Hello friends! How’re ya’ll doing?! (OK – definitely been working on too many American podcasts lately haven’t I?!)
Seriously though – hope lockdown’s treating you well. I heard that Bozza’s not sending the kids back until at least March now, so I’m sending good vibes and love to all my parent friends out there – you’re doing amazing and think of the 50 week bender you’re all going to have when this is all over.
Each week, I have a theme for these 5 minute coffee corner posts usually involving what I’ve been up to since I spoke to you last week. This week’s theme is the importance of pushing yourself.
Now as soon as I wrote the words ‘pushing yourself’, I thought of the iconic film Mean Girls – which by the way, in case you didn’t know, is coming to Netflix (at least in the UK anyway!) on MONDAY 1st Feb! THIS MONDAY!!!!! Lockdown 3.0 just got a bit easier.
Anyway, I thought about Ms. Norbury from Mean Girls being a pusher and had Cady in my head, almost mocking me for calling myself a pusher.
But what I mean by pushing is that this week, I’ve been pushing myself to do some things that I really didn’t want to do. It would have been easier to not bother with any of it, but doing them all has paid off in some way or another. I have:
1. Attended my first networking event since working for myself.
You can see my thoughts on networking in my Insta post below – I was super nervous but needn’t have been because it was brilliant and Alex from Altrincham HQ made it feel easy.
2. Consciously eaten 5 pieces fruit and veg a day.
This sounds so easy I know, but my eating habits have been really poor for the last few months (OK – worse than poor – they’ve been shocking) and I have barely touched any fruit or veg. I’ve been consciously reminding myself to eat it and feel better for it, even if it’s just to know I have some goodness going in.
3. Got on Insta in a professional sense.
Something I’ve been actively putting off is developing an Insta presence for my business. I finally bit the bullet this week and began creating some content and a presence, because everybody has to start somewhere! I’m ONLINE. I’m DOING IT. If you want to see sneak peaks into my business life – you can find me on Insta at @HoltOffThePress! Give us chance to get going though, I might even work my way up to doing some IG lives!
4. RAN!
Finally, I pushed myself out for a run in the rain today as I noticed I was feeling a bit shitty, even long after my morning super strong coffee had kicked in. I really didn’t want to go, but I similarly really don’t want to feel like a whale who doesn’t fit into their clothes anymore, so I forced myself out. I feel like an entirely different person after it, and feeling so much more grounded and good again. I know they say exercise releases endorphins bla bla bla, but I really do feel better for that run today.
So, let’s get to it – the reason you’re all here. What do I have to recommend?!
Reading
Is This a Bad Time – Corinna Keefe’s Newsletter
I reached a point lately where I had hundreds of unread emails across all of my various inboxes, and something snapped in my brain. Enough was enough, and I got really ruthless. I stopped hoarding emails to read in future, and decided to start afresh and read them as and when they come in my inbox (give or take a day or so!). There were emails dating back to early last year because I kept thinking “I’ll come back to them” and I never did, so a lot were culled.
The ones that did survive, however, were other Freelance Writers’ newsletters. I’m not signed up to many, but the ones I am provide real value – either for a general business perspective, a writing perspective or just because I enjoy reading them.
I love reading other peoples’ copy – and I’m finding Corinna’s newsletter both helpful, engaging and really interesting. It’s aimed at early-career Freelancers and people who are freelancing in a new industry. Seeing as I fall into both of those camps (my previous job was in higher education!), I’m really seeing the value.
If you are a Freelancer (not just writers – any type of Freelancer) and are always striving to improve and make your own working life easier, make sure you sign up to Corinna’s newsletter. You’ll get some great business tips, tools and resources delivered straight to your inbox, you don’t even have to go out and look for it! The link is above but you can also click here.
Watching
Top of the Lake
I’ve just finished season one of Top of the Lake on a recommendation from my Mum, and have to say I was a bit up and down with this one. I started off intrigued, then I was a little bored and confused, then towards the end I really enjoyed it. It was a bit weird, and the nature of it was disturbing, but if you’re looking for a series to watch, I’d definitely recommend. It’s set in New Zealand and it’s worth watching for the scenery shots alone! One day I’ll get there. One day. ONE DAY!
Listening
Hush – LL Cool J
It might sound odd, but I love nosing about in other peoples’ Spotify playlists. Thankfully people make them public and share them with the world, and when they do I get to stumble across little pieces of treasure just like this one. I follow Lauren Archer on Twitter and she shared a 90s music playlist which was amazing. But then I got curious and stalked through more, and discovered this week’s bad boy (the song, not the artist – well, he might be bad, but I don’t know), and had to share. I played it because I forgot it ever existed, and I knew every single word. It’s so funny how you can not hear a song for years (or a decade) and then it just comes straight back to you. Amazing.
It did make me realise that I have no idea which of my Spotify playlists are public. You may be treated to my endless Enya playlists in the form of ‘bath, bed, relax’ or other similar activities, so if that’s the case – enjoy!
Before You Go…
This week’s quite a long one, and I don’t actually have anything for you in this section this week, so I’m going to just leave this here!
It feels strange to be so disconnected with everybody as I’m off Facebook at the moment (read more about why here – look out for the post to summarise it at the end of this week!), I hope you’re all doing OK in these strange times!
Have a lovely week one and all and I’ll see you next Wednesday!
Featured Image Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
Reflect and Introspect 