Author: Secondhand Thoughts

Last week I was in the shower after a particularly raucous volleyball game. We had absolutely smashed it, winning all of our sets and playing hard. My blood was up, adrenaline was pumping and I was in an excellent mood. I'm washing my hair and soaping up, and as my hand passes over my right breast I freeze. There,… Continue reading Is It Just a Lump, or Something More Sinister?

Holy shit, dating is weird now. I met my ex husband in 2010, drunk in a bar. We exchanged numbers, added each other on Facebook, and planned to meet up in a sober fashion the following week. Surprisingly easy and straightforward! We decided we liked each other and spent increasingly more time together in a way that felt organic,… Continue reading Stress and Dipping a Toe in the Dating Pool

I'm not normally one for resolutions. I was one of the vast majority who would feel inspired to sit down with a blistering hangover and create a beautifully colour-coded listicle of everything I wanted to achieve in a new year, and the promptly forget about it. It never worked for me, and probably never will. The enjoyable part… Continue reading It’s 2024!

I have come a very long way in my fitness journey over the past four years. Starting in December of 2020 I quit drinking and I started making better food choices. My workouts became a focal point of my week and I look better than ever. I'm strong, healthy, fit and capable of doing pretty much any physical… Continue reading Health Bounceback

As mentioned in my last post it has been a shit year. A shitty dumpster fire that easily qualifies as the worst in my life. The road forward has been bumpy and winding, and yet for the most part I now feel more stable and solid in who I am as an individual. I do still get moments… Continue reading Finding my Sparkle Again

It's time to finally come back to the keyboard after a very long hiatus. The past year has been the hardest of my life, and finding time to do anything but look after myself has been challenging. The title says it all really. In November of 2022 I decided to initiate a separation from my… Continue reading Divorce, Death and a Year of Learning

Over the past year I have been in the fortunate position where the financial stars have aligned. My husband was granted a Living Out Allowance for work, meaning that his company paid for our rent for a year, and I was given a massive bump in pay due to my completion of a Masters-level diploma… Continue reading Updating my Financial Footprint

Yes, a full year. Looking back at some of my previous posts I can see how far my attitude has shifted about alcohol and its place in my life. When I first started this challenge I was terrified. I worried that I was heading towards a rock bottom. All the signs were there: I was… Continue reading A Year of Sobriety

I suscribe to a few fitness sites/Instas, etc. to help with motivation - I started to this two years ago when my fitness journey really began. So many quotes are about not giving up, about imagining yourself if you don't quit today, and trying to envision future possibilities. I didn't really pay much attention to… Continue reading Fitness: I’m Not a Beginner Anymore

Hoo boy, it's been a long and troublesome hiatus. Over the past five months there have been some big shake ups, both good and bad. My marriage went onto the rocks and we are in the process of building it back up again, with some success (bad shakeup but improving). We moved houses in the… Continue reading Pulling the Pieces Back Together