Day Five of Forever

Hello!

So here is an update of how I am fairing on this challenge - five days in.

To give you a clue to the general tone of this post... I feel like a super happy octopus.

Exercise and Meditation

So far this is going swimmingly! Granted I am not doing as intense exercise as I did in my original exercise challenge - but I think my strengthening and stretching routine is exactly what my body needs right now and it fits into half an hour which at the moment is all I can afford. Meditation is going great :) I no longer have to set myself a timer - I generally come to a finish by myself at about twenty five minutes. It's been a little while since I did it this regularly, and I have to say it is a discipline worth doing daily. I really find my mind clearing and strengthening more and more each day, and reaching new levels every time.

Violin Practice and Juggling Practice

So I have been alternating between Juggling and Violin each night (although I did both today!) and I actually think that this way is better than when I was practicing daily. I apply this more to violin than juggling, I could juggle any time and be happy doing it, but with Violin its really nice to just do it every other day - it's a more pleasurable experience. I've been doing between forty five minutes and an hour each time, which is more than I did during the challenge, and I think that's simply because I'm enjoying it more. And because I'm enjoying it more I'm doing better quality practice and therefore improving :) big yay.

Poetry Writing and Reading 

I was hoping to be jotting down some ideas for poems every day. So far I haven't quite managed to do that, so I need to pay a little more attention to that area. Same with reading, I just need to find more opportunities to do it!

Keeping a Journal

This is an interesting one. I like to do this last thing at night, but writing a journal is a pretty private experience that one should take ones time with, and if my boyfriend is staying over I'm less inclined to do it. I thought about it, and I've decided that's ok, as long as I keep it up regularly enough.


Overall, I'm feeling really positive and happy and so in control of my own life! I'm getting so much done (hence why I feel like a super happy octopus) and it's just so great to feel like I'm using my time in a valuable way instead of letting each day slip by.

Tonight, I'm going to have a little writing session and get my poem of the week off its feet! And add that to my list of awesome things I have done this week.

I'll post another update soon, until then, taraar!!

My Final Challenge

Hello folks!

So I started this year of challenges in June and it is now May - so we know what that means! This challenge is my final challenge of the year. So let's make it a goodun. Technically I should have started this on friday - but the last few days have been a bit hectic and I wanted to get off to a good start, so I am starting tomorrow instead!

These are the challenges I have completed (or at least attempted) thus far:

Juggle every day
Give up refined sugar
Exercise every day
Write something creative every day
Meditate every day
Cut down on TV and Facebook every day

Write a 50,000 word novel in thirty days

Give up on gossiping, bitching, moaning and criticizing for thirty day.

Practice violin every day.

Spend only eighty pounds in thirty days

Read every day

Take a photos and keep a diary every day

(Technically that's my One Year Twelve Challenges done, as I did two the first month! But hey, let's stick one last one in there anyway.)

Looking back on everything I've done this year I feel a bit like this:

And now just one more to go! I really want to end the year with something special - go out with a bang.

A lot of these challenges were about creating habits. Some of which have stuck with me (now in my fifth month of not eating sugar!!) and some of which haven't (that pesky violin practice went as quickly as it came). I've learned a lot about myself and what kind of person I want to be through these challenges, and I want to make this last month a sort of mega-challenge. I want to combine some of my favorite challenges together, and try and start creating a routine that includes them all.

So here are the things I really want to include in this challenge:

Exercise
Meditation
Poetry writing
Violin practice
Juggling practice
Reading
Keeping a journal

(I would include not eating sugar in that list, but I've managed to keep that up anyway, so I wouldn't consider it a challenge any more.)

So these are all things that I really want to make a regular part of my lifestyle. If I've learned anything this year it is that I am at my happiest when I am being productive, and so I want to start pushing myself in all these areas. The tricky part has been trying to figure out how to fit it all in!

This challenge happens to be falling in my very last month of Drama School! What a perfect month to end my challenges on, just before I step out into the big wide world. I am hardly in for lectures any more, but I do have a pretty hefty project to be getting on with - my business plan. So even when I am not in for uni, I am pretty much considering my time from 9 - 5 my 'office hours' - where I dedicate my time to business plan, applying for jobs, and projects. So I need to find time for all of this challenge stuff in my mornings and evenings. Here is what I have in mind...

Exercise and Meditation

I know that I am at my best both physically and mentally when I make time for both of these things every day. Since both of these challenges I have kept them both up to a certain extent - but I want to go back to doing them both daily. Time wise, I think it would be reasonable to fit in half an hour of strength training and stretching, and half an hour of meditation every morning. I'd also like to fit in cardio a couple of times a week, perhaps when I can afford to start 'office hours' a little later in the day. Right now I'm avoiding running because I have very sore knees, but there's always zumba!

Poetry Writing, Violin Practice, Juggling and Reading

So essentially, these are my hobbies and skills. If I want to improve in my violin and juggling I need to practice regularly! And if I want to progress with my writing I need to push myself to write and read as often as possible. But what to do? I can't do them all every day. So I've decided to alternate between violin and juggling each night. It'll be the first thing I do when I get home from uni, practice for half an hour. As for writing and reading... well, I always have a book in my bag for whenever I'm in the bus or just have ten minutes to myself. That seems to work pretty well, it's aided me in reading a few more books since my reading challenge in march finished! I also take my poetry book everywhere, but that doesn't necessarily mean I write in it that often. So to aid me in writing a bit more, I just want to spend a few minutes each day, whether on my lunch break or maybe just before going to bed, jotting some ideas down. Then, over the weekend I must turn one of my ideas into a fully formed poem. A poem a week sounds reasonable I think!

Keeping a Journal

I wanted to include this because I want to use it to keep myself going. This is potentially my hardest challenge yet. It's going to be tricky to keep track of everything and keep motivated! But I think if I organise my thoughts every evening, even if its as simple as writing down my tasks for the next day, I think it could be a real help to me.

Some other thoughts...

I'll sort of be going back to my challenge of avoiding TV so that I can fit all this in. I'm definitely cool with that! As I whole I definitely watch less TV now than I did before, and I really don't miss it! That being said, you should always make time for some good films and documentaries, so I'm gonna give myself Friday and Saturday evenings for some good viewing time. I think by restricting myself I will choose what I watch a bit more wisely! And of course, bringing in some more challenges, I would like to continue to monitor my bitching and moaning, and to limit my spending. But I don't think I'm going to set any solid rules on that - just try and keep it in mind every day.

So there we have it! Those are my rules and guidelines for my Ultra-Super-Duper-Awesome-Mega-Challenge (the official title). It's a big one. I'm essentially trying to throw myself into being the busiest and most productive (and therefore, I think, best and happiest) version of myself. I'm trying to see if I could maintain all these habits properly, and build a lifestyle wildly different to the one I started with this time last year. It's a bit scary to be honest, but in a good way!

Now I'm under no illusion that I will manage to keep this up every day. If a trip to the cinema or a dinner with friends stops me from getting everything done, then so be it. This challenge is not about ticking every day off, it's about carving a realistic lifestyle for myself, and that includes random changes of plan! That's why this is probably going to be the hardest challenge for me to keep track of, but I have faith that if I really commit myself I'll do it. Most of all, I just hope that this challenge turns out as well as I want it to, and gives me that 'I'm so happy to be moving forward' buzz I've had from so many of my other challenges. There's a lot riding on this one! I'm excited.

Here is hoping for a fantastic month to end a truly fantastic year.

30 days left....

Some Pictures and Some Thoughts

Phew! I am having the busiest time of my life right now. I'll be leaving universtity soon, and so begins the desperate search for jobs, the praying that an agent will take me on, and the mighty mighty business plan.

So I haven't found much time for blogging, to be honest! But here I am with a precious spare hour, and I thought I would share some pictures and thoughts with you.

Some of my photos are lazy and rubbish, some are kinda artistic and cool. But the important thing is that I am taking them! Here are some of my favourites from the last week and a half.

I went for a few morning walks and this is one picture that makes me feel really happy! This place is right by my house in York, I used to go running there all the time. And striding across it early morning filled me with all sorts of positivity, especially as it was such a beautiful day! This pictures stirs up that hearty feeling I had that morning. Early morning walks are good. I may even make a challenge out of them.

Here is another photo of the same place, but on a very different morning! Beautiful, but in a different way. I really love this picture, I think it's one of my best. There's a wee artist in here somewhere! All of my best photos for this have been taken outside, and to be honest it's made me quite appreciative of the beauty of the world around us - I'm glad this challenge has made me go looking for it.


Another good example of that would be this tree! This photo doesn't quite do it justice, but trust me guys, this is an effing great tree. Gorgeously silver. I had been staying in a rented house with my boyfriend and his family for his sister's wedding, and this tree was just outside. I didn't even notice it until the last day. A friend of the family was helping unload left over wedding stuff from the car, and he stopped to have a good look, which of course made me have a good look. And we both marveled at how eerily beautiful this tree was! So I took a photo. I love how photos serve both as a record of your experience but also something on its own. In many ways this photo can't come near the original view, but in many ways it is more beautiful too. I think the camera has brightened the blue somewhat, making a really pretty photo that I wasn't quite expecting. So I have the image vs my memory - both slightly unreliable reflections of a nice moment experienced, which is now gone.

And here is a photo that I wanted to show you more for the content rather than the artistry - I bought a brilliant new suitcase for me to fit my life into! As a self employed actor I need to be travelling light - and so I invested in an uber case that I could realistically go on tour with. I was such a nerd when I got home, I couldn't wait to pack it, so I put all my stuff from the big holdall I had brought home for the holidays into it. And I packed it all fancy so that it would look nice. And there's still loads of room! This perhaps wasn't the most productive use of my time - but I am the queen of active procrastination. And at least I'm mostly ready now for going back to Birmingham on Sat. While I was packing it, I was imagining all the jobs I might do in the future where I will be living out of this bag - and I got super excited. Sometimes it's really nice to do something like that, something that excites you about the future. This week has been a good week for things like that.

And now, let me tell you a bit about the diary writing part of this challenge! I have a lovely story for you.

So I was originally doing the diary writing on my PC - because I wanted to use the pictures. And I actually started to enjoy it! Long gone are my teenage years when I would use a diary to moan and lament about how dreadful my life was. This is different now, it's simply a record of my activities, my feelings on the day, and my plans for the next. It feels like a really nice way to wrap up the end of the day, just getting some thoughts down onto a page, and I go to sleep thinking of my plans and hopes for the next day, and also the future. It's been a good thing for me to do at this point in my life, when the future is very much now! However, it's not great doing it on a computer, as staring at a screen and typing is not an ideal bed time activity. So I decided to go classic and use a notepad.

I have loads of notebooks on my shelves many with barely anything written in them, so I dug out a beautiful one my friend gave me for my eighteenth birthday. I took it to LIPA when I did my foundation course, and used it to write down funny quotes my housemates said. So the first ten pages are full of quotes, but the rest is blank. Reading the quotes that I had almost forgotten, I was filled with that gorgeous nostalgic feeling you get when looking at old photos. What was even better was that I hadn't written down who said what, so many of the quotes I can't remember, and can't even picture who said them! But still, because I wrote them down they are here nonetheless, making me laugh and remember the awesome times I had.

My favourite was this: "If you draw on an X instead of writing it, well then that, my friend, is a kiss - unless it's drawn on a map, because then it's probably important."

I don't know who said that - but it's wonderful.

This was a bit of a serendipitous moment for me, because its showing me the value of writing things down, so that you still have the memories years later. (even if they are only gentle reminders!) When I started this challenge I said I was fairly cynical on the effects of using a diary - but now that cynicism is gone. Now that I feel I am in a good place to actually keep one, a positive place where I can use the diary to keep me moving forward, I think it's a really great thing. And now I have seen how wonderful it is to be able to read these recorded moments again.

And I find that when I am writing, ideas begin to spill out of me. It's like the writing of my thoughts helps to slow them down and organise them, and suddenly I have a steady stream of new ideas, simply because I am writing. And of course, those ideas can go straight down onto paper too. I actually think keeping a diary could help me to become a better writer. Now there's a thought.

So yes, wonderful thoughts on this challenge, which I wasn't actually expecting. I felt like I had kind of wussed out this month because I needed something easy, but it's turned out to be perfect!

One last thing - I'm adding a mini challenge. Next month is my last month and I have a special mega challenge all planned out, but I came up with this the other day and thought it was great so I'm throwing it in - a fifteen day challenge! To keep me going through this busy time and to help fight off laziness and procrastination: I must complete at least one thing on my 'to do' list every day. Yesterday it was making a CV, today it was applying for some jobs (and I've ticked this blog off too!) - a productive few weeks ahead.

Thanks for reading, much love to you all.

xx

The Vocabulary Challenge

Greetings friends.

It's a new month, it's a new challenge.

In August I set myself the challenge of writing every day, and I was pretty happy with some of the stuff I came up with. Since then I have been doing a lot of performance poetry, which has been going really well. And I've rekindled my love for writing. I did attempt to write a novel in November, but I didn't quite pull it off. Still, I will not be deterred.

I wanted to do a challenge that would contribute to future writing adventures. As an actor, writer, and lover of good books, having a good vocabulary is pretty important to me, so I thought I'd do a challenge that would help me to expand mine.

So I present to you a challenge of my own design: The Vocabulary Challenge.

There are a few layers to The Vocabulary Challenge

1. They say the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read. I myself love reading, but don't make enough time for it. So I am going to commit half an hour a day to some reading.

2. I will also commit half an hour a day to playing on vocabulary.com which is a great website where you can test your vocabulary. It's kind of like a game you play in rounds to get points, and it keeps testing you on words until you solidly know them.

3. This is the fun one. I will use my word of the day app on my phone to get a new word, and I will use that word as a stimulus to write a paragraph, which of course has to contain the word. I'll be writing a new paragraph every day, and I'm going to do my best to make them link together so that at the end of the month I will have a short story, which I will post on here. I'm sure it will wind up being very silly in an effort to include all the words I'll be getting from my app!

So, as a starting point, the word of the day today is 'marcescent' - meaning 'withering but not falling off, as a blossom that persists after flowering'

And the paragraph is:

Forty two years of marriage had brought Peter and Judith, among other things, three children who had for a time consumed them completely. Their house had been full of noise and laughter, and their lives full of long working days and family filled evenings that then ended comfortably in each others company. Now their children had flown the nest to have seven more between them, and Peter and Judith had reached their long anticipated retirement. The house was empty, and their lives filled primarily of each other. Faced with the incessant ticking of the clock every day, their previous state comfort seemed to shift towards something they didn't quite have the words for. Soon, Peter and Judith began to realise that their marriage had become marcescent. Hanging by a thread that seemed determined not to break. 

I look forward to writing more :)

Day one of thirty down!

I'm doing something ridiculous.

I'm writing a novel.

I have picked what is already one of the busiest months of the year to do it in, but I really really really wanted to do it. So I'm doing it.

It's already killing me.

And that's all I'm going to say on the matter because, frankly, I have some writing to do.

I promise I will write a real blog post on this challenge, but probably not until the weekend!

Wish me luck (I'll need it)

Twenty seven days of madness to go.

Some Nuggets of my Writing

So today marks day thirty of the ‘write every day’ challenge’ – It’s been an interesting one, with a lot of ups and downs. It’s the challenge that I’ve ‘failed’ on the most so far, in the fact that there were five days over the month where I didn’t write at all. However, there’s no use dwelling on that. I have very nearly filled an entire notebook full of scribblings, and I am now, for the first time, reading them. When I come across a line/extract/passage I like – I shall write it down unedited on here and share the love. Here it goes…

Day One              

So I took a step into the terrifyingly unknown

And waved goodbye to the comfort of your embrace

And I found

I could breathe

And the air tastes sweet

(poem)

The most depressing thing

About birds held in captivity

Is that when the doors of the cage are opened

They still don’t fly away

(poem)

Day Three          

Just imagine where you’ll be

Tomorrow

When the world is moving almost at the speed of light

It’s a wonder sometimes

We don’t fall off into the night

(song)

Day Four              

I am paralyzed by darkness

(poem)

Day Six

How is it that we can blame the uneducated for their own lack of education

Call people lazy and make them responsible for their own motivation

‘You’re Scum’ because we failed to help you find a vocation

When did we become such a cannibalistic nation?

We feed off of each other’s misery

And regurgitate it into hatred

(spoken word)

Day Nine

I see that you have found the one

Who fits you so completely

That if you were to part

You would realise

You are not whole anymore

You both take and you give

And that exchange has been rooted

And has spread its roots

Into the hearts of those around you

(poem)

And that the footprints that you leave

In the memories of others

Tell a story as beautiful as you

(poem)

Thoughts that are like diamonds

Scatter through the wind

(poem)

Day Thirteen

Chemicals strip you down

To your bare bones

Your heart, stomach and head

Feel like stone

And acidity

Murky and sharp

You wade through the dark

You sleep, waiting for the light

To wake you up

(poem)

Into the woods we go, your hand in mine

And I feel so elated by your touch

That all my secrets spill and stain like wine

(poem – sonnet style)

Day Fourteen

When your head is full of dirt and grime it is hard to find the will power to wade through it all to find that one shiny penny you knew was there.

(passage)

Day Sixteen       

All of my problems are reduced to specks of dust

Which swirl into the tornado that is the human experience

(poem)

She who winds up the clock

Stops the ticking

(poem)

Looking out on this beautiful day, Enra felt something stir inside of her. It started in her chest, and shivered through her entire body before settling inbetween her shoulder blades. It ached slightly, in that satisfying way your muscles ache when you stretch them out in the morning. She wriggled her shoulders, but the sensation lingered. Something bubbled under her skin. She tried to look round but the tingling lay in the exact spot she could not see no matter how she twisted and turned. She felt the rippling again, something swelling, stretching the skin on her back. Pushing to get out.

(passage from a short story)

Day Seventeen

Even in the darkest day

When everything you are

Is consumed by the nothing

That clouds your beauty

I will be there

(poem)

Day Nineteen

As her eyes absorbed the twinkling of the stars, they began to shine with the smallest swelling of dew drop tears. A bright silver light shoots across the velvet sky and vanishes, leaving a glitter of hope lingering in her heart. She blows out the candle with a whisper; ‘I wish’

(passage from a short story)

Day Twenty

The oppressive sky did not open on Enra as she walked to school, but she wore the hood of her weather beaten old raincoat up anyway. She stared at her feet as she walked, taking some solace in the steady rhythm the clicking of her heels provided. Somehow, she felt surprised with every step she took that the ground was still beneath her feet. A part of her believed (or perhaps hoped) that she would suddenly slip through a crack and disappear

(passage from a short story)

Day Twenty Four

The roots from which we grow

Do not define us but they are still present

I would not be the person that I am today

Without my parents

And everything ever taught to me

By anyone, which is everyone

Because every word I ever heard

Has influenced the way I think

I am a product of my environment

And nothing more

For every thought I have

A seed was planted long before

And to change the way you think

Is to acknowledge your own conditioning

Which means opening your eyes

And really, really listening

(spoken word)

The crowd gathers and sways

The lovers embrace

And as the music swells through all of our hearts

Theirs beat as one

Somewhere far away from the rest of us

We are just the backdrop to their love

We are the decoration to support the declaration that they make

He takes her in his arms

And holds her like she is the only thing worth living for.

And the rest of us dance

(poem/spoken word)

I am happy here

Here where everything is soft around the edges

Where the textures are so rich and deep

I can sink my fingers right through like treacle

This land of no mirrors

Where you only see yourself

Reflected in the smiles of others

(poem/spoken word)

(side note – I performed the full version of this at shambala festival at an open mic and it went really well. Three strangers came up to me later at the festival and told me that they loved it. I nearly cried with joy.)

Day Twenty Five 

Secrets being spilled

They soak into our skin

And stain our blood with fire

We boil and bubble under the surface

Waiting

Grinding through the dirt

Filling our fingernails

Trying to carve new paths

(poem/spoken word)

Day Twenty Nine

I want to sleep in the trunk of a tree

And let the rain wash my face

And the ground toughen my feet

And the sun burn my skin

And the wind chill my bones

And the cold bite into my heart

And freeze it.

(poem)

Well. There we are. I’m actually quite surprised at how much of what I wrote I liked. There’s a few interesting points to be made.

1. I have not copied down a single complete piece. Everything I have written here today is an extract from something bigger. In some cases they are the only lines swimming in a sea of utter shite. In other cases, it is just my favourite bit of a perfectly acceptable piece. There are plenty of days where I wrote stuff but none of it was good enough to put on here. It goes to show it’s worth writing a lot of crap just to find a couple of good lines.

2. My environment massively effects how I write. Looking over this, all my very best stuff was written when I was outside. Writing in my cluttered miserable bedroom brought about no good. And also a lot of my favourites were written during Shambala festival – when I was watching a lot of spoken word and poetry. Surround yourself with art and it will bring out the artist in you.

3. If I had not done this challenge, none of this would have been written. Not a single word of it. By forcing myself into the habit of writing regularly, I have managed to produce some half decent material that simply would not have existed before. That makes it all completely worth it (even if I did go a little bit crazy and depressed sometimes)

So where do I go next? I want to keep writing, absolutely. I really feel like I began to improve and get a sense of style towards the end of the thirty days. I have some room in my notebook left. What I intend to do is take some of these extracts I have picked, completely isolated from the pieces from which they were extracted, and use them to create new material, hopefully better than the originals. Be my own inspiration. And then, well, I’ll start a new notebook!

I’m pretty happy with myself. Result.

The Eureka Moment

Yesterday, on day twenty, two thirds of the way through, something clicked. Having toyed with many ideas, one finally stuck and I couldn't stop writing. Over the last twenty days I’ve written a lot of little pieces, some good and some terrible, but ultimately I’ve been waiting for this moment. And I would say it’s been worth it. 

In my last blog post I was feeling pretty down about this challenge, like it wasn’t going anywhere, and now I’m finally getting some satisfaction. Also, despite the fact that I might not like everything I have written, I am well on the way to filling up my notebook already. To have a notebook full of my thoughts and ideas is an achievement in itself – something I’ve never had before. I’ve started so many notebooks in the past and never finished them!

This has all made me feel very positive about this challenge. It's taught me to keep going no matter how hard or grueling or pointless it feels. And I feel like the more I persevere the more I will get out of this. It’s better to write acres of rubbish to find one good idea, than to not write at all whilst waiting for that idea to come.

Who knows? Maybe one day I shall write a masterpiece, and then when I die these notebooks will be priceless. And then again, maybe not. But to spur on ones own creativity is a wonderful thing, and I think anyone who is interested in writing should get in the habit of scribbling every day. Sometimes it feels like the last thing you want to be doing, but ultimately it has it's rewards. 

I still haven’t gone through my notebook properly, I have decided to save that for day thirty. I’m sure by then I will have forgotten about most of the things I have written. When I have read it all, I shall write a special blog post containing some bits that I think are worth seeing. Until then, I shall go forwards with my task and hope that those eureka moments keep coming! Nine more days so nine more chances. 

Am I actually any good at this writing thing?

Well it's been a while since I have blogged - mostly because life got in the way! But I'm back and have many many many thoughts to purge onto the internet.

So here is a description of 'the creative process' that I feel is pretty accurate.

I feel like I have been going through this on a daily basis, which can feel pretty tough actually. Especially the 'I am shit' bit. I never thought I would say this, but this is without a doubt my hardest challenge yet. I thought picking up pen and paper every day and giving it a good old scribble would be easy, but it's not. In fact there have been a few days (when I've been pretty low emotionally) where I have simply refused. In comparison with my other challenges, this is the one I am failing at the most.

I thought writing regularly would be inspiring, I thought I would be getting more and more ideas each day, but sometimes it feels like I have completely run my brain dry. Seriously - where did my imagination go? It used to be non stop.

Most of what I write is more like a diary entry than anything else. It's all about me. It's usually in some kind of poetic form, but it's basically just a reflection of what I'm feeling in that moment. I suppose a lot of poetry is just that - so maybe I am being too hard on myself, but I was really hoping for some more 'outside the box' thinking by now. I am over half way through the challenge and I'm not entirely sure what I'm getting from it....

That being said, I am yet to read over my work. I could be doing that right now. A big part of me is saying 'go on - read it. reeeeeead it' and yet I can't quite bring myself to do it yet. I don't know, perhaps I am scared of reading it all and thinking it's all terrible? Yes, I am definitely scared of that.

I have realized one pretty crucial thing. When somebody gives me a project or a specification, I can deliver. I KNOW I can write and that I'm good with words, I have faith in that, but I only seem to be at my best when working to someone else's specification. As soon as someone gives me a project it's all I can think about, and I really put my all into it. When it's just for me, I really struggle to come up with or commit to my own ideas.

The question is, should I try and push through that barrier or not? Is it possible? Am I just not as good at this as I thought I was?

Hmmmm. More angst filled 'why can't I do this' blogs to follow soon. Hopefully the tide will change in the next 13 days!

Challenge Over. OR IS IT?

Yep. I’ve reached day thirty of the ‘exercise every day’ challenge. I feel fitter, stronger, more flexible and all around fantastic. Here is an obligatory photo of me looking a mixture of tired and proud after the thirtieth work out:  

(ok I may have taken a small breather to wipe the sweat off my face to stop me shining like the sun)

And now it’s day thirty so…. I can stop.

But why would I want to do that eh?

Habit formed. I love the effects of all this exercise far too much to give up now! Sure, it won’t be every day (can’t see myself going for a jog during boomtown festival) but I am gonna keep going with it as much as I can. And there you go, in just thirty days I have successfully adjusted my lifestyle to what I want it to be. Go me.

I’ve learned a lot about the importance of setting goals. I’ve tried getting exercise routines off the ground before but this time it was different – because there was a time frame. And I think the ‘thirty day challenge’ method is really good, because it isn’t too long but it’s long enough to really make you think about what you’re doing, and allow it to influence you permanently. So I think I need to put this lesson to good use, and keep setting myself goals to keep myself motivated. I haven’t quite figured those goals out yet, but I will. For now, I’m just going to….

Ironically swimming has not featured in my regime whatsoever!

And so now, it’s time to announce my new challenge.

So far there has been a lot of focus on my body, so I would like to now focus more on my mind. I love writing, but I simply don’t do enough of it. So my new challenge is to write SOMETHING every day – whether it’s a song, a poem, a scene, a short story. Anything. My aim is to get my creative juices flowing, and to be my own inspiration. I want to stop waiting for things to just come to me, and start digging around to find the potential in what’s already there.

So to mark the occasion I have bought a new, clean notebook, which I hope to fill with many wonderful musings. The good stuff I may even post on here!

Here’s to the next adventure, I hope it is as fulfilling as this one has been.