Life Lately: The First Quarter

Hey guysss. I’m back after a little Easter-driven week off – ready to start producing new content, shooting new content, and all of that good stuff.

With three months of the year done already (hella quick – I know), I thought it would be the perfect time for another little “life lately” update; looking back at the first quarter and sharing with you guys what I’ve been up to and what’s been on my mind!

 

Health & Fitness

Obviously – we’re going to have to drop a little health & fitness update in here. It was in my July 2017 Life Lately update that I first mentioned I wanted to start on a health & fitness journey, and now, 8 months on, I’m still on this journey and learning new things every single day. This year so far, the biggest change in my health & fitness has actually been a little overhaul in my diet. I used to think that getting on a “health & fitness” path equated to miniature portion sizes and constant hunger, but this time around I’ve learned a lot more about nutrition and the fuel our bodies need and I can tell you that I eat very well (and by that, I mean in terms of the amount I eat) – I honestly eat to my heart’s content, all that’s changed is what I’m actually putting into my mouth.

This year the two main changes I’ve made to my diet have been cutting down red meats and cutting out sugary drinks. Of course I’ll still have a burger on Fridays and throw in a cheeky sausage into my breakfast now and again, but the daily meatball and bolognese meals have officially been put on a halt. This was mostly for health related reasons, but also – I just wanted to cut down on my saturated fats and eat leaner. In terms of sugary drinks, I’ve never been much of a fizzy drinker but I have sworn by my daily orange juice Tropicana for over 20 years – this year I decided to cut this out in general when I truly took in just how much sugar is in this stuff! I’ll be honest, this has been harder than cutting down red meats as I honestly had a mini orange juice addiction (first world problems), but drinking more water instead has made me feel tons healthier and way more refreshed. Also – honourable mention to my new Fitbit Blaze, I would definitely recommend picking one up if you’re on the fence as it genuinely encourages me to walk more, take the stairs more often and just generally be more conscious of my health (although it hasn’t been able to get me into bed earlier – I’m still averaging 5hrs a night… terrible).

I still want to introduce meditation into my regular routine – so this is a focus for the next few months ahead. I initially wanted to introduce meditation into my routine just to get my head in a good place and keep my emotions under control, and although I’ve actually already managed to do this this year without meditating, I still think it could (and will) have added benefits for my life.

 

Blogging

This year I’ve managed to stay super consistent thus far and keep up with blogging twice a week, on Wednesdays and on Saturdays. I’m not sure at what point I fell off last year, but after some time I just couldn’t keep up with my schedule and wasn’t too bothered to do so either. The biggest development here is that this year I’ve seen a healthy increase in the amount of readers to this blog which is sort of, kind of- amazing?! In addition to this I’ve been receiving so many lovely comments from readers who say they’re really enjoying the content I’ve been putting out – and it seriously melts my heart (I’m definitely due a giveaway soon).

I can honestly say that I’ve also been enjoying the content I’ve been putting out this year – I’m not sure what changed but often these days when I do hit publish on a new post I turn to Levi (or message him), and usually say something along the lines of “I just published a new blog post, and I really like this one.”

That all taken into account, it also adds on just a little bit more pressure; because I want to like what I’m writing, and I want other people to like it too (I always end up putting tons of pressure on myself when I think something is going well), but my aim is just to keep writing from the heart, take it all easy and just enjoy the ride as it goes along.

The only thing with blogging is that I have been majorly slacking with my e-mails – shambolically slacking to be honest. This is something I definitely want to improve on.

 

Other projects

I started the year all guns blazing on side projects but then started to slack at the beginning of March. Right about now- I’m ready to get back on it and get back to being productive here.

One thing that I still want to do is release a free bloggers’ eGuide (about – you guessed it – blogging). I started writing this little guide last year and got around 80% through – but then I lost my momentum on this and totally retired it to the cobwebs of my computer. It would be great to polish this off and get it up and published over the next few months.

Aside from that, I want to continue working on my own little business venture (as you guys can probably guess – that sh*t is super tough to do), and possibly organise some sort of blogger collaboration (for e.g. a charity sale, as I currently have two huge suitcases of clothes I no longer use and they’ve got. to. go).

It’s so tough trying to balance other projects alongside a job in investment banking, prioritising my health & fitness and blogging/social media – but I’m trying my hardest, and after all, anything is possible with some organisation and reduced sleep – right?

 

Travels

Last quarter I had the opportunity to travel to four different counties – France (ski trip at the Val Thorens ski resort), Sweden (a work trip), Austria and just a few weeks ago, Spain (for my birthday). I’ve got summary blog posts for all of these trips (bar Sweden), linked in the top navigation bar if you want to have a nosey and also get some travel inspiration. Next of the list is to book a trip to Greece where the plan is to possible take on half a week in Mykonos and half a week in Santorini (I’ll probably book this trip this evening), for the summer. I am super excited as I’ve wanted to go to Greece for a while now, and Mykonos and Santorini just look so gahd-damn beautiful. Travelling is one of my favourite things to do and my #1 method for getting a breather from the crazy city that is London, so I’m definitely looking forward to getting away again.

Overall – it’s been a pretty good start to the year. I feel like I’ve got a lot of momentum and am hitting a few of my goals (whilst failing miserably at some others – don’t even get me started). It’s usually at this point that you blink and end up half way through the year, looking at your resolutions and thinking “oh…” – but here’s hoping my mid year “review” isn’t as negative as it was last year.