Yeah g’day.

Yester-yesterday I did eight squats before crying a bit then lying down on my yoga mat to hyperventilate.

Bloody Good Bloke laughed at me while effortlessly completing four sets of ten squats, sit ups, side sit ups, chin ups, and lifty-above-the-head thingos, all while holding a 32kg kettlebell one handed.

Today I can’t walk.

Yesterday I couldn’t get out of Larry (my car) without BGB giving me a push from behind.

So that’s my new year’s resolution on pause.

Happy new year team!

Bloody Good Bloke and I spent new years camping with a bunch of excellent friends, and naturally, everyone was (lovingly) interrogated as to their three words for the year.

I hadn’t thought of any words/ resolutions/goals (oh how I hate goals), so I panicked. Three things? Christ. In 2022 I was lucky if I managed to feed myself three times a day, you mean you want me to focus on three extra things other than just eating and sleeping?

After 7 seconds of deliberation I decided on one word: “Vibrant”.

Vibrant has been the opposite of how I’ve felt for the last 1.5 years since I landed long haul 🌶️😷*.

*Long-covid! I prefer the the emoji version though, it’s a little less PTSD inducing!

I might write a blog post about it one day as I’ve found some answers that have helped me start to recover over the past few weeks, and I’m guessing many of you might be in the same half afloat boat with me. I justttt have to work out how to make a blog post about chronic health issues less grim.

As a result of my life being migraine-brain-fog-fatigue-living-in-bed-staring-at-the-ceiling central for the past far-too-long, I suspect you might be muttering to yourself…

A. “Andrea, where the hellski have you been? You usually sift into my inbox on a regularish yet fabulously inconsistent basis. And how we do laugh together over our mutually ridiculous foibles. But never have you ghosted me for *quite* this long. What has it been since your last blog post… 3 months?”*

Or perhaps more likely —

B. “Who is this incompetent squatting lady and why is she emailing me?”

Thousands upon thousands of you (yeah ok, 437 of you) have joined this email list in the couple of months since my wonderful team popped my *other* last blog in the mail (to your inbox) back in October.

(In case you missed it, it’s over here > To Kid or Not to Kid – Part 2 — it includes a bunch of helpful responses I received from you guys about whether or not having a kid is a good idea.)

So yeah g’day, it’s been a while. To the thousands of you who have been here laughing with at me since sometime since 2014, hello again my old friends! I’ve so missed your lovely and thought provoking emails and comments.

For those of you who are new here, it’s quite likely you forgot what you signed up for about 19 seconds after you pressed “Send me the How to Stop a Bad Day in its Tracks g-book”.

So, welcome to Project Self HQ! I’m Andrea, long term despiser of cucumbers* and short term exerciser. I write blogs that compel my mum to email me “Gosh that’s quite honest Andrea” on a semi regular basis.

*Once upon a time (yesterday), Bloody Good Bloke ate a cucumber sandwich at work. Came home four hours later. Leant down to greet me with a kiss. Next thing I knew,

I’d leapt 6 yards* in the opposite direction and nearly knocked over my zamioculcas zamiifolia.

BGB was instructed that teeth brushing would need to occur before any further acts of greeting.

Butttt, I can eat tzatziki with no problem, and this makes no sense to me either.

Raita too, yum.

*Disclaimer for UK/US readers: I do not know what a yard is.

So, 2023 eh, here we are.

This year I’m planning to schedule to think about potentially implementing a possible focus on doing more things that make me feel vibrant. Probably.

Which is unfortunate for me, because it means not always doing what’s most comfortable.

E.g. squats.

Resistance training (with minuscule weights).

Jumping in the cold pool or the sea while squinting into the bright morning sunlight without sunnies on because Andrew Huberman told me to.

Trying new things (things TBC).

More dancing. Especially to afrobeats.

Much. more. camping.

Yip. Lots to do.

Not my usual style of blog post today, just wanted to say happy new year, and also mention my hatred of cucumbers.

I hope this year brings you many steps closer to being more you.

All going well, I’m hopeful I’ll be back writing blog posts, running workshops, and connecting with you wonderful humans more frequently this year.

In the meantime, I’m really enjoying the Dalai Lama’s Guide to Happiness if you want to join me (not an affiliate link) — it’s a free ten day meditation challenge put together by Ten Percent Happier — the meditation app I recommend to clients, friends, and Fred, my zamioculcas zamiifolia.

Do you have a word/ theme/ goal for 2023? Do you hate those types of things? I’d love to hear what you’re focussing on (or not) this year, reply and let me know!

x

Andrea