I am just an ordinary girl, in an ordinary world who loves to share her writing with you all, so please come and check out my daily blog, you won't regret it.
Friday is finally here—a time when most of us can relax and unwind. For those of you with a love (or addiction!) for padel, I hope you have some great games lined up.
Yesterday was one of the hardest days my family has faced in a long time. We had to say goodbye to my dog, and the house already feels emptier without her. Since the day my parents brought me home from the hospital, I’ve always had pets by my side. This is the first time in my life that I don’t, and it’s a feeling I can’t quite put into words.
Losing her has been incredibly painful. But it also reminded me how important it is to find a way to cope with sadness. Even if it’s just for a short while, giving yourself a break from the pain matters.
For me, that escape is dancing. While the vet was at our house yesterday, I was at dance class. I showed up with tears in my eyes, my face red and swollen—but I still went. And somehow, for one full hour, my teacher and friends helped me smile again. I didn’t think that would be possible. I almost didn’t go, but I’m so grateful that I did.
When I got home, the sadness was still there, and I cried again—but for that one hour, I felt okay. And sometimes, that’s enough to get you through the day.
Having something that brings you even a moment of peace is so important for your mental health. Dancing is a part of who I am, and I’m grateful it gives me that space to breathe.
Find your happy place and hold onto it tightly. It can make all the difference.
Where is yours?
Quote of the day: “A happy place is not just a location, but a state of mind.” — Emily Johnson
I hope you are all having a great year so far and it has been everything you have hoped for.
My year so far has been really busy and hectic which is just how I like it. Now that I am recovered from my operation, I have absolutely no pain in my jaw and I am loving every bit of it, the pain I was feeling before my op and after was so overwhelming that it almost made me feel depressed. So now that the pain is gone, I am happier than I have ever been.
I have also been incredibly busy with work. My mom and dad have been giving me lots to do and I am really starting to understand the job a lot more and I am able to take on more responsibilities. At first going into the finance industry from the Padel industry was really tough, but I think I am finally getting the hang of it and I am so glad I decided to work for my parents.
I have also been really busy with dancing. Dancing is my favourite thing to do, it is the best part of my week and the day I have lessons and socials is my favourite day of the week, because while I dance, I don’t think about any of my stresses. I’ve been doing spotlight dances and I have my exams coming up soon so I have been practicing for that A LOT.
I have also been really busy with Padel. I have been going for Padel coaching and joining leagues because I really want to start upping my Padel game and play against difficult people in higher up leagues.
We recently went on a 2 week holiday and that was so great, even though we did work on holiday it was still really relaxing.
How has your year been so far?
Quote of the day is “You are never too old to set a goal or to dream a new dream” by C.S Lewis
I hope you are all doing fantastic despite the rainy weather if you are in Joburg.
After everything that happened with my jaw surgery, work being busy and just life in general being busy, my parents and I have been absolutely drained emotionally, mentally and physically. We decided it was finally time for us to go away on holiday.
At first we wanted to go to a really nice hotel we saw in Ballito, on the website this hotel looked like the perfect holiday spot to relax and unwind. Little did we know, that was the opposite of what we got (I am not going to name the hotel). I won’t go into too much detail but to summarise the experience, the rooms were a lot smaller than what was promised and they did not inform us that they were under construction. We were supposed to go for 10 days but my dad decided to instead book us into the Umhlanga Cabanas and that was the best decision we had made. So on the second day there we packed our bags and went to Umhlanga. Thankfully dad got a refund.
Our Umhlanga holiday has been as close to perfect as you could ever get, we have had a great time here. Everybody is so friendly and the rooms are a better size to accommodate the 3 of us. We were supposed to only stay for a week because the Cabanas is a timeshare place and so you can only stay from Saturday to Saturday. We enjoyed our stay so much that we decided to spontaneously extend our stay another week, which was a great decision.
We have eaten at amazing restaurants, I definitely have a few favourite restaurants , as an example, my favourite breakfast restaurant is M&J. There’s been some live music at the hotel, we have played Bingo and chilled at the pool getting some R&R and watching all the activities. It really has been great and relaxing. We went to Umdloti for the day and walked on the beach as well as Salt Rock, I actually ate curry for the first time and enjoyed it (I am not a lover of spice, so this was big for me).
We did bring our laptops with so that we could do some work, thankfully we can work remotely from anywhere.
I hope you enjoyed my blog post and I hope you have a fantabulous day.
It is that time of the year again. The time where love is celebrated, whether it be from the love of a significant other or even the love from friends and family… all love is celebrated. Even though it is an absolutely amazing feeling to have a special valentine, it is also ok to not have a valentine.
Being a girl who has not had a valentine for 5 years, I know how it feels particularly for the girls to not have one. That is why the invention of Galentines Day was invented. This is a day for you and a group of your single friends to get together and celebrate the love of friendship, because to have a group of really great friends is just as important, maybe even more important.
Dating these days is not always easy, because the majority of the time it is all online dating and that is incredibly difficult, I have been doing online for years and still haven’t found “the one”. I would say choose to remain hopeful, because your person is out there somewhere, you just need to be patient.
Last night I celebrated Valentines Day with all my friends at the dancing studio. We had our Spotlight Social and I did the Salsa as my Spotlight Dance. It was so much fun and the best way to end off the week.
Thank you for reading my post, I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you have a great Valentines Day.
I hope you are all having an incredible start to 2026 and crossing some of those items off of your resolutions list. I know I have already started to cross some off. I am in the process of learning how to play the guitar… but I will save that for another post.
At the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted to learn how to cook, I just felt it was time to start using something other than the air fryer as a source of making food for myself. So with the help of my amazing teacher, otherwise known as mom, I made a delicious Spaghetti for my parents and I for dinner last night. I have made Spaghetti before when I was living on my own, but my dad always made the Bolognese and then all I had to do was cook the Spaghetti part. Last night I cooked the entire thing from start to finish, well except for cutting the onions… that was just not happening, but I did everything else. I even made my mom take many photos of me to document the rare occasion, which I will be sharing in this post.
Even though I am generally not the type of person who enjoys cooking… I am more of a baker, I actually had lots of fun and the fact that everyone genuinely loved it made me feel really good. I think the reason why I never enjoyed cooking before was because, I just wasn’t all that good at it. Now that I have made a really good meal, I am starting to enjoy it a bit more.
That just shows that when you persevere with something and really try and make it work, it might just turn out to be the best decision you have made. I am not sure what the next meal I make will be, but I am looking forward to it.
What have you crossed off your list so far ?
Thank you for reading this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Here are some but not all of the many pictures we took.
Have you ever had a random thought in your head and you just couldn’t get it out ?
I had a thought like that the other day. People always use the phrase “Just A Regular Tuesday”, and I always wondered why they used the day Tuesday specifically, I mean does it even have a special reason. Well I got tired of the endless wondering and decided to google it.
It turns out there is actually a reason why we use Tuesday in this saying. Tuesday is considered a bland or unremarkable day of the week. Whereas every other day has a specific meaning to them.
Monday is associated with the start of the work or school week and is not liked by many people. Wednesday is in the middle of the week, otherwise known as “Hump day”. Thursday is close to the weekend and referred to as “Friday eve”. Friday is the end of the work week and the start to the weekend. Then you get Tuesday, this particular day of the week lacks any specific association, making it the most ordinary and unmemorable day.
I honestly did not expect to find an actual reason for why they used Tuesday specifically, but it makes a lot of sense why they would use that day, because the day Tuesday really does not have any significant purpose….. so lets give it one by using it in one of the most popular sayings.
Every year, we always create New Years Resolution lists at the beginning of the year, some goals are big and some are small. Going into the new year with a plan is always a good idea, because it is important to set goals for yourself no matter how big or small, because it helps you focus your mind on something and gives you something to live for.
The biggest thing I realized this year is that sometimes life does not go the way you expected and you need to sometimes alter your lists to fit your situation. This is not always a bad thing, it is just important to remember that you need to open yourself up to the opportunities around you and welcome change into your life. After having many conversations with many different people, I noticed that a lot of people get really upset and think that they failed if they don’t fulfill their lists and goals, and I just wanted to tell you that it is ok not to meet every expectation, we are all human.
Every year, I make my resolutions lists, and every year I probably do about 1 of the things on my list, because either the goals on my list were not possible to achieve in just that one year, or they weren’t the correct goals for me. As the years go by, we sometimes change as people and that is caused by events that happen in our lives, even if it’s one single event. You could have on your list that you would like to create your own business, but then you realize that you don’t actually have what it takes to own your own business, so you end up working for someone in an industry that you didn’t even think was an option for you. You just need to realize that it is ok to admit when something is not going to work out.
When I was in high school, I wanted to be a Journalist but I didn’t get the grades to study it, and so I changed my dreams a little bit to suit my situation, however I still found a way to continue writing by starting my own blog and it is the best decision I ever made. When you are really passionate about something then it is very often better to do it as a hobby and get a career in something else, so that you can keep your passion alive without the pressure of having a career around it. Having my own blog means I can write about whatever I want to write about without having the pressures of a deadline or a boss to answer to.
I hope 2026 is everything you hope it will be and carry on creating those goals for yourself, just don’t beat yourself up if you don’t achieve all of them.
I will be making my list in the new year and then will post it, but I hope you enjoyed this post and enjoy celebrating the end of 2025 with all your friends and family, I know I will.
As we are heading into the last weeks of 2025, it is time to take a look at everything that happened during the course of the year.
For me personally, this year has been about self growth and I feel like I learnt a lot about myself and overcame some very large obstacles, and even some small ones. There have been tons of highs, however with the highs there are still some lows.
I am not going to list every single thing that happened to me, because there are way too many things to list in one post. There are 3 major things that happened during the course of the year, that I feel shaped me as a person in a major way.
The first major thing that happened to me was I moved out of the house and into a flat of my own. Living on my own had its ups and downs, learning how to cook was a challenge, I struggled with affordability a little and I was struggling with being on my own, I got lonely and was pretty depressed because I didn’t have anybody to talk to. I started working for my parents after I left the padel industry and so that meant I was at their house more than I was at my own. Moving back in with my parents was the best thing for me to do, because it benefited both of us for many different reasons. I always thought that moving back home meant that I was taking a step back and essentially failing, but I soon realized that accepting the fact that I was not ready to move out and asking for help was actually a good thing. Accepting that you need help is not a bad thing, if it’s really necessary, I learnt that the hard way and I am so happy for it. The next time I move out, it will probably be when I meet someone, so that I am not by myself.
The next big thing that happened was not necessarily a huge thing but it led to big changes in my life. 5 years ago I joined a dancing studio called Strictly Ballroom. They teach Ballroom and Latin dancing there and I was really passionate about it, sadly I had to leave the studio for reasons that were out of my control. I was doing Pole Dancing on and off for a while but never really got into it completely, I thought maybe if I practiced more, I would get better but I didn’t have the right build for that. I was always looking at Facebook and saw Strictly Ballroom’s posts about their socials and they always looked like they were having so much fun, I really missed it. I eventually decided to join Strictly Ballroom again this year and I am so beyond happy that I did. Ballroom and Latin dancing is by far the type of dancing I am more passionate about. If I could go to dancing every day I would, I just have this huge wave of enjoyment every time I am there, and it helped lift my spirits after I had to move back home. For many people this would not be counted as a “big thing” when looking back on everything they did in the year. The reason why this is so important it because during this whole thing, I met my 2 best friends. All throughout school and after school I was never the girl who had a lot of friends, and the friendships I did have were not long lasting. So that is why this is so incredibly big, it’s because of the friendships I made when I joined the studio again. I met 2 people who are the best friends I have ever had and I know in my heart that we will stay friends. Joining the studio again was the best decision I ever made.
Now we get to the biggest obstacle I have ever had to overcome. For as long as I can remember, I have had issues with my Jaw called TMJ. I have been to every single doctor you can think of: Dentists, General Practitioner, Chiropractor, Maxillofacial Surgeons and I even tried Laser therapy and nothing seemed to work. The only thing that worked was getting Botox injections every couple of months, that was a temporary fix though. Every single one of these doctors told us at some point that the best solution is a jaw reconstruction surgery, we did not want to go that route though, because it is major surgery to my face. My parents decided to take me to their dental surgeon, and this was the best decision we could’ve made, because he told us from just looking at me that was I have is not TMJ but something worse called Mio Facial Pain Disfunction Syndrome (MPDS for short) . He suggested I get braces and then in future get the operation. He immediately made an appointment with an Orthodontist that he works closely with, she is amazing. We went there and she agreed with him completely on what he had said. After having many meetings and consultations with her, she explained to us that the reason I have pain in my mouth is because the angles in my mouth were all incorrect, and if I didn’t fix it now then it would be a lot worse when I am around 40. We decided to get the braces and I have had them in for about 5 or 6 months. We finally gave in and agreed to do the surgery, because now we realized that it really is the best option, well the only option really. After having the braces for a few months, the Orthodontist said that my teeth were now correctly aligned, and it was now possible to do the surgery.
So on the 30 October I had a double jaw reconstruction surgery. Even though the surgeon tried to prepare me for what the recovery afterwards would be like, there are not enough words in the English dictionary to prepare you for what I went through. For the whole of November, I went through the toughest recovery of my life, I was in a huge amount of pain all the time. In simple terms, it felt like I was going through hell. I spent 2 days in High Care after the surgery, because I needed to be watched for the first 2 days and monitored because it was such a huge surgery. I was eating out of a syringe because I couldn’t chew or get a spoon into my mouth. My mom had to sleep in my room with me every night when I got home because I kept getting up in the middle of the night due to me being in a lot of pain (thank god for pain killers). I couldn’t do any physical activity, so dancing and playing Padel have not been an option for a really long time. The only thing that has kept me going was all the love and support I have been getting from all of my family and friends. I am still recovering, but thankfully most of the pain is gone, just working on getting my energy back up to what it used to be. I will forever be grateful to the wonderful team and surgeon that did my surgery, because they did an amazing job. The surgery lasted 3 hours.
The biggest thing I learnt this year is that I am way stronger than I think I am, and if I really trust myself and believe in myself, then I can get through anything. Going into that operation, I was so scared and honestly didn’t know how I would get through it, but I did and I am incredibly proud of myself and thankful that I have people in my life who care about me and support me.
What are the biggest things that you guys learnt this year about yourselves.
I hope you are well. A lot of people have been asking me to write a blog post on why I started blogging and how the experience has been for me personally.
My love of writing came when I was in grade 8 or 9. I used to write little stories for my English teacher and then he would mark them for me, not for school work or anything, it was just for fun. After that, I decided that I wanted to work as a journalist because I just loved it so much, I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to do more.
I was not exactly the A+ student in school and so sadly I did not have high enough marks to be able to study Journalism. My mom had the idea for me to start a blog so that I could carry on writing for fun instead of it being a job.
Writing posts for you guys has brought me so much joy because, I get to tell stories and try motivate people by just bringing in a little bit more positivity into everyone’s lives. Blogging is a way that I can express myself in a healthy way, especially when I get to blog about things that I am passionate about like Padel, Dancing, Reiki, Art etc.
I can only hope that you guys have enjoyed reading my posts as much as I have enjoyed writing them and I hope you continue to read them and always give me feedback on what you would like to hear about next.
I hope you are all enjoying this heat, it seems we have skipped Spring and gone straight into Summer. I definitely think that cold front will creep up on us suddenly.
The other day someone asked me a very good question, “If I were to redo any day in my life, which day would it be”. At the time I didn’t know the answer to the question, but last night I was going through photos on my phone and I came across a picture that reminded me of a special moment that I had.
My parents and I went on holiday to Kaapsehoop to visit a friend of theirs. We went on a trail ride and I am petrified of horses but I had always wanted to go on a trail ride and face that fear. When I got on the horse I was shaking from head to toe because I was so nervous, I almost got off the horse.
Before I got off the horse, a man came up to me, he was a horse whisperer. I thought horse whisperers only existed in movies like Heartland, but he proved me wrong. He walked up to me and I immediately felt calmer. He told me to let go of the horse and put my arms out, giving all of the control to the horse. I didn’t want to do it at first because I like to be in control of what I do as a sense of security, but I decided to go against my better judgment and did what he told me to.
That feeling of giving up control and putting all of my trust in the horse was the best feeling ever and definitely one I would go back to. We just walked around in a circle with me letting go and then we went on our trail ride. We went on a trail ride every day while we were there and I had a specific horse that I rode.
What day or moment in your life would you go back to.
Kelly's Daily Blog 