My journey south begins – 1st September 2017 – can I really be embarking on a dream I’ve held for over 20 years? Of course not, this journey is reality, real life, adventure – no more dreaming for me!
My time to ACT is now – no more THINK for me – time to LIVE!
Car packed maps ready – the continuing saga of 2 little dogs and a women hooked on adventure!
#journey #eurotunnel #france #byebyeuk
Sleep is underrated – no doubt about it. We insist on doing without and push our bodies on and on regardless.
We all know lack of sleep makes us grumpy but did you know that it can also impact on memory, health, sex life, looks and can even interfere with our ability to lose weight?
Too little sleep leaves us prone to
And the list goes on…………..
On to the QUICK tips for better sleep then
Routine – try to go to bed at the same time and rise at the same time every day. No sleeping in even at weekends and limit napping (if you must) to 15 – 20 minutes in early afternoon.
Combat after eating drowsiness by getting off that sofa – do the washing up, chat on the phone to a friend, walk the dog or get thinks prepared for the day ahead.
Light – during the day get out into direct sunlight if possible. Ensure you get natural light both at home and at work. At night avoid blue screens or backlit devices including TV 1 -2 hours before bed and make sure your bedroom is dark – sounds obvious but with early mornings the light will wake you early and outside light will keep you awake during the night.
Get Comfortable – heat and cold will impact on sleep, is your bedding and pillow right for you to get comfortable, is your mattress supportive enough.
Exercise – include some physical activity in your day wherever possible but not too close to bedtime as this will energise your body.
Manage Stress – this is a biggy for lots of us – switching your brain off ready for sleep is difficult if you are stressing about matters. Try to relax, maybe read a book, talk to a friend or take a bath. Try a little meditation or use a small notepad to write down the things that are worrying you and put it down beside your bed – leave the worries in the notepad.
Much of this is common sense and we have probably heard it all before but we still don’t listen to our bodies and act – give it a try.
Right – I’m off for a snooze!!
I have recently embarked on a new chapter in my Self awareness and have begun training to become a Life Coach, focusing on Self Development and Goal Setting.
Coaching is a form of development in which a person called a coach supports a client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training, advice and guidance.
Coaching is NOT……..
Therapy. It does not focus on your past, healing deep emotional wounds, or resolving symptoms. The coach assumes that the client is capable, whole and able to work to develop a plan based on the their values and goals.
Consulting. The coach is not there to have all the answers and solve all of the client’s problems. The coach may frequently challenge the client to take action toward their goals, but does not “tell the client what to do”.
Friendship. The give and take of relationship is vital to all of us, coaching differs in that the focus is all on the client and what will give them maximum benefit.
Cheerleading. Anyone can offer basic support and encouragement; however, a coach also teaches specific skills to help people change their behaviour.
’52 Small Steps’ was created as part of my growth plan.
So before reviewing some highlights from last year, thinking about challenges faced or what was learned – let’s think about clearing the decks.
Focus on your well-being as mentioned in the last post – give the Phone detox a go and also spend a little time looking at your eating/drinking habits to see if there is anything you would like to change. Lack of sleep often defeats us before we even start with our tasks so a review of sleeping patterns/times/habits is another good thing to focus on this week.
Think about how you will record your progress, should you want to – in a journal, in a blog, diary or share with another.
I would suggest that you decide what level of commitment you will give to this development – can you set aside a certain time/space for this each week? will commitment be one of the distractions you will face?
How committed are you to your personal development? Do you want to change things in your life? How will you keep motivated? Do you have small goals or just one huge one? Have you even decided which direction you want to go in?
With all these questions in mind take that time for yourself and then, in WEEK 1 we will spend one session on looking back on 2016 before we lay the foundation for 2017!
Best Year, Best You!
2016 is gone, good or bad – draw the line and plot your course for 2017 – where will your journey take you next?
With many opportunities on my horizon I know I will need to be very focused on my journey this year – I don’t want to miss anything!
’52 small steps’ will help with that focus and before I put together the first instalment I’m going to take some quiet time to think about self care to ensure I get into the ‘zone’!
My weekly success planner for this coming week includes a commitment to better eating, drinking more water, getting to bed on time and doing a phone detox.
With the increasing functionality of our smart phones it’s incredibly easy to get totally engrossed in mobile media – there isn’t much I need a laptop for these days my phone does most of it – but whilst this is most helpful work wise I have had to admit to myself that my phone use has reproccusions on my well being – mostly my sleeping patterns. Even though I know blue screen use at bed time is great for insomnia I still do it and I have to admit I reach for the phone before I even get out of bed every morning!
So…….. here is my 7 step phone detox plan – it will be a challenge believe me – why don’t you try it too?
- Monday – decluttering contacts/remove acquaintances on social media/unsubscribe to junk emails.
- Tuesday – disable notifications and push messages.
- Wednesday – stop using phone 1 hour before bedtime.
- Thursday – set up charging station outside bedroom.
- Friday – resist temptation to look at phone until downstairs in the mornings.
- Saturday – leave phone at home when leaving the house to shop/eat/walk dogs.
- Sunday – switch phone off until after lunch. (Yes phones come with on/off switch these days)!
It’s time for proper introductions – you’ve already had a sneak preview of my new mini caravan in my last post – but I wanted to begin at the beginning, of what seems to be proving to be, my next ‘Great Adventure’!
Pixie is the name I have given to my 1995 Elddis Elf mini 2 berth caravan. Having never towed anything behind my car before I was somewhat nervous about having a caravan and set out to find the shortest, most lightweight unit I could. Added bonus is, not only does the van fit on my drive, it is also about the same width as the car – meaning visibility along the side of the van is good from my wing mirrors.
Although made in 1995 the van has clearly been looked after and is beautiful inside and out. Everything works as it should which means I have a fridge, grill, hob, oven, blown air heating plus hot and cold running water. It even has a flushing toilet and a shower!
I also discovered an awning packed away under the sofa and am keen to test the extra space it will give me.
Being a dedicated follower of Pinterest I then started trawling posts on caravan renovation to see what I could do to update the interior of Pixie – as usual I lost several hours of my life that I will never regain and became imersed in paint finishes, fabrics, kitchen items and sticky backed plastic!
So first came the sticky backed plastic (Blue Peter favourite)! The folding table at the front of the van is very nifty and I chose a floral pattern to invoke thoughts of a Cath Kidstonesque table cloth. Being highly delighted with the effect I went on to touch up the fridge and sink cover – perfectly covering some of the tired wood effect finish and giving a fresh feel to the space.
I then moved onto painting the cabinets above the cooker and sink – using chalk paint in a soft ivory, again to lift the wood finish. Although I was pleased with the effect I decided that I wasn’t going to continue with paint – it kinda felt like messing with the van’s integrity so I resolved to add just little personal touches to make her my own.
New handles on the cupboards, new fabric tie backs and pelmet cover and a few handmade cushions and throw completed the look.
Touch up done – now for some serious adventure planning…………..
Add to that the fact that I couldn’t decide what I wanted to Blog about either and you have a recipe for prolonged procrastination!
I wanted something that didn’t tie me to a certain subject, something that had some longevity, something that didn’t seem girly or wet, something that was impersonal AND personal at the same time – see what I mean ………… think think think.
My hours of Pinterest surfing for creative ideas & tips on getting into digital marketing, lead me to endless HOW TO pins and posts and I actually found most of them quite informative with good, easy to understand and sound content which lead me to the HOW TO: part of my blog title. But of course I wasn’t going to tie myself down to a particular subject – how to EVERYTHING seemed appropriate.
Still I sat and thought, still I walked and thought, still I drove and thought – the thinking wore me out at points!
Then it hit me – ping – a real light bulb moment – if I didn’t stop thinking and actually do something, ACT, what was the point and if I continued to just THINK it would all just stay in my head and that’s no way to LIVE
so really this blog is my 99 ways to be happy, HOW TO get motivated, 5 actions of highly organised people and HOW TO turn a dream into a plan – all rolled into one!
And I’m starting to get in the swing of this blogging which means my thoughts are escaping from my head onto the page and I actually feel like I’m doing something at last.
Newspapers, magazines, books, Kindle, leaflets, waiting room notice boards and more recently blogs, Google, Pinterest and most things Internet.
I have a fascination with useless information you see – anything that on first sight seems trivial, mundane, useless even boring sometimes – but invariably at any given point in the future will become useful in some form.
I have written blogs before, about my travels on Amtrak in America and my adventures in a Campervan in the UK but have been thinking more and more about starting another blog that could continue as a series of posts about everything/anything/nothing.
So ………… today is a good day, a good day to stop thinking, a good day to act and start writing again!
THINK : ACT : LIVE 