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2020 In Books (What I Read Last Year)

13.01.2021 / Books

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26 year old part-time blogger, part-time marketing freelancer living in Suffolk. I talk about books, relationships, easy styling and life in your 20s.

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2020 In Books (What I Read Last Year)

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My 2020 in books: what did I read last year, and w

My 2020 in books: what did I read last year, and was it any good? 📚 My annual book review blog post is now live! I didn’t get through a lot last year but there are still some corkers on the list for your bookshelf inspiration. Let me know your thoughts on any of the titles included and what’s next on your reading list. ☺️

Happy birthday gorgeous one @keiranmorphew! Gettin

Happy birthday gorgeous one @keiranmorphew! Getting better looking every year, you lucky bastard. ❤️ Keiran hates it when I make a fuss on his birthday (we shall not speak of the year of the unwanted surprise party), so make sure you make a fuss and say happy birthday hehe. 🎉🎁🥳

Can I level with you? Some days I wake up feeling

Can I level with you? Some days I wake up feeling hopeless, and some days I wake up thinking it’s all going to be okay. The feelings themselves aren’t so bad, I’m just tired of being on an emotional rollercoaster and feeling like a different person one day to the next. The extremes are so extreme.

Maybe this is the natural result of spending nearly a year trying to continue as normal when the environment is anything but. Maybe it’s sadness spilling out of me in bursts like a broken dam when I’m full to the brim with everything. Or maybe I’m just having a lot of bad days and I’m actually okay.

Who knows? I certainly don’t. You probably don’t either. But if one day you’re hyper and hopeful and the next you’re crying: hello, me too. 👋 🙃

Once again we find ourselves back in the solitary

Once again we find ourselves back in the solitary circus and since today is my first day back at work, I thought I’d share a few WFH tips which make the days more bearable!

🌙 If you’re working from a laptop, buy a wireless mouse! Mine was about a tenner from Argos and it makes long days a little bit more comfortable.

🌙 Move around, if you can. Designated desks and workspaces are great but I start climbing the walls if I’ve been sitting in the same space for too long. It really zaps my motivation and makes me feel a bit bogged down. Even if you just turn your desk around/work from the other side of the dining table/work next to a window etc., a change of environment makes a difference.

🌙 Muted FaceTimes can make you feel less alone. Or Skype, or Zoom - whatever you fancy. Say hey to each other, then mute and get on with your work. Agree to unmute in 45 minutes for a break and a chat or to check in on progress. This kind of thing can help to recreate an office atmosphere and give you some company.

🌙 Miss the warm familiarity of a coffee shop? Pop on a ‘coffee shop sounds’ playlist (yep, they exist, and they’re great) or search for some low-key, lyric-less music like the ‘lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to’ on YouTube.

🌙 DRINK. WATER. It’s so boring but you know it makes you feel good so pls just do it.

All I do this time of year is read. Slowly and lei

All I do this time of year is read. Slowly and leisurely with no worry for time or what else I should be doing. Reading opens up a little door in my brain through which I can find all of the words to articulate the knots inside of me; words are the necessary elbow, massaging out the bits of me that seek release. Even though I’m aware of this - aware of the great balancer that reading can be - when normal life resumes, I rarely grant myself the time to turn pages. And it’s a great shame because that’s where the best of me can be found.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past week or so: self-sabotage or neglect in its myriad forms, however slight, but especially when it comes to words. It seemed fortuitous then that I should come across the following passage in last month’s @ohmaguk by Judy Darley, something I thought you’d like to hear too:

“The Western world tends to keep us stuck in the fear-driven hamster-wheel of the mind that we try to escape from through dissociative practices - whether that’s addictions, too much alcohol or sugar, or endlessly scrolling on your phone or binge-watching Netflix - just refusing to ever stop ‘doing’ for long enough to just feel what we’re feeling. Well, writing let’s us take the pen into our owner hands and become authors of our own lives.”

The year of living a little. That’s what they’

The year of living a little. That’s what they’ll call it. The small year, the year you could squash in a pocket.

How can something be so big, so barrel-chested and huge, and yet small enough to tuck away? Everything happened and nothing happened. Chaos knocked politely and let itself in with the spare key.

But

Stagnation and stillness are not the same thing. You can be still, and be, still. In the corners of flats against radiators and SAD lamps; in gardens and parks and deep breaths of air; in the loading screen of a Zoom call whose blankness was a quick mirror:

A
little
germ
of
something
more.

Happier New Year.

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