Anxiety is not the best travelling companion, but for some of us, we can't decide to leave it at home for the week. I'm leaving the safety of my bed in six days to travel to my dream holiday spot, New York City, where I will be spending my 18th birthday (!!!). Even though this all sounds amazing, when you have anxiety travelling can stop you from enjoying the holiday to it's fullest potential. So, I have compiled a small list of ways to help you lower your anxiety levels a little, before you arrive and when you have reached your destination.

Tips for Flying:

1. Be organised.

Make sure you have an A4 wallet or small folder in your bag where you keep all the documents you will need to show, passports, boarding passes and even doctors notes. This way when you are running to the gate to catch your plane (Home Alone 2 style), you won't be scrabbling frantically in your bag to find your ticket - you will have it all ready.

2. Get there early.

At airports you don't really have any other option, they like you to check in hours before boarding, but I would recommend being a little early to everything. The worst thing for a worrier is being late.

3. Prepare for the flight.

You're allowed a bag on the plane with you, make the most out of it. Pack a pillow to help you sleep, an iPod with a playlist of your favourite songs or even a book of crosswords to take your mind of the fact that you still don't really understand how planes work.

Exploring the place:

1. Knowing what your doing.

Personally, my anxiety is helped by being super organised and knowing what I will be doing each day. Before you leave make a list of all the places you want to visit, work out which of those attractions are closest together and how long you might spend there. This will help you to plan you days and you don't wake up in a panic, not knowing what you're doing. However, don't over plan, if you try to organise it by the hour something will go wrong, inevitably, causing more unnecessary stress, don't worry if things don't go exactly to plan. (Leave a spare day towards the end which you will be able to fill with the things you missed, or just wandering around and eating).

2. Find your escape.

When your on holiday (especially in a city) the days will be long and busy, so try and find a nice, small place, where you can relax and have a few minutes to yourself. Whether it's a small coffee shop, a library or your hotel room, have somewhere you can escape to when thing's get a bit too much.

3. Know your limits.

When you feel yourself becoming anxious or panicky you need to recognise that and get yourself out of that situation. Don't let it built to an anxiety or panic attack, which could ruin your day. Try not to push yourself too far, and if you wake up feeling anxious know that maybe you shouldn't go too far out of your comfort zone today.

4. HAVE FUN

Holidays are meant for relaxing and exploring. Even though both of those can be hard for people with anxiety, you can't let it stop you having the time of your life. Buy silly gifts for your friends and take loads of photos, just have a great time.

P.S

When packing plan your outfits, look up the weather for your holidays, think through what you're taking and make sure you will be comfortable. But also remember that you're not going to know anyone there so be adventurous, wear the dress in the back of your cupboard you've been saving for a special occasion. This is your special occasion, wear it!

i've been watching a lot of youtube videos recently, mostly fashion and lifestyle vloggers and i'm always pleased when i find an 'alternitive fashion' blogger. over these past few days i have found a lot. including the youtuber, pixielocks, who inspired this post with her video 'my fashion identity'.



my fashion identity is something i think about a lot, which is odd because i think if you knew me you wouldn't think i care that much about fashion, but i do. i like knowing what's in fashion and what's not, even if i don't necessarily keep up with those trends. the 'style issue' i am dealing with at the moment is that i don't want my style to be the same as what is 'trending', but i want it to still be relatively stylish, i also like the idea of belonging to some kind of style. 

whether it be goth, lolita or pin-up, i like the idea of having a set style and sticking to it, throwing out everything i own that doesn't fit with the style and buying a whole new wardrobe. money reasons aside, this plan isn't feasible for me - simply put, i like too many different looks. and in the past when i have put myself inside a clothing box (not literally) i end up not feeling too good about it. 

i went through a phase earlier this year where i loved clothes that would usually be found in the men's department. i based what i chose to wear each day on the outfits worn by jack kilmer, cole becker or kristen stewart and for a while i really enjoyed it - i like the androgynous kind of look and wearing 'boys' clothes and no make-up was super comfortable. but something started to happen, the thing that is the bane of most teenagers lives and that is, comparison. i would see girls in my classes wearing make-up and dresses and heels and i wouldn't feel good about myself. similarly, if i went shopping and found a skirt that i liked i would tell myself that it didn't fit with my style, so there would be no point in getting it.

i restricted myself to the point where i had such little self expression and it was no longer fun to fit with a specific style.

then i decided to forget about the tom-boy look and just buy what i wanted and what i thought was cute. this is why now i have probably too many vintage items that in no way fit with any of my clothing. 

i feel like i'm not 'hipster' enough to be hipster (my purple docs hurt my feet) and i'm not grunge enough to be grunge (i class grunge as kurt cobain and it isn't true grunge if you're trying, i also get that grunge is a music style not a fashion but eh). i wish i could happily mix styles and most of the time i can, but sometimes i just really want a clear direction that i could base all of my clothing and hair choices around. 

i've tried recently to categorise my style myself, i was going with 'pixie grunge' - taking inspiration for creepy cute and j fashion. but i also really like 70's style clothing and wearing mom jeans, vans and scrunchies, so, to sum this up I Have No Idea what i am doing or what i am going to do. but that can be applied to more than style in my life.

p.s

i spend many hours on pinterest looking for style inspiration, most of it i gain from either vloggers, celebrities or specific decades, and as i would like something productive to come out of that time, i am going to make a style inspo post next, possibly along with a guide to thrifting. 

Recently I haven't felt like writing, the lack of ideas and my laziness is sometimes too hard to overcome, but I still want to keep this blog going, so I've decided do post something simple. 

I created a list of the top 10 songs I have been listening to this past month. From Marilyn Manson to Fetty Wap, it's all on there. There will be something for everyone. I can never categorise my music taste, I love freak folk just as much as I love industrial rock, don't feel like you need to stick to one genre or one band. It's the same way with fashion - just have fun!

For an attempted, but failed, psychology project one of my friends and I put together and posted a survey onto Facebook, asking about the mental health of 14 - 19 year old's. We got over 50 responses in the first two days and the results were, sadly, not surprising. Our survey was mainly asking questions about school as our hypothesis was that school had a negative effect on mental heath - this was confirmed with the results of the survey.*

86% of the people who responded to the survey said that the pressure brought on by parents, teacher and themselves, was negatively effecting their mental health, making them stressed, anxious and even in some cases, depressed. In turn, it was effecting their ability to work at school, with 80% of the teenagers who answered saying that they had experienced symptoms of a panic or anxiety attack at school or because of their studies. We then asked if the stress effected any other aspects of their lives, here are some of the responses:

Female, 17: I barely sleep or eat any more which doesn't help with concentration in school, and makes me feel so tired constantly.

Female, 16: I often forget to eat, and then I binge. In terms of sleeping I rarely get more than 6 hours sleep a night.

Female, 18: I rarely sleep well and have developed depression and anxiety whilst at school.

These aren't even the saddest responses, many went into details about home lives and work hours and their lacking ability in balancing all aspects of being a healthy teenager. All of them seemed to be struggling, whether it was with a small mental health issue or something much bigger, it was effecting everyone. However, over 60% said that if and when they needed emotional/mental support, they feel they would not be able to talk to anyone at school.

 

Reading through the results and personal comments was heart-breaking, knowing that the people answering these questions were walking past me each day in the hall but I had no way of reaching out to them. The answers were anonymous, but sometimes I wished they weren't.

Mental health is a topic discussed regularly today, in most aspects of the media and in general conversations. But, this conversation needs to be made bigger. Teenagers need to feel like they have support, especially at school, where they should be being protected and cared for - not just pushed for the best results.

Of course grades are necessary, but good and stable mental health is much more important. It's just taking people not experiencing it along time to figure it out. 

*Only 14% of the responses were from males, this is also a huge issue that should be being addressed, but seems to be being missed: men's mental health. A huge and ever growing issue in the UK and all over the world. However, my survey did get the majority of it's responses from women so I will not be able to comment on how this issue presented itself in my results. 

Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer are American writers, actors and comedians, who star in the TV show Broad City, which they have also written and produced.

Before Broad City, Abbi and Ilana created an internet show of the same name which they independently produced from 2009 to 2011. This was nominated for an ECNY Award for Best Wed Series and was received well by audiences and critics alike. It was picked up by Amy Poehler, who is now a producer of the show and has also guess starred.

I love these girls, They don't take themselves to seriously, their writing is funny and their show is weird but so so great.

Well, sun for a few days and cold again for the next isn't exactly summer, but, this does means you need a good playlist to get you 'in the summer mood'. Something to listen to when you're driving in the heat or laying outside soaking in the sun. So, I've made a playlist of summer of some of my all time favourite summer songs.

Including songs by: Grimes, SWMRS, The Front Bottoms, Wolf Alice and many more.

https://play.spotify.com/user/eviebubbles/playlist/1l8ikdZIhus9vSm4WDdX9F

photo by Ada Hamza

After being a fan of musical comedy for a while it was nice to stumble across some women doing the thing I love and doing it really well. 

Riki and Kate have successful acting careers separately, Kate appearing in shows like Scrubs and The Big Bang Theory and Riki hosting a popular comedy podcast, together they are at their best, even having their own TV show - Garfunkel and Oats. 

If your a fan of musical comedy, Bo Burnham, Tim Minchin etc., you should definitely give these girls a try.

My favourite songs of theirs currently are: 29/31, Handjob, Bland Job, I Don't Understand Job and Gay Boyfriend.

(also they are both super cute)