The Adventure of 2019
Happy New Year one and all! For my first blog post of 2020 I thought I'd take a look back at 2019, specifically my 2019.
I began the year with a challenge, to walk one thousand miles over the course of 2019. These had to be 'boots on' miles, i.e. miles I walked when specifically going out walking rather than counting up the distance I walk. I always knew it would be a challenge but one I had the potential to achieve. Unfortunately I only managed 946 miles over 2019. I say 'only' but it's still a hell of a lot and probably more than I'd have managed had I not attempted the challenge.
It became clear towards the end of November that I was going to fall a little way short of the total and I did worry I'd see it as a failure and be hard on myself at the end of the year. I'm certainly disappointed but actually walking that far is still a good achievement. I also get so much joy from being outside, partly because I get clean air and vitamin D and also because I find walking somewhere quiet to be almost like meditation for me.
I am going to attempt the challenge again in 2020 because I know that getting in an extra fifty-four miles shouldn't be a great push. I'm also going to be doing a twenty-six mile charity walk in September and preparing and doing that will certainly push my mileage up. I'll discuss the trek in greater detail closer to the time but you can get the general info on it on my Justgiving page.
Preparing for this walk will hopefully aid me in my goal to get a bit healthier this year. Though I could certainly do more exercise I don't feel I'm particularly sedentary- my big problem is eating. On a general day to day level it could certainly do better but most of my meals are fairly healthy. I do need to cut out the unhealthy snacks I eat, especially on workday evenings where I have a habit of tackling my tiredness with biscuits.
The biggest issue though is that I am a binge eater. If I've had a difficult day then I will keep eating until I feel sick. Chocolate, biscuits, crisps, cheese, bread, whatever is in easy reach. The more you do it, the more you are able to eat until you can virtually strip out a kitchen's worth of food. It's all very well sitting here now saying I'm going to stop doing this but whether I have the self-control to not do this when I feel like I need to is a whole other challenge. I hope that by sticking to a healthy diet on a day to day basis that I'll quickly reach a point where I don't want to ruin that- we shall see.
I felt like I made great progress in 2019 in a lot of ways. My main goal for the year was to get through the HLTA qualification and make a decent job of the new role and I did that. It feels like such a big thing to be able to overcome my self-confidence issues and actually achieve something and be rewarded with an increase in responsibility and pay. I fear I'm always going to have self-doubt but I took a major step forward with it in 2019 and I'm so pleased about that.
Another think that helps is understanding my brain and in the last year I learned lots more about dyspraxia and the way it affects me. Finding dyspraxia Facebook groups where there's a whole community of people who have had similar experiences really made a difference. I made an effort to spread awareness of dyspraxia during the awareness week in October and I've never received such a positive reaction to something I'd written. I felt better understood my those that had read it and for the first time in my whole life I even had people offering support with dyspraxia-related things which felt incredible.
I also loved writing this blog more than ever in 2019. Rebranding to 'The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan' turned out to be fantastic as it ended up guiding me on what I want to write and I think I've written better stuff on the whole. I've also received so many great comments on social media and in the real world and it's been great to see people interacting so positively with what I write. I'm not always the best at responding, mainly because I find the praise embarrassing, but thank you to everyone who have said nice things and I want you to know that I really appreciate it. All this has helped me to be more open and honest before and I feel like you really get the real me now.
So, here we are in 2020. At the moment it looks to be a daunting year with both professional and personal challenges to come. For perhaps the first time in my adult life though I feel that I can despite the difficulties I may face, I can probably cope with it all.
Thank you so much for reading throughout 2019 and I hope you continue to ride along with the dysfunctional journey that is my life.
I began the year with a challenge, to walk one thousand miles over the course of 2019. These had to be 'boots on' miles, i.e. miles I walked when specifically going out walking rather than counting up the distance I walk. I always knew it would be a challenge but one I had the potential to achieve. Unfortunately I only managed 946 miles over 2019. I say 'only' but it's still a hell of a lot and probably more than I'd have managed had I not attempted the challenge.
It became clear towards the end of November that I was going to fall a little way short of the total and I did worry I'd see it as a failure and be hard on myself at the end of the year. I'm certainly disappointed but actually walking that far is still a good achievement. I also get so much joy from being outside, partly because I get clean air and vitamin D and also because I find walking somewhere quiet to be almost like meditation for me.
I am going to attempt the challenge again in 2020 because I know that getting in an extra fifty-four miles shouldn't be a great push. I'm also going to be doing a twenty-six mile charity walk in September and preparing and doing that will certainly push my mileage up. I'll discuss the trek in greater detail closer to the time but you can get the general info on it on my Justgiving page.
Preparing for this walk will hopefully aid me in my goal to get a bit healthier this year. Though I could certainly do more exercise I don't feel I'm particularly sedentary- my big problem is eating. On a general day to day level it could certainly do better but most of my meals are fairly healthy. I do need to cut out the unhealthy snacks I eat, especially on workday evenings where I have a habit of tackling my tiredness with biscuits.
The biggest issue though is that I am a binge eater. If I've had a difficult day then I will keep eating until I feel sick. Chocolate, biscuits, crisps, cheese, bread, whatever is in easy reach. The more you do it, the more you are able to eat until you can virtually strip out a kitchen's worth of food. It's all very well sitting here now saying I'm going to stop doing this but whether I have the self-control to not do this when I feel like I need to is a whole other challenge. I hope that by sticking to a healthy diet on a day to day basis that I'll quickly reach a point where I don't want to ruin that- we shall see.
I felt like I made great progress in 2019 in a lot of ways. My main goal for the year was to get through the HLTA qualification and make a decent job of the new role and I did that. It feels like such a big thing to be able to overcome my self-confidence issues and actually achieve something and be rewarded with an increase in responsibility and pay. I fear I'm always going to have self-doubt but I took a major step forward with it in 2019 and I'm so pleased about that.
Another think that helps is understanding my brain and in the last year I learned lots more about dyspraxia and the way it affects me. Finding dyspraxia Facebook groups where there's a whole community of people who have had similar experiences really made a difference. I made an effort to spread awareness of dyspraxia during the awareness week in October and I've never received such a positive reaction to something I'd written. I felt better understood my those that had read it and for the first time in my whole life I even had people offering support with dyspraxia-related things which felt incredible.
I also loved writing this blog more than ever in 2019. Rebranding to 'The Adventures of Dysfunctional Dan' turned out to be fantastic as it ended up guiding me on what I want to write and I think I've written better stuff on the whole. I've also received so many great comments on social media and in the real world and it's been great to see people interacting so positively with what I write. I'm not always the best at responding, mainly because I find the praise embarrassing, but thank you to everyone who have said nice things and I want you to know that I really appreciate it. All this has helped me to be more open and honest before and I feel like you really get the real me now.
So, here we are in 2020. At the moment it looks to be a daunting year with both professional and personal challenges to come. For perhaps the first time in my adult life though I feel that I can despite the difficulties I may face, I can probably cope with it all.
Thank you so much for reading throughout 2019 and I hope you continue to ride along with the dysfunctional journey that is my life.
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