April, For Me

TL:WR: April was full of big cheesy smiles like this one…

April, For Me
πŸ“Œ Nottingham, UK

MAIN HIGHLIGHTS

SELF-DEVELOPMENT

RECOGNITION

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

  • πŸ’ͺ🏼 I completed the Grace Fit Guide 3 this month! I’ve successfully done all her guides since July last year (I did GFG 1 + 2 twice), I’ve enjoyed adapting her guide into my workout routine! But now I want to switch up things again – since I’ll be mostly revising for my final exams over the next month I’ve decided to go back to FitnessBlender workout programmes (my final week of GFG was mostly adapted to a home work out because of revision life)
    I’ll be starting their FB Strong programme and work my way through their new ones until I feel like switching again. I also think I need a “detox” from the “build your bootay!!!!!” mindset to more about my health (I talked about this in my previous roundup.)
  • 🍏 Most of the month, I did the 16/8 hours intermittent fasting!
  • πŸ€ΈπŸ»β€β™€οΈ I continued going to Hot Yoga weekly
  • πŸ’° Bought some new gym gear (*cough* Gymshark *cough*) and upgraded my FitBit Blaze to the new Versa (which is basically my hex code! πŸ˜‰)

LIFE, WORK AND UNIVERSITY

  • β˜€ THE SUN CAME OUT! Even if it was for 2 days, it was something. πŸ˜†
  • πŸ“š I’ve had my head down revising for my final exams this summer. I’ve been pretty productive – quite pleased with myself!
  • πŸ’€ As part of my Anatomy module, I did a facial reconstruction!
  • β˜• Awesome catch ups
  • πŸ’» I attended TechEdge organised by Sky Betting & Gaming as part of the Leeds Digital Festival this month. It was a fantastic event – I learnt a lot about the cloud! ☁
  • πŸ‘€ Some exciting news coming up!

BLOG

  • πŸ“ Most of my posts this month have been about tech and community: everything I gained from Code First: Girls, my experience at inspireWIT and my favourite health and wellness apps. Sadly, there was no Inspiring Figures post this month but keep an eye out for next month!

FEATURES

VIDEOS
I created a trailer initally for my YouTube channel but I thought it fit in with my blog (so I’ve put it on my “About” page too) Fun to make and edit! πŸ™ŒπŸΌ


3 THINGS I AM HAPPY ABOUT

1️⃣ Focus

Last month, my main goal was to keep my head down and study for my upcoming summer exams. I’m happy that I organised my time well over Easter to make sure I covered all of my Spring semester content to date and complete my assignments on time. πŸ€—

This academic year has been one of the busiest! I’ve been mastering the art of balancing health, community work, online work, my part-time jobs all the while trying graduate. This term, I’ve focused more on the last stretch of my academic work – to the point that I’ve had said “no” to some opportunities (even though it was SO difficult, believe me) But I’m going to make these last few weeks count!

2️⃣ Flexibility Progress

Back in my “year goals” I said that I wanted to improve my flexibility and mobility – mainly because I know (from extensive nights of studying Human Anatomy 😜) my body is a lot more capable than the stiff sitting down position but it’s been conditioned this way because of years of spending hours working/studying at a desk.

I was inspired by the BodyWeight warrior and have been implementing some of his routines into my own. I particularly wanted to try and do a handstand! After months of practice, I DID MY FIRST HANDSTAND this month! My yoga teacher pointed out that my main problem is fear because I am “stronger than I think” – I’ve been practising every day since and although I can’t hold it for more than a few seconds, I did it! It’s getting less and less scary. πŸ€ΈπŸ»β€β™€οΈ

Flexibility update: it still sucks. But I’m pushing through the suck!

3️⃣ Recognition

This month I’ve been especially happy about recognition of my community and online work in tech and entrepreneurship within my university and communities I’m a part of! I’m very thankful for everyone who has stepped forward, supported me and nominated me for awards, it only encourages me to continue doing what I’m doing – creating bigger, more positive impacts (the ultimate life goal!)

It’s such an honour to stand alongside such wonderful women as well – grateful πŸ’–


April IN PHOTOS

All the selfies, community love and #mattline love! πŸ’–
All the selfies, community love and #mattline! πŸ’–

#Pawsitivity🌠

I have a lot of pawsitive favourites this month, but this one has brightened my duller days. It has helped remind me to stay focused on my dreams even if people around me doubt it or ridicule my passions! Afterall, my dreams are my dreams, nobody elses.

Thanks for the tweet, Patricia! You can read my experience giving a talk at inspireWIT here.


MONTHLY FAVOURITES

πŸ’ͺ🏼 HEALTH & WELLNESS

  • Fitbit Versa in Lavender and Rose Gold – it’s my purple, it’s so much lighter than my previous Blaze (sometimes I forget it’s even there πŸ˜†), it has Clue integration and awesome apps I have access to on my wrist!
  • New fitness gear:
  • New water bottle (THE BEST ONE IN THE WORLD 😱) i.e. the Camelbak Chute Magnet Bottle – it’s insulated so your hot drinks stay warm and cold drinks stay cold (which has been amazing for Hot Yoga) I got mine in Purple because me.

🎧 MUSIC
It’s probably no secret how much I love HONNE… Here’s a track they released recently, I haven’t stopped listening!

πŸ“š BOOKS

  • “The 7 habits of highly effective people: powerful lessons in personal change” by Stephen Covey – I’ll be writing about this book more in a future post. I recommend it to anyone who wants to cultivate better habits into their lives! You can grab it here – it is available on paperback and on Kindle.

πŸŽ™ PODCASTS

  • Adulting by The Tiny Tank – such a refreshing, relatable, motivating podcast! It’s a fun podcast I’ve been listening to alongside tasks / walking to uni that covers the struggles of adulting from finances, friendships to periods! Highly recommend it to millennials ✨

πŸ“±APPS

  • Brandon recommended Astro for emails! It’s helped me filter out noise from all the emails I get, only bringing the important ones to my attention. Less noise = more productivity. It also has your calendar integrated and sends you weekly emails from the Astro Bot to help ensure you’re always on top of your important emails (because let’s be honest with ourselves, we’ve all read emails and accidentally haven’t actioned them!)

πŸ‘“ ARTICLES & TALKS


NEXT MONTH

⚑ I WILL…

  • Continue my self-care routine – especially meditation when I start feeling overwhelmed (which has been pretty dominant this month)
  • Get more sleep!
  • Continue revision grind – it’s the final leap! πŸƒπŸ»β€β™€οΈ

🎫 EVENTS

  • Did someone say J.P Morgan?
  • Exams begin – let’s do this πŸ’ͺ🏼

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“We are responsible for our own effectiveness, for our own happiness, and ultimately, I would say, for most of our circumstances. Samuel Johnson observed: ‘The foundation of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove’”

– Stephen Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Habit 1: Be Proactive

8 responses to “April, For Me”

  1. So happy for you! Looks like a great month and amazing results!

    1. Thanks for reading Cailin!

  2. I LOVE your video! You are so fun to watch and it makes us feel like we know you better. I’m also convinced I need a Versa now haha. I’m always blown away by how much you get done in a month. Keep trekking through those exams, you’re almost there!
    I feel ya on the need to detox from the ‘booty booty booty’ mindset. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s about feeling good and being strong. Not all of us were born with THE booty and that’s okay!
    Can’t wait to see what May has in store for you!

    Susie | http://milehighdreamers.com

    1. Aww, super glad you liked the video Susie! Thank you for your comment πŸ€—

      Haha! The versa is so beautiful – loving it so far πŸ˜‰

  3. The fitbit looks good and I like that shade of purple too.

    1. I actually got it because of the shade of purple – it’s my favourite!

  4. Sounds like another busy, but awesome month for you! You should be proud (as always)! That water bottle looks awesome too…though I have WAY too many cups and water bottles. XD

    1. Haha, same! I decided to finally invest in a quality bottle and so this is the last bottle I will be purchasing πŸ˜‰ (keep my word for it!)

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