This is still me ❤️

Its a small step, for a big reward I had other plans for today’s post. I sat down this morning to read another chapter of The Power of Focus, I read something I just had to share. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our own presence automatically liberates others.” This is from Return to Love by Marianne Williams as quoted by Nelson Mand

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It’s been such a positive week for me, although mindset is everything. Some things happened this week that could have dampened my spirits, but because I was in a good frame of mind, I have managed to focus on the positives and put a positive spin on some of the possible negatives. I know that I may not feel like this every week will be like this, but I plan on enjoying it for as long as it lasts. What went well for you this week? ❤️

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” — Aristotle I adore stationery. As a child, I used to spend hours in stationery shops longing to buy all the notepads and pens that adorned the shelves. As an adult, I do buy more stationery than I probably should and when I came across self-reflection journals, I became truly addicted. When I was tidying my house recently, I found some old journals and flicked through them. It’s so good to read through and see the thoughts and feelings I was having back then, it’s really interesting to see how much I have grown over the years. I complete my self-reflection journal each morning when I get up and each evening before I go to bed. I try my best to make sure each morning and evening is filled in, even if it’s a bit later than anticipated and I do take it away with me on holidays. After spending a lot of time scouring the internet, I chose the 6-minutediary for my next journal for the following reasons: It’s split into morning and eve

This week, I wanted to focus on relationships. I am always very aware of how lucky I am to have the family and friends I do. We learn so much from the people we spend time with and I am truly grateful for those that I am blessed to have in my life ❤️

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It’s been a mixed bag this week, but I have managed to turn it around. I enjoyed getting dressed up and going out for dinner and drinks with the girls last Friday. In the week, after having a really busy few weeks, I easily fell back into my usual routine, which helped turn my mood around. I finally wrote my article for publication! It only took me a month. I rewrote and re-read it about 7 times but I think I am happy with it now. What went well for you this week? ♥️

Despite being an anxious mess this week, due to certain things not going to plan, making time at the end of the week to think of the things that went well was really easy and helps me to realise what truly matters. I spent a relaxing weekend with my friend in Hereford, we lunched, we walked (me in inappropriate footwear resulting in blisters) and we lounged around, its nice to feel at home without having to do any chores. I spent some much needed time with the husband, unfortunately for him, its been a stressful week for me so I am conscious that he didnt have the best of me, but as always, he showed me love, kindness and endless patience and I am very aware of how lucky I am to have him. On Wednesday, I went to Essex to see my brother on his 40th birthday and spent a few hours with my family which was really lovely. I realise now, that all those things I have been stressing about are not as significant as I first thought. What went well for you this week? ❤

I had such a lovely weekend in the New Forest with the husband. It feels like we haven’t had a weekend away for ages, it was relaxed and we just went with the flow each day. Although we are both at home, he has been busy with work and I am often shut away in the sanctuary so I was really grateful to have some quality time with him. I’m ending this week with a huge sigh of relief after handing my notice in. I’ve been so unhappy in that job and it has caused me that much stress and anxiety, that I have been off sick for most of this year. This has been a blessing in disguise, as it has given me time and space I needed to get myself better and learn how to look after myself properly. I’m very fortunate that I was able to do this. I started to feel the anxiety come back this week, when I realised it was time to go back to work and hand in my notice. The close the day got, the more panic I felt, so rather than wait until I had a meltdown, I went online to see what my options were, I discuss

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Wow. What a week it has been. I enjoyed a fabulous relaxing weekend away and this week I have caught up with some friends at lunch, even managing to control my alcohol intake, without even trying. I am happily riding a high vibe at the moment and I am enjoying every single minute. I love it when life is like this, I am happy, things are going smoothly and I just need to embrace each and every moment. Every time this happens, there is the little voice in the back of my mind saying "Clare, you know that this isn't going to last" That voice used to be a lot louder, so loud in fact, that it used to stop me from enjoying the happy moments. Now, I am getting a lot better at embracing the highs and riding the lows. Every week, I feel like I am overcoming another obstacle in life, sometimes they are big, sometimes they are small, but either way, the feeling of overwhelm is getting easier to deal with. Its still overwhelming, but my stress levels are not as through the roof

As of yet no miracle has been invented to prevent me ageing so I am finally going to have to accept that I actually have to start looking after my body. I want and need to get myself back in shape. I’d like to have more energy and just generally feel less sluggish. I’ve read in many articles that strength training is better for women in their 40’s, so I am going to include some of this in my weekly routine. I also want to try and get a hold of my water intake, my skin is clearly feeling the effects of my lack of water so I just need to make more of an effort to not only incorporate this into my daily habits but stick to it. I have a really busy week this week and after (another) weekend away, I need to not only plan, but schedule my blog posts and newsletter. I’ve got myself into a really good rhythm with this and things are going well so I don‘t want to let things slide. I only plan to move forward from now on.

As I mentioned in this weeks blog post I spent a lovely Easter weekend with the husband. We visited my brother in his new house and then we spent the day and night in beautiful Canterbury. I was rather relieved to have a quiet week ahead. Yesterday, I received a message on Medium, inviting me to be added as a writer on one of their publications. It’s a personal development publication, which I already follow, as I do really enjoy the articles on there. I was so excited, I did wonder if maybe they had sent it to the wrong person! Writing for a publication means that my writing will reach a wider audience, this particular publication has over 2000 followers. Once I am back home from my relaxing weekend, I will be devouring all the information provided and making a submission. Wish me luck 🍀

Last night, I finally got 100 followers on medium 🎉 124 in fact. I was excited to wake up this morning and apply to join the partnership program. Imagine my surprise when I logged on to my profile to see I only had 56 followers 😭. Why had so many people unfollowed me? Had that many people looked at my page and though wtf is she on about? Then I saw that I was only following 64 people, which was definitely wrong. I went to the partnership program application page and thankfully noticed a pop up saying there was a technical error. Phew. There was no mass exodus of people unfollowing me. Typical that this would happen as soon as I get enough followers, but it was resolved very quickly. I used this time I read through how it all works and set up a stripe account so that hopefully, one day, I will get paid to write. It’s strange really, even though I have read that it’s not particularly easy to get paid on the platform, the fact that I can now be part of it has given me a bit of a c