not your mum

We're on YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Pinterest too. Search 'The Not Your Mum'

[thepowerwithin]

Don’t wait for another year. Don’t wait until somebody else says it’s okay. Don’t wait. Things will keep going and life will keep happening and before you know it life will flash by in the blink of an eye.

Nicole Addison @thepowerwithin

[localstarboy]

I think this applies to almost everyone 😂😂

[thoughtkick]

You don’t need to be better than any one else you just need to be better than you used to be.

Wayne W. Dyer (via thoughtkick)

[thenotyourmum]

How to deal with your family during the holidays:

School holidays are super intense times. It’s expected that all schoolwork and responsibilities go away and you MUST spend lots of time with your family – no exceptions. And don’t get me wrong, I get just as excited to finally be able to go out and do things with my family like walks, lunches, cinema trips; the things I’d usually miss out on because of school or work, but sometimes it can get a little too much.

There are a lot of expectations that you may put on yourself, I know I do. For example, most of the extended family will ask ‘how’s school’ or ‘how’s work’, and there’s that immediate pressure to be getting As and A*s and have a load of savings for things that are deemed important such as university or a car. It is, for me anyway, basically a period where you should be as fake as possible and not say things how they really are. My teenage years consisted of spending all my earnings on things I didn’t need, falling out with my friends and just about passing my exams. Sound relatable to you?

It is okay to play things down in these circumstances. In my eyes, family are great, yeah, but you choose your friends, and those are the people to cry and hysterically rant to. You may be super close to all your aunties and uncles and cousins and grandparents, and if so, you’re very lucky, but if you’re not that is also okay. Family can get extremely overwhelming in both cases, as you can go from hardly seeing them to spending days at a time together, especially during ‘holiday’ periods when you’re expected to be celebrating and happy. Like I said, it’s super intense. My advice to you is to try and enjoy the small time period when you have to endure this, it is only for a few days every few months a year. Instead of trying to act ‘fake’, turn it into you’re only focusing on the positives for now, because there always is some goodness somewhere. That can help your mental wellbeing, too, as focusing on the positive can make you see that the negative aint so bad after all. Bad grades are not the end of the world. Arguing with a friend doesn’t mean you’ll be friendless for life. And so what if you waste some money when you first get a job – you’re young and deserve the fun.

Relax and be yourself as much as possible and remember that no matter how close you are, your family adore the pants off you and would drop anything for you, even if it doesn’t seem like it.

Love always,

NYM xo

[thenotyourmum]

How to get through these god damn exams!!

Step 1: Know that there is an end, and it will come waaay quicker than you think. Once you’ve done them, you get that feeling of wanting to do it all over again, so just push yourself as much as you can (healthily) during this time so you have no ragrets!! (not even a letter, lol)

Step 2: Eat well and drink water – sounds dumb & boring but we swear to you it makes the world of difference to your body, brain, skin and mood!

Step 3: Break it down, yo. Seriously though, don’t even bother revising for 12 hours straight, you’ll kill your brain cells and most likely not keep over half the info you need to remember. Break it down into chunks ie do an hour, break for half an hour and continue with another hour. Then finish with a practice exam!

Step 4: Practice exams should be your best friend if they’re available to you. Exam boards tend to recycle questions alllll the time, so use that to your advantage and do as many as poss! It also means you won’t be freaked out in the real thing which is an obvious bonus

Step 5: Use your friends and family to test you – that’s what they’re there for! When I did my A Levels I made hundreds of flashcards and my mum sat with me for ages working through them in sections with me until I knew them all, and that was so helpful!

Step 6: treat. Yo. Self. Book a hol or day out with a bff as soon as your exams finish and work towards that, there’s loads of countdown apps which are sooo motivational!

 Best of luck, guys. Please do try to relax, in reality they’re just exams to get you to the next step. You’re doing better than you think!

Lilly xoxo

[thepowerwithin]

If you love something, don’t rush it. Allow yourself to feel it. Embrace it. Let its essence touch your heart, and light up your world in the most wondrous of ways. To love is a beautiful feeling, so allow for this experience to unfold for you.

Nicole Addison @thepowerwithin (via thepowerwithin)

[thenotyourmum]

New Year: New You?

Welcome to 2018 NYM lovers!!

Any new years resolutions that you’re most defo NOT going to keep??? We’ve got tonnes - drink more water, go to the gym, do yoga, blah blah blah...

How about you dedicate this year to you. Like really really try to put yourself first in the kindest way possible, which may actually include said resolutions ie staying hydrated. We recommend lists for this (they really do actually solve a lot of your problems, trust). Write a list in your fanciest, prettiest writing of what you want to achieve this year, from little goals to big goals. For example Lilly’s little goal will be accepting the fact that she can and will have bad days, and her big goal will be passing her first year of university. 

But also remember that this does not have to be the ‘perfect’ year. This may not be the year that you have your first boyfriend or first kiss, or the year that you lose the weight you want to. This may well be the year that you lose a couple of friends, or school gets a little harder than the last, or you generally find your moods more difficult to manage. And guess the heck what? THAT IS OKAY. You are going to have some really super fun and perfect days this year, but also some really low, sucky difficult one. It’s inevitable, we all do because we’re all human and that is just simply how we are designed and how we function in society. It’s how you deal with it that counts. Remember the good, guys. It’s always there somewhere. 

Also, we learned a really helpful breathing technique recently called the 4-7-8. It works like this: breathe in for 4 moderately quick counts, hold for 7 and breathe out for 8. It truly helps you relax even when you’re in the most anxious of situations.

Love always,

Not Your Mum 

[thenotyourmum]

[thenotyourmum]

[thenotyourmum]

[thenotyourmum]

[thepowerwithin]

Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the face.

Helen Keller (via thepowerwithin)

[thenotyourmum]

What's the deal with death & dying?

Everyone dies. Hardly anybody talks about it. What's THAT all about? We get into the nitty-gritty of dying, afterlife (or lack of) and death, with a quick de...

What’s the deal with death & dying?? WHY don’t people like to talk about it? What happens after we die?? Watch our vid about it and find the heck out. 

[thenotyourmum]

Fostering

It's Foster Care Fortnight, so our FABULOUS Lilly Life columnist Lilly (obvs) spoke to us about what it's like to live with foster kids. Do you live with a f...

Newest NYM vid is all about Lilly’s experiences of living with foster children- v insightful. Check it out :)

[thepowerwithin]

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never have enough.

Oprah Winfrey (via thepowerwithin)

[voulair]

me @ the stars: help me

[drawing-prompt-s]

Draw a place you would love to curl up in and read a good book.