Celebrating the #SmallVictories with Vauxhall

I’ve just taken part in a car partnership with a slight difference.  Instead of just lending me one of their models for a routine test drive, Vauxhall got in touch and asked me to take part in their #SmallVictories Challenge.  They asked to me spend a few days driving their latest Astra while keeping a note of my Small Victories.  You know, the little things like finding a fiver in the pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn in a while or waking up and realising you still have a few hours left before your alarm goes off.

When you are out and going about your daily routine, it can be easy to switch into autopilot.  The only thing that generally throws me off track is when I’m faced with one of my pet peeves; a run of red lights when you are already late or just missing the train by a matter of seconds.  The ultimate annoyances. #SmallVictories celebrates the opposite though, it’s about celebrating the stuff that goes in our favour.

My car for the week was a one-litre turbo red Vauxhall Astra SRi.  I’m not a massive fan of 5 door hatchbacks normally (maybe that’s still the boy racer in me), but I warmed to this one.  It was nice to drive and it was actually nice to not to have to get out the car to let someone get into the back for once.  I was pleasantly surprised by how responsive the car was on the road too.

So where was I going to find the rest of my #SmallVictories?  I had a busy week ahead so I was hoping that they would find me as I went about my business and it didn’t take me long to get started.  The Astra had wi-fi installed which made it easy for me to stream music from my phone via Bluetooth with no blackouts.  Unlike in my own car, the Bluetooth connection in the Astra seemed to be pretty solid and didn’t drop at all. Result!

The next morning, I started my day with an early gym session.  As usual, the rain was battering down but I made my way grudgingly to the gym.  I quickly realised that I was lucky to have the car to go there in and not be outside getting soaked.  Another little win for me.  One of the things that really bugs me about the gym is when you head along all geared up with a particular workout in mind to arrive and find people using all of the equipment that you need.  As this was my chest day, I kept my hopes up for the bench I needed and boom, I got one right away.  Things were definitely going my way.  Well for a little while anyway, as after I finished up I went off to grab a shower, only to discover I had forgotten to bring a towel, doh!

The more I looked for the victories, the easier they were to spot.  They were always there of course, but they normally got overshadowed by the negatives – not any more though!  It was time for the Astra to go back but that doesn’t mean that I need to stop racking up my wins.  Now that I’m in the right frame of mind, I’ll be keeping my eyes out for them.

Have you found a rather lovely little victory of your own? Share it on social media with the hashtag #SmallVictories, I’m keen to see what everyone else comes up with.

Vauxhall.co.uk

#SmallVictories

This is a partnership post in collaboration with Vauxhall