 |
| The incredible view of Carlingford Lough from Cloughmore Stone. |
Obviously, my mad organisational skills only lasted for a very short period of time. I'm 100% blaming this on how busy last week was and how tired it made me over the weekend, and how much starting back to work, after being off for a week, was terrible!
So, here we are, a bit late to the party this week, but at least we made it eventually, right?
Here are 10 Things I've Learnt This Summer:
1 - I'm definitely an Autumn girl.
I 110% prefer Autumn over Summer, I'm sorry but it's true! I love going on holidays to hot, amazing places but staying in this country when Summer looks more like Winter is beyond depressing. Also, I'm way too excited about the prospect of buying new, cosy Autumn clothes!
2 - Book more than 1 week off.
So far this Summer, I've only had 5 solid days off work, with a random Bank Holiday day here and there. This is most definitely not enough, but it's too late to do anything about that now sadly! The lesson has been learnt this year though, save more holidays and take more time off, even if the weather is terrible!
3 - Embrace having nothing to do.
I love adventures. I love nothing more than exploring new places, going for forest walks and seeing new things. But while David & I were camping, it was so refreshing and relaxing to just sit and breathe and be with each other, watching the world go by, all the while knowing that we didn't have to go somewhere or do something. It was like a breath of fresh air!
4 - Make plans.
Even if the plan is to have a night in doing nothing, watching TV, or having a movie night, right the way up to a date night, or a catch up with friends, or going out for a fancy meal, make it into an actual plan! I do this by just writing it in my diary. That way, even if most of my time is spent chilling out, or having movie nights I still feel like they are legitimate plans, no matter how small!
5 - I've got a hobby!
This probably sounds absurdly stupid, but it only dawned on me the other week that I actually now have a hobby (blogging, obvs!). I mean, I love to read and go for drives and walks and listen to music, but for some reason I don't really see these things as hobbies, they are just the things that I have always loved to do. Blogging feels like something a bit different to these things, and I'm loving it!
6 - The good outweigh the bad.
There's alot of controversy and stigma surrounding the Internet, and concerns over safety online, all of which are totally valid when you look at the shocking number of cases of cyber-bullying, trolls and seriously questionable websites that seem to be on the rise. The Internet can be such a terrifying place. Since I've started blogging though, the amount of absolutely lovely people I've spoken to, discovered and fallen in love with is amazing! There is such a huge community filled with support and encouragement out there, in the big, bad world of the Internet, and it is absolutely beautiful to see in the face of the ugliness that can be experienced. For every negative, abusive and downright nasty comment made, there are so many, many more wonderful people who have better, more enlightening things to say! This is definitely one place where the good outweigh the bad, and I'm so glad I've discovered it!
7 - Put the phone away!
It's been talked about to death, but this generation really do have a problem with switching off from social media and putting our phones away. I'm as guilty of this as the next person, I can easily put hours away scrolling endlessly through Instagram or Pinterest. But actually, I do find it pretty easy to step away from my phone for a while and not really miss it. When we were camping, my phone barely saw the light of day for 5 days, and when it did, it was brought out purely to take photos! I loved the freedom of not looking at Twitter or Instagram every 20 mins, refreshing and refreshing again just to see what's new. It's something that I'm going to try and do more often, especially if I'm with other people. There's nothing as annoying as trying to hold a conversation with someone who can't look away from their phone for more than 5 minutes!
8 - Stories are the best!
On Monday evening I had a very, very long overdue catch up with my best friend, Gemma. She's been away for most of the summer, so it'd been ages since I'd seen her last! She spent 6 weeks in Ibiza with 24/7 Prayer, an amazing organisation who do so much work all over the world. In Ibiza they are on call throughout the night to help people should they need it. They help them get back to their hotels, or get them medical attention if necessary, or just chat to them for a while! (You can find out more about the organisation and what they do here!) They work so hard to show Gods love for Ibiza and the people there, and hearing Gemma's stories about her time out there was beyond wonderful! Hearing about the crazy situations she encountered, and the incredible conversations that she had, both with partygoers on the island, and with God and her team mates, was just so incredible. I could have listened to her for hours on end! (As it was, we were together a good 4 hours anyway, and had to leave because the restaurant was closing up!) I find it such a privilege to call this beautiful woman of God my best friend, and to be one of the people that she shares these things with! We're already planning another catch up session, so that she can tell me even more stories about her 6 weeks!
9 - Saving is hard.
It's no secret that I am the absolute worst when it comes to saving money, but this Summer has served to prove it, once again. David's saving is going really, really well but my bank account looks much the same as it does every single week. I blame this on getting paid weekly, for some reason I can't seem to save much at all because I get it every week! I can never make it past a certain amount, and then there are the 2 weeks at the end of the month when all the bills come out, and it's just so flipping difficult. I also may have bought a Samsung tablet last week, but it's most definitely the weekly pay thing that makes me so terrible...right?!
10 - Summer is overrated.
There, I said it! I'm not sorry! I mentioned it before, but Summer when you're working full-time just isn't the same as the days when Summer was pure freedom for 3, maybe 4 months. I mean, sure, I love Summer when it's sunny and warm on the weekends, and I can actually enjoy it but...that rarely happens! And I love it when I'm going on holiday, or even looking forward to going on holiday, but...that's already happened! It's probably the fact that I'm being horribly cynical or something, but Summer just doesn't feel as good as it used to for me! Unless of course, my job would be willing to give me July and August off every year, that would be pretty sweet.
So, there you have it, the 10 things I've learnt this Summer! This was actually alot harder than I thought it would be, but I got there in the end! It's made me fully realise that I am so, so ready for it to be Autumn, I can't wait to move on from this fake, non-existent Summer we seem to be having here in Northern Ireland!
I hope you've enjoyed this post! Please feel free to leave some feedback in the comments :)
Have you learnt anything this Summer, about yourself or in general?
Even though this post is a bit late, you should still take a look at these fabulous ladies blogs, and their #WeBlogSummer posts!
Georgina at Confession of a Teenage Blog
Kayleigh at Hazelnut Musings
Sophia at My Life Through the Eyes of the Web
Bronagh at Bronagh's Beauty and Books
Jade at Jayde Danielle - Beauty and Lifestyle
♥
