We have already made it to the last day of May, which is absolutely crazy! May has been such a busy month for me with my dissertation and with that came a lot of anxiety, stress and overwhelmed feelings. It was quite a mentally challenging month for me. If you have mental health issues like me, you will probably know that you can easily start focusing on the bigger picture and just trying to survive to eventually see light at the end of the tunnel. It was hard for me too to focus on smaller things I was grateful for and that have made me happy. I wanted to end May on a positive note though, which is why I decided to dedicate a blog post to five smaller daily things that made me feel happy and grateful.

Being motivated to go to the gym

I don’t think I have properly spoken about this on my blog yet. My gym routine sucked this past 1,5 year. I felt super stressed with my dissertation and felt like going to the gym was not a high priority on my list as I was just feeling too sleepy to go. Something changed in my mindset at the end of April when my friend decided to join my local gym. Ever since the end of April I have been going to the gym twice a week and notice such a big difference. I feel mentally better after I have gone to the gym and fall asleep quicker at night because I can really tire myself out while I am there. I am super happy that I am slowly getting back into the routine of exercising on a weekly basis and am proud of myself to be motivated to go in the first place. I am nowhere near as fit as I was two years ago, but I feel like my fitness level is slowly coming back to me and I am proud on and happy for myself for it.

Eating healthy, good homemade food

It seemed like a bit of a waste to me to start going to the gym and not also try to adjust my eating habits a bit. Since I have gone back to the gym I have been really trying to eat healthier, homemade meals. I also massively increased my fruit and veg intake and now tend to reach for an apple, blueberries or a banana whenever I feel like I need my sweet treat fix. I am not too strict on myself though, so I won’t punish myself if I want to eat chocolate, pizza or McDonalds throughout the week. I do try to limit myself as much as possible and like to only treat myself to a takeaway, pizza or McDonalds during the weekend. And once again, eating healthier has really had an effect on how I feel, I feel more energized and less bloated, which once again has made me feel happier.

Blue skies and sunshine

There have not been a lot of blue skies and sunny days in May, as it has felt more like autumn this past month. But whenever the sun does make an appearance and there are blue skies, it makes me feel super grateful to be able to feel some sunshine on my face or drink a coffee outside in the sun. It’s one of those cases where when it’s there you don’t appreciate it as much. But as soon as it feels like autumn in May, you will easily feel more grateful for the sunny days and blue skies we have had in the month. I am over this weather now though, so I am really hoping June will feel like a proper spring/summer month soon.

Having productive workweeks

May was my month to be productive without feeling to tense. I didn’t quite manage to not feel tense, especially at the end of the month, but I have definitely had a productive month. Throughout all the weekdays in May I have woken up at 7:30 in the morning and have gone to work on my dissertation at 9 until early afternoon. The afternoons were free for me to spend it how I liked it to be, so occasionally I went into town, but I spent most afternoons working on my blog. Having this sort of routine and level of productiveness made me quite happy and I am proud to have been able to do so this past month. So even though it has been a bit hectic, tense and stressful, I am also grateful for my strict routine I had going on throughout the week.

Spending time with my family

May was such a family oriented month. I love both May and June for that as we tend to spend quite a lot of time together as a family. We celebrated Mother’s Day and my brother’s birthday this month. I got to see and spend lots of time with my family. It’s no surprise that spending time with my family has made me happy this month, because like I said in my ‘5 comforting things when I feel slightly off’ post, spending time with them makes me happy. As well as spending lots of time with the fam in May, I know I will also be super grateful to be spending lots of time with them in June as we have Father’s Day and my dad’s birthday coming up. Besides that my brother also loves to come over for dinner or a cuppa tea, which is a nice way to end the evening too.