I am a creature of habit and have come to realise that since being a “grown up” with my own flat I have started a series of traditions in the first week of the New Year and thought I’d share them with you to ignite excitement for this often dreary time of year.
I always find the in between time of Christmas a weird one but I try and embrace it and relish the mornings spent in pyjamas – we always go heavy on the family time in the lead up (23rd/24th and 25th are filled with ice skating, meals out culminating in a cosy Christmas Day at my parents house filled with present opening, lots of food and my personal favourite part about Christmas – board games by the fire! So the days post Christmas are usually spent just relaxing and slobbing out. This year my husband and I devoured two series the first was ‘You’ which I’ve been waiting for forever after I found out it was being made into a TV show. I read the book around 3 years ago and loved it, the second book is even better – the TV show is nowhere near as good but it was enjoyable nonetheless, however the second show we watched was incredibly moving ‘Road to Calvary’ (also on Netflix). It’s in Russian but has English subtitles and is one of the best things I’ve seen in my life. It’s set at the start of WW1 and the years that follow culminating in the revolution and civil war in 1917. 12 episodes an hour long each and I didn’t pick up my phone throughout any of the episodes to scroll through Instagram stories. Truly spellbinding.
Anyway, I digress. Back to the New Year vibes! I always start the year on 2nd Jan with a big de Christmas/ de clutter. We undress the tree and pack away all the festive decorations, move the furniture back and do a big clean. I then typically light a fresh smelling candle – usually something Jo Malone – I love Lime, Basil & Mandarin or their Green Leaf Tomato one (this year it is the former as I’m out of the latter). I then like to go for a brisk walk to get my productive/creative juices flowing. This year with a baby things haven’t really been any different – except for the fact that I’m busier as I have a 4.5 month old to look after! I like to start a new book at the beginning of the year and this year it is Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ which is incredibly readable and incredibly inspiring and I do a slow de clutter. Yesterday I cleared out my underwear drawer (goodbye pre pregnancy old none nursing bras – I’m still breastfeeding and hope to continue until next September when Atlas is around 13 months so I plan on treating myself to all new bras afterwards to accommodate very very different boobs!). I then started the process of de cluttering my photos on my phone to free up more space. This weekend I’m planning on tackling the kitchen for a de clutter (I have become obsessed with the new Marie Kondo show on Netflix – I swear this post isn’t sponsored by netflix!).
I also like to look at mood boards on Pinterest or go onto my favourite Instagram accounts and save images I like the look of to start feeling creative after a few weeks of living in Lululemons and Glossier sweatshirt (my go to ootd for “off” home days or local walks). I like to save images and then plan a few outfits for any events/meetings I have coming up and can also plan what type of content I’d like to create. This year my focus is going to be here on my blog as well as my Instagram. I’m still unsure about YouTube – maybe once I’m more in the swing of things with Atlas and know exactly when he will nap I can carve out some time for filming/editing again. For me though prior to giving birth a video would take me the best part of 4-6hours – time to get ready, set up equipment, film then edit, watch through and re-edit then upload and description box and reply to comments! So we shall see, I also feel weirdly protective of my day to day life now and don’t feel that vlog style videos are in my future – sure I share the odd clip of Atlas on Instagram but it’s not the same as sharing our full day to day routine on the world wide web! But again, we shall see.
I love the fresh feeling of the new year, the new outfits, the new possibilities. I had my first Russian lesson of the year this morning and have my first reformer pilates session (which I do as part of my physio treatment twice weekly) next week. Self care is something at the top of my priority list for 2019, I found that 2017/2018 were all about saying yes to as many meetings/events/projects as possible and towards the end of last year I started to shift my focus. Obviously my son is the top of my day to day priorities but in order to be the best mother self care is second on the list. That includes my physio sessions, my Russian but also taking time to read daily (and not just simply scrolling through my feed), doing face masks three times a week and trying to have as many baths as possible in the week. I’m going to spend less time at events this year and more quality time with Atlas going on our favourite walks and then focussing on producing content instead of running around town like a headless chicken with a baby in tow. Let’s see how it goes! He’s now more mobile and I’m sure crawling is just around the corner so it makes being out and about with him trickier than the early days when he would placidly sit in his pram and mostly sleep.
This has been such a mish mash of thoughts but I’m loving writing again and hoping to post weekly on here on a Monday. I have my motherhood post written so perhaps that will be next weeks post once I’ve proof read it – it’s lengthy!
I hope you’ve had a wonderful start to the year and remember you don’t need it to be 31st December to set new goals – sometimes a Monday can be just as much of a fresh start, so if this year hasn’t got off to the best start and you’re still finishing your Christmas cookies and lying in next week is a new week and fresh beginning!