How I’m Working Towards My 2021 Reading Goal

If you’re looking for solid advice of reading for 15 minutes every night, I unfortunately am unable to offer such advice, given I do not follow those methods. I guess I’m more of a sporadic reader, I won’t read for weeks and then all of sudden, read a book in a day. I’m not entirely sure where my ability to read quickly came from but I’m not complaining.

As a new years resolution, I went onto Good Reads and set myself a goal to read 35 books this year. Initially I thought that’s achievable. But now it’s nearly April (WHAT?) and I’ve read 5 books. So here is how I’m going to attempt to get myself back on course for reading 35 books this year.

Welcome Back! (Sort of)

Sometimes a blog post will almost write itself, I can tap away on my laptop (loudly I may add) without really thinking and there you go. But since my last post in 2020, (The Self Care Ideas You Need For a 2020 Christmas), I just haven’t known the next thing to write.

But now it’s MARCH. Three months into the year of 2021, where we’ve now got a roadmap to move onwards and upwards from Covid-19 and lockdown. Bring on June 21st we say – but also don’t because I’m anxious about post-lockdown life. It’s a REAL feeling.

So lets bring you up to speed with where I’ve been for the last three months…

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The Self-Care Ideas You Need For A 2020 Christmas

As I write this, it’s Sunday 20th December. The day after the swift change in UK restrictions and I’m sure all of us are feeling pretty meh. Luckily, I had a quiet Christmas planned so not much has changed but I’m sending love to everyone who has been impacted. Now, this is when we’re needing some self-care ideas to make the best of unfortunately a pretty poor situation.

Photo by Oleg Zaicev on Pexels.com

Managing Our Wellbeing in 2020

Here we go again springs to mind. The UK has been through it’s second lockdown and now we head towards Christmas when students will be returning home after a long first term.

I remember how I felt at the start of the first lockdown, in the midst of completing my degree and not having a clue what the future held. And now, we’ve been through so much – if anything we can leave 2020 feeling proud of our resilience to just complete each day.

How to Set Up a Self-Care Toolkit in the Winter Months

I find this time of the year tough, even though it’s the run-up to Christmas. It’s dark, it’s cold and this year we’ve been part of another national lockdown. Thank you 2020.

At this time of year, quite a few of us will live with seasonal affective disorder and perhaps subconsciously not realise a lower mood, a lack of energy and increased feelings of despair, worthlessness and irritability. So let’s add a global pandemic and national lockdown restrictions to the mix, that’ll be fun.

10 Small Businesses You Should Shop At & Support This Christmas

If there is one positive (and festive) change that we can make, it’s supporting the small UK independent businesses and traders. Last year, they’d be Christmas markets and extended opening hours to mooch around the shops but this time around, it’s a laptop screen.

Photo by Pexels.com

11 Things 2020 Has Taught Me

Amongst the storm of 2020, I have tried to remain reflective and take this time as a chance to learn and ‘grow’. All the months have blurred into one but I can look back on the blog posts that I wrote during lockdown and kind of gauge how I was feeling when writing them.

My Self-Care Methods As The Nights Draw In

We’ve had the summer, those long, light days and now it’s dark by 8pm. Those daylight hours are on a downward slope from here now.

But this year, I’m actually ready for autumn. September felt like a fresh start – although of course, managing COVID-19 is proving no mean feat at the moment (get the track and trace app set up people).

As those nights draw in, seasonal affective disorder is common. You might find that your mood drops, especially as you are no longer being woken up by light streaming through your window (even if it did wake you up pretty early some mornings). Instead it’s a blaring alarm.

I’m a morning person and I’ve talked about that before. But getting up in the dark isn’t really fun is it?

5 Books on my ‘Self-Care’ Reading List

*This post contains a PR Product – please see my disclaimer for more details*

One of my 2020 ‘resolutions’ was to read more. This one has been semi achieved, but I’m not ‘strict’ on myself to read X amount of books, instead I kind of go with the flow. I think I’ll set a ‘target’ for 2021 and see how I get on. Instead, I’m currently updating my Good Reads account to try and trace back the amount I’ve read (you can follow me on Good Reads here).

Five Steps To Beat The ‘Afternoon Slump’

My most productive time? It’s morning hands down. I’ll quite happily be awake and working by 7.30am (if I need to be), I’m energised at that time in the day, sat at the desk with a coffee – it’s set to be a productive morning in my book. We’ve all got different ways of working and this tends to be mine.

But post-lunch, it’s a bit of a different story. Around mid-afternoon it’s a case of powering through. Luckily, I like coffee so that’s one point of call but I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who finds 3pm a tough point in the day.