Things that a trip to Paris taught me

Hey guys. It’s been a few weeks since I last posted, I’ve had a lot going on, and as I always teach on this page, during tough times we need to give ourselves more self love. I’ve tried to take the pressure off where I can. But don’t worry, I’ll be back blogging a lot more over the Autumn/winter period. It helps me just as much as it helps others, and this season can be a tough time.🍂

Today I’m coming at you with a blog about a recent trip I embarked on…to Paris. It was amazing, Paris is somewhere I’ve always wanted to go and I don’t think it disappointed at all. There were so many beautiful buildings and landmarks and it was so nice to be engulfed in such a different culture to ours. Since being back I’ve reflected on my time there and I thought it would be a great idea for a blog.

So here’s what my trip to Paris taught me about life❤️

1). Happiness lies within your expectations- The one thing that put me off Paris was the things I’d heard about “Paris syndrome”. Paris syndrome according to Google is “ a sense of extreme disappointment exhibited by some individuals when visiting Paris, who feel that the city was not what they had expected. The condition is commonly viewed as a severe form of culture shock”.

I get it. I wasn’t disappointed but the only reason I wasn’t was because I lowered my expectations. And as lots of experts say, this is the answer to HAPPINESS! We have such high expectations for how life will go, how our “plan” will turn out, and social media has made these expectations even worse. Expect nothing and you will never be dissapointed, in fact, life will exceed your expectations!!🥰

2). Social media is not real- The more you realise this, the happier you’ll be. I love social media and feel it has some good assets, but overall it can have a detrimental effect on our mental health and there’s lots of negatives. Most things we see online are fake, edited and set up. We see a snapshot and have absolutely no idea what’s going on behind the scenes. I kept in mind the photos I’d seen on Instagram prior to my trip. I was shocked to see how “busy” areas of Paris were. As I found out later on, people on social media edit out people in the background!!!! Another shocking thing is the road we often see famous Eiffel Tower pictures on. If you’ve been to Paris you know how scary and terrible the driving is. In order to get the perfect “shot” people have run into the middle of the road!!! Once again, we don’t know what happens behind the camera. Just be mindful, it’s never what we think.

A quick other reminder. I didn’t edit these photos, but I did post the one with blue skies and sun. For no other reason than it’s a nicer photo. But STILL a reminder. Instagram likes to show us that everyday is sunshine and rainbows, but as we know it isn’t.🥰

3). Be more child!- Whilst I was away I was lucky enough to visit Disneyland. It’s been a dream of mine since being little (like most people). And it did not disappoint in the slightest. What a MAGICAL place. To my surprise, there was every age you could imagine there. Magic has no age limit. Being here taught me that in such a stressful world, we must channel our inner child each and every day. As we get older and life becomes stressful we begin to lose the parts of our inner child that are important, our zest for life, curiosity, imagination and carefree attitude. When life gets too stressful, remember to have fun, find the magic and care LESS!❤️

So there’s a few things my trip to Paris taught me. It was a great trip and I would definitely return, but it was also a great reminder that we must make our own opinion of a place before romanticising it through social media. Keep real; keep the magic within you and remember that everything will always be okay in the end. Lots of love to each and every one of you.❤️