So February was a bit of a month, wasn’t it? We’ve had loads of storms, the start of some horrible stuff in Eastern Europe, and the lifting of isolation restrictions. But it was also a bit of a rocky one for me in my personal life, hence why I’ve been kind of silent on my blog for the majority of the month. To put it simply, my dad passed away, and it’s been one of the most difficult and complicated things I’ve ever experienced. But I’m hoping March will be a lot brighter!
Before I get ahead of myself with thinking about March, it’s time to chat about what was good about February. Sure, it was a hard month, but I’m a firm believer that there’s always some positives to be grateful for, even if they’re teeny tiny.
My family – it feels obvious to say, but during a pretty rough month, I was so thankful for my family. I feel like we’re quite independent people and we aren’t all mega close, but when something happens, we rally together and support each other. I was grateful for the check in messages from my aunties, for Matthew being so patient and willing to listen, and having my sister to vent to. But everyone was just the best and still continue to be.
My new job – I started my new job at the beginning of February and I’ve been absolutely loving it. I’m still getting to grips with how everything works, but it’s been so good and I’m excited about all my upcoming work. It feels great to be doing some ‘proper’ marketing with big girl budgets and being allowed to use some creativity to come up with fully fledged campaigns. It’s a good’un!
My blog – while I haven’t been publishing on my blog all that much, I’ve been thankful that it’s been there. As you can imagine, I had a lot on my mind throughout February and so to make sense of it all, I decided to use my favourite outlet to help – writing. So I’ve got a great big blog post all about my dad passing away (it’s on about 3000 words and growing) that I’m never planning on posting, but it was so good to have that there for me to add to and be vulnerable.
Good food – February was definitely the month of amazing eatings. It was Teesside Restaurant Week 2022 at the start of the month, where we enjoyed an incredible tapas meal from G & Tea House in Great Ayton. I went out with my Instagram friends to The Peppermill Bistro after not having visited for about 2 years and absolutely loved it (I haven’t stopped thinking about it since). And we had some unbelievable parmos from the Masham towards the end of the month. We ate all the best things and enjoyed every minute of it.
Making time for fun – I feel I’m finding a better balance between work and life now and in February, I felt more free to have time for fun things. We went to Newcastle to see the Ru Paul’s Drag Race Season 2 tour, went bowling, went to the 1950s Front Street celebrations at Beamish, went axe throwing and so much more. I used to find it so hard to switch off and really allow myself to do things for me, but I’m definitely on my way to finding that balance.
And so that was February. I realise that this wasn’t the most exciting gratitude list ever, but the good bits really were good. I’m looking forward to March, mainly because it’s my birthday month, but we also have a trip to Glasgow planned and I’m sure there’ll be lots of other lovely bits. So stay tuned to see!
