How is everyone feeling since the announcement of another lockdown here in England?

I’ve been a little down about it myself as the idea of being stuck indoors all day again isn’t a particularly appealing one, but then I tried to look at it from a different perspective as I like to try and find the positives in situations if I can.

I’ll have more free time on my hands again which will allow me to focus on a few projects that have been somewhat neglected. Plus I can use the time to start taking better care of myself, something that also often gets neglected.

I’m hoping to get some writing done and that being cooped up won’t crush my inspiration and motivation as it sometimes does. But if I do have a down day I’m going to allow myself to take care of myself, and then pick things up the next day. All feelings are valid and I find it’s always better to process them than to try to block them out or bottle them up.

Are there any projects of things that you are planning to work on during this lockdown?

What do you love most about Halloween?

I’m going to have to say the atmosphere. With the days growing shorter I enjoy the eerie quiet and stillness of October darkness, as a stark contrast to the lively and warm evenings of summer.

Plus there is just a feeling of fun and all things weird are celebrated around Halloween (and being rather weird myself I very much enjoy this). Not to mention that the comfy clothes and cosy blankets come out, which is perfect to snuggle up under while hiding from a horror movie!

There’s something fun and exciting about being spooked on Halloween, and I think it’s because we get to do it on our own terms, to whatever degree we can handle and can therefore enjoy it! Horror mazes are a good example of this. (Oh and there’s also FrightFest which is one of my favourite UK film festivals.)

It’s a shame that we aren’t going to be able to experience Halloween in the same way this year because of Covid-19 but there are still ways to feel part of it and enjoy the atmosphere. Get involved with my #DuvetGhostChallenge on Instagram and Twitter for some laugh out loud silly fun! You can also get cooking or baking and see what seasonal delights you can whip up. There’s been some really good ideas floating around on how to keep trick-or-treating alive, from putting up spooky posters or pumpkins and parents taking their own sweets to give to kids when they spot one on their socially distanced Halloween walk, right through to having up sweets outside your house as part of the decorations!

So even though we can’t do what we normally would, there are still lots of ways to have fun. Keep an eye on my blog as I’ve got a post coming up where I review a spooky DIY at home escape room...

What are your plans for Halloween this year? I’m going to have a movie marathon with snacks and spoon myself silly!

Hey all! I hope that everyone has been staying safe during the Covid19 lockdown so far, and if you are unwell then I wish you health and recovery. I need to start this post by just saying a huge thank you to our NHS staff and key workers during this hard time, your efforts are truly amazing and appreciated!

Apologies that I haven't written in a while, as you can imagine life has been pretty crazy of late! At the start of March I has a fabulous birthday celebration with family and friends, and then pretty soon after that I went into self isolation. Now I know that may seem a little early, but I live with a key worker so wanted to stay home for them to reduce the chances of passing on the virus to them and their colleagues. Ironically he ended up giving it to me! And thus began the two week quarantine...

I was lucky to only get a mild case of Coronavirus, but I definitely got a nastier mild case. This virus is not fun. I thought I'd write this blog post to talk about my experience of it and what kind of symptoms I had, just in case it helps anyone else out there.

It did start with a cough, but it wasn't persistent at the start, it was more like a tickle at the back of my throat and dry coughing. I didn't cough all the time either, just every now and then in little clusters. The cough did get worse as it went on but at no point was I coughing all the time. Next came the headache, and it was kind of different to normal headaches (and as a migraine sufferer believe me I know!) because it was in my forehead and behind my eyes and the bridge of my nose...and it just wouldn't go, but paracetamol did really help.

Next up came the aches; literally my muscles just ached for no reason. For me it began with my calf muscles, and then was mostly in my upper and mid back, as well as my shoulders. These were pretty horrible as it hurt to move, it hurt not to move, and the weirdest thing was that my skin became sore to the touch, almost as if it had been sunburnt. At this point I was also really exhausted, sleeping a lot and spending pretty much the whole time on the sofa, I also lost my sense of taste for a few days. I didn't have the energy to cook meals or do any housework and had to take advantage of any more energised moments to shower, but luckily I had someone to look after me while I was unwell.

I added another pillow while sleeping to help raise me up a bit, which helped a lot with the coughing fits I'd get when I'd lay down, and allowed me to get a decent nights sleep and recover more quickly. (I also kept doing this for about 2 weeks after I started feeling better as I'd still be coughing up some sputum as my lungs recovered.) Another little life hack that I used was to apply lip balm before going to sleep which really helped to stop my mouth and throat drying out as I slept, I figured this out a few years back when I had a killer cold.

Along with the muscle aches came the fever. Mine wasn't actually too high but again it wasn't great and it also went on for a good 5 days. It seemed to run along with the headaches as both were either better or worse at the same time, and paracetamol definitely helped me to control my temperature too. A huge thank you to my neighbour who saw the sign we put on our door and posted us some paracetamol, the supermarkets had all been sold out before due to people panic buying so I am SO grateful to their generosity as it helped me as I fought through it. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

Once the fever faded the headaches also went away and it honestly felt like the first time I'd been able to fully open my eyes in about a week.I got my sense of taste back too but then completely lost my sense of smell. I functioned so much better without the headaches and felt like I had more energy again. Although I couldn't use any of this energy because the next stage for me was breathlessness. I would get out of breath doing little things and at my worst I was pretty much panting while just sitting still on the sofa. My coughing also turned nasty at this point, it was still dry but the cough came from a deeper place, would come in fits and I couldn't suppress it at all, and my chest and windpipe started to hurt. It hurt when I took anything more than a shallow breath in, yawning was horrible and coughing was just plain painful. It was a weird pain as it felt like the inside of my windpipe and the tubes of my lungs were sore, right from the back of my throat down to my sternum, and then spreading out across my chest. As I kept on coughing it got worse and I began to get a sharp pain in my chest, pinpoint and just above where my heart is, whenever I coughed and this was agonising. I was also at my most breathless now too so I called the NHS on 111 (this was for the second time, the first was at the start to confirm my initial symptoms and find out if I needed to quarantine) and they had me run through symptoms and do a breathing test. They were really wonderful and kind, especially as they were so rushed off their feet with waiting times of over 30 minutes for people to get through to the service. Luckily I was not bad enough to need to go to hospital but was told to call back if I got worse.

I didn't get tested at any point for the virus because I didn't get bad enough to need to go into hospital, it was all confirmed via the 111 service. I urge anyone with mild symptoms not to go to the hospitals if you can fight it off at home, there are so many people with severe cases or people who are at great risk from the virus that need to be there and receive special treatment in order to survive. This virus is horrible, even a mild case can knock you off your feet and I wish more people would take it seriously, listen to and follow the government advice about social distancing. I'm still seeing people out on picnics where I live on an almost daily basis and it's so frustrating because the longer this goes on, the longer the virus will keep spreading, people will keep dying from it, and we will all remain on lockdown. I applaud and am grateful to everone who is staying at home, whether for their safety of the safety of others, it is hard not being able to see loved ones, but thank goodness for technology and video calls! I myself won't be able to see my Mum for most of this year because she is at risk from this and so I would be worried about passing the virus on to her.

The breathlessness that I had lasted for about a week and then gradually all of the symptoms disappeared until one day I just felt normal again. And it was absolutely wonderful!!! I am still coughing occasionally, but I think this is just my lungs clearing themselves and recovering. I also found that although I'm breathing normally again, I do still get breathless when exercising so I wasn't able to do this for a while after. I started with just going for walks once a day, and once I was able to do that without getting breathless then I added in the worlds most basic 15 minute exercise routine. So this is where I am now, I'd say that I mostly recovered and I came out of my 14 day quarantine a week and a half ago, but I'm still not 100% better yet and I think that it will probably be at least another month before my body is back to normal again. It wasn't all bad, I got to watch a lot of amazing TV series' and the amount of people who wished me well was absolutely astounding and deeply touching, there are so many kind and supportive people out there, plus there was also an extremely funny moment involving a broken intercom, a suitcase, some rope, and winching a pizza delivery up to the second floor and through a window! I'll keep walking and exercising, each week gradually increasing the difficulty of the workout until I'm no longer noticing any breathlessness , and then I'll consider myself fully recovered.  I look forward to that day!

Do you like going out for winter walks? Why?

My life has had a lot of changes so far this year and one of the biggest ones has been working from home more. Because of this I definitely feel the need to get out and about more!

I’ve always been a fan of going out for walks and it’s been something that my family have done since I was a kid, but I quite often find that I’m the only one of my friends who does it...

Do you ever just go out for a walk? And I don’t mean when you have to go somewhere or to walk the dog or get from A to B. I mean just going out walking for the sake of walking.

Happy New Year everyone! It’s not only a new year, but a new decade and a new chapter in my life. This year marks the start of a lot of big lifestyle changes for me which will give me more flexibility, better finances, and the chance to really push myself, go after my career and build the life that I’ve been dreaming of. I’m super excited for 2020 and all of the possibilities that it holds. With big hopes and dreams comes big goals and hard work, so bring it on...
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First up on my list is to get my fitness back to a good place and start eating healthily again. I was thrown off track for a while after being unwell with allergies and the treatment to get healthy again, but now I’m ready and able to get back at it and get myself back into shape. I used to really enjoy exercise and healthy food so it will be good to get back to that, I just need to stick at it and push past the wall to make it all habit again.

I’m also really excited about the new possibilities that have opened up for my acting career. I’ll finally be able to go to the workshops and events that I’ve always wanted to do, and that will help to build relationships with the right people to move my career forward. Plus I’ll be able to work on and practise skills that have had to be put to the side for the last few years while working to survive in London.

At some point this year I am actually going to go on holiday. Like, a proper one. To somewhere that I’ve always wanted to visit. This also means that I’ll get to vlog and blog about that adventure, which really excites me as I’d love to write more about my love for adventure. I hope that you will all enjoy reading about and watching that part of my life grow along with my acting!

Another thing that’s really important to me (as some of you will already know) is working toward being as plastic free and living as sustainably as possible. This is definitely something that I will be continuing to work on as the year progresses. I’ll be making little swaps as things that I use break or run out, plus I’ve already swapped to using toothpaste tablets and only bamboo toothbrushes so far this year! I’m hoping that I’ll be able to create my own wheat free bread recipe too as it irritates me how much plastic the gluten free loaves come wrapped in (not to mention how ridiculously expensive they are).

I’m so grateful to be in the position that I am, and to have the chance to pursue my dreams. I really hope that I’ll be lucky enough to make them come true one day soon and then to do what I can to help those around me achieve theirs too. I hope that all of you reading this find the strength and motivation to go after and achieve your dreams too. Here’s to a happy and productive 2020!