New Year, New Me??

Hi and welcome to the first blog of 2024. I was wondering what topic to go for as most of you will know – I don’t blog very often!

The new year is very traditionally a time for people make changes to themselves, or their way of being etc and it usually not lasting very long!

I’m also guilty of this so once the new year had arrived, I was determined to put my long planned changes into action. Yes, the first one was get on a healthy eating plan, diet and exercise, like a lot of other people but I have decided to make some quire radical changes to the way I do things from this point on.

Since I began my business back in 2019, It was mostly what I thought about. I lived and breathed my idea and worked all the hours I could fit in, to get it off the ground. And I have been successful. Quantock Inspiration is ever growing now and I am proud of what I have achieved after all the blood, sweat and tears.

But at what cost?? I spent a long time looking at what I had been missing out on, what I could have been doing and definitely what I SHOULD have been doing. The bottom line was – I was a complete bore, had turned into a plump frump and I had lost my mojo.

I was blinded by my ambition, and things suffered as a result. As much as I felt that I was putting enough energy into my family and social life – in actual fact, I wasn’t. And I missed key signs that all was not as well as it should have been.

This year, I have adopted a new approach. It was time to put the important things first and learn to say no to myself when the urge would being yelling at me to complete some worky task that needed doing (in the middle of the night sometimes!)

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I also wanted my life back. All the things I enjoyed doing, I was no longer doing. I wasn’t finding the time to enjoy my surroundings, my family, my animals. I didn’t have a social life. I wasn’t making time for my closest friends. All that needed to change – starting with me.

I bought a couple of really good wellness journals and when I made a start on them, I really found out just how much I was neglecting myself, and other things. I was always guilty of thinking, ‘I don’t have time!!’ Oh, well hello! yes, I did have time and I had to believe that I had enough time to do all the things I wanted to do.

I remembered that I had read a really good book last year about running a lifestyle business and dug that out, as I remembered that the author was really focussed on explain to the reader that it wasn’t necessary to be working all the hours under the sun. I had rather dismissed it a bit as I am a one woman outfit but now the book is making tons of sense!

It is now about prioritising what I want to do first, and that is the nice things that I had been forsaking. I am back out on my horse every other day, enjoying walks with the dog and seeing/talking to my friends more. My daughter is getting my undivided attention – and guess what? I’m still getting my work done. Everything is still getting done on time.

Last year, I was an eat on the go person. I didn’t take the time to have a lunch break to make a healthy meal. Instead, I was cramming a couple of croissants into my mouth as I was working. Or crisps, chocolate or anything that didn’t involve having to prepare it!

An absolute game changer for me was getting an air fryer for Christmas. I thoroughly recommend one of those things!!! So quick and easy and much healthier too. It is really helping with my new diet. Now I can make quick and easy hot lunches – and I am taking the time to sit at the table or near the balcony so I can enjoy the view.

I wanted to learn how to meditate, to see what it would do for me. I was ignorant in thinking that people just sat in the lotus position with their eyes closed and wailing ‘Ommmm!!!’ Yes, wrong, completely wrong!

It is hard for someone like me to meditate as my mind wanders all the time, so learning to focus on just breathing was so hard! But I’m getting better at it. I enjoy listening to ambient background noise – even if it is just the sound of the forest. I have a playlist now that I use. It slows me down.

It started to hit a wall as it so does when you embark on doing something that is so different to what you are used to, but I’m pleased to say, I was 

able to rein myself back into it again. So far, it’s all good and I have had far less stressful days because of it.

On a work level, I have lots of ideas for creating new products and I have loads still to list so I will fit that into my new lifestyle regime as soon as I can. I’m looking forward to the rest of 2024!

Hopefully blog again someday soon!

Smiles 😃

Esther