5 Quick Fixes to Get Your Productivity Back

I really struggle with not getting distracted and having a productive day. If I get bored or I’m taking a break from school, I usually go straight for my phone. There is absolutely nothing wrong with texting your friends or going on Instagram. But sometimes, instead of scrolling for no reason, we should use our energy to do some creative and productive things. Here are 5 ideas to achieve a creative and productive day! 

1. Meditation. 
When I first started doing meditations, I thought they were going to waste my time and be useless, but I actually fell in love with them! I usually try and start my day with one. They help me see how I’m feeling that day. Meditating gives me a chance to relax and be alone with my thoughts. 

2. Journaling. 
I love journaling. It’s a relaxing thing you can do to just write down some feelings or reflect on your day. Plus, you will always have it, and you can look back and see how much has changed since you last wrote! It helps me with my anxiety and it’s a super creative habit. 

3. Music.
A lot of times we can just be scrolling through Instagram, Snapchat, or Facebook for no reason (believe me--I’m guilty of it.) Instead of scrolling, put your favorite artist, band, or musical on. Play your music and do something productive. Whether it’s writing on your calendar, homework, decorating your room, or baking. 

4. Reading. 
Reading is such a great way to be creative and productive. Pick up a book- it can literally be anything. Reading is proven to help your memory and reduce the risk of some diseases (like Alztimers)! It also increases your vocabulary and enhances your imagination. 

5. Goals.
Set some goals! Make a list of goals for the day, week, month, or year. Then plan on how to accomplish them. Setting goals and having the determination to accomplish them really builds character and makes you feel productive and accomplished. 

Being creative and productive are two important and awesome qualities. What strategies work best for you? Here’s to all the creative and productive things we can accomplish today!

3 Easy Ways to be More Earth Friendly!

It is hard to know where to begin when you want to start becoming more environmentally conscious. There are so many things you can do, and it can definitely become overwhelming and confusing. So I have a list of three ways to go eco-friendly to help you get started! These are all little steps you can take to help our world, but when you consistently apply these they create a huge impact!

The first way to go eco-friendly is to purchase a bamboo toothbrush. Every toothbrush ever used is still on Earth. By purchasing a sustainable biodegradable toothbrush, you can assure that no more plastic toothbrush waste is littering our environment. It is a great purchase to start off with because you use it everyday and it will remind you of all the waste you are saving!

The second environmentally-friendly option is choosing a reusable water bottle. Owning and using a reusable bottle saves four to five plastic bottles/cups per day, 120 per month, and 1460 per year. Isn’t that awesome?! You save all that trash from washing into the ocean by just reusing a bottle!

Of all the ways to become sustainable, thrift shopping is my favorite. A lot of companies that sell cheap clothing often have bad working environments for their employees and use materials that are horrible for us and our planet. It can be hard to find clothing companies that are good to their employees and use sustainable materials. And often when you do find them, they can be expensive. Thrift shopping is a great alternative. It keeps clothes out of landfills, doesn’t support those bad companies, and offers awesome clothes for cheap! I can’t tell you how many cute pieces of clothing I’ve found at a thrift store for less than five dollars! It’s a fun, cheap, and sustainable lifestyle choice. 

There you have it-- three easy ways to go eco-friendly. Hope this opened your eyes to some non-polluting ideas! Of course, there are many more things you can do, but this is a great start!

!Girl Power Playlist!

Hi everyone! I thought I’d do something fun this week… so I decided to make a girl power playlist! I’m an HUGE music person. All kinds of tunes-- anything from the Beatles to P!nk. I’m also a huge Girl Power enthusiast! I love when people empower women so we can live in a world where men and women are looked at as equal. I wanted to have some fun and be creative and empowering so I mixed two of my favorite things and made a girl power playlist! 

I’ve chosen three of my favorite songs from this playlist to talk about and tell you why they are so powerful to me. Here we go! Choosing just three songs to write about was so hard, but I chose these because I feel like they each tell a different story. 

The first song I chose is called I’d Rather Be Me from the broadway musical Mean Girls. Everytime I hear this song I get so pumped up! I’d Rather Be Me is about not caring what people think and just being your complete self. It is about not being sucked into toxic relationships and standing up for yourself. This song is so catchy and has such a good message for everyone! 

Number two is Anne Braden by the Flobots. This songs tells the story of a white woman who dedicated part of her life to standing up for African American's lives in the 1950’s. She is a strong, kind, and brave woman. Someone that everyone should aim to be. This song is empowering and definitely one of my favorites. 

Last but not least is Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara. It’s a powerful song about self love and inner beauty. This song teaches us to love ourselves just the way we are. It shows us that we are all beautiful and bring wonderful things to this world. 

Sometimes us girls need a little encouragement or just some fun, empowering songs to run to. All these songs are wonderful and so awesome! Go checkout the rest of the songs in the link below…Hope you enjoy!

*You will need to be logged in to Spotify to view this:

PLAYLIST LINK HERE!

Why I Chose Vegan...

I became a vegan January 28, 2018. I had been a vegetarian for six months before that and thought I should learn more about veganism. So, I went on Netflix and watched Cowspiracy. What I learned changed my life. 

Now, I LOVE food!! I enjoy it so much that the first thing I think about when I wake up is “ What are we having for dinner?”  But, I never realized how my eating choices not only affected myself but the environment and even others around me! Livestock is responsible for 65% of all human-related emissions of Nitrous Oxide, a greenhouse gas with 296 times the global warming potential of Carbon Dioxide and which stays in the atmosphere for 150 years.  When you buy meat and animal byproducts, companies have to produce more and more of what you want to meet supply and demand.  You are probably wondering what is wrong with some livestock animals like cows? Well methane production from cows and other livestock flatulence(aka farts) is a major contributor of unsafe gases being released into the air.  Livestock also produce 130 times more waste than the entire human population.  (That’s a lot of crap!)  Even without fossil fuels, we will exceed our 565 gigatonnes CO2E limit by 2030 all from raising animals. That is just so sad to me.

But livestock doesn’t just pollute the air. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of species extinction, ocean dead zones, water pollution, and habitat destruction. All these sad, but true, facts are bringing to light just how important our eating choices are. It is not just about the environment, but your health is a factor as well. A few years ago, the World Health Organization classified bacon and sausage as carcinogenic to humans. A carcinogen is a substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue. The World Health Organization officially classified bacon and other processed meat as carcinogenic alongside other hurtful substances such as tobacco, arsenic, and pesticides. Even more horrifying is the fact that the American Cancer Society encourages eating processed turkey and canned meats. Why? Because their sponsors are companies who produce and sell meat and animal by-products. We don’t have our priorities straight. We are putting ourselves in front of the needs of others around us. For example, we are growing enough food to feed ten billion people. 82% of starving children live in countries where food is fed to animals and the animals are eaten by western countries. So what can we do to help the world around us with our diet?  Well, when you consume less meat and animal by-products such as: eggs, milk, butter, honey, etc… the results are amazing!  Doctors took 174 patients with high blood pressure. And 174 patients were able to lower their blood pressure enough to eliminate the need for medication through plant-based diet. Studies show that with every sequential reduction in consuming animal products people live longer, they have less heart disease, they have less cancer, and less diabetes. 

If following a vegan diet helps your health that much, imagine what it could do to help the environment. Each day a person who eats a vegan diet saves 1100 gallons of water, 45 pounds of grain, 30 sq ft of forested land, 20 pounds CO2 equivalent, and one animal’s life. That is incredible! Just cutting a few things out of our diet can help our world so much. And just doing a little can help so much, too! For example, maybe buy the almond milk or eat the veggie burger instead of dairy milk or a beef burger.  Do what you can do.  Don’t freak out if you eat a donut with eggs in it once in a while-- just remember to always make the next best choice. When you change your diet completely, it can be a little tricky. Just taking little breaks once in a while is fine! Take little steps to help our world however you can! So as you can see being  vegan is so rewarding! You can take care of the environment, help your health, and protect the people and animals around you all by changing your diet. If you are a person that wants to change the world for the better then this is something you can do that is so easy but has a huge,significant, and awesome impact on our world. And if you ever have any questions or comments feel free to contact me! Thanks for reading!

*Sources for statistics and facts presented here were found at http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/ and http://www.whatthehealthfilm.com/facts/. 

Hello!

Hi!  I’m Niamh. 

Welcome to my blog, Girl Insurrectionist!  

The word “insurrectionist” refers to someone feeling discontent with circumstances and then rising up to transform them. 

That is what I want to do with this blog— talk about situations and issues and then decide how we can, together, make change for the better!

I will discuss current issues that are very important to me, that I feel very passionate about, including (but not limited to):  feminism, commonsense gun reform, and especially environmentalism.

I want this blog to be a place where people come together and help change the world for the better.  I will also have some really fun things on here like my themed playlists, vegan recipes, current booklists, some style posts, and favorite products.  

This will be a place where you can share ideas, too.  Please don’t be afraid to comment— just make sure it is kind!  I’m super excited to share creatively with the world!  I hope you enjoy…