I’ve not done resolutions for years and instead, I decided to switch to goals and that’s working much better for me. There’s less pressure that way, and as it’s a goal, I’ve something to work towards.

I honestly can’t remember if I made any goals at the beginning of 2023, other than completing therapy and making it to the end of the year, by making it to the end of each day.

Because I have done the work to look at my limiting beliefs and gained an honest view of who I actually am from facts and not from someone’s opinion of who they think I am or who they believe I am, my confidence has grown. My anxiety has lowered, and I'm much better at stopping negative thoughts now, so I don’t get stuck in a negative self-talk track and end up in a downward spiral.

It seems like I have now been here forever and at the same time, not long at all, which seems weird.

My anxiety was very high for the majority of the first eight months at my new job due to changing jobs as well as the ongoing pandemic. Fortunately, my anxiety has now lowered as I’ve been doing a lot of work on it, at work and at home.

I used to worry that I had to post every week here, but sometimes that wasn’t possible for me to do, so I started to give myself a lot more grace and post when I could. Suffering from anxiety means that I’m not always able to post on any of my platforms because when I’m in a dip, my main priority is my mental health, my well-being and getting out of that dip.

By January I'm still tired as work is still busy. January in the North West of the UK tends to be drizzly rain, dull grey skies with the occasional frost. On Friday 18th, I saw an attempt to snow! I struggle with winter after the New Year as it seems to last forever, at least in December there's Christmas and the New Year to look forward to. In January and February, there's nothing like that, so over the last few years, I've been looking at ways I can help myself in these dull dark and damp months. This isn't a definitive list and it will always be evolving, but I thought it would give you some ideas if you're having the same issue.

Week three already! Wow, that's gone fast! Only a few more weeks of The August Break to go now. Are any of you doing the challenge as well?

I’m someone who seems to need a lot of stuff around me to feel safe and comfortable, but lately, it’s all got a bit out of hand. I had a tough year last year with some work stress going on and this meant my anxiety kicked off so I would surround myself with things and keep items. But then I would get more anxious because my surroundings were cluttered and the belongings I had around me don’t have specific homes, and it would be a slow downward spiral.

My last holiday was about two years ago to Glasgow with a friend of mine. We stayed in a hotel in the city centre for a couple of days. My previous holiday before that was in about 2006, so this one is long overdue. I'm really quite excited about it!!! I've been talking and thinking about a holiday for a few years but not done much more than a bit of research into hotels and some things to see and do as well as a few places to eat out.