Category Archives: Everyday living

Getting Away From Screens

31 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in Everyday living, Friendships and relationships, having bad days, health and wellbeing, journal, life coaching blog, Living, Personal Development, Planning 2026, Positive Habits, Summer Project, Weekly posts

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I have been having less screen time. A few weeks ago I had a migraine and I just needed to take a break. So now I am having less time on my phone, laptop and TV.

Yes I do watch Youtube but the holidays have helped me get off my phone, get off my laptop and not watching TV all day and just read and been doing my Wordsearch. I found a good one that has 365 wordsearch book and still with Youtube but to listen to and go for walks, play sports and just having some good holiday fun and it is only been the first week. I like how we explore and focus on just having days out and try different places to eat, would like to have a picnic whilst we are away. Having Mother and Son days and including his father.

Visiting London it seemed that we have become an unsociable city with people on their phones and laptops. Except a few people who knew each other and must have met up were chatting, but people not chatting with strangers. I like a coffee shop and there are a good place to socialise. So we will go to a coffee shop, go swimming and tomorrow we are going to the cinema which is a big screen but we have had a full on couple of days and been a while so is an end of the week treat.

I just wrote a blog about how being a parent has kept me fit: https://getfitgetactivewithme.blogspot.com/2026/07/how-being-parent-has-kept-me-fit.html We are off out next week and be our first mother and son holiday and been a summer of firsts. We did the Guilfest. I like going to see bands play. I love a theatre show and each year we see at least one show per holiday. Not planned one this time, but is on the list of things I still would like to do before the Summer Holidays are over.

My son will be travelling on a Ferry and first time visiting the Isle of Wight and its good to take a break from being online all of the time. I love seeing live events and just make the most of the time I have on this earth to forget my phone, but have in case of an emergency, but not be looking down, paying attention to pings and have good quality time with my son.

When I am on the laptop and my son is on his tablet, when we are at home I will journal and do my wordsearch. We don’t take our devices out unless away and won’t have the TV on. We will play out in the garden and I love to hand write. Why I love journaling and love a notebook to plan. I like to listen to music but sometimes now I realise that it is good on some days to write with silence.

Enjoying the outdoors always does me a world of good. I do get a bit annoyed. Today in the Café after playing tennis this woman kept moving her chair and so was squashed in. Yesterday it was Cyclists and just daily annoyances but do try to stay happy and not allow people who aren’t nice, stop me from having a good day.

It beats being online all the time and meeting friends. I find it rude when your having a meal and they’re on their phone constantly. I want conversation and full attention and scroll but not to the point they’re not engaging. I like a good natter and just a good old fashioned catch up and keeping my phone in my bag, paying full attention with friends because we don’t see each other a lot now.

Yes phones keep in contact. I use Facebook to wish someone a happy birthday and what they’ve been up to but not all the time and was at one point checking my phone every 5 minutes and being on my phone all day. I would watch Youtube when I should be getting my son ready for school and so I spend less time and it has made a difference and just be with the world. Travel on he bus or train, looking out of the window or chatting and we will see what number buses we can see, if we see planes flying over or helicopters and I love it. I’d rather be having a coffee watching the world go by, rather being on my phone or laptop. Its amazing what you see and so when not on devices.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Dealing With An Overactive Mind

24 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in Everyday living, having bad days, health and wellbeing, Personal care, Personal Development, Summer Project, Weekly posts

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Something I have fought with since a kid. As soon as I’d hit my pillow my mind would switch on and it would be hard to switch it off.

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I now take medication to help, I do watch or listen to something on my phone, but I also read. I tried not being on my phone all the time but I love to listen to the radio or BBC Sounds and been watching the World Cup when in bed as I don’t have a TV in my bedroom. However to quieten the mind I will make sure I brush my teeth, have a cup of tea or hot chocolate anything that helps with relaxation and winter time a nice hot bath.

What does Google say about an overacting mind: it’s usually just your brain stuck in “problem-solving mode” or dealing with an activated nervous system.

It can trigger anxiety if you fear your home. I lived on ground floor of a block of flats in an Housing Estate as a child and was scared of someone breaking into my room or if I had watched something scary on TV, a news headline or if I had a bad day.

I dream a lot. It can be varied on what and when I started to have really bad nightmares I would try and stay awake. This can trigger the mind of resisting to sleep and there are clinics you can go to and tried many different medications but the one I take now is the one that really helps, it is Haloperidol and it does have side effects, but I take another medication to lower the side affects and sleep through the night and feel better for it.

Get medical help. Not sleeping is exhausting and I felt sick with tiredness because I could lay awake all night and at one point I didn’t sleep for a whole week because of my mind being active. Yes it can be trauma that causes that. It became a habit that has taken a lot to change. I am not one that can sleep for too long. I find it makes me feel rotten by doing so and insomnia is hard to kick. This can cause overthinking and 5 to 7 hours is enough for me and not going to bed too early. I find this can trigger my overactive mind and wake up at midnight, so then I find I can’t get back to sleep. I do sleep in a bit at the weekends but I am still awake early.

Letting my Overactive mind run whilst walking helps. It is good to just let the thoughts flow out of my body and a good walk does that for me. I also like to work in silent some days and sleep in silence. The temperature of a room. The heat has got to me and can trigger my thoughts. A nice cool shower and a wet flannel on my body can help and listening to a podcast, he said that just feeling good in bed, helps and just listening to something and reading is my main sauce of helping my mind be quiet and sleep.

I do think it is heredity because my mum is the same and my Nan (my mums mum) and my mum did used to sleep in until she had me and my brother, but wonder if this is due to taking ages to get to sleep because of having an overactive mind.

Put a Yes me in the comments if you have gotten to the end of this blog and if you relate. You can use the comment box below. It would like your point of view and helps me in knowing that my blogs are helpful.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Pick out the Good not the bad

17 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in Celebrating, Everyday living, having bad days, health and wellbeing, life coaching blog, Living, Personal Development, Summer Project, Weekly posts

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When it comes to how we feel about the way we feel or had a bad day and you can’t stop thinking about it write about it. This will help to make sense of what happened and what would make you feel better. I had a Migraine a couple of days ago and it really hit me hard so I decided to take a break from screens and wet to bed and now limit my screen time.

Picture from the Guilfest

If I have made a mistake when doing radio, I go over what I would do differently and what I have learned.

I learned in my last show to create some scripts for introducing my show better and with cooking a meal that I did wrong. I tried to make a Carbonara but I didn’t make enough sauce so took note of that and know for the next time.

Address the bad and how will you turn it around?

We saw that the traffic was heavy going back to the A3 to get to Tolworth to go home so we went a different route and life is like that too. Still focus on the destination and workout how many ways you can get there. You may need to do a U-turn, but if you can still reach it. I was having issues with posting Youtube videos as my software kept crashing so I thought well I have my phone so film on that now and use the software to edit videos for Youtube on my phone and I am getting so much enjoyment from that. I have no schedule and like being sporadic as I will plan but like today I wanted to do some cleaning I write it down but say Clean One Area and that instantly makes me do it. Lower the pressure and how can you make everyday yours and get much more out of your life. I went to the Guilfest and it was crowded and flying ants and I was a bit dubious and it meant moving away from that area and when we returned it was fine and I thought no I am going to enjoy it no matter what is swarming and just move away. We got a drink, found the toilets and so my anxiety faded and I didn’t want to spoil it for my son as he’s favourite band was playing and why I booked it and next time take chairs and get there earlier perhaps move and gave us a chance to look around. I do feel it needed more organisation because people were scattered all over the place and I may pay the extra year and pay for the VIP section.

My laptop crashed and luckily have been able to use my husbands laptop and now hand write books I want to publish and use Google Doc and so learned not to save everything on my husband’s laptop on Word but google docs I can use it via another laptop as many of my book ideas have gone and so not to rely on technology and go analogue still. If I use a notebook and write out a its less likely to go missing.

So I now make the bad into good by thinking of what went well and how could it be better next time.

Evaluate like you would in an accident. Is it safe? Did anyone get harmed? could it have been a dangerous situation?

Are you still breathing? Was it that bad now you have answered those questions?

I laugh now when my dad would say there are doobie noshes after us as he would say when walking from the entertainment venue to our caravan where we used to holiday and it was great fun. I take so much from that. I loved family holidays and being with a mixture of people. Yes I got sick on holiday and my nan did, but we still had fun and enjoyed those times and I love the things we do now.

We still went for a drive like we do each weekend, we had a nice breakfast and with my migraine going to take more care when it comes to screens and do things away from a screen like having a sort out, read or now I like to watch a bit of the World cup and the tennis.

Today continuing this blog sorted out my sons toy cupboard in the living room and put it off but glad that was done.

It helps to shape your life, check this blog: Shaping Your Life

I hope you find this blog helpful and please share if you have any tips too of dealing with the Good and the bad. You can leave a comment below.

Please check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Re-Direct Your Life

15 Wednesday Jul 2026

Posted by in Everyday living, Goal setting, health and wellbeing, life coaching blog, Living, Personal Development, Planning 2026, Summer Project, Weekly posts

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There are times where we have all gone down the wrong path. We have done things that we think “I shouldn’t have done that” but at the end of the day you did, but I can’t fix the past. We can learn, but you have to move on and redirection doesn’t have to be hard because it is good to try things out and we only learn by experience.

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Dealing with regrets. Instead of thinking about changing what we didn’t do or did do, what about if we looked at it, “No I didn’t do that but I did this instead”. I didn’t continue working with the Groundsman at Fulham FC and become the first professional Female Coach in the football leagues, but I did find a good job to build my experience even more and working with the groundsman got me ready to have a paid job. It taught me attention to detail, not having a sneaky cup of tea with the maintenance workers, being on time, completing jobs, following instructions, getting out of my comfort zone and having a routine.

Its not never too late. My mum went back into education and did a degree in her later years and now retired, but she went to night school and Lee Child didn’t start writing books until he was 40. Madonna singing career didn’t take off until she was in the 30s and Olivier Newton John, was Sandy playing a high school kid in her 30s. Is there anything more to say?

Write down what you are happy with. So I am happy that I now do morning walks, read in the morning and evening, workout through out the day and having my morning coffee. I get to play football with my son, I get to cook nice meals and I like to journal each day. So do I want to change that? Is your life best ever? Would you give your life a 10 or you feel miserable a 1? What would make a difference? Change can start anytime but you’ve got to do it for you.

Turn the noise off. If your finding constantly hard to function mentally turn it down. I like to listen to the rain and wrote a blog about it: https://mystylewayofliving.blogspot.com/2026/05/listening-to-rain-can-be-peaceful.html it can be just what you need to switch off from social media, emails and to gain sense and what will make you move forward not backwards.

Make plans. I love to plan. It is one of the things that lifts me and feel that I can make logical decisions and I always make sure I have something to do each day. It helps to redirect if the bus is late, that I planned to get and how else can I get where I want to be and if it will be a good thing or perhaps I should think of other options?

Go analogue. Yes I have a the Journal APP but love writing in a physical journal. I do use Notion, but sometimes I love to write it down because I find it goes in and tried planning my whole life on Notion, but it hasn’t really worked for me and my laptop died and so I had to sign in again and not able to view it on my phone because it used up the storage, so now I use a physical system, with Notion and it has helped with my memory and using google docs and so mainly use Notion for planning my yearly programmes. The Summer Project, Autumn and last year started Winter Wellness.

It is all about not feeling bad because something didn’t work out and that looking back is a trigger you need to re-direct and decide today to think about now to move forward. Forgive those that have hurt you. No longer holding on to possessions that trigger your negative emotions and just live a a life that suits you using the tips above. Not all may work but it is worth dipping your toe in to see and figure things out.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Weekly Cheat Sheet: Things You Can Do For Free

13 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Cheat sheet, Everyday living, Financial Living, Printables, Weekly posts

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Hello! It is the start of a new week and it has been good, seeing England win against Norway. Check out my Vlog of my weekend journeys I took. Coming back from my sons last tennis lesson, went to Wimbledon and went to see my niece in a show: https://youtu.be/DWEQmkkhgV4

This weeks Cheat Sheet is all about What You Can Do for Free. I like to walk to get fit that costs nothing. I like use Youtube to do some training and visiting museums and last year my son and I tried out Parkrun. This is free and not for us but may suit someone and it literally you go onto the Parkrun website and register and then your given a barcode to scan but it costs nothing. Perhaps my son and I will try in a few years time as I wasn’t fully prepared and didn’t feel it, but many kids and adults take part and there is a outdoors gym and so I wanted to share things you can do for free and my Cheat Sheets are free to download and print.

Good Things You Can Get for FreeDownload

I like to use APPs like Notes, Journal and The fitness APPs which are free and came with my phone and good to keep notes of blog ideas and just a back up and just use what can cost me nothing and save for the things I do want to pay for.

I post these every Monday ACCEPT BANK HOLIDAYS and I hope you enjoy them.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Experiencing Rejection

10 Friday Jul 2026

Posted by in Celebrating, Everyday living, Goal setting, having bad days, health and wellbeing, life coaching blog, Personal Development, Summer Project, Weekly posts

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I have gone for jobs where I it has been a disaster. I remember going to one and I said I’d looked at the website and it was obvious I hadn’t and yet I was so close in getting the job and they didn’t like the fact that I had turned up early, which now I am somewhat glad I didn’t get it. For me if I was running a company punctuality would be top of the list.

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I tried to apply to be a red coat a Butlins and I don’t even think my application had reached the time or day.

My first time I applied to work at Butlins I was rejected and applied again the year after and finally got a role and it was persistence that finally got me the chance to fulfil a childhood dream. My first holidays were staying on a holiday camp that we’d go to with our grandparents and I loved it.

Rejection is a good thing because it helps to see if this is what you want can happen, but if you really want it and what can you work on that will make you successful next time. I was desperate to get a role and auditioned for Haven, applied for Pontins and when I first left school I was rejected by gyms I had applied for as at school I did Leisure and Tourism and got the roll sending my C.V to football clubs as a Steward at Fulham Football club.

Never allow it to get you down. The famous writer Jojo Moyes first books she wrote were rejected. Kevin Keegan was told he was too small to play professional football when he trained at Liverpool as a kid until years later he was one of their top scorers. Only Fools and Horses was going to be scraped, the double act Cannon and Ball came last when they went on Opportunity Knocks and Les Dawson also did that show too and didn’t win.

Rejection can still lead you to opportunities. Mariah Carey trained for many years as a backing vocalist until she became an artist and was waitressing when she finally got noticed. Paula Abdul was chorographer before she had hits and was a dancer, before a singer.

Listening to Jojo Moyes speak on Davina McCall podcast, begin again proved that you should never give up and get to know your trade and enjoy the process. I like that I get to spend most of my days with my son, building my blog sites, working on books and Youtube videos when he is at school and just learning.

So never feel if you have been rejected that your dreams aren’t going to come true.

Be consistent and persistent.

Please check subscribe if you’d like to read more and if you’d like to check out my Youtube channel and subscribe there too. There is not cost then please do: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Weekly Cheat Sheet: Use Up What You’ve got

06 Monday Jul 2026

Posted by in Cheat sheet, Everyday living, Financial Living, Living, Planning 2026, Printables, Weekly posts

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Hello! I am recovering from taking my son to the Guilfest and then watched the football so am slowly waking up.

I am conscious of what I have to use up and I do a list each week of what has be used from food and check my skincare and toiletries to make sure I use them up before buying more or running low on like Hand washes as we use them daily, I have sanitary products, shower gels and just keeping stock of what I have in my home and it helps be inventive like I have sow on badges to put on my rucksack I often use and a pair of jeans to give them a bit more character and with cooking what I can use it for and what I have in my fridge.

So this Cheat Sheet is tips on using on Using Up What You’ve got.

Use Up What You’ve Got (1)Download

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Start Planning Your Goals Today for 2026

29 Monday Jun 2026

Posted by in Cheat sheet, Everyday living, Goal setting, having bad days, health and wellbeing, Living, Personal Development, Planning 2026, Printables, Weekly posts

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So I was going through my google docs as there are some that I created and never used and came across this one. It is a goals template I had created for 2020 so used it and thought I’d share it with you too.

goals printable for 2026Download

These are free to download and print. I post them every Monday except on bank holidays.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Its Good to Start over

26 Friday Jun 2026

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My dad used to say “When one door closes another one will open” and it has stayed with me. My dad was severely hurt in around the 90’s and he lost part of his memory and doesn’t remember what happened to him. He kept leaving the hospital because he thinking he had to go to work and it was a tough time. He couldn’t work for a while and it was so hard when your life gets swept under your feet.

One of my Uncle’s who worked on ships, sailing around the world had a nasty stroke and it was heart breaking.

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They had to start over. It taught me a valuable lesson to not sit around waiting and do the things you want, even if you have to start over and my dad had a good life, but it took a while for him to recover. He had a lot of friends and the became like a second family and eventually his memory returned, but still unaware of what happened, and I am going to keep the rest private but he had to get used to not working for a bit, because he was a window cleaner and would be high up sometimes to clean windows and with a head injury you can get after effects from the trauma and my uncle had to learn how to use a wheelchair, live in a Care Home and so you have to keep going however hard it is to live. It taught me to not sit on your arse all day and go out.

I ended up in a Mental Health hospital and it was the best thing because I got my life together. I now made up with friends and family and now I work voluntary work for my hospital’s local radio, been to concerts and festivals and my son does sports clubs which has helped me to meet people and doing more now than I have ever done. That doesn’t mean that’s it. I want to build my income, take my son to different places and live life like it could end tomorrow and go for a walks, play a certain song in the morning, have a good breakfast and just live.

You have to get out there. My habit that I have that I have had to stop is to to jump in with both feet to stop being overwhelmed and not commit to too many things and so manage my time better and be realistic in my decisions, but not wait around but do the things I want to do. I am learning a lot like never before. I journaling everyday, read, write books and take my son to different places and I still get annoyed at things. I am human but I am learning to stop being bothered by past events, someone not saying thank you when I have done a good deed and just feel good. I can still be pessimistic, like England’s football matches and the world cup 2026, but do that out of hopefully being surprised and hoping, but not expecting too much and just be more present. I could day dream all day and would switch off as I found reality hard. Now I enjoy living each day as it comes with planning and creating projects, writing and spending time with my son.

When my mind wonders to the past I now will try to change what I think about. I can’t mend the past but celebrate it. I can’t fix arguments but I can forgive and as you get old your mindset changes anyway, you do get wiser when your older and not care of what people think, not trying to please everyone and be real.

Please check out my Youtube channel where I share parts of my life: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Your Not Always Going To Be Top Form

25 Thursday Jun 2026

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No This is True! I still get days where I am not happy. Mainly hormonal. I always get stressed leading up to my monthly cycle. Check out his blog I wrote on one of my other Blog Platform: https://buildingselfconfidencetud.blogspot.com/2026/06/handling-your-hormones.html

I can often feel hot and bothered and not able to sleep.

Sleep plays a huge part in my mood. I have suffered Insomnia from a kid and some nights I wouldn’t sleep at all.

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When I had my son I didn’t sleep for two days. Not having a good sleep can catch up with you. I take medication now to help and have had help with my health from the Mental Health teams in Surrey and Merton and has made a difference. Let me just clarify I don’t rely on my medication, but making lifestyle changes too. I read every evening and yes I do watch something on my phone but mainly the world cup at the moment or a Youtube video, but still get a goodnights sleep and I still wake up sometimes during the night but I am able to easily return to sleep and eating well too.

What I watch on TV can affect how I am feeling. I remember watching a programme, not going to say the name as I do like it but it really got to me and so even though it is a good series I can’t watch it. I like podcasts, listening to the radio about music mainly and walking. I love my morning walks and made a huge difference in my wellbeing and how I feel each day.

I no longer live in a dream world and spend time with those important people to me and like to watch my son do his sports and taking him to different places. We often go on a bus or train ride, we like to play sports too and just hang out and love doing that with my son and days where I will go out for a coffee and write. I love to journal and do this every day and throughout the day and so when I feel bothered by something I write about it in my journal to address my thoughts and feelings and it just releases the tension and stress.

There was a time when I was at Secondary School I had ulcers in my mouth. The first time I had Glandular Fever but the second time when they were all at the bottom of my mouth it turned out to be stress.

Let it all out, enjoy your own company. I love mine aswell as socialising and writing. I love creating stories, share my life through blogs and videos. Check out my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Watching England play in the World Cup gets on my nerves. It is frustrating and at the same time like to watch sport. I loved playing sports as a kid. One thing I enjoyed at school aswell is writing stories and singing and dancing. I would still get down about it, if I made a mistake, arguments that would go on and I remember a boy at school when I would be painting come over and just start criticizing my art work. I should have told him to sod off but would get upset and not say anything back.

Now I would have told him to bugger off but I can’t change that and it makes me smile now. The arguments we’d have about a tennis ball. So I no longer have petty arguments. Why allow someone ruin your day because they don’t like your hair, your clothes you wear. Embrace who you are and once you work on your mind and not feel so sensitive and once I address my feelings I feel a whole lot better.

Having a good cry can do wonders and sitting in the garden watching nature and walking with nature around you can really pick you up.

I hope you find these blogs helpful and please sure your thought. You can leave a comment below.

I also have a Youtube channel so check this out too: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X