I did a thing last month and enrolled in a singing performance workshop.

I did one last year and I loved it.

What happens in the workshops is that you choose a song and sing it. You are also videoed and then the other people there give you feedback about your performance. You have to think about the words of the songs, what does it mean to you, why you chose it and the feelings.

Even though I did it last year, I still had those nerves.

I didn’t know who would be there and if I would remember the words.

Last Monday was the first night and I arrived and was greeted by my singing teacher who runs it. It was lovely to see her.

There were also people who attended last year and it was great to see them again.

The song I sang was Nothing Compares to You.

We get to sing the song two times.

After we sing the first time we listen to the constructive feedback and how we can improve the song.

It could be little changes like using the mic stand or not using it, it could be sitting down to sing or it could be putting more feelings in the song.

The second time I sang I just thought about what the song was about and just sang it. The song for me was sadness.

I love to sing and I am so hard on myself.

I am thinking will I remember the words, will I come in on time, will I remember the timing, will I be able to sing how I practiced at home or is my outfit see through.

I guess when things are important to us, we want to do well.

I want to get to the stage where I am in the moment just singing the song and not having all the negative thoughts bombard my experience.

I want to get to the stage where it is okay to muck up the song and be okay about it.

I want to be real on stage.

I am so looking forward to the next few weeks, yes, I am still feeling the nerves.

My words for the year are courage and creativity.

So, this is what I am doing stepping out with courage and being creative.

I may be shaking a bit but I am going to do this with courage.

I will share more soon.

This week I had a session with my PT (trainer) and it was a leg session and yes it was difficult. We worked on technique and form.

I spoke with him about working toward a show and we have a goal now for next May.

So, for now there is no cardio, for the moment and we are now building muscle.

What does that mean, I will need to increase food and just focus on weight training.

I did say to him so I won’t get to make friends with the Stairmaster?

He said you will never make friends with it.

I tried.

I had been doing 20 minutes at level 9, 3 times a week.

Yes, the Stairmaster is challenging and just hard.

We will add in cardio later. So, we may get to be friends.

I look at the photo that is with this blog and I am reminded of where I have come from.

I am a woman who –

• started doing the gym for her mental health
• is looking after herself
• is investing in herself
• is caring for herself
• is realising that she is worthy
• wakes up at 4.30 am and is at the gym around 5.45 am
• meal preps
• organises what she needs for the week.

I have found out that I am loving the challenge of learning new things.

I am also learning to trust the process.

This is a huge thing to learn, you won’t see the development every day, but what you are doing is making the difference.

This would be the opposite of how I thought going to the gym would look and feel like.

I have to be patient with myself, it is about showing up.

I started the gym last year on May 11^th  2023 and my Gymiversary is close. It has nearly been one year, which I am very grateful for.

I will celebrate that day, it is marked in my planner of the day I made a decision.

It is the decision that helped me and has encouraged me.

I cannot wait to see what happens in the next few months.

I will share more soon.

It is school holidays and on Tuesday this week I had someone come and stay with me for 4 nights and 5 days.

Yes, it was my youngest niece.

I love spending time with her and we do have lots of fun, maybe not that much sleep but lots of fun.

She likes to make an agenda for everyday that she would like to do.

We don’t always get to complete the list but they are fun.

We started out on Wednesday morning going to Kmart.

We set of at 8 am, I know early but that is okay.

We were driving done the highway when I noticed that the truck next to me had bags of, I am guessing hay and some hay bales.

I then saw that two of the bags fell of right next to me and I drove over whatever was in the bags.

I screamed, my niece laughed and then I pulled over to the side.

I got out and there was so much hay blowing around us.

The guy who was driving the truck did stop and came over to see if we were okay.

I got his contact details just in case anything happened with my car later.

He wasn’t happy, I was shaking and thankfully we were okay.

He said to me it was just chaff.

I at the time did not know what were in the bags as I drove over them.

Well then, I calmed down and we got back onto the road for our next adventure.

After that I did need to have a coffee, so that is was we did.

We then went to Kmart, were my niece loves the skin care dupes there.

It was fun shopping with her and seeing what she was interested in.

We had a little haul and I brought some things for school as well.

Well, that was Wednesday’s adventure.

We spent the next few days, being creative, listening to music, playing games, watching TV, laughing, eating, shopping for snacks, dancing in the rain and having fun.

I love spending time with her and creating memories.

I am grateful that she loves spending time with me as well.

Now I am sitting here at home and it is a little quieter, I also have the TV remote to myself.

I can’t wait to see what will happen on our next adventure.

Will share more soon.