After 2 months living in the Cotswolds, what's changed and what's next?

How I measured up to my goals and an overdue reckoning with something I've been putting off (MAKING MONEY)

Jun 22, 2026

It’s been two months since I came back from living in the English countryside for all of March and April. Apparently, for however long a trip is, I need an equivalent amount of time to reestablish my home routine and reflect on how the trip impacted me lol.

This post is a follow up to the one I wrote at the outset of my trip about why and how I was making this time in the Cotswolds happen. If you’ve already read that, let’s get into what’s changed for me post-England and what’s on the horizon.

WHAT’S CHANGED

Starting my mornings outside

Yeah, okay, this is a stupid one. Apparently, I need to be bludgeoned with the obvious repeatedly for it to get into my head: being outside is good for my mental health! All I had to do was take a trip across the Atlantic ocean to remember that.

But really, I spent so much more time outside in England than I do when at home in Charlotte. This can be attributed to a few things: country walks (and the copious public footpaths that facilitate them) are common in the Cotswolds, the weather was especially agreeable while I was there, and I was motivated to explore as much as possible knowing I had limited time to get after it.

As a result, I’ve felt a renewed inclination to be outside as much as possible. The best way I’ve found to fit it into my day is by doing my first hour of work with breakfast and coffee at the table in our extremely ho-hum backyard. Turns out, the yard does not have to be an absolutely abundant English garden for this to have a positive impact on my mood (though I am reminded every time I’m out there that something should be done to zhush it up).

We will do something about the backyard EVENTUALLY!

Though as I am writing this, it seems Charlotte has finally broken into the consistently hot and humid weather of full summer (95 degrees with 50% humidity currently) which is North Carolina’s LEAST appealing season, in my humble opinion. I find summer depressing here and one of the tools in my arsenal of keeping the sads at bay is to take whatever sedentary activity I am doing inside and do it OUTSIDE. Even at these temps, I can tolerate 30 minutes of nature air (vs. house air) and surely that is doing something to my brain chemistry?

The one outing a day rule

Aiming to have one outing a day while I was in the Cotswolds came about as a way for me to feel like I was getting my fill of exploration while also being an accountable employee. There was definitely a tension between the feeling that I wanted to be out all day and the reality that I needed to be at my desk, available to my coworkers, and actually getting my job done.

My solution to this was to make sure I got out of the house at least once a day. Sometimes this was just a grocery run or walking up to one of the village charity shops, other times I had enough flexibility to visit a National Trust property or get lunch at a farm shop in another village. Staying inside all day felt like a waste! Even a 15 minute errand counteracted that. And when you’re new to a place, even a short outing is likely to surprise and delight (like when I went to get more milk at the grocery store and discovered there was a weekly farmers market going on in the town center. What luck!).

Sticking to my one outing a day rule had the unexpected bonus of 1) making me more comfortable working and taking Zoom calls at coffee shops and 2) realizing that breaking up my day with an errand or working somewhere other than my house energizes me. Since getting back, I’ve felt more motivated to treat Charlotte like a place to explore. Frequenting my favorite spots and making the effort to go to ones that have been on my list for a while has definitely made life more FUN.

Doubling down on monetizing my creative outlet

Oh babes, I have been so afraid to genuinely put my ass into earning money from making content for Instagram and Substack. Mostly for three (fallible) reasons: