The Domino Effect… 
I’m so pleased to be typing that this week really has been a much better week. Mornings have felt calmer, same with evenings and I’ve done a lot less sticking up of my fingers from behind the fridge door! It’s almost like a domino effect. Thing is, I’m not sure what has triggered it, but since the kids have gone back to school, I’ve made the following changes…
Change No.1
I am trying really hard to be more organised! Not the best thing to publicise when your job is a personal assistant to a Regional Director… but its like a busman’s holiday.. just because I’m organised (ish) in work, doesn’t mean I’m good at it at home! However, having little things ready like uniforms (including underwear) hanging up on the bedroom door for the next day, PE kits (or any other kinds of kit) ready by the front door and lunchboxes done the night before has really helped. I swear, I would spend a good five minutes every bloody morning looking for a missing grey school sock! I’ve bought 10 pairs of the sodding things for the start of term! Wonder how long before they’re all gone!
Yep… I really am that unorganised! This really doesn’t help when your daughter suffers from anxiety! It’s not rocket science, but I didn’t appreciate how much it has helped in the mornings.
Change No.2
I’ve sorted out my ‘drawers’ and tackled the ‘Man Drawer’. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a drawer (ours is in the kitchen) where you throw lots of shit stuff that you either don’t know what to do with or can’t bring yourself to throw away. Old keys, countless batteries, old chargers, shit toys from party bags, takeaway menus circa 2014, pens that no longer work, old chequebooks.. you get the idea.
To replace this, I created a ‘I need a’ box… a (stylish) storage box that holds everything we are always looking for; scissors, cellotape, suncream, hairbrush, working pens, ear defenders, charger… you get the idea. Tonight hubby was looking for a marker pen, “in the ‘I need a’ box”. I felt very smug!
In turn, the man drawer is now housing stuff that cluttered my cutlery drawer, making that more organised. I know, it so sad that storage gets me this excited… but check it out! 
Change No.3
I’ve got back in the exercise game!
I don’t want to be a ‘keep fit bore’ but I was always good at getting myself up at 6.00 am and doing a 30 minute workout Mon-Fri and I underestimated how much it helps with my health.
Over the school holidays this year, I really let it slide. I was having a pretty shit time of it and I didn’t want to exercise, mainly because I’d have one or two large wines the night before to make myself feel better for having a shit time of it! The extra time in bed was a much nicer option.
However, not doing exercise has a knock on effect to other things which doesn’t lead to feeling any better… just your lovely little leather jacket you now want to wear feeling a little bit tighter!!
So I set my Lumie Bodyclock (best alarm clock ever) for 6.00 am and started getting back to knocking out a workout, usually with lovely Joe Wicks, The Bodycoach (easy on the eye) or one of my P90X3 discs with Tony Horton (good on the eye for an older guy #still would). Whenever I feel like not doing it, I think about how I feel at the end of it… and how the dreaded bingo wings will be less flappy in a month’s time!
Change No. 4.
Now that I’ve started back exercising, I subconsciously make more of an effort at eating better (better, not less) fuelling my body with good, tasty food which in turns helps me feel better still. Don’t get me wrong, if I want chocolate cake, I’ll have it, I’ll enjoy it and not feel bloody guilty for it (which once upon a time I would do).
I also took the battery out of the scales earlier in the year. Not a biggy you may think, but I would weigh myself at least every morning and the number I saw would determine how I would feel for the day. I think I’d been doing that since I was 15! Our last set of scales weighed everything… weight, fat, bone density, muscle, water, probably wine consumption too! I would be obsessed with which numbers went up and down and get hung up on it if things weren’t going the right way.
Now I have no idea what I weigh, I just go by my clothes and how I feel. It’s liberating! If I’m eating well and exercising, it usually takes care of itself.
Change No.5
I’ve gone back to a paper diary. I’ve used my phone calendar for years and a wall calendar at home, but I would forget to check my phone and not always write stuff on the calendar as I don’t always want daughter dear knowing what is going on (see earlier blog).
Now I am writing EVERYTHING in the diary… meals for the week, to do lists, ideas, calls I’ve made, anything I can think of. I still managed to forget a birthday last week, but its early days!
I’m still a work in progress and there are things I still want to make a habit such as;
Green smoothies – I do them for about a week and then can’t be arsed and leave it until I see mangos or something similar on offer and I’ll try again!
Mindfulness – I tried the Headspace App, which was really good but so far, I’ve done it only once. It’s worth doing it, if only for the 10 minutes peace and quiet!
I wrote this blog so that when I’m feeling like its all going tits up… I can read back and see that for at least a week or so, I was winning!
Until next time,
Love and Hugs xxx
Tales of a Mother's Daughter 