When my son was born premature it really scared me and didn’t have any idea of what was going to happen next. I had no inkling that Henry was going to be born early and I shut down any thinking of the future, and I am a planner. The evening my waters broke I was going through my diary of how many weeks I had to go and that evening i went to hospital and then on the Monday of being in hospital from the Saturday, my son was born, and I never felt so frightened in my life and if my son was going to be okay.
I love taking pictures of London and good way of helping trauma that has helped me, is taking pictures and people I love.
Yes having a child is a miracle and I did want children but it was the shock, that made me shut down and for once was not worrying about what was going to happen tomorrow.
I cried a lot. Taking one day at a time I just concentrated on doing what I could to feed Henry my milk and readjusting, when I could visit my son in hospital I did and helped with feeding, having cuddles and changing him, and take it step by step.
For me that is the best way, and just taking it slow.
Life has a way of surprising us, so it is important to live each day at a time. Yes I am into goal setting, but I do set goals daily as they arise and try not to worry about tomorrow all of the time. My Keyworkers, when my mental health wasn’t good, both said to take each day at a time, and is about getting back to recovery state so enjoy the days with my son, and rebuilding relationships that were on the brink of falling apart and concentrate on my health and on my environment. Getting back to doing the things I love, like blog writing, going for walks and spending time with my son.
I hope these blogs help you and lets support one another.
Grab the bulls by the horns, Have you heard of that? Instead of sitting back feeling that you have no life set yourself challenges. These can really open your eyes of what you are capable of and can help feeling down about life, to feeling that you want to take on the world and get back up on your feet, if you have had bumps in your life that has made you feel that you have no life.
I love starting the year on a challenge, they help set me up for the year ahead and will be doing no spending January again as I want Jan and Feb 2024 be the last payments to pay off my credit card, I want to start doing fundraising events again and start with doing 5K walking and running events, and this year I am going to do NanoRimo to write my first Christmas book and want to do editing challenge for August and September and so when i decide of how I am going to do that I will let you know.
The yearly challenges I have been doing for the summer months is walking each day and get outdoors and help get my legs strong again so I can get back into running and build my steps and I really enjoy it as it makes me feel I have more energy when I do and reading a book a month. This challenge (reading) began last year and I love it. In August I find it hard to read, because of the school holidays but I have just kept going and read so much by doing so, and read during the day where possible.
They help to stimulate the mind and look forward to getting out of bed each day and you learn so much about your self.
If you find it hard to take a challenge on your own then see if anyone will join you. When I was working at a call centre I had colleagues wanting to join me in fundraising walks and family too. It can really help boost relationships and that your in it together and egg each other on.
Start by choosing one, and it can be writing for ten minutes each day, go for an hours walk or 5 minutes declutter each day or once a week and organize a room that has been bothering you and dread seeing the mess everyday, as untidy spaces can get us down and feel stuck in a rut. There are 30 day challenges and when I began doing challenges they became addictive and did one to Instagram to post for 30 days for an entire month and I enjoy posting on Instagram as I wanted to post more frequently to build this platform along with Facebook and Twitter.
Setting challenges helps to change our habits, for example it has helped me to be more productive, feel more positive and dealing with hurdles like I am not a naturally tidy person so since challenging myself I do a tidy each morning to get it out of the way and not avoiding tasks.
Thank you so far for liking these blogs and there is more to come. Please check out my Pinterest site where you can find more of my content for my Life Coaching programme:
If you follow me on this blog you will be alerted of when I post a new blog and with challenges set targets and what you want the outcome to be.
I have always wanted to make the most of my life and build it step by step to have a good life. This has never changed and never thought that I would be doing what I do now, and that is writing and creating books, making videos on Youtube and writing blogs.
There was no such thing as a kid born in the late 70’s and so seeing the opportunities we have now I am now getting excited about life. I have a son that has shaped my life. Life hasn’t been a piece of cake, there have been some difficult times like my dad getting badly hurt when I was secondary school and sustained a very bad head injury and then being there when my grandparents died. These things that have happened has made me see how life is so precious and you have to make the most of everyday.
First of all make a list, set some goals you know you can achieve and start changing your life. I always new I wanted to be a mum one day and it happened unexpectantly, and didn’t always get it right and still don’t but seeing this little human grow has been one of the best dreams I have ever had that has come true and it has changed my perspective of life even further, by seeing the world through his eyes, and life doesn’t have to be difficult it is changing the way you look at things. I no longer multi task and do one thing at a time, and not having any sense of fear but life is about trial and error.
When achieving the dreams, accept challenges along the way, that is how we grown and when we do achieve our dreams it is so fulfilling.
Please check out books on amazon.co.uk as I have written many EBooks, on parenting, wellness and changing your life. I write under the names of Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
I have added more to my Life Coaching board on my Pinterest see below:
I have written about this before Summer Project 2021/Build your expectations on your terms we all have expectations of ourselves and other people, because we fear disappointment. Yet it is good to have a level of expectation because it means we care about the things we have in our life.
Your expectations of ourselves can be tough, because we put so much on our shoulders that we can’t handle and leads us wanting to run rather than finishing tasks and get on with living our lives.
Lower the expectation, by taking your time and breathe and take in what is around you and keep planning your life and setting goals.
I would like to wish those who read my blogs in America a Happy 4th July and I bet you guys have a expectation for that, celebrating yearly events and special days. I have an expectation on my life coaching programme, because it is important that my audience, you guys, are getting something from them and writing my books, please check them out there are EBooks, about happiness and wellness, and have parenting books and fiction books.
You can find my books on amazon.co.uk under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
Having expectations sets us up but not to over do it. It also helps us to set boundaries and doing 1-5 tasks a day and set a time for each one. I love doing sprints when it comes to writing my books and at the moment I am editing my new book as my expectation is for it be better than my previous books and increase my skills and ambitions.
That is the good part of expectations and it is good to set challenges for yourself but ones that you know is going to help build your life but not stress and anxiety.
So set the bar each time to take action to complete goals but a height that you can reach and not make you give up.
Many thanks for liking my blogs so far, of my Summer Project 2023 and followed me it really means a lot and would suggest to do so if you want to be kept up to date with my blogs. I do write a newsletter each month, which I publish on this blog so check out June’s 2023: My Monthly Newsletter June 2023
Yes Yes Yes! NO this is not copying when Harry met Sally, if you remember that film, I have set my goals for the summer, ready for the next season and to grow. Setting goals helps me to accomplish the things I want to do, and help me get through challenges, like for example I want to do fundraising events again but worry that I am not fit enough and have had injuries in building my walking and running again.
Running and walking on uneven pavements can contribute to that so it important I continue to walk as much as possible and get my body used to it again. There will always be hurdles, and so use this when it comes to achieving your goals, not to exhaust yourself but to stir you on to complete them.
I separate my goals into three categories, Home, Work and Play.
So in home is anything like my finances and Henry, my son like getting ready to prepare for his new school,, work is like my blogs and youtube for example and hopefully be outside work soon, and play is going out to dinner, trips and playing with son having lots of fun.
Here a printable I made to help you begin your Summer Goals:
The summer me is getting outdoors and exploring and do things that you can’t do in the Autumn and Winter, like swimming outdoors and have a meal in the garden. Well I suppose you could do these things in the Autumn and Winter, but would need blankets and coats, but for the summer you don’t and just having a lunch outside of a restaurant can be uplifting and, so they don’t have to be serious goals but ones that you can almost feel the enjoyment and motivation already, just by jotting them down.
You can keep; track of my blogs but following me and if you’d like to share you goals the please do. You can comment below..
I bet you have watched the X Factor or BGT, that many say when they do the auditions, that this is their last chance, but what if you had one chance? I wrote in my last blog about Dealing with Knockbacks and that to keep trying to do what you dream of doing, yet sometimes you do only get the one chance, for example: Being on a quiz show or game show, as it lets other people have a go, or winning the lottery.
I read a book by Paul McKenna some years back and he asked in this books, it was Building your confidence in seven days, and for me it would be to travel and explore with my son, and raise money for a charity and have a house built.
So what would you do if you only had one chance of achieving your dreams?
What steps would you follow?
I would clear my credit card debt, build up my savings,
Decide on the fundraising events I’d like to do and train for them and walk and run whenever possible again and continue as long as my legs allow me to do
Save enough to have the money to have a house built, by creating numerous income streams and have a bank account for building the house of my dreams.
Please leave details of what you would do in the comments below.
You have to make things happen for yourself, and it has taken me a long time to realise that and so I make the most of my days and weeks, and months now. I want to make sure I create good memories for my son, and it is up to me to do that and receives the best education, and learning about places and life skills such baking and cooking, reading, writing, how to wash their clothes and keep things nice and tidy. That has to come from me and his dad, and making sure that his needs are met and the same for us too being parents and be a role model.
If people see you achieving your dreams a lot of people will follow and be inspired, and life as it is, we never know if we are going to live or die, that really is out of our control, and so living each day to the fullest is how you can do the things you want, have happiness in your life. It is not about money, that is a necessity, but about how it makes you feel and the people around you.
Ok so you went for a job interview, got ready and put on some make up, did your hair and dressed smart and prepped for it, only to hear that once again you haven’t been unsuccessful. Often we can feel that we have wasted our time, but your not able to see who else applied for that job and what skills they had that you didn’t.
Often it could be that the company who you applied for, may have already had someone in mind and so you didn’t stand a chance anyway, even if you had worn your best suit or dress. I felt like that when I applied for a position to work with the email and chat team at a call centre I was working for. I had been there for a while and felt that it would be a perfect fit, but no someone else got it, who had been there less, and I felt a bit like, “Thanks for being loyal” being that I had been there four years and not had a day off sick, never been late and did a good job because they’d tell me, and so would the customers I would help. I was doing technical support.
Also I was the first person to work on the chat system they created, and I changed departments because I was finding it hard doing technical support for certain products that I didn’t understand and wanted a change, and so it was agreed that I could change, but then the deal was that I would work on the chat system which they wanted to test for a new product and see how effective it was, and whilst on chat would do emails to help out the email team, and it wasn’t just me others had joined me and it would be rotated so others worked on the chat system, did emails, whilst I help customers on the phones. I then was called into the office on one shift and offered the chance to move to the email team, along with working on the online chat service, and so, never give up. Just because you didn’t get the job this time, round doesn’t mean you won’t, you just have to keep trying and show them what you are capable of and worked my hard and was eventually awarded by the job I was doing.
Determination for me is everything and I have had a lot of knock backs, and I did when I was looking for work to work at a Holiday camp. I gave myself two years and it was the second year I was successful. Often people want to see how keen you are, and you see singers on the voice, who have already had record deals, and had to start their career from scratch again. Like Wendy Moten, who won the Voice on the USA version and was shocked because she did do some brilliant records, her famous one “Coming out of the rain”, and so knocks backs are okay, and learn from them to help continue building the life you want, and the job you want.
When it comes to relationships. I have been dumped by boyfriends, not having that many, and yes at first I’d be upset but then soon got over it, and if they aren’t meant to be so be it, but never fear, I did get married and had a son so now looking back, glad I was dumped because I would never have met my husband or had my son.
Life is full of hurdles Obstacles (jumping hurdles) and never should stop you for following your dreams and achieving your goals. I am never gong to allow anyone stop me from living my life and the same should be for you. You deserve a life full fun and happiness. So allow the knock backs in your life to help you not destroy you.
Yes, finding things that have a huge impact on you. This can be that you want more love from people because you feel a lone at the moment, so it is time to go out and find like minded people and this could be going to church or just on a date with yourself, keeping safe of course, but listening to @RealTalkKim she says that you aren’t likely to meet anybody if you are with a group of girls, and I met my husband working at a Holiday camp and it for once felt comfortable and didn’t feel nervous at all, and you can meet people in many different places like that. I was quite late in my life in the dating game
If you want more friends in your life then go out with your existing friends and rather than saying no to meeting up, say yes, and set a date of when you can and go out. I have met a lot of people through other friends. Example I made friendships through a friend when going to watch a Rugby League team and met others along the way, when I kept going, and was a fun and with a fantastic group of people.
You may want more structure in your life and for me I want to be a minimalist and not be surrounded by stuff and not be bogged down, so slowly I am making that happen by having a sort out each day and looking at pictures on Pinterest of how I would like my work station to look like, and still have all I need around me, its just overcrowded and so want to have less space to do more.
Then there are physical changes. I have lost weight and a lot of my clothes are now too big, so been going through my clothes and shoes and items that no longer make me happy in wearing and put them in recyclable bin where my son goes swimming at the weekend, and also invest more in looking after my skin.
I have been really enjoying my weekend walks with my son in the mornings in the day time, and makes me feel that my physical health as got a lot better and no longer feeling fatigued all day and do take Iron tablets to help with that and feels good to have my energy back.
It is simple things like that, that can really matter to you, and either gives you joy, or not. Fitting things in your life that makes you excited rather then dread, help you grow and find the pieces to your jigsaw that brings you endless amounts of love and compassion.
I wanted to write this because to have life full of happiness, you got to make changes that will help you grow into the person you want to be and the life you want to live. Check out my blogspot blog about Getting all done, as this is linked to this blog post.
You have to create a plan, one that gives you excitement as soon as you start to write it down, and build a mind map. I use this technique a lot, along with brainstorming. Create a vision board. I use Pinterest like many, but you can do this on a white board, or on a piece of paper even. It’s about building and improving how you feel about yourself, and the life you have.
Perhaps you need to change your job, because you are bored or feel overworked and resenting it each day. Boy have I been there. Researching though it is believed that 74% of people are very satisfied with working in the UK, according to google. It all depends what the employer offers you in return to the work you do, for their company. Travel can be an issue and pay.
Whatever area in your life you are not happy about, it is time to make a change.
Set yourself a challenge or challenges. The one area I have been trying to sort out is my finances and rebuilding a positive relationship with it. So I have been doing a weekly check on my money and write down everyday of any money spent and having no spend days, and go through what I have paid out at the end of the week and what has gone in.
I have been doing a lot more walking again to cut down on my travel costs, on a daily and weekly basis and because I want to take part in Charitable and fundraising walks again. I want to build more income to save, and invest in having a big holiday again. I am going through where I can save money wherever possible. Example: not buying coffees from the coffee shop, and use my instant coffee, that takes me ages to use up, and not buying snacks all of the time.
I did no spend January challenge this year and will do again, because I have been able to put money into my savings again, and cut down on where my money goes.
By setting challenges, it helps to make quick changes, and complete unfinished task.
Set yourself an Itinerary. I did this whilst sitting in the garden and what are my main goals for 2023 and 2024. I find it hard to concentrate on one thing at a time, and so doing things like this helps me stay focused, of what I really want to complete and accomplished by the end of these two years. I suppose it is a bit like doing forecast.
Check out this free printable, to see what I mean:
I was watching an event that Tony Robbins was hosting on Youtube last night and so glad I manage to catch it as it was really good to map out a plan of building areas in my life I not happy with. I will link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPchhI_fPQk
He talked about do a like a wheel of life to measure where you life is at, here’s an example:
With Tony’s he separated them into seven different segments, Physical/body, Emotions and meaning, Relationships/conspire, Time, career and mission and finances. and contribution and spirituality. Then mark between 0 being nothing, you are not in a relationship to 10, you are in a relationship and are completely happy with it.
So, next tips, take part or join in live events. They are such an insight into how to manage your life and getting a lot out of it. Rather sitting doing nothing, hoping that someone will come an rescue you. You have to do it and last nights was completely free.
You want to get life together then it is time to do it.
I have always lived in a world of my own and felt different compared to others. Many thought me to be strange because I could daydream all day long and take my mind away when listening to music for hours.
Reality was not my bestfriend and wished often to be somewhere else and be different to the person I was and would be down because I wasn’t naturally beautiful, I wasn’t popular and held myself back from making friends as I found it hard.
Overcoming those times I have grown a lot and it hasn’t been over night but a long process. The one thing that effected me was worry. I would say “I am a constant worrier” and “I am a stress head” and accepted that this was me, but I hated worry and stress they did me no good and wanted to be calm and collective.
Spending some time away helped, but suffered home sickness at first but then spoke to someone one evening as they could see that I was not sure if did the right thing moving to work at a Holiday camp. I know you may have heard this a lot, but is true, get out of your comfort zone. There were those who weren’t nice, others would be nice to you and then blank you, or move to another table as you sat down, but then there were some really nice people that I still stay in touch with.
Working at a holiday camp was how I met my husband and then moved back to London as was unsuccessful in working at other companies in the South Coast and began to miss London and wanted to move back to be near my friends there and family.
If something is no longer giving you joy, Kon Marie method, then it time to say goodbye and move on.
I do hang onto things, like I had a night dress with a hole in it, and kept hold of it because I had worn when pregnant, but it was worn. I now don’t have it anymore but I did find hard to throw it away.
Part of building a life of your own is to let go and bring in new items and materialistic things aren’t that important. If it going to put you in debt, is it worth it?
This leads me to, changing your environment if you are feeling overcrowded. Just filming at the moment week in a life video, (here is my newest video: https://youtu.be/zqywdAV9vb8 ) I feel my desk is overcrowded with notebooks, jewelry and skincare and so gonna look for ideas how to deal with this and going first of all sort my clothes out. I bought packing cubes for the clothes I have in my chest of draws. I will film this once I decide to do this.
Owning less is what I am going to begin and make more space. I need space in my life and not live in clutter.