Hello Everyone
Happy New Year!
Yes...I know it's the middle of January, but you can say "Happy New Year" up until the end of the month right? Yes, no, maybe so?
Anyways greetings aside, this post is just a quick summary of what I did last year and what I've been up to since my last post. It's also about the "New Years Resolutions"/"Goals" I've set for myself, or lack there of. I'll explain why later.
2018: A Year Of Endings And New Beginnings
Last year consisted a lot of life changes for me. I was finishing off my final year of university (my undergraduate). I had a lot of assignments, an exam and a dissertation to get done. It was a lot. I did my dissertation on how visually impaired people experience social life at uni, which my department seemed to enjoy. Whilst doing that I met some visually impaired students at Goldsmiths. I did some fun assignments like one about the white cane, a mobility aid visually impaired people use and the colored cane debate with in the community. I also had an internship, graduated, went through a job hunting loop, got a job, became an aunt, went to America for the first time in years, some fun weddings and went on a trip to Edinburgh with other visually impaired people. My New Year's Eve was spent on the plane back to London. Throughout the course of the year I even learnt a little bit more about myself mentally, what my mental health is like and what would make me feel like I'm in a better mental state. So I've had quite the eventful year.
My Plans For 2019:
During the first week of the New Year, I spent my time unpacking, going to work and getting back into the swing of things. I didn't have a list of goals I wanted to set myself, or an idea of what to make my resolutions for this year. Which is why I've just been figuring it out as I go along and taking each day on as it happens. I have an inkling of a few things I want to do, but I mainly want to try new things this year. Generic I know. But I want to do something that'll have a positive change in my life, help me learn, grow as a person, develop my skills and make friends along the way. To me, these opportunities will be revealed throughout the course of the year, I just need to try them out if they're what I want to do. Every thing happens for a reason. Here's what I've decided to do so far:
1. Change My Blog:
Don't get me wrong, I love what I write on my blog and the current theme. I just want to improve it a little by creating different sections for my posts, putting them into categories, having links to them available at every page, adding pictures, maybe videos? Or writing about things I haven't talked about before? These are just some of the ideas I have right now. But it's something I think will help develop my blog.
I've also joined the disability blogging community and from what I've read these bloggers have some great posts out there. I really enjoy reading them and I'm hoping they'll be able to give me advice. Plus I'd love to be a member of the community, friends with people who are living with a disability.
2. Set Up A Workout Plan:
Since January 8th I've been doing 15 minutes of exercises at home in my room. They're just some work out videos from a fitness YouTuber I like called Koboko Fitness . She does a lot of workout videos for women that work on burning fat, toning or strengthening your core, abs, hips, arms, upper body, and the lower body. The videos I've watched and done are mainly about belly fat, love handles, back fat, 5 minute work outs, and stand up abs work outs. One of the reasons why I like using her videos is because she explains how to do each step in a preview, it's not just a preview video of the step with music in the background, or quickly mentioning the name of the next step and then starting it. For someone with a visual impairment this is perfect, because I know how to do the next move without having to pause the video mid-workout and double check to see if I'm doing it right. It's great if you want to do some YouTube workouts at home, but need some that describes the steps well. So far I've tried out a few of the videos 4-5 times a week and I'm just trying to figure out which workouts I want to do every week, what days to them and when to mix it up and try a new video she's uploaded.
Alongside this I'm going to try a swimming session next week, with a group called Blossom Fitness London that arrange fitness classes for women in Harrow. I know I'm just going to a taster session, but I'm really excited to start taking swimming lessons after such a long time! Although it's in the evening, it's only a short bus ride, and I could just get a lift or uber because of how dark it is, I'm happy that I'm going to try something i want to do and not let my disability hinder it.
3. Try Mindfulness:
So something that I realized last year is the fact that I overthink a lot. I know that sometimes it can be a good thing and maybe it's due to the fact that I have a visual impairment so whenever i want to do something new I have to plan it out, to make sure I'm able to do it in a way that's safe and accessible for me?
But it can get to the point where I stress myself out over things and put too much pressure on myself. I can be very hard on myself, to the point where self love is a concept that's easier said than done.
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing and not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's happening around us. As of right now, I've only done a 5 minute attempt, where I focused on my breathing but I'll keep trying because maybe it's what I need to not overthink over little things as much as I usually do?
4. Work Towards Being An Adult: This last one must sound confusing because by law I am an adult and I do have a job, so I'm now a working adult. But what I want to focus on is to start doing adult things independently, of course I'll ask for help when I need it but I want to show people I can do things independently and not rely on others so much. In terms of what this would include...I was thinking cooking my own meals every now and then, doing the laundry, learning how to properly take care of the house, becoming more confident to go out at night, manage my money and be less frugal by spending it on what I want to do or buy (I already, mostly spend it on food, Netflix, the occasional online orders and have a savings account, but I want to feel more comfortable spending my money on this stuff and other things in the future). So far I've learnt how our washing machine works, done the laundry twice (only a mixed load), made chicken curry and spinach with my dad and attempted to cook rice. Most of which turned out well....Yes I am a South Asian who messed up making rice. I admit it, I screwed it up twice! Once because I put too little water and once because I put waaay too much water and it took forever to cook (more than half an hour people!). It got to a point where I had to video call my sister and show her the damage, so I could get advice on how to fix it. I still need to find a method that'll work for me, I'm Asian and have rice and curry a lot. As you can see I need to work on this skill set and learn how to transition from being a student into a somewhat capable adult.
During the first week of the New Year, I spent my time unpacking, going to work and getting back into the swing of things. I didn't have a list of goals I wanted to set myself, or an idea of what to make my resolutions for this year. Which is why I've just been figuring it out as I go along and taking each day on as it happens. I have an inkling of a few things I want to do, but I mainly want to try new things this year. Generic I know. But I want to do something that'll have a positive change in my life, help me learn, grow as a person, develop my skills and make friends along the way. To me, these opportunities will be revealed throughout the course of the year, I just need to try them out if they're what I want to do. Every thing happens for a reason. Here's what I've decided to do so far:
1. Change My Blog:
Don't get me wrong, I love what I write on my blog and the current theme. I just want to improve it a little by creating different sections for my posts, putting them into categories, having links to them available at every page, adding pictures, maybe videos? Or writing about things I haven't talked about before? These are just some of the ideas I have right now. But it's something I think will help develop my blog.
I've also joined the disability blogging community and from what I've read these bloggers have some great posts out there. I really enjoy reading them and I'm hoping they'll be able to give me advice. Plus I'd love to be a member of the community, friends with people who are living with a disability.
2. Set Up A Workout Plan:
Since January 8th I've been doing 15 minutes of exercises at home in my room. They're just some work out videos from a fitness YouTuber I like called Koboko Fitness . She does a lot of workout videos for women that work on burning fat, toning or strengthening your core, abs, hips, arms, upper body, and the lower body. The videos I've watched and done are mainly about belly fat, love handles, back fat, 5 minute work outs, and stand up abs work outs. One of the reasons why I like using her videos is because she explains how to do each step in a preview, it's not just a preview video of the step with music in the background, or quickly mentioning the name of the next step and then starting it. For someone with a visual impairment this is perfect, because I know how to do the next move without having to pause the video mid-workout and double check to see if I'm doing it right. It's great if you want to do some YouTube workouts at home, but need some that describes the steps well. So far I've tried out a few of the videos 4-5 times a week and I'm just trying to figure out which workouts I want to do every week, what days to them and when to mix it up and try a new video she's uploaded.
Alongside this I'm going to try a swimming session next week, with a group called Blossom Fitness London that arrange fitness classes for women in Harrow. I know I'm just going to a taster session, but I'm really excited to start taking swimming lessons after such a long time! Although it's in the evening, it's only a short bus ride, and I could just get a lift or uber because of how dark it is, I'm happy that I'm going to try something i want to do and not let my disability hinder it.
3. Try Mindfulness:
So something that I realized last year is the fact that I overthink a lot. I know that sometimes it can be a good thing and maybe it's due to the fact that I have a visual impairment so whenever i want to do something new I have to plan it out, to make sure I'm able to do it in a way that's safe and accessible for me?
But it can get to the point where I stress myself out over things and put too much pressure on myself. I can be very hard on myself, to the point where self love is a concept that's easier said than done.
Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing and not be overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's happening around us. As of right now, I've only done a 5 minute attempt, where I focused on my breathing but I'll keep trying because maybe it's what I need to not overthink over little things as much as I usually do?
4. Work Towards Being An Adult: This last one must sound confusing because by law I am an adult and I do have a job, so I'm now a working adult. But what I want to focus on is to start doing adult things independently, of course I'll ask for help when I need it but I want to show people I can do things independently and not rely on others so much. In terms of what this would include...I was thinking cooking my own meals every now and then, doing the laundry, learning how to properly take care of the house, becoming more confident to go out at night, manage my money and be less frugal by spending it on what I want to do or buy (I already, mostly spend it on food, Netflix, the occasional online orders and have a savings account, but I want to feel more comfortable spending my money on this stuff and other things in the future). So far I've learnt how our washing machine works, done the laundry twice (only a mixed load), made chicken curry and spinach with my dad and attempted to cook rice. Most of which turned out well....Yes I am a South Asian who messed up making rice. I admit it, I screwed it up twice! Once because I put too little water and once because I put waaay too much water and it took forever to cook (more than half an hour people!). It got to a point where I had to video call my sister and show her the damage, so I could get advice on how to fix it. I still need to find a method that'll work for me, I'm Asian and have rice and curry a lot. As you can see I need to work on this skill set and learn how to transition from being a student into a somewhat capable adult.
Lastly, I'll be watching a musical at the Theater with a group of visually impaired people in February. A friend of mine is in that group and I get to see Phantom Of The Opera with audio description! This will be my first time using audio description at the theater, I'm relatively new to the world of audio description (of course I knew what it was, I just didn't know how to access it until a few months ago), so I'm not sure how you apply for it at the theater but it's something I definitely want to do more of. I could write a post about my experience if you're interested?
Alright, I think that's all I've got to say today. Do you have any New Years Resolutions? I hope you're year is off to a good start and you're able to do whatever you want, be happy, healthy and tackle whatever is in store for you.
Bye for now.
Nanjiba