What’s your best it’s about 2020

[EveningOverRooftops]

I’ve been surround by really negative things about how miserable 2020 has been and believe me I’ve had my moments of absolute despair this year and felt like I’m drowning more than swimming and life has shifted quite dramatically for us all.

But there has been amazing little glimmers of light throughout that I’m going to grab a hold of and I want to know what yours are. No matter how big, small, seemingly daft but joyous, anything that’s made this year sparkle a little.

Mine were
I completed inktober in October. Never done it before but managed to draw every single day for 30days. This is huge for me to complete something and I’m going to go into next year doing different 30day challenges like this. (I might start a thread if anyone is interested )

I started painting again.

I finally put up all the picture on the walls I had been meaning to do since I moved in here. It feels like home now.

I’ve lost 23 lbs & gone down 4/5points on my BMI.

I proved fat girls can hula hoop. There’s abs of steel under the belly. I’m sure of it, just need to excavate them

That relationships/friendships/connections - come in all shapes sizes and some of the best are sometimes the short lived that burn brightly and shift your entire perspective on life and they disappear as quickly as they began. I often felt flat when people came and left so quickly but I’ve learned to hold onto the bits that matter long after they’ve gone. I blame the silly notion planted in my head that only worthwhile things are the ones that grow slowly. It’s also meant I could and did let go of long and unhealthy relationships.

I only had one house plant die on me this year.

The hamster is still alive.

Ignore my errors in the title. Bastard autocorrect is still giving me grief. 🤣

DP and I managed a lovely few days in a cottage with her DSis who lives a long way away from us.

We got ChampagneCat. DCat was PTS in January and we had resolved that if we had another it would be at least in the new year.

With cancelled holidays, yr11 DS being home for over 20 weeks and DH being furloughed we decided to contact the RSPCA on the off chance.

ChampagneCat burst into our lives in July and has been such a ray of sunshine that I truly can't imagine not having her.

I went back to college and got a place at University for next year to study Midwifery. Literally fulfilled my dream

Inktober sounds interesting. Please remind us in late September about this.

I have always worked from home but had to visit one customer a week and sit in their premises. I hated it, the commute was 3hrs and they were all a bit odd and it wasn't a fun environment. I've not had to see them in person since March

Aside from death of my lovely mum (sudden, unexpected and nowt to do with bastard Covid), having to get my 12yo cat PTS (around time mum died as well) and the utter horror of the pandemic I can actually post two positive things!!

1. We managed 5 days at a lovely litte seaside town in early September. First time we'd been away since the youngest was born

2. 3 months on from lovely little cat being PTS, we welcomed a new kitten into out home. Gosh he is lovely and makes us all smile despite all the sadness this year has bought.

Some lovely positives posted!!

For us I learned I can indeed parent my two little ones without carting them all over to groups and play centres etc so I had a confidence boost... So much so we're now trying for number 3!

I have health conditions for which I receive hospital care and I also got more confident about managing a lot of it on my own, even got taught how to put my own catheter in!!

@Champagneforeveryone

We got ChampagneCat. DCat was PTS in January and we had resolved that if we had another it would be at least in the new year.

With cancelled holidays, yr11 DS being home for over 20 weeks and DH being furloughed we decided to contact the RSPCA on the off chance.

ChampagneCat burst into our lives in July and has been such a ray of sunshine that I truly can't imagine not having her.

I'm going to need to see a picture of this cat Champagneforeveryone

We become home to two feral cats. They sleep in the cat shed provided or on our back deck in an igloo. We have adopted their kittens, two were born under my car, one born into my hands as I was relocating them to our shed.
I’ve got a job I love and have been offered promotion (turned it down as I love what I do).
Dh was in a serious car accident, but walked away without a scratch. He now has the car of his dreams.
Our bird feeders are getting lot of visitors and we had a bumper year of birds nesting in our hedge.

@nosswith

Inktober sounds interesting. Please remind us in late September about this.

I’ll be honest, I may not remember but you can find them here

inktober.com/

And sign up to their mailing list or follow on FB, Twitter, Instagram and they’ll give you reminders and prompts daily on Oct and you’ll also get the year long weekly one that I plan to start soon.

@danigrace

Some lovely positives posted!!

For us I learned I can indeed parent my two little ones without carting them all over to groups and play centres etc so I had a confidence boost... So much so we're now trying for number 3!

I have health conditions for which I receive hospital care and I also got more confident about managing a lot of it on my own, even got taught how to put my own catheter in!!

Omg that’s a huge step to your freedom being able to change your own catheter. This is going to open up the world to you and you’ll be able to go away a bit more or for longer now you have that skill ☺️

We got a mortgage - I never thought we would have it approved, esp when covid came around.

It's been a dreadful 18 months for me and this just gives me something to focus on to give me hope.

Well done on your weight loss OP, how did you manage that? I'm going to make a start and try to lose some next week.

My ex husband lives 500 miles away (good riddance).
My ancient cat is still alive and she seems very happy about it.
I didn't have to suffer christmas with anyone.
I've moved into a very nice house after my divorce.
I got out of the south east and now live in the west country which has been my dream for years.
I gave up my last very shit NHS job with a dreadful, nightmare boss and am in a new and much much better trust 100 times better than the old one.
I have lots more friends here, can't see them because of covid but they are here.
Could go on but that will do for now.

Our wedding which was planned for May went ahead at the end of October. Though not quite as initially planned it was a really lovely day.

Lovely times having garden drinks with friends when it was allowed and the two of us going out for picnics. Feeling even closer to our lovely friends after months of Zoom and real life laughs.

A low point was beloved DDog was PTS in April. We're still bereft at losing him.

Got on top of my finances, started the Dave Ramsay baby steps plan. Got an emergency fund behind me, paid off a credit card. Staying in and not blowing money taking kids out was the catalyst for the changes

We had a gorgeous new kitten join the family. She is a tiny fur explosion and we all love her to bits (even the big cat)

Finally got a diagnosis for my eldest DD. Not great news really but we've been on the waiting list for assessment for 18 months and this should finally start to open some doors for her. Plus it's helping us to understand her behaviour a little better.

Christmas Day was a really calm and chilled out affair with just the four of us AND DH stepped in and made dinner!

I've shared this before but primarily I have been so pleased with how well we've got on as a family unit despite being locked in together.

DS came home from Uni at Easter and of course didn't go back until September. We watched West Wing and lots of classic films as a family. We had fun.

DD did very well in her maths A Level; DS had a great summer placement lined up which he was able to do online and we finally went to Iceland. I've wanted to go for over 25 years.

And DDog has had a great year as DH and I have been working from home. He's slept at my feet every day which is lovely.

I found that remote teaching and learning using a suitable online platform benefited some of my learners immensely, and I was able to develop wonderful educational relationships with them without ever meeting face to face.
The downside was that when I proposed incorporating this into the way we normally deliver, it was kyboshed pretty much immediately, mostly because it wouldn’t fit the administrative process.

@Stepintochristmas2020

We got a mortgage - I never thought we would have it approved, esp when covid came around.

It's been a dreadful 18 months for me and this just gives me something to focus on to give me hope.

Well done on your weight loss OP, how did you manage that? I'm going to make a start and try to lose some next week.

Weight loss starts in the kitchen! The gym is for fitness.

Seriously. I track my calories and haven’t yet put in the work to get a good exercise plan out. Exercise has been bitty and inconsistent. It’s all been lost through watching what I put in my mouth rather than any exercise regime.

I track with my fitness pal.

There’s lots of ways to work out a good calorie count for weight loss and health (cutting to 1200 a day isn’t healthy nor sustainable for the majority of people long term and only very short/small people need this few calories)

I used this to work out a good balance for me and was based on my weight and activity and how much I hoped to lose. I aim for between 1500-1800 per day and I’ve lost on average 1.5lbs a week which is a healthy amount, not too much and been sustainable for me for 4 months now which is the most important thing. The less rigid limit has been helpful for me because some days I eat 1500. Others I eat closer to 1800 (over xmas for 4-5 days I was eating 2000 a day and haven’t felt guilty and still lost half a pound and I’m back to my pre Xmas plan because I know what I’m eating and have created healthy relationship to eating )

tdeecalculator.net/ - to work out calorie needs.

This chap is also really good and has videos on various things inc issues you may have with unhealthy eating habits and I follow him on Instagram.

He has a vid to work out calories for weight loss that might be easier for you m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg7c2Bs_uwk

Actually I encourage you to give his vids a shot as there’s a lot there to learn and he goes into all sorts including relationships with the scales.
It’s because of him I weigh myself most days (to add more data points!) and can see the overall trend of weight loss but can also see the ‘weight’ spikes at specific times in my monthly cycle and I learned to be less panicky about gains etc. Of course this may not work for everyone and it’s OK if it doesn’t.

Obvs once you’ve got your daily calorie intake target you need to work on making swaps of higher calorie stuff for lower where possible. Take your time with this because it’s about healthy habits not restriction. I’ve switched to an oil spray for cooking over poring oil, I add more herbs and spices to meals (try different seasoning mixes!) so I get satisfied over flavour rather than the amount. Furikake seasoning and toasted sesame seeds has been my secret for flavour in salads and rice.

So basically. Track your calories with a realistic calorie intake goal.
Track your periods to get to know your body well if applicable.
FYI it was because I tracked my periods that I noticed my cycle changed quite dramatically as I lost weight (I don’t use hormonal contraceptives) Averaging 33-39 days pre weight loss to now averaging between 27-33 days just after 20lbs loss. The first 10 day early period was a shock and I was hormonal mess but the trend is a GOOD one.

Sorry for the essay hope it helps a bit. Feel free to message if you want a bit of support.

@alltheadrenalin

Got on top of my finances, started the Dave Ramsay baby steps plan. Got an emergency fund behind me, paid off a credit card. Staying in and not blowing money taking kids out was the catalyst for the changes

Ramsey is the bomb and happy his system works for you. I’ve heard great things about his YouTube vids etc.

I passed the first year of my medical degree, despite being convinced all the way through that I'd fail (terrible case of imposter syndrome ). I'm starting to believe in myself a bit more now.

Mortgage and baby. Both a long time coming!

Thank you for all the detail, I'm going to sit down later and have a good read through it

Love reading everyones positive contributions

I got a new job in March in a field I have been keen to break into and they have paid for me to gain some additional qualifications.

My DS started school and has come on sooo much.

Not having holidays, weekends away, nights out etc. has meant we have saved a good chunk of money.