JustPickOneUK

Knowing things is absolutely fantastic. Knowing what you want in life, knowing how to get there, knowing the lottery numbers in advance would be awesome too. But there is something to be said for who you know.  There is no way on earth I imagined being asked out to lunch by someone who has a membership at the Chewton Glen hotel. This is one of the most prestigious hotel locations on the south coast. They make no bones about being expensive. But they are classy about it. As long as you have the cash, (and you will need it), you are welcome. I like that.  A place doesn't have to be snobby to be classy. T-shirts and trainers are ok. But with the look of the place, you want to dress a little fancier. Your best t-shirt and trainers perhaps.  I'm sitting in the entrance to the spa waiting for my friend (a top executive for an insurance company) who has invited me out to lunch. I mean who says no to that. Ladies who lunch is life goals for me.  I've arrived onto the grounds...

 Sometimes I feel like I am not achieving anything and it gets me down. I feel anxieties over not being enough or not achieving enough. But in those moments I have to remember where I have come from.  During lockdown in 2020, I made the decision to learn how to sew. I didn't know how to sew apart from vague memories from senior school and the hard lesson in looking after pins when my teacher refused to let us out for break because we had misplaced one!  I felt like learning the skill would come in handy and so I bought a sewing machine for £50 from a local lady and set to work. Well I did a deep dive into YouTube to find simple things that I could make with little knowledge or skill. It was difficult at first because just learning your way round a sewing machine can prove tricky, but I got the hang of it and ended up going from making a tiny pin cushion pillow and getting to making a 2 legged velvet dinosaur for my son.  Each thing I made turned into the next best th...

 Well today...28th January 2025 is the day I have reached the amazing milestone of 100 subscribers on my YouTube Channel. Yes, I did that.  I picked up my camera.....multiple times and said what I was thinking. I chose an editing software that I can work with. I posted the videos. I wrote the titles. I made thumbnails. I wrote descriptions. I made changes where I felt I needed to. I made something and people like it. I created this and people are responding and showing up for ME! How amazing is that?  That is a lot of I. But it is true. 100 people have shown up for me and it isn't perfect, it doesn't fit with a specific niche. The thumbnails, titles and descriptions are messy in places. So is the editing, the lighting, the sound etc. But it is mine and I love it and clearly some other people do too.  I am terrible at self promotion because I usually feel unadequate, unworthy and never good enough. Tears streaming as I type this out, but honestly this time they a...

 This blog has now reached 1500 views! When I started JustPickOneUK I had no idea whether anyone would read anything I wrote. I had no idea whether I would keep going with it. But now over 40 blog posts and 1500 views, plus a YouTube channel, an Instagram page and a TikTok account I think it's doing rather well. I'm still learning the ropes of all of the above platforms as they are all completely different. But I feel like I'm getting there and I have to be content with baby steps as I am still very new. Of course everyone who creates hopes that the thing they make is going to do well. Art is subjective and writing anything or producing a video fills one with anxiety that it will be received in well and that someone else might like it or think the same way you do. But this is not guaranteed and it forces you to grow a thicker skin.  Some people will not like anything you write others will never see what you've written and I have to be okay with that.  For now though 150...

 If you're in a situation where it feels like everything is failing, don't worry, it isn't. The fact is things just aren't going your way with that thing. I'm currently sat in my tent at 10:45pm talking into my phone so I don't have to type in the dark. I've forgotten to pack a bunch of things that you usually need for camping for example; a head torch, because it gets dark especially in the New Forest and I have to make it across the lumpy bumpy ground to get to the toilet. It is so much easier when you can see where you're going.  When I was pitching my tent this afternoon I needed to move one of the pegs because it wasn't quite in the right place. No big deal. It happens. Just pull it out and try again. But nope. The tree root I had unwittingly smashed my giant peg into had other ideas. It was going to hold on to my peg for dear life to the point where I had to wrestle with it for an hour..... Yes one whole hour of digging into the ground with ano...