A Year of Self-Care: February – Skincare

January Recap

WE MADE IT. It’s the end of the 40 year month that is January, and the end of the first task of A Year of Self-Care, which was giving up scrolling on Facebook. You can read in my previous post here (link opens in a new tab!) why I decided to do this.

Somebody asked me whether my Facebook feed was really that negative, and my answer is yes, I personally felt as though it was. It felt like all I saw was people moaning or sniping. People who have worked the whole of lockdown sniping about people being furloughed and how nice it must be to not have to work (as though it’s their choice!). People juggling work and homeschooling sniping about people who don’t have kids and how easy they must have it. People complaining that another lockdown has meant that they can’t work for a bit, whilst people who work in industries such as hospitality and live in Manchester point out that they haven’t been able to work since October and others should count themselves lucky they’ve been able to work up until now. It just became too much for me.

People are perfectly within their right to feel hard-done by, we are all hard done by in one way or another right now and we are living through some really shit times. Life feels incredibly difficult for a lot of people, and there is literally no end in sight. Tensions are high and it just became too much for me to read it all. I felt that I was becoming a worse version of myself because of it, so enough was enough, and off I came.

At the beginning of the month, I was curious as to how giving up Facebook would serve me. Would I miss seeing updates from my friends and family? Would I miss out on important stuff and life announcements? Would I feel better for not ingesting a daily dose of toxic negativity that my feed was subjecting me to? I was excited to find out.

I have to be honest, I feel like a different person at the end of this month. It’s been a revelation, that’s for sure. I have felt generally calmer, less anxious, less angry and frustrated, and generally less weary of the world. I don’t really feel like I’ve missed out on anything (probably because I’ve still been active on Insta!) and I didn’t find it as difficult as I imagined. I’ve found it’s had such a positive effect that I intend on continuing my self-imposed scrolling ban throughout February too!

There have been downsides of course – I’ve felt detached from friends whose updates I really enjoy seeing online, because I don’t speak to them day in day out. I’ve missed seeing general updates about peoples’ lives, even those who I’m not properly friends with. I like to see people doing well and sharing happy news and I’ve missed that. I might have even missed some big life announcements! Who knows?!

I’ve also been very out of the loop in terms of news, (which made me realise that a huge contributing factor to my feed’s negativity is definitely news!) as I get all my news from Facebook. I don’t ever actively search for news either, so I’ve had to rely on friends updating me on anything significant. From what I’ve taken from this month, we’re still in lockdown, Bozza’s still a knobhead and those two girls that were fined for going for a walk 5 miles from their house had it retracted because Bozza went for a 7 mile cycle and they could no longer hide the unjustness and hypocrisy exhibited by our government. So still the same then, yeah?

February Task

So now that January is out of the way, I’m moving on to my next task for the month, and prioritising a skincare routine! I’ve never been all that interested in skincare, just doing the bare minimum (washing and moisturizing), but after some expert marketing from Monday’s Child Skincare, I was hook, line and sinkered into buying a face oil because it was lavender scented and I have to say, it’s delightful. I’ve only been using it a week but I love it. It’s got me thinking, what else should I be doing as part of my skincare regime?!

So on the recommendation of my two super knowledgable skin-fanatic sister in laws, I bought skincare expert Caroline Hirons’ book and am looking forward to setting up a proper routine.

I really like Caroline Hiron so far, she makes the idea of skincare seem less overwhelming. But I watched an Instagram live she did where she did the game ‘Shag, Marry, Avoid’ in the form of ‘Shag, Marry, Off a Cliff’ and she threw my beloved Liz Earle cleanser off a cliff, so I think I’m in for a few skincare shocks this month! I’m excited to get stuck in though, and who knows, I might even look 10 years younger by my next post at the end of February!

Joking aside, if you do have any skincare products that you love, or any recommendations, please send them my way. Thanks in advance, and see you at the end of February!

Featured image Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash.