Exercise

It’s been nearly 2 months since my last update, so I thought i’d add a little update on what’s been going on. I’ve been practicing swimming technique in the pool, ahead of my Coniston swimming challenge next year and it’s going well so far. I’ve still got a long way to go, but thankfully there are still a few months ahead to improve my technique and endurance. I have to say pool swimming has been harder to embrace than open water and i seem to have a bit of a chlorine allergy, resulting in a couple of days of constant sneezing and runny nose after each swim. I tried a nose-clip, having use one years ago, but it was hellish, so i’ll just need to deal with the chlorine and hope I get more used to it! I’ve not been doing so much OW swimming lately, but I have signed up to the Penguin Challenge again this year, and i’ve gone for the Artic level which means min. 2 x 250m swims, but 3000m overall each month from November to March. Whether i’ll manage that distance outside as it gets colder remains to be seen, but i’ll do my best, and if need be I can drop down to Gold (1000m a month).

I’ve also signed up to a 5k race in November, albeit I use the word race in its loosest sense! To get me there, i’ve joined the secret run club’s Getting Started program, which will get me to 5k, and i’ve been enjoying it so far. Last week I was away with work and just didn’t have the time to get the runs in, but this week i’ll be starting week 4 or 8. I joined a little bit late to hit that 5k by 5th November, but I shall get close to the distance the week before, then just wing it on the day, in good piratey fashion!

In terms of the gym, i’ve been doing really well and hitting more weekly sessions, really feeling the benefit, and enjoying the gym more…..until that week away with work where I got nothing done and feel like i’ve gone backwards. Sigh….

Health

…which brings me neatly to health. Always a struggle on the food front (since, well, forever), i’d lost half a stone, but a week away and far too many carbs, and i’m back to having lost 5lb! So no real progress there. I find it (and myself) endlessly frustrating but I shall keep going. One big change since my last post is that i’ve started taking HRT meds (hormone replacement therapy) as I’ve definitely reached that stage in a woman’s life where declining hormones are causing all sorts of issues. Nothing really bad, but I thought why wait another few years until things ARE really bad to start taking HRT, let’s start now and hopefully head some of the worst symptoms off at the pass. So far so good, I’m feeling the benefit, although it can take up to 3 months for it to fully kick in, so hopefully more positive changes to come. This week i’ve felt a bit rubbish with hormonal headaches again which I thought had gone, but apparently not. Hopefully this is a one off and back to no headaches next month.

In the last couple of weeks i’ve been reading and listening to two books which have been very eye opening and are leading me to make some changes. The first is Stolen Focus by Johann Hari which delves into all the various reasons why we can’t pay attention, and looks into 12 specific reasons why. Unsurprisingly, social media usage is a huge culprit, and off the back of that, i’ve decided to take a social media break from now for the rest of the year. The thought of it makes me slightly panicky, but also slightly relieved, so i’ll see how it goes. After i’ve posted this blog to Facebook of course! The second book which i’ve been listening to as an audiobook (and haven’t quite finished) is Ultra Processed People by Chris van Tulleken which is horrific and very eye opening. I mean we all know ultra processed foods (UPFs) aren’t good for us, but the data and info. in this book is quite terrifying. It’s made me realise just how much of it I eat when actually I thought I was pretty healthy (apart from the sugary food, which I knew wasn’t good), but actually it’s so much more pervasive, and the ‘odd’ oven ready meal i’m having because I can’t be arsed to cook is become more ‘often’ than ‘odd’, and I think it’s definitely contributing to my weight-loss issues. So i’m making some changes in that department and will report back on the impact in a few weeks.

Wealth

On the wealth front, I’ve managed to remain debt-free ever since I paid off my debt and my car a couple of years ago. I can technically say that because currently i’ve got nothing owing on my credit card. But the truth is, i’ve been spending far too much this last couple of years, and while i’m very lucky to have no debt, i’m not really making any in-roads into saving for a flat deposit either. I do have some savings, but they’ve pretty much remained static for a couple of years. I’m fully aware that i’m in a privileged position to even have savings in the middle of a cost of living crisis, so this isn’t a ‘woe is me’ post. It’s more that I know I could be doing a lot better, and by doing so, it’ll help with the food issue above too. By ‘doing better’ I mean making lots of little changes here and there which will mean spending a lot less. One of the things i’m doing is going back to using cash, that makes a huge difference in terms of curbing spending.

One of the changes I made last year was to take a pay cut to go down to a 4-day week, which was the best decision i’ve made. I didn’t reduce my pension contributions when I took the cut, and in fact I’ve increased them slightly. I was a bit late to the game with my pension, not really having paid into one until 10 years ago, so i’m trying to make up for lost time in the hope I don’t need to work until i’m 90. Paying so much into a pension means taking home a lot less and thus less to save for the deposit, but i’m playing the long game. In that sense i’m taking a bit of a calculated risk that while I likely won’t be able to afford to buy my own place for a few years (it’s ‘offers over’ on properties in Scotland so long story short i’ll need about an extra £15-20K on top of a 10% deposit to have a hope of buying something), by the time I take my pension out, I can use the 25% tax free element to pay off the mortgage, and retire before I’m too old and knackered to enjoy life, and still have enough to live off. (Note to self: I already feel old and knackered, so perhaps i’ve lost that one). It’s a risk, but I think it will pan out. I read a lot of blogs and whatnot from people who’ve not been earning crazy money and have still managed to gain financial independence and retire early, and while I might not make the ‘retire early’ bit, hopefully I can end up paying off my own mortgage one day instead of paying off someone else’s with exorbitant rent, and still afford to live. I reckon all the stuff I did to pay off my debt will help me in the future. I might do a separate post on all that again….

Anyway, i’ve waffled enough! So no more social media for a few months, but i’ll post an update here. Not sure who will see it, but posting it for myself as much as anything! Feel free to follow the blog if you’re interested, then you’ll get a notification if I post again.

Take care folks!