WHY, hello there!

How the devil are you all? Are you all having a super Summer holiday?

I’m back from taking a little a break away from the blog to enjoy some special time with my family and I have to say getting back to work, isn’t as easy as I thought.

My body isn’t quite ready to get back into the swing of things (so to speak) as quickly as I imagined, so although I had planned on bringing you all a bit of a monster of a post today, I’ve decided to ease myself back in gently and give you all a little food for thought post instead.

So how was my break, I hear you ask?

Well, I’ll be honest it was pretty damn heavenly. I mean, just look at that photo of me above? Do I look happy or do I look happy?

Our week in Kefalonia was just what we all needed and the island was more beautiful than I’d dared hoped. I’ll be blogging about it shortly so if you love Greek Islands, stay tuned!

As promised, I wore not one but two bikinis with absolute pride and to prove that I stand by what I say, here’s me doing my posing thang in a little red two piece. (Oooh la la!)

I swam, I floated, I ate lots of delicious Greek food, I drank wine, I built sandcastles with Elsie and I watched the most beautiful sunsets and the stars come out at night.

And, for the first time in years, I read two books. TWO whole books! In a week! Such a treat, I tell you!

All in all, it was perfection.

Bar replying to a couple of urgent emails and sharing a few snaps on Instagram, I switched off from the online world and quelle surprise, felt so much better for it.

So much better in fact, that since I’ve been home, I’ve been on social media a lot less than I was previously and I intend to keep it this way.

Why?

Well, because between you and I, I’ve realised that my wellbeing isn’t as ‘well’ as I would like it to be.

I’ve realised that I need to make some changes. I’ve realised that I need to switch off more. I’ve realised that I need to work less.

It’s pretty difficult to keep track of your wellbeing when you’re at home, in reality, don’t you think?

Modern life demands so much from us all.

We have bills to pay, children to feed, houses to clean.

We have jobs to do, money to earn, people to keep happy.

We are bombarded with distractions all day long, from the time we rise to the time we ‘get to feather’.

Dishwashers bleep. Doorbells ring. Phones vibrate. People message us. Distractions. Requests. Interruptions.

I’m weary just thinking of it all. Are you?

But when you remove yourself from normality and have a change of scene, suddenly things start to become clearer.

Or at least, certainly that is what has happened for me.

Because I’ve realised that my life isn’t very peaceful. That it’s too busy. That I’m overstretched and still trying to please everyone.

That my phone is a constant interruption. That too many people take up too much of my precious time. And that I need to change my ways.

I need to increase my ‘wellbeing’. I need to feel connected to ‘me’ more.

I want to stop feeling anxious and harassed. I want to stop wasting my life on social media.

So I’ve already started making a few changes.

Yesterday when I was feeling guilty that I ‘should’ be getting back to blogging, I ignored the guilt, listened to my body and gave myself a day off.

I’ve switched off most of my alerts on my phone and at night, have even started to turn my phone off. (A total first!)

I’ve decided that I’m going to be much stricter with the time I spend on social media, because although I do love it (Twitter and Instagram particularly), often, it takes over my days!

I’m going to be taking weekends off, completely.

And when it comes to this blog and life, from now on, when it comes to opportunities, unless it’s a “hell, yeah!” then it will be a no.

I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. But I am saying to myself, it needs to be done.

On Saturday morning, just over a day since I’d returned from holiday, I found myself feeling stressed out and anxious.

And that is when it dawned on me.

I cannot go on like this. That I do not want my life to be like this.

That if I want to change my life and increase my wellbeing, then this Mama has got to get serious.

I’ve learned that I need to be more focused. I know that I need to be much choosier about whom I spend my time with and why.

And I’ve realised that I have to make time, for ME.

Not for ‘ME’ to do more work or to reply to more emails.

Not for ‘ME’ to put the washing in or do some ironing.

Not for ‘ME’ to spend two hours just scrolling through social media.

But for ‘ME’ to relax, read a book, listen to music, do some yoga or just do nothing at all.

My wellbeing matters so I intend to do a better job of honouring and protecting it.

And, my ‘food for thought’ question for you all is – do you need to do the same?

It’s definitely worth thinking about, isn’t it?

With love,

Kate