A Good Start

I’m allowing myself to feel a bit smug this weekend as my first 'proper’ week of 2019 went better than I thought possible. I think I already felt more confident because the first week of the year allowed me to get a lot of rest and recover my strength.

This week was when I returned to volunteering, to the gym, to ‘real life’ again. I volunteered on Monday and Friday, as planned, and got so much work done that I surprised myself. I think having a two-week break from it was exactly what I needed to be able to make a comeback and smash it.

What surprised me more was my sudden motivation to fulfil my exercise goals. I exercised every single day this week - I went to the gym and did my workout (which includes strength training and cardio, using my whole body) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; on Tuesday I did a beginner’s yoga routine and attended physio; and on Thursday I followed an upper body workout video by FitnessBlender.

As a result of this utter madness, I am sore all over and my muscles don’t know what’s hit them. I also appear to have developed tendonitis on the top of my left foot, which is really painful and inconvenient. I’ve used the weekend to rest it and it’s gotten a bit better, so I hope it won’t become an Ongoing Thing. On a more positive note, my abs are sore for the first time in probably my entire life, which means they must’ve been working enough this week to make a difference. I also had an amazing revelation on Friday – I wasn’t absolutely dreading the gym! I won’t lie to you and say I was excited for it, but it’s just become another thing on the ‘to do’ list. Nothing to be alarmed about. And for me that is such a huge step in the right direction. I can only hope that I continue to feel neutral about it. I daren’t hope that I might enjoy it someday.

My new approach to eating has also been successful so far. I eat less at breakfast and lunch, and make sure to have vegetables and protein in my dinner. I have one treat (one piece of chocolate, one Jaffa Cake, etc), but this is only until my Christmas chocolate runs out, and then I won’t be buying more. I am still going to allow myself to have treats every now and then, but I’m being much stricter about it. I’m not counting calories, but I’d honestly be surprised if I was currently eating more than 1500 a day. And I think this, combined with my water intake going up again, is making me feel better already. I’m so incredibly worn out from the busy week, but I feel really proud of myself for being so productive.

At the moment, my naturally pessimistic brain is wondering how long it’ll be until I burn out, but I’m quite happy to ride the wave of feeling accomplished until that happens. Maybe it won’t. I can only hope!

I’m trying to get back into the habit of writing, which is why I decided to post this blog despite continually reminding myself that this is only interesting to me. Writing for an audience isn’t a priority at the moment; writing for myself and getting the writing bug back is my more reasonable goal for now.

A New Semester

I said I wanted to blog more here. It is now the early hours of January 22nd - so much for that resolution! I have accumulated several things to talk about, so here goes...

I have started the utterly terrifying process of looking for and applying for jobs, internships, etc. I've found several media companies that sound promising, and I'm going to see one of the Careers Advisers at uni to talk about whether there's more I can do to find graduate positions. One internship I'm especially excited about is a travel writing one! Obviously, that's the area I want to work in, so that's a good start, but it's also good because it's online/home-based so I can start immediately and fit it around my university work. I applied last week, and received an email yesterday saying that somebody would be in touch with me. So, fingers crossed that that works out! In the meantime though, I'm going to continue poking around and seeing what I can find in the way of other opportunities.

I've also started the ball rolling on going over to the USA in the summer to be a camp counsellor! I had my first interview via phone yesterday, and I've been filling out the application today. It's quite daunting, there are a lot of things I need to think about (renewing my passport, going to the US Embassy to apply for my visa, medical and police checks, etc), plus it's quite a bit of money that I'll have to part with to make it happen, but I am determined! The camps run for around 9 weeks, so I'll spend that time helping the kids with activities and games etc. Then afterwards, I'll have a chance to travel to some places in the States with my little wage packet that I'll earn at camp - I haven't decided exactly where I'm going to go yet, but my top 5 currently stands at: New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, maybe venturing to Canada or Mexico. So, watch out America (more like, watch out Kayleigh you are a pasty English girl and you will melt in the unforgiving sun)!

Second semester started this week. I had two classes on Monday - History of the English Language and Online Journalism. History of English was so interesting, and I'm really excited about the module, plus the lecturer is really nice. It'll be good to know more about where my language originated and what changes it's gone through.

Online Journalism is also a great module that I'm really excited about. Basically, we all have to set up a site about a topic that will be relevant to the sort of career we want. Of course, I immediately decided that mine should be about travelling! I'm going to review places I go to (places of historical interest/natural beauty, museums, landmarks, etc), and talk about lesser-known destinations in order to clue people in to places that are a little different to the usual holiday locations. I'm really excited to start working on it - I already have a page set up, but I'm looking forward to actually writing on it.

I am starting to swim in earnest now, as part of my 'get fit or die tryin' lifestyle kick. Yesterday I did 30 laps of the pool and felt great when I was done. I'm really enjoying the swimming now I've realised I'm not as unfit as I feared. I'm going again tomorrow, and then next week I'm going to up the ante and go swimming three times a week, like I originally wanted to.

Therapy is also going well; my counsellor is a really nice guy, and we get along well, so I find it quite easy to speak to him about any difficulties I have. I'm going to be seeing him more or less once a week right up until I finish uni, in the hopes of giving me a bit more peace of mind. I must say, having a neutral space to fight out all of the conflicting thoughts and negative feelings is a good thing. When I saw Richard on Monday, I came out of the session feeling incredibly light and less downtrodden than I had before I'd gone in.

 I'm excited today because Lana is coming over on Friday for the weekend! I'm really looking forward to seeing her as it's been a good long while since the last time, and Friday is the day after her birthday! So this weekend will be a kind of birthday celebration too; I have posh scotch for the special occasion. On Saturday, we're going to go to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum in London - I've never been before, so it's going to be a lot of fun and really interesting. Plus I'm going with one of my favourite people in the whole world, which makes it a thousand times cooler. A feature/review on the Grand Museum Outing will quite possibly be my first post on the aforementioned travel site for Online Journalism.

I also get to show Lana The Counterfeiters, a new favourite film of mine (and not just because it contains my favourite German actor - and possibly favourite man - August Diehl); I'm looking forward to that because I know she enjoys World War 2 stories. The Counterfeiters is based on a true story from the war, and it's an absolutely great film. Also, August Diehl.

I will attempt to blog more. Note that I say attempt. I'm hoping there will be enough going on in the coming weeks to be able to have plenty to talk about, but I can't make any promises.