Thinking back to a few months ago during lockdown, were you one of those many, many people who started that time with good intentions of getting fit, healthy eating and learning new stuff? I was! We made our garage into a home gym including a flabelos machine, dusted off the recipe books for inspiration, downloaded an Italian language app, donned my teacher cap with gusto to homeschool my two children to the outstanding standard I once achieved, started various DIY projects and embarked on several online courses and accreditations including shirin-yoku and a master herbalogy. Alas, the flabalos machine stands looking forlorn (though my daughter likes to have an occasional wobble for the laugh); I'm still considered beginner level in Italian according to the app; despite both myself and my husband being qualified and, dare I say it, bloody good teachers, we actually found that neither of our own offspring wanted to engage in our lessons, adhere to our behaviour expectations or indeed even lift their head off the table! Over to you BBC Bitesize; give us a class of 30 other people's children instead! The hall, stairs and landing still need painting although I did learn the art of wallpapering - hurrah! But I did manage to keep the children alive, not get divorced, steer clear of alcoholism, keep my businesses going in turbulent times, eat healthily (sorry Boris, but only got a takeaway once in the whole time despite your best efforts), get outside for exercise and fresh air, care for my Dad in his last days (that'll be another post because gosh, did I learn a lot then and continue to learn and occasionally absolutely breakdown over - but that's a journey we all have to face in one way or another so might be helpful to share) and actually I did finish those shirin-yoku and master herbalist courses. Can't say the same about the other courses I started, but hey, can't do it all.

Focussing now on the herbology course. It's something I've dipped my toe in over the last couple of years, wanting to improve my health in a holistic and natural way. I've taken the advice of people and have, to various degrees, felt the benefit, but I wanted a bit more knowledge for myself. But with this knowledge came an extensive list of what supplements and vitamins I, and my family, should take for various reasons to reach and maintain optimum physical, mental and emotional health. When I say extensive, I mean that my shopping list for the local health shop was long, REALLY LONG. But I had all good intentions of going and splashing out a fortune (not that I can afford to but hey, health is wealth and all that) on all this packets, pills and potions. But then I got a grip of myself and thought "actually Vicky, you can't afford all this, plus it'd take a serious amount of dedication and time commitment to actually take all these things in the recommended ways and at various times of the day. You don't have time to be making all these smoothies with spirulina and maca and all that, and even when you do, you know you're not keen on them!" So I then started looking into alternatives.

This is when I came across Hello Day. This is a range of high quality, natural supplements that are tailored to the seasons to help to anticipate and prevent the associated symptoms and manage our health, alongside a healthy, balanced diet and active lifestyle. Reasonably priced and easy to take too, so that's those concerns out of the way. These supplements combine so many of the individual supplements and vitamins that I had on my list into one easy to take capsule or sachet that can be added to an easy glass of water, or smoothie, if you're into those (which I am if someone else makes it for me, but CBA doing it myself). The 14 products are aimed at specific problems such as fatigue, stress, allergies, immunity support, circulation plus many with really important probiotic support (gut health is so important) and essential vitamins like vitamin D - so important for a good immune system and one that you may well have seen the importance of in the news recently.

I started on a few of the Hello Day supplements recently and so far, I am impressed. I'm not one to buy into things nor advertise products that I don't believe in but, like I say, so far, I am feeling the benefits. On the instagram and facebook pages, I'll give a bit more information about what I'm taking now and what I'll take in the future. I'm currently taking immunity support, vitality balance and beauty boost from the Autumn box and really do feel in good shape, inside and out and due to the probiotic support and additional, really important vitamin D that's included in both immunity support and beauty boost, I feel confident in the resilience of my gut health and immune system.

So you'll find I'll talk more, honestly too, about Hello Day supplements but in the meantime, have a look on their website www.hello-day.com. If you do go ahead and purchase any, there's a box that asks for the ambassador - find and click on Victoria_flow, then they'll know where you've come from.

Now, I feel ready for whatever the next few months bring!