Time Out

Photo Credit: Melissa Marshall & Nicole Marshall

Ever felt like your brain is running but your body is walking? Yep, that is me to all the time. 

I've been away from my blog for a little while for no other reason that my life is pretty busy. I started a new job, I joined a blogging team and I got my first car, all in the space of 2 months. I took a break from my blog when I started my job, with the hope that once I got into a routine, I would be able to get back into with a good schedule. That didn't happen however as my new job doesn't really have a routine. 

In April/May I joined a blogging team which is now disbanded but when I looked back I always felt like I was pushing out blog posts at the last minute and wasn't really enjoying what I was writing. Not because I hated the blog post but because I would write them in a hour then have to send them off. I'm one of them people who hates disappointing people and that why saying no is something I find hard but I also started to feel guilty because I found time to write for that blog but not for my own. 

Online, you see bloggers all the time feeling guilty when they take a break from their blogs or even if they miss putting out one post on time. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we start something as a hobby and fall in love with it but than the hobby becomes something you start to question. I love my blog it's given me opportunities to do things I would never had got to do before my blog but juggling my blog and job became something of a chore isn't of a love. 

That is when I thought about making TIME OUT moments in my life. These moments are simple things like walking my dog, going to the beach or going to a beer and cider festival at the local pub. Stepping away from the stressful places and technology. My plan is to try and do time out moments at least 3 times a week. Theses moments give me time to think, relax and even just go somewhere new. 

One of them time out moments was a little trip to Gibside which is part of the National Trust. Gibside is a stunning 18th century landscape garden and haven of nature. Gibside is like the Georgian version of grand design. With the Palladian chapel, stable block and the once grand hall there is no piece of Gibside any photographer wouldn't love to see through a camera lens.  

If you hadn't guessed from the picture above that I have an adorable King Charles Cavalier called Oscar so you can imagine that walking through Gibside was like a dream come true for him but it was also some great to spend time with my sister Nicole (who now also has a blog if you want to check it out here). I turned off my phone and walked around the grounds just leaving society and the bad things happening around the world outside the fenced area. 

I'm hoping that with these time out moments in my life blogging will become more of a regaular things again but I'm not going to make myself feel guilty for having that time to myself. Looking after ourselves is just as important as looking after others.

Do you have your own time out moments or maybe you have something you do to de-stress? What do you when you feel guilty about taking a blogging break?

Walking, it’s just that simple!

I hear people talk about wanting to get fit or lose weight all the time. Some people think you have to make massive changes to get fit, but sometimes little changes are just as good and even sometimes, simpler. One of those little changes you can make is to WALK MORE. I have to say I do walk quite a bit; I don’t have a car at the moment so even walking to the bus stop is better than nothing.

With spring just starting and the weather picking up, I thought this would be a great time to talk about making little steps that can help you start of your fitness journey.

I was looking through the #NEbloggers hash tag on twitter and found a blog post by Samantha from North East Family Fun (link) about how she was adding a 20-minute walk into day mainly on her lunch break to help her get fit (blog post here).  This got me thinking, as I said I already walk quite a bit what could I do extra, then it came to me DOG WALKING.

Everyone knows that walking for a certain amount of time or doing 10,000 steps a day can be beneficial but what can walking actually do for you?

Well here are 6 benefits of walking:

1.       Can strengthen your heart: Walking is a form of cardio exercise and it’s a great form it can lower levels of LDL which is bad cholesterol which then increases your HDL which is your good cholesterol.

2.       Lowers risk of disease: if you do regular walks you can slashes the risks of type 2 diabetes by around 60%.

3.       Can help you lose weight: if you walk for around 30 minutes at a pace of 2mph you can burn 75 calories or if you walk 4mph for 30 minutes that is 150 calories (that is 3 Jaffa cakes and a jam doughnut) you can burn.

4.       Boosts Vitamin D: A lot of people in the UK have a vitamin D deficient which can have an effect on things like your bone health or even your immune system. How do you increase you vitamin D, by being outside and what better way to be outside than walking.

5.       Can boost your energy: Walking is a natural energiser and the best one there is. Walking boosts your circulation and increases your oxygen supply. It also can make your feel more alert and just feel motivated.

6.       It just makes you feel happier: In case you didn’t know exercise can boost your mood and studies have shown that a simple walk is just as effective as anti-depressants in mild to moderate cases of depression as your body releases feel-good endorphins.

So how am I going to add more dog walking into weekly/daily routine, well anyone who knows me know I’m in love with my dog Oscar (King Charles Cavalier) and he is definitely one of the most important living things in my life. We already walk him for around 20/30 minutes a day at our local Park but I wanted to do more. I’ve decided that at least once a week I will be taking Oscar away from are normal walking routes around the park and go further a field and explore.

For the last 3 weekends in we have been to 3 different places, these places are Newburn (with my mam), Jesmond Dene (with Euan) and Tynemouth Beach (with Euan and his family). I thought I would do a new little series on my blog all about the dog walking routes that we are doing. Some weekend it might not be so exciting and just been walking through the local dene but I’m excited to get out more and get to explore some places we might have never been to before.

First walk will be up to Newburn and hopefully it will be up on Thursday, expect a lot of dog pictures and some pretty scenery.

I hope you have enjoyed this post. Why don't you leave you comment where you think your favourite place to go walking? or Do you walk a lot and if you do how far do you walk?