It may surprise you, or not, but at this point in my life, nearly mid-30s I’d never been anywhere really on my own – I’ve always gone away with family, friends or my Hubby (and obviously in more recent years the kiddies).

So when, in about Sept 2017, I saw Alex Crockford advertising a fitness weekend it really caught my eye as something I would love to be involved in and attend. I spoke to the Hubby and agreed it would be both my Birthday and Christmas present for that year.  So I booked on. I thought it would fit perfectly with the way life is going with regards to my new career path and what I also blog about. It would be amazing to meet like-minded people, gain knowledge from Alex and also learn more about food (which came from the talented Ceri Jones of Natural Kitchen Adventures – watch out for a separate post on that!) and just spend a weekend talking and doing what I love – which is keeping fit and eating well.

It would also give me very much needed ‘me time’, time away from kids, to rest and recharge and be slightly selfish and do things because I wanted to do them, and not just because I had to. It would be the longest I’d ever been away from them. Made longer as I ended up spending one night at a friends place at either end of the weekend as they lived only 20 mins away from where we were staying and it meant I could get a lift to and from the house! Woohoo!

So it may seem simple to most, book a weekend away, go for a weekend away, but for me, and my anxiety it’s not quite that easy.  As the day to depart got closer I did start feeling more and more worried – trying to book trains, working out how I would get to the manor house we would be staying in.  Fears over whether I would get on with the people? Would I like the food? Would I be well? Would I take the right things?

It was also because of my anxiety that I so desperately wanted to do this, to show myself I can be independent and I can do these things for myself, and oh my goodness am I glad that I did. It was well and truly worth it.

I felt proud of myself for dealing with the trains, getting myself to and from Loughborough. Enjoying having a room to myself just for a couple of nights and not having to be ‘mum’ – I got to be Geraldine for a while.

Now before you panic, I didn’t completely forget my kids, I did FaceTime with them, and I also had two cuddly toys with me that I had to photograph during their daily adventures and send to the kids (you can find that post here) but it was refreshing not to be at beck and call 24/7 – and for that I will be eternally grateful to my Hubby.

So for me, this was a breakthrough with my anxiety and has shown me what I am capable of. I also came away a changed person, inspired to do more cooking and be slightly more in control.  I will be sharing numerous posts, breaking down the weekend as each aspect deserves its own post and, to be honest if I wrote it all as one it would be a novel! So keep on the lookout for each post, I’ll be discussing the exercise, the amazing food, and the phenomenal goodie bag along with one or two others.

Have you ever been on a fitness weekend? Have you ever had to overcome your own anxiety to do something? Share your stories with me, I would love to hear them 🙂 xxx