JustPickOneUK

I cannot believe that 2 years have gone by since I published my first ever YouTube Video. It was unboxing the new camera I had decided to spend some of my inheritance on. The DJI Osmo Pocket 3. I had researched it and thought about it over and over again. 2 Years later it is still my main camera for all of my videos and I love it to bits.  I have been making videos for YouTube for 2 years now. In that time I have switched software, bought more cameras and equipment, travelled further away than I  have ever been before, visited new countries and travelled abroad completely solo. I turned 40,  Been very sad, been elated, been on TV (well in the background anyhow). Seen some local gems, film studios and sets, a royal family and square trees. Used ships, trains, planes, cars, chased dreams and felt all the feelings along the way. I have done so many things, seen incredible things, been places and experienced places and I have been very lucky to do so. I have achieved less tha...

 I had the pleasure of attending an event at Bournemouth University yesterday which was celebrating 100 years since John Logie Baird demonstrating his first television and considering what is in store for the next 100 years. The speakers were all very eloquent and gave different perspectives based on their experience with leading production companies, advertising and even the BBC.  Discussions varied from the introduction of the TV itself, how the position TV holds in society has risen and changed, how YouTube, TikTok and others have affected viewing styles and figures and that in the end TV is here to stay (at least for now). Here is the link to the full conversation  https://www.youtube.com/live/3Fbxy7gk-gs?si=GMLHxKmCEQMSEtfO   After the event we had the chance to speak to the speakers but I wanted to make sure the students got the chance first and so I took a look at the cameras they have at their disposal to train on. I was considering the expertise the students...

Rejection can come in many forms and from many places. I used to deal with rejection in a very internalised way. I failed. I am not good enough. What’s wrong with me? Why don’t they want me? Why wasn’t I chosen?  But not anymore. I am choosing to think differently about rejection.  I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop waiting for anyone to show up to the meet up I have arranged for local creatives. I had interest on Facebook and tickets were “purchased” (its a free event) from several people - but no-one is here. We are over an hour into a 2 hour meet up and every ticket is a no-show.  If this was a couple of years ago I would have gone into the downward spiral of feeling like a failure. But not any more. I am using this opportunity. I’ve brought my laptop and my headphones, listening to the K-POP Demon Hunters soundtrack and getting on with writing a blog post instead. I’m utilising the time I would have spent on meeting others by benefitting myself.  I am going t...

From a throw away comment about what I want to do for my birthday, to having the adventure of a lifetime all in the space of 9 months. This is 40Before40. For those who haven't followed my journey this year I am turning 40 on 29th June 2025. My husband asked me last summer what would you like to do for your birthday as it is a milestone one. I said well loads of things not just one. Then I said why don't I get myself 40 things to do before I turn 40? And so,  I have been working my way through a list of 40 challenges that I set for myself (some have changed along the way).  Some were simple, but worthy, like going out for coffee with a friend (which I rarely do), reading a full length novel (which I never do) or eat something I'd never had before. Others were more extravagant. Go on a ship, see a geographical wonder and see a tornado in real life.  I had no idea where this idea was taking me and didn't have a full list when I first started.  I haven't achieved all o...

This morning I woke up to the message that I had received money from a stranger.  A bit of background.... JustPickOneUK is a labour of love. I love making the videos and doing the travel in order to get the footage. Unfortunately, the channel isn't big enough yet for YouTube to give me money for it and neither is it big enough for companies to be interested in sponsoring me or gifting me things. While travel companies keep on insisting being paid for their services, the financial burden is currently falling on my family. I'm not working at the moment and so I have a strict budget on how much I can spend on my trips.  I know I am in an incredibly fortunate position and I don't take that for granted. My 40Before40 adventures have been some of the best experiences I've ever had and I will be forever grateful.  However, if I am to continue to have more adventures I need to find the money from somewhere. Which is where Ko-Fi comes in. It's a way for creators to have a pl...

On 26th March 2025 I achieved Number 12 from my list of #40Before40 items. I gave a talk in public. This was for a Dorset based tech event called Dev.Talk ( https://devdottalk.uk/ ) where I was invited to speak about my first year on YouTube. I was welcomed so warmly by the community and I had a great time. Here is the post in which I based my presentation. There will be a YouTube video featuring me in due course (I haven't edited it yet) but for now here it is!  Introduction I started my YouTube channel on 18th May 2024 so not quite a year ago but close enough and these ar e my current stats .  My first video was actually about unboxing my new camera. The DJI Pocket you see filming all of you.  I filmed it on my phone, with the wrong camera I used the front camera rather than the back one (forehead slap) with no script, no added features on the video, no text, music, proper thumbnail (this one has been added since it was uploaded) and little thought about the title. Sinc...

 In the immortal words of Bilbo Baggins "I am going on an adventure!" I love travel and am actively making a YouTube channel based around the subject. But this time, my #40Before40 challenge has forced my hand a little bit in this one. I am trying to achieve a number of items off the list in one big adventure and this is certainly a mixed bag! For this trip I am going to be going on many different forms of transport. Firstly in a car to Southampton Cruise Port as I am going to be boarding Cunard's Queen Anne cruise ship and taking a 2 night trip over to Hamburg. I haven't been to Germany in many years and I am excited to board a new ship. My previous experiences cruising have not been as formal as this and so I am looking forward to the comparison.  I have paid £230 for the 2 nights in an inside cabin (Grade IC), not the cheapest grade on the ship but it was the cheapest option at the time I booked the cruise. I will not know my cabin number until nearer the time but ...

Back in February 2024 I decided to I decided to buy a National Trust annual pass for the family. We were visiting Bath earlier in the year and we had some ideas for the summer holidays to travel around the UK check out my blog series about our adventures called 3 peaks in 3 weeks. So with this adventuring I thought it would be a good idea to have the option of some plans for days out, culture, beauty and generally less thinking would be involved when we travel.   So what is the National Trust? For anyone outside the UK or does not know, the National Trust is an charitable organisation which looks after and manages over 500 properties, has properties all over the England and Wales of varying different styles. Houses, gardens, coastal areas, and sites of global historical interest. These are all very important sites and without organisations like the National Trust, a lot of them would have been lost to time or disrepair. What sort of place does the National Trust offer? Each locati...

 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...

 I was making a video which I hope will be sorted and published soon, but I was feeling stuck. I couldn't edit it properly and I didn't know what to do.  At the time of recording I had decided to try something different with a new camera angle and set up and was happy during the recordings etc but when it came to to edit I had no clear direction with it. I felt some of the script was not what I was thinking about and it just felt all round wrong. I couldn't put my finger on why though. What was wrong? If nothing then why am I stuck?  I was just sitting messing about with the edit and not getting anywhere so I decided to park the project. For a while. I wanted to get something uploaded though and the next day an idea popped into my head from nowhere! I have used some of my pre-edited footage of the White Party on MSC Cruises. It is a standard sort of thing that occurs on many if not all of the ships in the fleet and I just popped some YouTube approved music underneath it a...

 When you start a YouTube channel you do hope for success. You hope that your version of art or entertainment reaches people and you get "seen". You hope that you reach people and somehow make their day better than it was before. Even a few minutes of light entertainment in today's world is a relief that we all need from time to time.  One of my 40Before40 items is to get monetised on YouTube and in order to achieve this I need my videos to be watched. But the feeling you get when people actually do is kind of .......weird. I feel a sense of pride, embarassment, joy, anxiety and relief. Its a big jumble of emotions.  When my husband watches the videos, I feel such a big cringe that he is. Its such a strange feeling because he knows my best and worst. I trust him wholly and he is my best friend. So why the cringe? I imagine this is what the top film and tv stars talk about when they say they don't watch their own work back when its finished.  YouTube requires a channe...

 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...

 Well I have done it. I took the leap, I've committed 5 days of my time to...... MSC Cruises. I would have never thought I would do this but, I am going solo on a 4 night cruise from Southampton to Cherbourg and Zeebrugge. My husband sent me a (sort of) joke about a longer cruise to the USA but that lead me down a rabbit hole to the Seascanner Website. Seascanner is the totally online arm of Cruise.co.uk which is a reputable travel agent here in the UK.  On a chance, I decided to have a look and see if there were any cruises going in the next couple of months for seven nights or less and for a cheap deal. I found one I'm going on the MSC Virtuosa leaving from Southampton on the 16th October yes that's less than two weeks from now.  I've booked an inside cabin on a guarantee basis this means that I am guaranteed at least an inside cabin grade but I could be upgraded in the future to an outside or balcony cabin. It's not likely to happen but nice to dream.  The total ...

 As the title says the internet is indeed a very weird place. Why we take pleasure from seeing people hurting themselves, cats leaping from being scared and doing dance routines by famous singers.  Having been a YouTuber for less than a year, I definitely don't understand it yet and I absolutely do not understand Instagram or the ways of tiktok. I attended an Eagle Labs event on social media and how to optimise their use for your business.  Both of the experts there were confident in their opinions on how to optimise your strategy for numerous different platforms. However, both of them also agreed that nothing they said was any guarantee of success and they could easily identify someone who was doing everything they can to not follow the rule book and being successful anyway.  I decided to test this and filmed a small snail who had got into the house and was slithering up the curtain. I filmed him, popped a silly piece of music and a sparkly background on the video a...

Well here is a challenge!  My husband asked me what I'd like to do for my 40th which is coming in 10 months. I said I'm not sure. There's lots of things I'd like to do really. I'd love to travel, eat nice things, see family, be productive at home, be alone, so quite a mixture really. Then it came to me while watching another YouTuber (Paul Messner) talk about the impact of doing something different. I'd like to do 40 things before I turn 40. These could be small and take a day to do. They could be big and take a week to do. Some things will take time, money and planning. They can be huge and take all 10 months. But all of them should be an experience, achieve a goal and / or improve my life in some way.  Doing the adventure of the UK road trip has really inspired me that things like that are possible. It is possible to do things that are different to the norm. I can live in a better way than before. At the moment I have no job to go to. No restriction in those t...

 When I started Just Pick One UK it was a thing for me to do to share thoughts, insight and feelings about a variety of subjects and sometimes just not much at all. Something for me to do....for me.  But it has grown a bit since then and now it is a blog and YouTube Channel and I am hoping to expand further once my job has finished and I can focus more of my time to it. I hope to grow the channel, have Facebook and Instagram accounts for it which should in turn help it to grow more and then hopefully I'll be able to have adventures and be monetised.  But this is just the beginning. All YouTube channels begin with the first video and mine was .....ok at best I think. I recorded the unboxing of my new camera on my phone which was actually positioned the wrong way round when it didn't need to be. I was trying to film before the light faded and I realised that I had done a bit to camera using my front camera so I could make sure I was in the frame, but then forgot to switch t...

I set up Just Pick One to try and do something different, to express myself and be free if the usual daily constraints. Following on from this, I decided I needed some time alone. I have never lived alone in my life and I wanted a taste of it. So I bought myself a smaller tent to take with me and set up a solo camp.  I took myself to The New Forest. Camping in the new forest is easy as there are lots of campsites and places to visit. I decided to use campinginthenewforest.co.uk again as I was happy with their sites before. I chose Roundhill Campsite for this trip. Partially because it was last minute and they had availability and it felt like a get away.  I bought a CfLity tent from Amazon. Nope I've never heard of that brand either. It is a 3 man tent (and as with all tents if you want room decide how many people will use it and then add 2 and you will be comfortable), and it goes up like an upside-down umbrella. And the best part, it only took 20 minutes, from unpacking it f...

 Well what can I say, in terms of weight loss nothing has changed.  I stepped on to the Wii balance board this morning and I haven't lost any weight what so ever. But I have in fact not put anything on either, so that is a blessing. I haven't been paying too close attention to food this month, but I do have a smart watch and it is keeping track of my step count etc. I regularly achieve 10k steps during the course of the day which is probably why I haven't put anything on. I do need to increase my water intake though. I have found it difficult to focus on myself during the day at school and I need to break this habit and actually take comfort breaks at appropriate times. I am sure this will help somewhat to making a difference.  In other news, some things have changed. Not loads as I am still learning, but I now have a YouTube channel (find it here https://www.youtube.com/@JustPickOneUK) which I am excited about. I intend to make video content about travel and anything els...