Hello, you lovely human beings!

January, eh?! How it flies around and then takes a lifetime to be gone, but never fear we’ve made it to February. I have to say it but I’m an absolute sucker for the whole “new year, fresh start” kind of thing, I completely understand people who aren’t and believe that you can have a fresh start whenever you desire but for me there’s something about January that just screams “come on Lia, get a grip this time”. I have high hopes for this year, and decade because wow, would you look at that we’re in a new one, and I’m really working to trying to set goals to achieve as much as I can. The biggest one for this year is to finish university, which seems bizarre to say and I do not believe I’ve been there long enough yet to be leaving but here I am, being catapulted into that big, wide world that everyone speaks so fondly of.

No Social Media

I spoke briefly about this in my post when I announced that I was leaving social media for a month and now I’m going to let you know how it went. Surprisingly, it was a lot easier than I expected it to be, yet it also made me aware of how much time I spend just scrolling. And that is all it is, scrolling. I have ended the month feeling more positive about my use of social media and still want to use it as I firmly believe that it is a brilliant tool to spread good things and I love doing that. But I don’t ever want to be consumed by it again and it’s so easy to fall into that trap so I think it will take work, but I’ll get there. I posted my first ever IGTV earlier all about my social media detox so feel free to check it out.

The very last push of uni

I don’t believe it. It does not seem like I’ve even been at university long enough for this to be my very last semester there but now I’m ready. I’m ready to move onto the next challenge and the next chapter but I’m not ready for the stress of the next few months.

I started the semester well with January, I’ve been making sure I’ve been doing enough work and always reassessing what is important and prioritising etc., I know that I’m working hard so I’m just letting things happen. Which makes me sound really chilled out about it all, which I am not, so let’s say I’m trying to let things happen.

Learning more

I think learning is a wonderful thing. I think we are lucky to be able to learn whatever we want, whenever we want. Learning is a simple act that gives you access to a whole other world and it shouldn’t be taken for granted. I think it’s such a shame that people get to 16 and leave school and say, “I don’t have to learn anymore”, maybe that’s a big eff you to classrooms and school settings but it is a shame.

I aim to always be learning something whilst I can and it’s an aim of mine for this year. Previously I’ve seen things I want to learn about and thought “ah, I have plenty of time”, but I want to stop putting things off.

This is also me encouraging you to learn something! Whatever you fancy, just search it on the Internet and see where it takes you, go and look at recommended books that might be available in your local library, visit new places full of history, just do something.

I’m currently learning German on Duolingo! I took it as a GCSE option because it was one of my better subjects, not because I engaged with it and thought it would be useful so blocked it out after my exam. It’s amazing the stuff you remember though, and I find it interesting. You can set yourself a goal for how much learning you want to do in a day so you really can just learn something for 15 minutes a day.

Fab Faves

Until I can think of a better name this fun little magazine-type section is going to be called Fab Faves, not brilliant I know but we’ll go with it. (seriously any suggestions, please let me know! But I’m going to introduce these in my monthly reviews as a kind of “what I’ve been listening/watching this month” kind of thing. I used to love these sections in magazines when I was younger so feel very excited, and very grown up, to write them here.

Watching

At the cinema this month I’ve seen… The Gentlemen which I really enjoyed, I had no expectations and hadn’t seen the advert so it was all surprising but it was quite funny and easy to watch and just generally a good film, Little Women which I had such high hopes and it delivered, I came out and was speechless (very rare for me) and couldn’t sum up how much I enjoyed it and how utterly brilliant it was and I cannot wait to get it on DVD and re-watch it 452 times, 1917 was a film that I wasn’t particularly bothered about but nevertheless, sobbed the whole way through it (don’t take that as anything because I cry at everything) but it was an amazing film.

Listening

I will quite happily sit and listen to most genres and artists and let’s just say that my driving playlists are quite a selection. But saying this, I tend to gravitate to the same artists so in 2020 a big thing for me was to branch out and search wider on Spotify.

Away from music I’ve been listening more to podcasts, my current favourite is Happy Place by Fearne Cotton.  

Reading

To start off the 2020 Reading Challenge I am doing with my Mum I read The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this is on the reading list purely to get my Mum to read it because I’ve been pestering her to for years. It is my favourite book of all time, I think it’s truly wonderful and every single time I read it, I manage to look at different aspects in a new light so it’s like I’m reading it all over again for the first time.

Separate to the reading challenge, I’ve been reading I am Malala which is the autobiography of Malala Yousafzai and it is a book that I recommend to everyone. I haven’t finished it yet but what a woman. From a young age she was a force to be reckoned with and she’s so inspirational. It’s a book that everyone should read.

It’s good to be back! Hope January was lovely for you all.

All my love,

Lia x