• Life

February, For Me

Paddington Central, London
Paddington Central, London

Anddddd there goes the second month of the year. 😱

I know I said last month, I’d try and enjoy each day of my last semester as much as I could but my days have gone by in a flash that most days this month feels like a blur! Whilst writing this round-up, I can’t believe that I managed to squeeze so much into the month. Looking back at my calendar, I’m once again shocked by how much I’ve put on my plate.

So before we dive into a fresh new spring (supposedly) month, let’s look back at the last 28 days of February.

MAIN HIGHLIGHTS

HEALTH & WELL-BEING

  • 🧘🏻‍♀️At the end of January, I bought a 21 days Hot Yoga Membership. I’ve been attending at least once a week this month!
  • 💪🏼 I completed my second round of Grace Fit Guide (GFG) and bought Grace’s new guide. I’m really enjoying these guides because they always challenge me to up my weights.
  • 🏋🏻‍♂️I managed to fit going to the gym in between my lectures this month.
  • 🍚I started Intermittent Fasting last month but because of my schedule (working from 9am – 8pm 5 days a week), I had to stop. As I said in an update on my Instagram Stories, I will be looking to do it again when my schedule allows it.

BLOGS

PERSONAL

  • 🍴 I finally caught up with some friends this month. In the midst of my busy life, I often forget the benefits of sitting still and connecting with people close to me. I’m glad I made time for that this month, it was a great breather!
  • 💏 Matt and I celebrated our anniversary 🤗
  • 🎂 Matt turned 21 this month – showered him with love and food 💖
  • ❄ It’s still snowing??

UNIVERSITY

  • 📖 My second semester started! I’m enjoying most of my modules but still adjusting to the increased contact hours and lack of flexibility with all the other things going on like…

CAREERS

  • 👩🏻‍💼 I went to an interview this month and even got to the final round! I learnt a lot from the experience and excited to apply these learnings to future interviews.
  • 🏆 The National Employability Awards took place on the 23rd of this month, although I didn’t win, I made it to the top 5 in the “Best Intern” category and had the opportunity to listen and talk to the ever so inspiring, Ade Adepitan.
  • 🕸 Completed some heavy freelance web development projects in time for the deadline!

COMMUNITY

  • 👩🏻‍💻 The Code First: Girls community courses in Sheffield have begun again – we’re 5 weeks in already!! This is my final semester so I’m going to make the most of it!
  • 👩🏻‍🏫 I had an incredible opportunity to teach students how to code at the Vodafone UK office with Code First: Girls as a freelance instructor this month. It was super exciting and I’m proud to have been a part of it!
  • 👩🏻‍🔬 The MedTech Sheffield team have been working hard to make the HackMed hackathon happen… I’m very proud to be part of the organising team. You can check out the hype here.
  • 🎤 Confirmed my speaking gig on “Personal Development” at the Code First: Girls Northern Conference ✨

VIDEOS

  • 💖 Although I didn’t get the chance to film and edit a video this month, my SheNomads cut was released this month. I talk about work-life balance and what I do to stay on top of everything, check it out below:
  • 🎞 The University of Sheffield filmed me as part of an exciting project coming out early March. I’m getting used to talking to cameras 😎

3 THINGS I AM HAPPY ABOUT

1) #NUEAwards

The National Undergraduate Employability Awards is an award ceremony that celebrates the effort of employers working towards improving student employability and the impactful work of placement students across the UK.

Although I didn’t win my category as “Best Intern”, I was so thankful for being shortlisted (I felt like I won the moment I found that I was!) and made it to the Top 5 – competing with other incredible students across the country!

 

 

A post shared by Pauline P. Narvas ⚡️ (@paw.lean) on

The highlight of the awards ceremony for me was meeting Ade Adepitan, listening to his story of failure and how he got to chase after his dreams of playing sports despite his disability. At the end of his talk, I had the opportunity to talk to him and he gave me some tips on public speaking which I’ll be applying to future talks.

2) Joining Hot Yoga

Since I started my fitness journey in August 2016, I always tried to commit to doing yoga each week. Unlike weight lifting where I saw huge improvements in a couple of months, yoga kept sucking so sometimes I would skip it completely. But I made it a goal to make sure that I hit my yoga goals every week and this month has particularly been great! Joining Hot Yoga has been one of my best decisions this year so far – I’m feeling a lot more flexible already!

I also love the like-minded people I get to interact with during class and I’m enjoying the other meditative-focused classes. Joining Hot Yoga has helped me with feelings of overwhelm and burnout which is what I’ve been feeling a lot of recently (more on this in a future post!)

3) Teaching at Vodafone

Every time I deliver a Code First: Girls course, I learn something new whether that be a coding trick that I implement into my own personal projects or a new way of communicating a technical concept so that it’s easier to understand for students. My time at Vodafone was no exception – I left with an insight of the best ways to teach a mixed class (in terms of ability, age and gender) how to code.

It was not only a rewarding experience for the students who built their own web page in a few hours but for me as an instructor too!

February IN PHOTOS

💙

MONTHLY FAVOURITES

HEALTH & WELL-BEING

  • 💙 I always talk about how much I love the Calm app, but this month I’ve especially been thankful for it. There were numerous moments of anxieties, feelings of overwhelm and sleeplessness that was overcome by a simple tap on my phone. If you’re having troubles with anxiety, stress or sleep-deprivation I cannot recommend Calm enough.
  • 💜 My new purple Yoga Mat
  • ☁ MoodNotes – An app that I’ve been using to help track my mood and mind “traps” I fall in, superb for my mindfulness journey.
  • ⚖ I bought a FitBit smart scale – I’ve enjoyed tracking my weight, body fat % and BMI every morning. I can’t wait to see the changes over time!

MUSIC

NEXT MONTH

⚡ I WILL…

  • 💕FOCUS ON SELF-CARE. Unfortunately, this started slipping in February because of the pressures of everything but my main goal next month is to break down tasks that overwhelm me into small manageable amounts, not to overcommit and to SLOW DOWN because I deserve it.

🎫 EVENTS

QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“Someday you will look back and know exactly why it happen.” ✨

PN in Greek

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