What’s working (so far) in 2025
Small changes, big impact.
Hi friends,
How was your Christmas and New Year? That feels strange to say now we’re nearly a month into January, but hey - my last letter was before the festive period, and I would genuinely love to know.
As we are almost one month into 2025, I’m already thinking about what changes I've made and how they’re working out.
It turns out that despite me not picking a new word of the year or changing my vision board, there were some things I wanted to pull into focus. Well, one thing really - my health.
Mental health, physical health… I basically want to feel better in 2025 and a few changes I’ve made are already helping.
With that being said, if you’re not in a place to hear about health-related things right now - I totally understand, feel free to skip this letter and I’ll catch up with you in the next one.
Why I’m focusing on health
Toward the end of last year I got fed up with two things: one, getting bug after bug and two, worsening period pains.
The bug thing I feel all of us can relate to - did anyone not have the flu this winter?! I just feel like my immune system never fully recovered after covid and I’m tired of wondering each time I have a sore throat if it’s just tiredness (anyone else get sore throats when tired?!) or yet another illness.
The period pain (and other associated symptoms) is a long-standing issue that has so far resulted in one ultrasound that was clear, so no further support was offered (!).
I’m in pain during different times throughout my cycle now, feeling more and more fatigued with it and overall frustrated with the idea of having to accept this is just ‘the way it is’.
It was the nurse who did my smear test who prompted me to speak to a doctor (again) about the issues, and I’m so glad she did. I spoke to a doctor who genuinely seemed to listen. I was prescribed medication and told the next steps if this doesn’t work.
I’ve been exploring the possibility of it being endometriosis too, which is what’s prompted some of the changes I’ll share here.
Of course I don’t know if I have it - I spoke to the doctor and the only way to diagnose it is through a surgical procedure which, the doctor explained, can lead to further issues, including chronic pain. So, this will be a last resort if other approaches don’t help. We will see - perhaps I’ll never know for sure.
Anyway, hopefully that explains the why, so here’s the what.
Strolling breaks instead of scrolling breaks
Previously whenever I felt the need for a little break from work or, let’s be honest, when I wanted to procrastinate, I would pick up my phone for a ‘scroll break’.
First Instagram stories, then TikTok and perhaps a quick glance at Facebook and LinkedIn. This wasn’t great for a few reasons.
It often spiralled from a quick break to… a longer break (shh, don’t tell my boss).
It could leave me in a worse mood because, well, *gesticulates wildly*.
It kept me sat at my desk, usually slumped.
I was moving from one screen to another - not wonderful for the eyes.
It didn’t exactly motivate me or give me energy to keep working.
This year I’ve been keeping my phone in a different room while working and every time I feel the need for a break (or, of course, procrastinate - I’m still human) I will jump on my walking pad for five minutes.
This gets me up and moving more throughout the day which has done wonders for my energy, I stick to the five minutes because by the time it’s done I feel ready to get back to work (in fact, I often come up with ideas or solutions to things I’m stuck on while walking), and my mood is better (those endorphins).
It also means when the end of the day comes around, I truly savour a scroll session. It’s like a treat. Looking at my screen time average, this has dropped from around 4 and a half hours a day to 2 hours 50 minutes. Not bad!
Not posting on stories as much
The dropping screen time is also likely because I’ve been much less active on Instagram stories. Last year I got into a bit of a habit of posting most days and once I got into the routine I felt a weird pressure to keep it up (why though, I have no idea).
When I returned to work I decided people on the Internet don’t need to know what I’m doing every single day. Instead I want to share things when I actually have something to share.
This has led to less time on Instagram (when you post you want to see how many people have seen, how many people have liked, how many people have messaged…) and this has felt quite nice.
I’m not planning to come off of social media, and I know I go through phases with this so may well return to being more active in the future, but for now this feels like a nice balance.
Social media is a strange place to be at the moment anyway, with the likes of Musk and Zuckerberg running things, I despair a little.
(Showing up here on Substack feels nicer.)
Following an anti-inflammatory way of eating
This ties into my suspicion that I may have endometriosis. I’ve experimented with reducing gluten before (after reading about this study) and found it helpful, so I was interested to see what would happen if I add more anti-inflammatory foods to my diet and reduce inflammatory foods (there’s limited evidence, but is often recommended to try for endometriosis).
Over Christmas I had my new medication to help with pain, but it was Christmas - so I was eating all the yummy (but inflammatory) Christmassy foods. I noticed I still had quite a bit of pain on my period so when January came around I thought I would try this new way of eating to see how this combined with the medication would work.
And after my recent period I have to say, it made an impact. The duration and intensity of my pain was much less. Interestingly though, Dan noted I was grumpier this month (my PMS was particularly rough, sorry Dan) but I wonder if other factors were at play? I was tired after returning to work after the festive break and caught off-guard by an early period, so who knows.
I will keep going with this anti-inflammatory way of eating - I’ve found meals and snacks I love and don’t feel like I’m restricting myself which is key. I feel like this way of eating can only be doing good and hopefully supporting my immune system too, so it seems like a win-win.
(Note: This is me sharing my experience, not recommending or advocating for any particular way of eating - we’re all individuals and different approaches work for different people.)
Reformer Pilates
I moved over from mat Pilates to reformer Pilates at the end of last year and when the time came to book the next block of classes I winced at the cost, asked for a payment plan (and got one, praise be) and committed to another two blocks.
I’ve been doing Pilates for a few years now and reformer is challenging me in new ways and I’m feeling stronger because of it.
It’s hard. But good. Generally I’m increasing my activity levels to help with my immune system and to feel a bit fitter and less out of breath walking up a hill.
This year my hope is to keep up with a more consistent routine, while also listening to my body and taking it easy/resting when I need to.
As someone with a history of an eating disorder, an interest in the body positivity movement and a promise made to myself never to restrict myself, I don’t believe health (or thinness, for that matter) is tied to morality.
Being healthy doesn’t make you better than anyone else and if it’s not something you want to pursue, you don’t have to.
There is a narrative at this time of year that health is the only thing that matters, a narrative that doesn’t tell the full story (hello chronic illness, economics, genetics) and a narrative I generally try and distance myself from.
But… I also recognise that we are all different and have different reasons for pursuing the things we do. I’m not changing my diet and exercising more to fit society’s ideal of ‘healthy’ or to make myself smaller.
I’m doing it to reduce pain. I’m doing it so I can run around and play with my niece for longer. I’m doing it so I can keep up with my friends when we go for seaside walks. I’m doing it to spend less time sick in bed.
I’m doing it to make my life larger.
It may not work. It may not stick. I’m treating it like an experiment and I’m enjoying myself along the way. Check in with me in six months and we’ll see where I’m at ;)
I’d love to hear more about your relationship with health and any positive (or negative!) changes you’ve made in this area. Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading and I’ll be in touch soon. Until then, take care.
Kat x
Your writing always resonates with me, Kat, and yes, I also get sore throats whenever I am tired! For me, it's only happened since Covid. I've had to really listen to my body and notice when I might need that day of self-care. Great newsletter, thank you.
Wishing you all the best health-wise, Kat! I know from experience how daunting and isolating it is to go through endless tests for a mystery health issue.
I am deep in my Reformer Pilates era at the moment. I feel so much stronger for it! And, I'm currently taking a long ol' break from my main Instagram account. I feel miles better. So much so, that I'm considering not returning, and prioritising Substack and bookstagram. Perhaps social media is also for reasons and seasons.