Goodbye 2016

2016 was rubbish, for lots of reasons, but mainly because I allowed it to be.

Yes, there were terrible things happening in the world and a lot of death and sadness as a whole. Most of these things I could not change or influence, but the things I could change about myself and my life, I just didn’t. I became passive in my own life and as someone that struggles with their sense of self, this only made me feel worse.

At times in 2015 and 2016 I was deeply unhappy. I sought professional help that didn’t seem to positively impact my mental health and happiness. So, as we approached the end of 2016 I began to make some positive changes in my life.

There are 2 therapies I have found to help me in the past, these are yoga and running. Yet they had become almost absent from my routine in 2016 and replaced with social drinking and negative thought patterns. So, over November and December I started to run a little. Once a week at first, gradually more frequently, and slowly going further.

A friend told me about the Mind mental health charity R.E.D challenge, where you run every day in January and at first I dismissed it as a HORRIFIC idea. I am too overweight, and unfit, and busy and, and, and, and……..

……and then I realised that these are the same excuses that made me feel like a bystander in my own life last year.

If I want to feel different, I have to do something different.

So just like that, a decision was made to try. I agreed to do the R.E.D challenge, and this made me think about other aspects of my life which are holding me back, or making me less happy and from here my happy life project started.