Sunday Vibes…Sunshine, Hormones, Coffee, Tears & more!!

After sleeping late this morning, I woke with a heavy head, an aching body and all round just not feeling myself.

My inner voice was in conflict – 1 voice saying ‘you need to do this, this and this’ which is on your ‘to do list’ today, whilst my kind voice was saying you need to forget about the to do list today and look after yourself.  After this ongoing internal conversation, my husband said to me ‘just forget the list and honour yourself’.

I’m so grateful for the support and totally honesty that is integral to mine and Rob’s marriage.  Rob said to me, let’s share a coffee, sit in the sunshine and talk.  I really am blessed to have him.  Honestly, I think Rob did most of the talking, as he continued to push my buttons!!  In a positive way 🙂 After 22 years of marriage we do know each other pretty well xx

I knew that my feelings when waking this morning are mostly emotional – events of the past few days have ‘pushed my buttons’ and I also knew that my hormones were out of balance.  Especially when I was cutting the avocado for brunch and burst into tears!! Now that’s not normal.

Rather than getting down on myself, with the help of Rob, I was able to see the gratitude in my challenges of today and work through them.  It’s my health journey that continues to provide me with tools on a challenging day like today.  It’s not just one thing – it’s about  diving into my health and wellness kit, that I’ve learned along my journey and seeing what it is I need.

Support from Rob, kindness to myself, using my curiosity and asking myself some honest questions, listening to my body and recognising I did need some vitamins to help me re-balance those hormones.  I know that sunshine is important to my wellbeing, so that coffee in the morning sun really did help me.  Ultimately, it’s about taking responsibility and using my personal power to look to help myself.

One of the best decisions we made, was to put on our walking shoes and get out in the fresh air.  With no expectations, apart from to enjoy, I think we did pretty well to cover our almost 6km track in just over an hour.

Milly, our beloved Cavoodle loved it just as much as we did.  Despite there being a few showers of rain here in Brisbane.  We just rolled with it.  It really helped me get out of my own head!

We finished up by enjoying a delicious smoothie and as you can see from the picture below, Milly loved her almond milk, Puppy Chino…Thanks Georgia 🙂

How do I feel now?  Well, I’ve been home, showered and I gotta say, I’m feeling better than I was this morning.  My heavy head has lightened and I haven’t burst into tears in the kitchen – now there’s a positive, lol!!!

The purpose of my sharing today is about just being REAL!  It’s to share with you that life isn’t always sunshine & rainbows.  I don’t always wake with an abundance of energy and positive emotions.

I am however, grateful for my health journey and the tools I’ve learned along the way which, on days like today mean I’m empowered to work through what’s happening for me.  And a loving, supportive family is also a blessing.

With the right tools in your health and wellness kit, we can all be empowered to work through these little challenges life gifts us…Always learning 🙂

Happy Sunday Lovelies xx

Laziness or Self Love?

I listened to a great podcast recently from the Ladies at Love Life Show about the benefits of ‘laziness’ for your health. Check it out, at Laziness

Jane and Rebecca do some cool, empowering and thought-provoking stuff.  For me, this one was ideal timing, which had me asking myself the question – Is it about laziness or is it self-love? If I choose to have a day reading and relaxing am I being lazy?  As you know my hubby and I headed away recently to O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat, following our recent 20th wedding anniversary.

 

This provided the ideal platform to explore my thoughts from the recent podcast, as my past programming was telling me, Yes you are being lazy!  But first a little background…whenever we get away it is pretty much ALWAYS to the beach. We had never been to O’Reillys or similar. We pretty much checked out what the weather and climate were going to be like, packed accordingly and as we had our own villa we could be self sufficient – so we packed the esky with a little nourishment, set the GPS and off we headed. Our decision was, well, no decision…no agenda. To go with the flow!

As we got further up the mountain, more into the sometimes narrow and windy road, we noticed the change in the air…that fresh mountain air becoming even fresher!! Though blended with sunshine it was lovely. After being greeted by the friendly staff at the main guest house, we settled ourselves into the villa and went a little exploring…by this stage we had worked up an appetite for a warm and late afternoon coffee. The local wildlife thought they would join us…the birds are so, so friendly.

As we checked in we were given activity and information sheets about flying fox, segway tours, guided walks and much more.  We decided O’Reilly’s is one of those spots where you can do as little or as much as you please…it’s entirely up to you.  We opted for the ‘as little’ option. This looked something like…

– Waking when we were ready, no morning alarms!

– Chatting with the birds who joined us on the deck

– Afternoons in the spa

– Morning meditations in the day bed

– Sitting and just ‘being’ in front of the fireplace

– Strolling to wherever!

– The treetops walk, which had come recommended as a ‘must do’

–  Delicious dinner in the guest house 🙂

– Some journalling…and well, I think you get the picture!

For me, this was an indulgence…not only to be spoiled in nature and share it with my best friend and love of my life. I mean an indulgence to take time to ‘be’.  To have no agenda, to listen to my body, it’s feelings and yes, if this meant enjoying some dark chocolate and lentil chips then I did that too!

Throughout my wellness journey I am challenged to strike a balance of ‘doing’ what’s on the to do list, to keep striving for goals and aspirations – though, sometimes not listening to my body and it’s needs OR falling back into old habits and laziness!

So, where does this leave me about the ‘laziness v self love’ question. Here is what connects for me…

It’s about balance and harmony. If I lazed around like this every weekend then I would see that as me being lazy. However, if life is a balance of the occasional weekend like this, blended with weekends ‘getting stuff done’ then it’s self love.

I’m really grateful for the podcast and the platform it gave me to explore this topic and ask myself some great questions.  It has allowed me to grow and I love articles that stimulate my curiosity and keep me growing.

Perhaps you would like to take a moment, get honest with yourself asking some questions around this topic…Stay open to your own curiosity and growth.  I love hearing your thoughts, so please feel welcome to share 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

The forming of an Oyster…

Turning 40! Early morning walk, sunrise and coffee with the family.

Here he is, Rob…The love of my life. Though, it hasn’t always been that way!!

From the very early days of getting to know Rob when we were both around age 7 til eventually one rainy New Years Eve a poolside kiss is where it all began. As they say, the rest is history and we have now been married for over 18 years.

Yesterday, Rob celebrated a milestone…His 40th birthday!

Since embracing his health journey being by Rob’s side has been like watching the forming of an oyster. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing and just like an oyster there have been those heavy and doubtful days feeling like that oyster on the floor of the sea.

Ultimately, Robs ‘Never Give Up’ attitude shines through revealing, similar to the oyster a shiny, smooth, gentle and nourishing soul that is now flourishing in life.

Growing oysters is a process…over years, as has Robs journey been. In addition to shedding his 33kilos, Rob has also released past events, behaviours and emotions that no longer serve him, positively in his life today. It is often the processing of such events that is the more challenging than shedding the weight!

So, on our very early morning walk to watch the sunrise yesterday, Rob said he saw turning 40 as just another number…though he is very much looking forward to continuing to flourish.

I had no idea when I married Rob that my love for him could grow deeper, but our love and connection grows deeper and richer everyday. I truly am blessed.