Woody Wonders

End of year check-in Today's blog is going to be a short reflection on 2020 before I close my laptop on another year. Despite all the odds stacked against me and humanity in general, I've had an incredible year.  Yes, it's been different, bizarre, unnerving and downright hard graft at times but I absolutely refuse to write this year off which is what most people seem intent on doing.   Am I looking through rose-tinted glasses and ignoring the bad stuff?  No, I don't think I am because I firmly believe that it's the sh*t times that make us stronger.  Did I write off the year I lost both my sister and sister-in-law?  Within the space of three weeks I might add.  No I didn't, because ultimately it made me a much stronger and more resilient person.  It's quite easy to drift through life but when something significant happens it's a real wake up call. So, what has this year taught me? I can still have strong relationships despite not being able to see ...

Don't sweat the small stuff this Xmas I have a love-hate relationship with this time of year.  I don't know about you but I always find the run up to Xmas really stressful .  There's never enough hours in the day.  You're trying to clear your 'to do' list at work before the end of the year so you can start afresh, and you have home stresses of trying to sort out Xmas presents, family and such like. I'm not going to bang on about what a difficult year it's been, we all know that and quite honestly, I'm bored with the whole thing now and it is what it is.  However, I have missed my annual kick-off to Xmas shopping which would have been a trip to Beverley around mid-November to visit my friend.  Although let's be honest here, there's usually more coffee drinking and chatting going on than Xmas shopping.  Online shopping is not as much fun, I like to see and touch things plus I spend 10 hours staring at a screen all day for work, I don't wan...

Yes, because the secret to developing  habits is repetition As we count down the final few weeks to the end of the year, many of us are starting to think about our goals and aspirations for next year.  In fact, in light of the year we've all had, I would imagine that more of us than ever before at this time of year, are starting to look forward to the next.  I'll do more of a reflection on 2020 blog in a couple of weeks' time, in the meantime I'd like to do some groundwork for 2021.  2021?!!  Wow, 2021 sounds so ... well, futuristic.  I feel like we should be teleporting or driving around in cars that can also fly.  Sorry, I digress. Yet again, I'm going back to the subject of habits.  Classic start to the new year, we make promises to ourselves that we can't keep and a couple of months in, they've fallen by the wayside.  We instantly blame willpower, or lack of it, but the fact is that willpower is finite.  We use it up quite quickly th...