What I Want To Achieve In The Rest Of 2019
We’re past the midway point of the year when it would have made the most sense to write this post but it doesn’t feel too late to talk about what I want to achieve with the rest of 2019. Something I’ve done differently this year is set myself more fine-tuned monthly goals rather than having huge things to work on throughout the year. But, there are some things that I feel like I’m constantly working towards and want to achieve by the end of the year and they look a little something like this.
finish couch to 5k
Something that has been a really big part of my year has is running. I rejoined the gym in April time and immediately downloaded the Couch to 5K app and started running every single week, I’ve taken it slow and repeated the weeks as I’ve seen necessary but I’m still hopeful that I’ll finish it by the end of the year. Right now I’m running 5K every time I run with two five minute walk breaks and I’m getting to the stage where I need to start running without any breaks and it’s quite daunting. I know that my legs can do it but I’m struggling to get past the mental block of going longer than 10 minutes and I have no idea why as I adore running. It’s one of the only things that truly makes a big difference to how I feel mentally and even though I might not always be in the mood to run by the end I always feel on top of the world. When I complete the 5K I’d love to be able to move onto 10k training for next year too as that would be an awesome achievement.
complete our house renovations
If you read this blog post then you will know that we had a few plans for our little house and we’ve managed to tick quite a few off the list. We recently completed our lounge renovations (see all the details here) which made such a huge change to the overall feel to the house and last week we finally repainted the kitchen, a delicious dark green. We’ve only got one thing left to do now before we stop doing any work on this house before we get ready to begin the process of looking for a new house, part of me now just wants to stay here as we’ve made it so nice but I know we need a little more room so moving makes sense. Our final job is painting our front door porch, even though we use the back door to get into the house as that’s the only place we can park our cars it would still be nice if the entryway for any visitors looked a little nicer than it does right now as it's never been touched. It will only take us a day to do thankfully as I can’t deny I’ve run out of energy for painting at the moment and let’s not even talk about sanding and glossing.
pick up the knitting needles again
A couple of years ago I taught myself how to knit and I made myself a really beautiful scarf and last year I made a snood but as of yet, I’ve not picked the knitting needles back up. I want to push myself to learn a few more stitches and move onto something a little advanced than a scarf. Ideally, I’d love to be able to knit the dogs a jumper each as well as start donating jumpers to hound charity auctions that need the help as it's such a brilliant way to raise funds. It’s something that will take a lot of practice and I’m sure a lot of unravelling but it’s something I’d love to be able to do and knitting is one of the only hobbies I’ve ever really stuck to and find myself making the time for.
try to eat more vegan food
I’ve been vegetarian for over three years now and it’s easily one of the best decisions that I ever made. I feel so much better since I cut meat out of my diet and ideally, I’d like to try and cut a little less dairy. As of right now I still have to eat a low fibre diet for my chronic bowel condition which does make a lot of dishes difficult as red onion and carrot are strictly off-limits for me too. But I know there are some changes I certainly can make to make my diet to be even kinder to the planet. My biggest issue is diary, not milk as I switched to plant-based alternatives a long time ago but cheese. And as of right now there has never been a better time to make the switch and there are so many different products to try but I just need to stick to them.
less screen time
I spend a lot of time on a screen because of my job and then during my free time I also find myself looking at a screen a lot too and I’d like to cut back on just how much I’m using my tech. And the biggest thing for me is that I often find myself opening up my phone and scrolling through different social media platforms and wasting time. This is a habit I very much want to curb as it’s not a good one and nothing good ever comes from it as much as I adore social media I do not need to be spending so much time just pointlessly scrolling through things I’m not interested in. I’m trying my best when I pick up my phone to put it back down unless I’m purposely looking for something and that has bought my screen time down a little bit but I know there’s room for improvement.
keep shopping second hand
Shopping second hand isn’t always something that I’ve found easy, I find having a specific item in mind is key as it helps you narrow down the search so much as it can be a minefield. As of right now, I find it easiest to search through eBay and Depop as you can hone in on your searches but I would like to start going into more charity shops and having a look around as I know there is always some awesome things to be found. The amount I shop is nowhere near the amount it used to be which is awesome as not only is that kinder to the planet but it’s better for my bank balance too. As well as shopping more second hand I want to make sure I keep on selling on the things that I declutter from my wardrobe too.
