… to use your voice for good!

You thought this would be a fashion post right? Sorry if I’m disappointing you.

But it’s a true statement and a really important shift. At the moment there is a massive surge of interest in wanting to advocate for something bigger than ourselves. One of the very few trends out there I’m willing to embrace wholeheartedly.

We can see it happening in general in society, but I find it particularly interesting in the sphere of influencers.

Social media is a narcissistic mirror drowning us in our own feeds daily. It’s all me, me, and me again. Look what I have, look where I am, look what I’m wearing, look at what I can afford…

…and it’s exhausting to be so self-involved, self-promoting and self-serving all the time.

It’s also unhealthy to constantly be thinking about how we look in photos, if the outfit is cool enough and what caption to share to be more relatable and thereby get the most likes.

What we need is to from time to time step out of the spotlight for a while and instead shine that same light on something real. To use our voice for good and get to dig a little bit deeper, and experience influence in a truly important form. It’s a chance for us to turn our eyes away from the dollar signs and onto something larger than ourselves.

There are two great wins to this;

1. The causes influencers are advocating for are getting larger audiences and hopefully, it helps with the traction to spread awareness and even fundraising.

2. The influencers get to be a part of something non-selfish. And that is great for our mental health and sense of purpose.

There truly are no downsides to using our influence for good and that is why this trend hopefully is one that will stay with us and become a permanent fixture in our way of living and working from now on.

It literally cost us nothing but a tiny bit of time and energy to stand behind a good cause. And trust me, the reward is 100 times larger than the effort.

And there are countless ways of getting involved.

It actually doesn’t really matter what our cause is, as long as we use our voice for good, are helping where help is needed and the interest is selfless. It can be a charity close to your heart, a personal effort to help someone in need or just to take a stand and advocate for something that will make our world a little bit better.

Children, illnesses, the old, poverty, animals, mental health, sustainability, human rights, gender equality…. there are countless important issues in our world that need the attention we as influencers are able to give.

…and if you can’t think of something, head over to #Togetherband and pick one of the 17 UN global goals. All you need to do is to pick a cause, buy a bracelet and pop a post on your feed (or story). It’s as simple as that.

I find that once you get involved, even a little bit, you want to do more. The passion grows and so does the pride in taking part in something a lot more important than ourselves.

This is one of the pillars of #MINDFLUENCING – Mindful Influencing. We can’t just take, take, take. 2020 is the year to give back and use our voice for good.

Photo – Roz Alcazar. Dress – Ida Sjöstedt (gift), necklace Winsor Bishop (on loan). 

The pink Maje jacket was my July item

You who follow me regularly here on the blog or on Instagram probably know about my #OneItemAMonth challenge by now.

I post a lot about it, but in case you are new or have missed it here is a little recap;

In January 2019 I had enough.

I was one of those people with a massive wardrobe but never felt like I had anything to wear. I wanted to really pinpoint my own style and turn my then trend-led wardrobe into a timeless one.

So I began my journey towards a sustainable capsule wardrobe by having the biggest clothing cull of my life. I was merciless. 75% of the clothes I owned went either to fabric recycling, charity, friends, and family or on sale on Vestiaire collective.

I can’t tell you how LIBERATING it was!

(I’m going to do a post next week on exactly how to do a big clear out and how to know what to keep and what to let go of)

I got my Golden Goose sneakers in March

I was then left with a much more manageable amount of clothes and a list of items I actually needed. Knowing myself if left to my own devices, I would have run out, list in hand and gone bananas in the shops.

To make sure I wouldn’t just fill my newly organized wardrobe right up again, I came up with a challenge. I was only to buy one single item of clothing a month for a whole year. Instead of impulse shopping on the high street as soon as a new trend swept by, I wanted to take my time and really choose my items carefully.

Instead of high-street, I focused on mid-to-high-end brands. Since I wasn’t buying lots of stuff, I had more money to invest in each and every piece of clothing.

All of a sudden I found myself being able to afford clothes that felt unattainable in the past. 

I invested in Joseph, Golden Goose, Filippa K, L’Agence, Roksanda, Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo, Maje and even Chanel. I did my absolute best to make my monthly spend stretch as far as possible and tried to get as many designer items pre-loved as possible.

This Filippa K maxi dress was my first purchase of the challenge

Not only did I end up with high-end quality and amazing design, I actually spent less money on clothes than the year before. Pretty awesome right?

I got the question if I was going to do the challenge again in 2020 and to be honest, I hadn’t even thought about it. For the simple reason, that it’s not a challenge for me anymore. It’s a lifestyle and I would NEVER EVER want to go back to shopping the way I did in the past.

My wardrobe now is the bomb and I see no reason why not to continue.

…and the best thing about it is that I have got a whole load of you guys to join me! I can’t tell you have excited I am about seeing what you will buy and how this challenge will change the way you shop in 2020. 

How gorgeous is the Dolce & Gabbana bikini I got in April?

I promise you will have seen such a great transformation in your style and your wardrobe, that by the end of this year, you will be blown away by the difference. You will feel and look like a completely different person. 

I will shoutout all of you who use #OneItemAMonth on Instagram. And we will all be able to follow the hashtag to see what others have invested in this month.

If you are tired of buying clothes that you don’t seem to actually wear very much. If you don’t like your own style and never seem to be able to afford the clothes you actually want. JOIN ME! IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

My best bargain must be my pre-loved Chanel pumps for £100!

The rules are;

– You are allowed to buy 1 item every month (if this is too harsh, make it 2, as long as you have a limit).

– Socks, everyday underwear, basic t-shirts and necessities that might not be fun, but important are excluded. Only you can say what those are, so make sure to know the difference.

– Buy quality over quantity, timelessness over trends, try to invest in pre-loved if possible. Maybe have a look at sustainable brands? But above all only buy things you really LOVE!

– And last but not least, share your #OneItemAMonth with the rest of us on Instagram (or here on the blog!).

Come on, what do you have to lose? (more than a bunch of really crappy clothes you don’t need?). Join us! We will start with our big clear-out next week here on the blog, to be ready for an awesome year of really amazing style.

I will do my best to put together a monthly style guide as a bit of inspiration to what to get if you are feeling a bit lost in the beginning.

Here we go, the #OneItemAMonth 2020 challenge starts now!

New year – New you?

January is the time to be dry, vegan, (poor) and spend all of our time in the gym. We are purging our lives and bodies after the indulgence of Christmas. Repent, repent, repent!

Yes, the start of the new year is the best time to set new intentions, evaluate where we are and establish some long-term goals. January is a dark, gloomy and boring month, where most of the light seems to be coming from looking forwards towards spring and all the things we will accomplish.

As you probably know by now, I’m all for setting goals and dreaming big. I love an opportunity to take stock and dig deep into myself and my situation.

However, if there is one thing I have learned is that change happens pretty slowly. For a great reason. It takes time to break old bad habits and set new better ones. The best way of reaching a goal is, in fact, to set up a long-term plan consisting of small changes in our lives.

The whole dry January, veganary, hit-the-gym-anary thing is often less about creating new good habits and more about repenting former sins. It’s a way for us to indulge and try to feel less guilty after. And once January is over, we go back to our same old lives for 12 months until it’s Christmas and time to do it all again.

It’s all about sustainability folks, and in this instance, I’m for once not talking about the environment. I’m talking about what we, as busy, working, baby-producing, vacuum-cleaning, social, living people actually can sustain in our day-to-day life.

The whole -anuary thing is a great cop-out if you are trying to put a band-aid on your post-Christmas guilt. But it’s most likely not going to change much in the long run.

You are not really setting goals at all.

If you ACTUALLY want to reach a goal in 2020, sit down and have a good think. Write down a few areas in your life where you see the possibility for improvement. Start with the goal, and work backward 11 months to make a plan. What can you do every day/week/month to make this goal a reality in December?

… and don’t fall into the trap of thinking big. The goal can be big of course, but your steps should be as small as possible. The change should be so little that you barely notice it at all day-to-day. 

If you want to go vegan, start by switching a meal or two a week, then as you gradually get used to it, switch more. It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing. And saying that, there is no shame in being a part-time vegan or vegetarian. If that is what you can handle. It’s not all black or white, grey is a nice color too.

When it comes to one of our favorite subjects when it comes to setting goals –  hitting the gym, the first thing we need to do is to carve out the time and show up. We don’t even really need to work out in the beginning. It’s all about conditioning ourselves to go through the motion of taking the time. Then slowly we add the actual work-out into the mix.

We want to make it as easy for ourselves as possible to both reach and sustain our goals. The change needs to be realistic.

So instead of going vegan for a month, go vegan once a week. Instead of not drinking for a month, have a glass less every week and why not take the stairs instead of the lift before you get that expensive gym card?

Slowly but surely it will all accumulate and in December we might be able to actually do for a lifetime what we would otherwise only have been doing for a month.

Since I had a bit of a slow start this year, I haven’t really had the time to set my intentions yet. So this is what I will be doing this weekend. How about it? Are you setting goals that you will actually reach this year?

Photo – Roz Alcazar

My pink linen shirt is gifted by sustainable brand Freya Lillie. The belt is second hand from Save the children, my bag is Prada and the boots are Mark Ellis (they are on sale, and you can find them here – affiliate link)

…and I’m back!

First, I want to say sorry for disappearing on you without saying why or when I would be back. I did, however, have a pretty good reason.

You see, on the Monday of the last work-week before Christmas, I did something completely silly that I had no idea was going to really affect me. It was something incredibly insignificant and stupid, or so I thought at the time.

I banged my head in a kitchen cabinet door.

Something stressed moms tend to do on a regular basis. Nothing to worry about right?

It wasn’t even a very hard bump, just in an unfortunate place. Somehow I have managed to hit that very sensitive spot behind the ear. It hurt like **** and the whole area swelled up. But since it was such a light bump, I really didn’t think much about it.

I went to work like normal the next day, and even though I felt a bit slow, I put it down to it being my last office-day before Christmas and my need of a holiday. I remember having trouble finding certain words when I was writing emails and in the evening, attending Santas grotto with my son at nursery, I felt lightheaded and struggled to keep a conversation going with a friend. At one point I remember looking at Ace’s shoes and not being able to see the difference between the right and the left foot.

Even then I didn’t put the two together. It was only on the next day when I woke up with a headache from hell, I got a bit worried.

I am not a headache person, and when I couldn’t get out of bed without the pain forcing me down onto my knees, I got scared for real. I could only explain it as having birth contractions in my brain.

By the afternoon we had to call an ambulance. It was one of the worst pains I have ever felt. Luckily the ambulance crew was lovely and got me swiftly to the hospital where they concluded I had managed to give myself a minor head injury (a concussion).

…so I got some serious painkillers and got put on bed rest for 5 days and no screens for 2 weeks.

Looking back I should have popped my head in and just written a little note in here at that point, but to be honest, I was really enjoying my time off.

You see, I have been blogging since 2006 and I have never had a holiday without still “working”. For me to get to take 2 whole weeks off writing and having to be creative was pure bliss.

During this time we went to Sweden to celebrate Christmas with my family. Every morning we took a long walk in the woods with Ace, played with pinecones and jumped in the fluffy moss. We spend proper quality time with my parents and my sisters. I slept 9 hours every night and spent every evening in front of a log-fire reading a good book.

I actually managed to read 3 books in those two weeks. And I don’t know how many games of Yatzy with the hubby.

Aside from the concussion, this Christmas it was probably the thing my body and mind needed the most. I haven’t felt this refreshed in years and it actually changed something in me.

It made me realize that I need to give myself a break now and then, to just be and not produce. Not just an hour here or there, but an actual week a couple of times a year. For my creativity, mental health and my family’s sake.

…and the great thing now is that I’m back with sooo much more energy and motivation. I’m incredibly excited to see what 2020 will bring and I hope you are too.

From next week I will be back to updating 2-3 times/week like normal. You can always follow me on Bloglovin’ or sign up to my newsletter to make sure you don’t miss any of my posts.

Happy New year my friends, let’s make sure this will be the best one yet!

…and take care of your brains. They are more sensitive than we think and we are incredibly lucky when we are healthy and can think and function like normal. Even a small concussion can make a big difference. 

My top is by Toteme, bought pre-loved on Vestiaire Collective. My scarf is by Alva Norge and my earring by Winsor Bishop.  (affiliate links)

Photo – Roz Alcazar

I used to find it really hard to put together a Christmas wish list. 

I was always really non-specific and wished for fairly random things that popped up in my head when someone asked. Not sustainable or very clever since I put basically no thought into it at all.

These days I’m much better. I now have a formula I follow to make sure I’m not wasting anyone’s money and effort, our natural resources or my storage space. (London flats…) I now know how much more sustainable it is to be clever with what I wish for.

On top of my Christmas wish list is always experiences. A dinner with someone, tickets to the theatre, a concert or a day at the spa. Memories shared with loved ones are worth more than 100 things.

When it comes to actual items, I’m one of those annoying people who tend to buy what I need. And I don’t want to wish for things I don’t need. So to make sure to have things to wish for. I find myself not getting certain things just so I can wish for them at Christmas. 

This year I have had my eye on these amazing beige Chelsea boots by sustainable brand  Everlane, a pair of mid-rise black straight jeans by Toteme and a Nanushka faux leather dress that I absolutely love. I added the Valentino bag as a bit of a dream-item, because why not. (You can find it new here, and pre-loved here). 

I’m of course not expecting to receive all of these things, but at least I know I will be very happy if I get any of them. And most of all I know they will come to use.

One of the easiest things to wish for is beauty products I already love. I know they will run out sooner or later and I also know that I would buy them again. As long as I’m specific with everything from shade to scent, it’s pretty spot on.

Like my amazing Diorskin foundation that I’m obsessed with and wear every day and my favorite Löwengrip dry shampoo that gives a fresh feeling to my hair but without making it sticky and itchy.

…I have also finally found a perfume I really love. I had a tester to try for a week, and I’m sure Byredo’s Mister Marvellous is my new signature scent. So these 3 things would be amazing gifts to me.

My last little trick for a more sustainable Christmas wishlist is to add a few things I never buy myself but always love to receive. Like my all-time favorite candle Baise by Diptyque. It’s such a treat when I get given one and it makes me truly happy.

Most important is that I don’t want to end up with things I don’t use. In the past, I kept items I was gifted but I didn’t like. In case I would change my mind or just to make the giver feel good. Now when I have finally cleared it all out and got rid (gave away mostly) of all the stuff I owned and didn’t use. I’m going to do my best to make sure I don’t start hoarding things again.

I know to some the gifts are a big part of Christmas, so this is my formula to make it work on a sustainable level without stepping on any toes or traditions.

…or if the family is open to something new, you can always try the Christmas game. Then you won’t need a Christmas wish list at all. 

You can find my post on how to give more sustainable Christmas gifts here. 

The items in our wardrobes with the best Price Per Wear should without a doubt be our jewellery collection.

Clothing, no matter how great the quality is or how much we love it, sadly has a life-span. There will come a time when a piece is going to fall apart from wear and tear. You might be able to mend it once or twice, but eventually, textile recycling will sadly be the only option left.

Jewellery, however, is a completely different ball game. Because it will last for a lifetime and most likely even longer. It’s a purchase that keeps its value. It can be resold, remade or handed over to the next generation.

My mom took her old rings from her first marriage and made them into little diamond pendants for us girls. My grandmother left me her pearl necklace and I recently sold a bracelet I got from an ex-boyfriend second-hand. (I’m thinking of putting the money towards a statement piece of jewellery to celebrate a few recent successes.)

The biggest mistake I see people do is to treat jewellery as equal to everything else in their wardrobe. They value it on the same level as a dress, bag or pair of shoes. Even though a great piece of signature jewellery can be worn every day of a lifetime (look at wedding and engagement rings!)

So they buy trendy cheap knick-knacks from the high-street and look at precious metals and diamonds as something too expensive to afford. What they are forgetting is that if they put the same money they spent on those little trend-purchases into one single item, they could have had something truly special and valuable.

Because as always, it’s not about the price you pay when you purchase something. It’s about how the cost gets divided each time you use it. A cheap item worn once is a very expensive buy. And an expensive item worn for the rest of your life is a bargain. This is the core value of Price Per Wear.

It’s up to us to pick sides. Do we want to be those who have lots of different pieces of trendy jewellery and treat them like clothes? Or do we want to have a few truly special signature items to wear every day for as long as we live?

I know I’m 100% the latter.

In the photos, I’m wearing an exquisite diamond 18ct white gold bracelet from sustainable and ethical jeweller Winsor Bishop’s Nouveau Buckle collection. It’s one of those statement pieces that are both personal and timeless. I absolutely adore the buckle detail, it’s such a beautiful way of designing a functional feature.

Head over to their website and have a look at the full collection. Maybe add something to your Christmas wishlist?

Winsor Bishop has been around for a very long time, they sold their first piece of jewellery already back in 1834. I really trust them as a brand since they, like me, focus on quality, sustainability, and ethical practices.

You can read more about Winsor Bishop and why I have chosen to partner up with them here.

Photo – Rosalind Alcazar

This post is presented in collaboration with Winsor Bishop.

Christmas gifts, a touchy subject.

It’s one of the few things most of us have to deal with that is non-essential to life. You think it’s just gifts, but it’s more politics than anything else.

Because not everyone is a gracious gift-givers or receiver. Everyone has their own idea of what Christmas gifts mean to them. To some, it’s super important and others see it as more of a nuisance than anything else.

There are as many opinions of what a Christmas gift should be like as there are people around us.

Unfortunately, this blog post won’t tell you how to deal with the politics of gift-giving or receiving. But it will give you a few ideas on how to be a bit more mindful about it all

Because there are a few ways to make sure to have a more sustainable Christmas gift experience. 

1. Write a wish list – It might take a bit of the surprise out of it. BUT at least you know that you will get something you really will love and use. And you will also be able to give the people you care about things they love and will use. It takes the guessing out of the gifting. (You can always make a long-ish list if you still want to be surprised).

2.  Wish for experiences – Memories never get left in the trash. It’s one of the very few things in this world that actually stay with you for your whole life.

3. Wish for and give second-hand gifts – I send the husband screenshots of my Vestiaire Collective – affiliate link wishlist. (Cashmere is always a hit)

4. Re-gift – We all have amazing things at home just sitting and collecting dust. Why not give away some of the treasures we have collected over the years? Why does everything have to be brand new?

5. Return unwanted gifts – There is no reason to keep something you don’t like and won’t use just because you feel obliged to. I know it’s hard, especially when it comes to family, but if you can’t return it – sell or re-gift. It’s all in the cause of sustainability and living with less.

6. Buy from sustainable brands – At least then your money is supporting the good side of the industry. There are many amazing sustainable and ethical brands out there. At least have a look.

7. Buy quality over quantity – Why not pool together and buy one large amazing gift you know they will love rather than many small half-nice ones?

…this is just a few little ways we can be mindful at one of the most wasteful times of the year.

Do you have any other suggestions on how we can be more sustainable Christmas gift givers and receivers?

My outfit is by sustainable brand Freya Lillie (gift) and my bag is Chanel.

Photo – Roz Alcazar

It’s December already, where did time go? 

I always felt like time was moving too quickly for my liking, but since I become a parent, it’s going at warp speed. I have a hard time keeping up and at times I feel like I need to hold on not to be thrown off the life carousel.

Thing is, life will happen, no matter if we are doing something with it or not. We can’t stop it or take a break, we can only choose to either enjoy the ride or just wait for it to end.

A big part of living life well is to set goals and work towards achieving them. Not only for our productivity in society, but also for our self-worth and life-satisfaction.

You can choose to see it as if nothing matters and we are all going to die in the end anyway, so why bother. Or you can decide to make the most of your time here on earth and really go for it, because what do we really have to lose right?

I love to set goals, but I haven’t always been great at actually achieving them. I had all the intentions and the excitement, but then life got in the way and I never really did much of the work to get there.

One of the main reasons why I didn’t actually reach my goals was that I didn’t make a realistic plan. I went all-in for a while and then it kind of fizzled out pretty quickly. The intention was there, but I didn’t know how to keep it up.

It was only when I learned the trick to start with the goal and work my way back that things changed ( you can find my blog post on exactly how I set goals here). Not only did it remove the blank space between where I am now and where I want to go, but it also thought me to break every goal up into mini-goals. It’s so much easier to take on something little every day, than something big in a year.

To me, my goal setting happens in January and then I work my way towards my goal over the next 12 months. I like to think of my life in themed years. I set my focus and try to stick to it in all areas of my life.

This year it was all about getting back to work after having had Ace.

…And I have to say that I think I really knocked that one out of the ballpark.

At the beginning of the year, it was all about putting the effort in and re-structuring my social channel. I focused on what worked well and figured out what I had to drop to be able to move forward.

So I upped my game on Instagram and really zoned in on my sustainable fashion niche. I also ran my #MINDFLUENCING campaign with Instagram in January. To me, doing good is a lot more important than to make money on social media. So I decided to not look at monetary gains for a while and only focus on having a purpose. (Of course, I understand that I’m very privileged to have been able to live off other things meanwhile.)

I knew my time was more limited than ever before, so something had to give. I decided that I had to give up my very timeconsuming Swedish blog, to be able to use that time to focus on a more international approach. I love Sweden and my Swedish followers, but I had hit my ceiling of growth there and since I live in London anyway it felt like the right move. I had over 9000 blog posts on that blog and it was a hard decision to make to “throw away” so many years of work.

But it really paid off. This blog really has grown fast in the last few months and even though I was a bit worried to blog 100% in my second language. I feel like it has gone pretty well ( I hope you feel the same…!)

..and then out of nowhere in June, I got offered a great job!

Actually, I got offered two at the same time, but xInfluence really stood out. I have always been happy being self-employed and working from home and cafés. But it felt right in my gut to accept and take on the challenge a start-up is. So all of a sudden I was office-based.

It made a massive difference in my work-life. And even though it wasn’t a specific goal to become head of creative talent for an influencer marketing platform, it really suits me and the theme of my year. I absolutely love it and I’m very happy I grabbed the opportunity when it came along.

I really believe in the law of attraction. When you are open to things, it will happen. I was putting out that I wanted to go back to work properly again, and all of a sudden I got offered a dream job. If that’s not proof that setting intentions are important, I don’t know what is.

What I want to say with this post is that it’s important to set goals, having a plan and keep on checking in with ourselves to make sure we are on the right path. It’s easy to think that things happen by themselves, but the truth is that faith often needs a little push.

Now is the time to take stock, reflect and set an intention for next year. And when January comes around we will set goals, make a plan and decide to make the most of our lives. 

Photo – Roz Alcazar

I’m wearing a pink linen shirt by Freya Lillie (gift) , leather trousers by Joseph.(affiliate link), bag by Prada and my necklace by Winsor Bishop (as part of our collaboration)

Some look at style as something shallow and superficial. They think fashion is all about vanity.

I couldn’t agree less.

I think style is much more than what we see on the outside. In fact, it gives us some great clues to what is on the inside. Fashion is one of the few ways for us to tell someone who we are without using words. What we choose to wear doesn’t just reflect our social standing or line of work, but also our interests and our mood for the day.

This is why personal style is really important and super fascinating.

If we only follow trends or copy someone else, we will completely miss out on the opportunity of expressing ourselves visually. We won’t show the world who we are and what we stand for, but instead who a fashion magazine thinks we should be or what a celebrity stands for.

This is why it’s important to really dig deep when it comes to personal style.

Clothes can say a lot, but I find that if I really want to understand someone, I tend to look at their jewellery.

Perfume and jewellery are two items that can become our signatures. We can wear them every day for the rest of our lives and the people around us will quickly come to recognise a particular piece of jewellery or scent as ours.

One of my best and loveliest friends, Josefina, has great style. She is a bit of a modern hippie, but what really stands out to me is her jewellery. If I close my eyes right now, I can see the rings she wears (yellow gold, many of them, all vintage and interesting) and the necklace she inherited (a small birdcage) that is always present around her neck and somehow works with any clothing she wears.

You straight away understand, amongst other things, that she is very interesting, her family is important to her and that she has a great eye for vintage.

Some people say that they look at someone’s shoes the first time they meet them. I look at their jewellery instead. To get a little clue of what kind of person is standing in front of me before I have the pleasure of actually getting to know them.

This is why we don’t need a lot of jewellery, just the perfect ones. A base of everyday items we feel is almost an extension of ourselves and a small selection of statement pieces for special occasions. Faithful companions to wear for a lifetime.

Never feel like you wear your jewellery too much because there’s actually no such thing. If anything, the more you wear it, the easier it will be to define your personal style.

These are the 3 quick questions I ask myself when I buy jewellery;

1. Can I wear this for the rest of my life?
2. Does it feel 100% like me?
3. Is the quality amazing?

…and of course, I make sure I am buying from an ethical and sustainable jeweller like Winsor Bishop. The two gorgeous necklaces I’m wearing in the photos are from their “London Collection” and will feature in their Black Friday event this weekend, along with other stunning pieces of jewellery. Head over to their website and have a look here & here, who knows, maybe you will find the one? (Offer ends Monday 2nd December at Midnight).

This post is presented in collaboration with Winsor Bishop. You can find my earlier post on “How to curate a timeless and sustainable jewellery collection” here. 

It’s almost Christmas, a time full of joy, happiness, love, food…

…stress, social pressure, anxiety, loneliness, and uncomfortable situations.

I have 10 don’ts for a happier Christmas. They make me re-focus and calm down when I need it the most.

DON’T

1. Try to make everything perfect. Because nothing is ever perfect and by striving for perfection we are setting ourselves up for failure.

2.  Overdo it on the food and drink. It will only make us feel crap after.

3.  Forget to move. Make time for the gym or just some fresh air. It will counteract all the stress the holidays can put upon us.

4.  Get caught up in “competitive Christmas”. It’s meant to be a great experience the way we like it. Not for our mom group, the in-laws or those following us for social media.

5.  Forget to live in the moment. A lot happens very quickly in December and all of a sudden it has all gone and we barely had time to process any of it.

6.  Sacrifice our me-time. If anything, give yourself more time to read books in front of a fireplace or take a long bath. Pajama-days are good days.

7.  Pack our social calendars too full. It’s great to meet up with friends and colleagues, but if it’s too much in one go, it will feel like a burden instead of something fun.

8. Be a people pleaser. It’s easy to take on too much and forget ourselves.

9. Feel like Christmas “should” be a certain way. Christmas means different things to different people. We each have to find our own traditions and decide what matters to us.

10.  Forget to prioritize. How many handwritten Christmas cards do we really have to send out? Do we have to make that dish from scratch? And who really cares about if there is a bit of dust in the corners?

Are we ready? …set….go!!

And if it all feels a bit much, keep my 10 don’ts for a happier Christmas in mind and never ever feel bad for using them.

Photo – Ida Zander. Dress by Ida Sjöstedt (gift) and boots by Mark Ellis. (affiliate link)