Hey! So Glad You're Here.
You may have read enough about me from the homepage but here's a bit more for any of you empathetic individuals that are still interested -
I'm Matt - originally from the UK's most easterly point (namely: Lowestoft, Suffolk), now living in West London, where I've been since 2014. I work in King's Cross for a big, Academic Publisher, and I've been in the publishing industry (including 5 years in Oxford) since 2010 - time flies!
It has been an incredibly interesting and varied career to date, which has taken me all over the world, and introduced me to new cultures and friends that I would not have seen/met otherwise. Before Publishing, I studied English Literature & Language at the University of Leicester, enjoyed a long summer on a student work visa in Toronto, Canada, and spent one year in Bangkok, Thailand, as a TEFL Teacher.
In my late twenties/early thirties, it was all about running for me. I'm proud to have completed a handful of marathons, and used to spend a lot of my time researching new and far-flung races. Nowadays, I still get stimulation from running, but it's not all-consuming as it once was, involves much shorter distances, and the enjoyment I get from it is more about interacting with the community (like at parkrun) rather than the actual act of running!
I'm rekindling the happiness that I previously discovered in other activities - like eating (ahem), reading, travelling (including plane spotting!) & enjoying the city that I live in, which of course, includes lots of spin classes! I also volunteer at (aforementioned) Gunnersbury parkrun, where you can find me Run Directing on a handful of Saturdays per year.
Over the years - like many of us - I've had my ups and downs with mental health. Equally, over the years - maybe also like many of us - I've chosen to *not* do the things that supports a healthy lifestyle. But that's OK. At times, I've described myself as a human yoyo - where you'll find me running the London Marathon one month, and then drinking/smoking like a millennial student the next. I mean, there's balance and then there's whatever that is.
And, to be honest, after the early months of the pandemic where I responded positively, doing all of the "exercise" and organizing all of the virtual socials, I went in a different direction, dropped off a bit of a cliff, and I don't think I've ever really recovered. I've been happy at times, and have been able to pick out the positive parts of the last few years - often once they've passed - but I haven't really been me for a while, hence using some newly found spare time to get back to doing what I always used to enjoy but found it so easy to avoid - writing!
I'm hoping that by revisiting this hobby of mine, and getting stuff written down in black & white, I might just start to be able to eat away at those negative, repeat behaviours that have somewhat scuppered me over the years.
Thus, I've created this blog to regain some focus on those happy things, restart a hobby that used to support my mental health in a big way (i.e. writing), and create an archive of my passions & interests, which you might enjoy reading about if you ever discover this site ;-) .
So... hop aboard on this journey with me - welcome to my life and my inner thoughts!