I’ve never done one of these posts before but I always love reading them by other bloggers. April has been a busy month for me, so I decided to make one for May instead!

1. Have a stress-free plane journey. This one makes me nervous! I’m a super anxious flyer, but we have booked a little four day getaway to Majorca at the middle of May, so I would LOVE to find something to enjoy on the plane ride there and kick my fear’s butt!
2. Read two new books. This one should be manageable to me, as I tend to read on the Kindle app on my phone before bed if I don’t have a paper-back.
3. Bake a new healthy snack. I have a love-hate relationship with healthy baking. It just never seems to go right for me. Because of that, I might do it once every few months if I get the urge to. I want to try a new dish for May and *hopefully* make it so it tastes nice!
4. Less screen time. I feel like every one says this, but its just true right? I want to spend less time on my laptop, phone, iPad, watching TV etc. Especially with the warmer weather coming up, I want to spend more time outdoors and not on a device.

Have you got anything planned for May? I would love to know in the comments below! 

Be sure to check back for the result and if I manage to reach my goals!  x

BACKGROUND

I’ve always been a sensitive little soul. As I like to describe it, ‘I feel all the things.’ As a teenager I was very heavily influenced by my peers (although nothing dangerous like the things you see these days) and always wanted to fit in. I was a crowd follower, definitely not a leader. I have always had very strong gut feelings but never acted upon them and usually, dismissed them entirely.

THEN

I remember having panic attacks from a young age, although obviously not knowing what the heck they were. They were never massive pinnacle moments, just the odd feeling or so. When I turned 18, for a number of reasons, anxiety became a huge part of my life. I never fought it, and because I let it consume me, it became worse. At one stage, I didn’t want to leave the house. I would panic about everything. All the ‘what ifs’ of any everyday ordinary situation. It was exhausting and I couldn’t control it. This lasted for about a year before me and my family decided to seek help. Firstly, we visited a local doctors. Now, I don’t want this to discourage anyone about seeking help, but my first visit to the doctors did not go well. To put it bluntly, he laughed. Yep, you read that correctly. The second visit didn’t help either and was also unsuccessful. We didn’t give up and I registered to another doctors nearby which were fantastic. I had free CBT, which helped somewhat, but no where near as much as seeing a private therapist. THIS was the thing that changed my life around. It was expensive yes, but any amount of money is
worth getting yourself back I think. Note: It is such a long process, and I don’t want to use the word ‘recover’ because anxiety is so different for everyone, and I still can feel it somedays.

NOW

At 24, I don’t get anxiety every single day. I don’t get many panic attacks either, maybe once every few months if I’m not travelling, going to new places etc. Certain things still trigger my anxiety, I am a terrible flyer (working on it!), and still have certain phobias that I know I won’t ever get rid of (a long story in itself.)  Anxiety now, does not control my life. I can control it. I have learnt the techniques to bring balance back into my life. I know the things that I can push myself to do, and things that would make me feel worse.

In the end, I can be thankful to anxiety for bringing me a place where I have finally got to know myself. I thank others for speaking up about their anxiety issues (Zoella etc.) because it helped spread awareness to all those who suffered alone, and without help.

I’m big on balance, knowing your limits, heck, I even dabble in star signs every now and again. Any other Aries gals out there?

What I’m also a massive believer in, (cue this post) is trusting your gut instincts.

Throughout my life so far, whenever I have gone against what I feel in my gut (that is not a nice word is it?), it was never the right decision. As a teenager, going against what was right for me was like protocol. HELLS yeah I’m gonna do it.

Although now at the ripe old age of 24, I’m starting to become more in tune with it.

It can mean going against the crowd and leaving you the only one in the lane, but its so SO much better than the alternative.

Your body has ways of telling you which way to steer.

Trust it.

FEARNE COTTON ‘HAPPY’

I feel like I’ve waited ages for this book and now that I have it, I can’t wait to read it! I’m a massive fan of Fearne anyway, but the fact that she’s done a lifestyle book is even better to me. I’ve had a quick flick through and it looks like its filled with loads of tips and advice on lots of different topics we all face.

THE TREE OF YOGA: DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO YOGA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

My sister got me this book as a birthday gift, what can I say, she knows me well! The reviews on Amazon look great, and I had planned previously to make it a mission to ‘read’ more stuff about yoga, how it originally started etc. I really want to broaden my knowledge on all things yogi so I think this will definitely do the trick!

BIG LITTLE LIES

I bought this book the other day because I wanted to start watching the new show, so I thought I’d read this first. I’m super curious to what the whole thing is about, so I haven’t read up too much on it incase of spoilers.

Have you read any of these? If not, let me know your favourite current read! 🙂 xx