A-Z Guide to Happiness: J

J

Jim Chapman, yes I know he's another youtuber, I have a slight obsession with the tube of youuu, can you tell? I can guarantee you now I will be mentioning atleast two others throughout the rest of this guide! I'm sorry!! I tried to think of something else beginning with J but it's very hard. Has anyone else got something rather than a person?

Soooooo Jim Chapman is from Norwich, his brother is also a youtuber doing some form of fitness channel, and Jim's Fiancee Tanya is also from the youtube world. Tanya's mum actually taught me English at college! I spoke to her once telling her about my youtube videos for a presentation and she told me her daughter is on youtube and it doing quite well with it, 4 years down the line she's massive in the youtube community and has her own beauty range for sale in Superdrug.

Jim seems like one of the kindest people you can ever meet, from what you can tell from videos, he is incredibly down to earth, a very gentle person and I think he would quite happily be friends with everyone if he could!!

I think that's why I like his videos, they're always pretty positive and he's always so nice and sometimes social media is full of negativity but he always has something fun and nice to say!!

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness : I

I

Hellloooo

So, it was actually kind of hard to think of something beginning with I, but I think I'm going to go for Ingrid Nilsen.

For those of you that don't know of Ingrid, she is a youtuber (MissGlamorazzi). Her videos mostly consist of beauty, makeup, fashion, she also has a vlogging channel by the name of The Grid Monster. She is a very beautiful young woman, who seems like a good laugh, very down to earth and positive, someone I definitely would love to meet.

 I used to watch her videos a few years ago, then sort of got into the british crowd of youtubers, but lately I have got back into watching her since her Coming Out video was posted a couple of months ago with over 11 million views..

This video was one of the most inspirational things (probably second to Shane Dawson's coming out video). I think this might be because they have finally found the confidence to just be them, and be happy! I would love to one day be able to be me, I'm not saying I'm coming out or anything but in general, I often put on some sort of persona around certain people to attempt to fit in, and it just isn't me.

If you want to watch the video (if you haven't seen it you may have been living under a rock :P) I have linked it here:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh7WRYXVh9M

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: H

H

Home :)

My favourite place to be in the world is home, I often like to travel and go on little road trips for a few days, but I always always love the feeling of being back in my own bed.

I live in a reasonably small town, there's not a lot to do here, but I only live about 35 mins away from Norwich and 45 mins away from another town thats just a fair bit bigger than where I live! So I can always go there for stuff to do.

My town isn't the nicest of places, but its not really that bad either. You have all sorts of people, not a classy place but also not a rough one, I can walk through town and feel safe and not worried about someone starting a fight or something randomly! The only problem with having a small town is everybody knows your business, sometimes they know it even before you do!

I live in a 5 bed house, it used to be 4 then we got an extension, and this is where we have always lived. When I was little it was Mum, Dad, Me, my two sisters and my brother, my siblings have all moved out now though so it's just me at home. I'm quite happy here for the time being, I don't see the point in moving out on my own to pay for a house that I'm barely going to be in because I'm at work all the time, plus right now I need the company of my parents. I save up some money every pay day that is going towards my own mortgage for when I am ready to move out :) Although every now and then I do dip into it for a little treat but not often.

My room is a theme of duck egg blue and baby pink, I got my bedding and curtains from Dunelm Mill and I loveeeee it! I made my room this way after I split with my ex, I wanted brighter colours that would make my room more of a happy place and also wanted to get rid of the memories of him so I moved all the furniture round and made it a little more colourful and girly:)

We've looked at moving quite a few times but we never have. I can't imagine us not living here, we are the only people to ever live in this house and it truly is our home, my safety bubble. I love it.

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: G

G

Helloooo

Gabrielle Aplin, originating from youtube, later getting one of her songs as the track for one of the Christmas John Lewis adverts.. Gabrielle Aplin's album English Rain is AMAZING.

I have always loved Gabrielle since I first her singing with Harry and Alfie (Hudson Taylor) then my friend showed me a few more of her songs. I've recently discovered her album English Rain, and that noticed that this album really helps with my anxiety.

Here is a link to a playlist of the album if you want to listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b94dzKJfNIU&list=PLSVA3e8gd9-WZIGHBzgPgYKa3jb372VeC

My favourite tracks on this are
- Home
- Please don't say you love me
- Panic Chord
- Salvation
- I also love the song 'The Power of Love' but not sure if that's on this album!

What I do when I'm feeling anxious; If I'm at home then I will lay on my bed, light a lavender candle (Helps you to relax/sleep), turn off my light and just have on the bedside lamp instead, put the album on and relax, I've tried this a couple of times and it really helps!

I also recently went shopping whilst listening to the music in one earphone and I felt so much better! I wasn't worried about people talking to me or looking at me or anything like that, I felt shut off and un noticed - which is what I like when I'm shopping!:)

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: F

F

Hellloooo!!

The thing that makes me happy for the letter F is FAMILY :)

My Family literally means the world to me.

My Mum:
This woman has been through more in her lifetime than anyone should have to face. She was just a little bit older than I am now when she lost her husband and her mum, whilst also caring for her two little ones (my sisters). It was a hard time but she did it, she pulled through it, and eventually she met my dad and they had me. Mum always says I'm the good that came out of a lot of bad. Whenever I'm feeling weak, I think about everything that my mum went through and I just know that I have to stay strong for her. My mum is my bestfriend, my rock and one of the only people in this world that I can literally talk about ANYTHING with.

My Dad:
So, I'm a littttleee bit of a daddy's girl! We bond over different things to me and mum. I started playing computer games with my dad when I was about 8, and that started my gaming habits! We also have quite a similar taste in movies. Dad is the one man in my life that has never ever let me down, and stuck by me with every decision I've made, even if he disagreed and wanted to protect me, he still let me do the things I wanted because he knows that I have to learn. Whenever I've had my heart broken dad will go get me sweets and a movie and we will spend the night watching films together, one year my ex forgot me on valentines day, so my dad bought me flowers. No man will ever come close to my dad, but I hope one day I can have a relationship like him and my mum, they literally are made for eachother!

My Sisters
I have two sisters, well 3 kind of!!
One sister (that i mentioned in yesterdays blog) lives quite a few hours away with her partner (the 3rd sister). I'm very close with this sister now, we haven't always been but as I've got older we've grown closer and I often turn to her when I need some advice, a laugh or a get away! I can't thank them enough for always opening their door to me whenever I've needed an escape.
My other sister lives in Australia, we've not lived together since I was about 9 as there's quite a big age gap and thats when she went to uni, after uni she went travelling and met her now husband, she then moved out to Australia! We don't talk that often, especially as she's now travelling, but we both know that we love eachother and are there for eachother if necessary!

My Brother:
I have one brother, we aren't SUPER close, as much as I'd love to be, but we are both sort of quiet people so are sort of reserved I guess. But he does always look out for me like a big brother should. At the time I don't always appreciate it, but in the long run I know he's doing the best thing for me and just trying to protect me.

And now there's also my beautiful niece who I just cannot get enough of! But I wrote alll about her yesterday so I won't repeat myself:)

My brother, two sisters and me 2 years ago (the last time we were all together)

So yeh, that's my family. They are my world, what keeps me going and my purpose. I love them to the moon and back :)

What makes you happy?

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: E

E

Hellooo

So this one is a little difficult, my thing that makes me happy beginning with E is my niece! However, she is adopted and at the moment I can't post much information about her (including her name as its quite unique) as we need to ensure that she is safe and protected.

So for this blog post she is just going to be called E!

My sister is gay, and she has been with her partner for probably 7 years now! They're engaged and decided that they wanted to have a family. Obviously, they couldn't exactly go about starting the family a normal way, so they thought why bring in new life when there's already children out there that deserve to have the best chance at life, so they decided to adopt!

There process was actually very quick compared to most cases! but a few months ago they finally got their little girl! She has completely been welcomed into our family and we are all so in love with her. I spoil her at every chance I get! This included bringing her back an ibiza rocks baby grow as she LOVES music.

E is a very lucky little lady as due to the fact of going into fostercare very young, she hasn't got a gap like most adoptive children do because her foster family documented every little thing they did and what she achieved.

Since being with my sisters she's now started walking un-aided, she has some physical weaknesses which have made it more difficult for her to walk than other children. But she is doing SOO well!

Everytime I get low I just have to watch a video of her giggling away, she has the most infectious laugh in the world I swear!! The only down side is that they live 5 hours away from us :( whenever I have time off work I try to visit, and they do the same! But I would do anything for us to be closer together.

What 'E' makes you happy? :)

Much Love

LJ xo

A-Z Guide to Happiness: D

D

Hellooo

Dancing!

I personally am pretty pants at dancing but I used to do it when I was little and I did love it and I now wish that I had never stopped.

But even though I now don't dance, I do think it is something that can make others very happy, and watching others dance does make me happy so it still counts :P

Dancing is a very good way of releasing emotions as there are so many different types of dance and also different genres of music you could be performing too. Something like street dance would let out a lot of frustration I think as its a lot of tensing and relaxing your muscles and often has sharp hard movements. Where as ballet is often very calming, especially to watch!

One of my favourite types of dance would be contemporary, I think this is because it often tells a story that you can get lost in and you feel the emotions through their dance.

After having a look around online, I really liked this video (once the dancing starts! - about one minute in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx3NdoMpYDw

What would your word be??

Much Love

LJ xo