Hello and happy 2022! I know I’m a little late considering we’re halfway through January already but let’s not dwell on that. I hope the year has started off well for you and 2022 overall will be a bit easier.
Since my last post in November – Where I’ve Been… – I’ve felt out of the loop with blogging and haven’t had much motivation at all. New Zealand is in full on summer at the moment, getting up to nearly 30 degrees some days and the heat zaps and drains my energy which doesn’t make me feel like doing much at all. I cannot wait for it to start cooling down as I much prefer the cold.
In my last post I talked about some health troubles I’d had, high white blood cell counts and generally feeling lethargic. In early December I started feeling breathless, had sore chest muscles and pain swallowing occasionally. I went to the doctor and we concluded I strained muscles in my upper chest when overseeing a bar fridge delivery at work. I was prescribed some pills to help heal the muscles and some muscle relaxants. I feel fine now but it was an uncomfortable week or two.
I won’t lie, early in January I toyed with the idea of stopping blogging. Most weeks I don’t have the spare time I used to, I always feel ‘busy’ and since my mum got sick in 2020 our roles within the household have changed. It’s not something I’ve talked about before as most people don’t understand our situation and we’re both the kind that just get on with things and do things because we have to, there’s no one else to help us. Over the past week or so I did realise I want to keep this blog, it’s always somewhere I can come to and express what I’m thinking and the connections and friendships it has brought me over the years are very special. I also think my blogging mojo has been relatively non-existent since I’m not wearing makeup. With mandatory mask use when you leave the house there’s no point doing my face for work everyday and making a mess of my masks and making my skin feel more clammy and sticky. I do have some time off coming at the start of February so I will try and get my plan on and get some posts created and written so there’s not so much of a gap between content. If you’ve got any ideas of posts you’d like to see, feel free to leave a comment below!
In terms of goals for 2022, I’ve got a couple:
- Read 45 books (I managed 43 in 2021)
- Start driving lessons
- Get back into exercycling regularly
I’ve also set up pages for the year in my bullet journal. That was something that fell by the wayside last year and when I keep up with it I feel more on top of things and like I’m able to let go of the events of the day more easily and have a clearer head. I want 2022 to be happy and good and I’m starting the year off on a positive note in the hope it translates throughout everything else.
Here’s to 2022 and the year I’ll (hopefully) make a blogging comeback!
Share any goals you’ve got for the year as well as one good thing that’s happened to you recently!
If you’re still here after all these years, thanks for reading!
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Chanelle Hayley 
Like you I was kind of toying with the idea of shutting my blog down as time (and for me, how I want to write has changed so much since prelockdown times), but decided I needed make time and make it fit as I do still love sitting down to write.
I think a lot of it is that blogging has moved platforms to IG, but I’m just not able to engage with content the same way personally. I’d much rather read a blog post than a caption and feel like I’ve got the full story rather than a trailer for it.
Glad to hear your health issues are getting better too! xx
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I am okay with writing less often but I do still want to create and have an outlet too! Your blog is one of my favourites so I’m glad you’re sticking around 😊
I get why people have moved to Instagram to microblog but like you I prefer separate platforms and shorter, snappier content on Instagram. I don’t want to share the same content in each place, I like there to be some differences.
I am curious to know what my white cell count is at the moment to see if it’s lowered at all. So many people were convinced I had glandular fever but the doctors wouldn’t test me for it no matter how many times I asked!
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Glad to hear you’re feeling better, Chanelle! I always found blogging to be harder as I got older, too. Life gets busy sometimes. Taking breaks is a great thing, as it gives you space and maybe some clarity. Best wishes to you this new year!
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Thank you! The struggle for work life balance sometimes is real 😕 I always feel like I chill out so much when I’m on leave and I like that person so much more. All the pandemic stuff makes things uncertain and it affects how lots of people do their jobs now which can cause a fair bit of stress. Hope 2022 is an amazing year for you ❤️
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hey lovely! so nice to see some familiar faces as i also work my way on coming back to the blog community 🙂 i’m so happy you’ve decided to keep the blog, i’m making it for more or less the same reasons; self-expression! 😀
i haven’t done my makeup either in what feels like a really long time, and i’ve also have been working and finding that work-life balance has been hard for me as i now feel there is no time for my own hobbies, but this year i definitely want to bring that back for myself 🙂
i cannot wait to see your bullet journal! i am also working on mine too and will put up some pictures when it’s done because i did none of it last year and that’s another thing i would like to start doing for myself 🙂
i hope your mom is doing well and so are you! have an amazing new year lovely! good luck on that reading goal too! i haven’t set mine yet, but i do hope to spend some time reading every day as well 🙂
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Hello, nice to hear from you! I miss wearing makeup so much, but with mask use being mandatory there is no point haha.
I feel you on the work-life balance thing, I’ve been finding my days busier than they used to be and I notice the effect it has on me, I get so tired and drained and just want to relax most of the time.
I don’t know if I’ll do posts about my bullet journal, maybe a flip through on Instagram or something 😊
The books I’ve read so far this year have been pretty average. How many books are you looking to read do you think?
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totally, i like doing a full face on my days off. it makes me feel good and confident again 🙂 also really good therapy for me lol
yeaaaahhh and you know what? go ahead and rest! your mind and body needs it! no need to push yourself and then get burnt out and feel even worse.
aahhh well if you do it on IG just send me pics too if you do stories, i’m not always on IG lol
mmm….i’m on my first one, i’ve been reading it for nearly two weeks at this point because i try to read at work when it’s slow but lately it’s been super busy, so i only get to read like 10 pages…i’m hoping i can read at least…….25 books this year which isn’t much, but considering how busy i am, i think thats a good amount. i have a few lined up but i definitely need to look at my goodreads and look up some books to read next
.. right now a friend from work let me borrow a book called “the five people you meet in heaven” it’s not religious at all, in fact it’s more like “this is what you have to accept about yourself, to move on” kind of thing, and it really spoke to me because i kind of live my life that way already, so it’s been really nice to see this person on that journey and learning how each person he has met, if only briefly, have changed his life.
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I do plan on resting during my time off, being summertime the heat is draining too. I hope to pick up and do some work on my bullet journal too, I’ll try and remember to tag you if I share something on Instagram 🙂
25 books is still a good goal, that’s just over 2 books a month ❤
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Happy New Year! I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better. It can be seriously hard to keep up with blogging, but I’m glad to hear you’re sticking to it, I always love reading your posts xx
Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
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Happy New Year to you too! Thank you so much for being lovely and a loyal reader. I’ve got a couple of post ideas in the pipeline so it shouldn’t be long between posts next time x
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I’m glad that you didn’t quit blogging.
I’m not blogging as often as I used to, just whenever I feel like it these days.
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