Showing all posts tagged top tips

In Mindfulness, Self-Care, Women's Interest

Maintaining Positive Relationships

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on

positive relationships

Roy and I have been married for 15 years and together a few more than that. I’m very lucky in that I didn’t just marry the man I love, I married my best friend. We have people ask us (we’re both very soppy when it comes to each other) how we’ve kept our marriage going so well so here are some things for anyone to consider. We’re not marriage guidance counsellors but these are good all-rounders for working on positive relationships, be this a partnership, marriage or friendship.

Spend Some Quality Time Together

Make sure you spend regular, quality time together. Get away from social media, the TV, and technology, and focus on one another for a while. You could go on weekends away, one date night per week or fortnight, or even plan regular vacations. Just bear in mind that one break every so often is unlikely to be enough to bring you and your partner closer together if you’re not spending enough time together during the week. We have busy weeks, children and all sorts going on but still make time to have date nights, even if they are in the house! It’s all about making time in your busy life to build and enjoy positive relationships.

Reconnect With Yourself

Work on finding your own passions and hobbies, spending time with family and friends, and enjoying yourself. When you’re in a better place personally and mentally, you stand to make your relationship far better with your partner, with family and with friends. Self care is important! When you and your partner aren’t happy in yourselves, it’s going to be virtually impossible to be happy with one another.

Be Creative In Showing Your Love

Find new and exciting ways to show your love to one another. Be creative, whether it’s writing one another love letters, making fancy dinners, or dressing up just to spend time with them. Show them that you still care in different ways and it’ll bring some novelty into your relationship – something all relationships need to stay fresh. For example, we don’t do Valentine’s Day, it just isn’t our thing but we surprise each other with daft and funny things at random times. These make us laugh and create shared positive memories.

Deal With Intimacy Issues

Thankfully this isn’t something we’ve ever had a problem with, but in the spirit of producing a well-rounded blog post with tips for all, it’s worth including. Intimacy is another important key to any relationship and feeling close to your partner. Work on ways you can be more intimate with one another, whether that’s saying how you really feel, or working on ways you can become more intimate in the bedroom. If you’re having problems in that regard, you could look at some treatment options for impotence, or something more suited to your problem. 

Bond Over Common Hobbies And Interests

Couples find that they bond more effectively over common hobbies and interests. If you both love art, go to galleries together. If you love thrifting, head to markets. If you love food, just try out new places to eat! There are probably all kinds of things you can do to bring you together and feel closer than ever before. For Roy and I, it is Dungeons and Dragons, shared geekery and more. It’s the same with our friendships, we all have things in common such as hobbies and interests.

Practice Communicating for Positive Relationships

Poor communication is one of the most common reasons that a relationship breaks down. I have seen real-world examples of this time and time again. Be it a married or a friendship, it’s important to be able to communicate openly and honestly.

Live In The Moment

Rather than living in the past or worrying about the future, try to live in the moment. Have more fun together spontaneously, and really make the most of your time together. There’s nothing worse than spending time with somebody who’s mind just isn’t there! After completing a mindfulness diploma last year I’ve found living in the moment fun and getting the most out of my time with people I have positive relationships with also easier!

 

Positive relationships make for a happier life, they really do. Surrounding yourself with people who understand you, who you understand, who are on the same wavelength and have shared interests is what makes for fun times, great memories and support for each other when needed. Make sure that you take time to nurture the important relationships in your life.

In General

Top Tips for Home Renovation

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on

home renovation

You’re hearing a lot from me about home renovation and interiors because it’s a big thing for us right now. The house we live in at the moment is great, it has what we need but it isn’t The One. We’ve been somewhat torn between doing this house up (it’s conveniently placed and we really don’t want to move right now) or biting the bullet and moving. It could take forever to find what we’re looking for though so we’re going to take what doesn’t excite us about this house, both aesthetically and from a practical point of view, and we’re going to change it.

If like us you want to start doing more for yourself and embark on a home renovation project, these points to consider are a good place to start.

Know What You Want

First of all, you need to know what it is that you really want. Sometimes, it’s really easy to visualise yourself in your ‘dream home’ but can you see the specifics of what it looks like? Do you know what kind of decor you want and want sort of home it is? If so you have a better imagination than me. I have a wealth of ideas about what I like and what I don’t but really need to put it together to form some sort of consistent look and feel.

Create Home Renovation Pinterest Boards

Pinterest is a great platform for discovering interior design ideas. I have one or two Pinterest boards set to secret as well as a few open ones, all dedicated to homes and houses, kitchens, offices and so on. I think I need to start pulling my favourites into one master board to see what we’re really looking at, to check Roy and I are on the same page and to start proactively planning.

Get Planning Permission

Planning permission is an essential consideration for anyone who’s planning on carrying out renovations on their home. Research whether planning permission is required for the work you want to be carried out and, if you do need permission, find the right services from Arbtech to survey the work and secure permission.

Focus On Action

It’s not enough to just think and dream. This is where I fall short. Once we’ve nailed the planning stage we need to set SMART goals, to put dates and deadlines on the calendar and we need to focus on action. Basically, if we don’t get started, we’ll never finish and be happy with our living space.

Allocate Your Budget Well

This part we are good at. Having a realistic budget is what ensures that the project will get done. How you allocate your budget is up to you. If you want to put money into features like stunning splashbacks or even an entirely new kitchen, that’s fine, as long as you have the money for it. Watching home renovation and decoration shows have also taught me to always have a little extra in the budget that isn’t allocated to a specific spend. This is the money you’ll use when you go over budget (it happens).

Staying Positive

This is something I need to remind myself of. I hate clutter, mess and mayhem and you know that once we get started there will be plenty of all three! I will have to compromise on something I want thanks to the budget and I might have a wobble here and there over colours, textures and style too. If I (and you if you’re embarking on a similar project) can stay positive and upbeat it will make the whole process much easier and I’m pretty sure we’ll enjoy being in our dream home all the more for it.

Do you have any top tips for taking on a home renovation?

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