Whilst travelling, I learnt how to live my life out of a single suitcase and not rely on material things. It was definitely something that I'm glad I did because it made me realise that I don't really need anything to make me happy and helped me minimise my life to a certain extent. It definitely spurred me to have a massive clear out as soon as I got home, to try and transfer that travelling life to my "home" life as much as possible.

Saying that, there are some things that I couldn't live without - in my list I'm not counting my laptop or my mobile phone, because I see those objects as being quite obvious choices that probably everyone nowadays would choose.

KINDLE
When I was younger I had a massive dislike for the Kindle, I thought it could never be as good as holding a physical book in your hands. However, despite that, I spur of the moment decided to buy one from Tesco randomly because I kept seeing adverts, and I have never ever looked back on that decision. My Kindle is the best purchase that I have ever made; that's over my MacBook and my mobile phone. It doesn't go everywhere with me, but I'm constantly reading on it.

EYEBROW PALETTE
A couple of years ago you would never have caught me doing my eyebrows; I was pretty proud of the way that my eyebrows looked, as they are pretty shapely and fuller than a lot of other peoples. However, as soon as I purchased an eyebrow palette my entire life changed and now I look back on my eyebrows and wonder what I saw in them - your eyebrows are the frame to your face, and a good pair of eyebrows really does make a difference. I mean you may be blessed with perfect eyebrows, but I now realise that I wasn't, so my eyebrow palette is my saviour. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to go outside with absolutely zero makeup, but my eyebrows give me a massive confidence boost.

SPOTIFY
My Kindle is the best purchase I have made, but my Spotify premium account is the best ongoing purchase that I make each month. A few years back I listened to Spotify on the free version, this included adverts, and after a while it limited the number of times you could listen to one song, which for me wasn't ideal as a person who listens to albums on repeat for months. An old colleague recommended premium to me, which at the time, I didn't want to pay for, so I got it on the free trial and have never looked back. I literally listen to music on Spotify every single day, and I'm even listening to a focus playlist as I write this post so I'm most definitely getting my money's worth.

What are some things that you couldn't live without?

I've been wanting to write this post for quite a while now, but haven't felt that I could find the right words to portray how I feel - and that right there is an example of how I've been feeling in general. I don't know that I can't do something unless I try, so this is me trying.

I've spent a lot of my life overthinking everything; what people think of me, what people are saying about me, do people like me? Most of my life has revolved around trying to be validated by everyone, but not caring about how I'm affected. I care more about other people and their opinions than that of my own and this is something that I really need to get out of the habit of.

In the past year or so, these thoughts have definitely amplified tenfold, and I've felt myself getting ill and overwhelmed with worry because of it. I never felt so bad that I couldn't do general tasks, I never felt so bad that I couldn't go to work, or didn't want to meet up with my friends, and because of this I never associated myself as having anxiety. There were people that were so crippled by it that they couldn't do anything, and I wasn't one of those people - I kept denying the fact that I had anxiety because "I didn't have it as bad". I almost felt guilty for even thinking that I had a problem; I thought people would think I was attention seeking, or being a hypochondriac (again).

As mentioned whilst talking about fresh starts, I went through a rough patch in Winter and tried to combat it with drinking on the weekends. I thought that I needed to socialise more to be happy, and socialising meant going for drinks with friends, and drinks meant getting really drunk to forget everything "bad" that was happening. This only resulted in the anxiety hangovers that I always get; no matter if I know I did nothing wrong, I will constantly go through absolutely everything that I did the night before and panic worry till I end up crying about all the things I may or may not have done, and what people were saying about me. Drinking most definitely did not solve anything.
I have come to accept now, thanks to the help of some amazing friends, that I do have anxiety, and although it may not be as bad as some peoples are, it's still anxiety, and it's still relevant. I think the hardest part has been the acceptance of that fact, and the next step is figuring out the best way to deal with it. I don't believe you ever get "fixed" but I believe that you can quell the feelings inside of you to get a better mindset and perception of the world around you. You decide the way you think, the way you feel, and the happiness that you create; I just need to find a way to make a habit of doing that.

Whenever I'm feeling low I like to make a list of what I'm grateful for; this helps me remember that I've got so much to be happy for in life and that having a bad day isn't the end of the world. It grounds me and takes me back to reality, instead of staying up there in my head with my own thoughts which could lead to hours of unproductivity (is that even a word? It doesn't look right!).

I'm also a massive fan of writing lists, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing something that you love! In fact, I'd recommend it daily. So here's my gratitude for the day:

● Everything in my life if slotting nicely into place.
● I'm doing something that I've been wanting to do for the longest time, and that's moving somewhere new.
● I have been working hard on doing things I have put off for so long
● I have loving and supportive family and friends
● I don't have any long-term commitments that keep me from moving
● I'm learning to discover myself again
● I will get to explore somewhere new
● I will get to meet tons of new people
● I will get to experience a different way of life in a city rather than a town
● Knowing that I can't control everything that happens to me
● Learning to listen to the sound of my breath and stay calm
● Learning to meditate
● Learning to take a break

Even just writing out these things gives me a massive release and reminds me of all the good things that are happening or will be happening in my life that I have every reason to be grateful for. What are you grateful for today?

Hannah Ashton is an inspiration to me, and makes me wish I had her attitude when I was younger. She gives entrepreneurship advice for young people and teenagers, as she is only a teenager herself. It's absolutely amazing what she's achieved at such a young age; the determination, the drive, the passion. She runs this YouTube channel as well as running her social media courses with a team that she's selected. This hardworking teen creates videos of her school morning/night routines, how she gets a lot done in the day and many other things that can be helpful for anybody still at school wanting to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams.


Erin May Henry was the first babe who's videos I came across in this niche I'm pretty sure. Erin helps women entrepreneurs create their personal brand and navigate the online world to help build their own personal businesses. Her YouTube content is mindset and business based for the most part, showing you how your mindset can affect your work, how to overcome obstacles and how she, personally, deals with the stresses that can come up as a self-employed boss babe.

These women seriously inspire me with every single video that they put up. The energy and the passion that they put into every one of their videos is astounding to me and I look up to them with the highest esteem. Is there anyone that really inspires you?

YOUNIQUE
● Do a Facebook live at least once a week
● Do a minimum 30-minute power run every day
● Get into the habit of commenting while I scroll on Facebook
● Post on Facebook every day

MYSELF
● Meditate every day
● Write in my journal every day
● Stop saying sorry as much
● Read a chapter every day
● Have a no technology morning routine

OTHER
● See 3 films
● Get my hair done

I'd love to know if anyone else is participating in BEDA this year! Wish me luck.

It's the year 2044, and the real world has become an ugly place. We're out of oil. We've wrecked the climate. Famine, poverty, and disease are widespread. 
Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes this depressing reality by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia where you can be anything you want to be, where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this alternate reality: OASIS founder James Halliday, who dies with no heir, has promised that control of the OASIS - and his massive fortune - will go to the person who can solve the riddles he has left scattered throughout his creation. 
For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that the riddles are based in the culture of the late twentieth century. And then Wade stumbles onto the key to the first puzzle. Suddenly, he finds himself pitted against thousands of competitors in a desperate race to claim the ultimate prize, a chase that soon takes on terrifying real-world dimensions - and that will leave both Wade and his world profoundly changed.

I liked the bullet review style that I did for The Fifth Season so I'm gonna try and emulate that into film too, so let's see how this goes. Oh, and if you didn't already see from the title, there's gonna be SPOILERS in here because I love this book so much that I just can't refrain from explaining everything!
WHAT I LIKED • Mark Rylance is absolutely superb playing OASIS founder James Halliday; his mannerisms, the way he stuttered and was hesitant when he talked, and his almost shy demeanour. He was the perfect match for the socially inept, hermit genius that was James Halliday.
• You got more of a backstory with the film than you did with the book. Granted, in the book, you found out everything about James Halliday, Ogden Morrow (his best friend and co-founder) and the ups and downs of their relationship before they split ways, but the film really dug that little bit deeper into the more personal side of things, with snippets of conversation of the two of them before the OASIS. It was refreshing to see another side of the book.
• On that note, I loved the fact that minor characters in the book were filled out more in the movie. In the novel, I-R0k is an annoying tag along that likes to think he's all that, but in the movie he's been given more of a pivotal role which definitely could have been possible, as you didn't see all too much of him in the books. In the movie he is IOI's (Innovative Online Industries - aka the bad guys that wanna take over the OASIS and make money from it) head honcho Nolan Sorrento's lacky, but he's also a bit of comedic relief (maybe a little too much for my tastes).
• The riddles and challenges were different to the book. Woah, wait a second, before you burn me at the stake for actually liking this, please let me explain. Making the challenges and riddles different from the book makes it exciting for old readers to enjoy, because we don't know the answers or how to solve anything until the characters do - it almost lets us get involved to a certain extent. Although, I didn't like the fact that most of the riddles were sappy James Halliday feeling sorry for how he did, or didn't spend his life before he died.
• I think it helped that I'd literally finished my third reread of the book the morning before I went to see the movie, but there were enough book references and lines that I found myself smiling throughout the majority of the movie at how similar it was to the book itself. Don't forget I said similar, not the same....similar, it's a key word.
WHAT I DISLIKED • Art3mis was annoying af. I quite liked her, and the build up of her character in the book, but in the movie, I down right hated her and found her extremely annoying. She was probably the worst part of the movie for me! I know they can't cut her out because she's a main character, but I feel that without her, the movie would have been a lot better. She was actually better as a voice actor for her avatar than she was in real life #sorrynotsorry.
• I hate this in books and I also hate it in movies, but pointless romance has NEVER been my thing. The whole book was set over the span of about a year maybe? This movie must have been set over around 48 hours, and yet suddenly Parzival (Wade Watts) is suddenly in love with someone that he met for 5 minutes and has cyber stalked for longer. PLUS, it's all on an online game! They had zero chemistry, and they were just always so wooden around each other (maybe that was just the acting?) that it was most definitely not believable in the slightest.
• I have to admit that I read this somewhere before I went to see the film, but I 100% agree with it - the film is focussed more on the action than it is on the development of the characters. I didn't feel anything for any of the characters, and I honestly don't think I would have shed a single tear if any of them had died in the real world. You didn't get to know them or what they were about, it was all surface level and quite disappointing. Yeah, I get that it's an "action based sci-fi movie" but that doesn't mean you can't have relatable characters.
• Ready Player One is heavily, HEAVILY revolved around 80s culture, and other than all the references in the background of the movie, there was very little reference to the 80s in the plot, which was disappointing. I discussed liking the challenges being different and exciting, but every single challenge in the book was 80s related, whether that be from movies to music to video games, and I think only one reference of playing a video game was shown in the entire film. Yeah yeah, I get that you can't show a character playing pacman for hours on end to get the highest possible score, but at least show some kind of reference.
• I didn't like the fact that the characters were friends and met so soon after the challenge began - these were probably my least favourite scenes in the film and they just weren't explained thoroughly enough. I totally understand that they can't show Wade being a social recluse for the entire film in his own flat and that they needed to be together sooner, but NOTHING WAS EXPLAINED! How did Ar3mis find Wade? Who was the bald guy with the tattoo (like literally he disappeared after a while)? How come they all lived so damn close to each other? What was this rebellion? It started off with a company, and ended up with the five of them? Every single other person couldn't have been captured. Also, and this bugged me, Daito and Sho (No idea why his name was changed from Shoto, it's two bloody letters) weren't even friends with the others in the book - the two brothers just put up with the others to a certain extent.
FINAL THOUGHTS I'm torn, so freaking torn! I came out of the cinema thinking that they did a pretty good job of the book to movie adaptation, but as I've had time to process everything I've realised I don't think I like it as much as I thought I did - I think I got caught up in the moment. There's positives and negatives to every aspect that I wrote about and I think I need to see it again. I don't think it helps that this is my favourite book ever ever EVER, but I don't think I have a solid answer as to whether I did or didn't like this film. The book's AMAZING though, so definitely give that a read as soon as you can: Kindle US/Kindle UK