Lifestyle: 5 Ways I Like To Destress

I'm in my third year at university and I can honestly say that despite the little contact hours that it is extremely time consuming and stressful. I spend my days in the library and I'm currently working on my dissertation and it's proving to be a challenge! Just less than 2 weeks to go... When I was contacted by Ocean Loans to show you all the ways I love to relax and destress I jumped at the chance as I've been feeling so stressed lately. So here are the 5 ways I like to destress when things just get that little bit too much.

Tropical Wonderland by Millie Marotta, Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book by Johanna Basford 1. Colouring - This is definitely one of my favourite things to do. I'm completely on board with the colouring books trend and I'm embracing it. I love how they can be using to relax your mind, destress and just help you take a little bit of time out to relax. Over the past 6 months or so I seem to have built up a bit of a collection of colouring books but I absolutely love them. I love how pretty the pages look after you've finished colouring too and who doesn't love colouring?!

Mug - Emma Bridgewater 2. Cup of Herbal Tea - I genuinely don't know how I would have coped over the past couple of years without peppermint tea. Since my doctor told me I was suffering with anxiety and panic attacks in 2014 I stopped having caffeine as It had a really bad affect on me and constantly made me anxious and I feel so much better for it. When I get stressed, feel anxious or just need something to help me chill out, I just stick the kettle on and take 10 minutes to relax and drink my peppermint tea. I'm really loving pukka three mint tea at the moment. I picked this up in Tesco (you can get it on Amazon though here too!)

3. Picking up some new make-up bits - Okay so this point doesn't help my bank balance but it's totally okay to do this on the odd occasion right? When I'm feeling stressed something that helps me stay calm (and feel better about myself) is taking a bit of time in the morning to doing my make-up. I've recently picked up the Maybelline Blushed Nudes Palette and Maybelline Colour Tattoo in On and On Bronze.  Sometimes I just spend a half hour experimenting with different make-up looks to take my mind off things. 4. Going out for food with friends - This is one of my favourite things to do with my boyfriend when we both just want to take some time out and enjoy each others company. I love a good lunch date/coffee date/dinner date and it's something I love doing at university too to take some time out of living in the library and just have a good girly chat with my best friend from uni (you may have seen my katsu curry I had at the weekend from our latest girly lunch!)

5. Reading - Whether it's a magazine, cook book, or even an autobiography, I'm trying to read a lot more. I'm currently reading 'The life changing magic of tidying' by Marie Kondo and 'Reasons to stay alive' by Matt Haig. I spend hours and hours every week reading blogs on my phone through Blog Lovin (if you don't follow me on blog lovin you can follow me here) It's sometimes really nice to just sit down, not look at a screen and read. I'm trying to read more books this year and I'm going to enjoy them with a cup of peppermint tea in hand!  What ways do you like to destress? Do you have any book recommendations? Are you a big fan of colouring books too? Twitter//Instagram//Facebook