Happy New Year!  I fully intend to grab life by the balls in 2022!  I am not quite sure how or what that will entail but I have had enough of misery and uncertainty!  Waking up today to the news that our Health Secretary agrees that we do need to learn to live with covid gives me optimism!   Let's all reclaim our lives!  We have a lot of healing to do first though.

Yesterday, I felt tired and depressed.  I'd had a bad sleep and was overthinking and overwhelmed.  I have too much on and one too many worries that are taking up a lot of emotional space for me right now.  But I went out for a walk in the woods, enjoyed the solitude, and allowed myself to think and plan.  The mental health fallout from the last two years really concerns me, so if you are suffering and don't know how to feel better, please seek help.  Talk to someone who loves and cares or if you really can't then my inbox is always open.

As I walked through the woods, I told myself it is time to find some perspective and a better balance.  So my word for 2022 will be PERSPECTIVE.  I arrived at a three way split on the path in front of me and it made me think, which path will I take in 2022?  Continue on with feeling depressed and overwhelmed, or embrace positivity and take action and be grateful for what I do have?

I believe it is time to take back control of our lives, to find the freedom to love, travel, be happy and focus on our mental wellbeing.  It is time to enjoy our later years and embrace all it has to offer.

We only have one life, it is short, live it, love it! 

I am not the best sleeper in normal times, add in Christmas, a pandemic and all the uncertainty going on in the world currently and it gets even more challenging!  So I am always mindful of creating a beautiful calm space if I do have guests, especially over Christmas.  With an empty nest I have two guest rooms - my son's bedroom which is my dressing room now - it has a small double bed in it - plus I have a guest room above the garage with an ensuite shower room.  DUSK sent me some of their gorgeous bedding to try out, they offer 'luxury bedding for less' and their website is full of useful sleep tips, as well as a gorgeous selection of beautiful bedding and linens to make your bedroom or your guest room look and feel like a hotel room!

This is a gifted blog post.

My daughter was born during the afternoon of Wednesday 13th December 2000, having been due on 1st December!  I was taken into hospital on the Tuesday to be induced but as it turned out, I went into labour that night and she was safely delivered sometime after lunch, it was all a bit of a blur to be honest!  I remember I had a student midwife who was delighted to have completed her first natural delivery! 

My parents were at home looking after our son and my husband arrived at the hospital about 6 am to be met with me in a wheelchair heading urgently to the delivery suite. There had been high winds and a storm overnight and I wasn't keen for him to travel until it calmed down!  I had quite a relaxing evening on the maternity ward watching Peak Practice, having a bath and taking paracetamol for early labour pains!!!

As the birth went smoothly, we were allowed home the same day.  Emily now is a very petite young lady, but as she was overdue she was quite a chubby baby for the first 6 months!  But she was so easy going, so laid back, slept through the night at about two weeks and has never really given me any challenges at all!  I remember friends saying, you wait, she will get her own back during her teenage years, but she never did!

Don't cancel your Christmas plans!  I feel very strongly that enough is enough, we need to learn to live with 'the virus' now and I am becoming increasingly concerned about the effect on mental wellbeing and the implications for our long term health.  The news this last week has really upset and disturbed me.   I just feel it is never-ending!

Back to my Christmas gift ideas - I am still very keen to do conscious gifting and I love giving an experience rather than too much 'stuff' that will ultimately end up in landfill.  This year I have finally invested in reusable Christmas Crackers!  I met Caroline from Sew Caroline at a Christmas Shopping event and I have purchased a set of six fabric crackers that I can add my own gifts to.  I can use them year after year and they will look amazing on my table.  I am planning to fill mine with some beautiful, natural bath bombs from Vari Cosmetics.

Some of my gift ideas were previously gifted to me (and are marked *)