Hi my friends, I hoped that you enjoyed the Summer and are busy welcoming in Autumn!
Personally, I love Autumn, it’s my favourite season by far. This may seem an odd choice to some but there’s something about the change in the atmosphere that just feels so good. I get really motivated to go for refreshing walks and the hazy mornings and colourful leaves seem so magical.
I also love feeling cosy indoors, preferably wrapped up warm with some tasty comfort food. I also have my son’s birthday to get over-the-top excited about planning ready for next month and as I no longer teach there are no more new school year stresses either; bliss!
Did I achieve my August goals?
What a strange month August has been for me. It has been such an up and down month; sometimes I’ve been my own best friend and other times a true enemy to myself!
I’ve been doing so well with improving my diet and exercise but at the same time my stress and anxiety levels have been through the roof. It’s silly I know but with the 2 year anniversary of my BIG relapse upon me I’ve been barely sleeping as I’ve managed to convince myself I am going to relapse again. Of course, I know that stress can bring a relapse so then I’m stressing about being stressed!
However, on the whole, I’ve still managed to achieve most of my goals although I could still do with finding more useful resources for the MS resource list I’m creating for my blog, so any suggestions would be most welcome (including bloggers, support groups, charities, helpful exercises etc)…
Learning to live a little
Our family holiday was fun and it was great to see my toddler splashing in the sea and helping to build/destroy sandcastles, however it also took a lot out of me and at times I struggled from overdoing it slightly with not enough rest in between.
Please don’t laugh too hard but we also managed to forget my suitcase full of clothes and toiletries and we left it at home! Running around the day after we got there, panic buying some clothing basics to get me through a few days at a time wasn’t exactly relaxing but I know I will look back and chuckle over time!
My main achievements
Health and wellbeing
I’m still going with the healthy anti-inflammatory diet and with the yoga too and I’m loving the results so far. Both are helping to clear my brain fog a little and are therefore well worth the effort in my book.
I even kept both going during my holiday. Eating out was hard but not impossible, in fact I absolutely loved my vegan meal at Zizzi’s. Yoga on holiday was so much fun, especially when my toddler decided to join me as he often does!
I’ve also started adding some exercises from The MS Gym into my daily exercises every now and then and these are great as they’re so MS-specific!
Creative and fun
Having fun decorating my home is definitely still a work-in-progress but it feels great to be doing what I can to improve my surroundings again.
Last weekend we tackled a few small jobs that we just never seemed to be able to find the time for but I think a few quick wins was just what we needed to help give us some decorating momentum.
My September goals
Health and wellbeing
- To further research the OMS (Overcoming Multiple Sclerosis) diet and lifestyle to ensure I’m making informed decisions regarding my health.
- To be brave and try swimming again, even if it’s only 10-15 minutes!
I’ve just received my free copy of the OMS book. It looks a bit hefty but I’m sure it will be great for helping to reduce the inflammation I experience daily. In fact the small improvements I’ve noticed so far are a great incentive to find out more and to ensure my approach is as effective as possible.
The last time I tried swimming was about a year ago and I did too much then felt so awful that I’ve not been back since! I need to stop trying to approach exercise as though I’m a healthy person and just do what I can. A little is better than nothing.
Parenting and family
- To get my son started at and settled into nursery.
This is a very emotional time for my partner and I as our son has never been to a nursery before, although he his now nearly 3. This is due to all the amazing support we have had from our parents and especially when I became too unwell to work/look after my child for extended periods/contribute financially it meant such a lot to us.
However, it’s about time that his grandparents had a bit of a well-deserved break, so he will be starting nursery a couple of days a week this month. I feel like I’ve stumbled into a whole new world of lunchboxes, name labels, learning logs and funding. Making the best decision for my child is so hard and it’s only the beginning of what’s to come!
Creative and fun
- To get my sewing needles out again as it’s relaxing and good for the brain!
I’ve always found sewing to be such a soothing activity and it’s even better when I’m creating hand sewn gifts for my nearest and dearest. I haven’t been sewing as much recently though and I really want to get back into it.
When I had my BIG relapse it had a huge impact on the coordination of my right hand and although this is barely noticeable to me now, my hand doesn’t operate quite as well as it once did. So anything which strengthens my hand and helps to build new connections in my brain is going to benefit my physical health too!
Blogging
- To improve my organisation and make sure I dedicate enough time to my blog.
It’s great that I’m managing to do a little more exercise, eat a bit healthier and look after my son more regularly but I’m finding I don’t have half the amount of time to dedicate to my blog that I used to. I love how much richer my life is now but it also makes me sad that I’m just not blogging as much as I’d like to. I get so much from my blog, it really is like therapy for me and I don’t want to lose that.
My blogging time needs to organised more efficiently. I need to plan it more carefully around the self-care and parental activities I’m now committed to.
So there are my new goals, a little late this month but that doesn’t matter! How have you been getting on with your goals recently, any new ones for September?
Love your blog Natalie❤️ It’s made me think about my goals too, as I’ve suddenly found myself redundant with my last baby flexing her wings and getting ready to leave the nest, and no longer needed to teach (wish we could’ve taught more together!). But as a paid up member of the sandwich generation and nursing my elderly Mum I see the importance of eating correctly, exercising more and taking care of myself. I’m doing more Pilates now which is really helping walking and putting myself first. Thank you for your wise words, and I’m so glad that you are building yourself up and life is good. Love and light ✨ xx
Thank you so much Annie! I think whatever we’re going through in life, looking after ourselves can only be a good thing! Pilates sounds like a great way to exercise and it’s definitely something I will have to look into, I could do with some help with my walking too. All the best you you and your family and take care xx.
Loved reading your post as always . We really are our own worst enemy sometimes aren’t we. Me too! You sound like you’re doing great though making some big health changes. I’m a big believer in less is definitely more when it comes to approaching exercise with a chronic illness. It definitely needs a different approach to when you’re healthy & well – I actually wrote a blog post on this you may like to read based on my fitness experience! Love love love the pics of you and your son doing yoga 🙂 I’ll have to try and rope mine in! Totally understand the emotional rollercoaster of nursery! Took me about a month after my son started to start to relax!!! I’m sure he’ll have a brilliant time and there’s definitely something to say about “guilt free” rest time for you once you get on the swing of it all! xx
Thanks Emma. Oh, that sounds great, your article sounds perfect for where I am right now! Thank you for your reassurance regarding nursery too, I know you’re right, it’s just a really big step to take. xx
I can see being your best friend and worst enemy, as I’m often the latter and my stressing-out-ness has been off the richter scale lately too. Knowing that it does you no good, and in your case could promote a relapse, doesn’t help; it’s taking your own advice, remembering to be kind to yourself, that is hard to do and yet so important. I think you should be really proud though because it sounds like you’re doing really well! I literally just bought myself a yoga mat last week (not been able to use it yet as my pulled rib muscles are too painful!) so I’ll have to take a leaf out of your book and get into doing it regularly soon. I bet you’re looking forward to planning your son’s birthday, definitely something to look forward to next month! 🙂
Thanks Caz. I’m sorry that you get so stressed out too, it’s so hard to break the cycle isn’t it! Yoga is definitely a great way to exercise. I started out really slowly and tried not to push myself too hard, doing just 5-10 minutes of a gentle routine and gradually adding a bit more over time and on the days I felt able. Let me know how you get on! xx
Hey Natalie! What a lovely post and your son is so adorable with those yoga poses.. I totally agree Yoga is definitely do beneficial.. I do it everyday 10-20 minutes and really seeing the benefits.
An app I’ve downloaded that has really been helping me is called “HeadSpace” it’s a guided meditation app, you get 10 free sessions and they’re really good and I’ve found have definitely helped with my anxiety.
I love the September goals too! Can’t wait to read more from you! Big hugs as always xxx
Thanks Hannah! I love how he likes to ‘do yoga’ with mummy, however sometimes it’s more like yoga on mummy :)! I’ve never been a fan of guided meditation but I’ve used the Headspace app before and quite liked it, so it is probably something I need to try again now my anxiety has flared up. I just can’t seem to sleep through the night, I wake up and then can’t get back to sleep :(. Big hugs to you too xxx