Motivation

Hi!

As you may notice, it's been a while since my last post. Of course, I will write a more detailed post about exactly what happened but in a nutshell...anxiety. I've always had anxiety and I've always been able to overcome it, but, over the last few months it has been getting progressively worse and instead of dealing with it I kept pushing through and ignoring it. Well, eventually that came back to bite me and the last three weeks have been a bit of a fight to get back to myself. But as I said, I will write a more detailed post eventually, when I feel like I can. Today, as my first post back I want to talk about motivation.

I've had to stay pretty motivated in the last three weeks to get better and at times yes, it has been ridiculously hard, considering my own brain is the issue. One thing that I've found has helped me through so much, is music. I've always loved music and singing and it's the one thing that I've clung on to in the hope of getting better and actually having a future in music in some capacity. One song that's really hit home recently is 'Fight Song' by Rachel Platten. If you haven't heard it...WHY NOT? I'm fairly certain that every single person that has listened to it can think back to a time in their lives where they have had to fight against something and it is so motivational. For me, it reminded me that I am stronger than anything negative in my life. But aside from that, music has great motivational powers, I mean, everyone has 'Eye of the Tiger' on their running playlist, right?

As I choose music, others choose self help quotes. You know the ones, found all over social media as a friendly, (or sometimes quite aggressive!) reminder to be strong. I know alot of people who LOVE these and have them printed all over their bedrooms and mirrors so they see them every day. I actually think that's a pretty good idea and if it works then great!

Power poses anyone? If your sitting reading this post and swear that you have never done one...I do not believe you. There's the extreme posers who have a specific pose they do that motivates them or there's those who take it less seriously (like myself) that will on occasion throw out a power pose and pretend they are a superhero. Again, do not try and tell me you have never done this.

But, whatever it is you do to get pumped for the day, however ridiculous it may seem, if it works, GO FOR IT. Power pose with wild abandon, right on a busy street if you have to. Just as long as you tell me in the comments what motivates you? Do you have any weird rituals you do before a big event?

Speak soon x

p.s. I can't promise that I will never have to take a break from blogging again, but I can promise that I am going to do my best, and I can promise that I will beat anxiety. x

Courage

Hi,

 Today I want to talk to you about courage. More specifically, having the courage to try, regardless of the fact that there's every chance you will fail. This is something that I know I struggle with a lot and it's resulted in allowing other people to make decisions for me, knowing there is something out there I'd rather be doing.

I'm talking about university. You see, I live in a family that expect the best. Where any failure is such a disappointment, that it's better to not have tried. I wish I could say that I have been able to break free of this way of thinking, but the truth is, I now live my life in fear of failing. So, when my brother went off to university and graduated with a good grade, it was my turn to do the same. Add to that, pressure from my school to get everyone off to university and here we are..about to start university in September. It's not as if I'm dead against going, I actually think I will enjoy it, and I'll probably do well. The thing is, I know that there is something I would much rather be doing.

Musical theatre. Singing songs every night and playing different characters is something I've dreamed of doing for so long. Of course, I have never even attempted to do anything about this, because that would mean putting myself in a position where someone could tell me I'm not good enough. Even now, just writing this sounds silly, and if you knew who I am, you'd probably laugh too. Except I'm getting to a point where I think I might burst if I don't at least try. You know the feeling where if you don't do something you think you're going to go mad. That.

I guess I'm just really asking, how on earth does anyone ever find the courage to stray away from the 'safe' option and take a risk? Close your eyes and leap, if you will.

Speak soon x

'THAT' Time of the Month

UGHHH!

The dreaded time of the month. Usually I'm pretty good at dealing with it (I have friends that suffer a whole lot more than me!) but there's always that month where, for whatever reason, you just know that one week is going to feel like it's lasting a year.  When that happens, the tried and tested method of laying in bed eating a copious amount of chocolate never fails. So, here's a list of 5 other things that may be as helpful as chocolate.

1. Take a bath. This one is actually medically recommended as the heat will help to relax tense muscles and relieve cramps. 

2. Read embarrassing period stories on social media. Okay, so it may feel a little mean to be reading peoples embarrassing stories..but they wouldn't have posted them if they weren't meant to be read. It actually makes you feel so much better...give it a go...https://twitter.com/peri0dstories

3. Drink herbal tea. It's supposed to help...personally I don't think it helps in the slightest but I read somewhere it's supposed to?

4. Cry at sad movies. Or just cry in general. At anything. Probably do this one when you're on your own though, otherwise people may think you have gone mad when you are sat crying at an advert for toothpaste...(yes that really did happen once).

5.  Scream at your uterus. This one is 100% the most effective. Ok so the cramps don't go away, but they know how much you hate them, and that feels good.

P.s when compiling this list I read that exercise is supposed to be good. So if you have the strength to start exercising with cramps, firstly, I salute you superior human, and secondly, does it work?!

Speak soon x

Destination: Fit

Afternoon!

I hope everyone is having a great day so far. For me, today is going to be the day that I start a fit journey I DO NOT give up on. Although, admittedly, even as I'm typing, I'm not totally convinced in my ability to stick with this fitness routine. Raise your hand if you're the type of person who starts something with the intention and determination to finish...and then a week into it..whoops. *raises hand* I know we all try, (even if we claim we do our best, we didn't really) and something just got in the way...it wasn't our fault! But I think now it's high time I stop letting myself off the hook. No, I do not 'not have time', I'm going to make time. No, I haven't done my best. My best is not giving up. My best is succeeding.

So, here we are. At the very start of my fit journey. I already have this blog to thank for getting my lazy ass working out today. My motivation for exercise was about about -20, although to be fair, we are in the middle of a heatwave..and mother nature has struck ugghhh. BUT. I did it. I worked out. You see, I had decided that I wanted my journey to fitness to be a part of this blog...and for that I have to actually get fit. But, more than that, I want fitness to be a part of my life. I have always been interested in sports and up until about age 14 I was 'the sporty kid'. The kind of sporty kid that got picked first in team games, and was always in the p.e block doing something or other. Unfortunately, my limbs had other ideas. Fast forward a few years, a million and one injuries, a problem in my joints and a lot of added weight and you get to me. Now, the person who is out of breath after three flights of stairs and has gotten so used to being lazy that it's so hard to get active again. Still, I'm GOING to do it. And I'm going to do it using Blogilates.

Blogilates is a fitness empire created by pilates instructor Cassey Ho (although I'm sure you already knew that!). It's a hugely popular programme used by quite literally millions of people. She has fitness plans for each month of the year and even a beginner guide to get started, the one in which I'm following, and it's incredibly all free! Each week I'm going to write about how I found the exercises, which were the hardest/easiest, and the improvements I've made. Since today is the first day I've done the exercises which was 'Total Body Workout for Beginners' I don't have much to say..apart from it was hard! Like sweaty, red in the face hard. But, I'm excited and determined to carry on and reach the normal 'hardcore' calendars.

If anyone else is following the calendars please let me know in the comments how you're finding it, or even if you follow a different workout programme let me know!

Speak soon x

An Introduction

Hi all! 

  Welcome to the very first post of Mastery & Mishaps. This here little blog is hopefully going to become an extension of me, and I cannot wait to get into the swing of things! Is it normal to already have trouble sleeping as I keep thinking up different blog posts? 

  Anyway, as I've mentioned a little in the 'About Me' section at the top, I have decided to make Mastery & Mishaps a semi anonymous blog. By this I mean, I will reveal information about myself in posts but I do not want to attach my name or face to the blog. My reasoning for this is purely because I have tried blogging that way in past and it made me so uncomfortable knowing that whatever I may mention in posts will be out there for everyone to see, especially friends and family. I feel like by being anonymous I can be more honest in posts and write about things that actually matter to me, every now and again, instead of making this blog purely about what my fave book is etc. 

 However, as my title says, this is a blog about 'my world'. The everyday craziness of life. There's going to be light-hearted stories, a few disasters, some personal challenges, products/things I like to use...basically anything and everything a blog can be about (I hope that's okay with you!). Ultimately, I'd like to fall in love with writing again. I'd like to be excited about thinking up different posts and working out how I'm going to put all my weird and wonderful thoughts down on a page. I'd like to make this blog something that someone, somewhere wants to read and, maybe even make a few people chuckle along the way. So, I think that's all for now. I'm so excited to start blogging again, and being part of the blogging community. (And I hope you reading this will stick around to see where this blog goes!). 

 Speak soon x