7 Ideas for Lifting Your Spirits

Dessert, hot chocolate and some good books lift our spirits on a dreary day

In order to live a long and happy life, it is important that you make the most of every day. You need to make sure that you are enjoying every moment and that you always have a smile on your face. Otherwise, you will end up looking back in regret. If you are wondering how you can embrace a more positive frame of mind, continue reading. Below are seven ideas for lifting your spirits.

Put a smile on your face

Smiling is a fantastic way for you to improve your mood instantly. Even if you are feeling down, a smile can trick you into thinking that everything is better than it seems. If you are really struggling to crack a smile, why not visit treat yourself to a joke of the day? This is a great way for you to ensure that you always find something to smile about. It will also help you to have positive interactions throughout your day, as you can share your joke with close friends, family members, or work colleagues.

Take up exercise

Another option is to take up exercise. This will help you to feel more body-confident and to take better care of your health. Not only this, but exercise results in the release of endorphins. This chemical will instantly lift your spirits and provide you with the energy that you need to get through your day. If you are struggling to find an exercise regime that appeals to you, make sure that you think outside the box. Ideally, you want to take up a physical activity that is plenty of fun. It should also be something that your loved ones can get involved in. This will make it a positive experience from start to finish and will prevent you from giving up. You could attend a spin class, enjoy aqua aerobics at your local pool, or sign up for a kickboxing session. The most important thing is that you are having a go. Don’t focus on losing weight or looking good. Instead, you should be concentrating on the way that exercise makes you feel.

Invest in your social circle

You should also make sure to do plenty of socializing. If you are struggling through a difficult time, you will need to have someone to lean on. Or, if you are accomplishing wonderful things in your life, you will need to have someone to share this with. If you already have plenty of friends, make sure that you invest in these relationships. Set aside some time each week to get together with your loved ones. You could invite them round to your house, put together a night out, or plan an exciting activity for you all to enjoy. Alternatively, if you don’t have a lot of reliable contacts, why not try to make new ones? You could download an app, attend a class, or take up a new hobby. Just make sure that your life is filled to the brim with people that want to see you happy and always make you smile.

Give yourself a makeover

If you are going to enjoy high-spirits, self-love is important. You need to take care of yourself and to remind yourself that you are worthy of love and appreciation. One of the best ways for you to do this is by indulging in a makeover. You could try out a new hairstyle, update your wardrobe, or treat yourself to a day at the spa. The most important thing is that you are happy with the end result. Your makeover should leave you with a new lease of life and a new sense of confidence. Once you have completed your transformation, why not finish with a celebratory photoshoot? Don’t worry, you don’t have to take it too seriously. Instead, you can invite your loved ones round and have a little fun. Then, you can frame your favourite images from the day.

Enjoy comfort food

Even if you are devoted to healthy eating, you are still allowed to break the rules from time to time. Every now and then, you should indulge in some comfort food. This is the perfect way for you to relax at the end of a long day. It is also a great way for you to treat yourself and to have fun with the food that you are eating. Make sure that you experiment with a number of different recipes, until you find one that leaves you truly satisfied. It should smell delicious, look divine, and taste amazing. If you want to be really indulgent, you could even purchase a pre-prepared meal. This will remove all of the stress from the process and will save you from the washing up.

Surround yourself with positive vibes

Make sure that you spend your days surrounded by positive vibes. Everywhere you look, there should be another reminder of the things that you are grateful for. Perhaps you could frame your favorite holiday memories. Or, maybe you could pin up motivational quotes. Whatever you decide, just make sure that you are never short of a reason to smile. This will be especially useful when you are struggling through a difficult day. It will also come in handy when you lack self-confidence or are wrestling with a difficult decision.

Visualize a positive future

If you spend a lot of your time worrying about the future, this could seriously affect your levels of happiness. That is why you need to plan ahead. This will stop you from stressing, and will help you to look forward to the days you have in front of you. Why not create a mood board to help you with this process? You could even create several: one for your career goals, one for your relationship goals, and one for your overall life goals. During this exercise, you will need to make sure that you are using plenty of bright colors, powerful words and phrases, and striking images. You will also need to display your mood board somewhere where you will see it every day.

Get $3 When you Sign up for Swagbucks in December (US)

If you haven't tried Swagbucks before, you can get a bonus $3 for signing up as my referral during December. Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you're probably doing online already, like searching, watching videos, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, or PayPal cash. 

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a $3 bonus! Here's how: 

1. Sign up using this link 

2. Earn 300 SB total before 1/1/18. You'll get a $3 (300 SB) bonus for it! 

3. If you want even more bonuses, you'll get a $10 (1000 SB rebate) bonus for making your first shop purchase! That's in addition to the SB you earn for every dollar you spend.  

That's it. It's super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I've earned 105,517 Swagbucks since joining, which is $1,055, and I transfer it to PayPal normally and use it to buy birthday gifts, Christmas gifts, and other things we need around the house like printer ink and Teaching Textbooks math off of eBay :-) 

Juggling Fitness And Family: Here's How It's Done

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As we all know, fitness is super important to help you lead a happy and healthy life. However, it can be difficult to squeeze it into your daily routine. Especially if you have a family to look after. Are you finding it hard finding time to hit the gym or enjoy sport? Well, don’t panic! Here are my top tips that can help you efficiently juggle your fitness and family.

Cook Healthy Meals

One of the first steps you need to take to get fit is to start following a healthy diet. The best way you can ensure all your meals are fresh and nutritious is to cook them from scratch. So start preparing delicious home cooked meals for you and your kids. If you are trying to eat super healthily, there is no harm in getting the whole family on board. It will do you all the world of good! Be sure to use lots of fresh, local produce. This will help you to support local businesses as well. Completely new to cooking? No worries! Learning the basics isn’t too hard. Once you can successfully make one delicious meal, move on to teach yourself another one. Try and learn one every fortnight. That way, you will have a good cannon of meals that you can cook for your family within no time at all!

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Take The Kids For A Stroll

This is a great way to spend time with your kids, and you can do it with them at any age. Even if they are just babies, you can take them for a short stroll in their stroller. In fact, taking them for a walk can help them drop off to sleep! It is also a good idea to walk the kids to school if it is close enough. You won’t be burning any calories by taking them in the car. You will find that walking them to school easily fits into your daily schedule, and it is a great time to chat with the kids before you leave them at school. It is also far less stressful than driving through all the school run traffic! Not only that, though, but this is a great way to get your kids into walking and keeping fit.

Enter A Family Race

Do you love running marathons? Well, you don’t have to give up just because of the kids. In fact, many running events now host family fun runs alongside the main event. They aren’t too far, so even young kids can join in on the fun. Normally, the children’s race is just three miles. And it is perfectly fine for young children to walk it! So you can sign your whole family up to take part in the fun run while you are trying to beat your personal best in the big race! There are lots of family fun runs held in many towns and cities. Find your nearest one to you and get out there training with the kids!

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Get Support From Friends And Relatives

If you and your partner work different shifts, you might find it difficult to find any time to go to the gym when he is at work. There is one easy solution, though. See if one of your friends or relatives can look after the kids while you are at the gym. Try and keep your workout sessions to just an hour so that the kids don’t have to stay too long with their childminder. If no one is around to look after the kids, then try and find some time to hit the gym when they are at kindergarten or school. Head to the gym just after you drop them off at school. That way, you won’t have to rush your workout by going on the way to pick them up!

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Become A Part-Time Coach

Love sports? Then why not sign up to become a part-time coach? There are many local youth teams that are always on the lookout for new volunteers. You could even take your kids along to get them interested in a new sport. And at least, if they are playing on the team, you won’t have to find anyone to look after them for you! Volunteering as a sports coach is a great way to give something back to your local community as well. And it has the added bonus of making sure you keep fit throughout the week!

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Take A Look At Your Schedule

When was the last time you reorganized your weekly schedule? Okay, so you may not be able to change the kids’ hobbies and clubs, but you might be able to shake up your own schedule of chores. And by doing so, you could find that you free up some extra time when you can squeeze could work out in your home gym. Even if you just spend a few minutes on your machines, there are still many rowing machine benefits you will get. You might also find that if you give up an hour of TV in the evening, you could have an extra hour of working out! Next time you have a short break, take a quick look in your weekly planner. You might find that organizing your time better means more time for the gym! If you're like me and don't want to leave the house, check out the best home gym equipment!

Head To The Park

I bet your kids love visiting the park. There is so much for them to do, from feeding the ducks to playing on the swings. And you can take advantage of being outside! The park is a great place for you to workout in. While the kids are busy in the play area, why not do a couple of quick laps? If you invite a friend who has similar aged kids, you can each take it in turns to watch the kids while the other one does a quick workout. Even if you play with your kids, you will be burning calories. One cool idea is to do a few reps on the monkey bars!

So, as you can see, being busy is no longer an excuse for passing on a workout! There are plenty of ways you can free your time for the gym!

Tips for Grabbing Bargains on Your Christmas Gifts

McLoughlin Christmas 2016

Christmas is approaching fast. This is a merry season full of love, joy, appreciation and, most of all, giving. Gifting or giving is the whole reason for the season. However, with the many friends and family members you have, it may be difficult to know for sure what to buy and what not to. However, there are some things you that you should know to be able to buy a gift that a recipient will enjoy and appreciate. You do not want to be those people who buy gifts people will not appreciate.

Save Money Beforehand

Although retail outlets offer amazing discounts during this season, you will still not be able to buy all those gifts if you are not going to save. Saving before you go to buy a gift such as the iPhone will help you have enough money for it. There are many high-value items that are on sale during Christmas. The best way to get the best deals is to ensure that you know which products you want to buy. Most high-value items are only available for a limited period. Therefore, do your research and ensure you find out which brands and items you want to buy. This way, you will know about the stores that offer the best prices and when to buy products that are on offer.

Set a Budget

Even though it is a time to give, it does not mean that you will have to spend all the money you have on gifts. You should remember that once the season is over, you will go back to your life with bills to pay and mouths to feed. It is paramount, therefore, to be wise in your expenditure. A budget will tell you how much you will spend on all the items you need to buy. It will also give you a rough idea of how much you are willing to spend. A great way to ensure that you will stick to your budget is to make a list a stick to it no matter what. It is easy to get carried away while shopping. You will constantly get tempted by the numerous offers and beautiful products being sold. However, you need to stick as much as you can to the shopping list. It can be a headache shopping during the festive season. The risk of overspending is imminent.

Use Voucher Sites

While there are retailers that will allow you to buy items at a wholesale price, there are others who have amazing vouchers you can take advantage of. You need to make sure that you have researched enough so that you can compare the prices offered by brick and mortar and online outlets. This way, you will get the best prices for these items.

Use Apps

Today, technology has made it easier for you to find items and their prices. This is done by simply downloading apps on your iPhone. The apps are great because they will keep telling you when companies have new items coming in, coupon offers and when there are great cuts in prices. Throughout the month, you can find great offers for the gifts you need to buy.

Compare Prices

One critical part of being a great shopper is doing your research well. Do not just go to an outlet just because you have bought their items for years. You need to find a merchant that will give you great services, excellent quality and impeccable prices. The only way to find such a store is to move out of your comfort zone and find alternatives that have been appropriately reviewed. You need to look for a store that is loved by the customers who have bought from it. When choosing to buy from an online store, ensure that adding the shipping expenses will not result in a cost that is similar to buying from a merchant near you.

Conclusion

Always shop around if you wish to find the best deals. It is easy to assume that a good deal is a great one because you have not seen such prices. After a while, you might find that the deal is not a great as you thought. Before buying Christmas gifts, always ensure there are no other better deals anywhere.

Four Top Reasons to Consider Working in Healthcare

If you are looking for a change of career or making a big decision about your future career for the first time as a young adult, then there are many serious factors that you should take into consideration when choosing what to do. Not only should you be thinking about the type of things that you are interested in and passionate about, it’s also worth looking into the practical side of things to come up with a career idea that will ensure you can pay the bills and enjoy good job security throughout your life. If you want to follow a career path that allows you to care for others and earn a good salary, healthcare could be the best choice for you. We’ve listed some top reasons to consider a career in healthcare.

#1. Good Salaries:

Healthcare professionals are always in high demand and there is usually a good salary available for those working in this industry. Although entry-level salaries may not be enough for you to upgrade your home or buy that flashy car, there are many opportunities for progression available to those who work hard and are dedicated to their career, so the chance to improve your salary over time is a big reason to go for this career path. Check out some of the average earnings at healthcaresalariesguide.com.

#2. Job Security:

When deciding on your future career choices, one of the biggest factors that you’ll need to think about is whether or not it will allow you to enjoy a good level of job security. Although no job is guaranteed forever, it’s always nice to know that you’re needed in your role and the chance of it no longer being available for you is slim. Thankfully, for those who choose to work in healthcare, the job security is very high since healthcare professionals are in demand all over the world. As a result, you can find ideal job roles for you almost anywhere!

#3. Job Progression:

Whilst some people know exactly what they’d like to do in life and are happy working at the same level for a long time, others want to move up the ranks and progress as much as possible in their career. If this sounds like you, you’ll be glad to hear that with a healthcare career, you’ll be able to do just that. Healthcare careers are some of the best for progression opportunities, and along with that, you’ll also have the option to branch out and take on extra education to specialize in certain areas of healthcare, leading to even more opportunities for career building.

#4. Job Satisfaction:

According to surveys, healthcare professionals are among some of the most satisfied out there when it comes to the work that they do. Even if you’re on a basic entry-level salary working in healthcare, it’s not difficult to enjoy your work when you are tasked with helping others every day and come home feeling good about what you’ve been able to do.

Are you considering working in healthcare? Let us know in the comments.