16 year old me

So on Friday the 24th it was my 24th birthday. If I'm honest I'm not exactly where I would of hoped to be at this point in my life. In some ways I feel so behind yet I'm certainly proud of everything I've managed to achieve and all those little lessons I've learnt on the journey.

Remember being 16? I do. There's a lot I'd rather forget. I really struggled in my teenage years and I lost a lot of what should of been those fun care free years to illness both mental and physical. Looking back from where I am now there's so many things I wish I'd known, that I wish I could of told myself. This post isn't meant to come across as depressing and somber, more reflective of how far I've come and how life has a funny way of working out.

^^ 16 year old me on the right with the same best friend I have now...(sorry hun it was one of the only pics I had at hand)

So dear sixteen year old Charlotte (and anybody aged 16 who may be reading) here's some things I'd like you to know.

School isn't everything, life experience is going to get you just as far as qualifications

The friends you have now, are some of the best you'll ever have, they liked you just for you, before how much you earned, your job or wether you have a car and still live with your parents became a basis for choosing mates.

Being happy and healthy is far more important than being thin, popular or changing yourself to fit in

The embarrassing moments, the times you were a total asshole, the silly paranoid thoughts and worries you have. No one else will ever make as big of a deal of it as you do yourself. Don't beat yourself up over silly mistakes, half the time people won't even remember it or have noticed.

Don't push people away, it's ok to ask for help.

The people that bully you now, the popular kids, the cool kids getting in trouble will one day serve you fast food. 

Mixing your drinks will never end well.

You're stronger than you'll ever know

Life isn't a competition, we're all in a different race

What would you tell your sixteen year old self? 

And would you have even listened? Being a teenager is all about finding out who you are, experimenting and learning how this crazy world we live in works.

Weirdly you spend a lot of your adult life doing the same.

Lots of love

Charlotte 

Xxx

Fitbit 4 Fibro First Impressions

Hi lovelys

So I'm starting a new series both here and over on my Youtube called Fitbit for Fibro

I hope I'm not alone when I say that having a long term illness or condition can leave you feeling rather helpless and a little like a failure. It's so easy in the modern age of social media to constantly compare yourself to your peers, when really the only person you should compare yourself with is the you from yesterday. make sense?

I've been bed bound most days for a couple of months now and even though I'm lucky enough to experience the odd 'good day' I sometimes wonder if I've actually made any positive progress at all.

cue Fitbit

I'm sure many of you have heard of the fitbit but for those of you who haven't it basically a fitness tracker.

Fitness trackers seem to be all the range at the moment, Every man and their dog is bringing out one.

I did my research, read reviews, and checked out what family and friends recommended and decided that the fitbit flex was best for me personally.

It can be synced to your phone or laptop wirelessly and allows you to track the following.

• Steps taken
• Calories Burned
• Miles walked
• Amount of sleep
• Quality of sleep 
• Amount of times you woke up
• ..........and more

It offers a silent alarm that vibrates on the wrist to wake you.

Other models in the fitbit range can track additional measurements.

Another cool feature is that a series of lights appear to tell you how your'e progressing towards your own personal goal.

eg : One light = 20 % of your desired goal for that day.

The smartphone app and fitbit website allow you to view your progress in simple graphs.

Light weight and comfortable to wear, on first impressions, I'm impressed. It seems like a good way to monitor how things are going. Bad days can be disheartening. I feel like this will motivate me on good days and remind me to not be so hard on myself when the bad ones are here.

In a few days time, I'll update you with how my first few days with it have been.

Watch the video ....

oooooo and check out today's outfit of the day.... prefect for the spring sunshine

What do you think?

Love
Charlotte
xxx

First Time voting

I hope you like my blogs new look :) let me know what you think....

--------------------------

I'm not a politics mastermind, for the most part I find it confusing and hard to follow.

However unless you've been living under a rock ( a rock in the UK ) you'll know the general election is coming up. The subject dominates every newspaper, news channel and the Internet, it's basically the biggest thing happening in the country.

which party is promising what? Who's who? What does it all mean ? How does it affect me and my life?

99.9 - 100% of us have complained about the way this country is run or some government decisions at some point.

Eg,

Have you ever said or thought about any of the following?

• Minimum wage is too low
• Taxes are too high.
• The benefits systems a mess
• Rent prices are rediculous 
• The NHS is falling apart 
• Who thought of the bedroom tax?

However in the 2010 General Election, out of the approx 46 million people eligable to vote only 65% did.

If everybody who could actually vote did so, we may actually end up with the government we want.

In 1950 the highest percentage of eligable voters in history turned up at the polling stations , 83.9%

The lowest percentage in history was 2001. Only 59.4% of those who could voted.

So many people fought for the right to democracy and to vote. I think it's important to remember that.

If like me, you find politics hard to understand and are confused about who to vote for. I'd reccomend googling policies not parties. I found a very helpful site that broke down each parties policies and matched me to a party who's policies reflected what was personally important to me.

There's a bunch of great sites and quizzes that can help you decide who most deserves your vote.

On a personal level I found them a lot more helpful than any news story / televised debate.

I hope this has been helpful in some way shape or form.

In order to vote you have to be registered.

If you're not already you can do so at

http://registertovote.service.gov.uk

Love

Charlotte 

xxx

Blog makeover...

Hi guys,

Just a quick post, mainly to explain my lack of posts.

I'm currently in the process of having my blog re designed and totally made over to give it a fresh,up to date, more professional look. So please bare with me while things are all over the place

In the mean time I've been focusing on my youtube channel so if you could head over to www.youtube.com/missclx and subscribe that would mean the world to ne.

Here are some of my latest vids

I'm so excited for the future of my blog, if you're not already hit the follow button to keep up to date.




Love
Charlotte
xxx