Thursday 21st April 2022

Honestly, I’m not actually sure where today has gone! It was a uni day today and I was out and about visiting students on their placements in business & with Lincolnshire (England) being the 2nd largest county, I’ve managed to do a 120-mile round trip and only visited 2 places and I actually visited places I have never been before which is usual as for many years I spent my days driving around the county visiting food businesses so I have been to lots of the most rural parts but today I’ve been to a few more.

Anyway, my plan was to do a 100-day challenge in the run up to my birthday and finish off this year of blogging nicely. Ideally, I wanted to finish this challenge two days before my birthday as I’m going away for my birthday & will be away the night before and wanted to be able to start to celebrate on that evening. So that meant starting the challenge yesterday, from the get-go yesterday morning I realised it wasn’t going to happen and that I needed to give myself a bit of a break & that was the right call as by the time I got home last night I was dead on my feet. Plan B was that I start today instead and either do a 99-day challenge or not drink alcohol on the night before my birthday, which I wouldn’t be bothered about knowing that I could celebrate on my actual birthday BUT, I’ve fallen down at the first hurdle as today hasn’t gone to plan as I was thinking that I would finish at the uni at 5pm, get home and do my workout then go for a walk and still have time for tea and some telly before bed. I got home gone 7pm and just needed some food & the tellybox.

So now in my head I’m trying to figure out how I save my XXX day challenge so that I do commit to something, I’m thinking 95-day challenge, doesn’t quite have the same ring to it but I guess it is what it is, which would mean I start on Monday coming… which kind of makes sense as this week has been full-on and I can reset at the weekend ready to focus on it from Monday.

Wednesday 20th April 2022

Yay, an awesome day has been had! I was up at 5am to finish doing the last little bit of prep needed for my workshop today, showered, packed the car up and was on the road by 6.30am.

Got to the venue an hour later as roads were really quiet at that time in the morning thankfully as it is not far in miles but takes time as the roads are all single carriageways and wind over the Lincolnshire wolds.

Thankfully I had some help setting up the room and we were ready to rock and roll bang on 9am! The day went to plan and I finished at 4.46pm (4 minutes to spare).

Friends have asked me if it went well and my reply is “I think so” I had lots of smiles and thank yous at the end so I guess that’s a sign I did alright but won’t get the full feedback until tomorrow or Friday.

My reflection is that I did smash it out the park, I gave it my all and then some, the drive home was a bit more relaxed affair as I simply wanted to get home safely rather than rush.

And this is me, I’m well and truly spent, completely shattered, my feet and legs are aching, over the course of the day I’ve done 22.8k steps and walked around 14.5km! I’m going to sleep well tonight knowing I left it all in the training room.

And I go again tomorrow!!!

Tuesday 19th April 2022

This will be one of the shortest posts I have written for this blog as my bed is calling me!

Today has been as manic as they come! I got up around 5am to start working on the last few bits for my workshop.

Headed to the uni to do 4 hours of tutorials.

Once I was done at the uni I had to do a couple of errands to pick up some supplies for the workshop, came straight home and back to my desk to continue with the prep and that’s where I’ve been since about 4.15pm! Haven’t quite finished everything but will have to stop for the night as my brain is just mush.

However, I’m so happy with how everything has come out and all the resources I’ve created look awesome!! I know that I’ll smash the workshop out of the park, I just need to get a good night’s sleep & crack on in the morning!

(Easter) Monday 18th April 2022

Wow, what a day! I was at my desk by about 6.30am, stopped for about an hour in the day for breakfast and lunch and called it a day at 6pm as my brain was going to mush.

A really productive day though, I have just about finished all my slides for the presentation and I am well on the way to finishing most of the resources for the individual learners’ packs and made a start on some other resource boxes I am going to supply.

It’s been a full-on day but I’ve been totally in my element really, my favourite part of my work is the delivery, being in front of a group of people and able to share my knowledge with them, my 2nd favourite part is gathering the resources as my creative juices flow like crazy and I sometimes struggle to keep with my brain with all the ideas & thoughts it’s suggesting so have pages of scribbles all around me ensuring I remember everything I want to cover and talk about.

I’ve been doing what I do for over 25 years so on the day I’ll have very few notes and will just let my slides guide me in what I’ll say, some might call it “winging it” but ultimately most of what I’m going to talk about has come out of my head so it’s my creation, not to say I won’t be nervous, I will but those nerves will help me create the best day possible.

I’ve watched a bit of tellybox to relax tonight and now it’s bedtime.

The last 100 of this blog journey is approaching this week and to celebrate I’m going to start a 100-day challenge (this will finish 2 days before my actual birthday – will explain why in a couple of days). This is playing on my mind a little as I’m committing quite a lot to myself and know that I’ll need grit and determination to make it happen and to tick off the daily activities I’ve chosen to do for 100 days.

(Easter) Sunday 17th April 2022

A weird kind of day today, Sophiecat woke me up around 5.30am and despite trying I couldn’t get back to sleep so got up and pottered around the house for a couple of hours.

I’m not a religious person at all, however, there is something about Easter Sunday that meant that I didn’t really want to do too much work today and should respect the day it is.

I did do a bit of gardening and a little work until my printer ran out of black ink (why does this always happen when I’ve got important stuff to print off?!), thank goodness for Amazon Prime is all I can say as ink ordered and should arrive tomorrow.

The rest of the day I was rooted to the sofa and caught up on some of the programmes I had recorded over the past few weeks.

There have been tears today too, not sure why – I have loads of emotions bouncing around my head at the moment, one minute I’m happy and the next I feel sad and am in tears, it all feels a bit strange really, could be the stress of this event I’ve got coming up, who knows but hope it will pass soon or I can find a way to work out what’s going on in my head.

Tomorrow I’ve got a long day of event prep, likely to be at my desk for at least 12 hours if not more to make sure everything is done so I’m not panicking last minute on Tuesday.

Saturday 16th April 2022

An early start thanks to Sophiecat, however, I didn’t mind too much as knew I had lots to do today.

A really productive day without working to the bone. Got a load of client work done and made a start on some of the tasks needed for my event as well as collated all the orders to ensure everything I’ve ordered had arrived and accounted for.

Having this long weekend makes it hard to work out which days it is as usually on a Saturday I really struggle to get my head into work mode, that wasn’t the case today, I guess I got a clear idea in my head of what I need to get done and without the distraction of my mobile phone I simply just cracked on with it.

It’s been a lovely day outside, not that I’ve seen much of it sat in my office, although this afternoon I did sit outside to do one job as it didn’t need me to be in front of the computer which was just lovely.

A quiet and relaxed evening chilling with a glass of wine and nice food (thankfully it was food I cooked earlier in the week so was quick and easy to heat up!).

Now it’s bed again, the days seem to go so quickly at the moment and not sure I’m able to really catch my breath so to speak! Am hoping that after this coming week I can take stock of where I’m at and then make a plan for the future!! I know I’ve said that a thousand times before but hey ho, one day I might actually get a chance to do it…

(Good) Friday 15th April 2022

Clearly, Sophiecat didn’t get the memo about it being a Bank Holiday today and woke me up at her usual time of stupid o’clock! Fended her off for a bit and then gave in and fed her around 6.30am, and then went straight back to bed, eventually, I woke up just before 9am.

My plan for today was to do some housework & just relax a bit ready to take on the task of event prepping for the rest of the weekend.

I’ve kind of done that, had a leisurely breakfast, then did some housework, sat in the garden and read some magazines that had arrived over the last few months that I hadn’t got around to reading,

Did some meditation, had a nice evening meal with a couple of glasses of my favourite wine, watched some tellybox, fell asleep on the sofa and now I’m here, half asleep writing this so it will be a short one as my bed is definitely calling me…

My phone has been on Do-Not-Disturb all day, not once have I been tempted to turn it off to see what notifications I’ve got and it’s been so nice to not be on constant alert for new messages etc.

Thursday 14th April 2022

What a day!! Another “planned to workout at home this morning” didn’t happen morning as just couldn’t get my mind off my to-do list to focus on exercising.

However, I did then fuck arse around on my phone procrastinating for a few hours instead! Certain apps & games have been deleted now to stop me from doing this.

This morning, I had coffee with an amazing inspirational woman who I met a few weeks ago at a networking event briefly and we said that we need to have coffee to find out more about each other’s background as we both felt there was a connection that needed to be explored. It was fabulous to speak to someone who has a similar passion to mine but comes from a completely different angle and background, it’s one of those watch this space moment as I think together we could great something magical.

I then ran some errands ready for my event on Wednesday next week, it’s all finally coming together well the physical resources are so am feeling happier about it although there is a hell of a lot to do still, thank goodness for a 4 day weekend!!

As I mentioned earlier in the week I have made the decision to turn my phone on do not disturb tonight until Tuesday morning, simply because I know I need to really crack on with this event prep as well as simply have some timeout from the world. I won’t be going on social media or online in general unless it’s research for the event. And once all my deliveries have arrived I’m likely to not go on email either.

I’ve messaged my friends & my parents to let them know this & how to contact me in case of an emergency! So bring on four days of work & peace! I don’t plan on going anywhere except to get my Sunday paper as my local newsagents are closed on Easter Sunday. I will still be doing this blog though.

Wednesday 13th April 2022

I had planned to do a workout this morning but found it hard to wake up this morning, said to myself that’s ok as you are swimming later!!

Anyway, the day has been a little fraught if I’m honest, I had a long meeting this morning which I’d planned in my day and we actually finished earlier than scheduled which meant I could do a couple of errands.

When I finally got back home and to my desk I had some emails from clients with a couple of urgent requests for information that needed doing straight away and I soon realised that the swim might have to be missed.

I probably could have gone but knew that I wouldn’t really enjoy it or be present with it as my head would be saying all the things I should be doing instead of swimming.

I looked in the mirror and my belly is rounder than it’s been for a good few years, I really need to get control of my eating and exercising as I’m just not happy as I am! I know this is quite shallow but I know that I feel so much more confident in myself when I’m fitter and healthier!!

I just have to get on with the work at hand and ditch the excuses and crack on…

Tuesday 12th April 2022

Today has been a day at home, only left for about 20 minutes to walk to the postbox to post some mail, hadn’t even realised how nice was outside until I ventured out mid-afternoon.

My main focus today was to moderate nominations for some awards I’m helping to judge, in total there were 54 nominations so that has taken me all day to do as I’m not a fast reader with my dyslexia and wanted to make sure I didn’t miss any important information.

And if I’m honest I’m an emotional wreck after reading some of the nominations as the things said about the people was really humbling, the adversity and challenges some people have had to overcome to achieve a goal are just awe-inspiring!! I hope that I’ve marked them accordingly so they get recognised for their achievements.

Makes me realise how strong and resilient I have been over the years to overcome difficulties and challenges and when I look back even at the last 200 odd days I can see that I’m capable of more than I ever realise or even acknowledged as if I’m programmed to just move onto the next thing that needs dealing with and not really stop and reflect on what I’ve achieved. It’s so easy to get caught up in the grind of life.

This is something I’m going to reflect on over the Easter weekend, I was planning on having a digital detox but due to having work to do that won’t be possible but I am going to turn my phone onto do not disturb and not interact with anyone for the 4 days just so I can have a bit of a reset of sorts. – I can’t wait if I’m honest and will do a detox later in the year when I can escape everything and just be! Might look to book somewhere to stay for a couple of days – pure escapism!