🛠️ What Am I Doing?

I don’t mean to sound gloomy, but I feel a bit battered by January. Is it just me?

First there was Storm Goretti, which left a significant mark on my home. The roof tiles are repaired now, but the garden damage and missing fences will take a little more time to restore. And then I managed to catch a rather nasty chest infection which I am still fighting off. The worst thing about the chest infection has been taking time off running to recover. I’m not too worried about my half marathon training, as the race is not until April, and I have reasonable cardio fitness already. But it has made me realise how essential running has become for my overall wellbeing. Still, I am through the worst of it now. I am grateful that I am otherwise healthy, so my body has been doing it’s job and fighting hard.

On a more positive note, I’m excited about starting work with some new coaching clients in February. I also just quietly launched a new mini ebook, Fix Your Files (my take on The PARA Method). I have several in-person training sessions coming up which I am really looking forward to (particularly, Effective Workload Management—I so love getting nerdy on this topic).

Even though the start of my 2026 has not been perfect, I am regularly checking in with my goals and word for the year (strength) and feel like I am already making some progress. I hope you are too.

📺 What Am I Watching?

I am loving season 2 of The Pitt. Medical dramas are not my favourite genre (I blame 200 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy) but this one is outstanding. I am also enjoying The Night Manager, Shrinking (season 3), and What Not to Eat with Tim Spector.

🧠 What Am I Learning?

My learning this month has been mainly related to my charity role (around neurodiversity). I did manage to complete a short, free pixel art course, though, which was lots of fun.

You might be aware that I am a secret middle-aged gamer who plays just one game: Animal Crossing New Horizons (it’s as hardcore as it sounds!). The game had a major update this month and I have been having fun learning about the new features. If you happen to play ACNH and you want to visit my island, here’s the dream address: DA-6171-6637-5890.

🎧 What Am I Listening to?

I’ve listened to a lot of running podcasts this month to help with half-marathon training. A particularly good episode was from the Couch to 5K Podcast: an interview with Bryony Gordon.

I’ve also started re-reading Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I first read this book in my early teens (perhaps younger, actually) and it is the ultimate comfort fiction for me. I have it on my Kindle but I also have the audiobook, which is narrated by Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the films. A word of warning if you fancy the audiobook: don’t listen while you are falling asleep as the narrator will often burst into song or shout very loudly…!

📚 What am I Reading?

I’ve got a few books on the go, in addition to LOTR. Take a look at what I am reading here: Martine’s Library.