Tag: Merry Christmas

Grinch of Christmas

Published on by Lee2 Comments

If this year has left you worn out and limping towards the finish line it’s easy to dread the festive season.

There’s something about Christmas that makes it feel almost impossible to opt out. It’s everywhere. You can’t go a moment without the reminder that ‘it’s the most wonderful time of the year’, which of course isn’t what you want to hear when for you, it really isn’t feeling that wonderful.

Some of us this year will be hurtling towards Christmas with a sense of dread and a wish for it all to just go away. An enforced Christmas can enduce stomach churning fear and an intense desire to hibernate quietly somewhere cold and wait for the madness to pass.

Christmas isn’t always easy and it can be one of the most difficult times of the year for lots of people. There is an expectation to be happy and jolly and when you’re not feeling like celebrating it can be really hard. It’s also not unusual for your sadness to become accentuated when you’re watching and observing everyone else’s (perceived) happiness!

This can make the holiday season feel very isolating and sometimes hard to cope with. Everyone else seems to be getting more and more excited and festive and as their Christmas radar peaks yours hits rock bottom. There is often an expectation to join in with the buzz of it all, to plaster a smile on your face and get stuck in. However, pretending the Christmas spirit has swept you away when just getting through the day is effort enough can be, quite frankly soul destroying and exhausting.

There is someone missing in my family this year: Me, Myself and I , who died on my birthday; December 08. I use to care for it but now it just kills me, this isn’t a cry for help or to seem dark but I’m writing this post because I was asked howcome I am not doing any “Christmas Posts or Vlogmas”. I’m just not feeling so joyful and warm, my birthday sucked this year and I am over everyone I mean EVERYONE. Plus, the more I think about it the more I realized how Christmas is more about gifts and not enough about celebrating the birth of Jesus. While some are trying to figure out how they can move on from their love ones, I’m over here plotting on how to not have these people in my face. Am I wrong?!

There are lots of people feeling the same as you this year. Trust me there are. They are hard to spot because they are probably the ones keeping quiet and hiding or they are putting on a brave face and doing their best to fake it and put on a show. All of us have times in our lives where things are quite frankly a little bit shit and we will all have years where we don’t feel like celebrating. This is your year but it is also someone else’s year too. You aren’t alone and you’re probably in better company than you realise. Don’t be too scared of telling people how you’re feel, you never know, it might help them to admit that they are struggling too.

You might not want to celebrate the holiday season and you might want to totally opt out but is there someway that you could think of to look after yourself instead? Is there something you could do to treat yourself? To give yourself a break? To recognise that just because you don’t feel like celebrating doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself a break. Perhaps you want to curl up with a good book or teach yourself a new skill? Perhaps you want to set yourself a challenge or emerse yourself in nature? Give yourself the gift of a little bit of time just focused for you and be kind to yourself.

Give yourself permission to opt out if you want to. Want to skip Christmas drinks? Bail on your friends? Bunker down and hide away for a little while? That’s all ok, don’t be afraid of putting your needs first. You don’t need to feel that you have to or should do anything that you don’t want to. Traditions can be lovely things and are a nice way of people providing structure to a holiday but that is all they are and sometimes disengaging with them can be really refreshing! Want to banish turkey, christmas music and presents-why not! Want to ditch the Christmas party and catch up on Netflix instead- go for it! You might end up creating some new ways of spending your holiday time that become personal traditions that work out for you.

Christmas is a time of year where there is hope, generosity and goodwill all across the world and even if the idea of jumping feet first into it all isn’t appealing don’t be too quick to write it all off. Experiencing it for what it is, and giving yourself permission to enjoy moments and feel happy is really important. Even when things are tough, beautiful moments and things can still happen and will happen if you are open to them. So don’t fully opt out of Christmas just yet, take it for what it is and be open to enjoying elements and celebrating the good in the world; it is there. This year things might be tough but things change and time heals. The way you feel right now doesn’t define you and chances are you won’t always feel this way. Be kind to yourself, take care and stay in the moment.

If you’re struggling today and need to talk, head over to my instagram and dm me. I will not share any personal information that we discussed about.

COMMENT BELOW ON HOW YOU ARE HANDLING THE HOLIDAYS!

Odds & Ends: The Difference Between Kosher Salt, Table Salt, Sea Salt, and More

Published on by LeeLeave a comment

I’ve always considered having options a good thing, especially in the kitchen. There are so many unique flavors to choose from, which makes cooking even more fun in my book. There are certain ingredients that can both overpower a dish or significantly amplify it. For me, salt is that ingredient. A pinch of salt can be the difference between perfectly savory or feeling like your crunching on a salt lick. The amount of salt you put into a dish isn’t the only things that can pose a potential problem though—with so many salt options on the market, how’s a girl to choose which one to use in a recipe?

Since I recently found myself asking the same question, I decided to do a little research. To my surprise, I discovered a handful of different salts suitable for cooking, brining and pickling. Some are used as flavor enhancers while other are used as garnishes or essential ingredients. If you’ve found yourself wondering which salt is best for your favorite dishes, I’ve done the dirty work for you. Below you’ll find six of the most common salts, what their composition is made of, and how you should be using them in the kitchen. Keep scrolling to get the lowdown on salt 101…

Kosher Salt

Let’s start with kosher salt. This salt is originally known for seasoning meat and has a flaky, coarse structure that differentiates itself from table salt. Kosher salt is less likely to contain additives like iodine and anti-caking agents used in table salt to keep it from clumping. This type of salt is ideal for using in cooking—it dissolves quickly and is good to use before, during and after cooking.

Table Salt

Probably the most well-known of the salts, table salt is highly refined, heavily ground and is almost pure sodium chloride. Most of the impurities and trace minerals in table salt are removed and iodine is almost always added into it. Like I mentioned above, table salt usually has anti-caking agents in it so that it doesn’t get all clumpy in your salt shaker. While you can still add this kind of salt into your favorite dishes, table salt is best used for last minute seasoning.

Sea Salt

Sea salt gets its name because it is made by evaporating seawater. Like table salt, sea salt is mostly composed of sodium chloride with some amount of trace minerals like potassium, iron and zinc. Sea salt is coarser than table salt and the size affects how quickly it will dissolve. To add bursts of flavor to your cooking, sprinkle a little sea salt to add the finishing touch to meals.

Himalayan Pink Salt

This next salt may sound a little bit familiar to my BeautyLeeBar.com readers. Himalayan pink salt contains 84 trace minerals and elements, making it more nutritious for your body that most other salts. It often contains small amounts of calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium just to name a few. Himalayan salt contains slightly lower amounts of sodium that table salt too, making it more appealing to consume. Fun fact: the iron oxide found in Himalayan salt gives it its pink color. Cook with Himalayan pink salt or sip some water infused with it after your next workout.

Fleur De Sel

This salt is one of my favorites and one that I became very familiar with while working on some new receipes. Fleur de sel is more delicate than other salts and looks like little snowflakes. This salt is not meant for seasoning a dish while cooking since it will melt and lose its soft, powdery shape. Because fleur de sel is the most complex in flavor of the different salts, use this one lightly. Sprinkle fleur de sel on food right before it is consumed since it is the saltier of salts.

Pickling Salt

Last but not least we have pickling salt. The name itself gives away what it is used for, but pickling salt is also great for brining, canning and preserving as well. Pickling salt is pure, granulated salt and does not contain anti-caking ingredients or iodine like table salt does.

After reading this, you’re now a guaranteed salt pro. Here’s to improving your cooking skills one grain of salt at a time.

Which one of these salts do you use most often?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

XO Lee