MAKING THE TIME TO BE PROUD

Oh hey… happy Friday! I love Friday’s, the thought of a full weekend to still plan out is so brilliant and working full time really makes you appreciate the weekends you have which I love. Although I enjoy my work, I much rather enjoy a Saturday and Sunday where I can do whatever I please.

The past two weeks have been really busy both in and out of work and I was swamping myself over completely. I love keeping busy, but I was feeling beside myself and started questioning so many things.

Last week, on a Twitter chat, a really lovely conversation had sparked up around photos that bloggers had taken that made them feel proud. I shared mine and instantly felt amazing. Other bloggers liked and commented, and I was beaming. It made me think about how little I praise myself or the work I do, and what I’ve achieved.

Hopefully there’s a few of you that can agree with me and you have also just noticed that you’re not giving yourself a big enough of a pat on the shoulder, because listen my lovely, you need to start doing this. Soooooooooooo, I thought it would be lovely to start a monthly post of talking about all the great things, regardless how big or small, that have made me feel proud and put a smile on my face. Completely open to contributions too, so if you fancy being featured, holla at me.

1. I mentioned my all-time favourite photo, it’s a photo I think I’ll be forever proud of. It’s from a little while back when I walked Fleetwith Pike, with a seriously gorgeous view over Buttermere. I’m proud of this photo because the view is unreal, and  not only did I have the chance to experience that, I also felt I was able to do the view justice in my photo. Plus… I created this little beauty myself, even though me and the DSLR are still getting to know one another. 
2. On Wednesday, I spent the day volunteering for our company’s charity of the year- the Lighthouse Union Store. Donated to them was half an allotment which needed a lot of TLC, so a few of us chose to head to the garden and get our green fingers on. We turned up a heck load of soil (and we found so many potatoes), pulled out weeds and levelled out the future vegetsble patch. I seriously had a great day out with my friends, the weather treated us extremely well (Wednesday night my cheeks were glowing) and the charity was over the moon with our help. 
3. Another thing that has brought a smile to my face is that fact that I have become a first time aunty, thanks to my sister-in-law. Life is so precious and fascinating. Meeting my niece, Sophia Anne, and admiring every teeny little human element of her (especially her finger and toe nails), reminded me of when my gorgeous brothers where born and how amazing that was. I love the feeling of how such a little human can make such a big impact and how a family instantly becomes closer. 
4. Still fairly new to blogging, I’m proud of where Crunch Corner currently is and I’m so excited to see what the next years will bring. With there being so many brilliant bloggers, I was scared of making the move to just commit and publish the very first post, that being said, I’m not enitrely sure what I even did in my free time back then. I love blogging, and I have had so many fun collaborations already and met a fair few of Leeds finest bloggers. 

So there we have it, four of my favourite proud moments. It’s sometimes so easy to forget how brilliant you are and all the nice things you do for yourself and other people. It’s also really easy to compare yourself to others and let that skew your own vision of yourself. I really hope this post might inspire some of you to think back, remember and be proud of your proud moments… and that you take the time to be nice to yourself, switch off and love yourself. 

Charlotte xxx