New season, new me

New season, new me.

Today is the first day of a brand new season; Autumn – my favourite season.

Whilst I normally go the whole hog at New Year’s with the whole ‘new year, new me’ thing, the last couple of weeks I’ve been having some inexplicable feelings. I’ve felt down, and just a bit lethargic and ‘meh‘. A couple of weeks ago, I started yoga, and my teacher is so insightful that she’s helped me gain a fresh new perspective on a lot of things.

Last night, I wrote down some things I want to achieve or work on over the next week, and when I look at the list now, I realise they’re actually more like long term goals.

Just in time for a brand new season, coincidentally.

So new season, new me. What do I want to achieve?

Work on how I react to situations

I have a pretty short temper, and my fuse can blow very easily. It’s something I really struggle with and constantly try (and fail) to improve. Unfortunately, I’m just a carbon copy of my Dad, and only now at 40-odd has he managed to control his temper.

I want to do the same with mine. The other day, I saw a quote that said “Make sure you’re responding to the present moment and not reacting to something from your past that the current situation reminds you of”.

I think that’s really important. It comes down to hanging onto emotions from the past, hanging onto trauma and not processing feelings properly. I really want to hone in on this, making sure that I am reacting only to what’s happening in the present moment, not digging up unnecessary emotions from similar situations in the past. The new me really wants to try and implement this into her life!

Think before I speak

In a similar vein, I want to make sure I take some time before I respond to situations. Too often, I will let my emotions take control, saying cruel and hurtful words because I’m hurting. We all know that words can’t be unspoken and they can be so damaging, so I really want to think more before I react.

I’ve got better at this online, often typing out a response to delete it and then come back to it later when I’ve got a clear head. I now need to implement this same attitude in real life!

Speaking with kindness is always a winner, even when you’re angry. I need to channel this energy more!

Consider perspectives

When I react to something badly, is it really necessary? When I let something hurt me and feel like it’s the worst thing I could ever be dealing with right now, is that really the case?

I feel like by considering the perspective of the present moment more, I’ll be able to have more control over my happiness and inner peace. A lot of situations really take so much of my happiness, my time, my peace and my energy when really they’re not that big of a deal – certainly not big enough to take so much from me, anyway!

Considering perspectives is about keeping a peaceful mind and preserving my energy and my happiness. It’s definitely not going to be easy to work on, after being the same person for the last 23 years, but I’m certainly willing and ready to try.

Spend more time being creative

I love being creative! It’s honestly the best way for me to unwind and have some ‘me’ time. Obviously I create a monthly newsletter, record my fortnightly podcast and write a few blog posts a week, all of which I love. However, I feel like I need a bit more ‘physical’ creativity in my life. Be that baking, journaling, doodling, painting, whatever. Something hands on!

A couple of years ago – and my OG followers may remember this – I was really into plannering. I spent almost £200 on stickers (!!!!!) in the space of a month and used to just spend hours decorating my planner pages.

I spent ages finding the perfect diary this year, invested in an expensive one that I didn’t fully love but thought was okay and haven’t touched it. In the back of my mind, I knew I made a mistake to stray from my previous favourite (and faithful!) brand, Ban.Do, and that’s who I’ll be going with this time round. To be honest, I can’t wait to start plannering again, but in the meantime, I need to fill my creative void!

Maybe I need to start scrapbooking again…

Keep up with my fitness routine

I’ve been going to the gym for three or four weeks now (doesn’t time fly?) and I absolutely love it. I go four or five times a week, mixing up cardio and weight sessions – but until my free personal training session last week, I hadn’t been using the gym “properly”.

My PT showed me how to do things on the machines I didn’t know about and set me up with a basic structure for my sessions, which I started implementing and am finding very beneficial.

I know want to pay for some more PT sessions, I think at least once a week, and get into my best shape and reach better fitness levels than I ever have!

A couple of weeks ago, as mentioned at the start of this post, I also started yoga. I absolutely love my yoga classes, they’re an hour of proper me time. They clear my head, allow me to appreciate my body and all that it is capable of and they’re just so much fun.

I want to carry on with the yoga, once or twice a week and get better and better at it!

More screen breaks!

I spend so much of my day looking at a screen – I work for eight hours in front of a giant computer screen, with a laptop set up next to it and my phone in my hand.

In the evenings, I’m on my phone, looking at the TV’s in the gym and then watching the TV at home, right up until I go to bed.

From 6:30am – 11pm I am looking at a screen.

Headaches, poor sleep, fuzzy dry eyes – all side effects of too much screen time.

Obviously, screens come with my job, and I love what I do. But wow, I need some time away! I’m going to stop looking at TV’s in the gym if I can help it and spend at least half an hour before bed without my phone. I also don’t take my phone to yoga, so I know I have at least one full phone free, screen free hour in my week – but it really should be more!

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Phew, that’s quite a list isn’t it? And lots of them are big things to work on!

I turn 24 in just under six weeks (screams internally), and it would be nice to feel like I’m a refreshed, renewed person by that time having spent all this time working incredibly hard on being the best version of myself I can be.

What better time to do that than a brand new season, in line with the Autumn Equinox?

Tell me, what goals do you want to achieve this season – or even just between now and the end of the year? Let’s chat!

Love from, Florence Grace