Taking Care Of YOU (the easy way...)

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Sometimes even though we want to make changes and feel better, we don’t really know where to start. When it comes to taking care of yourself, you can do smaller things in the beginning and slowly over time build it up. 

It takes 12+ weeks to build or break a habit, and if you overload yourself with too many at once, it can begin to feel like a chore, not something that you want to do. So here are a few simple things that you can do to take better care of yourself, without the pressure or stress. 

Food

Have you took a look at what and how you are eating? Chances are there’s room for improvement. Don’t worry, though, you don’t have to make a lot of drastic changes all at once. Instead of thinking about a diet, think about a healthy eating plan instead. Find foods that you love to cook, try new fruits and vegetables, and try new recipes. If you find that you snack a lot, then try swapping out your usual snacks for a piece of fruit or some salad. Much about healthier eating has to do with preparation.

Supplements

Taking a supplement can change a lot. If your diet isn’t incredibly well balanced (and even when it is), there are some things that you are probably pretty lacking in, and everyone needs something different. This is where Hundred supplements are ideal. Instead of paying for a standard multivitamin, you can have something that is designed for you and your lifestyle. 

Tech-Free

We spend so much time on technology. Our mobile phones are in our hand almost all of the time. Between that and work laptops we are plugged in nearly all of the time. Using technology too much has been shown to have a negative impact on us. So making a conscious effort to turn off the laptop, leave the phone on the side and get some technology-free time. 

Start Working Out

You don’t need to head to the gym for long, intense workouts. You can do more gentle exercise at home. Starting with Yoga, or even the 30-day shred. A few times a week will improve your energy levels, and the other perk is that you will naturally be more thirsty. So you will be drinking more water - perfect! 

Rest

If you are busy most of the time, you might not notice your stress levels creeping up. Over time these can become dangerous and cause a range of other issues too. Learning to rest properly, or going to bed a little earlier can improve your mood, your energy levels and your productivity. 


If you struggle to sleep, then consider using an app like the Calm app or Headspace to help you drift off to sleep, or to learn other relaxation techniques. 

Work Free

If you run your own business, then this might be more difficult, but making sure that you have strict work-personal life hours will mean that you aren’t working when you should be relaxing. 


Smaller changes add up to a more significant difference over time, and they are more likely to be permanent changes too. 

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10 Ways To Help You Break Hard Habits

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We are the sum of our habits. Everything that we do or think is born out of routines and lessons we have been taught our whole lives. When you allow the habits that you have developed to become bad ones, life becomes a little less fun and a little more difficult. 

The problem is that it is exceptionally easy for bad habits to creep into your life. One minute you’re socially smoking with your friends when you have a glass of wine, and the next you’ve managed to develop a thirty-a-day habit. They’re insidious: they happen when you’re not looking or paying attention. To break bad habits you need a lot of self-control. It takes work to be able to notice that you are doing something unhealthy - whether that’s unhealthy for you or for those around you. The thing is, breaking your bad habits is worth the effort. If you can put your mind to it, you can do it, and it’s as simple as that. Not only do you manage to change your unhealthy habits into good ones, you are able to develop a strong work ethic and better productivity in your everyday life. Hashtag science, yo.

So, with that in mind, here are ten things that you should stop doing and start changing today.

  • Stop Using Technology In Bed

The bed is the best place in your house, bar none. Most people don't realize that climbing into their comfortable beds and scrolling through Facebook is unhealthy. Before you know it, you’ve got into bed at 9pm, and it’s now 3am and you are knees-deep in YouTube conspiracy theories with a subscription to TinFoilHat.com. The bed is the one place you don’t need technology. You do not need to bring it to bed and make your brain stay awake long after your eyes want to sleep. Start leaving your device on a table outside the bedroom or across the room - that way, it’s there for emergencies but not close enough that you’ll sleep badly.

  • Stop Smoking

One of the worst habits to have is smoking. Why? Because this habit doesn't just affect you. When you smoke, you affect everyone else in the vicinity. We get it, it’s a hard habit to break because smoking is addictive. You’ll have noticed that most smokers turn to places like lightfirevapor.com to change their smoking habit into one where they still get the sensation of smoking but they’re using flavor instead. Smoking makes your clothes, hair and skin smell, and it’s something that you want to avoid along with the blackened lungs. Start working to get rid of this habit as soon as you can.

  • Impulsive Internet Searching

How easy is it to spend money online today? Well, Amazon has installed a handy “Buy Now” button to make it easier than ever. Before you mindlessly search online for nothing that will still cost you, stay productive by giving yourself 15 minutes to choose whether you really need what you went looking for.

  • Stop Looking At Your Phone - Mid-Conversation

How rude is it when you’re getting someone’s attention and while you’re doing it, they pick up their phone for a quick scroll? Very, that’s how rude it is. The thing is, you may be doing it yourself without knowing. Keep your phone away from your hands when you’re talking to someone and leave it in your pocket. You want to be engaged and paying attention properly. Don’t be that person.

  • Stop The Notifications

Oh, notifications are the productivity killer! When you’re at work or trying to be present with your family, your phone is going to ping off all over the place. Let’s turn those notifications off so that they can stop being a distraction and you can continue to be present in the moment.

  • Stop Saying YES

Okay, we don't normally advocate for saying no, especially when you should say yes to adventures and to good things. The thing is, saying “yes” to everything in life is not actually a good idea, as you become that person everyone turns to purely because you don't know how to say no. It’s a good way to get used to it and you shouldn't allow it anymore.

  • Stop Being Around Toxic People

Toxic people have a hold on us and it’s because of the toxicity. They know how to get under our skin with gaslighting and manipulation, and so we stay around the toxicity and believe that they love us really. They don't. Make it the thing that you do right now to say no and walk away from those who no longer deserve your attention.

  • Stop Multitasking When You Don’t Have To

In the workplace you need to be buzzing from place to place and doing multiple things. Life has you spinning many plates, but you don't have to do that throughout a meeting, so stop doing it! You don't have to turn yourself in knots for everyone else, so don’t do it anymore.

  • Stop Gossiping

It is so easy to get sucked into gossip. Gossip is salacious, it’s sexy and it’s devastating to the subject of the gossip. How would you feel if people were gossiping about you? We wouldn't like it, either. Gossip is a bad habit and it doesn't do you any good to gain anything from the misfortune of others. Morality check yourself whenever you can.

  • Stop Comparing Yourself

Every single butterfly in the world is unique and beautiful, and you are indeed a butterfly. There is no joy that comes from comparing yourself to other people. All you’re going to do is focus on what THEY are doing with life and less on what YOU are doing. And hunty, you are the focus of your own life - you have to play the starring role. Stop with the comparison, whether on social media or in real life - all you will do is ensure that you put yourself second. And that will never do.

These are all hard habits to break. Have you got what it takes?

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How To Relieve Jaw Pain

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Jaw pain is a common problem. Many people can experience it, and it has a range of different causes. You might find that your jaw hurts at certain times of the day, such as when you first wake up in the morning. You could also have jaw pain that starts suddenly and then won't go away. It can range in severity, from mildly annoying to being so painful that you can't eat or talk. If you're experiencing jaw pain, you need to know how to treat it and how to find the cause. Here are some things you should do if your jaw hurts.

Relieve the Pain

The first thing that you may want to do is address the pain you're experiencing in the short term. While this might not get to the bottom of the problem, it will help you to feel better until you're able to get the treatment you need. Over-the-counter painkillers can be a good option to help you if you're in pain. Ibuprofen and other medications are easily available and effective for mild to moderate pain. You can also consider hot and cold therapy, using things like ice packs and warm compresses to help relieve your pain.

See A Dentist

When you're considering treatment for your jaw pain, it can be hard to know whether to see a doctor or dentist. A dentist is often the right choice, and they can refer you to a doctor if it's necessary. Dentists don't just know about teeth; they're also familiar with how the jaw works. Some jaw pain is caused by dental problems and can be addressed by your dentist. They can do everything from remove wisdom teeth to provide you with a mouth guard to help you stop grinding your teeth at night. They can also treat infections, perform root canal treatments, and carry out various other dental treatments.

See a Doctor

A doctor could also be the right person to see if you have jaw pain. Again, they could refer you to a dentist if they're the better option. If home remedies don't improve your pain and it's interfering with your daily routine, your doctor may be able to help. They can provide treatments such as muscle relaxants or steroid injections to help with some causes of jaw pain. A doctor can also help if you have injured your jaw in an accident.

Learn to Relax

Some jaw pain comes from clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth. If you're someone who does this, some help with relaxation can relieve your jaw pain. There are many ways to relax more and deal with stress in a healthy way so that you're not so tense. You could be surprised by how much it might help to relieve the pain in your jaw. People relax in a lot of different ways, from exercising to meditating, so find what works for you.


You don't have to suffer with jaw pain. If your jaw is aching, do something about it and get help.

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Forget the Dieting Gurus: Go the Traditional Route

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There are thousands of people out there pushing diets and making promises all around the world. If you get on their plan, they tell you, you’ll be able to lose weight, tone up and get rid of those love handles you loathe. The problem with diet gurus is that (at the root), they’re trying to sell a product, be it a book, supplement, or online course. While there’s nothing wrong with this per se, it creates a conflict of interest. Does the guru want to make you healthy, or do they want the money? In reality, it’s probably a bit of both. 

Fad diets, however, are often unsustainable, and sometimes they can lead you to eat foods that are dangerous to your health, all in the name of weight loss. Many, for instance, advocate high fat and high meat consumption - two food categories associated with shorter lives and more disease. 

The key to the puzzle is to look at what thriving populations ate in the past and what worked for them. The inhabitants of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, for instance, had long lives and lived practically disease-free. They ate a diet of beans, whole grains, and vegetables, with the occasional peppering of nuts and seeds. Meat, fish, cheese, oil, and sweets were rare treats - not a part of the everyday diet. 

The following infographic details some of the most popular fad diets and talks about the dangers of going on one of these programs. It then describes the kinds of foods we should adopt if we want to live well for a long time. 


Infographic by USC

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Improve Your Study Skills w/ These Tips!

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If you are looking to improve yourself, you may find that dedicating a bit of time every evening to study is the best way to go in the right direction. However, there are so many different influences that can impact your ability to focus. Perhaps you're not sleeping so well, or you are feeling stressed. But when it comes to studying, there are a few simple hacks that you can take advantage of to ensure that you are focused on the task at hand.

Stimulating The Brain

There are so many ways you can do this, from reading out loud to neurofeedback therapy. Neurofeedback is a behavioral therapeutic modality that works from an operant-conditioning framework (think of B.F. Skinner’s box or ABA in Autism). It provides feedback in real-time, teaching individuals to regulate neurophysiological responses, which ultimately helps improve functionality.

There are so many ways to stimulate the brain (not just in terms of the ordinary things), but by digging deep to bring aspects of your mind out that you didn't even know you had. Neuroplasticity is being discussed more because we used to think that our brains were predetermined, that they were a certain size and that we could only learn so much. But now by stimulating the mind you can do so much more than what you are capable of, and even if you're not ready to go for something like neurofeedback you could try binaural beats. In fact, there are plenty of these online.

The Feynman Technique

We tend to cram lots of information into our brains, and as a result, we end up trying to memorize things rather than to learn them. Much like when we are trying to remember things before an exam, but this isn't very effective at all. Instead, the Feynman Technique is all about explaining it to someone who doesn't have a concept of what it is, like a young child. A lot of people tend to relay information without letting it sink in. If you can't explain it, you won't be able to understand it. By doing this, you are ready to consolidate (bring on the hippocampus) information in your brain so that it's not overly complicated.

Minimize Distractions And Improve Focus

One of the main problems we all have these days is that there are too many distractions around. By minimizing these distractions, especially if you sit at a desk with your smartphone in your periphery, you will work a lot better. It's something that we can all benefit from. Because the internet is right there, we've got to take advantage of the many blockers to stop surfing the web. By learning to increase our productivity, we can find ways to focus better. Focusing on the task at hand means minimizing distractions but also finding ways to focus on the information appropriately. Because we, as individuals, can get overwhelmed by the task at hand, we need to figure out how to focus on one thing at a time. This is crucial when we are looking to study because if we are overwhelmed by the prospect of learning a language, that is what will loom large in our brains. Focus on one thing at a time, and it becomes a lot easier for us all to digest.

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Why Quitting Bad Habits Is So Hard

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Of course, nobody is perfect. However, not all bad habits are equal. Some just might be irritating to the people around you, while others could put your health at risk. Nevertheless, bad habits have something in common: They usually are hard to quit. As a result, many of us feel demotivated and weak when it comes to creating a self-improvement journey. It’s not that we don’t want to become a better person. We don’t know how to make it work! Here are the top four reasons why quitting bad habits is hard: 

Because it’s a habit

The first clue is in the name. It’s a habit, and therefore, it is an integral part of your routine. As a result, quitting cold turkey and without any preparation can be incredibly difficult. Instead, the best approach is to mentally prepare yourself to turn a page by setting a quit date. Keep your goals realistic, though. If you’ve been a smoker for the best part of your adult life, you probably don’t want to quit tomorrow. Instead, you can use your quit date to gradually reduce your intake of nicotine until it becomes bearable for your body to sustain low quantities. 

Because it helps you cope

Why do we develop bad habits? Your habit is a response to a situation. Some patterns are learned, such as copied from your parents as a child. Others are chosen to fill a void. Destructive habits that put your health at risk typically act as a coping mechanism that helps you deal with stressful events. Highly functional drinkers, for instance, don’t drink because they like the taste but because they can’t function without the relief of alcohol. As a result, sober living centers have developed dedicated support to help people not only identify the underlying problem but also manage it more effectively. The same principle applies to a variety of harmful habits. You need to focus on addressing the triggering issues first. 

Because it’s part of your social image

Some habits are developed to facilitate social integration. Social drinking, for instance, is a natural behavior for people with an extended circle of friends. After all, friends who drink together stay friends forever (or so they say). Consequently, it can be difficult to build healthy habits, as you might worry about social isolation, whether you want to quit alcohol or junk food – two of the most prevalent unhealthy behaviors among friends. 

Because it needs replacing

You can’t just drop a habit and hope for the best. When the habit disappears, it leaves a void you need to fill. Smokers, for instance, have an established routine, from the first cigarette in the morning to the last puff before bed. If you don’t build a healthy replacement, you are more likely to give up and return to your bad habit. Introducing a new habit helps you to create a new gesture and pattern to rely on in your day-to-day life. 


Can you quit your bad habits tomorrow? If the answer is no, you needn’t worry. Nobody can quit without notice, because your habit is part of your life. You must detach yourself from this side of your personality to create room for something positive in your routine.


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Foot Pain 101: Tips To Keep Your Feet Feeling Great

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Having painful feet can be a nightmare when you’ve got a lot on your plate, and a lot of people struggle to find the time to look after this part of their body.. To help you out with this, this post will be exploring some of the work which can be done to ensure that your feet always feel great, even when you spend a whole day on them.

The Shoes You Wear

You should always consider the day you’re about to have before you pick a pair of shoes to wear. If you’re not going to be walking very much, comfort doesn’t have to be a huge factor. For those days when you’ll be on your feet for the whole thing, though, it’s worth wearing something which is designed to be comfortable. Running shoes can be a great route to go down, with plenty of examples on the market to look great, along with providing comfort.

The Socks You Wear

Most people wouldn’t think twice about their socks when they put them on in the morning. Different materials and thicknesses can have a huge impact on comfort, though. Some synthetic materials will make your feet very sore, especially if it is hot and you’re sweating a lot. Cotton is usually the best way to get around this, though it will be hard to find pairs which have no trace of the fake stuff in them.

The Way You Walk

Posture, the weight of each step, and the speed you walk at will all influence the way your feet feel at the end of a walk. Instead of stomping, you should aim to rest your feet gently on the ground, as shocks will make the bones inside them fatigue very quickly. You can watch YouTube videos to learn how to carry yourself with as little impact as possible, and this should be easy to learn.

The Treatments You Use

When you find yourself with sore feet, the work you put in to make them heal will always determine how much pain you have to endure. Treatments like Kerasal neuro cream are designed to keep your feet healthy, while also promoting rapid recovery. Using options like this can help you to heal far faster than you would naturally, and this is always a good thing to aim for when you have sore feet.

The Maintenance

Maintaining healthy feet can take a surprising amount of work. Washing them will help with this, but you should also look at removing dead skin to avoid tight spots forming. This can be done with a special stone which will be found in most cosmetics stores. You can also have a doctor check over your feet from time to time, as this will help to ensure that you don’t miss anything which they might see. Also spa pedicures help!


With all of this in mind, you should be ready to start focusing more time on the health of your feet. A lot of people struggle with this side of life, finding it hard to know what needs to be done when they are finding walking too painful, but hopefully these tips help.

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Understanding Causes & Cures of Headaches

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Although they are a common, everyday occurrence, most people don’t really understand headaches all that well. They are something that you might find cropping up in your life routinely, and yet you might not really know where they come from or the best ways to deal with them. That can clearly be a big problem, so you should make sure that you are doing whatever you can to try and get to the bottom of them a little more effectively. The more that you learn to understand headaches and how they function, the more chance you have of either getting rid of them or managing them more effectively. In this post, we are going to take a look at some of the things you might want to know about headaches.

Science Behind Headaches

The main cause of headaches is dehydration. In fact, we can say that the vast majority of headaches are caused by dehydration and nothing else. As such, avoiding headaches at all in the future will largely be a case of ensuring that you are drinking enough water. If you can manage to stay as hydrated as necessary, you will find that you are much more likely to avoid headaches, and that even when they do occur you should be able to get rid of them soon enough once they appear. Make sure that you carry a bottle of water with you everywhere you go, and make a point of drinking from it regularly. That will mean that you are much more hydrated, and that you will therefore be considerably more free of headaches in the future - something that most people would be glad for.

Dehydration

The main cause of headaches is dehydration. In fact, we can say that the vast majority of headaches are caused by dehydration and nothing else. As such, avoiding headaches at all in the future will largely be a case of ensuring that you are drinking enough water. If you can manage to stay as hydrated as necessary, you will find that you are much more likely to avoid headaches, and that even when they do occur you should be able to get rid of them soon enough once they appear. Make sure that you carry a bottle of water with you everywhere you go, and make a point of drinking from it regularly. That will mean that you are much more hydrated, and that you will therefore be considerably more free of headaches in the future - something that most people would be glad for.

Pain Relief

Sometimes, you just need to know how you can deal with the pain. This can be especially important if you have a headache which is lasting a long time, or you tend to get recurring headaches or migraines. If that is something you have to live with, then you should think about what you can do in the form of pain relief, so that you can know how to deal with it whenever it should occur in the future. Some methods like acupuncture will work well for this, so you might want to seek out an acupuncture office you can visit in your area. Alternatively, you might wish to try meditation or something similar to help relieve that pain when it arises.

Migraines

Migraines are a related concept to headaches, but are a little different, and anyone who has them regularly knows of them as a different thing altogether. While a headache is merely a pain in the head, a migraine is also likely to be accompanied by a sensitivity to bright lights, possibly some ringing sounds, and maybe even could be so painful that you can’t open your eyes. In such cases, you might find that medication is important, as that could be the only real way of getting rid of the pain effectively. If you get migraines frequently, you will need to think about visiting your doctor to see whether there is anything you can do to try and make them less frequent and less intense.

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Cardio: Is It All That?

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Most of us spend more time looking after our internal issues, that we can let our physical health dip sometimes. When it comes to finding the best physical exercise, we need something quick, and we need something effective, right? Naturally, we all think about going running. But is cardiovascular exercise in that form really all that?

The True Definition Of Cardio

Cardiovascular exercises are about getting the heart pumping and the blood flowing, and this is the ultimate goal. But when it comes to cardio, we can be guided down the wrong avenues. Cardiovascular exercise isn't just running, it can be lifting weights, it can be brisk walking, there are so many different types. And it depends on what you are after. Low intensity, long duration cardio training is best for someone just starting out. But for someone that's looking for something that pushes them to their limits, you could go for high-intensity interval training or high-intensity short duration cardio training. Find the right one for you based on your fitness needs.

It's Not Just Running

Running is certainly a good place to begin, but if you do it wrong, or have poor form, you could end up doing more damage. You may end up having to get a knee replacement a few years down the line, or you may just twist your ankle really badly. Running is certainly a very sociable activity, but these days, there are as many people saying that running is bad for you. So what's the answer?

Finding Other Ways

As we've already said, it's about getting the heart going, and cardiovascular exercise isn't just about running; it could be weight lifting, which has been shown to be more effective than general cardio for fat loss. It does depend on your goal. If you're looking to lose weight, you need something that's going to hit all the major areas.

Cardio Is Not "Bad"

Cardio had a bad rap recently because it's not been shown as the most effective way to lose weight, but if you want to lose weight, there are plenty of effective methods out there. You just have to be willing to dig deeper to accomplish them. Tabata sprinting is one aspect of high-intensity interval training that can help with fat loss, but is an intense workout which is why many love running (or jugging) because you can go at your own. pace.

Cardio isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it depends on the type of cardio that you want. Remember, cardio is about getting the heart pumping and the blood flowing.

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Are You Holding Yourself Back?

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From time to time, it can be worthwhile to ask ourselves the hard questions. These might be the questions that deep down we know the answer to, but have been suppressing. These are the questions that might help us choose a more healthy direction in our lives, and potentially better who we are from top to bottom. They might help us break out of a period of stagnation, or simply give us the tools to love ourselves anew.

One of these questions, perhaps one of the biggest is - ‘are you holding yourself back?’ It can be important to know if this is the case. If so, you might find that you’re expressing the truth of that in various different ways. It might be that you’re not giving yourself room to truly talk about things that are important to you, or maybe you’re feeling upset that you’re not performing as well as you should be.

Once you ask this question, you might come up with an answer. If ‘no,’ then you’re all good. Anything from ‘maybe’ to ‘yes,’ and you should consider the following:

Mind Your Self-Talk

You’ll often hear a lot of spiritual platitudes when it comes to being kinder to yourself. ‘Mind your self-talk, it is a conversation with the universe’ is one you’ll see often if you follow even one meditation-led Instagram account. But no matter how your personal philosophy has developed, there is some truth to be found here. What do you stay to yourself when looking in a mirror? Do you think “ugh, another day. You look gross. You need to fix your hair, it’s disgusting when it’s not straightened. If only you actually woke up earlier you’d have time to do this. But no, you’ve failed again.” This sounds intense, but some people actually speak to themselves in that register. If you find yourself being intensely critical, why not give yourself just a little more room to enjoy your day? A great method of progression here is to treat yourself as if you were a friend who wishes the best for you. This easy-to-understand idea can boost self esteem, and give you a confident platform from which to operate. If you wouldn’t be friends with yourself, you need to change your ways.

Get To The Nitty-Gritty

HOW are you holding yourself back? Have you been meaning to head to the gym for six months now? Is someone in your personal life treating you terribly, and you haven’t mentioned it? Are you giving all of yourself to help others and when you reach out, you get nothing in return? Get to the nitty gritty of what is making you uncomfortable. It will come if you dissect it well enough. Then you might be able to form some understandable ideas and make some real change, but not if you refuse to examine it.

Give Yourself Space

You’re not going to perfect life in an instant. But provided you have the care and attention to progress on one front, you’re likely to progress on another. Give yourself the space to, and remember, it’s okay to go slow or to fail.

Try making some use of these tips, and see what happens…


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