Upcycle Your Life

I have a black tie event coming up. This requires me to wear a glamourous outfit. Last year I bought a dress, but this year, I thought I would wear something I already have in my wardrobe. I found a lovely dress I hadn’t worn in years but I felt quite exposed. It is a lovely long and floaty dress. I have no recollection what I wore this dress to previously.

I didn’t want to feel uncomfortable wearing it so I started searching for shawls or something to wear over it. I gave up on that idea as colour matching was tricky. Instead, I have called upon the talents of a lady who makes, mends, adjusts all things material wise. She is an amazing seamstress and has previously adjusted a number of dresses, curtains, jackets etc for me so I knew this would be the best option. Essentially she is going to upcycle my dress so it is wearable again.

The dress is now in her capable hands, where she is going to add some sleeves and a modesty panel so I don’t feel so booby! I look forward to seeing it in a week or so.

We live in an era of upcycling, turning things into looking or being something better than their original state. This is a fantastic idea and helps to reduce waste by repurposing items such as clothes, books, furniture, the list goes on.

Is there a part of your life that needs to be upcycled or adapted to work with who you are now?

Our tastes in clothes, people, hobbies changes over our lives and it would be unrealistic to think we have to stick with the choices we made 10 years ago, when it’s not who you are anymore. You have moved on.

Maybe you have been running for years, you’ve entered many races, have lots of medals to show for it, but are no longer enjoying it like you once were. The issue is you don’t know what you would do in its place, so you just keep running and get annoyed and frustrated at having to go out.

It’s an odd feeling when something you have loved dong for years, stops being fun. It’s difficult to change overnight. If you have an idea of what you want to do, great but don’t settle on it, if you aren’t feeling it. There are so many things out there you could do instead, it’s finding what you would enjoy the most.

Think about what you loved about running in the first place, make a list of all the things you love (and hate) and use it to help. If you want a sense of achievement or the ability to fit it in at certain times of the day, you might look into going to the gym, however, if you like the freedom and fresh air and want to be outdoors then you might want to do walking or outdoor swimming instead.

In terms of your job or career, are you no longer loving it? Has your manager recently changed or your role turned into something else? Maybe you have got to where you wanted in that career and feel it’s time to move on. Upcycle!

What do you want to do? What are the skills you have in your current role that you can transfer over? Again grab a pen and paper and get writing, if you don’t know what you would like to do – and to be honest how many of us actually do know – then look at jobs online, see what is out there that would suit your skill set. You never know what you might come across you hadn’t even thought about.

Once you have completed a wee bit of research, then you’ll know if you could go straight into a job or if you would need to retrain. Have a look for local college courses or online courses that are accredited. I only found out last week that The Open University has lots of free short courses you can do. These might be worth a look and would give you a taster of the subject.

What about your drinking habits, are you finding yourself feeling rubbish the next day after drinking, you feel sluggish and hungover and it really isn’t working for you anymore. It’s a habit and has been for years. Well upcycle it! Set a limit on the number of drinks you have, or drink water or a soft drink in between. What about trying non alcoholic versions of your favourite drink instead. You still feel like you are having a drink but you don’t have to worry about the dreaded hangover!

There are so many ways you can upcycle your life if it isn’t working for you anymore. Is there an area your thinking of changing? Then make a list of what you love about it and what you don’t and add what you would like to do instead or how you can improve upon it. Make your life the best one for you.

Have a great week, enjoy and look after you.

Love Emma xx