Things to Do To Keep Yourself Busy At Home | Staying Positive and Grateful, Organisation & Working From Home Tips, Self Love and Self Care & Bake with Me

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog! I want to start of by saying I hope you are well and keeping safe, and thank you for taking the time to read this post. This is a very different blog post for me to write, however, I thought that I could share some things to do to keep busy whilst at home and use my little space on the internet (my beautiful blog which I love) to write these ideas down, alongside sharing an insight into my morning routine and some working from home tips as I know that is the case for a lot of people at this moment in time. Before we go any further into the post, I would like to take the time to publicly say a huge thank you to our NHS service and incredible key workers for everything they are doing. We appreciate you so much - you truly are amazing. Also to add to this, please stay home if you can and stay safe. I really hope my blog post helps to give you some ideas and of course, if you have any tips of things to do whilst we're social distancing and staying safe do share them in the comments section below, I would love to read your ideas too. I have seen so many fantastic ideas being shared across social media.

Staying Positive and Grateful -

This is something I put into practice every day in my life. I follow a few simple steps and they are now part of my daily routine. Have you ever heard the saying, if you win the morning, you'll win your day? well, I truly believe this - how you spend your morning will impact the rest of your day and the mindset you have. So, to start my day I will put a motivational mindset video on YouTube via the TV (as I don't like to check my phone until I have done my morning routine) I like to choose a video which is between 15-30 minutes long (however there are some much shorter/longer depending on your preference) After this I read out my affirmations out loud, these are things I want to affirm myself to be. For example some of mine are "I am happy,  I am positive, I am confident" and then I write down 10 things that I am grateful for. Gratitude's are very important for everyone to do, thinking about what you're grateful for right in that moment really does make me realise how lucky I am. If you're reading this right now - grab a piece of paper and pen and start writing your own list, maybe start with 5 or even go for 10 -  I always end up with a huge smile on my face and my heart feels so full after doing this. I then will do a home workout as exercising releases positive endorphins, depending on the amount of time I have in the morning, I will read 20 minutes of a book (sometimes I do this in the evening, I think it's good to read before bed and put the phone down to get a good night's sleep) and then get ready to start my day.

Organisation -

If you're looking for things to do to keep yourself busy indoors then getting organised is a great use of that time. You know the tasks we say we will 'get around to doing' why not use now to do some of those tasks? For me it has been organising my laptop, organising my diaries, organising my wardrobe (since when did I have so many clothes?!) and making a pile to give to charity and then organising by seasons - there are some really good videos on YouTube of people organising their wardrobes. I have also started creating 'to do lists' to get organised - you can use the notes page on your phones as there is the option to tick off the tasks when your done, or a good old fashioned notepad and tick off once you've completed a task. How rewarding does it feel seeing a completed to do list? Something my parents are organising is their green house in the garden! And from seeing posts on social media, parents are organising their days to teach their children at home, others are getting on with painting their homes, having a spring clean or perhaps even learning a new skill - I'll take a guess that TikTok will be the most popular! I also wanted to share a few other things you can do to keep busy; play games (monopoly and card games are our family favourites), do some colouring and have some relaxing music on in the background, create a scrapbook or photo album of memories, create a vision board - oh my gosh this is so fun to do, and really gets you thinking about achieving your biggest dreams!! try cooking something new - does someone in your family have an incredible recipe you could give a whirl? *note to self - ask my boyfriends Mum for her lasagne recipe and learn how to cook it like a pro!* how about read a book or download an audio book? have an indoor picnic with your household members - grab a blanket, have a cute set up and enjoy some yummy foods! Of course, these are just a few ideas - so as  I do keep mentioning throughout, in the comments section of this post, do share your ideas, I would appreciate hearing them.

Top Tips for Working Well From Home -

I wanted to add a section to this blog post to share my 'top tips' for working from home, as I know lot's of people and companies have had to adapt to this style of working and be flexible over the past couple of weeks. If you have any tips for this - please share below as I love learning from others and improving myself, that's one thing I am grateful for - always learning! So here goes sharing what works for me... have you got your notepad ready?!

Create a working space; Find somewhere within your home where you can make it into your own little workspace - have enough room for your work equipment and ensure you have a comfortable chair and good lighting.

Get ready for your day;  Even when I have an admin day working from home, I still get ready as if I would on the other days - I get up early, follow my morning routine and get myself ready and dressed. If you are staying in your pyjamas then maybe change into a fresh pair, and of course go 'office ready' on the top half and comfy on the bottom half for all those video meeting calls! I always laugh when I see youtubers reveal the 'behind the scenes' of their outfits - a cute top, followed my pyjamas or jogger bottoms! such a vibe!

Have structure for your day; Write out your tasks to complete and to do list, catch up with your team whether that's by phone call or video call - stay connected! Tick off your to do list as you go throughout your day and also highlight priorities of what must be done that day.

Take regular breaks; Take breaks regularly and AWAY from your work station - whether that be going into a different room, or sitting in your garden (weather permitting), make yourself a drink - and remember to drink plenty of water, I find when working in an office I always drink the recommended 2 litres (if not more) however at home - I sometimes forget. I find having a water bottle close to where I'm working helps!

Pick a definitive finishing time; It can be so easy to get lost in a task and not see where the time has gone when working from home. So with your agreed working hours you have in place - ensure you have a finishing time and aim to stick to this to keep in a routine.

Self Love and Self Care -

These two things are extremely important, and sometimes we often forget about! To give myself some love and care I like to have a long, relaxing bubble bath! (usually I use this as the perfect time to soak off my old tan using the Rose & Caramel purity bubble bath) as even though we're currently staying home, a tan always makes me feel better in myself. I use the Velvety and Intensity tan by Rose & Caramel - check out their Instagram page here - full tanning routine post coming soon. I like to then get into a cosy set of pyjama's, read a few pages of a book, and make wish lists of my favourite outfits for fashion inspiration (as this is something I enjoy! - I also use 21 buttons for inspiration, and this is where I also tag where my outfits are from if you want to check out my page it's @emmapavier) I also like to treat myself to a face mask and a hair mask when I am giving myself some self care and 'me' time. It's really important to take care of your hair and skin - I usually opt for a detoxing face mask to remove any blackheads, oils, dirt and impurities. The one I've been trying recently is from Body Shop, however, if you have any recommendations - please do share as I love trying new skincare products! The hair mask which is my absolute favourite at the moment is by HASK, specifically the Rose Oil & Peach collecton - it is a colour protection deep conditioning mask - you can read my review of this range here. I also like to put on my favourite music during this time aswell - something else I have recently started is creating playlists. I also recommend listening to Podcasts or watching a movie to relax and unwind. What do you do for self care? I'd love to hear, let's chat in the comments.

Bake with Me -

And just to end the post, I wanted to include me baking some tasty brownie - as you may have gathered from me mentioning that I would like to learn how to cook earlier in my post, I will be making brownies out of a packet - however cooked with love, so I'm sure they'll taste just as yummy right?! What is your favourite meal to cook, or treat to bake? I'd love to hear them! The brownies I baked were the Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Brownies. I love how quick and easy these are to make, you only need to add an egg, oil and water. Here's how they turned out... I think they look great and they tasted delicious! What do you think?

Thank you so much for reading.

Stay safe and speak soon.

Love Em oxo