August 2023 – A holiday of sorts

August was an opportunity to catch my breath, the year has been quite full on for me juggling my business and uni work especially taking on a new more senior role in January.

I had the first two weeks of annual leave booked off from my uni role, however, in mid-June, I decided to push this back a week as I took on an extra module at the uni and felt that I wanted to get the marking all done before I went on annual so I wasn’t stressing about it while I was off.

The thing I didn’t do was tell my business clients that I was taking time off, I did plan to do it in May/June, but somehow just got missed off the to-do list and before I knew it, it was mid-July and not enough notice to tell them that I was unavailable. I was ok with this, as I’ve said many times before I love what I do in my business so don’t see the work as work really.

However, during the month I was able to take my foot off the gas a little bit and managed to get 36 hours away from home to go to the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, this is a free annual event which sees hot air balloon enthusiasts from all over the country/world converge in Bristol. I had been to it once when I was a child as we lived in the South West of England at the time and always wanted to go back. I had booked an Airbnb for a couple of nights and also booked tickets for the Sky Lounge (this was a private area with a bar and the best views of take-off!). I had asked a few friends if they wanted to come with me but all were unable to commit, I was a bit gutted if I’m honest as I spend A LOT of time on my own so wanted to spend time with others and was debating whether to sack it off.

Eventually, I decided to go as needed some time away, it took an age to drive to my hosts as I hit Bristol city at rush hour and when I eventually got to my Airbnb host they said that it’s always a nightmare with all the building developments that are going on at the moment as well as people trying to avoid the Clear Air Zone. Once I was shown to my room, I headed out for something to eat, I felt a bit self-conscious about eating out on my own, as I didn’t really have a choice (I didn’t fancy a bed picnic) I just sucked it up and enjoy the food and wine.

I am really glad I did go as the morning launch was amazing as was the evening one. I was extremely lucky to witness both as later in the weekend they had to cancel launches due to the weather.

During the month I got to go out for lunch with a friend and had coffee with another one too, although, by the last week of the month, my brain was working overtime knowing what I had coming up in September. I did try hard in August to take a step back from life, however, I find it hard as painful stuff comes up for me and I have had quite a bit of therapy over the years, I know I’ve still got lots of things to work on.

Exercising was also sporadic, to say the least, I just can’t seem to find my groove with it, although I did manage a couple of Stand Up Paddleboarding sessions at Activities Away as well as some swims.