Manic Monday #73

 [Image Source: Pinterest]

It was another not-so Manic Monday for me, but I am entering the last week of me being 26. Next Sunday I shall be 27...it came around a bit quicker than I expected!

I've had a pretty great year in retrospect, in the past year I have visited Canada and Costa Rica, both completely phenomenal trips, on complete opposite ends of the scale that I will remember forever. 

Ben and I moved out of my parents house to a house with 2 friends, which for the most part has been amazing and a huge learning curve! 

I have finally started learning a language and I think I'm doing pretty well at it so far...still couldn't probably hold a conversation with a Spanish person but I'm getting there.

 I made some huge headway with my book writing, currently trying to delve back in to it with some vengeance now. 

 I re-joined the gym and am now a little bit of an exercise addict and have managed to maintain my goal weight at Slimming World. 

Friends have come and gone as usual but I'm definitely feeling more content with the people who are currently surrounding me.  

Personally, I feel much more confident within myself and who I am. I grew tired of pretending to be something I am not and changing myself to fit others. I think this also changed the people I gravitated towards, some people just aren't good to be around.

I am so happy with my body and for me to say those words feels absolutely liberating. I have been unhappy with my body since becoming a teenager. The changes that happened going through puberty were never ones I was happy with and I became incredibly self-conscious, this effected me more than I can ever put in to words, I became very shy to put it briefly. To now finally be somewhere I feel comfortable getting my arms out in the summer, to wearing a body-hugging dress and not feeling afraid of what people might think about my 'lumps and bumps' to wearing tops that show a strip of my stomach with high-waisted trousers is so amazing that it can't help but let my confidence grow that little bit more each time.

I remind myself regularly that I am lucky to be where I am. I have an amazing boyfriend, I get travel to amazing places, I have a job, I have a roof over my head, I drive anywhere I want to go and am a fully functioning person who takes regular internet usage completely for granted. 

And it's pretty amazing.

This post turned out to be a little more sentimental than I intended it to be, but seeing the wonderful parts of this past year makes it all feel real. I am now looking forward to the 27th and what it may bring with it.

Toodles.

x