Taking a few days off

No usual Friday post today. I’ve got child number 1 off school with a tummy bug and child number 2 going through a serious case of separation anxiety and currently glued to my side for the whole 12 hours that she is awake. It’s been a pretty exhausting week. I had an essay due today about Plato’s Protagorus and I really struggled to get my head around it and actually found myself reduced to tears at one point. I put too much pressure on myself I know that. Most of the time I have so many aspects of my life going on its hard to keep up. It’s been a hard week and I need to give myself a break. Although I still have lots to do the rest of the day today is going to be dedicated to relaxing and enjoying some time with the kids. I need to invest some serious time in self care next week because things have gradually become too much for me. It happens, there’s a build up of a variety of things then it comes to a head and its a harsh reminder to look after myself first. 

I will be back on Monday with news about the ebook.

Have a restful bank holiday weekend…

Imogen x

Evening routine

Following on from my post yesterday about creating a weekly routine I want to talk about creating an evening routine. If you work in the day or look after your family then evenings are sacred time. They are your important time for relaxing and regenerating. If you’re tired (I certainly am) then it’s easy to want to spend your evening in front of the TV. I understand that and I do that sometimes too. That’s fine now and then but what I want to suggest is that you also use this time for personal growth, hobbies, socialising, exercise, creating and self care.

What I do first is make a list of 5 or more tasks that I feel I don’t have enough time for, or areas of my life that are getting neglected. My list looks like this

• Crafting/painting
• Self care
• Socialising
• Quality time for my relationship with my husband
• Exercise
• Time spent in nature
• Reading

Now I work out how to fit this things into my evenings. I choose one per day, it doesn’t have to be rigid, for example if the weather is good I will go for a walk and tick off some time spent in nature. Sometimes I can’t get out for a walk on my own if I am on my own with the kids and I’ll have to work that time into another part of my week. Here’s how a normal week night could work:

At 7:40pm both children are in bed and I have cleared up all the pots and toys from the day. If i can go out I would go straight out for swimming, or to a friends for a cup of tea, out for a meal with friends, or for a short walk down to the river. If I am at home I could get the paints out or make something from my Crafts To Do board on Pinterest. On a Thursday, as I have said before I like to make time to pamper myself a bit (see Pamper evening post). On Wednesdays I make time to watch a film. If Mr.H is around it gives us quality time together which is something we can top up at the weekend. Generally, any one of these activities normally lasts from half an hour to 2 hours, which then gives me time watch something on TV then to read a bit before I go to bed. I very rarely go to bed later than 10:30pm. I would stay up longer and do more if I could but I know that if I do stay up longer I will pay for it in tiredness the next day.

I think everyone knows how much sleep they need and how much they can fit in to an evening. You have to use your intuition to figure out whether you are trying to fit in too much or if you are too tired to do much one evening. My belief is that this time is precious and often overlooked as a time to be productive in your hobbies or socialising. Why not try it for a while and see if you can pull another few hours of activity out of your day? For any more help or advice on creating routines and fitting more into your life then email me at imogenjhope@gmail.com

Much love,

Imogen x

A forced holiday

Here at the new house we have no wifi, it wasn’t deliberate. These things just never seem to switch over smoothly. Also, where we live now seems to be in a phone-signal-free zone. Again, that’s ok. It feels great actually not to be carrying my phone round with me all the time. I put it down and go about my business while actually not looking at it. I feel like it has come at a time when my iphone addiction was at its peak, so it’s no bad thing at all. 

But then, for a blogger, the inability to blog is kind of annoying, I went from blogging daily to not really knowing when I’ll be able to. So I have allowed myself not to worry about it. Just to carry on and try to pick up where I left off in a couple of weeks when we sort it. In the meantime I am sorting out the new house, figuring out new routines for me and baby, who has recently taken against daytime naps 😭 and generally trying to relax in-between. Hope to be properly up and running again asap though.

Love 

Imogen x