Woody Wonders

Make the most of your local area  and starting planning your next 6 months When BoJo announced that there were no limitations on how far you could travel to exercise, I thought what an idiot (with a few additional expletives). Firstly, there's the environmental factor to consider.  We're supposed to be trying to save this planet, not encouraging people to get into their cars and use petrol like it's going out of fashion (actually, it kind of is at the moment!).  As always, he didn't account for the morons amongst us who saw this as an open invitation to drive as far as they could and head to the coast or for the hills with no respect for anything or anyone and leave their rubbish everywhere. Secondly, there's the ethical factor to consider.  BoJo was openly encouraging people to travel from their local areas, some even visited other counties, which put enormous pressure on these communities.  These people have no respect for anyone else.  Have you seen the ...

Rise above it and be the  better person you are As we near the end of yet another month in lockdown, well I suppose it's a kind of semi-lockdown as I write, I've noticed that people have 'taken their foot off the gas' for want of a better phrase. We're becoming a little bit tetchy, we don't seem to be taking as much care and attention in what we're doing, saying or wearing for that matter!  We've lost our focus and have become a little bit sloppy shall we say.  It's understandable, the more we're told we can't do this, that or the other, the more we're starting to rebel.  We're all continuing to miss events that were important to us such as holidays, birthdays, sport, concerts etc. But now more than ever, we need to re-focus and stop the bitterness that is starting to creep into our lives.  I've noticed recently that there seems to be a trend in 'top trumping' who is finding it the hardest during lockdown, ie, 'it'...

Say hello to your new BFF's - endorphins and power ironing I'm sure you've all heard of endorphins but here's a quick little re-cap.  Endorphins are neurotransmitters, in other words they transmit electrical signals within the nervous system.  They help to reduce our perception of pain and act in a similar way to drugs such as morphine and codeine.  Woo hoo!! It gets even better because we can give our endorphins a helping hand when it comes to releasing them.  A number of activities can cause their release but for the purpose of today's blog we'll be focusing on exercise. Endorphins trigger a positive feeling and for those of you who exercise on regular basis, you'll be used to how good you feel afterwards and that 'exercise high'. Exercise is a vastly under utilised 'prescription' for mental health issues and mild depression and, over these last few months, I've realised how important it's been to me and my fitness clients and group...

Finding out what's really important  when the chips are down Yesterday was my 50th birthday and although it wasn't quite what I'd planned, I honestly had the best day ever.  I was truly overwhelmed by the kindness, generosity and trouble that people had gone to for making my lockdown birthday one to remember.  I'm talking about people really going out of their way!!  I don't name names on my blog (apart from Mr Bob of course) but you know who you are and I cannot tell you how much I appreciated your efforts. From the briefest of messages to the biggest present, every single thing mattered to me and I'm still in the process of thanking each and every one of you.   I love birthdays because unless you're really unlucky and there's someone in the same household as you with the same birthday, then it's your unique day to celebrate as you wish.  Unlike Christmas and other mass celebrations, you don't have to share it with anyone and you don't have ...

Are you struggling with the challenges of lockdown  or using it to your advantage? Every week when it comes to writing my blog, I'm determined not to mention the 'C' word.  No!!!  Not that one.  But the fact is, I can't get away from it, none of us can, it's now intertwined in our lives and has changed everything we previously thought of as 'normal'.   The question I've asked myself recently is how the situation has changed me in terms of my personality and how I now look at things from a different perspective. I always used to describe myself as an 'extrovert introvert' as depending on the situation I can be either very outgoing or painfully shy.  Turns out I'm an 'ambivert' - who knew?!! Aah, it all makes perfect sense now.  On the one hand I can lead a boot camp session, talking and cracking jokes non-stop and generally driving people insane for a good 45 mins; yet on the other, I can barely speak when asked a q...

Be creative, have fun,  do something good for your soul Although this is the strangest of times, you have to find ways to be happy right here, right now, instead of constantly wishing it was over and that means becoming rather creative. This weekend I should be in Ibiza with the girls as a pre-birthday treat, which had been in the planning for almost a year, instead we're in lockdown.  We'd rather be there of course, but we were determined not to feel sorry for ourselves so we decided to bring Ibiza to us through the marvel that is Zoom.  I have some very creative friends and family and was very impressed with their re-creation of night club scenarios in their own homes complete with neon lights, glow sticks and a bucket of foam!!  Despite being hundreds of miles apart in some cases we still managed to become rather raucous and had great fun.  In fact, it made us all the more excited for when we can finally get there in person and was proof that we'...

Sometimes we need to take the safety reins  off our minds and simply be Throughout the week I'm usually making scribbles on post-it notes, doodling in books, writing in journals.  In fact, it's a standing joke in our house that I have notebooks and journals for all occasions.  Mr Bob will wander in and say "oh, which notebook is that for?"  I then gather all my thoughts together and from there I'm able to create my weekly blog.   This week I had nothing, nada, rien, zero, zilch.  It's been such a busy week, mainly because I've been trying to condense five days into three.  Yes, I know I only work four days but let's be honest ... that usually isn't the case (entirely my fault I hasten to add)!!  Anyway, my brain power was focused elsewhere so this week I've had blank blogitis. As someone who is boringly organised for the majority of the time, and likes to know what I'm doing and when, this was somewhat new territory.  H...