In My World - Time.

My life is busy.  I work full time, am undertaking an online course, have a three-month-old baby (with my partner who is a SAHM), and play netball at my local club, which involves Saturday games and training one night a week.

With any time leftover I try to fit in any of the following:

• Gym/fitness/walking the dog
• Housework (yeah right!)
•  Leisure activities (socialising, catching up with friends/family, reading a book, watching a movie, shopping!, taking photos, having a bath)
• Planning things around my business
• Writing this blog (which I have been TOTALLY slack on – sorry y’all)

Whoa.

Even as I write these things I realise how much I have going on. And I know it’s all my doing, and I am not whining at all. I also know that other amazing people do a lot more but to me this is a fair amount. The thing is though is that this amount of ‘stuff’ going on in life is manageable. BUT I tend to spend time not actually doing anything, such as flaking on the couch watching meaningless television, on social media just creeping and a ridiculous amount of time looking at photos on Instagram of food, flamingos and nail polish. Goodness me.

So what to do?

First – you will notice that posts on this blog will start taking on more of a ‘structure’. For example this post has the heading of What's Happening in My World? They will be posts on what's happening to me in my little world that I hope relate somehow to you. There will be other themes of things that I like to write about at certain times. Things that interest me and that I would love to share with you.
On a side note, the amount of support that I have had so far is overwhelming. I thank you, you gorgeous thing, for reading and being supportive, you’re awesome.  I love writing on here and I will continue to do so as long as people want to check it out and connect. It rocks. You rock. We all rock.

Second – realise that some things can wait. If I don’t get the vacuuming done today then it will still be there tomorrow, and that is perfectly fine. It’s all about prioritising, and being ok with putting things that aren’t super important off for a little bit. So if you are coming to visit my house any time soon, please DO NOT look at the carpet. Thank you.

Third – make sure that I ‘schedule’ blocks of time out to do things I want to do. I am not going to book every little detail in as such; it will more be an hour here or there to do something that I feel like doing at that time.  Me time. I can probably make a safe bet and assume that hours will go just watching my daughter and her facial expressions, but to me that’s an hour well spent!

Fourth – setting little tasks. If I have something massive I want done by a certain time, I am going to split it out into more manageable chunks so that it doesn’t overwhelm me, and I leave it to the last minute. Or don’t even get it done at all. (Yes, I am talking about the bookcase in the garage that I was going to strip down, paint and put in the nursery before the baby was born. Oops. It will get done. One day, hopefully by her eighteenth birthday.)

The business is a perfect example here. Just chipping away at little tasks is making the whole thing seem easy. It’s falling into place. And it makes me feel like I have accomplished so much so far.  Whoop!

Fifth – even though I feel like I have a crap-load to do, it’s really important that I am here in the present. Enjoying today and not stressing about how much I have to do in the next six months, two years or five years. Taking today as it comes and just doing what I can – and being ok with it. Breathing and being present.

Being here in the moment and taking whatever today brings me. I’m ready – bring it on!

Source

What about you?

Do you feel like you don’t have enough hours in the day?

Do you have a way that you manage everything that really works for you? I’d love to hear it!

Keep smiling

xx

Don't be a Doubting Debbie - like me!

Self-doubt.

It’s back in my life, but I can tell you right now it will not be staying.

It’s not welcome anymore, because I don’t need the shit that it brings! I deserve to believe in myself and have confidence in my abilities, dreams and all round awesomeness.

So WHY has it suddenly decided to show up? After a couple of months of feeling elated and content with life, it appears.  It makes things seem harder, when they aren’t. It makes things go slower, when they aren’t. It brings me down, makes life itself feel heavy and I know full well that it’s not. I mentioned it previously, about how I was feeling great, authentic and more like the real version of me.  I was training to be a coach! Coaches don’t have self-doubt, they have their shit together. They help others with their self-doubt and work with clients to get them through any issues they have.

The last week or so I have felt myself shifting. Doubting I can coach. That I don’t have the skills required to help people. That I won’t get any coaching clients. I was becoming a ‘Doubting Debbie’, as the amazing Hillary Rubin calls it. It happens to the best of us. But we need to make sure we push this self-doubt away, like really shove it! Say NO to self-doubt. Why? How do I know that the self-doubt isn’t saying the truth?

Because I know we’re awesome. We are one beautiful, amazing and smart person. We rock! So whatever that inner critic is saying that is making you feel self-doubt, it’s wrong. TRUST ME. I’ve been there, I’m there now, but I won’t be for much longer!

It’s easier said than done though. I get it. So we need to have strategies to work out how to remain positive and have the belief in ourselves. Now self-doubt will NEVER go away completely, but there are definitely ways that we can manage it so it never wants to pop its ugly head up again. Say good riddance to that little voice that always has something negative to say. It can jump. We will conquer this once and for all, TOGETHER!

I have put together some little ideas for getting through self-doubt and coming out the other side basking in your awesomeness.

• Refresh your steps – how did you get here to a place where self-doubt is hanging around? Recognise any triggers and identify any processes that have gotten you through a period of self-doubt before. Remember this, and use it! It will be a great help. If anything, it will prove that this self-doubt doesn’t hang around like a bad smell, it leaves. So there is a way through it.

• Start a gratitude journal – listing things that you are grateful for about yourself, your work, life, relationships anything! You are one lucky bugger, don’t forget that. By focusing on the positives, the negative things seem so miniscule and unimportant.

• Put up little post it notes in your place with a positive message that you can read, like on the bathroom mirror, in your wardrobe, on the washing machine, even on the toilet! Anywhere that you will see around your house that will remind you of how freakishly ridiculously* great you are as a person. 

• Use your posse. The people that love you for you, they are your cheerleaders in life and if asked will happily tell you nothing but your fantastic traits and the joy you bring into their lives.  They know you, and still hang around! That's saying something, don't you think? 

They are just some ideas to start with, but the first step is always the hardest. Once you get going, you are really going to show that little voice of self-doubt who's the boss. Yay! Go you. Go US! 

Does self-doubt ever make an unwelcome appearance for you too? What are your ways to get through it? I would love to hear some other ideas, especially as I get through this self-doubt patch in my life, so I too can bask in my awesomeness on the other side!

Much love and keep smiling - you rockstar!

xx

* I’m not entirely sure these words really go together – but I don’t care. They get my point across perfectly.