January - Part 2

So, it's the end of January and this month hasn't been my favourite. I think everyone is feeling the January blues this year. We've had storm Eowyn battering our windows and the sky has generally been overcast and grey most days. When I got back from my skiing holiday, my cars MOT was due. Knowing the tyres were low, I got those seen to beforehand and 4 new tyres were needed. My bank account was not happy but it passed the MOT with a couple of advisories, so I can't complain.

Girls night finally made it's way out of our group chat. I hosted for my two girlfriends that I've known since college, Jojo and Persia. We met around 11 years ago now! I'd set up my little lounge with plain white candles and some "picky bits" and we had a wholesome evening of catching up on everything that's going on. It's pretty cool having friends that you've known for such a long time, our conversations have gone from talking about the guys we fancy to talking about work and houses and general adult life stuff. I value my friendship with them so much, everytime we see eachother a weight lifts as we let go of all of our stress. It's never high maintenance with them and I really believe we will be friends for life! The next date we have secured to get together again isn't until the end of March but we all get it.

Another social event made it's way out of the group chat this month as well. A group of friends who all live in sporadic areas' of the UK and are all couples but me. We had a chinese and played games and caught up on more adult milestones in life. Buying houses, having children etc. It was lovely to see everyone and I always seem to laugh until it hurts with them. I often feel an immense wave of gratitude come over me when I am with this group, I feel like they have accepted me for who I am. Knowing that I can sometimes overshare or be a bit weird, I am grateful that they always make me feel like part of the group.

I've also been having a midweek dinner at my best friends, Imogen and Ed's, house. This has helped break up my week and made living alone and working on my own much more bearable. It's definitely made my goal of buying a property more appealing too!

I had my 6 month review at work, which they'd named a Development Discussion. I exceeded in most areas. It's just sad that I'm currently on a maternity fixed term contract. I really love this company and working in the role I am in. However, I'd have hoped to find out if I would have a full time position here by now but there's a lot going on in the business. I have to have patience.

I managed to maintain consistency in the gym this month. I didn't hit the gym at the same time every day but I have been almost every week day since returning from the Alps and it's been good to have that routine back. I also ran my first ever Parkrun last week, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Those running influencers really don't show the hard part of getting into running. I was a sweaty hot mess and I didn't even run all of the way! I stop started between running and walking. Nevertheless, I felt a sense of achievement when I crossed the finish line and I was so grateful to have my friend, Bee, with me to motivate me. I don't think I'd have got round the whole route without knowing she was going through it too! My brother has relaunched a Strava Challenge that we did last year. The challenge is to maintain 100 days of physical activity consecutively. Each missed day you have to pay £1 into a pot and the person at the end of the challenge with closest to the 100 days get's all of the rest day money. Activities have to be logged and recorded in Strava. It starts tomorrow, the 1st February. I am so glad that I am doing this blog. I have really had some tough weeks in January with my mental health and self worth and having written out all of the lovely things I have done and the little wins I've achieved, it's made me have gratitude for a month that I thought was all doom and gloom. Month 1 of 12 completed. Here's to the rest of 2025.