Tuesday 22nd March 2022

An action-packed day today, got up early had a little bit of work to do before I headed to the uni for the day.

Today we took our 1st year students on a trip to a business conference local to the university, I was responsible for driving the minibus and as much as I’ve driven for over two decades and a confident driver I did have a massive sigh of relief when we got to and from the conference venue safely!

I love this type of event, especially after the last two years, it was lovely seeing so many people I know again in the flesh and having a proper catch-up.

Once back on campus I had a couple of meetings and before I knew it, it was 5.30pm! The days at the moment just seem to be whizzing by before my eyes.

My knee is still giving me trouble but is feeling a little better than it was last week and I did get a call back from my doctors, unfortunately, I missed all the calls as was in the conference so hopefully, I will be able to speak to someone tomorrow.

My herbs have arrived so will start taking them tomorrow along with my supplement regime & fingers-crossed they make a difference.

I know it’s been a good day as my eyes are sore and I can barely keep them open to type this blog, I should sleep well tonight.

Monday 21st March 2022

With no gym this week to try and help my knee I feel at a bit of a loose end in the mornings at the moment, usually, I’ve got a clear schedule of tasks that need doing in a certain order to ensure that my day runs smoothly. I’m loathed to adjust my bedtimes/wake up times for this short period of time so need to find something productive to do in the morning.

I never thought of myself as an anxious person really, yes there are times I get nervous/stressed but generally, I think I manage most situations head-on. However, a few years ago while seeing my therapist who also does cranial sacral therapy said that my nervous system was on high alert most of the time and that my body is quite anxious on the inside.

The last few nights, as it’s been quite cold here in the UK at night I’ve put an extra throw on my bed, it’s a beautiful faux fur one which I use in my reading room, it’s quite heavy and I’ve noticed that when I use it on my bed I seem to sleep a little better so thinking about investing in a weighted blanket as in the summer I’ll be far too hot for this throw.

I’ve heard friends talk about using a weighted blanket to help with their anxiety and I can now understand what they mean when they say that it helps to calm them down.

Just had notification that my supplements are on their way and hopefully my herbal tincture will arrive tomorrow too so time to really put some focus back on my health & wellbeing.

I don’t like wishing away time but can’t wait for Easter to come when I’ve got some annual leave from the Uni and also the long Easter weekend, going to use this time to reset my life & start afresh as feel a little odd at the moment, hard to describe but just a bit like I’m just going through the motion and not really engaging…

Sunday 20th March 2022

Now that the mornings are lighter, Sophiecat is waking me up at some god forsaken hour which isn’t great when you have fatigue and need as much sleep as you can get! This morning it was a little after 5am and then couldn’t get back to sleep!

So I got up and cracked on with some work before I headed to the lake for a swim!

The lake was beautiful and clear, although, the water was only 8°C, it didn’t feel that cold and I managed to swim for about 30 minutes, in fact, I didn’t actually want to get out!!

Once home from the lake, I got some food and headed back to my desk to finish off the work I started this morning! My aim is to get to a point where I don’t have to do work on the weekend, I really don’t mind if I do but feel like I need to take more time for myself.

Got an email from my herbalist who said that my tincture will be posted tomorrow so can’t wait to start taking that to see if it makes a difference, I have also ordered all my supplements too as they were running low so will take them alongside the herbs.

This evening has been a pretty quiet one, had some food, watched some tellybox and now at my desk doing this blog as don’t want to take my laptop into the bedroom as I end up getting distracted by other stuff and go to sleep late.

I’ve cancelled all my gym sessions this week as my knee is so sore and have ordered a gym bench so I can do more home workouts tailored to stuff that won’t involve my knee! Am hoping that I’ll get a call back from the doctors tomorrow to sort out an appointment and then hopefully a MRI scan to see what’s going on.

Saturday 19th March 2022

Today has been a bit of a write-off if I’m honest, Sophiecat woke me at 4.38am begging for food, I got up but she stayed in the bedroom so went to the toilet and managed to get a couple more hours sleep until about 6.30am when Sophiecat was having none of it and really wanted feeding.

When downstairs I made myself a coffee and came back to bed, opened the window and listened to the birds, it was a glorious sunny morning so lovely to have that time, normally I’d be going to intervals and a food shop.

My knee is really painful today so cancelled intervals hence the slower morning this morning. Eventually, I did get up and headed to the supermarket to do the normal food shop.

I had lots of things on the to-do list today, mainly housework but a combination of my tiredness and my knee I’ve really not done much, did manage 2 loads of washing as wanted to make use of the warm sunny weather and one load of dishes other than that I’ve not really done much. I am a bit pissed off with myself as there are a few things that really do need doing like the hoovering but they will just have to wait.

Instead, I watched some of the Six Nations Rugby which was good, but have just fallen asleep on the sofa during the France Vs England match so have come to bed as I don’t see the point of trying to stay awake and I can catch up with the score tomorrow.

Friday 18th March 2022

Late yesterday afternoon I had coffee with a colleague at the uni, I thought I ordered my usual drink of a decaf Americano with hot milk as I’m quite sensitive to caffeine and know having caffeine after about 2pm will mean that I’m awake most of the night, well I was awake most of the night so either I didn’t ask for decaf (quite likely as we were chatting away as I ordered it) or the server got it wrong. Either way, I was wired during the night and struggled to sleep, adding to the fact that my knee is particularly painful at the moment so also keeps me awake, today has been a long arse day!!

It was a uni lecturing day and I’d arranged a trip for the students so was a bit pissed off when only 2 turned up (the cohort is only 4 anyway). Perhaps it’s an age thing but feel like they let great opportunities pass them by for what I think are silly excuses and I find this frustrating as I put time and effort in to enhance my delivery with guest speakers and trips and they are kind of don’t seem to appreciate it! I won’t stop doing it as that’s what I do but there are times like today when I’m tired that I do wonder why I make the effort!

Went to see a friend tonight, as I drove to hers I was awestruck by the moon, it was spectacular, I had to pull over and try to get a picture of it as just wanted to share what I’d seen. I think that the universe is great at giving you signs when you most need to see them and tonight was one of those nights when seeing the moon in all it’s glory, it’s a reminder that life is amazing and if you just stop, look and see it for what it is, stripped bare and as it should be you will know that everything will work out alright in the end.

Thursday 17th March 2022

Started the day with intervals and thankfully there was no running in it, although my knee didn’t particularly like the box overs or burpees!!

Got back from the gym, put some make-up on and swapped my tops over and went straight into an online networking event that I’d organise for the students at the uni.

After a quick coffee break, then my friend who also is a herbal medicine practitioner came over for a session with me. This went on for quite a while as she was very thorough in her questioning to ensure she had the whole picture of what is going on for me at moment and my suspicions were right and it is my adrenals which are a little tired so she is going to prescribe me some herbs to support them and also to energise my body systems.

So will be interesting to see how that helps, she is giving me a months worth of tincture to take so over that time period I need to follow my usual routine so we can see the impact. It feels good to get a 2nd opinion and time to get on top of this fatigue. Fingers crossed it works.

Wednesday 16th March 2022

Managed to get to the gym this morning, wasn’t really feeling it as my right knee is giving me gip at the moment but I’m determined to go and if I have to stop or alter the workout then that’s what I’ll do and I know I’ll always feel better for going.

To help with my ongoing fatigue, I’ve been making bone broth, something I’ve seen trending on social media for years but never did any investigation into the benefits as I’m always very sceptical about this kind of thing, however, a friend and fellow nutritionist had said she had tried it and felt that it had helped her so I thought what the heck and give it a try. I spoke to a local pig farmer and they sell the trotters (apparently these are the best things to use), at a bargain price of 50p per trotter. If I’m honest it’s a bit gruesome so tend to not look at them too closely and simply put them in my slow cooker for 12 hours along with some vegetables. I then strain it and boil it a bit more with some seasoning to make it more palatable. I’ve only made it twice and each time I’ve changed the recipe slightly so will perfecting this but can see it’s something I do regularly, is my health improving because of it? God knows but it can’t do me any harm (I don’t think)!!

Today I attended one of my first in person meetings of the last two years and it was just lovely, so nice to see people and have a proper conversation. I know that the pandemic has taught us loads of things and there are a few things that I will continue to do but I don’t think we can ever replace physical human interaction and I for one love it!

Whether it is to do with my dyslexia but I just find it so hard to engage with meetings online, I’m ok with one to one session, although if I had a choice I’d do these in person but, that’s not always feasible as I have friends all over the UK and globally so technology allows me to speak them but locally I’m making a real effort to get out and have coffee (and possibly cake) with friends.

This week I am relishing that human contact for sure.

Tuesday 15th March 2022

Had a bit of a lie-in today, it’s a rest day from the gym and a uni day but no all day lectures so decided that I’d have a slower morning than usual and get to my desk for 9am, usually, I try to get in for 8am just so I can crack on with work but realised that I’m doing way over the hours I’m paid to do. I’m not a clock watcher and never have been and I’m not bothered about doing more hours generally when it’s needed to get stuff done, but today that wasn’t the case as I know that I need to take some hours back for days I’ve worked either longer hours or days when I shouldn’t have worked but have for certain reasons.

I had an hour session with the foundation students today and we talked about digital poverty/divide. They didn’t really know much about it but when they started researching they found that actually it is a big issue in the UK and the divide has widened during the last two years of the pandemic and that around 5% of the UK adult population don’t have access to the internet, I think it’s hard for them to get there heads around it as most have never lived in a world without the internet and are attached to their phone. I told them that most years I do a digital detox over Easter and turn my phone and internet off for four days, it blew their mind a little bit and that they should try it! And as the future generation of business leaders to think about how they could do something positive to help this situation.

It got me thinking about this Easter and whether I will do the same digital detox as I usually do, over the last couple of years I’ve become less attached to my phone and the internet in general, I’ll happily switch it off my phone, in fact, I get a sense of calm/relief when I do turn it off! I might compromise a little this year so I can still write this blog and possibly turn it off for most of the day and simply turn it on just to post an update.

Oh, decisions, decisions… my mind is also turning to what will happen once I hit my 365 days of blogging! Do I carry on? Or just archive it as a record of my year.

Monday 14th March 2022

Up and at it today bright and early and made it to the gym, the workout was a long one and you just had to slog it out for 40 minutes, it was great to be back there again after a week off and nice to see some friendly faces too.

I hot-footed it to the uni for my shower and to get ready for the day.

Today, during my lecture I had an observation from my manager just to get some feedback on my practice and also for them to see best practices to be able to share with the rest of the team, I was a little nervous about it, as much as I know that I’m good at what I do, well I should be after doing it for over 2 decades, getting external validation is scary. However, the feedback I got was great, yes a couple areas of development but overall I could not be more pleased. I do sometimes get wobbles about lecturing and often feel a little out of place in “academia” but today told me that I do belong, ok my lecturing style is pretty relaxed and informal and that’s okay.

Although I had a great day professionally, personally I am having a little wobble right now, I am hoping that I just need to sit it out and it will pass soon enough and not to dwell or give too much energy to it. Just need to focus on the good stuff.

Sunday 13th March 2022

My alarm was set for 7.40am this morning but Sophiecat had other ideas and woke me up just before 6am, I fed her and did come back to bed but couldn’t settle so decided to just get up and crack on with some work.

Feeling a little better mentally today, although tears have fallen a few times.

Managed to get most of my work done before I headed off to the lake for a swim, the sun was shining and the lake is getting warmer, it was just glorious and exactly what I needed.

Once home, I had some food and finished off the work and was done by about 3pm, so I decided that I would go into my reading room and meditate (aka sleep/deep relaxation), I haven’t been in this room for weeks so felt nice to come in and quieten down my mind.

I put a chicken on to roast, not to eat today as I put it on too late but that’s ok as I’ll eat it during the week, while it was cooking I sat outside and read the papers, not done this for months and with the garden looking better and my neighbours, not being around it was really peaceful.

Eventually, it got too cold after the sun had gone down so I came in, put some music on via Spotify and continued to read the papers! For a change this weekend has been quite chilled, hoping that the coming few will be the same as really need some down time at the moment.