Staying Inspired + Motivated This Winter

Hello!
With only one week left until the holidays I am feeling absolutely exhausted! I've realised that I have changed quite a lot this term, including switching to a completely vegan, plant based diet (there will be more on that soon!)
When I'm busy or stressed out I find it quite difficult (especially in this freezing Wellington weather) to stay motivated and inspired when it comes to school and creative things like blogging. So as I try to cure myself of a case of bloggers block and count down the days until we take off for Queenstown I thought I'd share with you some of my tips on how to stay motivated and inspired to get things done this Winter!

m o t i v a t i o n 
Before I can begin finding new inspiration I first need to have the motivation to actually do so! I've found that motivation is something that I really struggle with and I seem to have perfected the art of procrastinating and cleaning or re-decorating my entire bedroom to distract myself from the real task at hand. Here are some things that I find really help me feel motivated;

01 / Tunes
Music. I cannot stress this enough, good music really helps me to focus, especially when it comes to school work. I personally prefer listening to music with lyrics and I find that it doesn't distract me but I know that some people can find that quite difficult. Recently on Spotify I've been loving the Majestic Casual playlist, for me this playlist creates my perfect homework vibes!

02 / Write It Down
I find that actually writing down everything that I need to get done really helps to motivate me because I'm one of those people that just has to to tick off their entire to-do list in order to feel satisfied. During my transition into a vegan lifestyle I decided to write down every single thing that I was eating or planning to eat and this really helped me as I could look back at a day when I particularly enjoyed a meal, if I'm feeling unmotivated to cook and I could simply replicate that meal!

03 / Rewards
Setting myself rewards after doing something like homework is a great way to just muscle through that unpleasant task. I like to remind myself of the things that I have to look forward to as well, weather that's a holiday, celebration, event or even just the weekend. Using a countdown app for special occasions often helps me too, to actually see that I have four days, twelve hours and one minute until the holidays gives me something to really look forward to (I use the app Countdown+) !

i n s p i r a t i o n
Finding inspiration is something that I used to find really difficult and a creative block is something that happens to the best of us so I've compiled a few tips that work best for me when I'm feeling uninspired creatively and just with life in general!

01 / Create a Mood Board on Pinterest
Pinterest is probably my main source of inspiration, I just find it so helpful to be able to look back at all of the images that I've saved in the past and it will almost always get those creative juices flowing! I find it really helpful to create a board (you can even have it on private if you like) called 'inspiration' where you can just be constantly pinning things that will inspire you when you're feeling a little stuck. This could be style, interiors, photography or a bit of everything, I find that having a scroll through my inspiration board really helps to generate new ideas for blog posts etc.

02 / Change Is Good
Something as simple as changing the layout of my bedroom or a new blog design can completely change my mindset. The other day I moved a few things in my bedroom around so that my bed was facing a different direction and it made me feel so much better, sometimes you don't even realise how bored you can get of something when it's been the same for so long! I've found that trying a new way of photography or branching out a bit on my Instagram and blog can make me feel so much more inspired!

03 / Connect With New People
Although I believe it is really important not to copy, finding inspiration from other creative people on the internet always helps me break out of an uninspired funk. Sometimes even exploring and finding new blogs or Instagram's can help, there are so many cool creators out there and so many people you can connect with especially on platforms like Instagram.

I hope that you can take something away from this post and maybe find a new source of inspiration or start motivating yourself to do something you've been avoiding for a while! + Stay tuned for lots more content in the next few weeks as we head off for Queenstown!
Bella.