I’ve left it so long to write that I don’t really know where to start. I guess I’ll start with the start of the year…

We spent new year in Fife, Scotland, where my brother lives. It’s a beautiful part of the world and I fall in love with it a little more each time we visit. On new year’s eve we visited Tentsmuir. The sky was completely clear and the landscape stunning. A great expanse of blue met the sea and we walked along the vast and breath taking beach. Eventually we found our way into tall pine trees and walked back through magical forest. My cheeks were pink and my eyes almost hurt from the bright beauty of the winter sun. Places like that just speak to me and settle my soul in a way that nowhere else does, it’s quite overwhelming. It’s an odd feeling because although I love sharing it with my family, I have moments where I try to hang back so I can take it all in on my own.

New year’s day the crystal clear sky had gone and the weather was far more bleak, I’m just hoping it wasn’t indicative of what’s to come this year! The walk along Burtisland was cold and windswept. Still, we all felt better for it, as you always do! We then headed to Silver Sands, Aberdour, a beautiful beach and a haven for dog walkers. We ate cheesy chips outside and marvelled at people brave enough for a new year’s day dip in the sea.

I’m attempting to do RED January. The idea being that you make sure you are active every day of January to raise money and awareness for Mind. So far I’ve done 2 windswept beach walks, a kettlebells workout (that took a long time to prepare for since I couldn’t actually get my sports bra done up), a run and a gym session. I’m going to try really hard to increase my daily movement and not just focus on half an hour or an hour working out each day. I’m also going to try to get outside more. It’s so bloomin’ good for you! Physically and mentally!

My resolutions are to cook the vast majority of meals from scratch, to somehow limit my phone time and to stop using my credit card. I know new year’s resolutions are a load of crap but I’m a big believer in having goals and these three are important right now. I’ll keep you posted on how I get on but so far, as predicted, the phone one is proving to be the trickiest.

I’ll leave it there for now. I’m back to work tomorrow after what has felt like a proper break. I really switched off from teaching and it did me the world of good. We’ll see what next week brings…