Weekly Well-being Wrap Up

Aloha friends! It's weekly well-being wrap up time!

1. What have I been doing to improve my mental health? 
This week I haven't really been making a concerted effort on this front however I have been doing lots of fun things with my family and that always helps my mental health. I think being able to recognise your triggers is important, so I am going to make a little list here with a view to addressing these things and putting them in perspective.

Things that have been getting me down: 

• The state of our house! Holidays have not been kind to our house. I am used to having a few hours a week to myself to focus on keeping the house the way I like it. I am no neat freak by any stretch of the imagination but there are a few key things that I like to keep on top of like the laundry, the floors, the kitchen and keeping surfaces clean and right this minute I can hardly walk in the laundry for piles of dirty clothes (bring on uniform wearing time again!! So many clothes!!), there are tumbleweeds of dust and dog hair floating around getting caught on the piles of sand that have been traipsed in from the beach and there is STUFF on every surface. I LOVE spending time with my family but I get to a point in the holidays where I feel ready to have my space back.

• PERSPECTIVE: Instead of spending time cleaning, I have been enjoying time with my kids, time that for most of the year I long for. So I need to just bloody ENJOY it rather than being a negative nelly about the house.

The girls eating the first red tommies of the season.

• We haven't had a chance to go away somewhere for a proper holiday. 

• PERSPECTIVE: We've done lots of fun stuff over the holidays. We have been to Aireys Inlet for two nights and John played a really nice gig at the Torquay Night Jar Market, we have had a few day trips to the beach, we've been to Healesville Sanctuary, ice skating, rollerskating and the movies. We have spent quality time at home in the garden and making things, we have visited friends, been op-shopping, bought new bed linen and done several op-shop runs to clear out old junk. It hasn't been bad at all. There is always next summer to plan a trip.

Molly basically being in heaven.

John having a paddle at Williamstown.

 

Richie having fun in the sand with some pals.

These are my friends Sally and Sudi. Yesterday was Sudi's first time to the beach! It was such a special day.

Molly (right) and her best buddy Pearl having the best time catching waves.

• I feel like I'm not good at my jobs and it's often because I say yes to too many things so I am always juggling and things slip through the cracks. I fall into the trap of comparing myself to other people who seem to function at a high level... other people who don't have three kids (two from my belly and a foster daughter) and uni, and a book on the go and a paid job and a commitment to community and tricky family things to deal with! I am always apologising to people for doing a crappy job of something instead of saying "I'm sorry I can't do that for you" at the beginning. Or saying, "I'm sorry I can't do more than I'm already doing". When I am going really great with one job, the other things suffer. I guess I'm a natural single-tasker. Pip wrote about this recently.  I guess it's good to be able to recognise but not easy to make the changes required to stop doing it. 

• PERSPECTIVE: I have a lot of things on and it's quite natural to not cope when there is so much happening. The kids are about to go back to school and I am about to have the routine and alone time back that I so desperately crave. It will be ok. All the things will get done. I might disappoint people some times but I need to communicate with people how I am feeling and if I am not met with understanding, maybe it's not me with the problem?!

2. What have I been eating to nourish my body?
Same as last week, meat, veg, nuts, eggs, olives, avocados, Greek yoghurt, a little fruit. I have been forgetting to eat breakfast so I really want to make a plan and do some more food prep. Smoothies are a good option for the mornings as I usually don't feel like savoury food first thing in the morning. I just need to make sure I have all the ingredients available every day.

3. How have I been moving my body to improve my physical health?
This week I have been playing on the beach with the kids, walking the dog, dancing to Christine Anu at the Footscray Wominjeka Festival (which was amazing!!), and ROLLERSKATING! I am going to be starting roller derby soon! GAH! Fun with other women, roughness and fitness all rolled into one! Sounds tops to me!

Here's a picture of me NOT falling over! High fives!

4. How am I feeling and why?

I'm feeling good in a "I'm ready to have my own space back" kind of way. Do you ever feel like that? Does it make you feel a bit guilty? I do. Meh. 

And here's something I've noticed! There is a jawline emerging! First pic was November last year, second was yesterday.