tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77692490010281927552024-03-14T02:18:23.805+11:00Maddi McGowanMaddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comBlogger261125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-91445102339978789112020-04-15T17:00:00.000+10:002020-04-15T17:00:17.882+10:00I Have ADHD!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3EXBWin_ZlgUFXwAtGQky0arXBHc5HJBI4tClaNYSwiFyoP0mcDVFNWodOY-2LOXErv-DGkgu55sXIXv9VGC_amlnuDuOIWtFWx3F7t66xqjErfsdEdEG3dPyv-aZvE5yE7t6Syab4Q/s1600/716D55C2-69E6-4100-B2CE-465884F13EBD.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1281" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj3EXBWin_ZlgUFXwAtGQky0arXBHc5HJBI4tClaNYSwiFyoP0mcDVFNWodOY-2LOXErv-DGkgu55sXIXv9VGC_amlnuDuOIWtFWx3F7t66xqjErfsdEdEG3dPyv-aZvE5yE7t6Syab4Q/s640/716D55C2-69E6-4100-B2CE-465884F13EBD.JPG" width="512" /></a>If you follow me on social media you'll likely have already seen this, and you also may have just guessed because it is pretty damn obvious, but I wanted to write a little post anyway because this is something huge that's happened in my life. I have ADHD! As this goes up I am a little over a month on from my official diagnosis, and on my 6th day of taking Vyvanse to start managing things properly. This diagnosis, for me, is 150% an absolutely positive thing. I have had ADHD my entire life, as is generally the case - from my understanding it's not something you just wake up with one day. I was tested as a child, but my grades were fine and it was assumed I'd grow out of it so nothing was done. Huge spoiler: I did not grow out of it, and it was not even raised as a possibility again at any point despite it being very, very, very obvious that throughout my high school and university years I was displaying a wide array of textbook symptoms. I didn't even realise it may have been an option until I was 23. Yep. It took well over a decade from my first set of tests for the possibility to even enter the arena again, and even then it was just a case of a thought popping into my head one day, followed by some quick googling, upon doing which I immediately found a long list of symptoms and traits that perfectly described every area of my life.<br />
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From 23 to 27 I was pretty certain this was the explanation for my complete inability to concentrate (look back on how many posts I've written over the years based on basic things like tricking yourself into working and GOING TO SLEEP - turns out my lifelong sleep issues were ALSO ADHD who knew) but there was so much going on in my life that I never got around to actually scheduling an appointment with a psychiatrist until early this year. Six weeks later that appointment rolled around and I was told upon arrival that it would likely take a few sessions to fully determine whether or not a diagnosis needed to be made. 65 minutes and multiple literal chuckles from the psychiatrist re: just how blindingly obvious the answer was later, I walked out with a full diagnosis and a long overdue answer as to why it is that my brain just never seems to cooperate when I need it to. I literally said "oh thank god" out loud and felt the tension immediately leave my body because my biggest fear was that I'd somehow made it all up.<br />
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Having ADHD, especially undiagnosed, can be enormously discouraging. For my entire life I assumed my brain worked exactly the same as everyone else's, but I was just lazy or incapable of following through on things. That my procrastination was due to a lack of willpower or discipline. I thought everyone had random unpredictable mental energy spikes and crashes and that the reason I couldn't just sit down and start working on something no matter HOW badly I wanted to was that I was a perfectionist with a fear of failure, or I just couldn't be bothered. Those things are all still true (the last one more so some times than others), but the overpowering root of the problem they were not. I'm not going to list all the ways ADHD affects my life because we'd be here for a week, but suffice to say the revelation that things I'd taken for granted as completely normal were NOT actually things all the people around me experienced was life changing. Having an actual professional confirm that there <i>were</i> significant obstacles between me and the basic things I wanted to get done was the biggest weight off my shoulders I have ever felt.<br />
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If that weren't enough, as soon as that medication hit my brain for the first time I. was. floored. There was silence and calm and I just opened a document and started working. Never in my life has it been that easy. There were no draining mental wrestles with myself or unexpected crashes or little voices in my head shouting unrelated ideas and when I woke up the next morning I just got up. That doesn't sound like a lot, but normally when I wake up it feels like I'm being physically dragged back to sleep for at least the first hour and it has, for my entire life, been one of the biggest struggles of my day. Turns out that was ADHD. I can now stop to answer a question or check my phone or get up and do something else and then just go right back to whatever I was working on, without having to force myself to refocus for 20 hellish minutes any time I switch tasks. Experiencing what a non-ADHD brain feels like has made me realise how much unnecessary crap I've been wrestling with every single day of my life, and although I could choose to be pissed I wasn't diagnosed sooner, all I really feel is excitement. I'm going to be able to achieve so much more now with so much less resistance, and I'm massively proud of the fact I've managed to achieve everything I have (slash anything at all) despite being completely untreated.<br />
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Treatment is still very new to me and I'm adjusting as I go. I'm not pushing myself and I'm learning to stay on top of the side effects and creating a new routine. There isn't much more to say for now, but this isn't new information to me, it's just progress. Finally. It also isn't something I feel any negativity about. I'm not embarrassed or resentful or annoyed that this is something I have to deal with, because the coping techniques and creative organisational strategies I've come up with out of necessity are invaluable, and it's also not a weird, scary, foreign concept to me, it's just how my brain has always worked. And sometimes I'm sure it's worked in my favour. This is something I wanted to share because it's not really talked about a lot, and since I've been posting about it on my <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">instragram stories</a></b></i> I've been getting a lot of messages from other people who are happy to have someone to relate to. It's also a very prominent part of me and how I am, whether I'm on my brain drugz or not, and I have zero problem with that. It would have been nice to have had the option to function a bit sooner, yes, but some of my best ideas have come from manic spells I would not have had if my brain weren't a little uNiQue, and I have no interest in the idea of what my basic personality would or would not be like without it. In the words of Mitchie Torres, this is real, this is me, and now that I have access to a controlled substance that helps me to calm down a bit I will likely be a world leader by June.Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-53829500958071886652020-04-10T00:09:00.000+10:002020-04-10T18:47:30.786+10:00A Long Day In Rome<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been a Big Time Fan of Italy for as long as I can remember. My childhood memories are primarily of Venice, hunting down winged lions and consuming enormous amounts of mela verde gelato, but Rome has grown to occupy an equally special place in my heart. The first time I set foot in la cita eterna (Rome? The eternal city? Has no one read the info packets etc. I have used this Ungermeyer quote so many times it's involuntary at this point) was a day or two after my fifteenth birthday as part of a classics trip organised by my school. We spent two frosty weeks exploring the city before spending the rest of January weaving our way down the entire southern half of the country to Sicily. My memories of the Roman portion of that trip were frigid and overcast but I loved it, and I've been back probably a dozen times since. Whenever I spend too long away from Italy my soul begins to shrivel, so seeing what's happening there - as well as everywhere else right now - has made me feel even more determined to highlight all the amazing facets of a place that holds so many significant memories for me. I questioned posting this at first, but I'm really enjoying seeing normal content in the midst of the absolute shitstorm of information I'm taking in every day, so hopefully you'll enjoy having a little look at a few days I spent in Rome, and feel inspired to head over yourself once things are back up & running and they're in need of some economy-boosting tourism.</div>
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My favourite places to stay in Rome are always central. No particular area - though wherever you end up will have its own vibe completely different to somewhere even a few streets away - but always somewhere well placed enough that I can walk anywhere I like. The metro is great if you want to head out of the city centre or get somewhere fast, but not super necessary for basic Point A to Point B. In Milan public transport is a huge time saver and in Venice it's boats, so I do give those a good whirl, but in Rome if you cut out the walking you miss half the experience. And this is coming from someone who is not typically a fan of walking full stop.</div>
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I spent just under a month based around the corner from the Pantheon a few summers ago (much like the main character in my novel even though she's NOT me, look out for that where all good books are sold once I have finished, edited and sold it to a publisher) and found that an amazing place to explore from, so I'd recommend that general area v highly, but the time I am about to share with you I went for a hotel about half way between Piazza di Spagna and the Trevi Fountain. One drawback was that it was at the top of a hill, which is not the most premium of situations in the middle of an Italian heatwave, but that inconvenience was completely negated by the fact that amazing views were only a short walk away, as was of one of my favourite places in the city - The Borghese Gardens.</div>
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If ever you should find yourself in Piazza Di Spagna, take your tourist pic, hop up, walk all the way up those famous steps, turn left and keep going. Along the way you'll find some of the best sneaky peeks of the city from above, and eventually you'll reach a pretty nondescript ramp leading up to the gardens. This park is made up of the estate surrounding Villa Borghese, and while you'll need to book in advance to visit the museum itself, the gardens are open to the public year round. You can sit on a bench and read a book (or make out with confronting enthusiasm as the local youth seem to prefer), hire a golf cart or a segway, or just go for a stroll and admire the many sights and sounds. I went for a mixture of the book and the wander, ft. a necessary photo stop at Terazza Del Pincio. Whenever I visit Rome with friends this is one of the first places we hit up, because the view gives you such a good idea of how the city is laid out, and the gardens themselves are a fab place to spend an afternoon with some gelato, invariably listening to some man in an ostentatious hat enthusiastically recreate the Hits of 2008 on an accordion.</div>
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Considering it does require a bit of uphill action, people tend to omit the gardens from their itinerary unless they're already planning to visit the Villa, but that's #theirloss because the further into the estate you get, the more fountains there are, and I think we can all agree that fountains are the true currency of a Roman holiday. Trevi? Fountain. Piazza Di Spagna? Fountain. In front of the Pantheon? Fountain. Piazza Navona? Multiple fountains. Tiber River? Glorified fountain. If you visit Rome and see any fewer than seventeen fountains, you've not done it right. In addition to the fountains (and an actual lake, which I am yet to photograph - always nice to leave future thrills to anticipate), the view is also phenom at sunset, and if nothing else you can feel cultured by walking past about nine thousand stone busts of historically significant Italians. On this occasion, however, the day was young and I had other sights to see. After my fair share of reading and a solid twenty minutes of being chatted up by a man from Florence named Valentino, I bid adieu to the Stone Bust Army and skipped down the many steps to Piazza Del Popolo.</div>
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There's not a huge amount to see in Piazza Del Popolo, I won't lie to you. It mainly exists within my personal sphere of reference as somewhere that looks good from above and reminds me of a guy I used to be in love with. There are some nice domes to admire along with the obligatory fountains, and I did take the photo you will see below of a weathered teal door whilst waiting for traffic to pass, but despite these considerable draws I had a specific mission in mind requiring a different locale. This seems a fitting time to reiterate the fact it was consistently 42+ degrees during this trip, but as I mentioned before Rome is a Walking City, so I wore no makeup for the entire week, drowned myself in sunscreen and was a sweaty mess from dawn to dusk. It was a fab time. Innywho, my end destination on this particular day was a decent walk away, so I navigated the vespas, found an alleyway that seemed like it was heading in the right direction and trotted on.</div>
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Can we just take a moment to appreciate the colour palette of the City of Rome? We're talking deep greens. We're talking soft blood orange. All the shades of blue a person could possible want, many of which present in crystal clear liquid form. We're talking cool greys, inoffensive corals, yellows that somehow don't make me angry. Even the river manages to be a vaguely acceptable shade of muddied green most of the time, which can not always be said. I am looking at YOU, Thames and Yarra. Walking along the Tiber is an absolute joy (unlike walking along the river in Florence which is just the worst colour combo of browns and yellows of my entire life, no offence but it's true), and happily my destination was situated upon its majestic banks, so stroll along those banks I did.</div>
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Whenever you next find yourself in Rome, I highly recommend setting aside an afternoon just to walk along the river from Ponte Regina Margherita all the way down to Trastevere. Not to chuck an enormous spoiler in here but I do indeed have some Trastevere photos coming in a later post that absolutely slap, so keep an eye out for those. The path along the Tiber is almost entirely shaded by trees and is surprisingly empty most of the time compared to other routes, so along with ripper views the entire way you also get to see a huge portion of the city without the overwhelming heat and crowds. As you wind your way south the architecture changes with the neighbourhoods, and no matter how many times I do this walk I always notice something I haven't before. This time it was a little Neo-Gothic stone church, which I've since found out is called Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio and added to my list of places to properly visit in the future. The intricacy of the design seemed like such a bizarre contrast with the fact the actual building was dwarfed by everything around it, and reminded me much more of buildings I've seen in northern Italy than anything else around Rome. After some googling I've discovered I am not alone in that - it's apparently referred to as a mini version of the Duomo in Milan, although this one took a lot less than six centuries to construct. You see? Things I never would have learnt if I'd taken public transport.</div>
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Remember that walk I recommended you take? Well boy do I have the perfect mid-point stop for you! On (what is at that point) the north bank of the river, between Ponte Umberto and Ponte Sant'Angelo, is one of my favourite spots in the entire city. Biblio Bar is a freestanding cafe with good coffee, free wifi and an unobscured view of Castel Sant'Angelo. The prices are decent, and in true Italian fashion no one seems to notice or care if you stick around long after your coffee is gone. I've been known to set myself up there for the majority of a day and just work away, topping up on caffeine as I go, completely uninterrupted. On one side of the cafe is a little seating area backing onto a courtyardy kinda deal, and the other is a leafy, shaded path, lined with stalls selling books and paintings and souvenirs. The whole things is very picturesque and wholesome. I assume you can probably also grab one of the many books they have displayed to read while you're there (the clue is in the name), and I think they sometimes hold events in the evenings, though I've never personally participated in either. It's definitely a daytime place for me, when I want to get something done or just have a break but still feel like I'm taking advantage of the city. Can't feel uncultured in the shadow of a towering ancient mausoleum. Not possible.</div>
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Over the years I have spent many afternoons at Biblio Bar, both alone and with a handful of my favourite people, and it has gradually but firmly woven its way through several different chapters of my personal history in a way few other locations have managed to. 'Twas here in mid-2014 that I flew into a rage upon discovering details about my first big breakup had been misconstrued to mutual friends. 'Twas here that I started my 'Right This Second' blog series on an iPad whilst exchanging a series of text messages with Will, back in the days when he was just a guy in some of my uni classes who liked me but was emotionally stunted and scared I wanted him to be my boyfriend. Oh how the tables have turned. I stopped here in 2016 when I flew in for a 26 hour whirlwind trip to see my friend AD, and I sat at one of these tables for a bev and some bantz on a warm, breezy day that in retrospect ended up marking one of the most significant turning points in my life. Fab times at ye olde Bibio Bar. Plus it's just a nice, breezy place to sit with some coffee and an iced tea and take a break, and although it's in a central location it's never crowded. On this particular occasion I did some journaling, list making and goal setting, and then adhered to the theme of the venue and read more of my book while I pondered where to head next.</div>
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By this point it was late afternoon, I had sweat half my life away and I was ready for a shower and some aircon, so I decided to walk back to the hotel but via a slightly longer route. I crossed over the bridge in front of Castel Sant'Angelo (SO many ripper pix from inside there to come in the next post) and wove around Ponte, Parione and Colonna, through a completely inefficient but deeply enjoyable series of side streets. Walking aimlessly is one of the best ways to spend time in Rome, so if I don't have an itinerary to stick to (see: company) I tend to get a bearing of which vague direction I'm heading and then just let the chips fall where they may. Until I get too overheated, then I pull up CityMapper and stomp, stomp, stomp exactly where that little line tells me to. Happily my afternoon of kickin' back at Biblio Bar had restored a good amount of my heat tolerance and overall energy, so my nostalgic city-specific playlist and I covered a lot more ground than I would otherwise have expected.</div>
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I am obsessed with the Doors of Rome. One look at my instagram feed tells you that I also have a thematic fixation re: visually pleasing doors (houses, storefronts, facades, sometimes even windows if I'm feeling wild) in general, but I'm reasonably certain that the Roman porte ('doors' in Italian, bitta culture for free) kicked it all off, and WHO could BLAME me. Scroll down. Look at that. The carving. The greenery. The contrast of the charcoal against the goldenrod of the larger wall. The extent to which my younger self would have wanted to absolutely die rather than discuss the aesthetic properties of doors. But she did not have a poppin' instagram, so her opinion matters not. Phenomenal door. Even the little tile with the house number on it looks dope.</div>
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I think my fatigue set in around Piazza Navona. It tends to have that effect on people. Ha ha jk but not really. One summer we stayed in one of the buildings in the actual piazza and that was sick because earlier in the morning when it's quiet you can ~*appreciate*~ the architecture and (say it with me) the fountains (well done) and the sheer size of the place, but during the day it is just very full and a bit pointless. There are restaurants, but they also have those elsewhere. There are pretty fountains, but I think we've covered that pretty thoroughly by now. It's v enclosed and v busy and just feels like it exists as its own entity separate from the rest of the city but not in a nice way like spots along the river. More of a comparable vibe to that bit in the Percy Jackson movie where they're in weird demigod Vegas and keep eating those magic flowers and they think it's been 5 minutes but really they're trapped there forever. That is the vibe I get from Piazza Navona when it's busy. And so it does make sense that I would start to feel a lil keen 2 sleep at this particular point. No offense 2 P. Navona fans, it just requires a certain mood to really zing.</div>
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If you think this blog post is long, imagine how the actual day felt. In, may I add once more, 44 degree heat. Sitting on that hotel bed, showered and stationary with the aircon sending sweet waves of frigidity my way, I settled in for an evening of Neflix and not moving at all. I think I had acquired a pizza at some point, I think it was good. Anyway, I was planning to stay absolutely still until I realised I was 500 metres from the top of the Spanish Steps and the sun was going down, so I did what any absolute hero would do and struggled wearily to my feet, found some shoes and bravely left the comfort of my hotel to go look at a sunset from one of the most picturesque locations in the world. I know. We don't all wear capes. As you can see below, my efforts were not in vain. I wasn't even bothered by the crowds because a) you sign up for that when you go to Italy in July and b) there was a great deal of merriment in the air bc I have perfected my BASTA face to the point where not a single obnoxious vendor even tried to sell me a light up ball or a weird little ferret on a string. A selfie stick guy correctly clocked I was his target demo, but was wise enough to heed my steely glare and reverse his approach. All in all, a fab little moment. Got some gelato, headed home.</div>
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That's right, the title of the post promises one day of adventure, but SURPRISE you are getting a bonus outing. Bang. For. Ur. Buck.</div>
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Seeking a culturally valid way to spend the following morning that would not require me to brave the heat for more than ten minutes at a time, I decided to hit up one of Roma's most underrated historical attractions - The Keats-Shelley Museum. The year I studied Keats in lit class coincided with the release of the movie 'Bright Star', and I think the novelty of being able to place his work within the larger context of his (sad, sad, sad) life led me to feel more of a sense of attachment to Keats than I may otherwise have developed. I certainly liked him more than Forster (dry retch), who we had studied the term before. The fact I was bored to death by Forster's writing and couldn't bring myself to read past chapter one of<i> A Passage To India</i> probably did not help his standing in my Lit Faves Hierarchy, but that is beside the point. 'The point' being that I have since harboured a soft spot for ol' Jonny Keats and his OG softboi legacy, so the prospect of visiting the rooms in which he so tragically expired of consumption aka tuberculosis aka the common cold of the 1800s (show me a single period drama where there isn't at least one character secretly coughing blood into a handkerchief) was one that appealed to me greatly. Throw in the fact that Keats-Shelley House was located directly down the hill from my hotel in Piazza Di Spagna, and would presumably be air conditioned for historical preservation purposes, and you've got a recipe for success.</div>
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Boy if you're gonna pick a place to die, you truly could not find somewhere more simultaneously stunning and cavernous. The views alone would be worth minimum double digit milliez nowadays, and are snapping in every direction. Up the steps. Down the steps. Over the piazza near the steps. For fans of steps (the physical objects not the late 90s pop quintet) you really could not wish for more. That being said, for a sunny day in mid-summer it sure was dark. Heavy floor to ceiling drapes, cabinets and shelves covering almost every wall in a deep wood to match the display cases; a small anteroom of memorabilia completely devoid of any natural light. Scandi-minimalist it is not, but then again I'd imagine crisp white furnishings and a severe case of tuberculosis will not be coming for PB&J's 'Classically Adored Pairings' crown any time soon. Not the most 2020 Instagrammable styling job (although dark is making a comeback - shout out to Farrow & Ball for singlehandedly convincing every blogger with a renovation to invariably paint their kitchen cabinetry in Railings or Hague Blue) but for a couple of fancy saddies writing heavy volumes in the 1820s I'd imagine the vibe was spot on. Apparently there is an absolutely banging terrace for Vitamin D acquisition included in the ticket price, but I was not aware of this at the time and honestly probs would have been too sweaty to full appreciate it anyway. C'est la vie. I'm sure Keats managed to shuffle out there at least once or twice. </div>
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The Shelley bits were somewhat lost on me, but nonetheless appreciated. I know a bit about him but have never felt particularly motivated to seek out more. In any case the museum's website states that he "poured out the great body of his major work in less than a decade, and drowned off the coast of Tuscany at the age of 29," and while that's not a fate I would directly wish for myself, it's a vibe I can greatly respect. Speaking of death, the room in which Keats kicked the bucket (too soon? apologies to Fanny Brawne) has been preserved largely as it was then, and although it isn't what I'd describe as spacious it is a ripper of a chamber to expire within. I'll go out on a limb and say there have been adjustments made in the intervening centuries, because there is a painting of the site where he's buried on the wall and even for a 19th century poet that seems like an odd thing to anticipate and then hang by one's bed. I also don't think the daybed in there is the spot where he died. I don't have this on any authority, but I know I would have wondered this at the time, read any and all plaques nearby and for sure 1000% remember if I had encountered his actual literal death bed. This is not a memory one would allow to get lost in the sands of time. Where the larger room was dim and moody, the death room was upliftingly bright and pastel. Was there a death mask around the corner? Yes. Could they still charge extortionate rent for the place if the whole museum thing flopped? Oh ya. Really though there were death masks and life masks and all kinds of busts scattered around the place, plus a very fetching painting of one of the bois posing near a tree (see image way up there above Endymion) that I would love to personally recreate and hang in my own home. The view from his window was bonkers iconic (as you can see in the photo next to Endymion) and the fact it's just there in plain sight makes me wonder how many other famous death sites I have sidled past unknowingly. Next time you're walking up the steps, turn to your right and chuck up a shaka for the big guy. Least we can do. Wrote some baller odes and had great taste in real estate.</div>
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After the Keats Museum I went for a brief stroll and then retired to my hotel for a siesta, before awaking with an overwhelming desire for chicken nuggets. Yes, I was in Rome. Yes, one should probably eat pizza, pasta, pretty much anything other than chicken nuggets when in Rome. But as anyone who has spent a significant amount of time in Italy will tell you, it is - unlike Australia or the UK where a variety of different cuisines are readily available - a very mono-culinary place. You can get amazing pizza, amazing pasta, amazing meats and cheeses and wines, but after a while you just want some chinese food or, in this case, some McNuggies. Luckily, I knew the nugs were located at the end of a culturally rich route, so I didn't feel too bad about it. Walking past enough monuments cancels out the shame one may otherwise feel about entering a McDonalds in Rome. Plus they sell beer there so in a way it's a cultural experience of its own. I didn't acquire any beer, but I did stop to check in on the Fountain of All Fountains, Signor(a?) Trevi. A wonder. A treasure. A lot more serene in photos than in reality, but we will all collectively employ the power of imagination to erase the hoards of tourists and incessant street vendors and allow ourselves to believe this beacon of tranquility exists, bubbling and clean, in a realm of its own.</div>
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Join me next time for straight up the nicest collection of photos I've ever posted to this platform and I do not say that lightly so BE THERE, in Rome: Part II.</div>
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Although it did take me approx 40 years to write all of this one and I am tired so there will probs be some other posts before then. Much love x0</div>
Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-75473314155381567572020-04-02T19:02:00.003+11:002020-04-10T01:09:08.164+10:00My Self-Isolation Game Plan<div style="text-align: center;">
What a bizarre post to be writing. I'm not going to get heavy because we've all had more than enough of that lately, but suffice to say the last month has not been one any of us really expected. Will and I have already been completely self-isolating for nearly three weeks, and I'm sure a lot of you are in the same boat. Staying home is normal for me, but being home 24/7 with him also here is not, so it's been an adjustment. We're getting along better than ever (is that concerning? cabin fever? codependence? who knows) but like pretty much everyone else right now the situation globally as well as the direct effects on our personal lives have definitely been taking a mental toll, and I haven't been in the mood to get on with things as normal. Up until now I have basically been letting shit run wild, but that's not a sustainable plan for a life of joy and success, so I'm getting myself in line. These are the guidelines I'm putting in place, starting now.</div>
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<i>NB: Everyone is coping in their own way, so this is just a list of things I'm personally doing and that I think may benefit some of you too, not a manifesto of how I think everyone should behave. Do what you need to do, live your life, cope however you want to as long as it's not putting anyone else at risk.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Keep Things Clean & Tidy </span><br />
Fresh bedding, dishes done, clothes away, floors clear, surfaces clean. This is a preferable way to live in general, but especially important if this is the environment I'm spending literally all of my time in. I did a deep clean at the start of all this so we had a blank slate to work with. It does get messy pretty quickly because we are both very lazy in terms of putting things away but Will and I have been largely staying on top of things by doing room-by-room cleans as we go and splitting tasks down the middle. I've also been trying to tackle areas that tend to consistently build up clutter by finding new places for things, organising places I've been meaning to get to and sorting through what we have stored and where. Today I cleaned the glass in all our living room shelves and it was v satisfying.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Cook, Meal Plan & Meal Prep </span><br />
We do this anyway, but I'm putting extra emphasis on keeping things nutritionally balanced and making sure there are actual meals accessible so I don't end up snacking all day long. I say this having just eaten instant noodles, but I'm about to make some paprika chicken once I've written this so we're gucci no judgement. Especially given the inconsistent nature of supermarket stocks at the moment it's a good plan to have a clear idea of what we have around and what we can make with it.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">20 Mins+ Exercise A Day</span><br />
Important for the obvious physical health reasons, but equally as vital to keep the ol' brain functioning as well as possible during what is a very tough time mentally for pretty much everyone. I need to get back on track with fitness in general, but my baseline goal is the 20 minutes generally recommended by doctors to maintain decent health. We have an exercise bike which is fab, and I'm also planning to break it up a few days a week with different things like long-ish (isolated) walks and very, very beginners-level yoga so I don't burn out. Sustainable is the name of the game.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Stick To Daily Non-Negotiables</span><br />
Non-negotiables are what they sound like - things that get done every day (or week, or whatever frequency they require) no matter what. The four big ones here for me are meditation, journaling, physical activity and vocal exercises. The point of these isn't to add more onto my plate but to make sure that I'm taking care of the basic areas I need to keep on top of for my health & sanity. Obviously there are days when I miss one or two of these but the point is to aim to fit them in each day.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Move Around</span><br />
By which I mean spend time in more than one spot within the apartment. I am very couch-based at the moment, and although we don't have the most space in the world I want to start mixing it up as much as I can, even if that just means sitting in the bedroom instead for an hour or two. Luckily I also have a desk I can work from, and I'm going to consciously designate that as a separate zone for working (as it should be already but I will not lie to you I am a couch worker) so that mentally I can separate the couch and bedroom as areas to switch off, rather than just sitting in one place for everything and struggling to break up the day. In any case I would like to switch spots at least a few times a day so that there is not a literal imprint of my outline on the couch cushions by May.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Prioritise Quantity & Quality of Sleep</span><br />
I'm trying (as per literally always) to get my sleep schedule in order, but particularly right now my overriding policy is just allowing myself to sleep whenever I need to. This week that means going to bed early, waking up early and napping in the afternoon; last week it meant full blown nocturnal. As long as I'm getting enough sleep and getting things done when I can, I'm fine. Shit's stressful enough as it is without beating myself up for staying up late. Snooze well, snooze whenev.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Work On My Book</span><br />
You may remember I wrote 50,000 words in November as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), and in April I'm going to be attempting to replicate that in order to finish my book as part of Camp NaNoWriMo. It's basically the same premise as the November run, but for the camps you have the option to set whatever goal you want, rather than sticking to 50k. If you want to join in head to nanowrimo.org, and let me know if you do! Currently on 69,000 words overall with a solid 45% to go.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Don't Force It When My Mind Isn't There</span><br />
We are living through something very bizarre and hard to process, so I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm not feeling productive on any given day. There are certain things I need to get done, but there are also a lot of optional tasks that won't really suffer if they're left for another day. As with everything else I've mentioned, the priority here is getting through as painlessly as possible. Some days that means satisfying productivity. Some days that means Frozen 2 and a big nap.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">One Main Task/Focus Per Day</span><br />
As I've said more than enough, it's a weird mental time. My usual productivity standards and scheduling techniques are not going to fly, so for now it's bye bye to the calendar blocking. I'm sticking to a short to do list that includes my basics like exercise, with one primary more demanding focus per day.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Stay Hygienic Thanks</span><br />
Maybe the most basic facet of being an even vaguely adult human being, but nonetheless an easy one to let slip a bit when your normal routine is out the window, the days are all blending together and you have nowhere to go, no one to see. Take it from someone who works from home normally - you will feel SO much better if you just wash your hair and do a face mask and put on some different pyjamas than the ones you slept in.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Post Positive Things On Social Media</span><br />
Sometimes I will go on a little rant about our Prime Minister's incompetence, yes. However, on the whole I'm making a conscious effort to post things that are either of a normal life vibe, or highlighting the lighter side of this shit situation. I'm not a news outlet, and there's no reason for me to be posting scary or upsetting or overly serious things if that's not the mood I'm in. Taking things seriously and maintaining a positive outlook aren't mutually exclusive.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Maintain Perspective</span><br />
I'm doing the best thing I can - staying home. Beyond that, checking in on my friends and encouraging other to do the same, there's not much I can control. It's important to be informed, but it's also important to let go of the things I can't change and prioritise my mental health and general wellbeing. A big part of this is actively making note of the things I'm grateful for and the positives in my life multiple times a day, even if it's small things like having food in the kitchen and an apartment to hang out in. It also helps to ground myself with the reality of the facts and the statistics in a positive sense when I do find myself feeling overwhelmed. Lots of people are recovering, lots of people are asymptomatic, lots of people have not caught and will not catch it at all. There are plenty of negatives, and we've all been impacted in different ways already, but there are also more comforting angles for me to remember too.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Monitor & Reduce My Screen Time</span><br />
This is going to be a work in progress and also nowhere near what my target would be normally, but I need to have like......some waking hours when I'm not looking at any screens. Just a couple. Sometimes I am literally on 3 screens at once (yes I do have ADHD thank u for asking) and I think that is probs not ideal for my brain or eyes. My plan for right now is to focus on creating/adding deliberate pockets of time where I'm away from screens, rather than just cutting myself off at a certain time, because that just makes me mad. Earlier in the day - preferably first thing in the morning - has worked best so far, and I definitely feel better when I take that time off.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Monitor My Info Intake</span><br />
I'm pretty well informed on everything that's unfolding, and I know that I'm personally doing everything that I can be, so it's time to take a step back. I'll still be seeing things and looking at updates now and then, but I definitely have noticed certain tweets and news stories affecting my mood and sometimes my overall mental health so I'm going to be a bit more careful about what I'm exposing myself to. Being informed is one thing, but being overly immersed is another.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Spend Active Time With Will</span><br />
We're spending a lot of time around each other, and we both like to do our own thing, but I also want to make sure we're doing things like watching shows or playing board games together every so often as well. We are both VERY good at Scrabble, and sometimes I manage to make him play the absolute catastrophe that is Two Person Monopoly with me. No, it does not work. Yes, I still want to play.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Get Outside, Responsibly</span><br />
Obviously check with the guidelines where you live, but most places it's acceptable to get outside for a walk or some exercise once a day as long as you aren't coming into contact with other people. I'm terrible at leaving the house when I don't need to, but even getting out to walk the dog is something I should be prioritising highly.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Create A Nice Ambiance</span><br />
Separate to having a basically clean and tidy space, turning that space into one that's actively enjoyable to be in is key. Switching off when things are stressful is obviously harder than usual, so environmental factors are important to consider. Lighting candles, diffusing some non-MLM essential oils, having plenty of throw blankets and cushions on hand, keeping lighting on the calmer side - all great for creating a vibe conducive to down time.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Keep My Brain Operating</span><br />
Although I won't be pushing myself, I know that staying challenged and making progress are essential for my mental wellbeing. Outside of active pursuits like working and writing there are a few things I can do that take a bit less active participation but still keep the ball rolling. I have a Masterclass subscription, and there are a couple of courses I have access to that I've been meaning to get to for a while. Learning new things in general is great for brain health and mood, so even something like looking up new watercolour techniques on youtube and trying them out or watching a good documentary would work. Might power up the ol' Duolingo and see how far my Italian skills have fallen since last I dabbled. Sky's the limit. I'm also keeping sight of my goals and trying to keep my longterm vision in mind.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Create Content I'd Want To See</span><br />
This means I may do posts like this one, but I'll also be working on things that instil more of a sense of normalcy. I'm sure we're all spending plenty of time thinking about the state of the world already, so a post or two about more lighthearted topics won't hurt. I'm planning to post a bit of belated travel content soon, because that's something I'm really enjoying seeing other people post at the moment, so keep an eye out for that. We all know Italy has a special place in my heart, so it may be about time for me to finally post my Rome photos and give you some ideas of places to visit once this is all over and they're in need of some economy-boosting tourism.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Vary My Activities</span><br />
- Things that creatively fulfil me (writing, blogging, working on music)<br />
- Things that make me feel I'm making career progress and/or learning (work, planning, courses, research)<br />
- Activities purely for enjoyment (painting, scrapbooking, organising photos to print/creating photo books, reading)<br />
- Things that help me vent (journaling, working on music, checking in with friends)<br />
- Active relaxation and down time<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Books I Want To Read</span><br />
I read 50+ books in 2019, and so far this year I've read maybe a maximum of 2. Fab times. These are the books I'm either working on now or planning to read next, but there are plenty of others on <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank"><i><b>my Goodreads</b></i></a> if you're looking for suggestions.<br />
- The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton<br />
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman<br />
- The Binding by Bridget Collins<br />
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie<br />
- Ikigai by Liebermann & Garcia (I read half of this last year but probs will start again)<br />
- The History of Bees by Maja Lunde<br />
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Shows I Have Smashed Through:</span><br />
Don't have the mental capacity to come up with actual recommendations so here's what I have watched recently. I am on a real crime drama kick.<br />
- Shetland<br />
- The Valhalla Murders<br />
- Paranoid<br />
- Hinterland<br />
- Unforgotten<br />
- The Bletchley Circle<br />
- The Staircase<br />
- The Trial of Gabriel Fernandez<br />
- Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez<br />
- Messiah<br />
- Dracula<br />
- The Tiger King (holy shit)<br />
- Brooklyn 99 (rewatching)<br />
- Boss Baby: Back In Business.<br />
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That's all I've got for ya today but I hope you're staying chill, staying safe, not putting chopped up slices or chunks of banana on top of your banana bread batter. Disgusting. Anyway. I've got a book to write and some exercise to do so I'm out, but I'll be back in a few days. If there's anything specific you want to read on here <b><i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/madz0rs" target="_blank">tweet me</a></i></b> or message me on <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">instagram</a></b></i>. Otherwise I will keep going with whatever pops into my head, and I'll c u soon. x0x0<br />
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PS. Also message me if you've got a blog I can read bc I'm all about that human connection without the burden of actual interaction rn/always xxxx<br />
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<br />Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-9761644407482451532020-03-04T08:24:00.000+11:002020-03-04T08:24:03.459+11:00Right This Second: Very, Very Early<div style="color: #2f2f2f;">
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In a throwback to the glory days of this blessed blog, today marks the spontaneous return of everyone's favourite micro-diary segment, <a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/search/label/Right%20This%20Second" target="_blank"><i><b>Right This Second</b></i></a>!</div>
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Right this second, in my apartment at approximately 7:06am, I am...</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Making: </b>Multiple different lists of goals and tasks simultaneously.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Cooking: </b>Something involving chicken breast, likely in the next few hours, although what I really want is pesto pasta with feta so who knows if I will be responsible and adhere to prioritising the more perishable items in my refrigerator. I know what you're thinking - 'Use the chicken in the pasta, Madeleine!' - but then we'd be down a full dish in my weekly meal plan and that would not fly. Can't mess with the meal plan. I regularly mess with the meal plan.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Drinking: </b>Nothing but I am about to get up and acquire tea, coffee and water. I like to have multiple beverages on the go at all times.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Reading: </b>My saved draft posts to get my head around what I had in progress before I hecked off & figure out what I want to present to my sweet, sweet fans in 2020</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Wanting: </b>For my sleep schedule to naturally adhere to the constraints of Modern Society</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Looking: </b>Like a full meal. It is 7am, I have not slept at all.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Wasting: </b>Honestly nothing rn which is very beautiful and freeing to realise x</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Wishing: </b>I had budgeted for a Body Shop order bc I want new face masks. Several and immediately.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Enjoying: </b>The fact it is beginning to get light outside, #bluedawn <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Ã </span> </span>la Caroline Calloway</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Waiting: </b>For the sun to entirely emerge so I can turn the lights off and open the windows</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Watching: </b>Nothing currently but I do have an episode of Coffee and Crime Time with Stephanie Harlowe lined up</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Liking: </b>True crime youtube videos, a LOT, which is interesting because I used to be heavy into true crime and murderers but then I got too aware of my own mortality for a couple of years there and couldn't even think about it but then my anxiety came back HARDCORE for a little bit and weirdly that drowned out the part of my brain that couldn't handle true crime and here we are! Anxiety lower, true crime still ok!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Wondering: </b>How long I will last until an ill-advised, longer than intended midday nap</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Loving: </b>Our apartment, will get pics 4 u soon</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Hoping: </b>I get some more work done before my nap</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Marvelling: </b>At the fact I've concentrated long enough to get this far without switching tabs</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Needing: </b>To clean literally every room</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Smelling: </b>Nothing, we are having a v neutral morning</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Wearing: </b>Some fetching lounge pants with zebras on them that I have had for many years and washed out of shape, also a hoodie I got when I worked at Superdry in 2016 and a stunning low ponytail to complete the look.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Playing: </b>NOT Sims 4! I am exercising restraint and this week I will only allow myself to tinker with imaginary lives when I am not meant to be working or asleep.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Following: </b>Caroline Calloway's Close Friends content yes that's right I joined Patreon and paid $2 specifically and exclusively for this purpose and I have no regrets whatsoever. She is a visionary, a pioneer of personally branded digital content and at least 30% the same kind of crazy as I am.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Noticing: </b>My ponytail is starting to annoy me</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Knowing: </b>I really, truly need to sort out my sleep</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Thinking: </b>Even if I succeed it will go back to nocturnal within four days</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); text-size-adjust: auto;"><b>Feeling: </b>Unfounded optimism that perhaps this time I will make it last.</span></span></div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-65664041187223352892020-03-02T19:59:00.000+11:002020-03-02T19:59:35.775+11:002020<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new month and - in terms of this notoriously sparsely updated blog - a new year. Happy 2020, I'm sure the thrill of a blank slate is still living deep within us all, despite already being 1/6 of the way (!!!) through.<br />
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Since my last post I have turned 27, finished putting together our apartment and spent the majority of summer feeling frustrated and anxious watching the bushfire crisis unfold. Not the most uplifting start to the year or this blog post, but I don't think there's anyone in Australia who hasn't been impacted over the last few months and although I'm incredibly lucky that my own life has been affected very minimally in comparison to many, there was a solid amount of time when things seemed to come to a bit of a standstill. It's hard to get excited about a new year when there are thousands of people only an hour or so away sheltering on beaches and losing their homes, and we're well past the point where ignoring the climate crisis is a feasible course of action, so my anxiety went into overdrive for a little while there. I'm not going to go into any more detail because this post is largely about looking forward, but suffice to say that looking out my inner-city window at a blanket of smoke did not put me in the mood to focus on my goal-setting, so it's been a slow start to 2020.<br />
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On a more positive note, in recent weeks I've not only done some solid work on prioritising my mental health, but also recaptured a sense of clarity on my long-term goals that I haven't really had for quite some time. As a result, I'm currently in scheming overdrive. I drew up a basic 5 year plan last week and am now filling in the first lot of action steps on my journey to owning property in London by 2024. I currently do not own property anywhere and have been brexited out of my right to live in the UK, but where there's a will there's a way and on top of my own resounding stubbornness my boyfriend is literally named Will so I'm sure it will work out. I did not say it was a simple plan (love Simple Plan where are they @ it's been a while), but none of us expected me to set up an easy shot. My astrological placements would not allow it.<br />
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Furthermore, in a bid to keep ourselves accountable and up our productivity/quest for ultimate domination, Fiona and I have started holding weekly meetings on Mondays wherein we discuss our progress and present new ideas. We have had two so far (three by the time you read this), and I can safely say it is already a genius idea. Like a tiny mastermind where we're the only two invited and there is no mentor, authority or voice of reason present. Just like Tony Robbins would suggest. I'm sure I will write a full post detailing how you can create your own transformative meetings with a friend/colleague/momager once we have nailed the format. There are spreadsheets involved.<br />
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Other smaller changes to report are that I've started a daily practice of roughly 15 minutes of writing exercises from a book called 'Songwriting Without Boundaries' and despite my predisposition against being told what to do I am enjoying the short but consistent challenge of having to actually write based on prompts, rather than being driven solely by my own emotions. Speaking of which, I've also started a new notebook expressly for that purpose. A black Leuchtturm notebook full of venting. It is where all my memories and feelings will go in order to be catalogued and eventually regurgitated in the form of one creative project or another, so they can stop taking up highly sought-after real estate in my head. The planets are telling me to deal with my past and I am listening. I've also been using my alphabet stamps to jazz up the entries and if it weren't all deeply, deeply personal information from the absolute pits of my soul it'd make a great flatlay prop.<br />
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I'm not 100% sure what blogging will look like for me this year, but I will figure it out as I go. In the near future I'm planning to show you some bits of our apartment, finally post my Rome photos from ninety years ago and maybe even share a lil sneaky peeky of the first draft of my novel. I also want to post more up to date mini adventures, but I'm never in the mood to go on those until the weather is suitably cold and miserable, so expect a roadtrip probably some time in May. Some of my favourite posts to put together have always been the ones wherein I tell you how to live your life, particularly re: productivity and goal setting, so you can expect more of those, but mixed in with me trying to figure out my own life because boy oh boy is there some work to do there. Starting a business is no joke and my sleep pattern is completely reversed. Maybe I should set myself a challenge to sleep like a regular person for a post and the Hawthorne Effect will make it actually work. Stay tuned.<br />
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That's all for now, just wanted to pop in to say happy 1/6 way through the new year and break the seal on posts for 2020. I'm doing so much writing in other areas of my life - novel, songs, many different journals - that it sometimes feels like there isn't much left in the ol' word tank to go on here, but like I bet someone says in Brokeback Mountain, a film I have never seen, I can not quit u huns so we'll be fine. I'm off to do some work like a grown up and then force myself to revise some novel scenes I've been procrastinating for a literal entire month, so have a marvellous day/evening/morning/time period of ur choosing and I will see you again SOON. Actually soon. Ariana Grande 'soon means within 10 days' soon. Love u. Leave u. Xoxo.Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-77772802818902017422019-12-21T20:29:00.001+11:002019-12-21T20:29:58.466+11:00We Moved!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yello to all, just a quick post today to fill you in and bring ya up to date. As one has likely deduced from the title of this post, the significant event I had hinted at happening in mid-November was Will and myself MOVING. For one of only a few times in my life, we have moved house but not country, and are still in Melbourne. The experience of not having to fly for a day and get rid of most of my possessions is quite a new one to me, and I'm enjoying being able to actually buy things like furniture without having to factor in an impending hemisphere swap. When we first got the keys the walls were an unmistakably yellow shade of beige, which was obviously not going to fly with me, but luckily we were able to get permission from the landlord to paint and so that is what we did for a very intense three days before moving in properly. Approximately one day into said painting I came down with what I'm pretty sure was the flu, which was fabulous timing all round, but we still managed to get it done with some help from my mum and aunt, so all was well. I'll put together some posts about the apartment over time, probably starting some time in January once we've got the shelving for our living room and there's less miscellaneous clutter lying around. I'm excited to get back to home-based content, and also just have more space to create things, so 2020 will hopefully be somewhat of a renaissance on the blog front.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqR58lxd9r6aBJHOQJz5T55nXsfIFFhnn1vFIU2p41ULou8qp0wFM-1_XMCkKeGEATzqO_fe1RBWYjg2wPKxlyFw-HDd-cclYruF-m-XDP7e8CDxfNcVb49Ymi4w2dfUSjQ_lURaAgsA/s1600/8208ABD0-67E0-47D3-AA5C-2034B2A9E093.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="741" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqR58lxd9r6aBJHOQJz5T55nXsfIFFhnn1vFIU2p41ULou8qp0wFM-1_XMCkKeGEATzqO_fe1RBWYjg2wPKxlyFw-HDd-cclYruF-m-XDP7e8CDxfNcVb49Ymi4w2dfUSjQ_lURaAgsA/s640/8208ABD0-67E0-47D3-AA5C-2034B2A9E093.jpg" width="512" /></a>Something I also mentioned in my last post which contributed to November being incredibly hectic - and also to my lack of spare creative energy to put together a post before now - was NaNoWriMo. Despite moving house, painting the entire apartment and getting the flu (swiftly followed by the #1 worst throat infection I have ever had in my entire life, pain-wise only second to the actual sensation of recovering from my tonsillectomy), I WON BABY. I WROTE 50,000 WORDS OF MY NOVEL IN 30 DAYS. Technically I wrote it in less than that because owing to the obstacles mid-month, the final 25,000 words were written in under a week. Those of you who follow me on <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">instagram</a></b></i> will have seen this unfold in real time, culminating in a 6pm to midnight 5,000 word sprint on the final day of the month. Very proud of myself, won't lie. My novel itself is still only about half way done - it looks like my revision process will be cutting down rather than adding more, which I prefer tbh - but I'm a lot more confident in my ability to actually get it done now, and I'm hoping to have my first draft completely finished by the end of February. I shan't lie to u my progress since NaNoWriMo ended has only been about 4k words so far, but I have made Sims of my main characters so that counts for something.<br />
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In other news, I have entered my allocated period of longing for continental Europe for this financial quarter. Writing about Italy (my novel takes place partially in Rome, Lombardy and Florence) has unsurprisingly made me feel quite slighted by the cruel hand of fate aka the geographical inconvenience of the land which I once more now call home, and the southern hemisphere's ancient ruin-less summer is not helping. In an attempt to navigate this injustice and amplify the vibes I needed to channel for NaNoWriMo I have been posting some of my fave Roman photos on Instagram, which reminded me that I have at least three full blog posts worth of photos from my last trip that I have yet to slap some questionable prose on and share with you. Despite the unenthusiastic manner in which I just presented that fact to you, they are some of my favourite photos that I've ever taken in the land of carbs and I'm excited to put them all together, so look forward to those jolly nuggets of escapism coming your way in the near future.<br />
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Unlike Ariana Grande 'soon' in my vocabulary does not necessarily mean within the next ten days, but as that is literally all we've got left in this decade I'd imagine there will be at least SOMETHING up for you within that time. On the chance there isn't, however, I hope you have a fab Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice/non-denominational period of merriment, and if you're working in retail my thoughts and prayers are with u. I will be hopping over to Perth at some point to meet up with my dad and spend some time with my grandparents, and be back in time for New Year's and my 27TH BIRTHDAY (if any of you have been with me here or on Youtube since I was 18/19, how fkin wild is that) on January 2nd. I haven't put together my full list of goals and resolutions for 2020, but I definitely want to be more active online, both here and on instagram, and make some god damn youtube videos. My accidental sabbatical is now almost at 2 and a half years, so it is probably time 2 shine once more. Will has just returned from walking Calvin (both pets are living with us in the apartment, which is interesting but thus far positive) so I'm gonna go and stop him from accidentally chopping his fingers off trying to cut through frozen bolognese. Let me know if there's any specific content you want me to chuck together as we head into a phresh decade, and I will see you all again v soon. x0<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">PS.</span> I'm not sure if I'll 100% get around to writing a New Year's post, but if you're in need of some inspo, I wrote <a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/12/13-things-to-do-before-2019.html" target="_blank"><i><b>this post</b></i></a> last December, and at the end it has an index of ALL the NY-friendly posts I've EVER put up so go wild.Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-76793636979584856652019-11-06T16:00:00.000+11:002019-11-06T16:00:15.105+11:00HELLO NOVEMBER!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy November! Change is afoot once more, and I am excited to drag you along on yet another Fresh Lil Chapter of my life. A week into October Fiona and I held our second Scheme Retreat of the year* - a tradition in which we rent an AirBnb, lock ourselves away for a few days and figure out wtf we are going to be doing with our lives for the foreseeable future via many lists, tarot readings and the occasional powerpoint presentation - and since then things have been moving VERY quickly. I've felt for a while that I need to start actively seeking change in order for anything significant to unfold, and it would seem the universe was on a similar page because we did a tarot reading that pretty much straight up roasted me for being a change-averse little darling who wants the results and not the discomfort, so yeah u could say the message was received loud & clear. Long story short, this mindset shift coupled with the fact I've been trying to prioritise Action over Motion (explanation of that concept <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B3EYgzIJWVU/" target="_blank"><i><b>here</b></i></a>) has led to a series of rapid uplevelings, all of which have been positive, but which will combine to make November a very. full on. month.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Lmk if you want a separate post about the sort of things we do on our Scheme Retreats and I shall deliver</span></i></div>
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The biggest shift that I am really, really, really frickin excited about (and that I'm sure will spawn a lot of future content for our collective enjoyment) will come in a week or two and I'll tell you all about it then, but another major contributing factor to the month's overriding tone of GO, GO, GO has already begun - I have committed to NaNoWriMo. Yes. Whilst sorting out my business and drowning in urgent life admin re: further changes to come, I have decided that this would be an absolutely perfect time to challenge myself to write 50,000 words in a month. I've given my novel a huge overhaul, completely reworked the plot and edited the pieces I'd already written so that they work within the new story, so I am on decent footing in terms of knowing where to start, but I also have a HUGE amount of plot points still to fill in, so 'tis sure to be an interesting ride. My logic here is that 1. I committed to this before everything kicked off and I'm too stubborn to change my plans 2. this is a good way to get a solid amount of my novel finished in a short amount of time which will then free up more of my time & mental space and 3. I thrive under intense pressure, so maybe the fact that I have TOO much on will actually mean that I get it all done. Gonna stick with that logic until proven otherwise.</div>
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As I type this I have already completed four days of NaNoWriMo and thus far produced a total of 8,750 words, so I'm on decent footing, but I'm very aware that there are likely to be a few days later this month when sitting down to write just won't be a viable option so I'm trying to get ahead while I can. After today's session, however, I am scheduled to hit a big old section that I haven't fully mapped out yet plot-wise, so forcing myself to take time out to sit down and plan will be essential tomorrow to avoid this whole thing completely derailing for good. In true Maddi form, literally every single word I've written has been between the hours of 11pm and 5am, but what's the point of being self employed if you can't turn semi nocturnal for the sake of a challenge you're undertaking voluntarily? In unrelated news, Will and I have started thinking about our plans for Christmas, and I am VERY, VERY excited. The seasoned readers (viewers, followers etc) amongst ye will know that I am big on Christmas, but due to moving around a bunch it's been a couple of years since I've had a solid festive season with no major events to disrupt the yuletide joy, and I intend to make the most of it this time around. Now, #nooffense but I have a hell of a lot of writing to do in order to hit my personal NaNo target for today, so I need to conserve my words and skedaddle. It's unlikely that I'll pop in again for at least another week or two, but the upside of that is the fact that perhaps next time we convene I won't need to be cryptic about what I've been doing and we can all enjoy a seamless dialogue once more. Thank u for reading, thank u for not yelling at me for my inconsistency, thank u for sticking around through my many adventures, changes and lulls, and if you ever need to check that I'm still alive, I'm probably on <i><b><a href="https://twitter.com/madz0rs" target="_blank">twitter</a></b></i>. x0x0</div>
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PS. This time in two months I'll be 27 and I'm actually pretty amped about it, and also keen for 2020 in general. I have great vibes about it. Hope u do too.</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-53604087156762020492019-10-20T14:00:00.000+11:002019-10-20T17:35:50.828+11:00A Weekend In Amsterdam<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hey booiiiiiiiiiiz! I'm back with another post, and in true Maddi fashion it is one I have been intending to chuck together for a very, very long time. You see, an additional side-effect of the matters discussed in my <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/10/an-overdue-personal-update.html" target="_blank">last post</a></b></i> (and also realistically a byproduct of who I am as a person) is that I have an excessive back log of posts to finish and publish, that should have gone out literally a year ago. For example, the more astute amongst ye may recall that this trip to Amsterdam took place in late 2018, which truly speaks volumes in testimony of my promptness. However, travel is a #timeless #gift, Amsty is a v photogenic city and I am quite neurotic about filing certain chapters of my life away in this lil digital diary regardless of how late they may be, so I am going to share regardless. Better late than never is truly my motto when it comes to my digital output, and in order to change that I will be sifting through my various drafts until everything is memorialised to my personal satisfaction. Let's bring this blog up to date by temporarily diving back in time, to Northern Hemisphere Summer 2k18.</div>
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Before we even get to the flooded majesty of the city, however, I need to tell you about the greatest overnight stay of my entire life. And I do not say that lightly. We landed in Amsterdam late on a Friday, so booked a hotel near the airport for the night. Little did I know that this booking would change my life. The hotel? CitizenM. The experience? Everything I could have ever wanted and more. CitizenM is a chain of hotels (of which I now keep vigilant track just in case one opens up in Melbourne or exists somewhere I plan to be, ever) with quite a simple, streamlined concept. The room itself is almost womb-like, in that is consists primarily of an enormous bed opposing a large flatscreen TV, and is set up with a bunch of hi-tech add ons and iPad controlled light settings that make the whole shebang feel very Spy Kids meets Japanese pod hotel meets boujie juice bar. Add in a giant window and the fact that the TV is loaded up with a wide selection of FREE movies and you're starting to understand my joy. That is right. It's just a giant bed and a giant TV and futuristic lighting and free movies with a view. I don't know why this affected me so deeply, but I truly reflect more fondly upon that night in my nest watching Coco than I do upon pretty much anything else on that trip. One day I will stay at the CitizenM overlooking the Tower of London. Maybe they'll let me create some #Spon content. Maybe I could visit every single one of their locations around the world and put together a definitive ranking. Maybe I will fly to Asia next year just to stay at one of their hotels. Who knows. CitizenM, if you are out there, please love me back. Moving on.</div>
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Amsterdam is one of those cities I like, but feel I haven't quite <i>got</i> yet. Similar to Florence, I've been more than once and enjoyed it both times, but each time I've left feeling there was more to do or see or understand. With Florence I've put it down to the fact that every time I've visited has been in sweltering heat, but with Amsterdam I really think I just haven't quite hit the right spot. Both times I've visited were quite different experiences - one was a couple of days with a big group of friends when I was 21, and this time was similarly brief but with Will - but neither included branching out any further than the central area, and I feel as though that may be one of the missing pieces. I have a few hypotheses, but regardless I do think that this time around I got a bit closer to finding what Amsterdam as a city is to me. We stayed at The Edison Hotel which seems to have now rebranded as The Melrose (it's no CitizenM, I'll tell u that for free), and while I didn't feel it was worth the money for quite a small room with no natural light, we were lucky to get anywhere decent so last minute, plus there was free coffee at breakfast (essential) and the location was great.</div>
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The Jordaan area of Amsterdam is incredibly beautiful, and the canal nearest to our hotel was lined with some of the most stunning townhouses we saw in the entire city. We all know I love my neutral tones, so the monochrome vibe was a dream come true. However, it turns out that we had inadvertently arrived in the midst of Amsterdam's Pride celebrations, so the otherwise aesthetically flawless facades were obscured by an enormous amount of streamers and bunting and several dozen penis shaped balloons, which made for an interesting juxtaposition. It was all cleared up by Sunday though, and I'd also wager that celebrating and embracing the LGBTQ+ community is a bit more important than making sure I have a clear shot of some buildings for my instagram, so I very gracefully let it slide. That being said, love me the community, do NOT love me crowds, parades, markets etc. so we bypassed the majority of the festivities and headed towards the city centre. Not, however, before admiring a parade boat of very merry looking firefighters and one incredibly dejected stag party dressed as sailors, who had clearly arrived for some #LadsAntics unaware of the festivities and not realising their hilarious banterrific attire would blend in perfectly with the parade. It's the little things in life.</div>
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Amsterdam is a great city for wandering. It is necessary to keep your wits about you so as to not get nailed by a bicycle and thrown into the canals, but that particular brand of peril aside it has a v high 'walkability' score in my mental tally of European cities' various attributes. I'm an absolute fiend for bodies of water, so the canals are a dream, and there are instagrammable buildings on literally every street, which is a tried and true way to keep me trotting along well after I would otherwise have declared myself Done. There are so many interesting little cafes and shops, and I already have a list in my head of places I need to hit up next time I find myself there. One thing I do always find quite jarring is the presence of cars, because 1. they are generally quite ugly and detract from the #aesthetics, and 2. when I see canals I think Venice, and when I am in Venice I don't need to be super aware of my surroundings lest I be hit by a Volvo, so it takes me some extra brain power to safely cross the street anywhere that vehicles and waterways do indeed mingle. I know it's a functional city where people actually live and need to go about their days, so I'm not saying that cars should be banned from the Amsterdam city centre, but tbh cars should be banned from the Amsterdam city centre. At the very least ugly cars.</div>
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Besides the abundant h2o, another thing I love about Amsterdam is the greenery. There are barges covered in plants and trees lining every street and various vines and flower boxes hanging off every second bridge and building. It's a great time, and makes the entire city feel alive. I do really want to see Amsterdam in the snow (which I know is rare but I have seen photos so I know a. it's possible and b. that it looks baller) and I'd be interested to see how the vibe changes sans-greenery. Speaking of future trips, one major thing I am still yet to do is visit the Anne Frank House. You generally need to book tickets considerably in advance or first thing in the morning on the day you plan to visit as they sell out crazy fast, but this trip was super last minute so we didn't have time to plan for that this time around. I also want to go to the Rijksmuseum and spend some solid time exploring the other neighbourhoods outside of the main little tourist grid, so whenever I do go back I'd say it'll need to be for longer than a couple of days. This time we spent both Saturday and Sunday strolling around, which was fine by me since it was such a crowded weekend and we really just needed a bit of a break. Before we flew home on Monday, however, we managed to tick a Big Item off my life's grand To Do List.</div>
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Prior to my Big Meltdown of 2k18 I would often state that I had only two regrets in life, one of which was irreversible, in that is was 'not listening to Dancing Queen enough when I was seventeen.' The other, however, WAS redeemable, and I set out to do just that on our final morning in Amsterdam. After a breakfast of multiple free coffees, a couple of mediocre pastries and a couple of very not free beverages from a nearby pressed juicery, we trundled off along the canal towards towards the location I had reflected upon regularly since deciding not to stop by, four years prior: The Cheese Museum. Haters questioned my need to visit. Trip Advisor said it was just a weird room in the basement of a cheese shop. I heard the naysayers, I understood their concern, I knew it would indeed just be a weird room in the basement of a cheese shop, but I would not be deterred. I was going to Live My Dream, and the judgemental Trip Adviser owl could honestly do one if he thought his vitriol would dampen my spirits. Reader: live. my. dream. I. did. I flew down those cramped basement stairs. I shuffled around that dimly lit room. I admired the rotating Swarovski-encrusted cheese slicer in a perspex case. I stood next to a fake cow and looked at a timeline of cheese-related events and I banished that lingering regret with an absolute joie de vivre that can only be accompanied by several free samples of various cheddars, parmesans and goudas. That long-awaited accomplishment alone made the entire trip worthwhile; the cheese itself may be gone, but that smokey taste of victory lives on. Finally, after celebrating the momentous occasion with some french onion soup and a couple of brewskis it was time to head back to the airport, laden with terrible souvenirs but one regret lighter.<br />
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-82002854593768321992019-10-01T16:00:00.000+10:002019-10-01T17:53:49.450+10:00An Overdue Personal Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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First of all, Will and I have NOT broken up, so if you clicked on this hoping for that particular brand of drama 1) I respect that bc honestly I would too and 2) I must apologise, for you will be finding drama here of primarily the internal kind. Today's pondering is wonderfully meta, and comes to us from the part of my brain that is constantly thinking about this blog. For a while now there's been something missing that, although I don't dislike the posts I've been putting up, is preventing me from feeling the sense of ownership and connection that used to make blogging such a natural outlet for me. I used to publish with reckless abandon, waxing lyrical on the significance of November, or the fact I was buying a lot of beige things that month, and I have been trying to figure out when and why that changed. My personal theory (and probs the only existent one unless ur group chat is theorising on why it is that my output is so inconsistent, in which case CC: me in next time) is that 2018 was such a colossal shitshow of a year and drastic change of pace for me that I withdrew emotionally from pretty much every outlet I have. Long Time Fans will know that I am compulsively open when it comes to my thoughts, feelings and never-ending torrents of trivial angst, but last year I really did not feel like sharing. To acknowledge the full extent of how unhappy I was would have meant facing my #1 fear - people feeling sorry for me on any level.</div>
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As a small child if I fell over I have been told by multiple sources that instead of crying like a normie I would stand back up and immediately glare at anyone present until they acted as though nothing had happened. This is a perfect metaphor for the way I, as an adult, handle any negative emotion or experience that I don't deem to be fun or romantic or dramatic or note-worthy enough to be useful - I will ignore it, and I expect you to do the same.</div>
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The thing about how shit 2018 was, is that it was shit in a way that wasn't funny or interesting, or even vaguely gritty in a way I could spin to sound like a forgotten storyline from Skins. It was shit because I went through an enormous amount of change very quickly, did not adjust well to being back in Australia and had my brain shut down as a result. By the time I emerged from my incredibly monotonous depressive hibernation of the soul, the practice of keeping my inner monologue to myself had turned into a habit that I didn't have the energy to break, and thus our predicament truly began. Mid-turmoil, but thinking I was post-turmoil, I went back to London for a few months. The second Will and I were in our car driving from Heathrow to Shepherd's Bush I felt like myself again, and that terrified me because I knew I'd given that feeling up. That sounds very dramatic, and I have since rediscovered an ability to be myself regardless of geographical location, but the sense that I made a grave mistake by leaving the UK has straight up haunted me ever since it happened, and the fact I went from literally not leaving the house to merrily pinging around London like an underground pinball as soon as I touched British soil presented an alarming juxtaposition. </div>
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By the end of those few months I had an additional regret to ponder in the form of whether I should have made an effort during our trip to put down roots and stay in London again. But realistically a) I was still too depressed to have had the capacity to pull that off b) Will and I were going through our own shit and I don't know that our relationship would have necessarily thrived under that specific kind of pressure and c) I knew in the back of my mind that there were good reasons I had chosen to leave in the first place. I just had to trust myself that those reasons would outweigh the loss, and that I would eventually stop feeling as though being back in Australia was, in itself, a failure. The reason I'm telling you this now is because it's important context to have. I am no longer depressed, #proudofme, but I still miss London. I am on track to hit a lot of big goals, but the daily reality of getting there feels very slow. I am impatient and hold myself and my life to incredibly high standards, so no matter how well my friends are able to rationally explain to me that I have indeed achieved things and need to calm down, when I wake up in a house I had never intended to frequent in my adult life, I am reminded of the gravity of the changes I've made and the fact that I don't yet know how or when they'll pay off. I'm back to feeling like myself and viewing the world with my signature terrifying sense of possibility, but it has taken a huge amount of work to get here.</div>
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This is all sounding very Captain Depresso, but it's necessary in order to create a sense of balance in my own mind, so that I can hop back into sharing my Important Musings and ranting about the phenomenal extent to which takeaway coffee can change one's life. I need you to understand how shit I have felt - how uncharacteristically low my naturally sky high self belief was for a chilly lil sec there - so that I can carry on with my current, much more upbeat narrative, in the same way that I would need you to know about a breakup before I hopped back into productivity listicles. Side note, I hate the word 'listicle' but it worked well syntactically so we're letting it slide. I need this platform to be transparent, so that it doesn't feel like work to update you on my road trips and hijinks, and I also need you to know that I had to google three different spellings of 'hijinks' to finally find the word I was looking for and not a questionably named regional theatre or improv troupe.</div>
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Innywho, this has all been a very long-winded way of saying hello, if you have felt there was something off about or missing from my #content then you are correct, but it is time to dry those eyes and stop journaling hypotheses because we are all on the same page now and the shenanigans will once more abound. If you need further evidence that my personality has reconciled with my physical body, I will share with you the piping hot piece of goss that last weekend at a Vidcon party I told Keith from the Try Guys that he looks like Ed Kemper, the Co-Ed Killer, complete with unsolicited visual aid. This did not go down well, but anecdotally is bang on brand, so let's take it as an omen from on high that my essence was not lost to the oppressive sands of time aka 2018, and that perhaps I might even manage to make my Grand Youtube Comeback before the year is through. We shall see. My mother's house is very dark and horrible, but maybe I'll be a big boy and film in the garden.</div>
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Finally, it will surprise no one to hear that I have been doing a lot of pondering re: recapturing various magics, and one idea that's really stuck in my mind is going back to a specific park near my old house. I rarely visited said park over the first 10 years I lived there, but after my Big Breakup I used to pop over in order to try and process my Many Feelings in an environment that didn't produce emotional noise of its own. I would go and sit under a tree and journal angstily and sometimes write letters to my ex boyfriend that I had no intention of delivering but needed to expel, and I would always leave feeling a bit different and a bit less lost. It's one of the only physical locations in this city that I associate so strongly with deep emotion and transformation - there are plenty in London and a few scattered around various other European capitals as I do tend to flee internationally when processing my feelings - and both my tarot cards and my instincts are telling me now is the time to seek that out. Is my compulsion to revisit the Sadness Tree a stroke of genius, or a masochistic subconscious attempt to destroy myself so entirely that there is no choice but to rebuild a great monument from the rubble? Only time will tell, and in the words of a peasant from the animated show 'Disenchantment', two things can be real.</div>
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I had not planned for this post to contain p much any of the intel it has, but I feel cleansed and ready to continue down this crazy little path we call life, dragging you behind me via strong prose and inconsistent narrative. The main takeaway here is not that the past year and a half of posts have been a lie, but that there was a lot more going on behind the scenes, which I am told is apparently the case re: everybody's lives, but we're talking about me right now. I did love Will and my trip to Cornwall, I did v much enjoy working in those London cafes, I have been pursuing multiple big goals at once and I have written about each of those things because I wanted to. I just was also re-learning to be The Best alongside those pursuits and neglected to mention it. Soz. All good now though, I promise. </div>
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If you have enjoyed this glimpse into my psyche, we would probably get along, as I too love knowing everybody's business. Raw human emotion is my version of hard drugs, or on a more PG level, Pringles. Once I pop one video entitled something along the lines of 'we are getting divorced. (not clickbait) (emotional)' I just. can't. stop. Gotta get that R.H.E. Moving awn, I'm not sure what my next few posts will be, but I should think at least one of them will be written from beneath my Sadness Tree. Unless I get there and find myself incapable of writing anything that's not addressed to someone who has romantically wronged me, which is a very real possibility. Either way we shall fight that battle when it doth present itself, and until then it is time to say goodbye. Many blessinz, x0x0.</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-54371568231804787912019-08-27T16:00:00.000+10:002019-10-20T17:38:32.219+11:00How To Start The Day For Productivity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Knock knock. Who's there? A new day. And you have a lot to do. Over my many years of working on side projects, getting through 9-5s and now attempting to build my own business, I've collected quite an arsenal of tactics to employ in the morning to get myself off to the most productive possible start. These tips apply best to days when you have some free time in the AM, so perfect for those of you who like to get things done on weekends or work from home, but there's a lil sumsum for my office job huns too. Do not despair. Most of these tips are quite intuitive, but that's the magic of it. Productivity is accessible. Just give yourself a chance.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Wake Up On Time</span><br />
Starting off obvious. By this I do not mean 4am or even 9am if that's not your jam. God knows I struggle with waking up more than literally anyone else I know. Just get up at a time you're genuinely happy with. I find that sleeping in when I don't intend to really fucks with my mentality and I start my day feeling like I've already screwed up. Conversely, if I wake up early (or at whatever time I've planned) I feel motivated to keep that momentum up, and also have a bit of wiggle room to chill out. If it's a weekday and you have an office job then waking up on time is a non-negoshe, but even pushing things forward by ten minutes and having time to stop for coffee on your way in will give you a similar boost.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Meditate In Bed</span><br />
I know Headspace Andy is always like 'sit in a chair' but if I don't get this business done first thing, odds are it's not happening until late afternoon, if at all. Meditation really does make a difference to your overall sense of clarity, and having done it early also means you're starting the day with a box already ticked, plus it gives you a few more minutes before having to actually get up. I must specify that I mean sitting up in bed, though, because if ya horizontal ya fallin back to sleep.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Make The Bed & Tidy</span><br />
Not the whole house, that's a procrastination tactic and can be covered later in the day. Just tackle the areas you actually need to inhabit, for instance your desk and the surrounding area (if you haven't already done so the night before). I'm also an advocate for making the bed before you do anything else. So little effort, but such a big knock on effect for the rest of the day's productivity. Plus you're less likely to get back in, which is always helpful.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Don't Force A Routine</span><br />
I'm actually trying to implement a morning routine at the moment, but if you wake up and absolutely can not be bothered going through the motions, let it go and just jump into whatever you have planned for the day. If you feel like you can't be bothered with much of anything, give yourself half an hour to make some tea and listen to a podcast while you wake up. The extra time is worth it to make sure you're actually in a productive mindset afterwards.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Have A Breakfast That Excites You</span><br />
I'm not really a breakfast person, but on the occasions that I throw together an aesthetically pleasant bowl of yoghurt, blueberries and granola, or perhaps a restaurant-grade smashed avo, it gives me a boost both in energy and smugness that carries me gently through the morning.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Set To Do List The Night Before</span><br />
This is perhaps the most important factor. Starting the day with clear intentions and cutting out as much decision making as possible will prepare you to launch into your first task A$AP. The more you set up the night before, the less friction you face in the morning.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Go Over Your Goals</span><br />
Regularly revisiting your goals will centre you and remind you why all the things you're doing are important. Keep a list of your yearly, monthly and weekly goals, and read over them each morning before you begin work. Sometimes I also read through some of my journal notes if I need an extra kick from my past self to get going.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Prioritise Your Tasks</span><br />
Rank your To Do list using the ABCDE Method, start with task A1 and work through in strict order.<br />
A - Must do, significant positive or negative consequences. A1, A2, A3 if necessary.<br />
B - Should do, minor consequences.<br />
C - Would like to do, no consequences.<br />
D - Delegate<br />
E - Eliminate<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Don't Faff Around In Your Workspace</span><br />
If you must waste time, do it before you sit down at your desk. That space is for productivity only.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Don't Trick Yourself Into Allowing Procrastination Tactics</span><br />
"I'll just watch this video while I eat breakfast." The video lasts longer than breakfast, and then you will watch another one. "I woke up early, I have time to do this." You sure do, but it will lead to other things for which you do NOT have time. Look for opportunities to start, not excuses to delay.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Get Something Done Before Checking Social Media Or Email</span><br />
Tbh I will almost always go on my phone before I get out of bed, but once I'm at my desk and ready to work I make a point of keeping myself away from social media until after I've finished my first big task. The 'Forest' app is a fab way of keeping phone time to a minimum, so check that out if you find yourself scrolling reflexively.<br />
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<i>Conversely...</i><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Use Social Media To Bookend Your Day</span><br />
Lin Manuel Miranda starts and ends each day with bookend tweets, and it's an idea I think can be applied in multiple ways. I find it can he helpful sharing a bit about what you're planning to get done in order to hold yourself accountable, and feel connected to other people who are also up & atom being productive. If you need to play real mind games with your shallow self you can also post a picture of your aesthetically pleasing breakfast or zen tea & podcast set up to your IG story as motivation to ensure the rest of your day (and the posts you will subsequently share) measures up to the standards of Go Getting you've publicly set.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Use the Forest app</span><br />
I am obsessed with this app, and if they ever want to sponsor me I am 1000% down. It grows a tree during the time that you don't use your phone, and if you exit the app before the timer you've set goes off the tree dies and makes your forest look ugly. I've killed two trees in the entire time I've had the app and they still haunt me to this day. Massively helpful if you find yourself mindlessly picking up your phone throughout the day.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Let People Know Not To Bother You</span><br />
I said what I said.<br />
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If you need more help to trick yourself productive, I have a post dedicated to that which you can find <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2017/05/trick-yourself-productive.html" target="_blank">here</a></b></i>! Also of interest may be <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/how-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals.html" target="_blank">How To Set & Achieve Goals</a></b></i>, and <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/my-productivity-tracker-sims-chart.html" target="_blank">My Productivity Tracker</a></b></i>. If you've got any other productivity-related topics in mind that I should cover, holler at me via <b><i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/madz0rs" target="_blank">twitter</a></i></b> or <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">insty</a></b></i>. Otherwise, I shall see you back here next week. x0x0Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-38161148946556732472019-08-13T16:00:00.000+10:002019-08-13T19:30:07.451+10:00The Best London Cafes to Write, Work and Study In<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy7MHMqVM4sz2zf6HwxniHlth8nZIJUowwlFsj9QFc1VjZVaTemaN5F2qP_19vnG0j2g6Q4CPYEqaJ_SS5T2gbsZEDQpvN6-edRCZcNg0OpoG1uiqJ_L2zGxsV1E5XxLei_ryEGVh3Gc/s1600/IMG_2566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwy7MHMqVM4sz2zf6HwxniHlth8nZIJUowwlFsj9QFc1VjZVaTemaN5F2qP_19vnG0j2g6Q4CPYEqaJ_SS5T2gbsZEDQpvN6-edRCZcNg0OpoG1uiqJ_L2zGxsV1E5XxLei_ryEGVh3Gc/s1600/IMG_2566.jpg" /></a></div>
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Depending on how well you know a city, good freelancing spaces can be hard to come by. Some cafes have a firm no laptop policy, and others just frown upon people taking up room for any longer than necessary. London is enormous and has a cafe on pretty much every street, but it's also incredibly busy and crowded, so it helps to have a few go-to laptop-friendly spots in your arsenal. I've put together a list of my personal favourite cafes in London to write in, work from or just spend a few hours hanging out at, so if you're in need of a solid cappuccino and a table you won't feel bad for taking up, look no further.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Note: All of these places have WiFi because a) I wouldn't be recommending them for work if they didn't and b) it's 2019.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Store Street Espresso, Bloomsbury</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>40 Store St, WC1E 7DB</i> | <i><b><a href="https://www.storestespresso.co.uk/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiufPKunHJajNTlqXsf-AEoV3Ou6jzmTHp96t5jdEgZ3vWDZYZlBYZBZQBH8x4FFu3rEzV0BSX0-vLNd3tprr2fzChNPvEDg6NAkcySENvzyxHjTCnQNbjqG9MSpeOvjyCyxhnI3io298/s1600/IMG_8744b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="926" data-original-width="1400" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiufPKunHJajNTlqXsf-AEoV3Ou6jzmTHp96t5jdEgZ3vWDZYZlBYZBZQBH8x4FFu3rEzV0BSX0-vLNd3tprr2fzChNPvEDg6NAkcySENvzyxHjTCnQNbjqG9MSpeOvjyCyxhnI3io298/s640/IMG_8744b.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Goodge Street</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>Casual</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating:</b> I've only ever been during quieter hours, so there were plenty of tables to choose from - similar vibe to TAP.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>Accessible from most tables</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Relaxed, plenty of people coming in and out but not the sort of place where you feel awkward for taking up a table.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>I was there on a 30 degree day so had an iced tea, but I've heard good things.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Decent cafe-style food & brunch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff: </b>Friendly, not invasive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>There are a lot of good cafes in this area, so if this one is too full, just have a walk around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Other Locations: </b>Continental Stores, St Pancras - Tavistock Place, WC1H 9RG</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Proud Mary's, Shepherd's Bush</b></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">1C Oaklands Grove, W12 0JD</span></i></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp0kb8P_Ey4TpGhJsheKI7xs4qrHBAKr_KZFVOZFxWmqSwyesdq2Am2cU3mDxx2up_qMrQurZNFRHMa3fz_kVeprsFp7yq6y9ZZXfcq1XkecvU9CEl-2MS20JWZv9v0KonvmsNd5jhTxU/s1600/IMG_2836b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1400" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp0kb8P_Ey4TpGhJsheKI7xs4qrHBAKr_KZFVOZFxWmqSwyesdq2Am2cU3mDxx2up_qMrQurZNFRHMa3fz_kVeprsFp7yq6y9ZZXfcq1XkecvU9CEl-2MS20JWZv9v0KonvmsNd5jhTxU/s640/IMG_2836b.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Shepherd's Bush Market</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>Serious brunch with a side of productivity</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating: </b>There are plenty of tables, and outside of lunch time and weekends it's usually quite empty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>You'll need to be strategic with this one as there are a couple of plugs under some of the bench seats but not many.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Relaxed, you may feel conspicuous depending on the crowd that's there on the day, but there are a few regulars who write or work there frequently.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>Good. Aus/NZ owned.<style type="text/css"><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}</style></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Really solid brunch-focused menu.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff:</b> Hit and miss. I've had a few rude servers, but good experiences with others. If you get a moody one you may feel intrusive, but most of the time it's fine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>Quite small so best to avoid peak times, but relaxed during weekdays. Music is my exact taste.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkPuPsV_m7v-dtuXPOLWLypfHmeAjBij6ZFqy33za-mmf5xln2Qr45HswNlAf2YaA7BZIu83KbwL692u5Op-ZNruRCLOK3nBPXVEVres0DD_v8D76NcPDoAWzpn62AJG7ATdRv_8isGLU/s1600/IMG_2572b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkPuPsV_m7v-dtuXPOLWLypfHmeAjBij6ZFqy33za-mmf5xln2Qr45HswNlAf2YaA7BZIu83KbwL692u5Op-ZNruRCLOK3nBPXVEVres0DD_v8D76NcPDoAWzpn62AJG7ATdRv_8isGLU/s1600/IMG_2572b.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7W4itC4tIVQVKVVpFi96Y4GcUvhxrcekcFwrflWg7GHk2ufMhAeCkZUPeHbJL3VY0N5gcV_mGMmaGuesxn-r-g-W7kI9mJpqRSwkkhk4Fyd543dMyWfPBZ0wFoVL6nrLAVPdyyYeaGg/s1600/IMG_2555b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1116" data-original-width="1500" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL7W4itC4tIVQVKVVpFi96Y4GcUvhxrcekcFwrflWg7GHk2ufMhAeCkZUPeHbJL3VY0N5gcV_mGMmaGuesxn-r-g-W7kI9mJpqRSwkkhk4Fyd543dMyWfPBZ0wFoVL6nrLAVPdyyYeaGg/s640/IMG_2555b.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>The Wren, St. Paul's</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>114 Queen Victoria Street, EC4V 4BJ</i> | <i><b><a href="http://www.thewrencoffee.com/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Mansion House</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>Unreal. Surprisingly chilled.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating:</b> An array of different tables spread out around a giant room</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>I'm not actually sure on this one. The days I worked there I didn't need any, but I'm sure you could find one in a pinch since it's such a massive space.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Amazing. Easily one of my favourite places in London. It's a converted church, and completely unlike any other venue I've been to. I expected it to be stuffy, but it was really relaxed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>Very decent</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Typical deli-style pastries and sandwiches</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff:</b> Very helpful, they largely stay behind the counter and leave you to it</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>This is a must-visit, whether you're looking for somewhere to work or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>TAP, Soho</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>193 Wardour St. W1F 8ZF</i> | <i><b><a href="http://www.tapcoffee.co.uk/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatgTyWOUTz20YJBrhPBIcEtNcFH-QRK13PfVYCsWsh4qzEwGqkcv2v_TxUoJmbWrRLx1oH8volQTPx0Fa9QR_r3SVTUxVSApsQnp5V1NAfwqi3e5Cn9ZIQzimcgfXwJ4dk0lEyWCJdZU/s1600/Tap-Coffee-193-outside%2528pp_w768_h512%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="768" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatgTyWOUTz20YJBrhPBIcEtNcFH-QRK13PfVYCsWsh4qzEwGqkcv2v_TxUoJmbWrRLx1oH8volQTPx0Fa9QR_r3SVTUxVSApsQnp5V1NAfwqi3e5Cn9ZIQzimcgfXwJ4dk0lEyWCJdZU/s640/Tap-Coffee-193-outside%2528pp_w768_h512%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Tottenham Court Road or Oxford Circus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe:</b> Some stay 5 minutes, some stay two hours</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating: </b>Usually space to get a table - if you arrive at lunch time it may be tricky but otherwise it's surprisingly empty as people tend to just pop in for a takeaway coffee</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs:</b> I'm not actually sure on this one! I'm sure you could find one if you tried, but not from every table.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Varies depending on time of day. Anywhere between airy and chilled to completely packed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>Meant to be good, and they put a lot of emphasis on this, but I've always found it to have a strong, unpleasant bitterness. Last time it tasted a bit like red wine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Great! I'm a big fan of the paprika chicken & aioli rolls.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff:</b> Friendly and unintrusive. Their priority is making the coffee, not hovering over the seating area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>This is a go-to for offices in the area so is typically very busy around lunch time</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Other Locations: </b>Tottenham Court Road & Rathbone Place</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Photo from UrbanPixxels</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq_FExqbAmfZIMvM69_ujAiq4QLGKhm2GXmue1A1alNWlnX6V-BjfKXPxb6NpV-qXFVu4ZK685Ol_Sz8mi3pZl0JyIDwrskrziJDh3Qfwq9wpkZxNJUPdBo3prD4mhqr4cX2OyN_ayjbA/s1600/IMG_3547c.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq_FExqbAmfZIMvM69_ujAiq4QLGKhm2GXmue1A1alNWlnX6V-BjfKXPxb6NpV-qXFVu4ZK685Ol_Sz8mi3pZl0JyIDwrskrziJDh3Qfwq9wpkZxNJUPdBo3prD4mhqr4cX2OyN_ayjbA/s1600/IMG_3547c.png" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw3wt0qMVtKTIpgSTl0fstnMp6ftWRVcdc8wMcLKu3QHZwFnXlHkpqEsGZIRbHKIqpLrqAyTg_mY82vE9uLoUdR386kLNgpTMFkY6zPW3VWwbKuDae-bi0WtX-lf9FH1jIFfAW6u2vkA/s1600/IMG_3547d.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1060" data-original-width="1600" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivw3wt0qMVtKTIpgSTl0fstnMp6ftWRVcdc8wMcLKu3QHZwFnXlHkpqEsGZIRbHKIqpLrqAyTg_mY82vE9uLoUdR386kLNgpTMFkY6zPW3VWwbKuDae-bi0WtX-lf9FH1jIFfAW6u2vkA/s640/IMG_3547d.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Jacob The Angel, Neal's Yard</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>16A Neal's Yard, WC2H 9DP</i> | <i><b><a href="https://jacobtheangel.co.uk/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Covent Garden</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>An actual hidden gem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating: </b>Limited, but doable. Tables inside and out. How busy it is fluctuates very quickly, so if there isn't a free spot just wait a few minutes and one will open up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>Only a couple, but little competition</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>My favourite, if you can get a spot. Neal's Yard is busy and interesting and you can see all of it out the front of the coffee shop. It's small but well styled, and busy but not uptight. You won't feel intrusive settling in.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee:</b> Good. The takeaway cups are also cute.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Lots of pastries, sandwiches etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff: </b>Very interactive when you're ordering (in a friendly, uplifting way), then they'll leave you to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>I am full on obsessed with this place and would spend every day here writing if I could.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Pearl, Hackney Wick</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>East Wing Oslo House, 11 Prince Edward Road, E9 5LX</i> | <i><b><a href="https://pearlhackneywick.com/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI7P2M7UJBgCX5t3CP81ieavHeILKGHfD81cfWGLRbEBiNN0XBnqMLvt9TCecfVEjwZ-gQXYl_siyd5vFi-MK5hkAObIs8JN5rZraxwb5I9qTws9GnuInpzl9iQJk6j-prTOuIR9D3F7M/s1600/IMG_3344b.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="928" data-original-width="1400" height="422" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI7P2M7UJBgCX5t3CP81ieavHeILKGHfD81cfWGLRbEBiNN0XBnqMLvt9TCecfVEjwZ-gQXYl_siyd5vFi-MK5hkAObIs8JN5rZraxwb5I9qTws9GnuInpzl9iQJk6j-prTOuIR9D3F7M/s640/IMG_3344b.png" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Hackney Wick</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>Eclectic, high-energy, chilled out</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating:</b> Plenty, inside and outside</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs:</b> Yep, easy to access</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Relaxed and creative. Clearly designed for people to spend decent amounts of time - board games and coffee table books scattered around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee:</b> Acceptable. Matcha latte was good, cappuccino was decent. Not watery, which is my number one London coffee pet hate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>A big feature - full menu</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff: </b>Great, super friendly and relaxed. I didn't feel rushed and the girl serving was really friendly.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: inherit;">Notes:</b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Lot of people coming in and out for food, but during the week it isn't too busy. Plenty of seating and there will likely be a few other people scattered around working. There are board games and coffee table books, so they're expecting people to stick around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Yumchaa, Soho</b></span></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">45 Berwick St. W1F 8SF</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube: </b>Tottenham Court Road or Oxford Circus</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>Upstairs - open and light, downstairs - cosy, studious. Great for getting things done and then having a friend pop in for a catch up.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating: </b>Limited on street level, but there's a whole separate room on basement level.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>Yes - both upstairs and downstairs</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment: </b>Comfortable, lots of room downstairs if you want a bit more quiet and privacy. There are always people there working, having meetings etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>Worth noting their specialty is teas. Order lattes, not cappuccinos and don't bother with the matcha.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Some pastries, croissants, basic salads etc. Would probably pop round the corner to Pret instead.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff: </b>They will leave you alone and are used to having people come in to work</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>Will be rammed if raining</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>TY (TimberYard), Seven Dials</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>7 Upper St. Martin's Lane, WC2H 9DL</i> | <i><b><a href="https://tyuk.com/" target="_blank">Website Here</a></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Closest Tube:</b> Leicester Square or Covent Garden</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Vibe: </b>We are all here to work and we would like everybody to know it, thanks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Seating:</b> Fills up fast</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Plugs: </b>Plenty of accessible outlets</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Environment:</b> TY is specifically geared towards people who want to get work done, so you won't get any funny looks or feel obtrusive for settling in. It does get very busy, but during quieter periods is really relaxed and comfortable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Coffee: </b>Decent, especially for London. Erring on bitter as a lot of 'good' London coffee tends to, but very tolerable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Food: </b>Can't say it's ever looked appealing enough to try</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Staff: </b>Used to people working, v friendly and helpful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Notes: </b>Not to be confused with the (superior) one off Wardour St which has now been closed. I don't believe this location has the co-working space the Wardour one did, but there are meeting rooms you can book in advance.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Photo not mine - found on WorkFrom.co</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">My Personal Fav Starbucks..es</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;">The ExCel Center:</span></i></b> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">I used to live around the corner and this Starbucks is the single most productive environment of my entire life. There are massively high ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, it's right next to the DLR and there are only ever crowds when there's a big event like ComicCon on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">The Strand:</span> </span></i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;">Central, right near Charing Cross, not huge but somehow usually pretty empty. Occasionally you'll get a tour group stopping in and temporarily crowding the place, but if you wait ten minutes it'll free back up.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Wardour Street: </span></b></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">You would never know I used to work off Wardour Street from reading this list.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Vigo Street or Berkeley Street:</b></i></span> Both in Mayfair, both rull cute. Vigo is more of a social vibe, but still good for a quick work sesh if you're near Regent Street.<br />
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-31145394448948970612019-08-06T16:00:00.001+10:002019-08-13T19:30:12.577+10:00How I Pursue Multiple Big Goals At Once<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?-->
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It's no secret that I refuse to pick just one project to pursue at a time. Over the course of any given week I'm posting on here, writing a novel, working on music, working with clients and starting up a business, so some real structure and a solid game plan are essential. People like to say that you can't properly put energy into multiple avenues at once; although I probably wouldn't recommend taking on quite as much as I have, I don't think that's true. Plenty of people have multiple passions and excel in various fields simultaneously - it's just a matter of scheming. Here are my personal tips for pursuing multiple big goals at once.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Cost/Benefit Analysis</span><br />
If you're going to be going after multiple goals, you need to know they're all worth it. Realistically, the more you have on your plate the harder it is to make consistent progress in each, so it's important to have a clear list of what pursuing each goal will cost you - consider time, resources and emotional factors - and what the potential benefits are. For example the cost of running a business is high both financially and time-wise, but the benefits are also considerable. Writing a novel is time consuming and may not have any guaranteed surface-level benefit, but if it's a goal that's important to you then the act of making progress will have a positive impact on your overall happiness. Basically know why you're doing things, and make sure they're worth it. If something really doesn't seem to have benefits equal to the costs, assess why it is that you're so attached to pursuing it.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Batching</span><br />
Batching just means getting a large amount of one sort of task done in a big chunk, like filming a month's worth of Youtube videos in a day or taking photos for multiple blog posts at once. The theory is that when you settle into completing one kind of activity, you'll get through the same workload more quickly than you would starting and stopping. It saves you time setting up and getting into the right mood, and allows you to fully immerse yourself in the specific kind of task you're getting done. It also means that once you're finished you have taken that task off your plate for a considerable period of time, freeing up time and energy for other things. When it comes to batching, don't force it - it's meant to make life easier, not harder. If the idea of taking ten Instagram photos in one go stresses you out more than just taking them day by day, don't batch that activity. If you feel like recording four episodes of your podcast back to back will cut down your stress and workload, try it out. I find writing blog posts in bulk a lot more efficient than writing one every week, so every month or so I set aside a few days and write as many posts as I can so that I know I'll have content to go up and I can concentrate fully on other things. If I feel like writing in between batches or there's something time-sensitive that I want to post, I will. The important thing is knowing I have content ready to go and don't need to worry about it until my next batch day.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Strict Daily Non-Negotiables</span></div>
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Regardless of whether the rest of my day is through the roof productive or a complete dud, I have a small list of non-negotiable tasks that I do not allow myself to skip. These are things that directly relate to a specific goal (exercise, vocal scales), or improve my overall mindset (meditation, journaling). Your non-negotiables will be specific to you, but if you're looking for a place to start I'd suggest thinking of 3-5 activities that add up to two hours or less. These things need to be realistic for you to complete every single day, and you'll need to be strict with yourself, so it's safer to start small and add more, rather than overload yourself initially and give up.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Having Clear Goals In Every Area</span><br />
This is perhaps the most important point. Know what you're working towards with every single goal, and have at least your first few steps toward that goal clarified. Working towards multiple goals is absolutely not going to be possible unless you know what it is that you're working towards, and are able to keep track of that progress. For more on how I set and accomplish goals, check out <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/how-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals.html" target="_blank">this post</a></b></i>.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Keeping Track of All Deliverables & Productivity</span></div>
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You need to know what your all goals are, what content you need to create & put out, what action steps you need to take, what your deadlines are, and how well you're progressing. The key here is organisation, lists and developing a system that works for you. Keep your goals visible, your deliverables clear and your progress tracked. I keep track of my ongoing progress using my<i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/my-productivity-tracker-sims-chart.html" target="_blank"> Sims Chart</a>, </i>along with different tiers of goals & to do lists.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Dedicating an Hour a Day to Music</span></div>
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This is specific to me. In the past when I've been particularly busy music has been the priority that was left behind, because it doesn't really intersect with any of my other goals and there is no one to hold me accountable if I let it go. Unfortunately, letting it go makes me feel like absolute crap, because singing and writing music are integral parts of my personal identity. My solution to this ongoing problem was to specifically dedicate an hour a day to music; even if I miss a day or two a week I'm still making progress, and the simple knowledge that I am still prioritising it boosts my mood and makes it easier to concentrate on other things. Your version of this may be spending an hour every night painting, or writing 500 words of your novel every morning. If you have hobby or passion project you're afraid will fall by the wayside, scheduling time to make steady progress - no matter how gradual - will improve your overall happiness a surprising amount.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Delegating Certain Tasks to Weekends/Free Time</span><br />
Separating Weekday Activities and Weekend Activities has been really helpful for me. For example, my novel is something that I love to work on, but it isn't a high priority, so I tend to keep it out of my working week. There will be exceptions to this, like if I have a low-intensity work week and really want to make some progress, but having it compartmentalised as a leisure time activity helps me to balance everything else. Before I made this shift I spent a lot of my work time thinking that I should be writing instead or vice versa, and I was never fully committed to whichever way I decided to use my time, so having a clear idea of what belongs where/when is vital.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Multitasking</span><br />
Hear me out. 'Multitasking' in the traditional sense has been proven to enormously reduce the efficiency of both (or all) activities you're juggling, and is a practice I'm trying to train myself out of. Pairing up two truly compatible activities, however, is a fab way to get more done. I build my Pinterest queue while I do my vocal exercises, in the spirit of <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/07/pursuing-value-in-everyday-life.html" target="_blank">my post on pursuing value</a></b></i> I listen to podcasts while I cook and clean and I try to keep time-wasting phone games as an activity for the gym.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Working Smart</span><br />
Down time is a non-negotiable, as are your other goals, so maximising the time you spend working on anything is vital. When you waste time you're stealing it from one of your other goals, and when you half-ass your workday you're also pretty much ensuring that your work stress will leak into your down time. This is something that's much more easily said than done, but it really is one of the most important principles to grasp when you want to achieve big things. I try to follow the 80/20 Rule - 20% of our activities will account for 80% of our results, so it's important to identify those key activities and prioritise them above everything else.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Scheduling Ahead</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">This one goes along with batching and is also a bit of a no-brainer. Scheduling whatever possible ahead of time (blog posts, Youtube videos, instagram posts, Pinterest queue, tweets promoting specific content) helps to keep your output consistent in the most low-stress way possible. Scheduling ahead prevents that mad scramble to put something subpar together last minute, or pushing back more urgent tasks to do something that could have been finished weeks before. My mentality is that if it's possible to get something off my plate ahead of time, I should, and although it takes a bit of effort to get ahead at the start it makes things much easier in the long run.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Not Trying to Tackle Everything at Once</span></div>
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A huge part of pursuing multiple things at once is not actually trying to do everything at once. Some weeks you won't have time to work on one area, and that's okay. If a mid-level area has to take a back seat to allow for concentrated efforts on your #1 priority, that's fine. It's also okay to postpone something in order to dedicate more attention to something more pressing. This is why it's so important to have a clear idea of your hierarchy of priorities and, in the spirit of batching & scheduling ahead, it's vital that you be willing to sometimes focus solely on making headway in one area in order to get things running smoothly.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Building a Foundation in One Area & Building On It</span></div>
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Instead of trying to master five things at once, get settled into one and then add another, and don't add the next thing until you have that one sorted. It's easier to add things on top of an established routine or a familiar workload than it is to try and get multiple things off the ground at once. Trying to jump into everything at once is the easiest way to discourage yourself and burn out, so pick the most vital goal and get that sorted before adding anything else. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Consuming content intelligently</span><br />
Max Joseph of Catfish fame made <i><b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIW5jBrrsS0" target="_blank">this video</a></b></i> about reading, and in it he introduced the concept of a Content Diet. This is something I plan on writing an entire post about, but basically it's the idea of viewing the content you consume in the same way you would your diet. Mindlessly consuming content with no real intention can be damaging (although some 'pointless' content can still have benefits, like how I find this one woman painting dolls v relaxing #nojudgement), while on the other hand being smart about what you listen to, watch or read can have fab benefits. I try to apply this by listening to podcasts about business and writing, regularly researching things that interest me on Pinterest and watching videos about topics that relate to my goals. I still watch absolute trash from time to time, and most of the content I consume is still for fun rather than intellectual gain, but the more aware I am of what I'm consuming and why, the less I find my time running away from me.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Figure Out Where Your Goals Overlap</span><br />
This is a tricky one to execute and to explain. I guess the most accessible example is that sometimes there are topics like this blog post that are relevant to both my personal brand and my business, so I can post this on here and then repurpose points for a story on <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/socialscheming" target="_blank">Social Scheming</a></b></i> (this is slightly contradicted in the next point, but as with everything the key here is to use your own judgement and do what works). Another way this comes into play is when I can do research on one subject and have it apply to more than one of my goals, for instance learning more about marketing strategy helps me with my work and my personal brand, as well as future planning for when I eventually have a book to promote. Building up my Pinterest also benefits multiple goals I'm working towards, and once I restart Youtube that will be a platform I can use for both my personal and professional brands. Chances are a lot of your goals overlap in more than one way, you just need to figure out how everything works together and which tasks or activities can move you forward in multiple ways at once.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Respect Mental Boundaries</span><br />
I get overwhelmed if I don't keep my personal and professional brands separate, at least to some extent. That means I don't batch blog content for here at the same time as posts for my website, and don't post much about my work on my personal Instagram. I'm trying to create such a high volume of content that I need to have a sense of where everything belongs, and in order to maintain that I have to keep some clear mental boundaries. My advice here is just to work in a way that allows your mind to really understand what's going on and keep your different goals separate. If you can tackle similar tasks all at once like I mentioned in the last point then that's amazing, but if that feels overwhelming, respect that and work with it. Try to keep the tasks that are a bit too close to each other deliberately separate. Batch Youtube videos in Week A and write blog content in Week B. Do brand-building exercises exclusively on Tuesdays, and reach out to new clients on Wednesdays. Use activities that are very clearly Column A or Column B as a buffer between tasks that may otherwise be too similar.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Respect Boundaries In General</span><br />
Set rules and boundaries and accept them as valid. One of my boundaries is that I will not check or reply to emails during time I have designated for other tasks. I don't have to be accessible 24/7, and no one owns my time unless they're specifically paying for it. If you set a boundary that you don't respond to business emails past 6pm, respect that. If you set a boundary that you don't allow clients to contact you on your personal phone number, stick to it. Don't trick yourself into feeling as though you have to hide during your down time either - you're entitled to down time, and time dedicated to other tasks. You're allowed to be active on social media during the time that you're not checking or replying to emails. I found this shift really difficult at first, but the more I realise the world doesn't implode if I spend a few hours cut off, the easier it becomes. I'm working on setting more clear boundaries when it comes to client work, and the more progress I make the less stressed I am. Boundaries help me to give myself permission to work on whatever I need to without guilt or disruption.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Use Your Passions to Boost Your Mood & Productivity</span><br />
This ties back in to the point I made earlier about how I work on music daily. Depriving yourself of activities that bring you joy in order to be more productive actually has the opposite effect. We need free time and pastimes and to feel creatively fulfilled in order to operate at our highest capacity. If I'm feeling completely burnt out I'll close down everything I'm working on and spend some time doing something creative. Similarly, sometimes just knowing that I have time set aside for music or painting or writing etc. later on settles that restless part of my brain and helps me to concentrate on the task at hand.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Designate Non-Negotiable Down Time</span><br />
Although I do delegate some things like writing my novel to 'down time' I also make sure to give myself time to fully switch off. No work going on in the background, no nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me I should be doing something productive, just time that I have specifically scheduled to do absolutely nothing. Recharging is just as important as working hard, because if you don't give yourself enough time and space to decompress you'll burn out and your productivity will suffer.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Be Comfortable With Slow & Steady</span><br />
If you're spreading your efforts out rather than going all in on just one thing, it's likely to take a bit longer to reach those big milestones. I don't at all believe that working on three goals means you'll reach them all three times slower, but it's just common sense that it will be a little bit more tricky. Additionally, different efforts will pay off at different times, and it's likely you'll find yourself faced with multiple stretches of time during which all your different projects are at the 'keep your head down, work hard and hope for the best' stage. Don't get discouraged. The upside of that is a little bit further down the track when everything comes to life and you find yourself having achieved a combination of feats everybody told you wouldn't be simultaneously possible. You never know when things are going to take off, or which area is going to start paying off first, so keep your mind on your own priorities and just keep going.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Remind Yourself Why You're Doing What You're Doing</span><br />
I list a 'why' beneath each of my goals, and read through the list regularly. If you're lacking drive or motivation, it may be because you've lost sight of why you're putting in the work. Review your goals daily, keep note of why it is that you want to achieve them and where you see yourself ending up, and use that as your ultimate guide.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Stop Making Excuses, Stop Procrastinating and Commit.</span><br />
The biggest factor keeping you from accomplishing your goals is likely to be your own inaction. Whether that comes in the form of talking yourself out of things, or wasting time on inefficient or irrelevant tasks, I can pretty much guarantee something that you're doing quite regularly is sabotaging your productivity and therefore your chances at achieving your goals. If you really can't commit to something, it's time to either reassess whether it's really worth it or do some serious internal work to uncover the root of what's holding you back. Stop making excuses and make it happen. </div>
Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-15964104265273307712019-07-30T16:00:00.000+10:002019-07-30T16:00:09.853+10:00Pursuing Value In Everyday Life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A year or so ago I went through a real podcast phase. I was commuting in and out of central London every day, and the only way to really keep myself sane was to a) memorise and implement a solid strategy to get myself a seat at Canary Wharf and b) listen to podcasts that really engaged me. My absolute favourite was The High Low (or as it was called in the very early days, The Pandolly Podcast), and I have vivid memories of walking down the icy steps of my DLR station, rugged up in a blanket scarf and listening to them discuss the pros and cons of a wellness retreat, as I weighed up the pros and cons of being a few minutes late to work so I could pop back up the steps to grab a Festive Starbucks. I get oddly emotional when I think back to mornings like that, partially because I really love frosty winter days and toffee nut lattes, and partially because I remember them so clearly that it’s strange how much my life has changed in the time between then and now.<br />
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Those podcasts were a big part of my journey, both literally and figuratively. Once I’d got up to date with The High Low I started to explore new avenues, and found fast favourites like Nobody Panic (then called The Debrief), as well as some I’d grab an episode or two from every now and then. I’d wait for my bus listening to Dawn O’Porte or block out the commotion of London Bridge with Oprah talking to Deepak Chopra about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness. As time went on I started getting pickier about what I listened to during that hour or so every day, and following another Oprah episode - this time with Tony Robbins; love him or hate him he's got some interesting things to say - I finally put my finger on why that was. I’d found a way to consistently introduce additional value into my every day routine. I was learning, whether about current affairs, self development or just another person’s view point, and it made those journeys feel worthwhile.<br />
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Once I identified it, that feeling really stuck with me and I started to actively pursue it. I would seek out opportunities to incorporate more value into my day - sometimes in the form of a podcast, others by consciously taking notes to look back on as I read a book or spending my Saturdays in a Starbucks where I knew I would get a lot more work done than at home. Optimising my time became a source of real fulfilment to me, and I realised that I had time for a lot more than I thought I did.</div>
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Once I quit my job and moved back to Melbourne that drive and that structure crept away without me really noticing. When you have all the time in the world, it can be very difficult to create the sense of urgency you need in order to work to your full potential. I would go days without ticking a single thing off my to do list, and I started to feel incapable. Learning to take control of my own time without someone else’s structure to rely on (or a sense of scarcity making every hour seem more important) has been a process, and I still definitely have days where I do a lot more time wasting than maximising, but I feel like it's time to start reintroducing that mindset. History has taught me that (up to a certain point) the more I take on, the more I can fit in, so I'm going to try and start introducing more and more into my days to recapture that respect I used to have for my own time, and in addition to that I'm going to look for opportunities to fit more value into my days.</div>
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Maximising my time is going to be a learning process of its own, but as far as the added value goes I have a few ideas. I've started reintroducing podcasts when I'm doing anything more physical than intellectual, like cooking, cleaning and scheduling my Pinterest queue. Instead of mindlessly letting one random Youtube video roll into another, I'm going to start curating a playlist of videos by people I actually want to learn from, so that when I do want to switch off for a bit I'm still using that time productively. Over the last year I've done a phenom.com job of reading (36 books so far in 2019 thx huns) and setting aside specific time to sit down with a book has been one of the most rewarding changes I've made in a long time.</div>
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I also want to start choosing one person every fortnight or month to study in depth. By that I mean taking a prominent, interesting figure in business, self improvement, writing or another area I care about and dedicating real time to reading articles, exploring their work and seeing what they have to offer. It can be massively overwhelming trying to look into a hundred different recommendations at once, and I really do think that information overload does more harm than good productivity-wise, so this seems like a good approach. There are a few other things I've started dedicating just half an hour or an hour to every day that I was previously neglecting entirely, like working on music, and those tiny timeslots have already made a huge difference to my overall sense of contentment and productivity. I highly recommend trying that out - setting one hour every evening, guilt-free, to dedicate to one area - if you feel like something that's important to you is being left out. You might be surprised how much of a difference it makes. Sometimes half the battle is giving yourself permission to dedicate time to things.</div>
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If you have any thoughts on how to actively inject more value into everyday life I'd really like to know, so tweet me or DM me on instagram with your ideas. I'll let you know how my time maximisation goes once I've progressed past 'try to start working before midday,' and I'll see you back here again next week. x0x0</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-11015695185686392822019-07-23T19:06:00.000+10:002019-08-13T19:30:32.562+10:00A Drive To Loch Ard Gorge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As much as I like to complain about no longer being within a hop, skip & a jump of continental Europe, Australia isn't all that bad. In addition to coffee and venomous snakes, we're also quite fab at outstanding natural beauty, so I have decided to take it upon myself to quit being such a little bitch and explore the majesty that surrounds me. Living in Melbourne, one of the most familiar scenic drives to me - and one of the most famous in the world - is the Great Ocean Road. Although I've been up and down a few times in my day, I hadn't made the journey since 2015 when Fiona and I went <a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/03/the-great-ocean-road.html" target="_blank"><i><b>with our friends Evan & Dodie</b></i></a>, so when my cousins came over to visit from Perth it seemed like the perfect opportunity for a Road Trip.</div>
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Our goal was to reach the Twelve Apostles for sunset, and I had a few intermediate stops planned out quite nicely on a spreadsheet, so we left Melbourne around 9am and set off towards the Great Ocean Road. The first portion of the drive is not particularly thrilling - it's a lot of basic Australian highway, through parched looking rural landscapes, which is not really my vibe. Will and my mother both seem to love it, but I'm more of a lush greenery and rolling verdant hillside gal myself. After about 90 minutes and a tactical snack stop, however, we finally passed Anglesea and emerged onto the coastal road.</div>
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The road itself winds around the hills and is often atop a steep cliff, which may not be for everyone, but the view is worth it. There are small areas to pull over spaced out along the route, so one can stop for photos without creating a hazardous situation, and there are also a few more deliberate viewing points between Lorne and Apollo Bay. Ample viewing opportunities along the way, so do not stress if that photo you tried to take out the window of your moving vehicle turns out a bit shit. If you're pacing your journey a bit better than we did (see: not doing the whole thing in one day) I would suggest Lorne as the place to stay overnight. Of all the towns en route it's my personal fav, and even if you keep going a bit further down to Wye River or Separation Creek (also great for a more low-key beach stop) you've got a good chance of finding somewhere with phenom views and a more high-end feel than Apollo Bay, Anglesea or Torquay.</div>
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Given our tight schedj and the fact that it was a long weekend and therefore absolutely packed, we passed right through Lorne, gave the beaches a miss and drove straight to Apollo Bay (ft. a few insty stops en route). My original itinerary had included the Cape Otway lighthouse, but our lunch stop took longer than I'd imagined so I had to make the heartbreaking Sophie's Choice to prioritise making it to the Apostles by sunset over the A+ lighthouse photo I had envisioned. Yes, said lighthouse did require a considerable detour, but I had NEVER had a lighthouse on my grid and I NEEDED one. I have since captured an acceptable alternative in St Kilda, but at this particular moment in time I wasn't to know that was on the horizon. Anyway, I put the greater good ahead of my own aesthetic dreams and struck the lighthouse from the route. It's worth noting that we made this trip in winter, so sunset was much earlier than it would have been during Daylight Savings, so if you plan wisely season-wise and set off a bit earlier you'll be able to fit a lot more in than we did.</div>
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My sans-lighthouse melancholy did not last for long, because as the road moved inland we found ourselves overlooking a valley of rolling hills which - as indicated in paragraph two - is my absolute vibe. These photos don't do the view justice. The scale of it was ridiculous - literal miles of hills, hundreds of trees and a valley further down than we could see. Also a lot of sheep. If you see how tiny the farmhouse in the last photo is that gives you a bit of an idea, but it was tbph quite breathtaking. From ocean cliffs to rolling hills; get u a road that can do both. By this point we were nearly at the end of the Hamilton cast recording, so we knew we must be getting close to our destination. Although our ultimate end point was the Twelve Apostles, the penultimate stop for which I'd budgeted significant time was a few more minutes down the road. I'd saved a photo of this specific spot to a Pinterest board a year and a half earlier while I was still working in my London office, and I was not disappointed when I finally laid my eyes upon Loch Ard Gorge.</div>
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The more astute seafarers amongst ye may be thinking 'wow, there sure are a lot of protruding rocks in this region of the ocean, that can't have been ideal back in ye olde days of maritime transportation' and to that I would say 'you are absolutely correct, welcome to The Shipwreck Coast.' Explorer Matthew Flinders, of train station fame, once declared he had "seldom seen a more fearful section of coastline," which is pretty badass. At least to those of us standing on dry land in the 21st century and not on the deck of an unstable vessel in the 1800s. One of the places I want to visit next time Will and I drive down that way is Wreck Beach, where at low tide you can see remnants of the (638 known) shipwrecks that have washed up over the years. As a child who demanded regularly to be taken to the Shipwreck Galleries at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle, this shit is right up my street. Anyway, one notable name on the list of wrecks is the Loch Ard, which met its fate on the reef off Mutton Bird Island (just beyond the cliffs in these photos) in 1878, and gave the gorge its name. The cliff faces formed when a rock bridge collapsed a few years ago are also now called Tom and Eva, after the only two people to survive the wreck out of 54 on board. I feel like there's some solid historical fiction to be written about the whole event, but I shan't be penning it any time in the foreseeable future so if anyone feels inspired then go right ahead. In any case I highly suggest a google of 'Wreck Beach Victoria' and a debrief on the numerous vessels that ended up contributing to its landscape.</div>
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Chilling history aside, we actually had quite a wholesome and jolly time. There were many steps to be faced in order to get down to and back up from the beach itself, and another hike to get out to the edge of the cliffs, but I'm usually pretty happy with walking if there's good scenery to peruse. Plus it was rainy, so the whole thing was very moody and amplified the maritime disaster vibe in an ambient-rather-than-morbid way. There are a few different walking trails you can take around Loch Ard, of different distances and viewpoints. I think the one we ended up taking was 'The Wreck', the view from the end of which you can see in the last couple of photos in this next set. Judging by a map I'm currently squinting at on google, I'm pretty sure the big rock face with the archway in it is Muttonbird Island, which would mean that the wreck took place just beyond. I'd like to go back another day and do the full walk, but the views we did get were pretty dece anyway.</div>
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Having seen about nine million cars queued up waiting to get into the Twelve Apostles car park when we drove past earlier, I was not feeling optimistic about the fate of our planned sunset antics, but we decided to give it a go anyway. I'd been before, so I wasn't expecting a clear shot with no one around, but boyyyyy was there a crowd. We got a park without any hassle though, and once we made it to the actual viewing area it was windy and crowded, but not unmanageable. As I mentioned before, we did go on the Sunday of a long weekend, so if you're planning to visit during a quieter time you shouldn't have a problem. There will always be people there, but there's enough space for everyone and multiple different viewing points to ensure you get. that. shot. </div>
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When I say it was windy, I mean I had to keep an iron grip on my phone to prevent it from being blown out of my hands, but it was still worth the trip. There are few views I treasure more highly than choppy ocean waves and moody skies, so I was happy as it was, but the clouds also parted just enough to let the sunset through which was a bonus. The thing about ancient limestone formations created by erosion via the turbulent waters below is that the turbulent waters below do not cease once the formation has occurred, so every so often the Apostles - like the rock bridge that used to link Tom & Eva - like to tumble into the sea. As such, I find it a worthwhile practice to pop back and check on them every so often, just to make sure everyone's in tact. Assured that all formations were present and thoroughly exhausted from the bare minimum of hikes, we hopped back into the car as the sun disappeared and drove back to Melbourne. There are several more points along the coast on my list, so I'll update you when we get around to visiting those, but for now our journey is through. </div>
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Thank you for joining in on our wholesome family fun. See you next week xoxo</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-4215269907909804602019-07-16T16:00:00.000+10:002019-08-13T19:30:32.570+10:00Nostalgia<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am a firm subscriber to the school of belief that as soon as you start something with a dictionary definition you have, in one fell Oxford swoop, invalidated the substance of anything that follows. In high school debating there was also a pretty direct correlation between teams who would start with definitions and the ones that would inevitably burst into (wildly unnecessary) tears upon losing, but that's an exploration for another day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">In this particular case, however, we will be going beyond the definition to the root of a word, which is marginally more acceptable and interesting, as it facilitates some deeper learning, and ties neatly into the respectable study of classics. Can't argue with the ancient Greeks. Partially because they're categorically dead, but also because I feel like they were just really wiley dudes. Wouldn't even try it. Innywho, we're here to talk about "nostalgia" which, it turns out, is a combination of the Greek words "nostos" and "algos", which respectively mean "homecoming" and "pain." Poignant. Really think about that for a sec. Being a delicate little darling it would suffice to say that when I discovered this fact it caused the nostos of some solid algos in my heart.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Nostalgia's a bit achey. Feels like pressure on my heart and a bit on a very specific part of my face. Is it a stroke? No. A stroke of genius? Perhaps. But we'll get to that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The great seamstress and innovator Edna Mode famously said "I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now," and while I admire her business savvy and no-nonsense attitude, I must disagree. Speaking from my own emotion-dominated existence, I personally find a potent hit of nostalgia is often the swift kick to the abdomen that I need in order to put the present into perspective and instigate some sort of positive action. Additionally, now that I find myself in a happy relationship which presents me with very little drama to fuel my creative fires, I often rely on a strong (yet healthy) sense of nostalgia to get things going. </span>You see, I have come to realise through various tribulations that slightly painful emotion is my greatest motivator in life (technically it's vengeance, but that's a branch of emotion so potato tomato ya know), and nostalgia - when employed wisely - can be considered the tidy little tequila shot of the feeling world. Allow me to elaborate.</div>
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The magic of nostalgia is that its source is powerful enough to carry lasting emotional weight, but rooted safely in the past. <span style="font-family: inherit;">By nature, you're removed enough from whatever you're looking back on that it shouldn't send you into a spiral - similar to how a single tequila shot is going to hit you, but not ruin you entirely. At the same time, tequila is a gateway shot; you're not going to go out and do one solitary tequila shot (unless you're the Reluctant Friend in a B-grade romcom), and it's up to you to decide whether to chase it with a laid back jack & coke or six more tequila shots and some absinthe. Similarly, nostalgia is a gateway feeling; once you're there you can decide whether to be smart and use that kickstart to create something positive, or slam back memory after memory, get absolutely wrecked and probably wake up the next morning on your bathroom floor using a towel as a sad, makeshift pillow. The potent hit of longing you get from nostalgia is a fork in the road, at which you must decide to either sink and wallow, or harness that emotion and use it productively. At the worst you will cry for hours whilst playing the same Demi Lovato song on repeat (In Case. It's always In Case.), but at best that sense of longing gives you something to work towards (or away from), and you can use that as fuel to create.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7cxCCkeWK7Q/WAMsVw292AI/AAAAAAAAFM0/SNHd2zK9kRgZ2NUWJjVJIvGJ1kC2rkHTACLcB/s1600/P1019980.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7cxCCkeWK7Q/WAMsVw292AI/AAAAAAAAFM0/SNHd2zK9kRgZ2NUWJjVJIvGJ1kC2rkHTACLcB/s1600/P1019980.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">However, there are different levels of nostalgia. To quote The Official Bard of Melancholic Reflection, Ed Sheeran, "pain is only relevant if it still hurts." Luckily for me, I can hold onto outdated emotions for a long. ass. time. which means I have a pool of nostalgia roughly the depth of the Mariana Trench from which to dredge up inspiration. That being said, just because I have that lovely lagoon of potential #trigz ready and waiting should I want to use it, it doesn't mean I am actively holding onto things that are not directly impacting my present day life. Harnessing & appreciating a sense of nostalgia is not the same as refusing to let go, and it's necessary to compartmentalise your memories and emotions. I visit and draw from my Mariana Trench of feelings - I do not sit at the bottom of it. </span>Harnessing negative or difficult emotion can be incredibly positive, but holding onto it unnecessarily after its relevance has expired is not.</div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">For example, 2014 was a very complex era in the wonderful world of Madeleine, as some of you may recall. If I really need to I can always pop back there and feel a feeling or two, but I don't actively think about it in my everyday life, and nothing that took place then has the power to really upset me or alter my overall emotional state in the present. That being said, although these memories don't impact me the way they would have four years ago, they still need to carry some sort of weight in order to be useful, and that brings me back to Eddy Boy's lyrics. Pain IS only relevant, or useful, if it still hurts - if I feel nothing, there's nothing to elaborate upon or draw from, and you never know when something is going to lose that ability to make you feel. T</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">here have been times I've thought of an idea for a song or a story and put it on the back burner, only to heal emotionally, truly move on from the subject of said Postponed Masterpiece (or desensitise myself to it) and absolutely screwed myself over in the process. Nostalgia can be a useful tool, but you never know when its potency will fade, so use it while it's hot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The emotions you have attached to certain things can also transform over time. For example, the Little Mix song 'Towers' used to remind me of my ex-boyfriend, but then I fell in love with someone else and I just happened to be listening to that song in a hotel room the night before everything started with Guy 2, so now instead of reminding me of my ex it reminds me of that hotel room which reminds me of Guy 2. I can still associate it with the first one, but I don't feel a particularly high level of emotion there. On the other hand, as soon as I flash back to that hotel room it's like slamming into a physical wall of nostalgia; I can remember the emotion of the first relationship, but I can still feel the emotion of the second, and that's the part I can use.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrVPSKRoqS0pK4J3HTTTvp0R1fjsxed-_P8zwQtCTaxwYGStO5oyFurX3AxOxoGMr6UavptN1EFWSJo8AlJoArb06eXRXb6tPZ_18x5o9kOfYz9UMn0Xvf8Zbm9AofvcOZ-PRqQwKGDM/s1600/IMG_9162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXrVPSKRoqS0pK4J3HTTTvp0R1fjsxed-_P8zwQtCTaxwYGStO5oyFurX3AxOxoGMr6UavptN1EFWSJo8AlJoArb06eXRXb6tPZ_18x5o9kOfYz9UMn0Xvf8Zbm9AofvcOZ-PRqQwKGDM/s1600/IMG_9162.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That's not to say I couldn't find any useful emotion in that first relationship, or something else I've largely moved past - it would just take a different prompt, which most often comes from some unexplored corner of my memory. An example of this would be taking a train through a particular station for the first time in four years, or being in an Uber home late one night and seeing an illuminated carriage through the windows of a passing train we used to take together that I had no reason to get on anymore. When I find that I can't access the sadness or elation or emotion of a certain memory anymore, I just hop over to a new one. If I think about the actual moment of my breakup I feel nothing, but picturing the Upper Crust on the National Rail platforms at London Bridge? Palpitation city, boiiiii. Basically what I'm saying here is that I employ a certain level of emotional masochism in order to fuel my #art, and sometimes it comes from unexpected places.</span></div>
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I think learning to use nostalgia constructively is one of the most powerful things you can do. It's not wishing for a life that you don't have anymore, it's identifying what about that moment or that memory has stuck with you so strongly, and then figuring out how to pursue those things in your current life, or recreate certain feelings in fiction or music or art. It's a sign of what's really important to you. What you subconsciously (or sometimes consciously) crave to replicate. I pride myself on my ability to turn negative experiences into positive momentum, but that doesn't come without a certain level of discomfort. Whether you're a writer or an artist or a musician or just someone going through a really shit time, try and harness that raw emotion, regardless of where it stems from, and turn it into something great. You don't ever have to share what you make if you don't want to, because regardless of what form they take I find that just pouring those feelings into <i>something</i> makes the memory feel validated in a way - makes the pain feel useful - and helps me to move forward.</div>
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I've been feeling particularly nostalgic lately, which is often a sign that I have an excess of pent up creative energy, so I'm interested to see how I end up channeling it this time. I'm also interest to know if you find inspiration in a similar way, or if you think I'm completely batshit and should just keep these things to myself and scrapbook all my feelings away like a normal person. Either way, thank you for sitting through my Ted Talk on Refusing to Fully Let Go, and I'll see you back here next week.</div>
Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-85609922557590032282019-07-11T16:00:00.000+10:002019-07-12T00:12:48.166+10:00How To Feel Human Post-Flight<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="s1">Eurotrip season is upon us, and whether one is vacating for a weekend or a month, it's imperative to make the most of every day - no sight unseen, no insty opportunity wasted. As such, one of the most important travel-related skills I have developed over my many seasons of traversing is the ability to shake off a long-haul flight and make it through the Jetlag Danger Zone relatively unscathed. These tips have carried me through multiple work days following redeye flights, so whether you're off on an adventure or landing back at home with a full day of responsibilities ahead, I hope you find them helpful.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Wash the flight off. Get rid of it. Cleanse yoself, get a fresh start and hopefully wake yourself up a bit. Everything feels a bit better when you're clean, and if nothing else this will help you to feel marginally more presentable and capable of encountering other human beings.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The key to getting through the day is acting as though it's a normal day completely separate to your flight. Sitting around in the clothes you flew in is 1. not going to make you feel particularly phresh and 2. going to rob you of that sense of separation and make you feel like you're just living the longest day ever.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Eat A Good, Substantial Meal</span></b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Plane food is disgusting. No matter how good the airline is, even if you're in business class... plane food is just never a good time. So chuck some vitamins down ya and pad your stomach with some carby goodness to fuel the day. Personally I tend to feel a bit sick after long flights, but even then I still make sure to have a salad or something inoffensive but fresh. Avoid fast food and other easy but inadvisable alternatives.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Sunlight wakes you up. Fresh air is great. If you're outside it means you're not sitting on your couch scrolling through instagram and getting progressively more tired. Getting in contact with the outside world is also a bonus, especially if you've landed somewhere new.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">If you've spent a solid amount of time stuck on a plane, chances are you're feeling a bit dehydrated and dull. Ain't no better way to combat a general lull than with a revitalising face mask, son. I'd personally go for one with some sort of refreshing, brightening or rejuvenating properties and a citrusy zing, as opposed to a heavy-duty clay mask, but it's up to you. Live your life. Chuck on whatever your skin yearns for. Even a basic cleanse and a solid serum will do the trick.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Go out in public. Sit in a cafe. Hang out with friends or family members who have not just spent an eternity in the sky.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Surround yourself with life in the hopes that you may leech some of it for yourself.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Productivity will 1. make you feel more alert 2. pass the time and 3. help you check something off your To Do list, so it's a triple whammy. You're welcome. Do not, however, try and force yourself into tackling a task you really, really do not want to. That will only make sinking into bed seem more appealing and defeat the entire purpose of the exercise. Pick something that will make a difference without making you feel as though you're adding even more effort to your day.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Hydration Is The Key To Everything</span></b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">This is a general rule for life, but particularly post-flight you're probably quite dehydrated so get on that agua, bois. You have no idea how often I hear someone bragging about how they drink "an entire litre of water a day" and have to restrain myself from informing them that they are, in fact, severely underhydrated, so even if you think you've had enough water you probably haven't. Grab yourself a big ol' bottle and carry it around with you.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Caffeinate Wisely</span></b></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Only you know how you react to caffeine, so I won't tell you how to live your life. In my experience, however, one strong coffee when you're starting to flag is usually safe enough, but don't down four espressos after an early morning landing and expect to make it merrily to 10pm. Use ur noggin.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Let me know if you have any post-flight rituals that I've left out, and if you're anywhere interesting please buy me the worst magnet you can find. Otherwise have a sick 1, drink plenty of water and I will see you back here next week. xoxo</span></div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-78818844135742209442019-07-05T13:25:00.000+10:002019-08-13T19:33:11.393+10:00Signs You're Over-Planning<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?-->
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<i>Today we explore a concept with which I am personally far too familiar - over-planning. I am a Big Fan of scheming, lists, charts and planning in general, but there comes a time when action must be taken, and I sometimes find myself using 'planning' as an excuse to delay that action. Here are some of the telltale signs that I am (or you are) over-planning.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">1. Not taking any action, at all</span></div>
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Planning and action need to work in tandem. You don't have to jump in blind, but there is always some sort of action you can take while you iron out other details. <span style="font-family: inherit;">There is always something you can be doing, no matter what stage of the process you're at, so complete inaction is always a tell-tale sign that something is off.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">2. Planning for August instead of acting on June</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm all for planning ahead, but preferably once you've got the present locked down. </span>No matter how much you plan for the future, those plans will come to nothing if you aren't acting on the plans you already have for now.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">3. ACTING on August instead of June</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am definitely guilty of this, and it's ridiculous. Think along the lines of writing Christmas-themed blog posts when you haven't finished editing your photos from a trip in September yet. </span>There are certain parts of different projects that seem more fun than others, and often it's the first few steps that are most draining, but there's no point writing chapter six for a book you're never actually going to start. It's absolutely fine to work ahead if the mood strikes you, but only if you're also working on whatever it is that you're actually meant to be.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">4. Waiting for the right mood to strike</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I am speaking directly to myself with this one, because I am such an emotion-driven person, and my motivation and energy levels fluctuate ridiculously. The facts of the matter, however, are A) you are almost never going to be in the perfect mood to do things and B) once you get started, you'll find that mood tends to create itself. </span>Do you know how often I'm in the 'right mood' to get things done? Probably two hours out of every second day, always after 11pm. That is not an arrangement that is going to get me places very quickly.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">5. Waiting for a certain date or day to start</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm going to stop prefacing these with "me" because at this point I think we can all tell this is just an open letter to myself. New Years resolutions and the 1st of the month and Mondays are all great placebo motivation to get started on things, but don't put things off just because you'd rather wait til a day or date that appeals to you more. You will lose a lot of time this way, and all you're really doing is finding an excuse to procrastinate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">6. You have ten lists, but nothing on any of them is done</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Yikes. Lists are both fab and necessary, but only if you're actually using them. Get started, or get rid of the lists, because either they're pointless lists or you are delaying action on some pretty important things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">7. Days are flying by</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And not in a good way. In a sudden realisation, alarming "where is the time going?" kind of way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">8. Weeks are flying by</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Even worse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">9. You feel a constant sense of panic & overwhelm</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I feel overwhelmed I make lists and I plan, but WHAT IF OVER-PLANNING IS THE REASON I AM FEELING OVERWHELMED? Do you know what the best antidote is for feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of all the work ahead of you? GETTING STARTED.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">10. You repeatedly push things back (and it gives you a rush of endorphins)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We're talking about that same feeling of release you get when someone cancels the plans you didn't want to get out of bed for, except what you are really doing here is self-sabotage. Setting a date and then pushing it back, and then pushing that date back, and then pushing that date back may give you a sense of relief at first, but it'll catch up to you eventually and the more times you've done it the worse it'll be.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">11. You're on your third version of the same plan</span></div>
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If you're replanning your replanned plan, chances are what you really need to do is act, because planning ain't working.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">12. You expect everything to be perfect before you start</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dumb and unproductive and the reason I was not a multi-millionaire by age 17.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">13. You expect everything to be perfect, full stop</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Dumb and unproductive and the reason I am still not a multi-millionaire at age 26.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Guess what? The best way to make something perfect is to make it badly and then fix it later, not to PLAN FOREVER</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">14. You're doing lots of things that COULD be productive, but aren't what you need to do</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We're talkin' cleaning. We're talkin' cooking. We're talkin' scrapbookin'. We're talkin' writing things that aren't the thing you need to be writing. We're talkin' arranging your instagram feed over and over until it progresses through various colours perfectly like a rainbow. We're talkin' talkin' to yourself like you're filming an imaginary youtube video. We're talkin' deciding to learn Latin. </span>We're talkin' writing New Year's content in July. </div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">15. You're watching, reading about or observing other people's productivity instead of making headway of your own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Learning from others and observing the methods of successful people is incredibly important, but the key is to remember that productivity by proxy is not real. Spending time absorbing other people's productivity isn't going to change your own situation at all unless you take action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">16. Focusing on big details and neglecting starting on smaller ones</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Think planning the narrative arc of a five volume series instead of starting on the first scene of the book you're currently meant to be writing, or knowing exactly what kind of course you want to launch in a year's time but having no content planned for your social media this week.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">17. You use needing to plan more as an excuse to put things off</span></div>
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If you're using 'not being ready' or 'I'll be better prepared later' as an excuse not to take step one, then you are over-planning as a means of procrastination. You won't ever feel 100% prepared. <span style="font-family: inherit;">Just. Get. Started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you've identified with a few (or a lot) of these points, do not despair. There's an easy solution, and in my experience that tends to be tackling a few simpler tasks in quick succession to create momentum. Write down three things you can do right now that would make your life better - whether that's putting on a load of laundry, cleaning your room, replying to an email you've been ignoring or scheduling some instagram content - and get. them. done. Don't think about it, don't give yourself a choice, just start on one and don't stop and until all three are finished. Even if none of the things you've done are your Big Ticket Tasks, you've still made a start and you can use that sense of accomplishment to tackle bigger things. Planning is important and organisation is key, but never underestimate the power of just getting started.</span></div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-50382375568054131352019-04-02T18:00:00.000+11:002019-10-20T17:36:43.928+11:00How To Get Out Of A Slump<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Buddy do I know a thing or two about resetting after a slump. Yes, that also means I know a thing or two about finding myself there in the first place, but we're focusing on the positives. After a bit of a dip during the middle part of March, I come to you today as a Slump-Free Individual, and I'm ready to spread that joy. I've previously written a post about <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2016/03/how-to-un-rut-yourself.html" target="_blank">How To Un-Rut Yourself</a></b></i>, but I consider a slump somewhat heavier than a rut. A rut is just a bit of a dip in motivation and inspiration, whereas a slump is a crash you experience with your entire being. Not necessarily a huge emotional low, but more of a consistent feeling of bleh with no appealing solution in sight. In my experience they're often accompanied (or brought on by) a general sense of overwhelm, so I've decided to be as thorough as possible here to hold your hand tight as you reemerge as the glowing and motivated blessing you were truly meant to be. Here's how to get started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">GET UP EARLY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm putting this first as though it's the easiest step, but for me it's actually the most difficult. I am an absolute night owl, but that's not always the most productive way to live. In fact, there is nothing more discouraging than sleeping through half the day. Do whatever you need to do to sort out your sleeping pattern, and make sure you're getting in enough hours to avoid feeling dead on your feet.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VsuuepY8zoCbFVAhlP2ulYQc7p2W1o_9V5xDES86WAKWZ3dXfx6i9gi00ptr1oaShK-1yO4mY45xZhovAl8iYhERVkCBg4YAap-b4f4T4J-2s7wwBST0jk-Zt89Pwgh55bwP0FnmQsE/s1600/IMG_6934.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1280" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_VsuuepY8zoCbFVAhlP2ulYQc7p2W1o_9V5xDES86WAKWZ3dXfx6i9gi00ptr1oaShK-1yO4mY45xZhovAl8iYhERVkCBg4YAap-b4f4T4J-2s7wwBST0jk-Zt89Pwgh55bwP0FnmQsE/s640/IMG_6934.JPG" width="512" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">INTRODUCE SOMETHING NEW</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This doesn't need to be anything gruelling, just a little shake up to your routine. Anything from stretching in the morning to listening to a new podcast on your commute or making a smoothie before you leave the house. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">GET OUT OF THE HOUSE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you work or study, chances are you don't really have a choice on this one, so fab work with that head start. I, however, now work from home so if I'm not careful I can go literal weeks without leaving for anything other than absolute essentials i.e. grocery shopping. Leaving the house and getting some lovely fresh air (apologies to those of you who live in London) is often a game changer in terms of sorting out a stagnant mindset.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">LISTEN TO A WORTHWHILE PODCAST</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This can mean whatever you want it to. I love The High Low for pop culture and current affairs, Goal Digger for business advice, Potterless for nostalgic wizarding fun, Nobody Panic for #relatable millennialism, Stuff You Missed In History Class for exactly what the name says and Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations for feeling like you've actually transcended the realms of mere mortality. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS JOURNAL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Never underestimate the power of a good brain dump. If you're anything like me, you're storing about nine hundred separate ideas at once in the very front compartment of your mind, and that can get a little busy. Starting off a journal entry (I find typing faster than handwriting, but you do you x) with some basic info like how you're feeling or what you want to get done today should be enough to get you going, and from there you just follow whatever tangent your stream of consciousness leads you on. Lather, rinse and repeat til ya feeling empty. In a good way.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">REARRANGE YOUR PRIMARY LIVING SPACE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Self-explanatory. Get things tidied, clean and refreshed. Cluttered space = cluttered mind. Reorganise your desk, move the furniture around in your living room or reshuffle the collection of very essential items on your bedside table. Just make sure there's a visible difference in whatever area you spend the most time, and that it's all nice and clean. Create separation between you and the slump.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">EXERCISE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Like I won't say that I hate this one, but I hate this one. I also love it once I'm doing it, but at my core I am not an active being and once I'm out of the habit it's a bad time trying to get back in. It is, however, an essential and ultimately rewarding component.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">CHANGE THE WAY YOU DO SOMETHING</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Find a specific area of your life that you're not particularly satisfied with and change the way you approach it. For example, if you feel like your social media posts are stagnant, try out a different kind of caption. If you dread your commute, leave early to bypass rush hour and spend an hour reading in a cafe. Pull out a fresh notebook and start mapping out your To Do list in a more visually appealing way. Do some meal prep. Try out a new productivity app. Sleep on the other side of the bed. Get wild.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">REVISIT AN OLD IDEA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Being a genius, I come up with heaps of fab ideas 24/7. Unfortunately, there is not always enough time or energy to follow through, so I'll make a note and move on. If you're feeling stuck, the solution can often be found in something you've already thought of, so trace back through your phone notes and saved documents until you find something that makes the little light in your brain ping on. The best part about revisiting an old idea is that some of the work has already been done for you (by past you), so there's an in-built sense of achievement from the get go.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOItZBFajf1APmsFVyQpUiCjsd7mwf97J5I_i_LYhgtiIlq6QzsPpymDOerHbuJo4-Yf2ufRjnaDksnmm71St3sD0qU8IzUEHRuL6v29vXL_Xjo6NUTcTl-lu1dsTJWyqJlHOafij7vmQ/s1600/IMG_9091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOItZBFajf1APmsFVyQpUiCjsd7mwf97J5I_i_LYhgtiIlq6QzsPpymDOerHbuJo4-Yf2ufRjnaDksnmm71St3sD0qU8IzUEHRuL6v29vXL_Xjo6NUTcTl-lu1dsTJWyqJlHOafij7vmQ/s640/IMG_9091.jpg" width="425" /></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">SET GOALS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Idk why I've put this so far down the list. Probably because I wanted to lull you into a false sense of security that you may escape my absolute vendetta of Structured Productivity. Bitch u thought wrong. If you're feeling stuck, here's my post on <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/how-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals.html" target="_blank">How to Set & Achieve Your Goals</a></b></i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">START ON ONE OF THOSE GOALS IMMEDIATELY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do it. Half the power of a slump is in the mentality that you'll get started on [insert literally anything from starting a business to getting out of bed] later. Ticking off a goal will give you an endorphin boost and set you on your merry way to success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">ADDRESS KEY AREAS TO ATTACK</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What have you let slip? What is the highest priority on your To Do list? Which changes, big or small, will make the biggest impact?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">CODDLE YOURSELF CONSCIOUSLY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This isn't all about tough love and productivity. Sometimes the best way to get out of a slump is to give yourself some conscious time out, and keeping this going on a regular basis is essential to prevent feeling drained and horrible again in a week's time. Turn your technology off and read a book or a magazine. Have a slow morning with tea and mediation. Create a comforting bedtime environment complete with scented humidifier and ambient sounds to send you off to snoozetown. Make some soup. Whatever is going to make you feel calm and taken care of, do it. This does not include procrastinating or oversleeping.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">FIND NEW INSPIRING CONTENT TO CONSUME</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can't tell you what this is because it will vary person to person, but Pinterest is a great place to start. Search literally anything and you'll find a bunch of resources, including lists of great podcasts, blogs and youtube channels you may not have found on your own.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">IDENTIFY YOUR UNPRODUCTIVE COPING MECHANISMS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Mine are sleeping and scrolling through social media xo</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">LIST THINGS YOU DO AND DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Short list, should take less than five minutes. For instance, I do have time for meditation, reading and planning out instagram captions that are not just aesthetically coherent emojis. I do not have time for watching every single person I follow's instagram story or running every move I make through a filter of "What will [literally every and any person possible] think?" or oversleeping.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">TALK TO SOMEONE HONESTLY ABOUT THE FACT YOU FEEL SHIT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Foreal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">LIST THINGS YOU'VE BEEN PUTTING OFF/THAT ARE STRESSING YOU OUT</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I say list things, I mean list everything. Write down every single thing you can think of that you want or need to get done, regardless of category or size. After you have your big list, break it down into whatever sort of structure makes most sense to you, and make sure you put the most urgent ones together. Take this list of things that are stressing you out the most or are most time-sensitive (organising paperwork, making a certain appointment, answering emails) and get these done immediately. Like right now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">CLOSE YOUR TABS & CLEAR YOUR DESKTOP CLUTTER</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">These are the kinds of digital background noise that add up to real subconscious anxiety, and you'll feel better for it. If you really must finish watching the videos you have open, save them to 'watch later'. Anything else that you feel super hesitant to close, save the URL and a little note to a word document to come back to later. Then go through your entire desktop and either delete things or organise them into folders.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">MAKE YOURSELF A SIMS CHART</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">What that is and how to make one - <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/my-productivity-tracker-sims-chart.html" target="_blank">here</a></b></i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">SERIOUSLY, JUST GET SHIT DONE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Stack the dishwasher. Fold your laundry. Set up an Etsy page. Start plotting a novel. Write a shopping list. Make yourself some coffee. Spend $70 on stationery at Officeworks. Whatever feels most manageable, just do it. The hardest part is getting started.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">FINISH YOUR IMMEDIATE TO DO LIST THEN PUT YOUR TECH AWAY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know this is a classic bandaid solution, but taking time off technology really does make a massive difference. Most of the time I'm good to be on my phone all day, but eventually I'll start to feel that subconscious tension building up and the only way to get rid of it is to disconnect. Once you have your most urgent, stress-inducing tasks sorted, just do it. Put your shit on do not disturb and read a book, do a puzzle, go for a walk, paint something, play piano, go for a drive, idk your life but just get yourself away from the internet and your phone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not healthy to be constantly available to every single person you know. Seriously, just switch your phone to airplane mode for a second right now and feel your brain decompress. Yeah. It's fucked. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tbh I would also say watching a good movie is an acceptable disconnect activity, as long as there is literally nothing else going on (so preferably on an actual TV but I know that's a big ask in The Year 2019) and your phone is away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">MAKE A VISION BOARD</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you don't know what you want or what you're aiming for, making a vision board is a great way of figuring that out. Perf tech-free activity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">BE DONE WITH DO-OVERS</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is when you start getting things done. It's not the start of another do-over. If you start out already having the mindset that you have to do everything perfectly, you're headed right back to Slump Town. The answer to having a bad week or getting behind on a project is not saying you'll start again in x amount of days and then giving yourself a free pass to wallow until then. Make the conscious decision that this is when you start building the life you want, and that messing up is just an inevitable part of that. Procrastination is self-sabotage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">PLAN THINGS TO LOOK FORWARD TO</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Momentum is the name of the game my chums, so get scheduling.</span></div>
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Let me know if you found this helpful, and keep up to d8 with my unslumping on <b><i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/madz0rs" target="_blank">twitter</a></i></b> & <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">insty</a></b></i>.<br />
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-9417546645928838102019-02-05T19:04:00.001+11:002019-08-13T19:30:52.071+10:00Land's End, Cornwall<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you, like me, often find yourself possessed by the desire to go and be moody by the sea somewhere, without the burden of having to deal with Society, then boy do I have the cliff face for you. When it came to our road trip (of which this is the final instalment, hold for tears) my one absolutely non-negotiable stop was Land's End. I'd seen photos of it, and it looked damp, moody and deserted, so naturally I was enchanted. Land's End is literally that. It is the end of the land. The most south-westerly point of England and about as far away as one can get from Other People without diving into the churning waters below. Granted there is a visitor centre (with inexplicable Wallace & Gromit theme and also a 4D movie about dinosaurs?) so there is probably a more hekkerz population density on a day less foggy than ours, but I'd be willing to bet there is still a satisfying sense of solitude to be had. It's a cliff at the edge of a country. What else do you want.</div>
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Having just had the fog-shrouded time of our lives in <b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/01/mousehole-in-fog.html" target="_blank">Mousehole</a></i></b>, followed by a tranquil, classically-scored drive through the Cornish countryside, William and I were both in a most jolly mood, and ready to change into something dry. We pulled into the hotel carpark and I was already sold. Could I see much of anything? Nah. Was I amped as hell regardless? U bet. Upon checking in, my dreams took absolute wing as we were informed that not only was there ample room service and a complimentary breakfast, but that if we did not dawdle we could be treated to my second favourite thing after oceanside solitude: a cream tea. If you are not familiar with a cream tea, it is basically just a fancy way of saying tea and scones, and bitch u bet I am massively. into. scones. When Less and I both lived in London we would buy scones, jam and clotted cream and go have sunny day scone seshes on Clapham Common. Mere days prior to the Cornwall trip I had taken myself and William to The Wolseley for some Fancy Scones and Fancy Ambiance. And here I was. On top of a foggy cliff. Being told that there was cream tea a-callin'. Mother may I.</div>
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In this case 'mother' was Will and he said yes, so off I skipped to our room for a fresh change of clothes. Emerging in my second grey jumper of the day, I was overcome by a fresh wave of exploratory joie de vivre, and suggested that we postpone the scones (did you just gasp out loud) and go for a foggy wander first. After all, it is not often that one finds oneself at the very end of a land mass. Granted, we did also hit up the most southerly point by accident the next day, but this one has a dramatic name so it's far more significant. Branding counts, even if you're a multi-million year old geological formation. (Do you have a rock that needs some good PR? <a href="http://www.madeleinemcgowan.com/" target="_blank"><b><i>Hire me to do your social media!</i></b></a>) Innywho, as I was saying, although we had seen quite a few cliffs over the preceding 48 hour period, we hadn't seen these ones yet, and I felt we should explore.</div>
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Feeling it necessary to follow a fox down a hill and all the way onto the outermost part of the cliff face, Will determined our course, and then proceeded to sprint around gaily with a complete disregard for personal safety. Walking like an adult and frequently reminding him that he was on a mossy cliff above a 60 metre drop onto rocks, I made my way much more responsibly to a picturesque sitting rock and enjoyed the view. After ensuring Will had managed to take at least one decent photo of me atop said picturesque rock. But that's really just a matter of duty and bears no reflection upon the role of technology in my life and my own ability to have good old fashioned offline fun. Speaking of which, the one gripe I will expose in relation to this otherwise splendid refuge from Everything is that the wifi and 4G were abysmal. Yes, it is at the absolute edge of the country, but come on now. It is the Year of Our Lord 2019. And he would want us to have a crisp connection. In any case we frolicked and rock sat for probs about an hour before calling it a very long day and ascending in the direction from whence we had come.</div>
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It started raining as we walked around the hotel, which made little to no difference considering we were already in a literal cloud, so we braved the onslaught of tiny, tiny droplets and wandered over to the Classic Tourist Sign. Gotta do it. Also turns out John O'Groats is the most northeasterly point of the UK, not a mean historical nickname for some guy with an unfortunate affliction<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white;">Ã </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>l</span>a Piero 'The Gouty' de' Medici. The more u know. Even damper than when we had arrived but with a grand sense of satisfaction and adventure despite having ventured less than 500m from the hotel, the moment had finally arrived. It was scone time. Settled in the corner of the hotel's restaurant, we were presented with a Platter of Absolute Joy and a pot of piping hot tea. Why is it called 'piping' hot? Is it to do with the sound Ye Olde Kettles make when they've boiled? I'm not going to google it so I guess we'll never know, but regardless it was an exceedingly Hygge-fied situation. Staring out into the absolute nothingness, I probably pondered several intricacies of life, for instance whether or not this would be how things would look if the Truman show set malfunctioned, and other similarly introspective matters. The main event was obviously the scones, with which I felt doubly justified in rewarding myself after the afternoon's gallivanting. I believe Will only had a bite or two as he was feeling quite full after his Mousehole Special onion ft. onion pasty, but he still managed to spill tea all over the table, so I suppose we both had our fun.</div>
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After an evening of Lush baths, room service and Lord of the Rings, we slept the sleeps of intrepid adventurers and woke up the next morning not to an expanse of endless white, but blue skies and lilac clouds. Terrified that the fog would somehow rematerialise before we had the chance to actually take in the the much-anticipated visual spectacle that is the End of the Land, because my grasp on weather is calibrated to the Melbourne norms of Three Weathers At Once, I got ready with GREAT HASTE and ushered Will out into the crisp morning air.</div>
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It was a bit before 9am and we headed back down to the same spot we were the day before but this time, sans-fog, there was a whole lot more to look at. I'm not saying I necessarily want to move to a remove cliff face, but I do think that if I had a nice, modern house with a desk facing this specific view I would live a much more productive life and have significantly lower blood pressure. That's a lie, my doctor says my blood pressure is perfect ;););) but I'm sure there would be other zen-related benefits. Built-in soothing ocean noise sleep sound effects, for one.</div>
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The photos from Land's End are some of my favourites to look back on/post on <i><b><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">instagram</a></b></i>/set as my phone background but, despite being truly magical and incredibly pleasant to gaze upon, they don't do justice to the actual scale of things. These rock formations were MASSIVE and the drop down to the water was a lot further than it looks which, paired with the complete absence of other people, created quite an isolating kind of vibe but in the best possible way. Despite being pretty damn dark, the water is also insanely clear, and I'm obsessed with thinking about what kind of oceanlife shenanigans could be going on out there. Seeing as it's off the coast of the UK probably nm, maybe a basking shark and some lobsters, but my imagination is limitless s0o0o0ohoho don't kill my vibe. </div>
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There is SO much both in Land's End and Cornwall in general that we didn't have time to see and I'm determined to go back. I think Land's End is a perf base to explore from, because although it isn't smack bang in the middle of things it's still within easy driving distance of a lot of places, and at the end of a day spent in more populated tourist towns it's nice to retreat somewhere a bit more chilled out. I think I'd like to do a longer trip next time and base myself there for a day or two; hang out at the picnic tables, get some writing done, eat more scones. Had we not needed to drive the whole way back to London that day I'm sure we would have liked to sit and bask in the expansive wonder of Mother Nature's Majesty for a while longer, but there were things to do and motorways to traverse, so we said farewell to the ambient crashing of waves and headed back inside for breakfast. Where Will spilt coffee all over the table. Keep that brand strong, babe.</div>
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On our way back to London we made a few stops - one in Lizard, one in Bibury and one at motorway services for a Burger King - but for the most part it was a day of driving, podcasts and drive through Starbucks. Next time I'm back in the UK I want to spend a week or so going around either the Lake District or the Scottish Highlands, but I'm sure eventually we'll make it back to Cornwall. For now I'm compiling a Pinterest board of places to go a bit closer to home (and readjusting to the fact that 'home' is no longer London, but that's a discussion for another post), and you can catch up on the rest of the roadtrip below. x0x0<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/09/a-detour-to-lacock.html" target="_blank">Lacock</a></i></b></div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/11/a-night-in-tintagel.html" target="_blank">Tintagel</a></i></b></div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/01/port-isaac-st-ives.html" target="_blank">Port Isaac & St. Ives</a></i></b></div>
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<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/01/mousehole-in-fog.html" target="_blank">Mousehole</a></i></b><br />
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-69604061863846528982019-01-22T18:00:00.000+11:002019-08-13T19:29:10.622+10:00Mousehole in the Fog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The seaside town of Mousehole was a detour that almost never happened, but it ended up being a defining point in the weekend and completely solidifying the overall sense of quaintness, cosiness and happy self-containment I now associate with the trip. It had been on our original itinerary, along with Penzance, but after the day's <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2019/01/port-isaac-st-ives.html" target="_blank">earlier stops</a></b></i> we were tired, slightly damp and ready to get to our hotel in Land's End, so we decided to clear the schedule and just drive straight there. The fog that had started creeping towards the shore while we were in St. Ives was now absolutely everywhere and, despite the fact we were driving along a route that was completely inland, the roads and the thick greenery bordering them were still absolutely blanketed. I think it was the fog that put us back in the mood for exploration, because somewhere in the middle of what I can only assume was a small forest, we saw an appropriately quaint wooden sign marking the turn off for Mousehole, chucked a very sharp u-turn at the last minute and headed there after all. Fantastic decision.<br />
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If you've been around here for more than five minutes you should be well aware that I am obsessed with precipitation. Thunderstorms are the source of all my power, snow makes me so excited that my heart threatens to leap from my body in order to make tiny bloody snow angels and half the reason I liked Twilight was because it rained the entire time. Other half was because I was fifteen and Edward sounded hot, but even that was only improved upon by the idea of constant storms. #Hygge. According to my recent googling, fog is not precipitation but rather part of a category called 'suspensions', but turns out I like those too because after this trip fog has become my third favourite kind of weather. </div>
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Driving along the tiny, winding road towards Mousehole, the fog we'd seen starting to form in St. Ives was now out in full force. We could see the fishing huts and street signs and the occasional other car within a few metres of ours, but on the side where the ocean was supposed to be there was nothing. A white void, with no distinguishing features, imperfections or breaks. Just white. Eventually the road veered towards the whiteness, we emerged into the village itself and I was captivated. First of all, rarely does on encounter a setting so overwhelmingly quaint, and secondly, the fog was so thick we could barely see the edge of the spot we'd parked in. Where there should have been water, there was white. Up every street, there was white. Above and around us in every direction there was white, and the edges of the village faded out. There was something vaguely apocalyptic about it all, but after the tourist rush of St. Ives, the contrasting stillness was comforting. It was mid-afternoon, despite the lack of sun it wasn't too cold, and there were just enough people around to stop us from feeling too conspicuous.</div>
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As a last minute addition, there was nothing on our itinerary for Mousehole and no sense of urgency or obligation. The fact we'd made it at all felt like enough of an accomplishment, so we took our time and just walked around. We walked along the main street, staring out at the boats and seaweed disappearing into nothing. The occasional car would pass, and we'd overhear the odd snippet of conversation when we got close enough to any of the few other people still wanting to be out by the invisible seaside, but fog has a way of creating a silence and a stillness. Whether it's some sort of natural soundproofing or if the etherealness of it all just makes people want to shut up a bit, everybody seemed calm and quiet, and once we were out of sight it was easy to imagine we were the only ones there.</div>
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We spent 40 minutes or so walking up and down the little streets, saying hello to cats and commenting repeatedly on the fog, as one does with any sort of slightly abnormal weather. Still there. Still wet. Still white. The stillness and silence meant that once we were off the main road and couldn't see anyone, it felt a bit like a ghost town. I couldn't process that there might be anyone inside any of the houses, or that it was a functional day-to-day place where people lived and carried on with their lives because the only frame of reference I had was this eerily subdued day when half the town was invisible. If I were to go back on a sunny day and see boats on the water and groups of people hanging around I think I would be shaken to the core. In my mind Mousehole is an almost mythical place where everything stands still and you can't see the end of the street. Where no one exists if you don't want them to and the whole town is there just for you to explore. I think I'd like it to stay that way.</div>
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Satisfied with our exploring, we decided to call it a day and head back to the barely visible carpark, but not before Will had procured himself an authentic Cornish pasty. "Cornish Pixies?!" I believe I would have said, several times under my breath in a spot on Seamus Finnigan accent. But yes, a Cornish pasty had been on the agenda all day and as this was likely to be the last bakery we'd see, the time had arrived. Pasty in hand, absolutely exhausted and slightly damp from walking through a literal cloud, we plopped back into the car and did a big ol' exhale. Will, upon biting eagerly into the aforementioned pasty, had discovered it was not in fact 'vegetable and cheese' like the woman had said, but something more along the lines of 'onion and onion', but that did not deter him. It should have, but he is almost half as stubborn as I am, which is saying a LOT, so he persevered. I stole a nice chunk of onionless crust, which I will say was delish, and loaded the map to Land's End.</div>
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Gearing up for the slow drive out of Mousehole, neither of us had the energy to resume our #1 roadtrip pastime of Arguing Over Music, so I put on what we'd discovered was the only safe compromise - BBC Classic FM. Immediately, this decision paid off as the announcer introduced a movement from Holst's 'The Planets' and the atmosphere intensified by 1000. The first few notes rang out as we drove up a little hill out of the town, the beach cottages giving way to vine-covered houses as the level of greenery intensified along with the music. As it finally started to rain, The Planets ended and the Lord of the Rings soundtrack kicked in; let me tell you, nothing quite compares to sitting exhausted in a warm car and driving down a foggy road completely engulfed by trees, with an elven battle theme blasting at full volume. What a life.</div>
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It was still only afternoon and our day was far from over, but there was a half hour drive in front of us before we reached Land's End, so we settled in and enjoyed the storm. I say this as the person who was not driving and could just sit in a comfortable ball, staring out the window, but I know for a fact that William also found this portion of the journey equally magical. He likes Lord of the Rings a lot more than I do, so that probably helped. Land's End is a tale for another day, so this is where I'll leave you for now, but my final note (aside from the fact I'm looking at non-fog Mousehole right now on google and it is UNRECOGNISABLE) is that I took the last photo of this post out the window of a moving vehicle, and it ended up being one of my favourite pictures of the trip. When I look at it I can hear The Planets blaring out, and it brings back the exact feeling I had after our detour to Mousehole. We almost didn't go, but the weekend wouldn't have been the same without it.</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-27942728732420874852019-01-14T18:00:00.000+11:002019-01-14T18:00:07.296+11:00I'm 26! Now what.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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GOOD RIDDANCE, 2018. THANK U FOR BEING DONE. Additionally, a merry happy birthday to ME! Having been 26 for a day under two weeks, I can now confirm that the age of 25 is indeed cursed and I am very glad to have freed myself of its burden. This year has begun in a manner completely contrasting the ominous shambles of the last, and I am attributing that to a) me not accidentally sleeping through midnight on New Year's Eve and cursing the entire year b) no more 25 and c) my ample planning. In celebration of both our birthdays (in the words of my friend Ruby, that's a lotta Capricorn for one relaish) Will and I checked into a hotel on the 1st, and spent the next few days lounging on the balcony, watching movies and generally basking in the fresh possibility of a new year. To solidify the positive momentum and start how I mean to go on (aka fleeing at a moment's notice, as is my true nature) I headed from the hotel to the airport and popped up to Sydney for the weekend to see my friend Jonny and receive my birthday presents from Fiona. My flight back from Sydney was the only one that night not cancelled due to lightning, so I guess you could say that all up, the universe hath signalled that this year is to be a blessed one. </div>
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Despite my overarching attitude of Good Riddance, 2018 was not a complete waste of a year, and I feel it's probably healthy to acknowledge that. In my personal life it was the first full year Will and I lived together, we spent a solid chunk of time overseas and I feel as though I used that time well. There are a lot of London-centric posts to come that I did the (literal) legwork for whilst we were there, and I feel my instagram game (slash photography in general) has improved over the last year. Professionally, after a rocky start to the year I developed the branding for my own business, made myself a<i><b> <a href="http://www.madeleinemcgowan.com/" target="_blank">website</a></b></i> and then repeated the entire process for my first freelance client. In the middle ground between personal and professional, possibly the most significant achievement of 2018 was the fact that I developed a functional structure to plan my life around. I set clear goals, learnt new methods of productivity and created the framework for everything I'm working on moving forward. I also saw Hamilton in the West End for a second time, which anyone who has ever tried to get tickets will agree is an achievement in itself. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">DISCIPLINE - INTUITION - CONSISTENCY</span><br />
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Those are the three keywords I've chosen to base 2019 around. They're pretty self explanatory, but setting those intentions from the start gives me something to circle back to when I lose my sense of grounding, and gives me a clear focus for the tone of my year. Discipline and consistency go hand in hand, and despite genuinely believing they are the absolute key to success in any area, they're things I historically struggle quite a lot with. I'm pretty up and down when it comes to being really on the ball, and I want to put energy into breaking that habit. Intuition is an easier one, because going with my gut is usually what I'm best at. Howevz, in 2018 I got too stuck inside my own head to really tune in to what my intuition was telling me, especially re: my bigger goals, and I'm ready to flip that back. In addition to my keywords, towards the very end of last year there were two quotes that stood out to me, and I'm keeping those front and centre moving forward as well.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"What's past is prologue."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>"There's no use in climbing the ladder if you're on completely the wrong wall."</i></span><br />
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The first is from The Tempest and the second from Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, but they are equally poignant.<br />
I even googled 'ladder tattoos' last night when I was feeling <span style="font-family: inherit;">risqu<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; text-align: left;">é</span></span> but they were all ugly so we're not going there. For now.<br />
God I love Colin Firth. On to my resolutions.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">RESOLUTIONS</span><br />
<i>Separate to my goals, these are mainly long term mindset or habit-based changes that will lead to an overall shift in how I operate as a person. I go for things I can't fail by slipping up and missing a week, only by giving up. Several of these also support or facilitate my goals.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Take care of my health</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bought an exercise bike so we're off to a strong start. Tough Mudder here I come jk just trying to not have a heart attack.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Prioritise maintaining a healthy sleep schedule</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is my resolution every frickin year and I never manage it because I'm 100% sure my body is naturally nocturnal but if I'm going to achieve the majority of my goals I'm going to need to be awake and productive during the daytime hours so tough titties, me. Wake up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Write every day & track my overall word count</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My school of thought here is that the more I write the easier it will be, and a lot of my overall goals + my actual job require a solid amount of writing so I might as well aim to make it consistent and measurable. This includes everything from blog posts to journaling and my novel. Currently tracking this with a graph in a notebook, month by month.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Listen to and act upon my intuition</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every prominent, positive change in my life has been based on my intuition and I am ready 4 some universe magic in 2k19.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Stay accountable; be strict and disciplined with my schedule</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I don't follow through with my plans I am primarily disappointing my favourite person aka me, so it's really not constructive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I anticipate this and the sleeping to be my biggest hurdles and good god are they intertwined.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Continue reading</b></span><br />
I was a huge reader when I was younger but I got massively out of practice and never made time for it as an adult. Last year I forced myself to get back into it, remembered why I love it so much and ended up reading 43 books, so this year I'm aiming for 50.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Take time off screens regularly</b></span><br />
This is such a generic one but I am 100% addicted to pointlessly staring at technology and it is stealing my entire life.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Write for personal enjoyment</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since so much of my writing is productivity-based, I want to make sure I also write for fun, without having to think about a deadline or an audience. Hopefully I'll share a bit more personal creative writing on here as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Nurture my relationships and be more social</b></span><br />
I straight up did not leave my house for half of last year so this is an important one to factor in.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Create a home</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Amped to move into a new apartment with Will and furnish it and have a place for all of my coffee table books. Also finally acquire my long awaited IKEA Strandmon Wing Chair in Nordvalla Dark Grey. Mamma's comin' and she's got the perfect throw blanket for ya.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Figure out what motivates me and use it</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Something I used to be very in tune with, but less so after last year. Also a lot of what I used to be motivated by was trying to make certain people love me and now I am in a serious long term relationship so that has been snatched from me thanks a LOT WILL</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Make 'productive' a core part of my identity</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel as though I naturally am a very driven, productive person, but I also have some pretty heavy concentration issues, so alongside just being more disciplined and structured I'm also going to a psychologist to figure out what the deal is with my ADD situation and how I can master it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Create more</b></span><br />
This doesn't necessarily mean to work more, just to create more things that I can tangibly look at and feel proud of, whether that's music, writing, videos, scrapbooks, painting or any other fab hobby I decide to pick up this year. Just make things instead of thinking about making them.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">GOALS</span><br />
<i>Some overlap with resolutions, but they're separate categories in my mind.</i><br />
<i>I have smaller goals for each quarter and month of the year, but this is my overall 'To Do' list for 2019.</i></div>
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1. Move into a new apartment with Will</div>
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2. Reestablish my strong sense of self</div>
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3. Be disciplined and productive</div>
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4. Finish 10+ songs completely<br />
5. Share my music properly online<br />
6. Share my projects and writing<br />
7. Transform my health & lifestyle<br />
8. Finish writing my book<br />
9. Blog & YouTube consistently<br />
10. Make a strong income independently<br />
11. Transform my core daily habits<br />
12. Write 100k words all up<br />
13. Achieve enough to not freak out about turning 27 next year<br />
14. Create at least two streams of income</div>
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I reassess my goals constantly, and there are always new things I want to incorporate or focus on at a particular point in time, but those are the things that I want to have done by this time next year. I made rough outlines of a 3, 5 and 10 year plan last week, and I've my goals for this year are all in line with those. I'm thinking of doing an update post on my various schemes every month or so, but for now I'm working on getting everything off the ground at a sustainable pace and forcing myself into a healthy routine without the helping hand/iron fist of a 9-5 office job to do it for me. Another one of my plans is to have a new post up here every Tuesday, so I shall see you back here then. For now, holler at me with your own resolutions/opinions on which shambolic areas of my life you think I have failed to address, either here or on <i><b><a href="http://www.twitter.com/madz0rs" target="_blank">twitter</a></b></i>.</div>
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Jolly 2k19, let's r0ck. x0x0</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-10970299884177390072019-01-09T02:55:00.000+11:002019-04-15T01:01:41.571+10:00Port Isaac & St Ives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnCbraUym00LTiyRVbx7PU2IKp8A0vah5XIEJpruiss94fgTuKMf8k2214EW3hEACa3rpWZ9_RyUF9FMhTklWNXf-b80n8jAxrHQMWxHqDTeDXEbsddSYAKf5jTfEn32DyQnN6OVO_3g/s1600/PortIsaac1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcnCbraUym00LTiyRVbx7PU2IKp8A0vah5XIEJpruiss94fgTuKMf8k2214EW3hEACa3rpWZ9_RyUF9FMhTklWNXf-b80n8jAxrHQMWxHqDTeDXEbsddSYAKf5jTfEn32DyQnN6OVO_3g/s1600/PortIsaac1.jpg" /></a></div>
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Yoohoo! As per every time I actually remember to write one of these posts, it is currently raining outside. Said rain inspired me to post a photo from Land's End on my <b><i><a href="http://www.instagram.com/socialscheming" target="_blank">business instagram</a></i></b> and that, in turn, reminded me to shoot on over here and get. this. post. done.</div>
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If you've not yet caught up, I've already posted twice about stops along the way in <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/09/a-detour-to-lacock.html" target="_blank">Lacock</a></b></i> and <i><b><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/11/a-night-in-tintagel.html" target="_blank">Tintagel</a></b></i>.</div>
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I've been stuck on this post for over a month now because although there are a lot of very enjoyable pictures for these portions of our jaunt, I don't have a huge amount to say about it. There are only so many observations one can make about driving, regardless of how pleasant the scenery may be, and although both Port Isaac and St. Ives were v pretty and enjoyable to experience, nothing super remarkable happened whilst we were there. As such, this is going to be a very photo-heavy post, but I think that's better than writing a bunch for the sake of it and dragging both of us through an essay's worth of unnecessary rambling. However, that is not to say that I didn't enjoy this portion of the trip.</div>
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After waking up in Tintagel and having a leisurely breakfast ft. perhaps too many refills on the complimentary coffee front, we took in the view (and some pics of the hotel's very expressive resident horse) one last time and then bundled into the car, setting off towards our first planned stop of the day. Prior to actually embarking upon the road trip I'd done a bit of googling and decided that Port Isaac would make a good stop, if only for the view of the harbour from above. I hadn't budgeted that we'd spend particularly long there, but plans change. We'd intended to just hop out of the car, wander a few metres around the coastal path to get a view of the harbour and then be on our way, but those few metres turned into a few hundred and we eventually made it the whole way down onto the boat ramp. I will say the town looks better from above than from within its midst, but that's not really saying much because the view in these photos is one I'm still completely obsessed with to this day, four months later. The perfect frickin houses. The rolling hills. Look at the colour of that water. Stop.<br />
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I would theorise that Port Isaac is singlehandedly responsible for ushering in my sudden, unprecedented affection for deep, nature-based green tones. I've never been a huge lover of verdant imagery; I could appreciate it in front of my living eyes yes, but never seemed to like how it translated photographically. Until now. And you are damn right I was going to work these badboys into my instagram feed if it was the last thing I did. The way the houses below followed the road in a snakey zigzag up the hillside is still one of the most bloody charming things I've ever seen, the overall colour palette of the entire town was on point and as we walked down the main road (only road? as I have mentioned and will continue to do in each of these posts, the countryside doth bewilder me) one could only have describe me as li-ving 4 tha viewz. I don't descend a gentle slope if I don't think whatever lies ahead outweighs the inconvenience of inevitably having to walk back up, and buddy boy did I willingly descend. I descended as far as one possibly could without physically submerging oneself in the harbour and digging a subaquatic trench, and then I walked the WHOLE way back to the car like a HERO, taking approx one million pics in the process each way.</div>
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Primarily as a means of breaking up the drive from Port Isaac to St. Ives, we made a slight detour to Newquay. Would I have preferred Will relent and allow me to visit the town with a Witch Museum? Yes. Could we be bothered actually making the effort to see the actual town or beachy part of Newquay? No. But did we find something very aesthetically pleasing regardless? U bet. Thanks to the Magic of Instagram, I was able to locate this tiny Mamma Mia film set*, around which we stretched our legs and looked wearily out to sea. We did contemplate whether we should suck it up and drive into town, but we were starting to feel ready for lunch and the weather was starting to get a tad moodier so we took in a bit more of Ye Olde View, walked back down what can only be described as literally the steepest hill of all time and jumped back in the car.</div>
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*Not actually used in filming of Mamma Mia but would suit my personal tribute performance needs</div>
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Our journey through the countryside was punctuated by the presence of a tattoo convention, which I had to tell Will it would not be appropriate to work into the itinerary, followed by a very eyecatching sign advertising an attraction by the name of 'Cornish Birds of Prey' which, despite being far more tempting, met the same fate. Deny me my witch museum at your own peril. Tat & falcon loss was soon forgotten, however, because the views as we drove into St. Ives were spectakkerz. There's a pretty steep drop leading down to the coast, so from the higher ground where the road was we could see the whole way down to the sea. I'd heard it was a rawther picturesque little town, popular with holiday makers and fans of apricot-based facial scrubs alike, so my hopes were high. We pulled into a carpark adjacent to Scenic Clifftop Cemetery no.2 of the trip, and began our descent through various stairwells and side streets in search of quaintness and food.</div>
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My primary impression of St. Ives was 'busy'. So many people. And I don't know about you, but when I am meandering jollily through seaside towns, I don't want to have to be implementing a London-level people weave. That is not to say that it was unenjoyable, just that I was not expecting quite the population density with which we were met. Definitely - like Port Isaac - more of a pit stop than a main event, although I've heard there is actually a fair amount to do, so we may pop back in during a quieter season when there are fewer scuttling children. Putting them and their respective owners to one side, it was v cute. Lots of little nooks and crannies and eccentrically painted gates and flower pots strewn all over the place. A positive haven of photo ops. Being partially obscured by the masses of people but ANYWAY. We found our way down to the lowest point, and made an absolute bolt for the first relatively empty looking restaurant we could find. This turned out to be an incredibly acceptable Italian joint 'pon the shore, where I had a lovely carbonara and we watched the fog rolling in across the sand.</div>
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One thing I must say about England is that the tide goes out a bizarrely long way. In Australia and also every other beach-having locale I have frequented in my 26 years on this planet (it was my bday on Jan 2nd, I will accept well-wishes til Feb), the tide goes out by maybe a couple of metres. In JOLLY OLD ENGLAND, they apparently have not yet discovered frickin drop offs, so their sea floor extends at the same damn level for MILES. Meaning the tide goes out for MILES. Maybe not literally miles, but a LONG. ASS. WAY. Innywho, I very much enjoyed observing the fog drift forth across said impracticle expanse of shore, and suggested we amplify this cosiness with a post-meal coffee. I did not know what we were in for. I will present to you a v condensed version, but I need you to understand that these events transpired over a 10+ minute period. </div>
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So we popped into some little white hut-looking thing, claiming to identify itself as a coffee house, but which I would become convinced must be a front for some sort of psychological research facility. Upon entering, we encountered about 3 or 4 people sitting and waiting, and one man standing at the counter, talking to the barista. This man clearly thought he knew a hell of a lot about coffee, and was trying his very hardest to impress this barista, who was not having it because HE knew the most about coffee. Ever. He would subtly undermine each statement made by Sad Man, whilst slowly brewing the most time-consuming singular cup of coffee I have ever encountered. We are talking milligram by milligram attention to detail, may as well have been holding a magnifying glass and consulting star charts level intricate. I, about 4 minutes in, am thinking I have had many good coffees in my life, and none of them were this high maintenance, but whatever. We'll wait and see. Both of these men continue trying to outdo each other, whilst the barista slowly pours water, teaspoon by teaspoon, into a single-serve conical coffee filter. At this point I feel it is necessary to mention this place offers only espressos and flat whites; no cappuccinos or lattes or other equally fanciful abominations. Oh no. Can not be having that in this Mecca of Beans. Anyway. A literal full seven to eight minutes into shit banter and constant pouring, Will is waiting to be even remotely acknowledged by the barista, and I have witnessed multiple potential customers enter, observe and leave. I have decided we must be being Punk'd and sit myself down on a wicker chair to tweet. Tweets were as follows:</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2.34pm:</b> We are in some pretentious coffee hut in Cornwall and the man has been making one coffee for 5+ minutes he is literally weighing it and measuring it grain by grain I am dying they don't even make cappuccinos</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2.36pm:</b> There's another guy talking to him very seriously about beans like it's life or death and I am just chortling in a corner while Will waits for some MAGIC TO HAPPEN! Once the dude has finished this one ten minute coffee.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2.37pm:</b> There is such a long line and he's still on the one cup this has to be a social experiment</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>2.43pm:</b> We are free. Had a sip of Will's and it tastes like olives.</span></div>
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So many questions. Why did he deem William's double espresso unworthy of the full quarter hour treatment? We will likely never know, but one thing of which I am absolutely certain is that that coffee did, 100%, absolutely taste of olives. Picking up a Pauper's Cappuccino for me at a normal cafe two shops down (which did not at all taste of antipasto) and listening to Will mutter the correct pronunciation of 'Tintagel' to himself repeatedly whilst he thought I couldn't hear him on his way to the bin, we began our ascent back to the clifftop cemetery carpark. By the time we left St. Ives the fog was rolling in, not just over the ocean but through the countryside, and we were ready to hit the hotel and call it a day.</div>
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OR WERE WE.</div>
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Find out next time on CORNWALL ROADTRIP: A VERY LATE RECAP x0</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-78743670833314864552018-12-22T20:37:00.000+11:002019-08-13T19:29:00.390+10:0013 Things To Do Before 2019<div style="text-align: center;">
It's the most wonderful time of the year, and for once I am not referring to Christmas. Yes, while the majority of you are likely to be justifiably ensconced in a Yuletide fog, I am busy prepping for Game Time a.k.a. January 1st. Take my borderline-pathological love of symbolic fresh starts (new moons, new months, Mondays) and add the fact that my birthday is on January 2nd, and you've got a HIGH PRESSURE, HIGH OPPORTUNITY STORM ON YA HANDS. Given how much of a colossal disaster the majority of 2018 has been, following an unprecedented missed-midnight/lack of resolutions NYE doom combo, I am determined that 2019 not follow suit, and here is what I'm doing to prepare.<br />
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Brain-dump Journaling</span></span></div>
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This is something I've tried and failed to do all year, because I was trying to do it by hand. Rookie mistake tbh because I just ended up getting frustrated that my handwriting couldn't keep up with my brain. Having switched to a digital format I've found my typing is much more in line with my brain speed, and am actually starting to find the process cathartic and helpful. I would suggest starting off just rambling about whatever is in your brain, and try to eventually steer things in a more introspective, constructive direction. Even if you don't end up having any significant breakthroughs, just getting things out of your brain and onto paper/screen will clear out space for new ideas and a fresh mindset.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-large;">Clean/Tidy/Organise</span><br />
As a firm believer in the superstition of starting a new year how you mean to go on (as mentioned, last year I was jetlagged and accidentally slept through midnight for the first time in my life and 2018 has been an absolute shit show so try and tell me I'm wrong), I think having a clean, tidy and organised space by December 31st is vital. Even if it just gets messed up again a week later, the symbolic start still applies.<br />
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Make Many Lists</span></span></div>
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Resolutions</div>
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Goals - several tiers worth (post on those <b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/how-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals.html" target="_blank">here</a></i></b>)</div>
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Things/people/habits to leave behind (I burn this list before midnight, it's very therapeutic)</div>
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Things essential to your happiness (example of my own <b><i><a href="https://www.maddimcgowan.com/2017/02/down-time.html" target="_blank">here</a></i></b>)</div>
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Things you achieved in 2018, no matter how big or small<br />
Sources of inspiration (this one is new for me but I feel it's going to be very important)</div>
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Start Important Resolutions Now</span></span></div>
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It's all fab investing in January 1st as a fresh start, but if there's something you can start now then do it. Starting early gives you extra time to start creating a habit you can actually stick to, and prevents you from accidentally using the new year as an excuse to procrastinate.</div>
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Make A Game Plan for January</span></span></div>
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I have gone in hard with my January plan, because that's just what I do, but you don't need to break things down super intensely if that's not how you function. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere January is notoriously depressing, so it's advisable to at least have a few things to look forward to, and regardless of weather it's important to have some sort of plan for how you'll keep up with your resolutions & goals and start the year off as productively as possible. At the least I'd recommend having a list of achievable goals for the month and two or three specific days or events to look forward to. I've also scheduled one or two times throughout the month to check in on my progress.</div>
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Tie Up Loose Ends</span></div>
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This can be wrapping up something that's dragged on at work, having a necessary closure chat with an ex or just finishing a creative project that's been kicking around half done for ages. Whatever it is that you feel shouldn't be carried over into 2019, deal with it now.</div>
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Make An Astrology Chart</span></span></div>
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If you're not into astrology, obviously disregard. If you ARE, get yaself some paper and start googling. Note down all the retrogrades, eclipses and moons of 2019 and form them into whatever sort of chart/list/diagram/calendar makes most sense to you. I will have breakdowns of each significant astrological event going up on my <b><i><a href="http://www.instagram.com/maddimcgowan" target="_blank">instagram</a></i></b> story as they happen throughout the year (including a couple of overview ones in the next week), but now is a good time to create some sort of overall view of the year's astrological structure.</div>
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Take Time Alone</span></div>
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Being by yourself, whether you're an introvert or an extrovert, is important in terms of allowing yourself time to re-centre before you start the new year. Even if you get your energy from being around people, constant company is a distraction, so make some time to consciously step away, have a bath, meditate, go for a walk, read a book - whatever it is that makes you feel centred and clear, so you can check in with yourself, your goals and what it is that you really want to create in the coming year. If you're bad at winding down, I have a post with some handy hints <b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/05/how-to-wind-down.html" target="_blank">here</a></i></b>.</div>
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Take Stock</span></div>
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Go over any goals, resolutions or intentions you set for 2018 and honestly assess how they went. Honestly reflect on which areas of your life went well, which fell behind/need some extra attention moving forward and which just aren't a priority to you anymore. As the aim here is to learn from both successes & shortcomings and use that information to improve, a certain level of detachment is necessary.</div>
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Start Reading</span></div>
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This is where I non-humble brag about having read 42 books so far in 2018 without it even being a goal of mine to do so, and then smoothly segue into an actual point. What I'm talking about here is not to just start reading in general (although that is also advisable), but to invest in a specific genre of reading material. Get your brain into gear by starting a new self-improvement/productivity/motivation/etc. book, and take notes. I keep my notes organised on Evernote so that I can refer back to them and actually apply the advice and tactics I've read about, rather than forgetting about them once I've finished the book.<br />
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Make A Vision Board</span><br />
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I have multiple blog posts (linked below) about my own kind of vision/inspiration/motivation boards, but I think 2019 is the year I finally make a traditional visual representation of what I want to manifest into my life. If nothing else it's a powerful psychological tool because it forces you to acknowledge what it is that you want out of life, and figure out how all those things work together to create a coherent whole.<br />
Worst case scenario, you did some crafts. Best case scenario, literal magic.</div>
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Revisit Any Notes From 2018</span></div>
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Whether this is journaling, blog posts, phone notes, highlighted sections of self-help books or any other sort of writing you did throughout the year, go back through it and make a note of anything that jumps out at you. These could be intentions you set and forgot about, tips or tactics you found interesting but never applied or just a sentence you wrote down amidst a bunch of other nonsense that really hits home. Collect these somewhere you can refer back to (for real Evernote if u want to #spon me I am ready), and close the book on 2018 knowing you've got all the important messages you need to take with you in one place.</div>
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Figure Out What Motivates You</span><br />
This one I have very little advice on, because it differs enormously from person to person, but the key to actually following through on the goals you set is understanding what motivates you and using that to propel yourself forward. Consistency is something I struggle with (as you will be aware, as a reader of this blog) and that often comes down to me just losing track of my motivation. This year I'm going to identify what it is that switches my brain into gear, and figure out how to channel that into consistent productivity. Prayers welcome.<br />
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<i>These are the things I'll be working on over the next week and a half, but I've done a LOT of self-improvement/lifestyle/get your shit together posts in the past, the most New Year-y of which I've conveniently linked below. x0x0</i><br />
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New Year-Friendly Blog Posts</span><br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/how-to-set-and-achieve-your-goals.html" target="_blank">How To: Set & Achieve Your Goals</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/07/my-productivity-tracker-sims-chart.html" target="_blank">My Productivity Tracker - The Sims Chart</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2017/05/detox-your-life-in-10-steps.html" target="_blank">Detox Your Life In 10 Steps</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2017/05/trick-yourself-productive.html" target="_blank">Trick Yourself Productive</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2016/03/how-to-un-rut-yourself.html" target="_blank">How To: Un-Rut Yourself</a><br /><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2014/09/my-vision-board.html" target="_blank">My Vision Board</a> (<a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/02/visionary-updates.html" target="_blank">Second VB Post</a>, <a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/04/my-new-vision-board.html" target="_blank">Third VB Post</a>)</i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2016/01/kickstart-your-life.html" target="_blank">Kickstart Your Life In A Month</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/12/plan-your-own-life.html" target="_blank">Plan Your Own Life</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/12/how-to-start-getting-fit.html" target="_blank">How To: Start Getting Fit</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/12/purge-your-wardrobe-in-10-steps.html" target="_blank">Purge Your Wardrobe In 10 Steps</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/12/8-signs-you-should-give-up-on-friendship.html" target="_blank">8 Signs You Should Give Up On A Friendship</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/06/how-to-be-morning-person.html" target="_blank">How To: Be A Morning Person</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2015/05/how-to-wind-down.html" target="_blank">How To: Wind Down</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2017/06/the-importance-of-clean-environment.html" target="_blank">The Importance of a Clean Environment</a></i></b><br />
<b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2016/10/how-to-combat-writers-block.html" target="_blank">How To: Combat Writer's Block</a></i></b></div>
Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-82152544890873055422018-11-12T21:49:00.000+11:002019-04-15T01:02:00.336+10:00A Night In Tintagel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many bonjours and welcome to the first proper stop on our roadtrip through Cornwall. Not to get you so excited that you literally do not sleep until this series is complete (v unadvisable, particularly given my proclivity for disappearance), but this merry little sojourn is possibly the best thing Will and I have done in the 15+ months since he finally convinced me to date him. High key suspect it will stay that way until either 1. we embark upon another similar but longer trip where I get even more fab instagram material or 2. he finally relents and allows me to become the phenomenal Mommy Blogger I was born to be. Given that we are in no financial position to support an infant at present, and there is no point in taking another road trip until I've finished posting about this one, I figured it was probably time I filled you in on the Many Joys of Cornwall.</div>
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The planning for this trip took place over a series of spreadsheets. Love a spreadsheet. And never is it more important to budget one's time than on a R O A D T R I P. Destinations. Broken down by day. Adding columns for travel time. Factoring in activities. Adjusting accordingly. Delicately put, I was absolutely thriving. However, there was one vital aspect with which I requested the assistance of My Many Fans, and that was deciding which places to hit up. As per always, my main bae WilbyJP came through with the goods in the form of Tintagel, which he prefaced by querying as to whether or not I might be interested in the (absolute bloody) legend of King Arthur. Considering I have voluntarily suffered through multiple seasons of Merlin: The Very Shittest Wizard Ever, one can imagine that my answer was yes, and thus off to Tintagel we went.</div>
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The link between King Arthur and Tintagel is one that I do not a hundy percent understand, but apparently word on the 12th century street was that he was conceived in/around Tintagel Castle, and that's good enough for me. I understand on an intellectual level that King Arthur was not real, but this is a fact I choose to ignore. In any case, as you will soon see, Tintagel Castle and the surrounding landscape is suitably mythical-looking, and there are plenty of watery caves for one's various sorcery concocting needs, so authenticity aside the vibe is certainly right.</div>
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After a slow start to the day and our brief stop off in <b><i><a href="http://www.maddimcgowan.com/2018/09/a-detour-to-lacock.html" target="_blank">Lacock</a></i></b>, we put the pedal to the metal (slash comfortably upholstered floor of the brand new rental car) and drove the last few hours to Cornwall in one straight shot. This meant that although we knew we would end up arriving too late in the day to visit the ticketed areas of the castle, we still had plenty of daylight to work with. We pulled into The Avalon (suitably Arthurian name) some time around 6pm, and I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for somewhere in the area. It's at the end of the main stretch of shops and restaurants so within easy walking distance of anywhere you'd want to go, the room comes with a fab array of free little treats (including hot chocolate, which is always a winner when one is travelling with Will), they have a restaurant on site and the view from the back of the property is insane. Best of all, if you're in town for the mythical side of things, it's an easy downhill walk from The Avalon to Tintagel Castle.</div>
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Keen for a solid stretch of the ol' legs (and discovering there was no car-friendly route, but let's pretend the more wholesome choice was immediate) we checked into our room and immediately set off on the adventure of a lifetime. Not really, as I mentioned we arrived too late to go into the actual cool bit, but it was still pretty sick regardless. Walking a few metres from our hotel, we followed a quaint wooden sign and turned right, down a steep dusty lane. When I say steep, I mean I was walking down it lamenting the fact that there would inevitably come a time that I would have to essentially rock climb my way back up but, like the warrior I am, I decided to ignore that brewing trauma and continue my valiant downhill trot. After a few minutes of traipsing through various shrubberies and promising myself I would find an alternate route back to the hotel if it was the last thing I did, we reached a fork in the road with another olde timey wooden sign in the middle (it was actually not even old, I just assume everything in the country/made of wood is some sort of relic #sueme), and made the decision to head uphill to the coastal path.</div>
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Happily this proved to be a fantastic decision. Although the castle-bearing island itself was closed, there was a significant smattering of ruins still available for our perusal and photographic needs. Thank. Goodness. Most importantly, as I reached the outermost edge of said ruins and looked over the side I was met by a clear view of the waves below crashing on some rocks in an exceptionally aesthetically pleasing manner, and I felt at peace. I have some sort of subconscious dependence on the ocean that results in my gradual loss of sanity whenever I go for too long without a solid gaze at the sea, and it's not until that magical time finally comes that all my aquatic angst dissipates. If you'll recall early last year I frolicked off to Northern Ireland to avoid having a work-induced meltdown, and ended up driving to the most northern tip of Ireland to stare moodily at the Atlantic Ocean as my soul lifted up out of my body, shook itself free of accumulated strife and popped back in, refreshed. This was not quite on that level, but definitely possessing a similarly rejuvenating and promisingly instagrammable quality.</div>
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What you see in the image above is the stairway leading to the island where the actual castle and, more importantly, a very badass statue reside. I did briefly descend these picturesque stairs, in equal measure for the potential pics and to get in my #cardio for the day, but the border for the ticketed portion of the attraction kicks in at the bottom so I jogged right back up again. Really quickly and gracefully and without any exasperated shouting or the need to stop and audibly pant at the top. It was a bit annoying that we couldn't see the door everyone on tumblr has photos of, especially considering the extent to which it is 100% my aesthetic, but the true extent of my loss was yet to be revealed.</div>
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Aside from the castle, one of the main Arthurian attractions in Tintagel is a statue. This particular statue, which you can & I suggest you do google image, is one of the most baller statues I have ever seen (or not actually seen, as 'twould transpire), and TRUST me I am QUITE the connoisseur. Following little to no research I had imagined that it would just be perched, easily visible, on the edge of an otherwise barren cliff very close to the hotel, on account of when I look at a place on google maps I forget to factor in terrain or scale or any buildings/roads/structures whatsoever. Turns out it is on the edge of a cliff, but that cliff is on the island that we could not access, and so I had to view it from afar by zooming in super close on my camera as it stood there, out of reach, mocking me. I know. My life is but a series of crushing tragedies and it is a phenomenal triumph that I manage to persevere at all. If you must write a ballad about my struggles, make sure there is a key change.</div>
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Having seen all there was to see of the immediate set of ruins, we headed uphill again, much to my eternal delight. A personal highlight of this journey was the part where we ascended a set of very ye olde looking steps, which were just slabs of rock shoved into a bigger slab of rock. Very safe. Very rustic. I'm aware I'm making this all seem very underwhelming and inconvenient but it was actually an incredibly enjoyable and wholesome way to spend an evening. Reaching our final altitude as the sun was setting, I was able to enjoy a lovely display of nature's glorious wonder whilst I died a quiet, exhausted death from the series of gentle slopes up which I had nobly shuffled.</div>
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Speaking of the inescapable mortality which silently hangs over each and every one of us from birth til eventual demise, atop this final cliff was a small stone church, with a very picturesque graveyard. Picturesque graveyards seemed to be quite the running theme in Cornwall, with the appearance of another seaside cemetery just outside St. Ives. Truly prime real estate. I could say 'a view to die for' but I won't because that's probs insensitive. This graveyard had an oddly serene quality to it, and we spent a little while wandering around the area as the sun set. By 'wandering' I actually mean stomping, because there was a sign warning of potential adders in the grass, and I am not trying to get bit no sir.</div>
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Having had our fill of wandering for the evening and feeling rawther ready to eat, we set our sights on The Avalon in the distance and started walking. I was particularly hopeful that we might find an alternative route to the vertical climb of a hill we'd descended on our outward journey, and I was not disappointed. There was a slight incline, but nothing quite as meltdown-inducing as expected, and we found our way back to the hotel before they closed the kitchen. I very much enjoyed my pasta, which was punctuated by ample chortles re: the fact that the boy waiting on us (who I'm pretty sure was the son of the owner) was essentially a living, breathing version of the teenage love interest straight out of a novelised version I would have written of my own life, circa 2008. Messy haired shy blonde surfer boy in a sleepy holiday town waiting for a sharp-witted city brunette to draw him out of his shell, albeit inexplicably wearing a mismatched plaid shirt and shorts combo. Luvz it. Will said I would have been obsessed with him if I were 5+ years younger and he was not wrong.</div>
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The next morning we arose, feeling surprisingly spritely for such an early hour considering we'd stayed up to watch the critically acclaimed cinematic triumph that is Bridget Jones's Baby (which is coincidentally also on TV as I type this), with the promise of free coffee and breakfast with a view at the forefront of our agendas. We'd filled in our breakfast orders the night before, so we sat in the dining room and admired (took IG story photos of) the ridiculously idyllic table-window-view combo whilst we waited for it all to be cooked nextdoor. Eventually, after taking full advantage of caffeine refills, mapping out our first few routes of the day and loading up on as much all-inclusive food as my breakfast-averse constitution could take, we checked out of our room and hopped back in the car for our first full day in Cornwall.</div>
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Because we were only there overnight we didn't do much exploring in the actual town, and I do really want to get the full castle experience, so perhaps there will be a return journey somewhere in our future. Need to see me some cavey goodness and get that sweet, sweet pic of the door, for the betterment of mankind. Also there was a phenomenally high number of witch shops for such a tiny town, and witch shops are my favourite kind of shops after stationery and Australian Nando's, so I believe it will call me back one day. There is also a famous witch museum in a vaguely nearby town, which Will forbade me from incorporating into our itinerary this time, so next time I just won't ask. As it was, we still had a baller time frolicking on the accessible cliffs, and it was a suitably oceanside start to what would end up being a majestic weekend.</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7769249001028192755.post-71011499275591390922018-09-24T21:57:00.000+10:002019-04-15T01:03:04.506+10:00A Detour To Lacock<div style="text-align: center;">
For a while now (see: the last 25 years) I have felt the urge to go and be moody by the ocean. If one were to conjure up an artistic rendering of my absolute element it would consist of heavy clouds, stormy seas, a large coffee and a notable absence of people, so I decided to seek this out and planned a roadtrip. Working with only a 3 day weekend, Will and I set off for Cornwall where I was anticipating the culmination of my wildest dreams, but before we get to that, let art imitate life as we take a literal and figurative detour through the countryside.</div>
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I do not know if you've ever driven from London to Cornwall before, but on the demographically probable chance that you have not, I will just inform you that it is indeed Quite A Long Way, so it's nice to make a few stops en route. Two of our stops were separate roadside branches of McDonalds, but the third was a picturesque Wiltshire village by the name of Lacock, which held fewer mcnuggets but much more charm. #NoOffense to the A350 motorway Maccas. Having gotten our venture off to a late start thanks to a soul destroying ninety minutes picking up the rental car, we had decided to gun it straight to Cornwall without any significant stops, but whilst we were approaching the aforementioned culinary detour I recognised a nearby village name on my trusty google map and decided we may as well pop over.</div>
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Lacock, it turns out, is renowned for two equally impressive feats - acting as a significant filming location for several films including multiple Harry Potters, and being the childhood home of Zoella. I know. What a jackpot. Unfortunately we were on a tight ol' schedj and both really itching to get back on the road for more arguments about whether or not it is appropriate to talk over me when I am singing along to the entirety of Christina Aguilera's 'Stripped' album, so there wasn't enough time to make a real go of it and head over to Lacock Abbey for the full Hogwarts experience. However, the town is rawther compact so luckily just having a leisurely wander was enough to get a feel for the atmosphere and see plenty of quaintness without even trying. Also the answer we are looking for re: the Aguilera Question is either 'absolutely not' or a silent, steely glare.</div>
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Whilst I would most likely describe Lacock as 'quintessentially english,' what I really mean is that it is one of the most aggressively British looking places I have ever damn been, to the point that it doesn't even seem real. It's been used as a setting for Downton, Pride & Prejudice, Harry Potter and one would also assume at least ten separate TV shows about a sleepy country town rocked by a disproportionate amount of crimes that can only be solved by one particularly kooky or surly senior member of the parish with a god-given gift for sleuthing. I know you can picture the title sequence already. It also reminds me of the town they visit in Wild Child, which I watched again last weekend and is still a fantastic time.</div>
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On this particular sunny Friday afternoon there were enough people around, both local and tourists, for it to be comfortable and not make one feel overly conspicuous, but still quiet enough that there weren't people everywhere we turned. There was a beer garden at a pub that seemed to be quite busy, and lots of little shops and bakeries and cute little stands scattered around, and it definitely seemed like the kind of place you could easily spend a whole afternoon walking around. Granted, if you took that literally and you could probably do 100+ laps of the entire village, but if you were wandering and stopping and going in and out of shops and really exploring you could easily fill a couple of hours.</div>
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In contrast to the rest of my posts from our Cornwall trip, I have absolutely zero heartwarming anecdotes about this particular stop because as soon as we pulled into Lacock I left William at the car and XtReMe bAiLed down the road to get photos of the cute lil houses as quickly and efficiently as possible. Sometimes you have to be ruthless to get that shot, guys. However, I did end up regretting this hasty departure slightly when my pace slowed and I started actually appreciating how damn quaint and villagey everything was, but I wouldn't have had any hands free for holding anyway without it obstructing my photo taking capabilities so 'twas probably for the best. That being said, I did not end up ripping through the place like the speed demon I had intended to become, because it turns out when you're somewhere really cute your brain usually decides on its own to actually take in your surroundings and be present in the moment, whether that's convenient for your schedule or not.</div>
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No tears for William though, thank you. After finishing whatever work-related task he'd been attending to when I houdinied away towards the paddocks, he had done plenty of exploring on his own like a Big Boy, and it turns out that when you are in a tiny, tiny village you eventually bump into each other without even trying anyway. I do remember being quite amped to see him when this did occur. I believe my exact thought process was something along the lines of 'oh that guy looks pretty normal' then being really pleased when I realised that the apparition to whom my periphs & subconscious had awarded such high praises was already firmly within my grasp. Romance <i>*Aurelia from Love Actually voice*</i>.<br />
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<i>If you do not know the voice I mean then you need to watch the movie again but I will give you a hint for free it is when she's asking Colin Firth what genre his book is and she says something along the lines of 'hrhrhomance?....crimm?' 'Crimm' is crime. x</i></div>
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The concept of living in a village in the middle of the countryside is completely intangible to me, having grown up entirely in the centre of big cities, but I can definitely appreciate the appeal of visiting for the day, or driving around and stopping in a few different places in the area. The history of so many villages in England is something that really appeals to me, alongside the obvious aesthetic appeal, and that isn't something you really get to the same extent in Australia. I love driving around with Will and visiting places in the country - which is something we plan to do a lot more of once we're both back and settled in Melbourne - but although there are plenty of insanely beautiful things to see, there isn't anything with the same sort of vibe as Lacock. We have country towns, but they tend to make me feel slightly suffocated rather than enchanted, and I personally have always been much more drawn to the romanticism and absolute vastness of English history.</div>
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You'll see over the next few posts the parallels that I think can be drawn between what we saw in Cornwall and what there is at home, but places like Lacock are something you can only really find in that particular part of the world, so I think it's always worth stopping if you can. I would love to do a much longer road trip and visit places like the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands and stop in dozens of different villages on the way, but those are plans for a time in the future when we have enough disposable income to pay for a cute hotel every stop of the way and also a tacky souvenir magnet in every single town. For now I'm quite happy we took a little post-Maccas detour and ended up in Lacock for a bit.</div>
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Reunited with William, having soaked up enough Hogsmeade vibes for one day and feeling rejuvenated enough to face another few hours on the road, we set off towards Cornwall and what would unfold as one of our favourite weekends ever. But that is a story for another post.</div>
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If you think this one has been photo-heavy, just you wait, 'enry 'iggins. Just you wait.</div>
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Maddi McGowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803988799660149425noreply@blogger.com