identity and the difficulty in doing this in a world rooted in racism, misogyny and sexism.


It is a mainstream dive into feminism and is easily accessible for those who don't want to read mounds of feminist literature but still want to learn about feminism and the need for gender equality.


The aim of this book is to challenge the ideas you thought you already had about the world, gender and identity. Due to studying a lot of the things the book covers at university, I already knew a lot of what was in it however, this book still taught me a lot and has changed my way of thinking even more.

Related: 5 books I wish I'd read sooner

Additionally, the book is filled with beautiful illustrations that Florence Given has created herself. At times, there are triggering subjects talked about such as rape or sexual trauma, (with appropriate trigger warnings in place) and these images just lift you back up after reading about these topics.


This book is definitely relevant at the moment, in a world where some people may even think what? Of course we have gender equality by now? By reading this book, you will know that we don't in this society still.


Women don’t owe you pretty book illustration


Should you read this book?


I would definitely recommend this book and I feel like this is an important read for everyone. I definitely learnt a lot and feel like everyone needs to read what is in this book. It hits you with cold hard truths that we all need to hear.

Related: The art of blog writing E-book

Have you read this book? What were your thoughts?

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MY JOURNEY TO CONFIDENCE: THE LOW DOWN

Welcome to another post in my The Low Down series, where I basically just chat about important stuff and well, give you the low down.


In this blog post, I'm going to be talking about why confidence is so important, my journey and tips for you to become more confident. It's not easy and I wouldn't even say I'm a confident person, but I guess I just give less of a shit now what other people think of me.


This is so cliche and basically said all the time but life is too short! One day you might die (ok you will just trying not to be too morbid) and if you were to watch your life back at the end of it - you would wish that you just did the things you wanted to do, wore what you wanted to wear and were the person you wanted to be without caring what others think of you.


girl in bedroom with shein sunglasses


Why you need to work on your confidence


For me, I really think confidence would be the answer to all of my problems. You need it for job interviews, relationships, friendships, and loads of other reasons. I am someone who worries and gets nervous about absolutely everything so it comes a lot less naturally to me. This is why I have to work hard at stepping out of my comfort zone.


We feel comfortable around confident people and they are always easy to make friends with because they put themselves out there. However, if you're a worrier like me it can be really difficult, and you might be reading this like yeah right, like I could ever be confident? But you can, firstly you have to try and see what you can do about the things you worry about most.


It's easy for me to say stop caring what people think of you, but that would mean unlearning so many taught behaviours.


Why confidence doesn't come naturally to so many of us


The reason so many of us lack confidence and try to please others is because we are culturally taught that we need to. Through advertising, we are told we need new makeup to change the way we look and cover our "flaws". Have you ever thought, would I even notice this flaw if the media hadn't pointed it out to me? 

This society obsesses over thin bodies and marginalises curvy people. Body types, skin colour, who you love, the gender you identify as, nationalities, disabilities, age - these are all compartments of your identity yet some are more "accepted" than others.

Also, how often do you compare yourself to the people you see online or on TV? Do you ever wish you were them? We are so used to a certain way of looking and acting in our society that you kind of may not want to be any different at the risk of being too noticeable or worrying about how people will perceive you. This is all wrong! We should celebrate our differences and just not worry about what anyone else will think.

If there are people in your life who will change their opinion of you if you start being yourself then I'm sorry, but fuck them! It's time we start learning this at a young age I think. I am 22 and know I have a long way to go before feeling fully confident. But at school, I'd mostly just try to fit in and stay under the radar and pretend to like things I didn't so that people wouldn't think I'm weird. This is wrong again, and I do think younger generations are definitely getting better when it comes to accepting other people.

It's especially hard for marginalised people to be who they truly are. For example, in a society that's values are based on heteronormativity, it can be so difficult for LGBTQ+ people to come out, and be unapologetically themselves. In a world where they can be violently attacked for who they love. 

I could talk about so many things, but basically, the world we live in makes it really difficult for us to be confident in who we are. This is why we all have to actively step up and really try to take charge of our own identities. For the sake of our own mental health, but also encouraging others to do the same and looking out for their mental health too.

Steps to gaining more confidence


Now full disclaimer, I have already said I am not a particularly confident person and I'm not some sort of mental health professional who can really help you sort your life out. These are just tips that I have used to really become happier within myself and have made me more confident in social situations.

1. Stop focusing on the person you should be, and start focusing on the person you are - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.


It sounds obvious, but honestly when you let go of what people and society expect of you and just start doing you and what makes you happy, you will feel a lot better. This is quite a challenge, and as I said earlier, it will take a lot of unlearning of things you knew, but it is vital!

2. Fake it 'til you make it


If you really lack confidence but need it for things like job interviews etc... then really just practice acting confident. You have heard the term practice makes perfect? Just take your time trying to act like a confident person and eventually this will become habitual.

I have been in the process of this lately. one thing that terrifies me is talking on the phone. I will email, text, DM my way out of phone calls any day but as I am adulting, I need to pick up the phone for things more. It still scares me but before each call with someone I don't know, I have a little word with myself like come on you know what you're saying you can do it. 

I've had a similar thing with Imposter Syndrome a lot too, thinking I'm not good enough for things I do or don't have enough followers to be reaching out to a brand to work with them. For this, I just have to think twice and kind of give myself advice that other people would give me. Like, you wouldn't have this job if you weren't qualified for example.

3. Let go of your fear of rejection


Something that stops a lot of people feeling confident is a fear of rejection. This is a scary one because the way to get over a fear of rejection is to expose yourself to it more. Nobody likes rejection, it's human nature, but it shouldn't get in the way of our happiness.

I am watching Love Island at the moment and have seen so many people get rejected on live TV, which some people may think is tragic but it's really not. It's all about how they handle it. If they have been rejected and they take it with pride, like oh well I stayed true to myself that's ok, don't you have a lot more respect for them than if they were to go off on one? So reactions are key!

Another time we can face a lot of rejection is applying for jobs. Honestly, applying for grad jobs after just finishing university in a pandemic was the most I have ever been rejected in my life. Was this because I wasn't capable of doing the job? No. Is this how it made me feel at times? Of course! Then, I did secure a job and remembered how hard it is at the moment and that it is not to do with me.

4. There is only room for uplifting people in your life


In your life, if you put it simply, there are people who make you feel good when you spend time with them, and then there are people who don't. My advice is to only focus on the people who make you feel good. You may even find cutting toxic, negative people out of your life really beneficial and freeing. Each time I have done this, I have been so much happier!

Who you spend your time with is SO important for your mental health, I can't even tell you. There is no room in your life for people who want to put you down or don't want to see you shine. Bin them off. Obviously if possible, some toxic people might be in your workplace or even in your family - tea.

Good friendships are ones with people who want to see you grow. They are happy for your successes, not jealous or trying to put you down. They celebrate you and whatever differences you may have from them and you leave them feeling refreshed, rather than drained.
How has your journey to confidence been going? What advice would you give to your younger self? Also think, what advice would your future self give you right now? Think about your idols and what makes them have the confidence that they do.
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5 TRAVEL ESSENTIALS YOU NEED FOR A TRIP AWAY

As a lot of people are travelling more now, whether that be around the UK or abroad, it's important to know what to pack. Many of us will be out of the swing of it due to various coronavirus restrictions on travel, especially abroad.


For this reason, I am going to share with you a few of my travel essentials. I usually try to pack as light as possible because I hate having to carry heavy bags when I go anywhere, so this will probably be bare essentials and I may miss some stuff out that is important to you. These are just my tips.


woman walking through airport with luggage
Image by Gustavo Fring on Pexels.


5 essentials you need for travelling


1. A separate purse or wallet


Now, this one is mainly for if you are travelling abroad and have different currency. I always like to take a separate purse for my holiday money or any holiday cards so I don't get it mixed up with my UK cash. You don't need to do this, I just find it easier and it gives me an excuse to have another purse. Also, if you have any tickets for anything you can keep them in the holiday purse too.

2. Miniatures


Having small toiletries for travel is so much easier as it takes up so much less space and you may only be allowed under 100ml liquids if you are travelling with hand luggage anyway.

3. Hand sanitiser


I mean this one really doesn't need an explanation but it's just essential to have on you at all times to make sure those hands are clean.

4. Portable charger


If you're like me, then you will need a fully charged phone to take pictures and videos of every waking moment of the holiday. It's also important to have a charged phone in case you need to call anyone or use google maps to find something.

5. Pain killers


Any time I travel, I seem to be cursed with getting a headache. Whether it's from getting up early, or maybe drinking a little too much while I'm away, I always seem to get one. So I would definitely recommend taking pain killers with you. I learnt this the hard way when I went to Mallorca a few years ago. I needed painkillers and they cost me around 5 euros on the resort when in the UK they are literally 40p.

So there we have it. Everyone is different and will have different essentials, and it depends on where you are travelling to as well. Obviously, if you are travelling abroad you will need a passport and boarding passes. If you are going on a long haul flight you will need different essentials - I may write a separate blog post on this.
What is one thing you can't travel without?
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