Dinner, Dancing, Sneezing & Sweating, Thankfully Not All In One Day

Originally posted on Medium.

Last Friday, I woke up feeling full of cold. Great, just in time for the weekend, but I was determined not to let it get the better of me.

I’ve been taking a long hard look at my to-do list and chopped it up a bit. I want to give myself the option to take weekends off from writing and learning and avoid putting too much pressure on myself.

I was really looking forward to going out for dinner with our friend's birthday, to celebrate a birthday and there was no way I was going to let having too much to do or a poxy cold, get in the way.

On Saturday, Toby, who I think is having an identity crisis and thinks he’s a cockerel, wakes us up yowling at the crack of dawn. There was no way I was getting up early, the cold combined with too much white wine the night, was not leaving me feeling energised.

We had a wedding reception to go to that evening. Again, despite my feeling rubbish, I still wanted to go. It's just a cold, I told myself and went off to sit in the garden to get some air.

Eventually, I admit defeat and go back to bed with the fan on and catch up on Love Island. If I’m going to make it to that dance floor, I need to recover from the night before.

The following morning, after enjoying myself on and off the dancefloor, I manage to sleep until gone 10 am, something I never do. I spend the morning in bed, beneath the soft breeze of the fan, trying to muster up some energy in between the constant sneezing.

On Monday, after setting the intention to get up at 7 am each day, I do exactly that, determined that I will not use having a cold as an excuse to take my foot off the gas.

The weather is forecast to be really hot, so I keep all the windows and blinds shut and at 10 am I take myself up for a shower and then off to the Sanctuary to do some writing, it feels really good to be back in there, accompanied a big fan to keep me cool.

I manage to write drafts of 3 blog posts, it felt so productive. I’m glad I didn’t allow myself to make excuses. Starting the week off the way I mean to go on is always a good move.

The afternoon is well spent, getting everything off of my to-do list and I pack up my desk at 5 pm and head downstairs to make some dinner. The husband goes out to see a friend and I stay home coughing, sneezing & struggling to sleep.

I wake up on Tuesday grumpy after a night of broken sleep, I can’t seem to go longer than 10 minutes without coughing or sneezing and begrudgingly have to drop out of my friend’s birthday lunch. I feel very fed up and very sorry for myself.

Again, determined to keep the momentum going, I take myself upstairs at 10 to try to write a true crime post for next week. Nope, I’ve got nothing, no ideas and worst of all, no desire to write a true crime post. It’s the perfect excuse to go downstairs and throw myself into a Netflix hole.

But I don’t, I decide to park the true crime post until I am in the mood and move on to my next task, I have just under a week to get it done, plenty of time.

Wednesday is woeful. I sit downstairs feeling very sorry for myself and very fed up. This cold, being unfit, my skins being all sensitive, I missed my friends birthday lunch, my house looks like a bombsite and this heatwave is just too much, I am a spring or autumn girl!!

There are tears before 9 am, I let out all my frustrations with a good cry, dry my eyes and in true British fashion, make a cup of tea. I then decide to scroll through Medium in the hope of some inspiration.

My prayers are answered. It's funny how I often find the answers to what I’m looking for when I take the time to sit down and read, rather than try to resolve my issues.

After reading some motivating articles, I got myself in the shower and took myself out on a walk. I ignored the excuses flying around my head and put my earphones in with Matthew McCounagheys dulcet tones reading his book Greenlights on audible.

On that 20-minute walk to the shop, the following happened:

- I enjoyed some cool breezes I would not have got shit away indoors.

- I had some great ideas for my next article where I share 5 posts on medium that motivated me.

- I felt better, mentally and physically, I felt happier.

I didn’t have any expectations from my walk, I had just gone out to pick up a parcel and post a letter, I had no idea that I could get all of that from just a 20-minute walk.

Buoyed by the coolness of the outside world after the stifling heat of the last few days, I decided that I wasn’t going to write in the sanctuary today, I was going to write in the garden, which improved my mood even further.

Seeing the amazing effect a short walk had on my mood, I thought about how good other exercises could make me feel. I decided to take a look at my Vitality healthcare as they give a lot of perks with their health and life insurance.

I managed to bag 6 months free of FIIT, an app where you can do online classes. I checked out the workouts and added 3 to my calendar for the following week, 1 yoga, 1 cardio & 1 strength. It’s a start.

They have given me a referral code for 2 weeks free and 25% off your first bill if anyone wants to give it a try.

Yesterday morning, I woke up early from an undisturbed sleep. It felt bloody good! I tried on all the holiday clothes that had been delivered and was surprised to find that I wanted to keep half of the stuff, usually everything goes back!

At 9 am I laid my yoga mat in the kitchen and did my first yoga class. Yoga has been one of my intentions for many weeks and I have never gotten around to doing it.

This class was an introduction for beginners, very basic moves and how to breathe, so perfect for when I’m not feeling 100% I enjoyed it and have scheduled my next class in 😊

The husband took me for lunch and I spent another afternoon in the garden, reflecting on how well I had done to power through the week, ending the day with a little reward to myself and pre-ordering the new James Smith book "How To Be Confident"

If you haven’t read his other books, “Not a Diet Book” and “Not a Life Coach” I can highly recommend them.

As I sit here now on Thursday evening typing this, I’m feeling better, cooler and more positive than I was at the beginning of the week, so for that I am grateful ♥️