Happy Squid

Don’t Stop (never give up!)

lydzsquid — Tue, 05 Mar 2019 14:42:28 +0000

First things first – HAPPY PANCAKE DAYYYYY!!! It’s a late one this year so the anticipation has been enormous….well for me….maybe not for everyone….but certainly I am VERY excited to get making pancakes later haha!

Second things second…..today is pancake day so tomorrow is the start of lent! Many people, religious or not, have carried on the tradition of giving something up for lent but I have a new suggestion for you.

Instead of giving up chocolate or alcohol for the 14th time, why not do something actively positive that boosts both your happiness and the happiness of those around you…..for example…..

IDEA #1: why not decide to perform one random act of kindness (RAK) every day of lent? That way you would still get the regimented discipline (if that’s what you’re after!!!!) but you’d also be bringing a smile to someone else’s face! Not to mention the fact that numerous psychological experiments have proven that RAK actually make you, the giver, much happier too. So not only is this good for the mental health of others but your own too!

IDEA #2: How about reading or learning something new every day of lent? Again you get your discipline but you also will enrich your brain and having new information gives you fresh conversation material that you can share with others – allowing them too to benefit from your chosen lent act! PLUS research shows that social interaction can increase happiness by up to 40%, giving both you and your convo buddy a mood boost!

IDEA #3: Make contact with someone different every day of lent. It might be an old friend, a close friend, a work colleague who sits across the room from you every day but you never chat to. It could be one of those people we call an ‘acquaintance’ – this could be your chance to turn an acquaintance into a friend?! Or it could simply be having a nice chat with that little old lady sat on her own in Costa. You never know how valuable reaching out can be – that person may be having a hard day/week/month and you making contact may cheer them up & remind them they matter…..and as I said in #2, SOCIAL INTERACTION MAKES YOU SO MUCH HAPPIER!!!

IDEA #4: Start a gratitude journal. Treat yourself to a new notebook (even writing that sent a shiver of excitement through me….I get waaaay too excited about buying notebooks haha….anyway back on track!) Get a new notebook and write down 10 things you are grateful for every day. Speak them aloud and say thank you after each – feel that wave of gratitude wash over you each time and take a moment to really feel it. To extend that exercise spend a minute after each really visualising your life without those things, so that your gratitude for them can abound!!

IDEA #5: Exercise every day. If you’re not a gym bunny no problem, but go for a walk or do 20 minutes in your living room, just get moving. On top of the obvious HEALTH BENEFITS – getting fitter, reducing risks of disease, lower blood pressure etc, exercise has so many BENEFITS FOR YOUR MENTAL WELLBEING too – it releases endorphins (the happy hormones), it reduces depression, stress and anxiety & improves your memory and cognitive skills (reaction time, coordination, brain function, healthy brain cells). Plus a fitness class environment gives you the EXTRA social connection happiness pluses on top of all this! You can do online workouts – popsugar fitness have some great at home workouts (youtube.com/popsugartvfit) or join a class – JIGGLE FITNESS is a body positive fitness class, that provides fun, full-out workouts for all fitness levels in a supportive and friendly environment (http://www.facebook.com/jigglefitness) ALL WELCOME! Drop an email to jigglefitness1@gmail.com with any questions or to book!

ANYWAY PANCAKE DAY LENT YAYYYY

So I hope some of those ideas have sparked lots of excitement & enthusiasm in you! Don’t let this be another dull lent – instead use one of these ideas (or even better a fusion of them all haha) to make this the brightest & happiest lent yet, giving you and those around you the mood boost we all could do with!!

As always let me know how you get on! Lots of love, Lyd xxxxxxxxxx

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

lydzsquid — Mon, 31 Dec 2018 17:59:20 +0000

So I like to name these blog posts after song titles and couldn’t resist this one!! But if you’re wondering what on earth this is about so you can decide whether to carry on reading…it’s basically about how we sum up our year and look back!

So for better or for worse, 2018 hasn’t turned out how I’d planned it in my head. The truth is it’s been a toughie and he large majority of the things I hoped for didn’t realise themselves in the way I had imagined – for example auditions I didn’t get seen for, jobs that I was so close to getting but didn’t go my way, places I wanted to visit, relationships that just didn’t pan out as expected etc etc you get the picture…..and so I had started writing off 2018 as a bit of a disappointment, thinking let’s forget this one and put all our hopes towards 2019. I shan’t lie, I was feeling a bit rubbish about it.

But a little niggle in my head said LYDIAA! you can’t write off a whole year as waste. That’s so ungrateful. The niggle was right and has been growing and steadily taking over for a few weeks. The things I planned didn’t happen, true, but so much else did. As the quote goes “life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”.

I think summing up our years is really important, but we have to do it in the right way. Celebrating what did happen as opposed to what didn’t. The gorgeous surprises, new friends and different experiences of 2018.

I didn’t know when I (very) merrily danced in 2018 that I would get to

train as a PT
go to Greece with my family
help my bestie’s bf find her an engagement ring
see a newborn turtle
learn to love mayonnaise
sing at the palladium
add a new nandos order to my repertoire (when I say that…the truth is I only had one thing in the repertoire and I now have 2…..#bigachievement)
get a new agent
re-connect with some old friends
start making soup
etc list goes on!

Here are some bullet points for you to do (I know you’re reading this online but it would be selfish of me to have my own bullet points and not give you any wouldn’t it?!) But do humour me and fill these out in your head….what awesome surprises have you had this year?

There are so many things we could easily brush over as they weren’t goals…we had no idea they would happen. But they did…YAY! And these little things are SO important.

I also think sometimes the word “progress” can make these ‘summing-up-the-year’ things 10 times harder lol…cause sooo often you can work your ass off and not get to where you wanted or where you thought it would lead BUT I think we have to find a more flexible way of thinking….

Perhaps rather than what goals you have achieved or whether you got what you wanted, it’s how far you have come from where you were. For me the starting point of this is about little Lydia. That girl who danced around the living room to the CD of Joseph, who watched The Sound of Music aged 2 and decided to go to a nursery school fancy dress day as Maria Von Trapp (yes I went as a 2 year old nun…my mum is amazing for making that costume!), the girl who lived for the evenings when she could leave school and run around filling her time with ballet and singing and rehearsals.

I like to think of little Lydia and what she would think of what I’m doing now. Cause you know what….I think she’d be really bloody chuffed and amazed to see where I am now. She probably would struggle to believe that I got to work at the Palladium and the Lyceum this year. She would be gloriously happy to see me teaching dancing and drama and singing. She would be so happy to know that I had the courage to even attempt what I’m doing. And actually…..if it’s good enough for her, then it should be good enough for me.

What would your younger self think of what you’re up to…cause frankly I’m pretty damn sure they’d think you’re awesome too (I mean I already know you’re awesome cause you’re reading my blog….).

How far you’ve come can also be just thinking back to this time last year – how much have you learnt? How have you grown as a person? Are you different? (It’s been a year so of course you’re 12 months more fabulous!)

And one last thing cause it’s NYE and I need to go start putting my face on…

Adulting is not easy and you’re doing it – that my friend is an achievement in itself. You’re adulting the ass off life! Woop woop & Congrats!

Lots of love, hope you all have a fantastic NYE whether you’re in your PJ’s with chocolate buttons or swigging from a champagne bottle in a glittery bikini!! Bring on 2019! Love Lyd xxxx

Also just a p.s. about NY resolutions….no you don’t need to lose weight hun, you’re absolutely beautiful just as you are! If you’re setting goals, make them something you’ll enjoy doing, that will bring you happiness and create new exciting memories for you to value when you’re 80! Xxx

All the single ladies….(and lads)

lydzsquid — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 21:00:13 +0000

So it’s got to that time of year again – everywhere you look there are hearts, adverts telling you that your loved one needs red roses, love, couples, romance….etc and if you’re in a relationship that can be really lovely – and to all of you who are, I hope you have a wonderful valentines day! But for those of us who aren’t in a relationship it can be a bit arrrrrghhhh! It can feel a little like world is shoving in our faces that we

a) aren’t in a relationship

b) don’t have that loving partner who adores us and wants to celebrate it

c) are perhaps an odd one out because we are single?

d) are missing out on something amazing

and it can make you feel a wee bit crappy can’t it?!?! we all pretend adamantly that it doesn’t, but we all know that it can have that affect – surrounded by romance and adverts EVERYWHERE telling you that you should have romance to celebrate on Feb 14th…..

but here’s a theory I’ve been thinking about (one of my crazy theories that I believe in that other people sometimes hear and look at me like I’m mad but I’m going to share it with you anyway, cause hey sharing is caring!) so that if you are feeling a bit bleurgh about being single on valentines day….you can see it through some new goggles and feel a bit better about the whole shebang!

Firstly, (before I get to my fabulous theory) can I just remind us all that valentines day has boomed as a commercial ‘holiday’ and as companies can bring in huge amounts of cash, they invest millions in HUGE marketing campaigns – getting their potential gifts shown everywhere you can see. They shove it down our throats and guilt trip us, so that even some valentines day haters in relationships will give in and at least send a card. In reality wayyyyyy more people than we think are single/not celebrating it, but businesses and social media hype it up so that the reality is hugely inflated. (remember how people always say social media is comparing your reality to others’ highlight reels – well this is a perfectly constructed day of highlights that people will be sharing [which is totally fair enough, we all share our highlighs]). ooh finally got to use double brackets in my blog – how exciting!

Anyway, back on topic – those of you who know me are aware that I massively believe that the universe/God brings things to you at the right time.

Soooo my great theory is…… In relationship terms, even if you are ready for a partner to come along, maybe your future partner isn’t ready yet. I like to think of it like cookies – different cookies take different amounts of time to be ready, depending on when you put them in the oven, where you put them in the oven (high/low shelf), how long they take to cool, whether they need icing etc…still with me?! I have a point, I promise!

So maybe you (as a cookie) are out and cooled and iced with chocolate drops on top but maybe your future partner is still baking (in real life terms: maybe there is something they need to learn before you’re right for each other, maybe they need to mature, maybe they need to extracate themselves from an unhappy relationship, maybe they’re still working out who they are, maybe they’re getting over someone etc).

Orrrr maybe we are still in the oven. Perhaps we need to learn a few more things before we are ready to meet our perfectly baked cookie?

Maybe we’ve already met our cookie at a party and will meet again when we are both ready?!…Maybe we are yet to meet them?!…but one thing we do know is that NOBODY wants an underdone cookie do we? No soggy bottoms please! What would Mary Berry say?!

Another thing I’d like to just put out there – whenever your friends are single, you are absolutely certain that they are going to find their perfect partner very soon aren’t you? I know I am always convinced of it!!! and I think that’s because all we see in our friends are the wonderful things about them – their wit, their humility, their kindness, their beauty, their courage, the glorious splendour of their existence etc, but we find it a lot harder to see those things in ourselves. We have been hurt in past relationships or someone has made us feel not enough (I mean we are SURROUNDED by constant messages that we are not good enough at something so that’s easy enough to do!!). We forget how freaking amazing we are – remember to give yourself credit for the awesome person that I know you are!!! (I mean if you’re reading a blog called Happy Squid you must be fun and awesome! and if you’ve got this far then you surely have a zest for life and a drive for happiness!)

Humour me and just spend a minute listing 15 great things about yourself

keep going

come on just a few more

seeeeeee I told you you were awesome didn’t I!!!

Now imagine you did that every day….reminded yourself that you are a fabulous human being. Then surely you’d be far more certain that your partner is on his/her way!

I feel like I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent here but I never really know where these posts are going anyway, I just go with the flowww and see what comes out! (Does anyone else find they can’t say ‘go with the flow’ without a cheeky little body ripple and a funny voice?!)

One last thing is REMEMBER HOW MANY FREAKING PEOPLE YOU HAVE IN YOUR LIFE THAT LOVE AND ADORE YOU!!! It might not be the Mr Darcy romance you were hoping for but frankly they are a far more consistent, unconditional source of love and care (think about it – however many boyfriends/girlfriends you’ve been through, your besties have always been there haven’t they?!) – your friends, your families, your colleagues! There is SOOOO much love in the world once you look for it…..the man who got on the bus in extra slow motion the other day when I was running for it so that it wouldn’t leave without me…….the girl who helped me down the stairs when I was struggling with a heavy suitcase…..the lady in the coffee shop who made the extra effort to make me giggle when I was clearly ill and feeling like crap!

Not to be too Love Actually about it, but the beauty of the human spirit means that there is love everywhere we look: in the kindness of strangers, in smiles exchanged about a hilarious child on the tube! Maybe this Feb 14th, rather than feeling lonely or left out, we can rebel against the negativity and use this as an opportunity to celebrate the love that we are fortunate enough to have – send your bestie a card, send your mum some flowers, send your grandparent a book. Or give a valentines day card/flower/hug to a complete stranger!

Basically SPREAD THE LOVE!!!

If you reached this far then wow well done you! We digressed a bit, but to sum up….top tips for a joyous single valentines day

1. Don’t let marketing campaigns make you feel like the odd one out (a huge amount of us are joining you there, so its really just half the rest of the population!)

2. Your cookie might still be in the oven or in the process of being iced for you! (I hope mine gets chocolate sprinkles on top) ….or you might still be in oven….you never know!

3. Remember how freaking awesome you are!

4. You have such a huge amount of love around you that it doesn’t matter that you don’t have romantic love right now. Embrace the love that you do have with WILD amounts of gratitude and joy!

Lots of love always!!! Send me comments/tweets, would love to know what you think – my twitter is @lydiashaw2! (10 points to anyone who can spot the Legally Blonde quote!).

xxxx

p.s. if you do have a partner and are celebrating valentines day then I wish you a glorious one! This isn’t an “I hate valentines day” post at all, just something to perk up any singletons feeling in need of a lift!!!

Your Body is AMAZING!

lydzsquid — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 21:54:23 +0000

That body of yours is amazing and beautiful! It’s natural, it is a miracle and hey if you’re able to breathe and read and understand this and consider it – your body is giving you life!

WOW isn’t it incredible! And yet we all spend so much of our lives hating and punishing this beautiful gift that we have been given. There is so much to be grateful for – my limbs that allow me to dance, my ears that hear the music, my fingers to play the piano, my voice to let me sing, my feet to run, my arms to hug, my nose to smell that freshly baked bread, the legs that allow me to climb mountains and snowboard and go on adventures. And all that came from being tinier than a speck of dust! Basically, it’s just amazing!

One of the most inspiring things towards my goal of loving my body is the film Embrace by the incredible Taryn Brumfitt (yes I know I’ve been banging on and on about it but it really will change your life) if you haven’t seen the trailer yet, it’s here…. (http://bit.ly/embracetrailer).

My favourite quote “Darling girl, don’t waste a single second of your life being at war with your body” reminds me how much of my childhood/my entire teenage life hating my body, feeling ashamed & disgusted, starving myself, and I mean…..I look back at it now and I’m like WHAT WAS I DOING I LOOKED FINE! and I’m sure in another 10 years I will look back at my current 24-year old self and go LYD YOU LOOKED LOVELY, GO BACK IN TIME AND STOP BEING AN IDIOT! I used to spend so much time looking at myself in the mirror, examining every flaw, searching for imperfection. But one day last year I was reading about habit and how you can train your brain into habits – and I thought what if I train my brain to look for good rather than bad in the mirror. So I started, I had a rule that every time I looked in the mirror I had to think of one positive thing I liked about the way I looked. It was hard at first…I’m not gonna lie. But eventually it got easier and now (whilst I haven’t stamped out the negativity entirely) I naturally look for something to be happy with as well.

Another thing which has helped my progress hugely is re-thinking my relationship with exercise. My whole life I have been an active person and I have always exercised pretty much every day but (other than dancing) so many of the gym-seshes and runs were a chore, focussed on improving my image – I’d drag myself out there to punish [what society had led me to believe was] a hideous body in a desperate daily attempt to change this figure I hated. But I decided this year to make a change – to do the excercise I felt like, with an aim to feeling good, strong, flexible, happy and healthy. If anything since making this adjustment I actually think I do more exercise, I feel positive about it, I enjoy it more, I’m much stronger and by following my instincts on what I wanna do that day it just works so much better. I still exercise every day but it has become something to look forward to rather than something to drag myself to after hours of dread. (Plus I’ve realised/accepted I have broad shoulders, wide hip bones and muscular legs….I’m never going to be a size 6 so what the hell’s the point of trying haha)

Exercising because you love your body not because you hate it……being aware of what you eat because you love your body not because you hate it……it keeps you healthy but makes it far more fun, more spontaneous and a lot more pleasant – I know when I want to treat myself to a pizza and actually when I really just want vegetables for tea! I can tell when actually I’ve done loads and I want some carbs to re-energise or when I havent done much and a light lunch is all I want. Listening to your body, what it needs, how it feels and nourishing/nurturing/fueling it…..it kind of gives you your life back, leaving behind the constant shame, anxiety and guilt.

I have wasted so much time obsessing over the way I look when the truth is, most people don’t really care (when your friend says they’re feeling like they’re having a fat week, can you ever see the difference? No. Exactly…because you’re far more interested in their sense of humour, how their week has been, their office gossip and that glass of prosecco you’re about to have! You haven’t even put a thought to their body shape!) They love you for you, you would NEVER DREAM of saying the things you say to yourself about them….why not treat yourself to the love and care you give your friends?!

Another favourite quote of mine from Embrace is ‘Your body is not an ornament, it is the vehicle to your dreams’. If you have been blessed with a body that allows you to do the things you love at whatever level, thank your lucky stars and love it for the joy it brings you – for me that’s being able to sing and dance and fling myself all around a rehearsal room….for you that might be climbing Snowdon….or playing tennis or shopping or cooking or walking the dog or swimming or simply giving your friend a hug….the list goes on.

Whatever you love doing, go do it and remember how lucky we are to have this miracle that is the human body! Lots of squiddy love xxxxx

p.s. if you just fancy a bit more body positivity and inspiration….hear it from the lovely lady herself here (http://bit.ly/tedtalktaryn)

In your hands….

lydzsquid — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 21:19:18 +0000

Happy Friday lovely people!

So…the biggest and bestest thing I’ve found out on my little mission is that happiness is a choice. Yes you heard me right. It’s up to us! That should fill you with joy and excitement – it means however you’re feeling right now, whatever’s going on in your life, you have the means to be happy!

We can’t always control the events and circumstances in our life but the way we react and respond puts the power safely in our hands *pause your reading for a second and do a nice big Take-Me-Out-Paddy-McGuinness-style power grab…..go on, nobody’s watching* – now doesn’t that feel good!

Let me just give you a wee example….

I was opening a tin of chopped tomatoes yesterday with a terrible tin opener….it sprayed me with red juice not once but twice….on my freshly-washed, pastel pyjamas. Now I had a choice……do I get frustrated at myself, curse the tin opener and focus on the time I was going to have to spend cleaning it up, probably spiral into a grump for the evening and feel like rubbish OR do I laugh at the numpty I am to have managed to do exactly the same thing twice in a row….I went for the latter, laughed at myself, sponged my top clean and finished making dinner – didn’t think any more of it!

But that’s just tomato spray right….what about when bigger things happen I hear you say? Well in situations like that, it’s more important than ever to have control of your responses and reactions so you can get through.

Gratitude is a hugely helpful tool in tricky times. As the wisest man of them all, Albus Dumbledore, said “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light”. As soon as we start to focus on what we do have, as opposed to what we don’t, we realise how wonderful our lives really are. How incredibly fortunate we are. How much we have to smile about.

I challenge you….next time you feel down or sad or a bit bleurgh (yes that definitely is a real word)….just sit, close your eyes and say “thank you for… [Fill in the blank]” – maybe start by listing 10 different things – and as you go, really feel your appreciation for each thing – think how different your life would be without it, how much you’d miss it, how much better your life is with it.

I’d just like to add that I am still working on consciously replacing negative thoughts with gratitude – I absolutely most definitely fall off the wagon sometimes and have down days, crying spouts, hormones, sobbing into my cereal etc! Re-programming a brain takes time and work, but it’s amazing how much better I feel already.

Try the challenge – I’d love to know if it makes you feel better….drop me a comment and let me know

Lots of love xxxx

Waahh here we go!

lydzsquid — Thu, 06 Jul 2017 09:47:23 +0000

Helloooo!

So the thought of doing a blog terrifies me! “Who’s going to want to read that?” says that negative little voice in my ear, “nobody gives a crap”, “shut up”. But then a couple of people have been trying to get me to do this recently and I thought, screw it, why not! I can pretend I’m as cool as Carrie Bradshaw as I type out all my thoughts….right?!

What’s it all about? I’ve been doing a lot recently on how to become a happier, more fulfilled, fuller, truer version of myself and, for want of a better word, the ‘journey’ it’s taking me on has been fascinating and empowering….I’m still on the journey – I don’t think it’s something you can complete or think ‘yes I’ve ticked that box, It’s all done now’ – it’s more a series of conscious lifestyle choices. But it seems selfish to keep it all to myself – so if sharing what I’m learning along the way is useful to anyone or could make anyone’s life a bit more happy or fun, then what a gorgeous thought that is!

It encompasses so many areas of life, health, fitness, routine, habit, gratitude, body image, strength, etc and has come from reading lots of books, watching talks and films and doing courses. So I feel like there’s lots to share….better get going soon…..

Just incase you’re pondering the title….an old school chum nicknamed me Squid and it kind of stuck (one particular friend now affectionately calls me Squidbum!!!).

Anyway – here we go – if this sounds like the kind of thing you want to read then jump aboard and keep reading! Be back soon xxxx

p.s. can we all take a moment to just appreciate there is now a squid emoji…..