January 29, 2012

SYL: Week Four

This week’s Home Simplified task was to create a Wheel Of Life.

Once again I’ve taken a slightly different approach, and used a template I found here.

Each area is scored from 1-10, and this is how my Wheel Of Life looked:

The breakdown for me was:

Career 6/10 

Right now I am working as a full time nanny because it allows me to be with Miss A, and until she starts school I am putting thoughts of my own career on the back burner for a while.  I know at the end of next year I’ll definitely be at a crossroad, as I have spent eight years in a corporate environment, and then another eight in childcare, and I really don’t know which direction I want to head.  Perhaps something new altogether!

Money 6/10

I’m not particularly stressed or concerned about our financial position, as we are able to meet all of our commitments each month, but sometimes I do get a little overwhelmed by our mortgage.  When I see that in the three years since we’ve had The Shoebox we’ve already paid off a quarter of the debt though, I know that we’re actually doing okay.  I also worry sometimes that I’m not earning as much money as I should or could be, but when I take into account the fact that I have no associated childcare costs for Miss A as she is with me all the time, I realise again that we’re doing okay.

Health 7/10

It disappoints me to say my health is at a 7, as a year ago it would definitely have been at an 8.  Obviously I am focused on this right now and over the next few months I intend to get it back up to at least an 8.  Over the years I have seen just what a dramatic effect a healthy lifestyle has on my sense of wellbeing, and I really hate seeing it slip down and for me to have a negative mindset associated with it.  If I spent the same amount of time focused on my health as I do thinking about, it would be a 10/10 for sure!

Friends and Family 8/10

Again, this is another area of my life that just a few years ago I would have scored much lower.  I had some friends and family around me who were quite negative and often brought be down, though at the time I didn’t actually see it.  Moving on from feeling that I needed these people in my life has allowed me to become much more positive and open as I have built stronger relationships with others, and feel for the first time ever that I am truly loved and supported by all of those people in my life.

Relationships 7/10

I think Mr G and I have fallen into the common trap of making time for the three of us as a family, but not so much for us as a couple.  This is partly due to the fact that we’ve not spent any time alone since Miss A was born, and two and half years is a long time to not have a dinner, date or movie night.  I realise that we can make more of an effort to have ‘date nights’ at home too, but I’m also hoping that this year Miss A will be able to spend a few hours being looked after by family so that we can have a little time out together.

Personal Growth 7/10

Last year I would have put my personal growth at a 6, so it is definitely starting to improve.  I am focusing a lot more on myself and the ways in which I need to change, as I know that I had become stagnant, and have had that feeling for a while that every day is ‘Groundhog Day’.  Even doing tasks like this is helping me to grow as I realise more and more where the road blocks are in my life, and the best way that I can work around them, rather than ignore them.

Fun & Recreation 6/10

This is one area of my life that I really need to work on.  On the weekends I usually am trying to catch up on so many things that I can’t do during the week that I don’t always stop to have an hour here or there to relax.  I fall into the trap sometimes of thinking that an hour on the computer is my recreation time, but it’s not really, and I’d be much better putting that hour to use by going to the beach, or going to the park or on a long drive.  There is nothing I enjoy more than a change of scenery and being spontaneous, so I’ll definitely be working on that!

Physical Environment 9/10

It’s no surprise that I am scoring my physical environment so highly.  Being out of My Shoebox from 7am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday certainly makes me appreciate the time that I do get to spend here, and I am truly at my most settled and content when all three of us are home and I am pottering about the place. 

I loved doing this task, as I have no doubt when I look back on it again in a few months that my wheel will be a little less wonky and a much smoother ride!

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January 27, 2012

Grateful For Listening

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Sometimes, we’re trying so hard to be heard that we don’t stop to listen.

And these past few weeks, as I’ve listened more and talked a whole lot less, a great weight has been lifted.

I am learning and understanding so many things around me in a whole new light.

I am no longer preoccupied by my own thoughts and voice.

I am listening, and in turn, I am being heard.

 Are you a good listener?

Linking up with Maxabella Loves Grateful Blog Hop.

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January 26, 2012

The Stamp Collector

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When I was younger, I was somewhat of a stamp collector.

This picture  illustrates perfectly the way in which  I used to lay out my albums, and I recognise many of the stamps as ones that I had in my own collection.

The stamps would keep me busy for hours, and I used to let my imagination take me on all sorts of adventures.

I had a very precise method in the way that I went about my collection too.

Firstly, I would buy a bag filled with stamps from around the world, still attached to the corners of torn envelopes.

Instead of just cutting them off the envelopes, I used to soak them in water so that I could peel them back to their original state, laying them out on a tea towel to dry. 

From there, I would sort them by size, image and colour,  placing them into the plastic lined rows of my albums.

Quite often the stamps that came in these packets would be the same, but I still pored over each one, looking closely at each post mark, and wondering of the story behind it.

What letter was inside the envelope that this particular stamp was attached to? 

If it was one of Queen Elizabeth II, where in England was the stamp sent from, and to whom? 

I used to look up my Reader’s Digest Atlas Of The World, mapping out routes,  never quite able to believe that each of these stamps from such far away places was now inside my album in a small country town in Australia!

Letters fascinated me, and I used to love our daily trips to the post office.

Each time we would go to collect the mail, the postmaster would pull out all the marked envelopes from the alphabetical pigeon hole under the first letter of our name. 

She was very deliberate in her manner, and I remember the  way she would lick her index finger before commencing her precise flick, flick, flick through the pile.

There was no doubting that she took her role very seriously, and I couldn’t imagine a better job in the whole wide world.

I would spend hours at home playing ‘post office’. 

Just as with my stamp collecting, this too was a lengthy process. 

Firstly, I would cut up paper to make my envelopes, then I would look in my atlas, choosing place names, then making up surnames and addresses to match.

Once I’d made all of my letters, it was time to sort them alphabetically, and then of course practice my own flick, flick, flick through the pile as I imagined each person coming along to collect their mail from me.

What imaginative games do you remember most from your childhood?  Did you ever collect anything? (I also had a large souvenir spoon and eraser collection)

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January 25, 2012

Seven

                                                                                               
Do you ever feel like you’re changing?

Like really changing, inside and out?

I’m two months off my 35th birthday, and it feels like I’m right on the cusp of it.

I believe in the seven year cycle, the notion that every single cell in our body regenerates in  that period of time.

That we are no longer that same person.

The changes I’m feeling, they are real, and pure.

Physically I’m ready to push myself harder than ever before.

Mentally I’m feeling tough enough and strong enough to step up to the plate.

Emotionally, I’m willing to let go, to listen, and most of all, just breathe.

I’m so ready for this new beginning.

Where are you at in the seven year cycle?

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January 23, 2012

Sleep, Baby, Sleep

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When I was pregnant, I clearly remember being told again and again how little sleep I had to look forward to in the months and years ahead.

Being a solid eight hour a day sleeper for the better part of the 32 years before Miss A’s arrival, I thought I’d find the lack of decent shut eye quite a challenge.

But to the contrary, I didn’t mind the two hour intervals too much at all, and as we co-slept with Miss A until she was eleven months, we all managed to get quite a good amount of sleep.

 I became so used to her cycle that I began pre-empting her, like you do when you wake every morning a couple of minutes before your alarm clock goes off.

While this made me feel like a totally clued in Mummy, what I didn’t realise was that I was creating a habit that I still can’t break, a good year down the track since Miss A has been sleeping solidly through the night.

And so it is I find myself awake every two hours still, like clockwork, usually at 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, and then up to start my day at 6am.

And it is starting to become rather unsettling, and I’m feeling like the only Mum in the world who feels sleep deprivation that isn’t caused by my child, but by myself!

I’ve tried so many ways to wind down at the end of the night, eliminating caffeine, getting off the computer by 9pm at the latest, taking long baths, burning candles.

You name it, I’ve read it or tried it.

And it all starts off so perfectly as I snuggle down at 9.30pm, feeling so tired and ready for the solid sleep that just never comes.

Sometimes I’m only awake for five minutes, and I almost forget in the morning how many times I’ve woken.

Others, like last night where I was awake from 3.00am until 4.30am are just so unbearable, and the thought of another night like that just makes me want to curl up and cry.

Are you a good sleeper?  Do you have any tips for this sleep deprived Mum with the sound asleep toddler?

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January 22, 2012

Home Sweet Home

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Given the title of this blog, I’m sure it comes as no surprise when I talk about how much I love My Shoebox.

And this weekend, I was reminded of it all over again.

For the first time in six months, Mr G, Miss A and I spent a weekend down the coast. 

I love the anticipation of planning a weekend away.

Where to go, where to stay, what to do, where to eat?

And a weekend down the coast, it just ticked all the right boxes for the perfect dose of rest and relaxation.

But as soon as we walked into The Shoebox late this afternoon, it just felt so good to be back home.

I spent the first half hour soaking it all in, pottering about the place with Miss A happily trailing along from room to room.

And as much as I love these weekends away, nothing really beats that feeling of being home sweet home.

Does a break away give you a renewed sense of love and appreciation for your home?

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January 22, 2012

SYL: Week Three

ImageChef Word Mosaic - ImageChef.com

 This week’s Home Life Simplified task is to Create A Mission Statement.

Whilst I feel the need to apologise for what I’ve put forward, which is essentially a vision board, I am approaching each task in the most open and honest way that I can, with the intention of learning as much as I can for myself as an individual, and my family as a whole.

I have thought long and hard about the mission statement prompts over the last week since the task was posted, and Mr G and I have shared a number of positive and enlightening conversations about this.

Having said that,  there are certain aspects of my life that I am private about when it comes to what I feel comfortable to share on this blog, and the inner workings of my family are one of them.

These 22 words have many statements, thoughts, feelings and emotions attached to them that we  have and will continue to share together as a family.

And for 2012, this visual prompt will help us to learn together, grow together, share together, and love together.

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January 20, 2012

Grateful For Missing My Girl

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This week, I was able to experience a feeling that I’ve not yet had since Miss A was born.

As many of you know, I am  a full-time nanny, but am blessed to work for a family who let me take her to work with me. 

Our days are long, 7am to 6.30pm, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Starting this week though, we’ve made one small change.

Each Thursday, Miss A will now stay home with Mr G, and when he heads off to work (being a tradie it varies from day to day), his Mum will be spending the day with her.

And so, for the first time in two years and three months, I got to experience something completely new as a Mum.

I got to miss my Miss A!

And how it warmed my heart, picturing her at home and what she might be doing, busying herself with books and drawings, playing with her dolls and tea set in her cubbyhouse.

And my heart, it ached just a tiny bit, and it was so, so nice.

Of course when I got home at the end of the day, I got the sweetest gift of all. 

My beautiful girl, glimpsing me for the first time, running with arms outstretched, exclaiming ‘Mummy’ in that sweet little voice of hers, and wrapping herself around me.

And what could I possibly be more grateful for than that?

Linking up with Maxabella Loves Grateful Blog Hop.

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January 19, 2012

Taking The Emotion Out Of Eating

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I’ve touched on emotional eating in the past, but never delved into the greater details.

Partly this is because I don’t want to make anybody reading my blog feel uncomfortable or ‘weighted down’, but also because I’ve never felt comfortable to look at the issue in black and white.

I have worked on so many things over the past year to get to the point where I am now ready to deal with this once and for all.

Completing the pre-season tasks for 12WBT is the perfect time for me to get my head around this, and I have absolutely no doubt that what I will learn over the course of this program will help me bury this completely.

Emotional eating is such a broad description for something that is so different from person to person.  At the end of the day, I know that this is an issue for me, because I use food to try to numb any feelings that I don’t want to deal with. 

You know the little voice inside your head?  Mine tries to reassure and soothe me that food will make me feel better about things.  It is self sabotage in its most pure form.

So I simply eat particular foods until I have quelled a certain feeling that I do not want to deal with or know how to handle. 

This could mean eating a handful of dry sweet biscuits, or a couple of pieces of toast. 

On other occasions, it may mean eating a packet of dry sweet biscuits over the course of a few hours, or eating a large meal  to get that ‘full’ feeling which takes over any other thoughts I might have at the time.

Sometimes it happens once every few days, sometimes once a week or fortnight.

But let’s not sugar coat it.  It’s not about quantities or time frames, or the fact that I eat well and exercise to counteract it, and appear to be ‘healthy’ on the outside.

There is nothing healthy about emotional eating.

And it’s like the age old question, what comes first – the chicken or the egg?

Only in this case,  what comes first – eating because I’m feeling emotional, or feeling emotional because I’m eating?

And the answer?

Well, it really doesn’t matter.

It’s just a simple mathematic equation.

Take emotion away from eating, and what do you get?

A healthy mind, body and spirit.

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January 17, 2012

Wellbeing

Yesterday, a special gift arrived from a dear friend of mine.

It is a Wellbeing Journal from kikki-K, and something I had been eyeing off for a while now. It ties in perfectly with everything that I am working towards, and I am blessed to have such a kind and supportive friend, who knows me so, so well.

I’ve been thinking these past few weeks about all aspects of my life, and not in a self absorbed way, but with more of a constructive purpose.  There are things that just haven’t been working well for me in one sense or another, and I want to move forward and make changes.

Last year I think I got a little too caught up in the concept of ‘happiness’, and in the end I just felt this constant pressure on myself to be happy all of the time, without taking any other factors into account.

I think focusing on overall wellbeing is a much better approach for me, and My Year Of Consistency is definitely on the right track. 

What does Wellbeing mean to you?  How do you achieve it?  What makes you feel at your best? 

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