What Sophie Said

Yesterday marked exactly a year since I moved to London. I didn’t think it would ever be a move I would make, but it has led to one of the busiest years of my life and probably the one in which I have changed and learned the most. The move was about breaking out of my comfort zone, and throwing off the comfort blankets I’d surrounded myself with. Without challenging myself, I was never going to overcome a lot of the fears I had built up and learned to live with. The timings suddenly clicked. I was really unhappy in my job, living alone with the flexibility to move, and there was nothing tying me to stay in the same place. When the job hunt began, I was offered a role at a company I’ve admired for years, which sealed the deal and to London I came. It’s been a year of extreme highs and some very real lows, and one year on I can say it’s been one of the biggest learning experiences I’ve had. I’m in a new city, facing ‘fears’ like the tube, living with stranger...

I feel like I did a lot of ‘growing up’ over 2015. I learned a lot about myself, about what I want to do, and about where I want to be. One of the things I’ve really been trying to improve on is the way I handle my money. I’m a few months into a new job, a few months into a new city, and a few months into a new living space. I moved to London, which has made the whole money situation even more necessary to think about. Growing up, I was always the one who spent my pocket money as soon as I got it. I did once save a decent amount in my Building Society account, but then spent the majority of it on adopting an orca (a kind of whale) for one year, aged 10. I’ve improved over the course of university and my first couple of years of working, but there are definitely still improvements to be made. Recently, I’ve begun trying to switch my brain out of short-term mode, and focus on both long and short-term when it comes to my money. Throw in the fact that I’m g...

Opposite my flat, there is a park. I’ve done a lot of sitting in it, a lot of thinking. In the six months I’ve lived here a lot has changed, lots of decisions have been made, and lots of thoughts have been thought. It’s only small, a combination of grass and trees and flowerbeds, but it’s the first time I’ve had a regular outdoor space that lets me clear my head. The luxury of having it outside my flat is one I’ve made sure I enjoy. One thing I’ve learnt over the past couple of years is how important it is to lend proper time to thinking, to your thoughts. When you go through a period where your thoughts become ‘out of control’, or ‘disordered’, or ‘unhealthy’, you have to reassess the way you deal with those thoughts. My head would be spinning with a thousand things at once, all screaming at me that they were urgent, and none of which I could switch off. In a previous job, I took the decision to walk the 3.5 miles each way, every day, to wo...

Those that know me know that 2014 was a year of huge changes for me. A lot can change in a year, and last year, for me, that was more true than ever. And so, as is the trend at this time of year, I've been reflecting back on what 2014 has taught me, as I get ready to try and make 2015 even better. Here are my 14 biggest lessons learned in 2014: 1. You can do a lot more than you thought you were capable of if you set your mind to it 2. You can be brave 3. Friends will continue to surprise you, both in good ways and in bad 4. You can move from a point where anxiety was stopping you doing everything, to a point where it's a part of your personality you're learning, slowly, to control 5. You really do feel better where you're putting good food into your body. So get on with it 6. Ditto exercise. Get a wriggle on 7. Continue talking to anyone and everyone. Everybody in this world has something to teach you 8. Sometimes taking the scariest steps can pay y...