Thursday 19th May 2022

Today has been spent mainly in pain! My knee is incredibly sore no matter what position I have it in and especially painful when driving!

Not really ideal when today I needed to do a 100 mile round trip to a networking event and then onto an awards celebration.

However, I gritted my teeth and got through it, I am as stubborn as they come and not much will stop me from doing what I plan to do today and both events I wanted to attend so I attended them and ignored the pain. And I’m really glad I did as I made new connections and re-connected with old friends.

Thankfully this evening the pain does seem to be easing a little bit so hopefully, a few more days “rest” well rest from working out and it will start to get better again.

It’s a later one from me than usual as I mistakingly drank some caffeinated coffee at the event this afternoon so that’s still working itself through my body.

Not much to report today as it’s been a jam packed one of work & networking really so am a little talked out, having two years off events has really made me out of practice for them, great to be back at in person events & hopefully my in person event that I’m starting to plan for later this year will be a success.

Wednesday 18th May 2022

Today has been a rollercoaster of emotions! Went to the gym and was enjoying the workout and bang I pulled my knee, I felt it go as I was doing one of the movements I didn’t want to stop so I adapted the workout so I could carry on, probably not the right thing to do but when I’m in the zone I don’t like stopping! I managed to hold it together and cry and then came home.

I didn’t get a chance to think about it much as I had to get showered and ready for a meeting which went really well and some exciting opportunities have been offered to me, more on that another day when I can talk more openly about it.

I got home after an agonising drive – my knee just doesn’t like being in a driving position. I crack on with work and jump between my client work and uni marking as we need to get it done so that the marks can go back to the students.

When I got home there was a card on the doormat from a friend just thanking me for my friendship and support and it broke me, the tears just flowed I think it was an emotional release of the pain with my knee but also for my friends who have supported me when I have been at my lowest and also cheered for me when I’m flying too!!

Good news about my car and it’s not as bad as I had thought so that is being sorted this week hopefully I’ll get it back on Friday so as you can see why I feel like an emotional wreck this evening!

Time to go to bed, listen to the rain outside & count my blessings!

Tuesday 17th May 2022

Going to be a very short blog post today as not got a lot to say! Today was a rest day from the gym and my body definitely needed it as I’m aching all over, especially my knee.

It was a uni day and I was in the office on my own marking assignments, I find it quite interesting to see how two students can interpret the same information very differently!

After work, I went to see a friend who I’ve not been in touch with for years, we had a brief WhatsApp conversation a couple of weeks ago as it was their birthday so I sent a message and we decided to have a catch up.

It was so lovely to see them, and although it’s probably 4 if not 5 years since we had our last proper catch up, it felt like it was only last week! They are someone who is so easy to talk to and it got me thinking about friendships in general about how they ebb and flow with life and how some people come into your life for just a short period to teach you something and others stay for a lifetime. I know for sure that over the past few years, I’ve drifted away from some people who I was “best friends” with where we spoke on a daily basis to not even speaking every birthday now and other people have entered my life who I won’t want to be without. I know that I’m definitely more selective with who I give my energy & time these days, mainly because I don’t have that much & only want to spend it on people appreciate it & give their time back to me. Anyway, I’m rambling a bit now so time for be to go again tomorrow.

Monday 16th May 2022

The morning started well as I had prepped all my stuff ready for today last night!! Got to the gym and managed to get a personal best in one of the workouts which is awesome, but not what I was expecting at all. My fitness isn’t anywhere near where it was a couple of years ago so at the moment I’m just happy to be back at the gym moving my body & just enjoying it rather than focusing on the long journey back to the fitness level I want to be at.

Today was a uni day and a colleague and I were watching our students do assessed presentations. It is so lovely to see them grow into the people they want to be, this semester they have all been out on placements with local businesses and it’s really given them the confidence & belief that they were lacking at the beginning of the academic year. I’m really proud of how far they have come and how much they have developed.

On a bit of a sour note, my car is broken again!! Yesterday when driving back from the lake I had an alert on the dash for an engine malfunction and required an immediate service, not what you want to see when you are doing 60mph on a busy road & on a Sunday when the garage is closed! I managed to get home yesterday and get to the gym this morning and then limped the car to the uni, called the garage up and thankfully they said that I was to bring the car to them & they would look at it. I’ve had a few car issues over the last few years so they bend over backwards to sort it out, so they provided me with a courtesy car while mine is getting sorted, just hoping it’s not what I think it will be as that will wipe out all my savings! I’ve not cried about it yet so I guess that’s progress as last year this would have completely floored me & put me into a tailspin but I’ve accepted it is what it is and will deal with whatever happens.

A quiet evening tonight as watching presentations is quite intense and an early night.

Sunday 15th May 2022

Whoop whoop Sophiecat woke me up after 5am this morning, still early for a Sunday but I’m taking it as a win!! I did get up, feed her and go back to bed until she woke me again around 7.15am!

Back into my normal Sunday routine now of gym and then swimming – feels amazing to be active again this week, my knee is a little sore this evening so will need to be careful over the coming days not to push it too much.

Today has been a good day, I’ve done a little bit of work, about an hour the rest of the day has been about exercise or relaxing.

I also wrote my monthly blog post for my other blog I do try to write it before the middle of the following month but sometimes like this one, the words don’t come very easily or I can’t think of the best theme to write about. I already know what May’s will be about so that will be written quite soon after the month has finished.

Have managed to keep on top of the washing up today so am glad I put the effort into cleaning the house yesterday, I didn’t go the bits I said I would today & I’m ok with that, just hoovering the downstairs makes a big difference.

Time for bed now as I can feel my eyes closing as I type, it’s a good job that I touch-type really don’t need my eyes open!! Bring on another week!!

April 2022 – Head down, crack on!

April went in a bit of a blur really. It got to the 1st and I realised that a workshop I was delivering was in less than three weeks, plenty of time to prepare, however, I had to account for the long Easter weekend during this preparation time.

I look back at my calendar and every day I’ve simply written workshop!! It was on my mind 24/7! For some, this might feel stressful but this is when I’m in my element as I know the long days and late nights will be worth it when I deliver a fantastic day of training.

I have this single vision and determination to ensure every detail of the training is as I want it to be, I work tirelessly to achieve this and probably become a bit obsessive about it at times.

The workshop was on the 20th April nearly a month ago now and in a way I still can’t believe I pulled it off!! Even though I’ve been a trainer for over two decades I still have my niggles of self-doubt and the mind gremlins get rather shouty leading up to an event. The feedback I received was excellent and got a score of 4.33 out of 5 for the workshop overall. I was so proud of what I had delivered.

It took me a good week to recover as I ended up doing over 22k steps and walking 16km during the day. I was completely spent by the time I got home.

Other than this my month was a little bit frustrating exercise-wise as my knee was still not better! It was getting better but then this workshop put my recovery back as my knee certainly didn’t like being active for over 12 hours! And every time I thought about going back to the box/gym I lost my nerve a little.

However, on a plus side, I was generally feeling a lot less fatigued than in the previous few months and was still taking the herbal tincture that Hannah had prepared for me.

I also started doing a 100-day challenge in the run up to my birthday in July, since my birthday last year I’ve been writing a daily blog about transforming my life in 365 days! In April I realised that it would be 100 days until my birthday so why not challenge myself to do something every day as you know I love a challenge!!

Saturday 14th May 2022

Another 4.35am wake up from Sophiecat, I haven’t a clue how she manages to wake me up at the exact same time 3-4 days in a row!! I got up, fed her and went back to bed until my alarm went off at 5.51am for intervals. Today I was paired with one of my friends so that was a nice workout to do with them – no pressure either. Even after doing 5 out 6 days of exercise this week, my knee is actually feeling a little bit better, have booked another session with the physio too to aid my recovery.

Afterwards, we headed to Starbucks for a coffee and to catch up, we stayed there a while and were joined by others from the box who did the class after us.

I then spent the rest of the morning doing errands, filling the car up with fuel, picking up cat litter, doing the food shop.

I sat and had my coffee outside as it’s been glorious and sunny here in my part of England, Sophiecat joined me in the sunshine and I got quite emotional as she is getting older by the day, I think she is roughly about 18 years old so not doing too badly for an old lady, just made me realise that one day I’ll have to say goodbye to my ever faithful companion at some point and feels like it will be soon, I know she’s not in any pain & just a little senile at times.

I was determined not to allow the sofa to swallow me up today so I had a quick brunch when I got home and cracked on with the housework. I did loads and before I knew it, it was gone 4pm, I managed to do most of the jobs I needed to do apart from hoover upstairs and wash the flour downstairs, a job for tomorrow.

This evening I chilled on the sofa watching the tellybox, something I think my life is pretty dull, however, I feel very blessed that I have a life where I’m free to do whatever I want and actually really like a quiet life at the weekend!!

Friday 13th May 2022

Another 4.35am wake up from my Sophiecat alarm, this is getting a little tedious if I’m honest as I’m shattered, it’s ok for her as she goes straight back to sleep after being fed and then sleeps all day too!! Whereas I have to earn the dough to keep her in dreamies!!

Anyway, ended up being late for the gym this morning as I got engrossed in doing a bit of work before I went as thought I had time, in the past I probably would have sacked it off but I was already in my kit and all my bags were sorted so I just arrived late & joined in when I ready.

It was a uni day today and now that lecturers have just about finished it’s about marking the assignments and planning for next year. Marking can take me an age to do as with my dyslexia I often have to read the student’s work a couple of times to understand what they are trying to say and it also takes a lot out of me as I have to really concentrate, it comes with the job so I just crack on with it. The day did go pretty quickly though.

This evening I went round to a friends house to help her celebrate getting a job offer today and we caught up with all our news and put the world to rights too.

Now it’s bedtime & the weekend is upon us…

Thursday 12th May 2022

Today started with Intervals, I was a little nervous about this again today as it’s usually paired working and feel that my fitness isn’t where I want it to be and will let down the person I’m paired with as well as having to adapt the movement to ensure I don’t make my knee any worse. Luckily I was paired with someone who was encouraging and there was rowing in the workout which is one of the things I am very good at.

I got home and dived straight into work and managed to catch up with the work that I felt like I was behind yesterday.

I had a walk and walk meeting with my friend who is a herbal medicine practitioner to review my progress having taken the herbal tincture they had prescribed for me two months ago now, I am pleased with my progress but know that addressing my fatigue is a long term project so I know that I need to be patient with myself. They are going to adjust the herbal tincture prescription to reflect my progress so am exciting to see how that works out.

I then headed to the lake for a swim as I was local to it and couldn’t do a swim later in the day. It was quite quiet with not that many people in the lake so did a leisurely 30 minutes just enjoying the sensation of being in the water & at one with nature.

This evening I was invited to a women-only networking event where one of our female members of parliament spoke about her experiences in this role & how she became involved in politics, it was truly inspiring & feel privileged to be able to go to events like this and given me a bit of a kick up the arse I need to shout more about what I do, well starting tomorrow anyway…

And now it’s bedtime & it’s Friday again tomorrow, another week in the bag & I’m not really sure where it’s gone!!

Wednesday 11th May 2022

I woke up this morning quite tired as I went to bed later than I usually do, I cancelled my gym booking as soon as I got up thinking that my knee felt sore but within 5 minutes gave myself a good talking to and re-booked on to the 6.30am class and I am glad I went, there are many movements that I have to adapt but as long as I’m moving and giving it my best I’m happy with that.

Got back from the gym and I was buzzing from the endorphins, I had a lot to do today so I made my coffee and got to my desk to find that my broadband supplier had an outage in my area which meant the only device that had internet was my phone through the mobile signal – this is a first world problem I know, however, when a lot of the work you do for clients requires the internet for example the nutrition software I use to analyse recipes requires a cloud connection just to open and all my files are saved in the cloud too!! I called my IT support company & they talked me through how to USB tether my phone to the laptop so that I could open my software. It was all very stressful.

Working at the uni three days a week means I’ve only have a finite amount of time to get my other work done so on the days when I’m working on the business I do have to just crack on with it so I don’t get behind and I hate the feel of constantly playing catch if this happens.

Thankfully, I was able to crack on with the work once the internet came back online and managed to get quite a bit done this was not without sacrificing my usual hour-long lunch break and simply stopping for the time it took me to eat my food.

This evening I’ve just chilled a little bit & done some housework, it’s a never-ending list & working out ways to keep on top of it while juggling everything else that goes on in my life is a life-long project!!