How to Make An Ordinary Day Feel Like a Movie

1. Make your morning the best morning

As soon as you wake up, do not go on your phone! Immediately play some upbeat, preferably 90s/2000s song, and get up. Smile at yourself. Stretch, dance a little, and get a delicious, hot cup of coffee. Take out your huge journal and dump everything on your mind whilst planning your day, and singing.

Open the curtains, let the morning light in and remind yourself today is a new little chapter.

2. Your signatures

Get ready even if there are no plans awaiting you. Wear your signature lipstick colour, spray your signature scent, and wear your signature jewellery. Revel in the scent and become transformed with every spritz.

Find little things that feel unmistakably you. Maybe a specific pair of gold hoops, a particular nail colour, the same ribbon in your hair, or the same perfume you've worn for years. Have your own tiny ritual that makes you feel like you. I have a gold necklace with a tiny crab on it that I never take off, it feels undoubtedly me! 

3. Leave the house

Wander around outside, with a bag full of journaling supplies, makeup and water. Even just locally, sit in a cafe. People watch, take in the sky and feel the breeze. Have a chat with the barista, and compliment the old man sitting near you. Ask people questions, and smile often.

You don't need an exciting destination; the point is to become a person who is out in the world. Take the long way home, browse a charity shop, and sit in a park. Go into a bookshop you've never visited. Buy a single flower from the supermarket. Your town becomes much more interesting when you stop treating it like somewhere you're simply passing through (something I am currently trying to practice).

Just make plans with yourself. It doesn't have to be an important occasion. In fact, it is better if it isn't. Sometimes the best way to make your life feel exciting is to stop waiting for something exciting to happen.

4. Carry your own little world with you

Have a bag that makes you feel prepared for anything.

A notebook with our favourite pen. Lipstick. Headphones. A book. A little perfume. Tissues. Water. Maybe a camera. Perhaps something completely unnecessary but delightful nonetheless. A random thimble? An acorn? A lucky starburst? 

Your bag should feel like a tiny extension of your personality, a portable mini you!

5. Make ordinary things beautiful

• Light a candle while you answer emails 

• Put your dinner on a proper plate

• Drink your coffee from the cup you usually save for guests

• Wear the nice underwear! 

• Take the scenic route

• Open the windows

• Cook something you've never made before

• Wear that special, expensive perfume or lipstick

There is no prize for saving all the beautiful things for a life that hasn't happened yet.

6. Romanticise the in-between

Some of the most cinematic moments happen when nothing particularly important is happening. Romanticise as MUCH as you can.Rain against the bus window, duh, you're in a music video. Sitting on your bedroom floor choosing an outfit, washing your hair while singing terribly, and etting ready for a night out you’re in a movie!

Don't rush through these parts because you're waiting for the real part of your life to begin. This is all the real part. And we need to treat every moment as if it’s special, because it is. 

7. Do something slightly spontaneous

Say yes to something you would normally overthink.

Try a new class, buy the ridiculous earrings, go dancing, change your hair parting, pick a film you've never heard of, or get on a train and explore a nearby town. Not every spontaneous decision has to become a life-changing story, sometimes it can simply become a funny Tuesday, and the small moments can surprise you!

8. Collect evidence that you were here

Take photographs, but not only of yourself. I take photos of EVERYTHING. Photograph the strange building you walked past, your coffee, a beautiful window, the sky at 6pm. Your friend's cute outfit and shoes (preferably candid when she’s not looking). The flowers outside someone's house, bonus if there’s a cat. 

Keep little scraps: save cinema tickets, press flowers between the pages of your journal… it doesn’t have to impressive, or glamorous, it just has to be you. Proof you are here, proof that squashed any doubts you have about yourself, whether that’s ‘not interesting enough’, ‘not fun enough’, ‘not creative enough’. You are YOU!

9. Have a soundtrack

Every good day, alas, life, needs a soundtrack.

Make playlists for specific versions of yourself: getting dressed, Sunday morning, driving at night, falling in love, walking around town, cooking dinner, crying dramatically in the shower. And actually listen to them. Connect memories to these songs, and use them to inspire more. Music has a strange ability to make you feel as though you're already inside the life you're trying to create.

10. Come home to yourself

At the end of the day, turn the lights down, put your phone away and take a few minutes to come back to yourself.

Make tea, put on something comfortable, and JOURNAL. Write down what happened that day, even the tiny things. What made you laugh? What caught your attention? Who did you speak to? What did you enjoy? What are you looking forward to tomorrow?

And maybe the real secret to making an ordinary life feel like a film is not pretending everything is perfect, but becoming curious enough to notice how beautiful it already is.

Remember Stay curious, stay mindful, and stay grateful. Love yourself, others, and your life. xo ᥫ᭡.