This is still me ❤️

The bigger picture I share what's been happening this week, my top 10 horror films, 20 things that make me happy and this brilliant post from @thirdeyethoughts Subscribe here

A personal time capsule Last week, I wrote a post about the importance of self reflection . I hadn’t realised how much self reflection I have been doing, it is now as much a part of my day as brushing my teeth. One important thing to remember when self reflecting, is that you must guve yourself time and space to do this, writing daily reflections mindlessly and never actually thinking about them again, serves no purpose. I was excited to see that my first weekly challenge in my 6 Minute Diary, was to write an email to my future self for 6 months time, describing where I see my life at that point in time. There were two websites given where I could use to do this. I decided to go with Future Me, which I had heard already heard of, I thought I may have even wrote a letter to myself in the past. The idea is, that you write a letter to your future self, it can say whatever you want it to, you can even get ideas from the website. You then decide when would like to receive the letter

“Build Small Habits, Make Big Plan” — James Clear This week I have been thinking a lot about my goals, so this week, I thought I would share some inspirational posts on this.

So much has changed since January and that includes my goals. I looked back at the goals I had originally set myself at the beginning of the year and half of them are no longer things I wish to achieve. I’ve been reading The Power Of Focus which has some great guidance on goal setting, so I am planning on working my way through that over the next week or so. I want to write some more articles so that I have some ready to submit to publications. I often have ideas pop into my head and I keep a note of them. I currently use Evernote for my blog posts, I just need to organise my folders a bit better as I have almost all of my blog posts in there! Lastly, but most importantly, I am going to block a day out in my diary each week where I make no plans. No lunches, no appointments, no dinners. Nothing. It’s a day just for me to do the things I need or want to do for myself. What are your intentions for this week? ❤️

My hard work is starting to pay off I normally write these posts by going through my week and what’s been happening, but I am far too impatient to write a whole post before I can get to my exciting news. Some of you may have already seen, that I have had my first article published on Medium. For some, this may not be a big thing, but for me, it’s pretty huge. Back in 2017 when I started writing this blog, I was too afraid to share with anyone other than close friends. Who would want to read anything I wrote? I certainly would not have imagined even having the courage to think about submitting my writing to a publication. Writing has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember, so I’m feeling pretty bloody good right now. It’s been a good week overall anyway. The husband and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary last Friday and we went to Stratford Upon Avon for the weekend. Stratford Upon Avon is beautiful and our hotel was right next to the river Avon. The sun was shin

“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

After having a massage last week and spending most of it having my brain race around, I tried a couple of mornings last week just sitting in complete silence, no phone, no TV, just me and a cup of tea. My brain was free to race around and do whatever it wanted and I found this helpful, so I am going to give this a go for 10 minutes each morning, instead of meditation. At the beginning of the year, I set myself some goals. Some were long term and others were short term and I try to base my monthly and weekly goals around these, to help me to achieve these. As the year has gone on, I have achieved some of these goals and some I have changed my mind about, so I am going to sit down and look at these and set myself some new goals. Once I’ve done this, I can update my vision board so it reflects my current goals. I hope that the second half of the year is as amazing as the first half.

After a pretty reclusive week last week, I enjoyed catching up with some friends this week, a trip into the city to meet my friend for lunch, a shopping trip with my twinnie followed by dinner with the bestie. It was just what I needed. I also made some great progress in my counselling sessions. I'm still so amazed at how much I get out of these sessions and how much I have learnt to about myself. I am learning so many valuable life tools and I feel so positive about the future. Yesterday, the husband and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. We celebrated in our usual fashion, by taking ourselves off for a little break. What went well for you this week? ❤️

Thank you so much to those of you who have taken the time to complete the short survey I sent out recently. If you haven't yet completed it and would still like to you will find the link below. 43% of you prefer to read my posts on a Monday. 43% of you said you prefer to read them on any weekday with the remaining 14% preferring to read them on a Sunday 43% of you prefer to read my posts on Facebook whilst another 43% prefer Instagram The remaining 43% read them on WordPress 57% of you prefer to read my posts in the morning, 29% of you prefer the evenings and the remaining 14% prefer the afternoon. Your favourite posts are the written blog posts and what went well this week, followed by the weekly intentions, the motivational posts and lastly the newsletter. The majority of you would like to see more Written Blogs & Motivational posts with fewer posts on book reviews and newsletters. I’m going to leave the survey open for a bit longer for anyone who would still li

I would be really grateful ❤️ Last week I sent a very short survey asking for some feedback, I would really love to know what you would like to see from me. Please could you do me a massive favour and complete by clicking here .

No one's perfect right? I posted this in my newsletter recently but I thought I would elaborate more, and provide the links to each book. If I had gone through a little bump in the road a year or so ago, I don't think I would be sat typing this article, I would most likely be in bed eating Chinese takeaway, followed by ice cream, buying untold shit online on my credit card, accumulating more debt. Whilst I give most of the credit to my amazing therapist, I have done some learning myself by reading (and listening to) various self-improvement books along the way. Here are some of my favourites: Not a diet book - James Smith Ahh, James Smith! I started following him on Instagram a fair few years ago and I have listed him at the top as he recommended quite a few of the books on this list. You may have seen him on TV with his no-nonsense approach to the diet industry. In this book, there is straight-talking advice on how to get fit physically and mentally. Having been on the die

This week, I want to focus on my physical health. I've been feeling sluggish and don't seem to have much energy lately. I'm going to try out some different exercises this week, I want to find something I enjoy, there must be something surely?! Drinking water is back on the list. Again! I've noticed my skin has been feeling a bit dry too so I need to try and get to grips with this water drinking malarkey if anyone has any tips on how to get more water on board, let me know. I also want to add more fruit and veg into my diet. My diet has improved, I've not been having many takeaways and have been cooking lots of healthy food, I just need to make sure that veg takes up a lot of my plate and maybe have some fruit for breakfast. What are your intentions for the coming week?

As I am making some little changes to my page, I thought this would be the perfect time to ask for some feedback. I would be so grateful if you would complete a quick, anonymous survey and let me know how I can improve using the below link ❤️ https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/JGJFX2Z

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After walking to and from my counselling session last week, I realised how much I benefit from going for a walk, so this week I am going to get myself out each day for a morning walk. I want to update my vision board, the focus has been on the mind for a while now and I feel that I have made some good progress there, now I can work on some other areas. I didn’t manage to get the medium article written last week, so that’s a definite priority for me this week. I have a nice quiet week ahead so will be able to make the time needed for this without feeling rushed. What are your intentions for the coming week? ❤️

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The last few weeks have been really busy. I’ve had lunches, dinners and weekends away with friends so I’m really looking forward to having some time at home with the husband. Whilst he is working away in the day, I am going to get through my ever growing to do list, this includes finally writing and submitting my article for the medium publication. It’s been a couple of weeks since I got the invitation, but as it would be my first time submitting something, I don’t want to rush it. I have already decided on the content and I am quite looking forward to cracking on with it. I’m also planning on doing some cooking. I do really enjoy cooking, so now I have a bit more time, I would like to cook up some nice lunches and dinners, especially now I have the new Lucy Lord cookbook. What are your intentions for this week? ❤️

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.

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