I have become a guinea pig for my sister-in-law as she uses me to practice her holistic living learnings. The idea being that she helps me think through certain areas of my life I want to improve on and then we put some tasks in place for that improvement.

I’ll admit up front that this year has not been my best in terms of goals and fitness. After my 21km challenge last year I seemed to decline drastically this year and only ran my first 10km in September! I was all in being her guinea pig; I accepted that if I continued in this way I’d most likely never get to the fitness level I wanted and with improved fitness would come the healthy eating and living. Moderation I say to all these things; I want to live long but happily too!

And as I’m becoming more immersed in being her guinea pig, I’m enjoying having the support of someone who loves seeing  me improve. I send her voice notes every morning at five so she knows I’m up and awake and about to start doing my thing but on those days where I’m really struggling and all I want to do is stay in bed I think about having to tell her I didn’t make it (and I have no brilliant excuse) and then I think about how I really am doing this for myself and it all kicks off this idea of how this is all to improve! And I’m up! Voice note sent!

A few years ago I used to believe I’d prefer being on an island. Alone. (In fact I wrote a blog on it: https://mybutterflydream.com/2014/11/02/everyone-deserves-their-own-island/). Now I’m willing to share some of the space on my island for people I value in my life and for those I miss when not around. Having the right people in your life can only lead to your self-improvement with their support, non-judgment and if they are able to hold a mirror up to you. Being alone and having space is incredible. There’s time to reflect, enjoy your own company and do whatever you want with no restrictions. I’m learning however that you can do all these things too with the right people in your life. Because let’s be honest, there’s not enough islands in the world for us to all have our own and if we have the right people on our island, why not share sometimes? I used to say we could have the island to ourselves and take a boat to other people’s islands but why not share the island and take the boat to sea when the need to be alone is required?