Why take action to change myself?

There is never just one catalyzing event that makes you take action to change. You can call it whatever cliché you like- totally fed up, enough is enough, the last straw- but when it truly happens, you have this feeling that this time is different.

For me, it’s my work that has made me take action to change. I'm the Chief Officer of Carers Outreach Service, a service that supports unpaid carers in North West Wales. 

Unpaid carers are amazing! Every single day, I am truly inspired by how unselfish unpaid carers are. They give so much to others and quite often forget about themselves. As an organisation, we always tell carers to look after themselves. Wellbeing is such an important word these days. 

 So here I am running a charity that supports carers to look after their own wellbeing and yet I haven't been particularly looking after my own!  It's a bit of a joke in the office - every Monday I start a new diet. It's more of a joke on a Tuesday afternoon when  I’m ravenous and eating cake like there’s no tomorrow!! 

One thing I really give 100% commitment to is my work.  So I got this bright idea that if I linked my own wellbeing to the work I do, then maybe my commitment to myself would also be 100%. 

What I don't want to do though is get so obsessed about being perfect ( I couldn't,even if I tried!); you can follow the celebrities for that sort of inspiration!!

What you'll get here on my blog is honesty and probably a lot of struggle. I work full-time, I have a teenager who expects me to be 'taxi' and I have an 8 year old who plays football (a lot) and I’m his number one fan. Life is hectic and sometimes a little bit stressful! 

For the next 6 months, I will be conducting my own little experiment of whether concentrating on my own wellbeing - making myself feel good, will have a positive impact on my whole life.

I want to be the best version of myself but will not bow down to unrealistic expectations of how I should look according to the “ideal”.

So for the next 6 months, I am going to get fit! I have already joined a local fitness class and am starting a 12 week boot camp next week ( 3 classes of high intensity training and weight lifting per week).

I am going to look at my eating habits! I have already signed up to a personal nutrition plan with Julie,  a nutritionist and  fitness guru that runs the local fitness classes! She has taken my stats and photos and will take progress stats and photos every 4 weeks. 

 I am giving up alcohol- well I say give it up, maybe limit it to special occasions!! I'm not a big drinker but a Friday night G&T always hits the spot after a hectic week- those G&T's are out! 

Oh and every month, I want to challenge myself. My first challenge was Snowdon (check out my next blog)!

This is my personal commitment to unpaid carers of North Wales and I'd love you to support my challenge. Wouldn't it be great if you could join me and raise some money to fund a wellbeing project for unpaid carers.

I would really love to raise some money to support carers to look at their own wellbeing and try to ease some of the stresses in their lives. Be it fitness, counselling, cognitive behavioural therapy, healthy finances, mediation, mindfulness or whatever it may be carers need to improve their own wellbeing. I  would like Carers Outreach Service to be able to help.

Wish me luck and you're more than welcome to join me in my efforts. 

                Love,                          

                      Llinos x