#water

Blogmas Day 8|How To Drink More Water.

Welcome to blogmas day 8.

I’m bringing you a topic that is already becoming so cliche because everybody always says to drink water, but it can actually be hard if you’ve not made it a habit. I’ll be sharing ways that can help you drink more water.

Set a goal.

Have a set amount of water you want to be able to finish everyday. When you have a definite set goal, it makes things more visible and easier to attain it.

Start Slow.

Don’t rush yourself. You can start with just a bottle of water, then gradually increase it.

Have a water bottle.

Preferably, a pretty one in your favourite colour. Your bottle should be with you all the time so you can drink regularly. You’re more likely to drink more water when you have a personal attachment to your bottle. I got a purple bottle because I love purple and I love carrying it about because then, I’m compelled to drink the water.

Make drinking water part of your routine.

Let it be one of the things you write down as part of the things you want to accomplish in a day, if you’re someone who writes down daily plans. Place it in a way that you can consciously remember to do, for example, after you use the bathroom or the first thing you do when you wake up.

Use an app or set reminders on your phone.

So you don’t forget, let your phone remind you since we always have our phone with us. An app can help you monitor your progress.

Reward yourself.

The human brain loves to be rewarded. Make a plan to reward yourself when you reach your drinking goal. Who doesn’t like being rewarded? You can buy yourself a snack or a book, or anything nice you want. Just let your brain make drinking water associated with a good feeling and not a chore.

Give your bottle time marks.

Or you get a bottle that has time marks. If you’re still having a hard time sticking to your drinking water goals, try making use of time marked bottles. It would help keep track of your progress and you’ll be encouraged to reach your goal.

How much water do you drink in a day? I drink from anywhere around 1.5 to 3litres.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe.

Blogmas Day 3|Harmattan Essentials

Welcome to blogmas day 3.

Today is my blog anniversary and I didn’t even know till WordPress sent a notification. Well, happy blogversary to me(again, this is not a word).

Dry season is slowly creeping in and harmattan is on it’s way (though northern and eastern parts of Nigeria are already experiencing full blown harmattan). I love harmattan, but we have a love-hate relationship with it. Our love is not all rainbows and unicorns. It comes with it’s downsides of dry skin, dust, chapped lips, dehydration, catarrh, cough etc. So I’m bringing to you a list of things that would help get through the downsides of harmattan.

Water

Water is the first on my list, and you’re probably tired of hearing this, but you need to drink lots of water during the dry season so you don’t get dehydrated. If possible, have your bottle of water with you so you can stay hydrated or else sore throat would come for you, and that’s just one of the many effects of being dehydrated during dry season.

Lip balm/ lip gloss/ Vaseline

Chapped lips are not pleasant, healthy or attractive. Lip balms are very essential to ensure that your lips stay moisturized. For people who wear makeup, lip glosses should be your go to during harmattan because chapped lips are painful, especially when eating anything containing pepper.

Sunglasses

Harmattan comes with a lot of dust and dirt, so sunglasses would help to shield your eyes from the dust. They also add an edgy look to your outfit.

Comfortable clothes

Harmattan is a very confused weather because the mornings are usually cold but in the afternoon, it’s like the sun is out to kill every living thing. It’s best to wear cotton clothes that would keep you warm in the morning, but can adjust to the afternoon heat. I prefer to wear clothes with a jacket so I can take off the jacket in the afternoon.

Face caps

Like I said, the afternoon sun is like it’s out to kill all the inhabitants of the earth, so wearing a face cap would protect your face from the sun, and if also protects your hair from dust.

Shea butter/ body oils

Shea butter has really good moisturizing properties and so is very useful during the dry season. Body creams alone do not keep my skin moisturized enough so I add Shea butter to ensure my skin doesn’t get ashy during the day. If you feel Shea butter is too heavy for your skin, you can make a whipped butter with oils like I did here. Or, you can opt for using just natural oils like olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil or avocado oil.

Hand sanitizers

Since harmattan comes with dust, surfaces of objects would usually be covered in dust and touching of these objects are almost unavoidable. Covid-19 has made almost everybody to own a sanitizer now, so having a hand sanitizer is necessary and comes in handy when you can’t get soap and water to wash your hands at the moment.

Nose masks

Again, thanks to covid, everybody now owns a nose mask. If you’re someone who gets allergies from dust or you get easily irritated, you need to have your nose masks handy for when you’re going out.

These are my harmattan essentials, and they allow me to enjoy my Christmas in peace. What’s your must have item during harmattan?

Guys, the heat in Port Harcourt is not playing with anybody. Sleeping in the afternoon now is a nightmare. The idea of sleeping outside now, sounds so tempting.

Anyway, catch up on my other blogmas posts.

Blogmas Day 1

Blogmas Day 2

Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment.

And follow too, if you haven’t✌️

I was scammed

Welcome back to my blog. Hope you’re all doing good and staying safe. Today I’m ranting because I’m pained.

I’m sure I’m not the only person who has asked someone with a very smooth and pretty skin for her skin care routine and she replied ‘oh I just drink a lot of water’.

‘Drink a lot of water, you’ll have clear skin’

‘Drink a lot of water, you’ll have glowing skin’

‘Drinking a lot of water will clear your pimples’

I love water so much that I’m always with my water bottle. If I had my way I’ll have so many water bottles in different colours and according to my mood because water is just life. In school I always have my water bottle in my school bag and when I’m carrying a bag that’s too small to contain my bottle, best believe I’ll carry my bottle in my hands. My water bottle is my signature anywhere anytime.

So now that we have established my love for water, when these daughters of God tell me that all they do to keep their skin clear is to drink water I used to wonder if the water I’ve been drinking is acidic.

No problem. I googled it to know exactly what happens behind the scenes because I like to be informed.

Google told me things and things and I became convinced because who doesn’t want clear skin? So I read that drinking 2-3 litres of water everyday would do the job.

What did I do with the information above? I judiciously drank 3 litres of water everyday like I was taking prescribed drugs. I was wasting so much water 😂.I used to drink water randomly before, but I then started keeping track of how much water I drink exactly.

Remembering my trips to the toilet every few minutes makes me want to roll on the ground in frustration because it didn’t do anything visible.I know how much strength I put into drinking all that much water. I know drinking water is really good and all that, but it didn’t do what I was expecting. My trips to the toilet were in vain.

Mind you, I was still doing my normal skin care routine and avoiding foods that made me break out the more like butter and fried groundnut just so that my skin can finally look like I love it😂😂.

What was failed to mention in Google is that it does cure hormonal pimples. At least not immediately. It only helps in the long run. For 3 years I’ve been having hormonal pimples. A week before my period I’ll have devilish pimples which will come to drop the invitation card to announce that my period is coming soon.

These pimples would stay for 2 weeks. 1 week before menstruation and 1 week during and after menstruation. So I have only a short time to nurse my skin back to health and bam! It’s another month and another cycle of hormonal pimples.

I was scammed but I’m still drinking water and minding my business🤷. It’s all good. One day I shall tell my children how I fought these pimples.

I still try to keep track of how much water I drink. There’s just a sense of fulfilment in knowing that I’m doing what I know is good for my health.

Do you drink a lot of water and do you keep track of it like me?

Thanks for reading.

Stay blessed and stay safe.