Autumn is an absolutely maddening time of year for me. I absolutely love it – I think, it’s probably safe to say its my favourite part of the year; There are SO many things I like about it, in fact I have a few key favourite things; 1 – Fairy lights and candles. Darker evenings? No problem at all, time just to get cosy and chill out. 2 – Big, cosy throws – sod the heating, its the perfect time to pile up under blankets. 3 – A large glass of red wine whilst it rains outside (Side note: this is how I know I’m old because this is approx 1000x more appealing than going out on a Saturday is to me now!) 4 – Knitwear. I’m not a huge fan of my figure anyway but I do love the opportunity autumn presents to throw on a softer-than-butter chunky knit…

Whether you’re a parent, a city high-flier, a hard-working student (or maybe you’re even all three!), it’s often impossible to carve out some time for ourselves. When we do carve out time for ourselves, there seems to be a really shit culture that we should feel bad for being what’s perceived as ‘self-indulgent’. This can then put us off any form of self-care, because of course, the ensuing guilt we feel afterwards ultimately negates the act of self-care in the first place, causing it to get further and further down the list of priorities. Sometimes it’s because we feel that we should be utilising that spare time to spend more time with the kids; perhaps you feel like you don’t spend enough time with them as it is, or maybe when you take that all-important break from work, you spend your day off thinking about what you didn’t complete before you…

  When we say self-love and self-care, these ideas encompass a range of things; for some its a nice hot bath with a luxury bath bomb. For others its a Sunday afternoon roast with a large glass of red. Maybe its shutting your bedroom door and not leaving all day until you’ve finished the book you downloaded that morning.