March 29th has come and gone – the first milestone in the roadmap out of lockdown, you can now meet 5 other people or another household outdoors. Making the most of the warm weather, (snow is forecast next week!?), my daughters and I sat with my elderly parents in their garden, the first time I have seen them, not behind glass for many weeks, and another step closer to being able to share a hug. My mum, never one for holding back, commented on my ‘lockdown locks’, and how I must be looking forward to the opening of hairdressers so my mane could be coiffured by a professional as opposed to me coaxing it into any style that doesn’t look like I have been pulled ‘through a hedge backwards’. Well, this got me thinking about my appearance, if I’m really honest as a busy working mum of two teens, it’s not a subject that even at the best of times, I give a lot of thought to, but during the last year, it’s fair to say I may have gone a little feral.
So where to start…
Healthy Intake – you will have all heard the adage ‘you are what you eat’, and I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true. If you’re eating well, then you’ll naturally feel the benefits in your appearance. Just small improvements, like drinking more water, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables will all contribute. If like me, you have put on a few pounds during lockdown then now might be the right time to think about making a few changes to shift that extra weight and get back into shape.
Recognise and ditch the bad habits!
It’s all well and good making positive changes to what you eat. However, if you’re not cutting out the bad habits, then the effects will be minimal. The most common culprits are drinking too much alcohol, which can have a big impact on your skin and cigarettes, which does the same (among many other negative impacts). You may not have even realised you are drinking more, but we all over pour at home compared to what we would get in a pub and we may have smoked more as the circumstances has made us more stressed. But this roadmap could also be the excuse we need to create our own road map back to a better health.
Sweating it
Exercising, this can conjure up images of awful PE lessons at school, or ‘body beautiful’ types posing in the gym, so I like to think of exercise as simply moving more and there are so many benefits, better skin, better posture, better shape. All you must do is simply get off the couch and do, well anything – walking, skipping, hula hooping, dancing – whatever you feel comfortable with.
Grooming
Ah we come full circle back to my hair, maybe I’ll try a new hair style, a good hair cut can apparently take years of you, but rather than reaching for the dye I am going to embrace my grey. But one thing I will do is spend ten minutes getting ready in front of a mirror – my colleagues on Zoom won’t recognise me!
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