Monthly Archives: January 2015

Chasing Dreams

19 Monday Jan 2015

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Lets begin with a question.

If there is one thing you have always dreamed of doing and you knew you couldn’t fail at getting to achieve that dream what would it be?

I would like you to just think about that question for a second before you read on.

To get to achieve the things you would like you have to first of all think about your priorities.

What are your main priorities that you need to maintain in your life?

For me my priorities are:

– Being a mum and looking after my son.

– To provide for my family and support my husband

– To look after our home, and create a foundation to help us save towards a new home our dream home.

– To continue to look after myself and help those who need help and support more

What do I want to do that will help keep those things together, but will help me to focus on the things I want?

My dreams,

– To work from home so I can spend time with my son through his most important time of his life.

– Work Part-time to help support my husband, to go towards the things our son needs,  and things we need to keep our home in order, clean and tidy; whilst I work towards and fund my dreams to having a successful career and be a successful housewife.

– To have a career as a writer, create projects using my coaching skills to help further to build people’s confidence and helping communities who are in more need than me.

– A better financial situation for myself.

So far I have achieved 4 things. I now am working from home voluntarily as a blog writer and published my first book last year, and since first writing this blog, I have written my first ever novel “A Lonely Walk to Happiness” available at http://www.amazon.co.uk 

And I am now writing my third book and this year got my first freelance writing job. Writing for someone else.

I coached a local youth football team, 2 in fact and now want to use that to eventually help people in communities to build better life skills and use sport and fitness like it did for me to form better relationships with people through learning about team work and to help support families in need and help to build their confidence about themselves.

I then began making Vlogs to help people who have self confidence issues on YouTube and I already do fundraising through doing charity runs and walks. My Youtube channel has grown since first writing this blog, and now share part of my world in videos too. Sharing my life as a working parent and my many interests, and loves.

My Youtube channel is: https://www.youtube.com/user/cazzacheers1

I have been working part time for 2 years now.

There is still a lot I need to put into achieving the rest, but I know with my persistence, strength and beliefs I will do all the things on my current dreams list.

What helps me to achieve the things I want is by visualising. I imagine that I have already achieved the goal, what I felt, my appearance, the colour of the image, how I am dressed, standing and what I can smell, to make me feel as is it has actually happened. Visualising dreams can help you see clearly what it is you want. There is no point getting into a car without knowing where you want to go. You should always have a destination.

Visualising your dreams will help to train the brain to send those positive signals, that produce endorphin’s that give you excitement, happiness, peace and belief. When you see the image of the dream you want to create for real, write it down into your dreams book (or whatever notebook you use).

In the picture what is it you see?

How did you get there?

When a castle was built it would have taken many men, but it would have been from one persons visualisation that helped create it into reality. It would have been from an image in someone’s mind to create the picture of the castles you see on our lands today. It would have taken weeks and months, probably several years to build, but it took ones persons image to produce that dream for real. They may have had to tweak or change the original image as it was being built, due to the land, the materials used and any laws they had back then to when they were built but it would have been from one persons imagination to begin with to create that structure. They would have had to draw it out, describe it to their fellow men, and they may not have agreed or even may have had to convince people of building these magnificent attractions which still sit on our lands today. However these magnificent creations did become a reality, and were built and completed no matter what challenges were faced.

Castles are made up of pieces put together to create a frame and structure so it stands correctly so it doesn’t fall down. I bet there were days when they first started, where they began to have doubts when creating such huge landmarks.

Doubts are normal they are what helps us to weigh up the pros and cons, but what you need to do is not allow the doubts to hold you back. Address the doubts, what is that is saying are you sure? Ask yourself what if someone else takes that dream you want away from you, how would that make you feel?

  • Do you want to be the best at what your already currently good at now?
  • Or do you want to do something completely different?
  • How would you feel if someone else tried to take your ideas you have worked on to build their life?
  • If you want to do something completely different would you be willing to start from the beginning again, at the bottom to work your way back up to the other path you wish to take on, in your life?
  • Going back to the question I asked at the beginning, if you knew you couldn’t fail at achieving the dreams you want what would it be? What steps would you take?
  • What are your main priorities?

The people or things in your life that you would put your neck on the line for and you are not willing to give up, those are the priorities to help you give yourself and them the life you want and to make your life and theirs even better.

Why do I want to do the dreams I have chosen?

The most important people in my life are my son and husband. I want to support my husband emotionally, to help bring up our son and financially.

The important thing in my life is my home where I live with my husband and son.

I want to help build a better life and future for myself, but also for my son and husband. I want to give my son the best start in life, but also invest in his future, should he want to take up a sport, or other interest and when he is a lot older if he wants to go onto college and university. Those choices that my son will make in his life I want him to be able to make without worrying about money. I am not saying that we will give our son everything he wants as I do think it is important that we still teach him the value of money and if there is something he wants he has to earn it and getting somewhere and being success includes putting in hard work. If he is naughty then we won’t be giving him what he wants. However I want to invest money that will help my son should the worst thing happen and I am no longer able to be there for my little boy.

I know that there is more out there for me but I have got to put the time, focus and commitment in for me to get to see what else I can have in my life. The same for yourself you can have the things you want in life but you have got to earn, commit, keep focus and not allow any challenges stand in your way.

Think about these words Earn it, keep it and invest it.

Set out your dreams, visualise and plan. Know your priorities and take on any challenges and doubts, address your doubts use these to push you on. Know where you want to go think about being in a car and as your driving you are  watching your life play out from your current life to your future, where do you want to be, what do you want to be doing, who do you want to be there?

You may on your way have to turn off as like life there may be a closed road or something may have occurred and so you are now needing to choose a different direction, but there will always be another route, and if you really want to get to that dream and the thing you have always wanted then you will get there.

I wish you good luck and never stop believing in yourself.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

Feeling good about yourself

14 Wednesday Jan 2015

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Low self esteem isn’t something you are born with but is something that is triggered by someone or something, it can lead to other psychological problems. In terms of myself it was,

  • Comparing myself to others
  • Bullying
  • Not feeling comfortable when my body began to change as I became a teenager

It took me a while for me to accept myself, and even struggled when I got married and wouldn’t watch my wedding video or pictures of myself at my mums wedding because of the way I felt about myself. I knew I couldn’t continue to feel this way, and so I began to make changes in my life, as I didn’t want to look back in my 70’s should I reach that age, knowing that all I did is feel bad about myself. The changes had to come from me. To do that I began learning from others using tools and exercises to get in touch with my positive feelings and side of the brain. Instead of wanting to do something I started to do it, such as exercise and taking up walking long distances and running.

I got back into writing and blogging, where I did another blog about building self confidence which was called Building self confidence- Feeling like the ugly duckling. I began to educate myself about food, as I needed to change the way I saw food and my relationship with it. I had to take myself out of my comfort zone, and do things that I have always thought “I would love to do that one day” to “I am going to do that”. I remember one May in 2006 watching the London Marathon and thinking instead of saying I will do this one day I am going to do it, and I applied for the 2007 London Marathon, however didn’t manage to get a place, but I have been trying ever since. I had to stop running for a while when I became pregnant, however I have not stopped wanting to do this and I hope to finally get to do the Virgin London Marathon in the next couple of years.

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I have since done other events, and still do them even after having my son and completed a Personal Best last in July 2015, when I did the British London 10K which I also did the year after, and completed another Personal Best. In the same year of completing the London 10K the second time, I then in September of 2016, took on the Royal Parks Half Marathon.

Exercise has become my therapy and my love for walking has grown even stronger, it is so good for the mind and clearing out your thoughts and have done walks for charity and each year, doing the London Bridges walk for Garden House Hospice.   

This year 2016 on the 10th September I completed a 25KM walk, to take on the Thames Path Challenge. 

I started off when I had a day off from work in the week because I was working at the weekend I would go for walks around London and walked one day from Wimbledon to Tower Bridge, and I used to when I worked in Kingston, walk from Kingston to Wimbledon and then Kingston to Epsom.

The walks weren’t always easy, there were hurdles sometimes in the way, diversions, or under passes which I am dubious about walking through and toilet breaks, fatigue can set in so you have to boost up your hydration and energy levels, but when I saw the finishing line, example when walking to Tower Bridge it gave me such a boost and looking back now it was like travelling through life.

Life has many paths and tunnels, and it is the paths and tunnels we choose to take that will help us to take the next stage in our lives. There will be challenges, and hurdles. However if you focus on the goal you want and take on the challenges, but continue to be determined and committed you can achieve the things you want in your life that will help you feel good about yourself and will help bring you happiness.

  • It is OK to say I want to change the way I look, but ask yourself why?
  • What is the real reason why you want to make this change?
  • Is it because of someone else or for yourself?

Asking the right questions will give you the right answers.

I knew the reason why I wanted to get fit was because I wanted to change the image I saw in the mirror by changing my lifestyle, getting in touch with my thoughts and produce the endorphin’s I needed. It did help me smile and realise what I could accomplish and what I do like about myself.

I have legs that can help me achieve goals that I never thought I could, a mind that can create ideas, hands that can help me to be creative and write and can use to exercise too, such as weight lifting. I have learned too cook new meals, met new people, I have been told I have a wonderful smile and people get a buzz from me when I am fully enjoying myself and happy

Another key thing in building yourself self confidence about yourself is learning to see why you have the family you do and what they see, and your friends’ Why you bring happiness to them?

When you feel negative that is all you see, you don’t see the positive. You will always focus on the negative “I don’t feel good about myself” so you need to change the view you are seeing. See what people see in you, take yourself out of you to see the good within you.

Watching This Morning yesterday they had The Speakmans on who specialise in Schema Conditioning Psychotherapy they were helping people who were lacking low self-esteem and they did an exercise where by they asked a couple of women who were suffering from low self-esteem to look at themselves in the mirror and tell them what (The Speakmans) they saw and thought about themselves. As these women were talking, Eva Speakman wrote down and got a stranger to read back to these ladies of what they thought about themselves.

Then they asked the ladies to think about the person who they loved and who loved them back what they would say about them and again Eva Speakman wrote this down and got them to read these comments back to themselves and then look at themselves again. Doing this exercise made them refocus their thoughts and get in touch with their positive side of the brain.

That is what you need to do is change your focus by doing these types of exercises and making lifestyle changes, writing down how you feel, looking at a time when you did feel happy about yourself or of a memory that makes you smile, expand that image and play it in your head as if it is a movie.

What was it back then that made you feel good about yourself or makes you smile? Write about this down.

Also as talked about in my first blog put all these in your dreams book or whatever you choose but in something you know you will keep and look back on, so when the negative thoughts creep back in, you can look at the positive images that you wrote about and remind yourself, you are beautiful and are special.

Creating a better image of yourself and thinking about what makes you happy, will help you to change the way you see yourself, and plan to get the life you want, and to look the way you want. You can feel good about yourself without making drastic changes, and if you want to make a change then you have the power to do so.

You just have to believe in yourself and go through what you do love at the moment about yourself and your life. Making a lifestyle change, learning to get in touch with your brain that sends you positive signals will help you to begin your journey into feeling good about yourself.

Please see ITV.com of the exercise The Speakmans did to help build self-esteem and I will be in my next blog writing about other tools, other changes and materials I have used to help feel good about myself.

I do not expect that the exercises and materials will work for everyone, however I know that they have helped me and can help others too.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie Challoner