There is nothing out of the ordinary about today. There is no deep meaning behind this day, no special occasion marked by millions. In fact, it's probably going to start and end the same as yesterday - and hundreds of other days like it...
But if there's one thing I want today to be marked as, it's as the day that you (and me) gave yourself permission. "Permission for what?" I hear you ask. Well, for anything. For whatever you need or want.
As it's approaching the end of another year, I'm starting to think about my plans and goals for next year. I read an awesome blog post by Liz over at Lipstick and Confetti who wrote about things she wants to make time for, and it inspired me to write my own post. After reading hers I began to think about the things I want to achieve and the hopes I have for next year, and while reflecting on this year I've come up with five things I want to make more time for in 2016..
1. Cooking/Meal Planning.
I am rubbish at meal planning. Between working full time, being a single mummy and running my blog, I'm barely able to stretch my culinary skills past the basic level. No matter what anyone says, cooking for one person is a pain! My son has his dinner separately, and so when you're cooking for two, it's easier and you make more effort. But every night after a long day at work, all I want to do is put my feet up and bury my nose in some blogs - not slave over the cooking. So, the first thing I want to make more time for is cooking. I want to get a slow cooker and meal plan every week. That way, I can put my meal together before work and then come home to something nutritious and healthy - rather than chicken salad or stir fry every night! Seeing as the work will be done in the morning, I won't feel too knackered to cook when I come home. Plus it will be cheaper than buying fresh salad ingredients every night on my way home.
2. Exercise.
That dreaded word. I got really in to the gym and loved going until mid way through this year when I couldn't afford the membership fee anymore, and was struggling to go after work as the nights drew in and I felt more and more tired. And yet going to the gym made me feel better and feel more healthy, and I felt the benefits mentally and physically too. I found it was an amazing stress reliever as well. I also feel like I've rounded out a little bit now, so the gym will help to banish those body insecurities a little bit more too.
3. Reading.
I read a lot of blogs. I love blogs and I know so many amazing bloggers *waves* and I love to spend hours reading their latest posts. As part of my job I have to flick through the daily papers online, so I keep roughly up to date with news stories too. Plus, in a social media world, we're never very far from reading the odd personal interest story either. But the type of reading I want to do more of next year, is the good old fashioned type. You know, with a book. Well, not with a book. With an Amazon Fire, but you know what I mean. When I went on holiday, I read two books and absolutely loved every minute. Both made me howl with laughter on my sun lounger and I realised it had been months since I'd finished a book. I want to make time to read more and to enjoy it again. I bought an Amazon Fire specifically for this, so I hope having that will motivate me to actually do it and discover some really amazing authors again.
4. My parents.
I'm really close to my parents. I speak to them almost every day and they only live 20 minutes away, and yet somehow in the midst of busy life, we can go for weeks and weeks without actually seeing each other. I am so grateful to have parents who I can class as friends too, so next year I want to make sure that there's less time in-between our family meals and more opportunities to spend time together. I also want to make more time to visit my Nan. I grew up really close to my grandparents and since my Grandad died it's just my Nan. She's not far away, and she's getting on a bit now, so I want to make sure I see her more next year too.
5. Travel.
As a single mummy, I'm not going to just up and leave my gorgeous little man to travel the world - I wouldn't ever want to leave him for anything! But I do want to make more time to visit new places - there are so many cities in the UK that I want to visit and explore - The Shambles in York being the top one. I just want to spend a whole day roaming around and enjoying the scenery of somewhere new. I've got a list of British places, and one of the perks offered by my employer is hotel vouchers for next year. So I feel like with the vouchers, I've been able to ease some of the financial burden and can look forward to some long weekends away getting lost in beautiful places, drinking tea in tea rooms and exploring. You're never too old to get lost! And what's that amazing saying? "Not all who wander are lost"...
So those are the five things I want to make time for next year, what would you like to make more time for in 2016?
As you know, I am a HUGE stationery fan. I just love stationery, scrapbooking and journalling. I'm a sucker for cute, pretty and lovely stationery in any form. AND when I first started getting obsessed with planning, I began to research the huge amount of planners that were on the market - and I have to say, I can't wait to tell you all about this one...
The Happiness Planner!
I'm so excited by this planner, it's unlike any others I've seen, it's unique - which is really saying something! What makes this one different is that it's designed to help you get to know yourself more, set more goals, focus on your dreams and as a result it should help you to live a more positive life.
You might be wondering how a planner can do this, so let me tell you...
The very first thing you do with this planner is to take the time to invest in yourself and record the results in the first section. (I've talked about the details and shown some of these pages in my YouTube video here). There are pages of 'self quiz' type details which you need to fill in before you start and it's so fun! You're asked to record the things that you like doing the most, what you're happy with - what you're unhappy with. The idea of this whole section is to help you get a better grasp on things, on yourself and on your plans, goals and hopes for 2016. Once you've answered all of these sections, it's actually really revealing about what areas you should focus most of your energy on, and likewise, what you shouldn't.
The planner also helps you to realise what you enjoy most by asking you in that initial section, and it then encourages of you to do more of this throughout the year - 'find what makes you happy and do that' style! Likewise it shows you where you waste time and energy, which is great for helping with time management. Especially if like me, you're constantly on the go.
Another thing that I love is that when you set your goals, there is constant prompting to revisit these goals. By recording your new years resolutions, your goals and more on the detachable printables, you can make a note of the things that you want to achieve and then, if you're feeling demotivated or have lost sight of your goals - you can revisit them to motivate yourself afresh. This is going to be great for me, because I sometimes find that I can get so caught up in everyday life that I loose sight of the bigger picture, so being able to record my hopes, goals and dreams and to keep them in my planner, means I've constantly got them with me for when I need motivating again!
Throughout the year, and on a monthly and daily basis you are asked to evaluate your happiness and record how you feel, what you've achieved etc. I love this, and with all of the other options to record your thoughts, feelings and accomplishments, I love this planner because it's like a journal too, where I can record my emotions and thoughts about everything as well as keep myself organised - win/win.
A key feature is that throughout the planner there are amazing and inspiration quotes constantly. And as you know, I love quotes as much as I love stationery, so I especially love this! It's a lovely touch, and perfect for me as I'm words obsessed!
On a practical note this planner runs for 12 months - January to December (although in their shop, you can buy a 100 day version, which is dateless - meaning you can start it at any time throughout the year). From an organisational perspective, this planner has a whole page per day - which earns it some major brownie points from me. Most planners have a week per double page, but with The Happiness Planner you get a whole day per page - which means there is plenty of space to record the things you need to remember, the appointments you've got etc. So it's excellent at giving you plenty of space to get yourself - and your life organised. There are sections specifically for your To-Do lists, your schedule, your food plans, your exercise routine etc - everything you need to get your day in order. As well as this, there are thought recording sections for what you're most excited about each day, what the good things were and what your hopes are for tomorrow. As well as this, each day starts with a quote - huge love for that!
I absolutely adore The Happiness Planner for one main reason - thanks to all of it's little extra's (daily quotes, thoughtful promptings, opportunities to record and make memories etc.) it's like a practical planner and a journal combined in one. I don't have time to write or keep a diary or journal any more. Between work, mummy duties and blogging - my days are pretty full. So this planner gives me the option to record the emotional side of life - in cute and concise individual sections. And because of that, I'm so excited to start using this, because when we reach December next year, I feel like I'll have a real tool of reflection to treasure and look back on.
As well as their planners (the 100 day version and the full year version) you can also buy Happiness notebooks and cards on the website and download extra printables to use in your planner. And there are links to the blog of Mo Seetubtim who is the mastermind behind The Happiness Planner too - so I highly recommend you check that out too.
The practicality of a planner, the personal ability of a journal, means that The Happiness Planner really is one of my favourite finds this year.
Did you want to step into the shoes of the rich and famous and grace TV screens? Did you want to teach the next generation, or travel the world and the universe as a pilot or astronaut?
Whatever it is, we all wanted to be something when we grew up. No doubt it changed frequently, but there was always something that attracted us. Something that captured our imagination and made us want to leave our mark on the world. Something that made us dream BIG dreams, set goals with our hearts and made us dwell in a happy and simple place of aspiration and desire.
Some of us had big scale dreams and aspirations, and some were on a smaller scale - but we all had them, no matter what shape they took. And what's more we truly believed we would achieve those goals. We wanted to reach for the stars and life was fresh enough, and new enough that it didn't even cross our minds that we may not reach quite that far.
Somewhere along the line, something happens and we start to reign in those aspirations. We start to put a ceiling on our dreams. We realise that life isn't quite as carefree as we expected and bills need to be paid, regardless of whether that goal aligns with our bank account, our relationship or our status. Somewhere in our lives, between being little girls and big girls, we lose that belief that we can be anything we want, we can do anything we chose.
I played with Barbie's growing up. They were my absolute favourite thing. I had so many I lost count, they had their own cars, houses, families, clothes and so many accessories that a Khardasian would be proud. I would spend hours arranging their houses (with VHS videos acting as walls in their houses!), dressing them up, setting up their relationships etc. and then acting out how their lives would go. Ultimately my Barbie's had different names, different clothes but each time, they ended up walking the same road, making the same (dramatic) choices - and I only realised that today when I thought about it. I realised I was acting out the path that I wanted to take.
But as I got older, I lost the belief I could reach those amazing dreams. I wasn't good enough at Science to be a doctor (so I thought), my hand wasn't steady enough to be an artist (or so I thought) and I certainly wasn't cool enough to be a TV presenter! So I somehow adopted the mentality that I needed to take what I could and settle for the rest.
I passed up opportunities that could have taken me in the polar opposite direction. I made choices and decisions that others hugely disagreed with...But that's life, right?
You may have big dreams that you feel you've missed the opportunity to reach for. You may feel it's too late to re-start, but it's not. We need to find that little girl mentality once again, and really start impressing on our little girls that they CAN be what they want, there is NO ceiling and life may try to convince them otherwise, but life CAN be exactly what they want it to be.
Barbie, after 59 years of relying on Ken to be the Doctor, the Astronaut, the alpha...and finally she has found her voice, she's found herself. And she's helping little girls of the next generation to find theirs, and to reach for them even more.
Barbie, you did good. Once again, you encourage me to dream big dreams.
Check out Barbie's new, embracing feminism and inspiring video here. It will bring out the little girl in all of us...
