WELLBEING, A NEW YOU?...ITS ALL STARTS WITH A GIRLS NIGHT IN!

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had ‘World Kindness Day’, ‘Mental Health Week’ and ‘Self Care Week’ all global online events helping you focus on engaging and empowering yourself to look internally. When you feel happy, calm, energised and content you can bring that happiness, generosity and love to the people around you, your family and friends, and the job that you do. Wellbeing is an active process of becoming aware of your choices and making the right choices for change and growth.

Research shows that there are eight dimensions of wellbeing. Emotional (relating to your feelings and combating stress), Intellectual (having an Open Mind and active participation), Financial (learning how to manage), Occupational (loving what you do) Environmental (our interaction with nature and protecting it) Physical (maintaining a healthy body), Social (developing relationships and creating a support network), and Spiritual (having a set of values to help you cope, examples being religion or relaxation). Each dimension is interrelated with each other and if one of more of them are out of balance it really affects your optimum health.

Taking Time Out

Are you constantly busy looking after your kids, juggling work, the family and school commitments – ending up feeling stressed and with no time to do anything properly? It’s important to try to regularly spend time with others. When you relax, you give yourself permission to let go of worries for a while, your mind is open to trying new things and your more willing to incorporating rituals into your routine to help you maintain your physical, mental and emotional health.

Steph, Laura and Cat’s ‘Girls Night In’ Well-being event is a fantastic combination of these well-being dimensions. Finding small, manageable ways to change yourself and improve your outlook builds confidence, creates peace of mind and opens you up to the possibility of, someday, undertaking larger, more daunting changes. By accepting and appreciating your body, your health, your look and style, having an open mind and tapping into that support network helps you achieve positive changes that will protect your future health.

Making relatively small changes to your appearance, body, grooming and personal style can utterly transform your outlook, attitude and self-image. Such a minor-seeming, insignificant-feeling alteration can have a huge impact, setting off a slow but far-reaching domino effect of positive change that will continue for years to come.

Slaying that Black Dress

There’s no cookie-cutter approach to style. The fun thing about fashion (and the reason we're so obsessed with clothes and shoes) is that if it makes you look and feel good then literally anything goes. The first step to finding the right clothes to bring out your inner goddess, is to figure out your specific body type so that you can play up your best features.

We all have that one little black dress, and now it’s time to spice it up for the party season. Steph’s session was a fabulous in-depth look at dressing for your body type from deciding if you're an hourglass shape, pear, banana, or apple. On gorgeous model Nicola she showed that with just a little knowledge you can look even better than you do already.

Steph gave incredible tips, tricks and ideas you might have never even thought of. It was wonderful to see her in action and transform (with just a belt might I add) a lovely lady's swagger by accentuating her fabulous figure. It was a confidence booster and a thin studded belt added to the Christmas wish list.

Ultimate knowledge to help you feel and look your best in this foundational piece that’s always in your wardrobe!

A HUGE thank you to Jackie from La Shopette, Marlow for supplying Labels, Designers and Vintage black dresses and accessories for Steph to style and our wonderful ladies to try and buy. If you’re looking for one off designs drop by and see her wonderful pop up shop.

Thank you to local shoe and accessory business shushushops.co.uk for not only providing a wonderful selection of shoes, boots and handbags but also giving a rather generous discount code to everyone who attended to use in stores in Beaconsfield, Berkhamsted, Gerrards Cross, Marlow or online. They not only have a party selection but some wonderful boots for this cold spell we are now experiencing.

Elevate Your Up do

By the time Cat’s finished her demo on model Nicola, we’ve all learnt not only how to prep hair but how to create a quick and easy head-turning up-do hairstyle by combining simple techniques.

Throughout the styling Cat talked through the different hairstyles for each dress, answered lots of questions and addressed that elephant in the room

'How do I use straighteners to create that relaxed curl we are all desperate to achieve?'

With a little bit of knowledge and Cat on hand at the end of the session to hand over the tools for you to try it yourself, it's practice makes perfect to get the hang of these easy techniques. With a glass in hand everyone drank up the professional advise on the recommended products.

Now it’s time to get creative and mimic runway looks, do your own hairstyles for special events, and help your friends get ready for their big nights. Practice makes perfect ladies!

Getting Physical and Eating Well

If you’re feeling stressed or anxious, a great way to take care of yourself is by putting in a workout. Keeping fit will promote good endorphin release and cause you to feel more relaxed – so it’s a benefit to both your body and mind. It’s also a great opportunity for you to focus solely on you. It’s a chance to remove yourself from the source of stress, clear your mind and return to any problems feeling refreshed.

Every day, thousands of people make the decision to start eating better and losing weight…and every day those thousands of people don’t really have any plan or idea what they’re doing. With a little hard work, determination and dedication you’ll see fantastic results from Laura’s Proven Results driven program. Her background (travelling the world playing for Ireland Hockey) her knowledge from then to now after having children and her passion truly shines through. (You cant bottle that!)

It’s all about balance, eating a balanced healthy diet, which is full of healthy fats, carbs and protein, and clearly defined exercise routines all dependent on your goals.

Thank you so much to Aoife from happiness_transformation for supporting the event, bringing some green and beetroot juices, chai mylk, protein balls and healthy sweet potato brownies to sample. Another step on her mission to educate us on making food work for us but being delicious at the same time. With your launch in January, Aoife, you’ll bloom wherever you planted!

It’s all about collaboration, supporting and promoting and I am chuffed to bits to have been asked to write this blog covering Steph, Laura and Cat’s Wellbeing Girls Night In Taster event, it was a wonderful night, full of like-minded local women wanting to achieve the best and wanting to support each other.

For these three lovely ladies it was a chance to gain feedback, ideas and build a support network in Marlow ready for their first Women's Well-being Charity event next year at local Coffee shop Coopers. Tickets will go on sale soon, keep up to date by follow on Instagram.

Looking after yourself has never been more important. With more of us suffering from stress and burnout than ever before, taking time out to replenish your wellbeing isn’t merely a luxury – it’s a necessity. With tips, tricks, professional knowledge and support from a network of like-minded local women

Girls Night In’ is helping set good habits for life so that the new healthier, happier you becomes a way of life!