5 ways to keep your shit together

It’s hard to keep up if you are a millennial or gen z! 

With the evolution of pop culture and the abnormal evolution of technology in our lifetime, we keep getting exposed to so much information, art, culture, food, fashion, and anything that you can think of basically. I feel we keep re-inventing and discovering something new about ourselves every day! But, with this constant fast movement and discovery, sometimes it’s very hard to keep good mental health and you can get a bit lost.

When I was younger if I liked something or was a fan of something I would run that obsession into the ground before completely obliterating it and then move onto the next. For example, I would get so obsessed with an artist or a TV show that I would want to know everything about the actors, I would read articles on them until I know everything there is to know about them. I feel that now with technology and the development of markets we can get a bit carried away, for instance, get lost in merchandise, events, communities, etc which has quite a negative effect on your bank account and your mental health. Also, if you have a competitive personality (like me) you always want to keep on top of things and the FOMO of not being up-to-date really catches on sooner or later. 

So, here are some techniques I like to use to keep me on the sane path when I feel I’m a bit down and I want to shake things up a bit.

1. Visualise your future – imagine how you want your life to be, not just 5 years from now but also tomorrow, in the next 3 months in the next 9 months, who are the people you want to be surrounded by? 

We do this a lot of every day planning a holiday, buying new clothes, setting new goals, getting tickets for gigs, etc. Obviously, when things like COVID happen our life can get a bit mental, but what I’ve found keeps me on a sanity track is keeping some points into the future to look forward to and constantly set some goals to look forward to. 

2. Create Mood boards – honestly creating mood boards on Pinterest is one of the most therapeutic processes! I even tend to make scrapbooks when I get too bored, plot some ideas there and feel very crafty. It’s completely calming and immersive. It’s a great way to visualise a project or take a creative direction. 

3. Keep yourself in the loop – It’s always good to ask yourself simple questions like, “what makes me happy?”,  “Who makes me smile?”,  “Do I enjoy my work?”  “What skills do I have?”  “How do I spend my free time?”;  It’s very important to reflect on things that make a true difference to your mental health and I think a lot of us get caught up in making the most money, working ourselves into the ground but then realising that our life has passed you by, especially if you work in finance or banking and especially for us millennials, we’re all very keen to get places, quickly, which is amazing, but also – we need to remember to slow ourselves and be happy at the moment. 

4. Surround yourself with the right people – working in a client-facing role, I’ve come to believe that I’m a great judge of character, and especially after you get exposed to some so-called friends socially you learn that most people who I suspect to be users, snakes or just selfish individuals, generally are.  The reality if that people will come and people will go and we can’t always get along. 

A friend of mine always says that, as you get older you kind of set up camps, you have your friendships, your long-lasting childhood ones, your school friends, your teenage friends – your work/industry friends and that’s kind of it? Don’t you think so? You can choose whom you hang out with and whom you don’t hang out with. If you feel as though hanging out with someone will pull your mood down or make you feel less than – don’t do it, don’t put yourself through that emotional strain – you owe it to yourself. I know it can feel awkward when someone is trying to hang out with you all the time, but you don’t have to be rude, just politely decline. Hang out with people who make you feel good, people who make you smile, people who are there for you. Toxic, Debbie Downers are real and they will always find a way to bring you down in one way or another. So just don’t do it! 

5. Take it a step at a time – In the words of countess Luann de Lesseps, “One day at a time, keep your cool and you’ll be fine!” I’m going to use my personal style, for example, I used to dress like a weirdo emo kid when I was 15 right. Not really sure what I was wearing at uni it just feels like I was probably dragged through Topman and Hollister, hitting every shelf on the way to the tills and accumulating an outfit, went a bit monochrome-esque when I moved to London and now I’m very much into contemporary, fun, colourful, streetwear. There aren’t any pinnacle moments when I suddenly decided to dress a certain way. I feel that your style and life will always be changing and evolving, but if you have a vision, or idea of what you want or in the direction of what already makes you happy, you’re going in the direction.