it was nice to see you to see you nice, Brucie!

August 19, 2017

I am utterly gutted that Bruce Forsyth has passed away, but can't help but look back all he's accomplished in his life in total awe. What an absolute legend. Bruce was a hero to me from a young age, he was my 'TV Grandfather' and I truly adored him so much. I grew up watching him on Strictly and always thought he was one of the greatest 'celebrities' in the world. His onscreen chemistry with Tess Daly was just so wonderful. He truly was a star. His personality was infectious and he had the ability to always make me feel better. I like to think that his contribution to Strictly really inspired my love of dancing and music. I am so sad that he has passed because HE WAS "MY FAVOURITE" ;), however, I am so thrilled we get to celebrate Bruce's long and successful career. He did so well and he deserved it. Thanks for being a fabulous man, Bruce - you'll be missed so much! 

I do not own photo. Found on Google Images.

i got in!

August 19, 2017

I am so thrilled to be able to share my latest life milestone with you all. I got into uni! I am so excited and truly cannot believe I did it! It wasn't until I found out I got in that I realised how happy, excited and proud I am. I am off to study a BA in Geography & English Literature in Swansea University. Both these subjects mean the absolute world to me and I am very excited to now have the opportunity to further develop my interest and enjoyment around these subjects. Although I am extremely excited to see what the future brings, there is a little part of me that feel so emotional when thinking about how much I appreciate the support I have received from my teachers to get me to where I am now, especially my English and Geography teachers who have continuously inspired me and my love for the subjects. I will miss them. However, now is a time for a new chapter and I'm excited. Bring it on. Eek!



Lots of love 
XXXX

lifestyle

where I am at.

August 14, 2017

Grab a cuppa. Today's post is going to be a long and chatty one. 

 Hello everyone. I feel so ready to be back sat in front of my laptop typing away today after a very long hiatus from the blogging world. I had got to a point where writing a blog post had become a tedious chore for me and that truly reflected in the quality (and quantity) of the content I was providing to you all which made me extremely disappointed. After taking a break I do feel very refreshed and am eager to start sharing new thoughts and ideas with you. Before delving back into (hopefully) regular content, I thought it would be appropriate to share an update with you all on where my blog is at, and also where I am at in life. The past few months have been a huge period of personal growth for me; I've learnt so many lessons and made so many changes and honestly, I feel I am in a really good place at the moment.

 The past year has flown by, and during that time so much has changed. I have gone from spending my time dedicated to studying my A-Levels, a time where it felt like it completely revolved around exams and coursework to now having free time to relax and prepare for the next chapter. It is crazy how different life is now compared to two months ago. Although I thoroughly enjoyed my period in school and studying my wonderful subjects, I am so excited and ready for a new chapter of life. It is crazy to see how greatly studying impacted on my health and well-being; I was so stressed, emotional and exhausted during that period of my life, so being able to relax and recharge has completely changed me and my view on life. I have always tried to be a positive person and even during the stress that was exam time, always aimed to be happy, but it's crazy how much the strain can mean that every emotion felt was completely exaggerated; if you felt happy, you were extremely happy and if you were sad, you'd be crying your eyes out. I'm so glad to now have a good grip on my feelings and emotions (thanks to an exam-free life). I decided that I wanted to take this time to now focus on being a better person; as people, we are constantly growing, changing and learning, so I decided now that I have the time and energy that I wanted to make some positive changes in my life. Although some changes may be minor, in the long term the hope is that they will be of a beneficial value. 

// H E A L T H & F I T N E S S \\ 

I feel this is a great place to start. Now, I'm not going to be solely discussing barbells and treadmills (although the gym/exercise aspect does play a part in what I want to discuss), I want to also discuss the importance of mental health. Having good mental health can have a profound positive knock-on effect on other health components such as diet and physical fitness. 
As I have previously mentioned I have always tried to be as positive as possible when approaching life's everyday challenges, now of course sometimes this can be harder/easier than usual, but on the whole, I have tried to have the 'glass half full' view on life. It is funny because as soon as exams finished things I wouldn't necessarily be concerned about and were fairly minor became big focuses for me and I'd find myself overthinking such stupid and unnecessary things. I did find myself on a few occasions pondering too much over my own actions (being quite self-critical) and worrying about people's perception of me (in the sense that I wanted to be viewed as a "good" person.) I decided I had to snap out of it because I was so aware that I was being ridiculous and irrational. I realised much of it came from my 'people person' quality; I really value people in my life - they are the most important thing. Honestly, I am one of those people who worries more about what teacher's think of my exam results, than my own view because I don't like to let people down. I had got into the mindset that I had to reach certain expectations to ensure that I was a 'good enough' person and for people I really cared about to think so, too. How mad is that?? Obviously, I know that is absolutely bonkers, but I was just being too hard on myself. It is also a time of transition in life, so I know a lot of people my age may be able to relate to the feelings around 'trying to work out who you are, what you are doing and where you are going'. Anyway, I sat back and thought GET OVER IT EVE. Easy as that. Okay, I did have to give myself a little pep talk, but you come to realise that as human's we are not perfect and we make good decisions, bad decisions, and uncertain decisions all the time - we learn and we grow. I do think we live in a society where comparing yourself to someone else becomes increasingly unavoidable, but we do need to give ourselves a break. So, that's what I did! I am good enough and am doing my best to be the best person I can be. I embrace my hiccups and celebrate my successes. Life is a huge learning process and sometimes we just need to remember to live. Having a positive perception of yourself and life can have a profound impact on your health, believe me. Now, for some, I realise it's not as easy as giving yourself a 'pep talk', but I do want to remind you that it is possible to get yourself on a good track. Talk about how you are feeling to someone. 

I have been feeling so happy these past months since finishing exams, even with my stupid worries and I think much of that is down to my change in fitness routine and diet. I made the conscious decision to really improve my fitness and to try to introduce small, healthy changes to my diet. As a fitness instructor, there are certain expectations to have a good fitness level as well as balanced diet, I will say that I have followed a regular fitness routine for years now, especially since teaching regular Zumba classes (I am still LOVING Zumba and being an instructor btw), however, I did feel the need to introduce some new exercise into my routine, as simple as going for a long walk on a daily basis. I have noticed that just adding a little more exercise has made a big difference for me. I have also tried to eat more healthy, however never deprive myself of eating food I enjoy. Balance is key. 

// M Y  P E R S O N A L 'LIFE' G O A L \\ 

This may be strange, but I've been thinking a lot about what it is I want to achieve in my life and I have come to a conclusion. I have some key role models in my life, these are people I adore so much and admire greatly, and I thought to myself 'what is it that makes these people so amazing to me?', and I worked out it was the way they made me feel. These people make me feel so happy and inspired about life, and I realised I want a focus and goal of my life to be to do the same. I want to help and inspire people I meet, I want them to feel happy in my company and encouraged to achieve good things! That is my life goal. How I'll get there, not sure yet. Whatever I end up doing, I want that to be a factor in it. 

// T H E  B L O G \\

Haia Eve is going to be my space to write about whatever it is I want. Yeah. I had always put pressure on myself to fit within a certain blogger category, but I can't. I have so many interests. Lots of things excite me and I like talking about lots of different things. However, the primary focus of my posts will be health/fitness/lifestyle, so look forward to lots of posts falling under those topics! I'm also starting to explore the idea of starting up a lifestyle YouTube channel, but at the moment this really scares me, we'll see.

// S U M M A R Y \\ 

I am so excited about life and all the possibilities. I have lots of little exciting things coming up and I am truly treasuring them. I am so happy at the moment, as well as scared to see where I'll end up going. I cannot wait to get back sharing things with you all because I have really missed being a blogger. I will hopefully be telling you in a week that I got into Uni, however, if I'm not, I'll work something else out :) Things work out in the end! If you are waiting for results, too, whatever happens - things will be okay =). 
Ok, so updates done! I hope you are all well.

Speak to you all soon.

XXX