Category / Live

by inertperfection

Sunscreen: Basics and Beyond

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Sunscreen is extremely important to our skin health and appearance. UV light is responsible for about 80% of skin aging, which includes skin discoloration, hyperpigmentation (dark spots), leathering, and wrinkles and fine lines. UV exposure also causes DNA damage in skin cells, which may lead to cancer. Additionally, sun exposure will exacerbate skin conditions such as melasma. Sunscreen protects against both photo-aging (sun-related aging) and cancer, blocking up to 99% of all UV rays. Since summer is around the corner, I thought tackling some of the basics about sunscreen would be appropriate. This is a longer post with lots of details that I hope readers will find helpful. Summary and product recommendations are at the end of the post.  Continue reading →

by Halley

Skincare Basics

applying body lotion care cosmetic product

Photo by Linda Prebreza on Pexels.com

I get asked by a lot of my friends about how they can take better care of their skin and I find myself starting to sound like a broken record. So I thought it might be a good idea to write down some tips and advice and send future inquirers here. Skincare is a vast topic that one can write volumes about (and many have). This post is meant to be a brief introduction, covering just the bare minimum basics, as the title suggests. I’m not a dermatologist and I certainly am not pretending to be offering professional advice. All opinions are based on my own experience and (non-scientific) research, and no I’m not paid by sponsors (though comments and likes will make me very happy).

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by Halley

Ill-fitted

woman looking at sea while sitting on beach

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Calling something (or someone) a “bad fit” might not be concerning at first, but an ill-fitting situation can be more devastating than it appears. Some examples from my personal experience:

  • Ill-fitting clothes:
    • What it feels like: You are fat.
    • What it probably is: The dress/pants/shirt/whatever is too small or the cut doesn’t suit your proportions.
  • Ill-fitting relationships
    • What it feels like: you are a bad person, nobody loves you, you don’t deserve love, something is wrong with you.
    • What it probably is: the person you are in a relationship with is not compatible with and/or genuinely interested in you
  • Ill-fitting jobs
    • What it feels like: You suck, you are incompetent, you are stressed out / anxious all the time, you are a failure
    • What it probably is: the job is not properly using your strengths; the working environment is not healthy or supportive; you have no room for creativity/autonomy/growth

 

by Halley

Three pillars of happiness

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It occurred to me over lunch today that happiness can be summed up to the following: doing what you find meaningful, being around people you love, and having good mental and physical health. Following this, every decision should be evaluated by these three criteria – does it help you do what you find meaningful? does it bring closer to further from the people you love? how does it affect your physical and mental well being?

I like this framework because a) it’s easy enough to remember and apply, b) it’s broad enough to capture virtually all aspects of life, and c) it’s general and flexible enough to fit different individuals.

This is not a “solution” to happiness, though. This model won’t help you figure out what is “meaning” work, find love, or figure out how to achieve the optimal level of physical and mental well being. What I hope this achieves is providing an effective and straight-forward standard against which we measure our decisions: does the decision move us closer to happiness?