So, 2021. The year was welcomed in with so much optimism and hope after the turbulence of 2020. But the year had different ideas and 2021 has, for me, been a cautionary tale. A stark demonstration that my resiliency to unforeseen challenges is not what I want it to be. Through the year there have been several dramas sent to de-rail best laid plans and whilst I feel I rose to the challenge, it wasn’t without an initial period of anxiety, …
Category: Sustainable Life
I’m losing track of time now, I really am. Time has done that magical thing where it takes on a whole new form and both drags and flies in equal measure. Individual days can feel like a week as I just wait for the respite of the evening where I don’t have to work, I don’t have to parent and, after all jobs are done, I can quite simply flop on the sofa. But then I blink and it’s the …
As I looked out my bedroom window last thing before snuggling into bed the other night, I saw the small blinking light of a plane moving across the sky. It held my attention and I watched the red dot pulse its way through the darkness, alone. With only the bright ISS for company. A sight that was so common – and usually multiplied five fold – four weeks ago felt so foreign. So strange. So out of place with how …
When I first starting writing these posts back in 2009 (ooh, this year is the tenth anniversary then!) I used to bosh them out in a hurry during the last couple of days of the year. Becoming a parent put and end to that so now I try to get them drafted up across the course of December. So I’m here on the 9th December starting to put fingers to keys are reflect back on the last 12 months of …
It’s almost a whole year since I wrote my first blog post about sustainable life changes. It’s been an interesting journey and, in many ways, a real rollercoaster. I’ll be honest from the beginning that one of the biggest negatives of the changes I’ve made is that by making a few changes it’s only made me more aware of the waste in all aspects of our lives; I am genuinely struggling with “Eco Anxiety” these days; Every time we do …
I’ve noticed a common trend these days. On the rare occasion I find myself with time to sit down with no washing to fold or bags to pack, and where I’m not falling asleep, I get my laptop out and then find myself unable to summon the words to write. Throughout the day I have streams of words flowing through my head but somehow they are gone by the time the washing-up is finished. It’s incredibly infuriating! But I’m shall …
I’ve always been obsessed with plants so it was no surprise to me at all that as soon as we bought our first house, I developed a real love of gardening. Gardening as a mother has always been tricky though. In my previous life I was able invest solid hours or days out in my patch of the outdoors, doing whatever I needed to. But that freedom of personal time is rare now and needs to be spread across more …
Over three years ago now, I read about a concept called ‘Slow Parenting’ – a topic which I researched quite a lot and wrote a blog post about at the time. The premise is about not feeling the need to over-schedule our children and give them time to just ‘be’. It’s something that has stayed with me ever since then and an approach I have become more and more converted to since becoming a mother for a second time. With …
Since my last update at the start of March, our weekly routine that sees the girls going to nursery and me heading to work has become a bit more normal. After a couple of tougher nursery weeks during weeks three and four, Little Z got back into the rhythm and has seemed to enjoy her time there since. Her key worker has said that her personality is really starting to shine through and most afternoons when I collect her she …
It’s been six week since I went back to work and four of those have been doing my full three days in the office with the girls to look after at home on the other two. It’s gone far more smoothly than I had anticipated (to date…) but it has been quite a reality check, reminding me that keeping-up a job alongside small children is like tightrope walking whilst juggling plates: one unanticipated gust and I go crashing down, smashing …
