I see the term “soul dog” on social media all the time.
It is generally used to describe a dog that touches someone’s life in a way no other animal, or person (for that matter), ever has – the kind of bond that goes beyond ownership or routine. It’s about connection, understanding, and a shared sense of love that is hard to explain, but impossible to forget once you’ve felt it.
Five years ago, I met my soul dog, an 85lb staffie / mastiff cross with a heart of gold.
At the beginning of the year, I made a deliberate effort to take back control of my life. I had become aware that the pace I was keeping wasn’t sustainable, so I took some fairly extensive steps to create more balance and structure. I wanted to be more intentional with my time, to focus on what genuinely mattered rather than getting caught up in the constant state of being ‘busy.’
For the first few months, it worked well. I felt calmer, more focused, and was far better at managing my time and energy. But gradually, without really noticing, old habits began to creep back in. One small commitment led to another, and before long, that balance that I had worked so hard to create had started to slip away.
The last time I sat down to write a blog post was back in July. As I have done so many times before, I told myself that I would get back into the habit and post more often. Then, as life became more hectic, it all became a bit overwhelming.
You know those rare days where everything just goes… right? That was last weekend.
The Bloke and I took a spontaneous trip to London. I had already booked the day off in anticipation of being needed by a social media client, who unfortunately wasn’t available. Meanwhile, The Bloke discovered that he had a few surprise days of annual leave, so we made a last-minute decision to have an overnight stay, just for a change of scenery and a bit of head-space after what has seemed like a rather intense few months. We hadn’t done a proper touristy day out together since last September, so we figured we were due.
Over the past week, the UK has been basking in a stretch of glorious weather – the kind of weather that we usually have to board a plane to find. On the rare occasions when we experience this, I find myself saying to The Bloke, “It smells like holiday.”
It’s a difficult thing to describe, but it evokes memories of going out in the evening while on holiday in a Mediterranean country, a combination of heat fading from the day and the subtle scents that come with dry, sunny weather.
A few weeks ago, Mum and I hopped over to Belfast for a quick trip. The whole reason? The Titanic Museum.
It would be an understatement to say that she’s a Titanic obsessive. She has paintings signed by a survivor, an original 1912 newspaper that was published just a few days after the sinking, White Star Line wine glasses, replicas of the menus and tickets and a playlist of the music performed by the quartet on board, books, DVDs, clothing… She’s been to every exhibition you can imagine since it was discovered – I very distinctly remember going to the Greenwich Maritime Museum as a young child when some of the artefacts from the wreckage were recovered and put on display in the 90s, my parents then went to Wembley to see James Cameron’s tour of the movie set and costumes, and in the last few years alone I have booked and organised trips so she can see exhibitions at London Docklands, Worcester and the NEC. At the beginning of the year, she went to Camden for the VR experience that is currently there…
Suffice to say, the Titanic Museum in Belfast has been at the top of her list for a very long time, and this is something that she has been going on (and on, and on) about for years.
Now, I’ll be honest – the Titanic has never really been my thing. I appreciate the history, of course, and I get why it’s significant, but after being made to spend many hours reading plaques and looking at ship artefacts and replicas in my youth, it is no longer my idea of a good time.
Last year, I saw that Jason Donovan was on tour in 2025. I’ve been a lifelong fan, getting his first album on vinyl when I was just 8 years old, and to this day some of the songs from that very album still feature on my regular playlist.
I immediately booked a ticket for his performance at Symphony Hall. Just one ticket, just for me. I didn’t even think of asking anyone else if they wanted to come with me, because I knew instantly that this was something that I wanted to do by myself.
April marked twelve years since I first hit the publish button on the blog.
Twelve whole years. It feels surreal even typing that. What started as a quiet little corner of the internet to share thoughts, observations, and the occasional rant has become something far more personal than I ever imagined. Yet, looking at the tumbleweeds rolling through the archives recently, you wouldn’t think it meant much at all.
It’s the first week of February and thank goodness… Did anybody else feel like January was the longest month ever, or was it just me?
Despite this, 2025 has been pretty great so far. The steps that I took at the end of last year to reduce my workload and commitments have been extremely effective – so effective, in fact, that I was initially unnerved by how quickly I completed my task list each day. It took a little while to get rid of the nagging feeling that I had missed something, and I had to get out of the habit of triple checking everything just in case.
Over the last few years I have added a ‘Memories & Highlights’ double page into my Bullet Journal. This serves as a reminder at the end of the year of all the positive things that I’ve been lucky enough to experience over the last twelve months, and is extremely helpful during times when things are tough.
Perhaps the most challenging part was at the start of the year when we moved house, and what followed was MONTHS of individual battles with various companies including SCS and So Energy (that went on for nine months until I lost my temper and started leaving negative reviews – amazing how a 1* review on Trust Pilot suddenly makes a company pay attention). We quickly realised that neither the landlord and the property management company weren’t interested in helping too, which hasn’t been great.
However, 2024 (despite all the challenges and annoyances we’ve faced this year), has in fact been pretty great for the most part.
The Bloke and I have again been extremely lucky to watch numerous shows at the theatre. My favourites? Book of Mormon, &Juliet, Hamilton, I Should Be So Lucky, Here & Now and Dear Evan Hansen – many of which were on my bucket list. Additionally, I got the opportunity to meet STEPS at their press launch, and I don’t think I blogged about it at the time, but I met Pete Waterman TWICE. I won’t go into detail now as this post is already going to be a lengthy one, but I was so overwhelmed by meeting him that I cried when I got home.
I think 2024 was the first year since I started blogging over a decade ago that I didn’t post something before Christmas.
Yes, I was busy – December is often one of the busiest points of the year as both my clients and I take some time off over the festive season, so essentially a month’s worth of work needs to be done, approved and scheduled in advance in less than three weeks. Additionally, regardless of how organised I try to be, there are ALWAYS extra things that appear – company Christmas parties and events (the week before Christmas I was in London for two days filming several events with a client), Christmas and New Year video messages from different teams etc. I genuinely enjoy it – this time of year is always perfect for creating lots of fun and joyful content, but it doesn’t necessarily allow for personal Christmas prep time, (despite my declarations in November that this year would be different).
Suzie Speaks 
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