82 days into the new year - new start

So, you know when you expect the new year to be just like, 'wow'. For me, it's inevitable to think of January 1st as a new start, a new hope. But, until now, my year has been all over the place.

No, this isn't me. This is the UHmazing Nicole Winhoffer - Stella McCartney for Adidas spokeswoman and former personal trainer to Madonna. Check out her Instagram.

Don't get me wrong, I started 2015 with big plans; no matter whether my business went well (alongside my business partner I run a small creative agency {shocreates Ltd} that works with mostly hair and beauty brands on interacting with female consumers), and no matter what happened with sohairobsessed.com, I would start my own personal blog, and I would begin learning something new, something that could lead to a fresh, completely fulfilling vocation. As such, I started putting things in motion, without putting them 'out there'. While I know putting your thoughts, hopes and dreams out there is a positive, in that it makes you accountable, I'm also of the belief that doing far outweighs talking.

I didn't want to be a talker. The thought of being someone who talks (endlessly) about taking a course, starting a blog, writing a book, yet without ever completing any of those goals, literally petrifies me. So I made small movements; contacted fitness companies re courses, spoke to the designer who does much of the shocreates work to ask about her building a simple blog, and began reading books on writing (FYI, Stephen King's On Writing has been a Godsend).

While January went with a blur as we signed on new clients, February pretty much kicked my ass. While both of my father's parents have been ill for some time, my grandfather took a turn for the worse and I was told I should visit, just in case... Then, I started to get ill; annoying little problems. First I kept getting stomach issues - I've suffered with IBS in the past, and it's mostly attributed to stress, although, apparently, I wasn't actively 'feeling' stressed in Feb. Then at the end of February, my 'stomach bug' turned into flu, and that flu just STUCK. For two weeks, while I kept to client deadlines, as if my life depended on it (which is kinda weird), and tried to launch my own blog (which obvs happened, because, hey, you're reading it - I hope) and also kept up my part-time job (bar a couple of days). Every time that I decided that by the next morning, my illness would be gone, and I would envision myself sweating on the treadmill, feeling amazing, when the following morning rolled around, my body would be there like, 'ha, no Charisse, you ain't going nowhere.' And it wasn't just my body; it was my mind. It was literally fuzzy, as in, I could barely keep up with my social media work because my thoughts were all over the place. Somehow I made it, but it is only now, as I slowly begin to feel normal, that I realise, I need to make some changes. Those changes that I wanted in January, NEED to happen. Even the fact that my grandfather did indeed pass away - he eventually found peace just over a week ago, so he put up quite a fight - has shown me that life is short, and I don't want to be thinking 'what if' about anything in my life. He was someone who arrived in the UK from Jamaica with a simple plan; to give his family a better future. Whether he reached his goal, is still yet to be seen, as his family has grown, and grown. But I definitely need to be proactive when it comes to ME.

So today, I'm 'putting it out there' that I am: committed to my business, starting a fitness course - blogging about it right here too, so stay tuned if you're interested in starting anew - and will be rearranging our small spare room into a peaceful, profitable, writing den. 

What are you starting today?