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This week, I had a revelation! 💡There are Christmas decorations everywhere I look, and it’s not just because the shops are super keen to get us to empty our pockets (although, that just might also be a factor!). 🌲
No! We are hurtling through November, into December, and (aargh!) I still haven’t fully ticked off my 2018 New Year’s Resolutions List.
As I previously revealed in The Clutter Clinic – Top Tips to Halve your Hoard, around this time last year, I promised myself that, this year, I would:
(a) Lose the baby weight
(b) Start a blog
(c) Declutter!
With the exception of (b), which this post clearly proves I have done, I can’t honestly claim to have yet achieved all three. 😳
Cue a good old dose of the ‘stuck in a rut’ blues.
And I hate that feeling, with a passion!
I like to feel that lists are being ticked off, gains are being made…
In short, and in Millennial speak (which I, as a Xennial, don’t claim to fully understand!), goals are being slayed!
So, what do we do when we hit a stumbling block in our New Year’s Resolutions goals, and there is only just over a month to go before we are entering New Year’s Resolutions backlog territory?
Easy!
Make a three-point plan… and stick to it…
So, here goes…
1. Check your progress and reward yourself
Regular readers will know that I have been making steady progress in my ‘blast the baby belly’ goal. Since I aggressively committed (and, yes, I did mean to say aggressively – my lips are practically bleeding from the gritted teeth, nail-biting determination!) to the weight loss journey back in October, I have been losing an average of two pounds per week!
Not bad, I know!
But, I’m impatient!
I have just about lost a stone in a two stone weight loss journey. I have re-entered the healthy zone of my BMI chart, albeit at the higher end. And if I stand on my metaphorical tippy-toes and squint, I can just about see over the hill to the other side…
But, the negative voices in my head are screaming; ‘You’re too tired! It’s too hard! And, you’re definitely not going to make it by Christmas! There just isn’t enough time!’
I am not listening to those negative voices, though!
I am calmly stepping back from that place of panic, and taking the time to appreciate the picture proof that my efforts are paying off…
Wow! I don’t have to breathe in when I take a selfie (not as vain and self-obsessed as it sounds, honestly!) anymore!
My clothes fit better!
I have more energy!
I am getting there!
I will definitely get there before the New Year!
It’s totally doable!
Watch this space!
Moving on to the decluttering issue…
This year, I have also been constantly attempting to clear my clutter, which for a self-professed clothes, shoe and bag junkie is oh-so-tough!
In a weird kind of way, I love my clutter! It’s sort of comforting… like a messy security blanket…
This time, it’s not the negative voices in my head I need to battle, but, instead, my husband’s threats to (gasp!) ‘burn it all if I don’t get a grip on it!’.
So, I am doing it…
My beloved shoes now all have a home!
Gadgets like this cute as a button Fujifilm Instax Mini are being used to organise my extensive collection into…
Easily locatable, glittery boxes!
And as for my overflowing bag collection…
Poof! Gone! As if by magic!
Well, not really! But you know what I mean. (The Hubby is relieved he no longer has to look at them/mentally calculate the cost of them, though!)
Even, my unruly nail polish collection has been tamed!
It’s now so neat that this organisation lark is almost becoming addictive… Almost…
Another plus is that with the transformation of my formerly impractical (sniff! Or so the Hubby said! 😐) walk-in wardrobe…
My baby boy now has a room to call his own!
Yay!
And, who knows! Maybe one day, we’ll even have enough space to reconsider the whole walk-in wardrobe notion. (Shh! Don’t tell the Hubby-walk-in-wardrobe-grinch! 🤫)
On the other hand, the girls’ possessions are still…
A work in progress!
But some extra hands-on help is a-coming this week, so, maybe, just maybe, this final piece of the decluttering puzzle won’t be so daunting after all…
Stay tuned, folks!
I did already say above that I had managed to check the blog section off the New Year’s Resolution List, which is great!
Added to that, I can also claim that I have gone from barely knowing what social media was (only half-joking!) to being the proud owner of a semi-successful Instagram account!
Social media is annoyingly fickle though, so I am almost afraid to claim this triumph!
No! Scratch that!
I have worked incredibly hard over the last six months and, as a means of motivation to do more, even minor successes need to be celebrated with…
Copious cups of too-good-to-be-true coffee…
Almost good-enough-to-eat-Treaclemoon-laced me-time…
And, last but not least, irresistible outfits from Zara (with a bit of Vanessa Bruno and eBayed Fendi mixed in!). 😊
Oh, yes, the pain of it all is almost a distant memory!
Now, onto step…
2. Set the soundtrack to your life
As soon as I hit the motivational abyss, I like to have some of my favourite tunes on repeat…
(Apologies for the heavy Irish band bias, but it’s what I identify most with when I hit a rough patch! Please, feel free to come up with your own motivational music list!)
For me, Flares by The Script…
And Kodaline’s Shed A Tear, serve to remind me that, no matter how tough the going gets, there is a greater power out there to lift us up and support us.
[…]
You are not alone,
‘Cause someone’s out there….
Sending out flares!
[…]
Such powerful, inspiringly poetic words…
And as for Kodaline’s emotive contribution…
[…]
It’s easy to love when the world doesn’t hate you
[….]
It’s safer to swim when the tide is not against you…
[…]
Giving up is letting go
[…]
I feel your pain when I know you’re in trouble
[…]
Nothing is impossible
[…]
You don’t have to fight alone
[…]
Open your eyes,
I’m by your side
[…]
Darkness to light
[…]
I shed a tear…
[…]
And when you’re living in your darkest hour…
When you’re getting closer to the edge
[…]
I shed a tear…
I’m never leaving you!
Emotion personified! A breathtakingly beautiful musical hug! 🤗 Encore! Until…
I need reminding why on earth I launched myself into the blog biz in the first place…
Then, this is on repeat, as I type through the graveyard shift. It makes me believe that if I just ‘follow my [writing] fire’ I’ll soon be ‘reaching and catching [those] stars’.
Inspirational stuff, indeed!
3. Get excited about the next big thing
Yes, certain goals have been reached (and even slayed!) already. Other goals will be reached before the year is out.
However, hovering at the back of my mind is… the elephant in the room… a certain financial frustration. 🤯
I might have launched a brand spanking new blogging business, but, I am… gulp… currently operating at a loss.
Changes will have to be made!
Sacrifices will have to be endured!
Yet more self-control will have to be summoned, as I attempt to make 2019 the year I…
Finally, once and for all, and forever, fix my finances! 🤑
Brace yourselves, my dear readers, it’s sure to be a rocky road that lies ahead…
But, as ever, I’ll keep you all posted!
Until next time,
💋 Mostly Mum
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