This is still me ❤️

It’s a brand new week and I for one am looking forward to it. I think I went a bit head first into last week and soon realised that I can’t do it all at once, so this week I intend to: Complete 2 Writing Launch courses each day After the workshop last week, I’ve already reached out with some questions and the response has been swift. I’m excited to start working through the courses and learning new things. Update my CV Changing careers was always going to be difficult, but I hadn’t given a thought about trying to write a CV for a job I hadn’t done before. I’m hopeful that the courses I’m doing will help me with this. Practice manifestation techniques daily The book I’m reading each morning on The Law of Attraction has some great techniques for manifesting so I’ll be doing these daily. Law of Attraction always improves my mindset and helps me feel more positive about my day.

It’s been a struggle this week. Jet lag, trying to get back into a routine and the huge list of things I would “do when I am back from holiday” is now looming over me. That’s why doing this weekly gratitude exercise is so important to me, as, despite all the things that haven’t gone as planned, which seem far easier to remember, many things went right this week. Joining my first workshop On Wednesday evening, I attended an online workshop with Writing Launch. Jacob & Ian very kindly gave an hour of their time, free of charge, to go through how to pitch an article to a magazine. Not only that, but they also offered a great package which includes a list of nearly 2000 publications to write for, mentoring and access to their entire catalogue of courses. The cost is $47 per month (around £40) however, you get the first month for free and can cancel at any time. Of course, I snapped up the generous offer and plan to start earning money again as soon as possible. Getting back in

Revisit my routine After 2 weeks away and being 5 hours behind, everything is a little up in the air. There are things I want to remove from my routine and things I would like to add. Exercise I started using the FIIT app before I went away so I want to get back to that. All that walking around made me realise I need to improve my fitness. Writing articles I write every day but just for my personal blog, I want to write some articles so that when I make pitches they’re ready to go. I plan to work very hard this week! What are your intentions? ❤️

Last Thursday, I spent an enjoyable day relaxing around the pool reading my latest book Hostage by Clare Macintosh. Probably not the best book to be reading when I have a 9-hour flight ahead of me next week but oh well. It was very good. In the evening, we had booked a Japanese tepanyaki restaurant for dinner and were heading to an Irish bar for drinks before. We do love an Irish bar and manage to find one on almost every holiday, it’s only a matter of time before Cuba and the Maldives get one! After a delicious dinner, we headed back to Murphy's bar and I was by now drunk enough to partake in some karaoke, I was shortly followed by a former pop idol & ex-factor applicant sterling, so if at any point, I had thought my singing was passable, I didn’t after that! The following day, I felt so ill! Was this food poisoning or just a hangover? I hadn’t drunk that much, no more than I had drank the weekend before I went away. I spent most of the morning feeling like I was on one

Pitch some articles Ok, I need to stop being a big baby and actually put myself out there. I’ve been using the holiday as one of my “excuses” of which there are many, but now the holiday is coming to an end and so is the money I have put away. It’s time to start bringing that dream to life and that’s not going to happen with a pile of ideas hidden away on my laptop. Meal plan I want to plan the meals for the husband and I for out first week home, firstly so I know what food to order for the shopping delivery and secondly so that we can make sure we have some healthy, normal sized meals Set Up a LinkedIn profile Much like the pitching of articles, this one keeps getting put on the back burner. Enough is enough now, I’m a grown woman and need to stop letting the what ifs get the better of me. Not only am I going to face the music, I plan to sing along. What are your intention for the coming week? ❤️

I start this post 35000 feet in the air (that’s just a guess, I'm not entirely sure how high we are, but that sounds about right) the night before we went away, the house felt so empty, despite having four people in it, the absence of Toby who is safely on his own holiday is like a big gaping hole in the house and I hate it. Still hormonal, I somehow managed not to cry, even when I see a video of a dog born looking surprised I almost cried, but I managed to control my emotions and sleep soundly. At 5 am I was up and feeling surprisingly calm (calm for me, which is probably not that calm) The boys have been so excited. It’s hard to feel anything but happy when you are in the company of such good energy. We had a stress-free journey to the airport and the most worrying thing that happened in my head was wondering if I would fit in the seat on the plane (I swear they looked smaller) I fit with ease and settled in for the long-haul flight. Safely ensconced in my seat and the air

Where the hell did July go? It whizzed by in the blink of an eye. I am slowly learning that the more I reflect, the more I learn and the more I want to improve. It's like an ongoing never-ending cycle, but a good one. With each month, comes the need for acceptance in certain areas of life and I discover that there are some areas I have been focusing on, that perhaps I no longer need, or want to change. Things I Loved About July I read a lot of Medium articles, I commented and clapped for those I enjoyed and I now share 5 of my favourite articles each Thursday on various platforms and again on Sundays in my round-up post. https://thisisstillme.medium.com/5-of-my-favourite-articles-on-medium-this-week-with-a-befitting-bonus-article-c2a8c367d770?source=friends_link&sk=f1e5e4cc7239982dddde55affcddc31f https://thisisstillme.medium.com/5-articles-i-read-on-medium-that-inspired-and-motivated-me-to-keep-going-41a5314deff4?source=friends_link&sk=92a565cd3a8e3f2bf1b1788c7c22e7

Not only is it a new week, in a different country, its a new month so I will be spending some time on my July reflections. But for now, I will talk about my intentions for this coming week. I debated, whether to take some time off from doing this whilst I was away, but decided that setting intentions is always a good thing, even on holiday, plus I had a nine hour flight to think about it. Make time for self reflection This is something I am in a good habit of doing now and I don't want to lose momentum whilst I'm on holiday. I have brought my self reflection planner with me, but I did leave my law of attraction planner at home which was a compromise for me. Relax You would think that its a given when going on holiday, but I am a stress head and can, and have, managed to be stressed out on a tropical island in the middle of the ocean. I have also been told that Orlando can be quite stressful, so I am going to try my best to relax and go with the flow, which does not come n

An amazing weekend with friends Last weekend, we celebrated our good friend's birthday. On Saturday, a group of us went out for dinner, where there was delicious food, fantastic live singers and the best company, then on Sunday, we went to their house and celebrated some more, more food, more drinks, the live singers returned and I laughed so much. I honestly feel so grateful and honoured to have spent time with all of those people. Scheduling posts in advance Something I've been talking about doing for a while but going on holiday has made it more of a priority. 9 hours on a flight will also give me some time to write, although I do wonder how much of it will make sense after a few glasses of wine. A holiday We are taking the boys to Orlando in Florida. None of us have been before and we are all really looking forward to it. To be honest, I didn't think it was somewhere I would ever get to go so I am aware of how very lucky I am.

On the plus side, I've noticed that I have started looking forward to my nights out again. Before the pandemic, I went out a lot. Working in the city it was perfectly normal to go to the pub at lunch or after work, when the weekends came, I preferred being at home as I'd been out all week. Going out was such an everyday thing, it wasn't really fun anymore and when a big birthday event came along, I didn't look forward to It. Now, I tend to do my going out at the weekends like a normal person and I have started to look forward to those nights out again, I can think about what I'm going to wear and spend some time getting ready. On Saturday, I woke up at 7 am, excited for a morning to chill out. I sat down and looked at my calendar. 9 am - Intervals. Oh, bugger. I'm doing cardio today. My brain starts to make excuses but I ignore them. It's happening. I'm doing it. No excuses. And I did. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely not. I couldn't find my sports br

What the hell is a "Purpose" anyway? Finding your "purpose" is something that I see a lot online. A few years ago, seeing this constantly come up in my social media feeds left me feeling worthless. I didn't have a purpose, I was a woman in my 30s and I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, the constant reminder that I didn't have a "purpose" made me feel like a total and utter failure. I would find myself looking at others, wondering how the hell they found theirs, some were mothers, saying their purpose was to raise their children, some had their own business and then there was me, why didn't I have a purpose? A reason to exist? The problem I had, was that I had too much going on in my head. I had so many unresolved issues that I had been avoiding dealing with, that I had no capacity to think about what I wanted from life. I'm not even sure what a "purpose" is, but for me, it's something I look forward to get

Planning is the key Write Back Up Content I am planning on doing some writing whilst I’m away. We have a 9-hour plane journey and there will be days lazing by the pool where I know I will think of something, but I want to have some pre-written content so that I don't feel under pressure to be writing whilst on holiday. I love writing and I don't want to make it feel like a chore. Daily Meditation I've been letting this slide lately and I've noticed that my brain has started to feel full of too many thoughts again. I want to get myself back into the habit of meditating, I just need to figure out which time of day works best for me. Finish The Power Of Focus I've been reading this for 15 minutes each day and it's very motivating. If you are self-employed, looking to start your own business or just want a bit of motivation, I would definitely recommend this book. Once I've finished this, I can then start my next book "The Last Law of Attraction Book

Over the last few weeks, I've been spending about 90% of my waking moments working towards my goal of writing for a living. I wake up and am straight online posting on platforms that I am unable to schedule posts on (or haven't learned how to yet) I could wait until later in the day, but I find that a lot of people read posts first thing, myself included. I meditate, do my self-reflection and review my to-do list for the day, apart from writing, I read other people's articles and engage with other writers on the platforms as practically all the articles and books I've read say this is a huge factor in being a successful writer, it's something I've found surprisingly fun. On top of this, I'm trying (and failing) to keep a clean and tidy home, cook dinners, see friends and family, and generally have a life. I'm not complaining, I bloody love it. I finally feel like I have a purpose. However, me being me, I have given myself a rather large to-do list, t

Small steps, daily. Set up a LinkedIn profile This week, I am going to set up a LinkedIn profile for my writing. I'm feeling quite nervous about this as although I have been writing this blog for 5 years now, I don't have any "work experience" when it comes to writing. It feels a bit like a catch-22 situation as I may not get writing work with no experience, but how can I get experience if no one will hire me? Well, no one is going to know anything about me if I don't put anything out there so this will be a good step in the right direction. Incorporate some movement into my days. I need to find something I enjoy to get me moving more. I'm feeling overweight and unfit and the exercises I have done in the past seem like such a chore, so this week I am getting up, getting my happy playlist on and I am going to have a little dance for a few songs. I think I'll enjoy starting the day like that. Finish the online SEO course I started this course a co

An extract from this week’s Substack newsletter I like to start each month by looking back on the previous month to see what went well and what didn't, how I can improve, what habits worked for me and any little ways I can make my life a bit easier for myself On the surface, June was a good month, but when I look a bit deeper, I can see that it wasn't without its challenges. I'll start with the challenges and where I can improve, that way we can finish on a positive note, rather than finish thinking how rubbish I have been! Emotional Hangovers Despite knowing I suffer from these, it still doesn't stop me. At the end of this week, I suffered terribly after drinking Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday this week. It's not a regular occurrence, but it is something I need to be more aware of and consciously make an effort to have more alcohol-free days. Not putting my screens away Guilty!! I managed to do this for a few days here and there, but I am still picking up

Feeling Thankful I’m so thankful to have had a positive week. Although I do wonder how much of it was simply down to my mindset. Reviewing my outgoings. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had been sort of putting this off. I was scared that I would look at the numbers and realise I needed to earn money immediately and would have to take the next job that came along. Thankfully, I have enough money to pay the bills for a few months. This does of course mean that I have to cut back on a lot of things but when I weigh it up, the choice between being at home doing my writing vs earning lots of money, there is no contest. Money really can’t buy happiness. Good results on medium I’ve had my best month on Medium since joining back in April. I’ve had lots of views, claps, comments, and followers and I have earned the most! Sadly not enough to pay the bills, in fact barely a cup of tea but it’s a huge win for me and I have learned so much from all the other brilliant writers. Mee

Gratitude is the attitude Yesterday, I posted about the emotional rollercoaster I’ve been on this week Despite the downs, I have managed to find plenty to be grateful for and here are my top 3. Sunday Cinema Date On Sunday, the husband and I took ourselves to the local cinema to watch Top Gun Maverick. I love going to the cinema, the husband, not so much. The weather was pleasant, so we decided to walk the 2 miles to the cinema. I don’t like to spoil things for others, so I won’t say too much about the film itself, other than that I loved it! Usually, the husband and I will go for dinner or drinks so it was a refreshing change to go to the cinema on a Sunday afternoon. Medium stats For those of you reading this that are Medium members, you will understand where I am coming from. Since joining at the end of April, I have checked my stats almost daily, along with my medium partnership program earnings, which in the first two months have not exceeded 38 cents. So I was pleased

Up, down and loop the loop. Last Friday, after keeping a few things to myself and letting them bubble under the surface, I got them off my chest. As usual, I felt so much better and wondered why I didn’t just let it all out in the first place. The problem I have is that I am much better with my words when they are written, I have time to go over them, think about what I have said and reword where necessary, this is why I don’t send voice notes, although I do like to receive them. I had been anxious about going out that evening, alcohol and anxiety do not mix. Thankfully, the air was now clear, and I could go out and enjoy my evening. The husband and I went out with some friends and danced the night away in a local Irish bar. On Saturday, I felt like a new woman, albeit a groggier new woman. I didn’t feel the need to eat all the food like I had the past few days and the husband and I enjoyed a chilled day indoors. I was woken up by Toby on Sunday morning, who decided he wanted to c

You can’t live a positive life with a negative mind. Today, I wasn’t feeling my best. Despite having good boundaries in place, the negative thoughts can still creep in. When this happens I have a list of go-to self-care activities and I thought I would share these with you. Meditation I always thought meditation was sitting crossed-legged on the floor and clearing your mind completely, which, quite frankly, feels impossible for me. I gave up trying to meditate for ages until it was explained to me that is not the case. The actual definition of meditation, according to Merriam-Webster, is: 1: to engage in contemplation or reflection. 2: to engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one’s breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness Each morning, I make myself a cup of tea, set a timer for 10 minutes and sit in silence, letting my brain do what it wants to, which is usually worry, roll off my list of things

My productivity has skyrocketed since setting clear, concise goals. After spending some time last week reviewing my current goals and setting some new ones, I'm feeling quite excited about the future. For the first time that I can remember, I am very clear about what I want in life and it feels pretty damn good. Sometimes when I set my weekly intentions, I struggle to think of some, which is where I will usually chuck in something vague like "drink 2 litres of water each day" and then inevitably, don't follow through with it. Now I have some crystal clear goals, it's so much easier and I could list several intentions I have for this week (don't worry, I won't) I'll just give you the usual three. Finish my article One of last week's intentions was to write an article, I started writing one but as I mentioned in last week's post , it was bringing back some pretty painful thoughts and feelings. I will go back to that article, but only whe