This post was originally published on 3rd December 2018 and updated on 28th November 2019.

This weekend, I celebrated my 35th birthday.

Birthdays often create moments of reflection for me. A chance to look back on what I’ve accomplished in the last year. And thinking ahead to what I’d like to accomplish over the next 12 months.

Until now, life has been too busy to pause and reflect. But, as I sit here with a blank page in front of me, I decided it was time to start the birthday reflection process and look back on the past year.

It would be quite easy to think that I haven’t achieved much this year. The focus has been on others and not me. But actually, as I start to reflect, it’s been a pretty epic year for me too.

So let’s have a look at some of the things I’ve achieved in the year leading up to my 35th Birthday:

I finished my Institute of Leadership and Management Qualification…

…and passed. It was hard going back to studying and working on assignments after such a long time.

My last attempt at gaining a qualification in adulthood didn’t go so well. I was studying for a qualification in Horticulture before my move to London. I loved the course. But my Latin isn’t exactly great. And the course was exam-based, and they’ve never been my strong point.

Give me a written assignment or coursework, something I can get my teeth into and write to my heart’s content, and it’s a different story.

Thankfully, the ILM in Leadership and Management was mostly coursework. It was hard work, but I’m so pleased I passed!

I visited lots of new places

To name but a few, I have discovered Chelsea Physic Gardens, Tooting Broadway Market, Kensington Palace Gardens, and Holland Park. I spent a day chilling and drinking wine with friends in Regent’s Park. Enjoyed a day exploring Abingdon and Oxford with my friend Alastair. Discovered Venn Street Market, which is just a stone’s throw from my flat, and thanks to my mum, I visited the Vintage Retreat and Millers Yard Cafe at Boughton Mill Equestrian Centre in my home town of Northamptonshire. 

I went to the cinema on my own for the first time

I love my own company, and the thought of going to the cinema on my own was always there. But it was like there was some kind of blocker stopping me from actually going.

However, I was desperate to see Black Panther and had no one else to go with. So it was a perfect opportunity to push myself to do it.

And I did. And I loved it. I had a whole bag of Maltesers to myself, no obligations to share, and was able to sit back and relax and just enjoy the film. 

I’ll definitely be doing that again!

I found more time to read

Freya North’s ‘Turning Point’ and Maria Realf’s ‘The One’ both made me sob. I also loved reading about ‘Hygge’, the Danish way of living.

I travelled to the Greek Island of Crete

My first time to any of the Greek Islands, and my first holiday abroad with my younger brother Sam. We had never holidayed together just the two of us before, but we were both in desperate need of a break. We stayed in Elounda, a beautiful village on the north-east coast of the island. I can’t wait to go back one day, armed with my laptop, to write to my heart’s content. 

I spent some quality time with my Dad

Whilst my parents come down to visit me in London a couple of times a year together, my Mum will always pop down in between those visits so we can enjoy some Mum and daughter time.

I don’t know if it’s a man thing, but Dad had never really talked about coming down on his own. Mum hinted one day that he would love to come down more, so back at the beginning of summer, I invited him to come down for the day.

My Dad and I have two main things in common. We love football. And we love walking. Having done a couple of charity walks with him years ago, I decided it would be fun to do a walk in London.

Whilst I had walked the Thames Path in central London a few times, I’d never really covered the path further out to the West. So we hopped on the train to Richmond and walked from Richmond to Wandsworth, stopping for a lovely pub lunch and a couple of drinks on the way.

I went Glamping for the first time

Whilst I spent many years camping, I had never been Glamping. My camping days are very much behind me, but the idea of Glamping had appealed. So off I went one Friday afternoon to the South Downs where I stayed in the most delightful Glamping site.

It was a blazing hot weekend, but thankfully, the site was amongst the woodland, which was a nice bit of respite from the sun. A nice little addition was the outdoor hot tub, which, despite the heatwave, I obviously had to try out. So one evening, I donned my swimwear and relaxed in the hot tub whilst the sunset behind the trees. Bliss.

It was my first time staying in the South Downs National Park. Another place I would happily move to and sit and write all day. It’s such a beautiful part of the country, only an hour from London in one direction, and an hour from the coast in the other. Perfection!

I enjoyed lot’s of new experiences

…including visiting Chelsea Flower Show with my lovely friend Kim, getting tickets to Club Wembley for the England v Nigeria game, and seeing Craig David & Rita Ora perform at Northampton’s County Cricket Ground earlier in the summer.

I lead a process at work which was being externally assessed

…and we passed.

I received professional coaching for the first time

…and loved it. Coaching helped me realise that some of my ‘dark cloud’ moments are courtesy of Imposter Syndrome. Recognising that Imposter Syndrome is a thing, and discovering ways to overcome it, has taken a huge amount of weight off my shoulders and has helped me start to understand some of the muddled chaos in my mind. It was also this that made me consider blogging for the first time.

It also got me to…

…start thinking about mindfulness, wellbeing and my own mental health

I had been aware of mental health for as long as I could remember. Many of my friends and family suffer from anxiety or from bouts of depression. My dearest B had battled with poor mental health as long as I had known her. But I had never stopped to think about my own.

Mindfulness and wellbeing had never really entered my headspace. Through coaching, it became apparent that it was something I needed to explore. I started to download apps (Calm and Headspace to name but two), and to read articles which explored these areas in more detail. It was also around this time that I realised I had a lot going on in my mind, and I needed to start shifting some of it to help me declutter my mind, to help me to think more clearly and to function more effectively…

...so, I created this blog

And what a great experience it’s been. I wrote my first blog at the end of August 2018, and since then, I’ve written 21 posts.

I have no idea in the grand scheme of things whether this is below or above average for a new blog. But, what I do know is the stats don’t really matter. What really matters is that by blogging, my mind is freeing up some headspace.

It helps me to reflect, to think about what works for me and what doesn’t. It’s helping others who are experiencing or have experienced similar things. It’s giving my loved ones an insight into what makes me tick. And one of the things I least expected from my blog was the ability to make new friends through it. There is a lovely network of bloggers out there who are like-minded and seem to be travelling down a similar path to me. It’s lovely to bounce ideas off one another and to seek comfort and reassurance from each other.

Creating my blog and starting to write again has by far been one of my greatest achievements of the year. But it doesn’t stop there.

On the day before my 35th Birthday…

I decided to get my ears pierced

Being a glasses wearer, I’ve always joked that I already have too much metal on my face to suit earrings. Mum has tried to convince me for years that they would suit me, but I just didn’t have the urge to get them done.

However, over the last few months, I kept looking at really nice fashion earrings, wishing I had pierced ears. As I strolled down to our local shops with Mum and Dad on Saturday, who were visiting for my Birthday weekend, I turned to Mum, and said ‘Shall I go and get my ears pierced?‘.

So that’s what I did! A little birthday treat for myself. I now have lovely pierced ears with white gold earrings. I’m still a few weeks away from being able to wear ‘fashion’ earrings, but I love the ones they have put in for now. They make such a difference to my face and make any outfit look slightly more glam, just by having a little sparkle on my ears.

Despite it not being the easiest year in many ways, it’s certainly had some highs amongst the lows.

Sitting down and writing this post and reflect on the past year, leading up to my 35th birthday, has made me realise just how much I have achieved. It’s also made me think about how much I continue to grow as a human being. 

And I’m now super excited to see where the next year will take me. But before I start to think about next year, it’s time to carry on the birthday celebrations! Cheers!