This week in Journaling... week 1.

In a new series, and to help inspire your journal entires, I'm going to reveal what I've been journaling about over the last seven days.

This week I've been journaling about...

My Finances

It's funny what comes up when you journal. My parents used to say, 'money doesn't grow on trees' and guess what? They were right. As I was writing my journal this week, the recurring theme of money came up again and again. It's clearly on my mind and has kept me awake at night recently too. So, I need to do something about that. I have scheduled in some time this afternoon to write a new personal budget. having said that, I'm writing this in a cafe where I've just spent more than £3 on a coffee...!

Getting over the ‘rona’

I got Coronavirus... again. I had it last November and picked it up from somewhere again recently. Fortunately, it was a mild bout, but I wasn't allowed into work, so I festered at home alone, feeling very sorry for myself. This, I'm sure, actually made me feel worse. It's still out there people, if you don't wanna catch it, take precautions.

My forthcoming birthday

I'm 50 on Thursday and have organised a bit of a get-together for my family and closest friends this weekend. I'll be honest... I can't wait. It feels quite selfish to organise something like this for myself, but my theory is "you're only 50 once". Plus, all the family get-together's these days are because of funerals, so I decided to give everyone an excuse to come together for all the right reasons.

Crappy pizza

I frickin' love pizza and decided to treat myself to one this week. Well, what a disappointment. It was so bad that I wrote a 1-star review about it. I don't wanna become one of those people that write poor reviews, as that feels like a slippery slope, but it had to be done.

'Her' birthday

My ex-wife's birthday was exactly one week before mine and is a difficult milestone to forget. Having said that, I've done quite a good job of it over the last few years. Oddly enough, something reminded me this year so I wrote about it. I won't go into detail here, but suffice to say, it was a good outcome... for me.

My (poor) diet

Lot's of things are based around my imminent birthday, and none of those are as prominent as my diet. I know it's poor and I know I need to do something about it because I keep writing about it. I used to write my weight down in my journal on a daily basis. I stopped as I felt like I was putting pressure on myself, but it's clearly something that is on my mind often. So, it's time to get on top of that.

My current accommodation

There are pluses and minuses about my current living situation. Put it this way, I didn't expect to be where I am now, at this age. However, it is so easy to be negative about this. Society dictates (in my mind) that I should probably be settled in my own home by now. But due to all sorts of circumstances, that simply isn't the case. However, I spin that around and turn it into a positive. It is affordable and flexible. I do not have a huge debt hanging over me and the neighbourhood I live in, is somewhere I am not likely to be able to afford to buy in, any time soon.

Business planning and how time flies by without progress being made

I love working "on" my business, but that doesn't pay the bills unfortunately and it's easy to let things slip by without progress being made. So, I have been putting more plans in place this week to ensure I take steps forward.

Entrepreneur mindset

I have one of those brains that sees opportunities all around me. This can be an incredibly useful thing to have, but equally, it can be a little distracting too. I wouldn't change it but I do have to rein myself in from time to time or my brain will go off on a random tangent that could have me planning a new business without getting this one off the ground properly first.

Doing physical work

Most of my work involves me sitting behind a desk (or in a cafe if I'm feeling like a change of scenery) and from time-to-time, I yearn to do some physical work. Simple tasks like cutting grass or washing a window really appeal to me. I don't know where this leads me... but it's been something that I've written about this week.

In summary...

I feel like it's been a negative week generally, which saddens me. I think I need to make an extra effort to journal about the good things in my life too. But, this is what journaling brings out of you sometimes. It's not a set formula, it's a way of expressing what is going on inside your head and releasing it. Maybe next week will be more positive!