Positivity

 

Image source: Pinterest

 

I have always been a person who is generally quite positive however of late I have been picking up bad habits and have been falling into a negativity trap. This has also led to my happiness slowly seeping away.

I put a lot of this down to social media. You see a lot of the good part of people’s lives on social media which is great however it does tend to mean you compare yourself to others. Why isn’t my house as nice as theirs, why isn’t my hair as pretty, how can they afford to jet off to all these amazing places etc etc. I realised seeing all these things daily just made me feel bad.  And so I have deleted all social media apps from my phone. I know that lots of people have this idea and I really do think its helped.

I am also trying to see positives in every day things. This could be anything from the colour of the sky  to the nice food I ate or the fact I had time to come back during lunch and walk Lily around the park.

Another habit that started creeping in was at the beginning of the day reeling off the list of things I had to do that day in my head. They usually consist of things I didn’t want to do (usually things to do with work). This means that my day had already got started on a bad note. I now wake up and try and think positively to the morning coffee I am about to drink and the nice snuggles I am having off Lily before getting up. There will be things in my day that I am really dreading however I am no longer letting this affect the whole of my day, waiting for it to happen or dwelling on it after it’s done.

I am now making a real conscious effort to bring positivity back into my day to day and I do think its working. I wake up and feel better for it, my days are slightly brighter and I am not as emotional.

The next step will be to view my life as my own and not let other things cloud my judgement and happiness. I do think this little blog could help, it’s jotting down all my happy adventures and thoughts and therefore that can’t be a bad thing, can it? 🙂

The Happy List

 

Picture: Stephanie Ryan

 

1. The start of Autumn. It’s my favourite season, the smell in the air, the colours of the leaves and the misty mornings.
2. Getting out all the blankets, I really love getting cosy.
3. Getting back into Game of Thrones. I’m about to start season 7.
4. Spending a day of foraging with Ian on Sunday. We’ve collected enough apples for crumble every week for the next couple of months
5. Starting this blog again.

 

So that lasted long

#Blogging Fail

I really did start this blog with high expectations. I thought I was going to post twice weekly and I had all these ideas. But I failed!

I was going to write in the evenings and take pictures at the weekends, I was going to connect with new people. Instead I’ve watched Gilmore Girls on repeat (Errr no I’m not a complete loser).

This blogging thing is actually pretty difficult. Bloggers make it look so easy. Photography is hard too, even with my super duper old photography a level (I cant remember anything, not a thing)!

I would like to try again. I want to post about my adventures and look back and reminisce years later.

So take two…….

The Happy List

Photo via: Pinterest

1. Hanging the clean washing outside in the sunshine. It was one of the first times this year and it makes all the difference
2. Sitting and listening to the church bells on Lily and I’s recent walk
3. Using Dada’s old camera and the same strap that went around his neck. He was the best photographer and I am really trying to learn. It makes me so happy that I can use the very camera he used for all those years.
4. The sun, it really lightens my mood
5. Starting to tidy up the garden and start working towards getting to how we want it.

Saturday Stroll

 

Today has been a beautiful one. Who would have thought we would have such amazing weather in mid April? I have a feeling we may have skipped the April showers this year.

Ian was out with his family this Saturday so that left Lily and I to entertain ourselves. As it was such a glorious day we decided to take a stroll to one of our favourite places: Frenchay Village.

Frenchay is on the outskirts of the city however you feel as if you have stumbled back in time. The houses and surroundings are beautiful, this truly is one magical place.

Ian and I always say one day we will live here, in one of the little cottages. We can but dream.

As we were walking the church bells were ringing. I don’t know what it is but something about the sound of church bells really makes me happy. I think it reminds me of when I was growing up at home in Shropshire; if I opened my bedroom window on a summers evening I could hear the church bells from our local church ringing.

Even the ducks came to say hello

Lily isn’t used to long walks anymore, although she is a greyhound who can run at 40 mph. She actually enjoys a quick trot and then a few hours of sleeping on the sofa now she is in her old age. So we took a leisurely walk back home in the evening sunshine.

 

The Weekend

 

Photo via Secrethillswalking.co.uk

 

This weekend I visited my home town. Lily and I make the trip to Shropshire at least once a month to visit the family, this time it was my mum’s birthday. She has turned the big 6-5 and therefore treated it as a special occasion.

Saturday consisted mostly of pottering around the town and soaking up the glorious spring sunshine in the beer garden of our local pub and a picnic in the park. It was a beautiful day full of happiness. However later in the afternoon mum got a twig in her eye and we ended the day in a&e but that’s another story…..

Sunday we were supposed to be visiting the beach but because of the minor eye incident the day before we decided to stay close to home and visit a nearby Welsh village (town?) Llangollen. This village has always been a favourite of mine ever since I was small; I remember Sunday afternoons with my grandparents visiting here. My granddad AKA Dada would always buy me an ice-cream and we would sit overlooking the river. This was quite a regular occurrence as it was also a favourite of my Dada’s.

Llangollen’s main feature is its trains and canal.

The horse drawn canal boats are my favourite, I do wonder the horses are strong enough to pull the canal boats and not hurt themselves but they assured me they are.

And after that it was time to go home for a Sunday roast and the long drive back to the west country.

I hope you all had a beautiful weekend.

The Happy List

This blog is a collection of my happy moments in life, so what better way to celebrate them than to list all the little happy things that have happened over my past week.

1. Lily sleeping by my side the whole time I was ill
2. And on that note… getting better and being able to eat again
3. Morning cuddles with Ian
4. The sun shining while I take my afternoon walks with Lil
5. Finding the perfect dress for one of my closest friends upcoming wedding in June

 

This place…

Image Source: Imagebuddy.com

This place will be where I share my little life’s moments. It’s so important to appreciate the small joys in life so here goes…