Category: about me

November has been a VERY happy month, here’s the 4 things that have stood out most about it for me:

1. Fireworks!

I absolutely LOVE fireworks so was very happy when we spent a Saturday evening at the start of the month at a local bonfire and fireworks display. The display was incredible, set to music, and lasted about half an hour. Wrapped up warm and snuggled up, watching fireworks is definitely one of my favourite ways to spend my time!

2. A day out with the Mothership

Visiting the knitting  & stitching show in Harrogate with my mum is always a great day out, and this year was no exception. Read more about it here.

3. Getting a job!

I’ve felt a huge improvement in my mood, and general well-being this month. It’s probably one of the happiest months I’ve had this year as melodramatic as that sounds. Most of this is down to practicing what I preached here. I think this helped me out A LOT this week when I interviewed for a new teaching position. (I’ll post in more detail about this soon!) The feedback when the school offered me the job commented that I ‘radiated positivity’ which was a lovely compliment!

4. Seeing friends

Up until this month we’ve not been great at arranging to spend time seeing friends. (The 7 weddings we’ve attended and their resultant stag/hen dos have played their part in filling our weekends so far!) But this month was better, there have been friends to visit, going out for lunch and generally making more of an effort to just pop and see people for a brew and a catch up. I need to keep this up!

If I’m completely honest I’ve really struggled my way through the past few months. Leaving my job and the following months of unemployment hasn’t helped. I’ve been very down, finding it hard to find motivation to do anything productive with my day (even the mundane tasks like laundry were taking all my energy.)

In order to get myself out of the cycle of no motivation/feeling down/worrying about not doing anything useful with my life I talked to Jonny and my brother, Ben. They were fantastic, and instead of saying I was being a big drama queen/that I needed to sort my life out they’ve been really helpful.  Between them, and with their encouragement I have started making small changes to my days to help improve my mood.

Source

I started by practising Mindfulness. I was sceptical at first about how much this would work, but so far the meditations from this book have been great at helping me find focus and clear my mind. Making me think more rationally about the events in day to day life, has helped put things into perspective for me, which has led to a more relaxed, happy me.

At a suggestion from my brother’s friend I’ve also started keeping a ‘good things diary.’ As cheesy as it sounds, simply writing down anything that has happened during my day that rates 6 out of 10 or higher helps me think of the positives of a day, rather than dwelling on the negatives.  These can be as simple as having a Lush bath bomb filled bath, to going for  a walk or enjoying a hot chocolate in our cute local tea shop.

Making a conscious effort to focus on the positive, instead of the negative has really helped make me happier. It sounds ridiculously simple, but I have to encourage myself to do this every day. As a result I’ve had more motivation, I’m being more creative again (the laundry is getting done!) and there’s definitely a happier mood in our little home!