The sun is shining in Melbourne today and what a difference it makes!
Have you been able to get outside and enjoy some sunshine? If you haven’t, I invite you to stop reading right now, step outside, close your eyes, turn your face towards the sun and take a few deep breaths. You’ll feel so much better for it, I guarantee it!
On the subject of feeling good, how have you been feeling this week? For me, my eldest went back to school and my youngest went back to kinder, the house is very quiet and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself, I’m still expecting to hear “Mum…” and the lack of noise and energy feels strange. As much as I’m loving the peace and quiet and not having requests and demands placed on me constantly, I miss having the boys around and the comfort of knowing that they are safe, close, held and supported. I’ve had to support myself a lot in the last two months, with everyone being home ALL THE TIME and this has meant getting up early, to have some precious time alone and it’s also meant going to bed early and this has been much, much harder than I thought it would be, but I’m slowly getting into the habit and it feels good. It means I’ve had to skip watching TV a few nights a week, which surprisingly I don’t miss at all, it also means spending less time on my phone, which again has been pretty easy, because the times I’ve spent longer on my phone than planned, I’ve felt totally drained afterwards, sucked into the downward spiral of social media and that’s not what I want for my days, or nights. Instead I’ve chosen to go on more long walks, do more yoga, journal more, mediate more and read more. I’ve spent at least twice a week in a circle, I’ve had deeper, more meaningful conversations and last night for the first time in a very long time, I put on some relaxing music, lit some candles and took a bath. It felt so luxurious. I closed my eyes and it felt like I was at a day spa. Now I want to share with you that before Covid-19 having a bath was something that sounded nice, but was never something I made time for, but a few weeks ago I was listening to a podcast interview and the woman being interviewed was talking about taking a bath a few nights a week, as a form of self-care and the interviewer said to her “That sounds lovely but I’m sure my listeners will say I don’t have time for a bath” and she replied “If you don’t have time for a bath in your life you really need to have a look at your priorities”. And that really stuck with me. So, it’s taken a few weeks and now I’ve done it, I hope to make it a habit of at least once every second week and maybe build up to once a week.
I’m telling you all this because a lot of us (myself included) have things we really want to do, which often means breaking habits that are really ingrained in us and so changing thigs doesn’t just happen overnight and it takes more than just will power, or a desire for change, it takes committed action.
This time of self-isolation (or care cocooning which is a term I heard recently and loved) has been a time for me to dive deep into personal growth, to let go of some habits that weren’t serving me and explore what it would look like if I started doing the things that sounded nice but that I never seemed able make time for.
I’d love to hear what positive changes you’ve made during this time of isolation and which ones you’d still like to make and if you need some support I invite you to join us for a circle.
Wishing you a beautiful week, with lots of sunshine.