Coming back from America has marked the beginning of a new chapter for me. I guess our holiday of a lifetime had always loomed large over 2015 for us so we weren’t prepared to plan anything or think too deeply about events due later in the year. Our focus has been first and foremost on the holiday and getting through it. Luckily we had an amazing time and avoided some of the pitfalls we feared going into it, but there was one pitfall we could not avoid.

Overeating.

Now we are home and the holiday is behind us I have been able to take a breath and start thinking about my goals and aspirations for the next few months, through to the end of the financial year.

My immediate professional goal is to produce at least two products to kickstart my working from home career. I am still working on my comprehensive guide for special needs parents but I have veered off for a short time to put together a shorter book, concentrating on travelling for special needs families. This is based on our previous holidays as a family and will highlight all the things that we have learned in order to chase our dreams and take the leap to international travel. I hope to have this available by the end of June at the very latest, so keep an eye out for that. I also aim to release my A to Z family holiday guides (as featured on My Home Truths) as a single book in that same time frame. Wish me luck!

On a personal level, I want to feel good about myself again. I want to be fit and healthy, both mentally and physically. On the mental health front I am still taking antidepressants (and will continue to do so for some time to come) and I’ve also started taking B vitamins to combat stress. I have recently purchased the mindfulness colouring in book and aim to undertake 30 mins a day of just colouring in. I love colouring in with the girls and find it very soothing so I expect taking some time to undertake my own colouring in will make a big difference to my everyday mindset.

Physically, the trip to the US crystallised my unacknowledged and growing dissatisfaction with my weight and fitness levels. The last straw was my inability to do up my pants on our departure day – it was a humiliating and sobering jolt to the system. On my return I was determined to put in place a plan to address my dissatisfaction. One of my friends has recently started to do park runs on a Saturday morning and I have to say, despite my previous aversion to the concept of running, I started to get quite interested in her experiences.

I have never been a runner and have never wanted to be a runner. So I can’t explain why I suddenly felt drawn to the idea of running – I just do. Somehow I found myself late last week registering for park run as well. In a bid to have a good go at it, I downloaded a free Couch to 5K app plus Runkeeper to my phone and have been going for interval training walk/runs all week. I am not very good at jogging (my cardiovascular system is seriously underdeveloped and always has been) but I am giving it a go. In fact I undertook my first 5K attempt using the C25K app as my training tool. I completed the 5 km in 40 mins flat which I think was an awesome result for my third ever serious walk/run.

My goal is to be able to jog a full 5km before my 40th birthday in August. I also want to get my weight back closer to (if not under) 60kgs and find more energy. And, yes, I’m being deliberately ambitious with my personal health goals. So far, so good, but there is a long way to go and quite a few months between now and August (which isn’t all bad – I’m not ready for the big 4-0 just yet!)

FeelGooder Pinterest

Thankfully there are others out there also searching for motivation and support to turn their fitness around. Just this week Mr Problogger himself, Darren Rowse, started up a Facebook group called “FeelGooder” for bloggers and work at home creatives who want to make real change in their lives through fitness and wellbeing. I was amazed by the number of people who have embraced this concept and grateful that there is now a group that can support me too as I start on my road back to fitness.

FeelGooder is an awesome term – it really does capture where we all want to be. We all have varying bodies, fitness levels, eating habits and preferred methods of exercise. What we all have in common is our desire to “feel gooder” – to feel better about ourselves, both mentally and physically.

As I do, I will be regularly updating my progress here with you all and I welcome you to keep me honest and accountable.

Okay?

Alright, well I’m off to have a cup of tea and chocolate because I earned it by playing tennis today. Not too much chocolate, mind you, just enough to assuage the sugar cravings and to give a boost to my mental health!

Bon appetit…

Linking with Grace, Ann and Bron x