Looking Back At October 2021

It’s November! Whaaaaat?

So, this post is totally late going out. The plan was for this post to go out on the first of November. However, I got hit with food poisoning or some kind of stomach bug and was out of action for most of the first week of November. It was awful. I had aches and pains, I was cold and shivering, I had headaches, and I’ve lost 7lbs. I mean, I wanted to lose weight, but not like this!

I’m doing much better now, and I’m able to get back to work. It feels like since I decided to go self-employed, I’ve either been ill or suffered from poor mental health, but ill get into that in a bit.

Let’s get into looking back at October 2021.

Blogging

In case you missed the post where I discussed it, I’ve gone self-employed! I had my meeting with my work coach in October, and they were happy to sign me off as gainfully self-employed. So, now I just need to start making some money!

I’ve started signing up for all the affiliate programs that I can find and applying for work on blogger outreach websites, but I think it might be a long process (which I knew!) I have a year to get my little business off of the ground. I just hope I can do it.

As my blog is now a business, I decided to get my blog audited* by the lovely Alicia at The Bloggers Incentive. I’ve seen some bloggers offering this service for upwards of £100, whereas The Bloggers Incentive offers a FULL blog audit for only £20!

The audit was completed within three days and covered EVERYTHING. The audit included a five-page document and five separate Exel sheets with further information. The types of things covered were:

• Site speed
• Image size
• Blog design and branding
• How to make your site more user friendly
• On page SEO
• Keywords
• Linking domains

I’ve already started to implement some of the changes, and I cant wait to see the difference once I’ve finished.

If you’re stuck with your blog and don’t know where to turn, I’d definitely recommend getting the blog audit from The Bloggers Incentive!

Mental Health

I’m going to be honest with you because I don’t keep secrets from all of you. I’ve really struggled with my mental health recently. I’ve had panic attacks, I’ve felt jittery, I struggled to do some basic tasks, and it’s just been terrible.

So I called the doctors and asked if I could up my sertraline dose. I am now taking 100mg every morning.

I also called iTalk. I called them shortly after my dad got ill, but unfortunately, there is a long waiting list.

In the meantime, the increased dose of sertraline appears to be helping, and I’m attempting to get more sleep. Unfortunately, my son has decided that sleep is for the weak and likes to wake up at 4am and play his piano.

I’ve also been meditating and completely cut out caffeine. It’s going well so far, I think.

I’ve managed to keep clear of alcohol too and reached the three-month milestone this month 🎉

Spiritual

As I said above, I’ve been meditating and also spending time with my crystals. Side note, I’ve got a post going live soon on crystals, so make sure you keep an eye out for that!

As you might know, I have quite a few crystals now. The trouble is I don’t have enough places to put them all, so I decided to treat myself to a display shelf. And I love it!

I’ve been doing some Angel card readings, manifesting, and also scripting. I had no idea what scripting was until Jenny in Neverland talked about it. Scripting is basically a bit like manifesting, but you write it as if it has already happened. I hope that makes sense!

I’ve also been doing a few card readings for people recently with my Work Your Light Oracle Cards*. Let me know if you would like a reading!

What I’m Watching

I watched the final season of You. That probably didn’t help my mental health, in all honesty. What a rollercoaster that was! In my opinion, I think two seasons would have been perfect; I’m not really sure it needed a third? I think the end of season two would have been the perfect cliffhanger.

We’re also watching The Great British Bake Off. I totally want Jürgen to win! I REALLY hope that they change the presenters next year, though. I am not enjoying Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas together. A lot of their banter I personally don’t find funny in the slightest. Do you like them both?

What I’ve Loved This Month

I don’t actually know? When I have a few days of really, really bad mental health and panic attacks, it tends to overshadow everything else that happened in that month, and I forget everything else. Is anyone else like that?

My Garden

I think I mentioned last month that we had some work done on our shed last month. The garden looked a bit of a mess for a week or so whilst that was being done. I didn’t really get a chance to get out there either because it was getting colder, and I had a cold, so most things died, unfortunately.

So, towards the end of the month, I went out there and pulled up all the dead and dying plants and weeds and pruned the perennial plants. It looks much better, but I miss seeing all the lovely colours out there, and I miss having fresh tomatoes from my tomato plant!

Christmas Gift Guides

I am so excited for November as I’ll releasing my first gift guides for Christmas now that I am an affiliate for a few places! I can’t wait to publish them! Well, I need to actually finish them up first (damn stomach bug!) I’m really in the Christmas spirit early this year, so expect to see a lot of festive-themed content from me.

Conclusion

I thought about setting myself some goals, but then I thought, Nah! I’ll start setting myself some goals in the new year! You can’t set goals at the end of the year now, can you?

Thanks for looking back at October 2021 with me!

Before you go, make sure you check out my latest posts!

• Looking Back At September 2021
• Halloween Movies for Wimps
• The Next Step In My Blogging Journey
• First Few Weeks With A Newborn – A Guide For Dads

Cover Photo by Ilja Tulit on Unsplash