Last year I feel very much like my body wasn’t my own as it was completely taken over by my little bundle of joy, also a lot of my thoughts and energy were focused on this new life that I was helping to bring into the world. My pregnancy journey was magical and now I have a beautiful baby boy at the end of it, but the experience has left me feeling a bit rough around the edges. I really want to concentrate on myself this year and not in an egotistical or selfish way, but in the best interests of my family. As I have already mentioned, I believe that looking after yourself enables you to look after the ones you love the most to the best of your abilities.
I’m using this new year to ‘reclaim my sparkle’ and have blogged briefly on how I aim to achieve this through my ‘mind, body and soul‘ approach for 2015. The psychological aspects of health have become really important to me and there are three key areas that I would like to focus on to allow me to feel more settled, which I believe will help to enhance my health and well-being.
1. Get organised and establish a proper routine with Aiden
Since becoming a mama I’ve felt a little disorganised, to say the least, my more militant routine went out the window when Aiden was born. Although I feel like we have found a groove that is working for us I think it does need some fine-tuning.
In the midst of becoming a mother towards the end of last year, I’ve lost my focus a little. I know what I want to achieve, but things have become clouded in this mamahood whirlwind. I’m hoping that my new Leonie Dawson Life and Biz workbook that Laura shared on Twitter will help navigate me through, I’m loving it so far. Also, my One Line A Day diary has been great for jotting down lovely snippets from my day, allowing me to cherish the positive moments of each day and giving me time to reflect – looking back is just as important as making plans for the future.
2. Future security
There are lots of things that I would like to achieve in this area and Alfie and I have done a lot of thinking about our future security since the arrival of our baby. Discussions about life insurance have crossed our lips many times and is something that we want to get organised this year and build up our savings for our financial security.
Reading Sophia Amoruso’s story has reignited my inspiration and passion, I want to set about chasing my career path and getting some things in this area set in stone. My blog and freelance work has really taken off and I’m really loving what I do; however I always feel that things shouldn’t be taken for granted and would like to have a backup career plan just in case. I’m working on a new blog design and looking at some business plans and alternative career paths which I’m very excited about.
3. Relax and destress
Another thing, that I really want to work on this year, is my stress levels, which seem to increase when I’m trying to balance a mammoth to-do list with a new baby. I’ve already made progress in this area, for example, I assign certain tasks to certain days, which helps to maintain some clarity and organisation. In some respects, I know that I’m still organised, but it’s more organised chaos at the best of times, which I’m learning to get used to. I’m hoping to do more meditating; taking some time out for myself; practise more yoga that always has a calming effect on me; use positive affirmations and some of the things mentioned in my self-love post.
How do you hope to enhance your psychological well-being in 2015?
Do you have any goals for your future security? How do you handle stress?
oh what a fantastic post, i also have the one line a day book and love it
It’s a really lovely idea, I cannot wait to look back over it.
Thankfully I haven’t been too stressed for a while. Obviously I have day to day stresses, like commuting and traffic, but most of my life is pretty easy going. Having made the decision to just run when I fancy rather than keep chasing goals and races I’m so much at ease with myself. That’s not to say I won’t be making goals and doing races in the future, but for right now this is what I need.
This is so lovely to hear Anna. I think sometimes we can be too competitive with ourselves where exercise is concerned, sometimes it’s much nicer to enjoy the moment and do it for fun.
Dealing with stress better is one of my goals for 2015. GirlBoss is on my to-read list, hopefully it’s inspiring! x
It’s a must-read, you will love it!
Lovely post Jemma! All the best with achieving your goals!
Thanks Elisa! 🙂
Every time I see that Life & Biz book I want to buy it! Pretty + organisation tools … love it! I love your approach, it’s so true that we can’t expect to be able to look after others if we’re not looking after ourselves. For me, taking little ‘time outs’ when things get stressful is the only way. Like, putting all my thoughts & concerns into a little draw for 15 minutes, and coming back later. More or less works every time!
For me, organisation is a is a big thing in my life in order to feel happy. I wish you the best of luck with your goals this year!
Laura x x x
Same here, thank you Laura.
I had a similar five lines a day book a couple of years ago and only managed to keep it for 2 years. Perhaps I should dig it out and start again.
I’m hoping that I will be able to keep mine up, so far so good!
What a lovely post, all the best with acheiving your goals. x
Thank you so much!
Great post Jemma, I’m interested to see how you find the life books as I’m tempted to get one after seeing them on Laura’s blog!
Lovely post hun, these are very lovely goals and wishing you the best of luck
I’ve seen this book all over Instagram lately, think I need to get it as I do stress out a lot! C
I need to go to bed earlier! I say this all the time and go through phases where I manage it, and then things slip again.