Queen of Procrastination

You can probably guess from my title that I am the Ultimate Queen of Procrastination.

I also loathe and detest housework.

But a funny thing happens when I have work that I am supposed to be working on..... I suddenly feel an overwhelming urge... to clean.

I have come to see this for what it is.... a desperate urge to not be working on what ever I am supposed to be working on. Sometimes I give in and just get to work . But occasionally I go the other way and clean.

Which is what has happened today.

I have been in a funk for days. Can't settle to work. Can't think of anything to blog about. And then I start noticing all the things that I normally turn a blind eye to; the cobwebs draped sexily from, well everywhere, the bathroom sink that needs a good scrub, the laundry that has piled up and needs putting away and the floors that need a brisk mop.

Today I took it to a whole new level and decided to tackle my ever mounting stash of glass bottles, jars and the two drawers of lids (TWO DRAWERS!) I have an endless fascination with glass bottles and jars. I cannot bear to throw them away and recycling  feels senseless when the item is still perfectly usable. ( just checked out the page in the link and I might feel a bit better about recycling it all now).

I love to store all my stuff in glass jars. No sooner have I come home from the supermarket than anything in a plastic bag or box is emptied into its own glass jar. *happy sigh* There is nothing I love more than jars full of nuts and seeds all nicely displayed in my pantry in their glass jars.

Right now my pantry is sparkling clean, my kitchen drawers are organised and  I have two bags of rubbish to off load and  a box of jars to donate .

And lo and behold my funk has lifted, inspiration has struck and all is right with the world.

The genius of clutter clearing is that it not only gives you a sparkly clean house but it also clears things on an energetic level.

I know when I am seeking clarity in my life I often decide to clean my windows.  It always amazes me how a simple thing like decluttering your desk can shift your energy to a better place.

I am currently obsessed with flowers and having bunches of flowers in my house also gives my spirits a big lift. Just looking at them brings a smile to my face. My husband seems to have picked up on that and has been picking me roses from his work.

Here's a bunch I picked from my garden.

Meanwhile, I have to get back to finishing off the cleaning that I started while I am on a roll.

What do you do to get yourself out of a bad mood or to shift your vibration?

Loving yourself through changes

Loving yourself is never a one-and-done deal.

There is always more of you  to love.

 Why?
 Because who you are today is different to who you were yesterday.. or last week or last month... or five years ago.

Change is the only constant.

Our beliefs change. we learn new things and things that we believed years ago, we now realize don't hold true for us any more.

Our relationships change. People who were our best friends for a long time we no longer see any more because we grew apart. Or the person that we married and thought was the love of our life we now realize was just a temporary stop on our journey through love.

Our body changes. We gain weight or we lose weight. Our body ages and we now have trouble with our hearing or our eye sight or our body just feels different than it used to.

And so we have to fall in love with our self... over and over again. Just like we do with our significant other.

I discovered this for myself recently. I am currently losing weight without even trying. Let me back up for a minute and say that I was always skinny growing up. My mother was always trying to convince me to eat and I was a picky, picky eater ( and as all mother's do she cursed me by saying " I hope you have a child as fussy as you when you grow up". Thanks Mum, I did, with bells on!). I was alsop teased unmercifully by adults and children alike. 

I was told not to stand side on or I might disappear altogether, that I was lucky my legs didn't snap and run up my arse ( who says that to someone?), that I should be careful in the wind in case I got blown away. That is just the adults. This kids just called me "stork legs"

I stayed skinny until I turned thirty although I was always terrified of becoming fat and obsessed over my weight.

Then came the perfect storm: I got pregnant to the man I was divorcing, I gave birth, got a tubal ligation, turned thirty and met the man of my dreams ... and his four girls. Not only did my hair start falling out in handfuls - so much that my hairdresser asked what to do about my bald patches but the weight ( which had all dropped off dramatically after the birth) all started piling on... and on ... and on.

I took a long time adjusting the image I had of myself to the image that was now in front of me. In my mind I was still slim. I tried eating differently. I tried exercising nothing changed.

It took me a long time to get comfortable and love my new body.

Over the past few years I have fallen deeply in love with my curvy body. I  called myself voluptuous. I claimed myself as a Sex Goddess. I wrote a book  and I shifted my mindset about what my body meant to me.

For the past couple of years I have been doing self love challenges and I am currently running Nurturing November ( a free email course. Sign up here ) and now the weight is falling off.

Yes, I changed my eating habits but not drastically. I am following the Paleo lifestyle ( I loathe to call it a diet becasue it doesn't feel like a diet at all) but not stringently. I have increased the amount of physical activity I'm doing because I have more energy although I wouldn't call it exercising ( that's in the plan though!)

But here's the thing my body is shedding the excess pounds which is great but I am also adjusting to the new slimmer me again. My clothes are getting lose and baggy. I have already gone down one size and these are now loose on me too.

As the pounds are dropping off I am learning to love myself in a new way. The stretch marks are becoming deeper and more noticeable now they are not stretched over fat, my breasts are not as plump and round as they once were. Not only is my body losing weight but,of course, I am older than I was when I was last slim so everything is different.

Oh and menopause is definitely on the horizon. Fun times.

The biggest thing I am learning ( relearning, reminding myself, noticing) is that my body really is only a very small part of who I am  and the Me that I have to love is the one who lies inside all of that. So I am loving myself a little more every day.


So here are my five tips to loving yourself through change:

(1) Change is inevitable.
 Accept that change is going to happen. If you keep struggling to keep things the same you are going to miss out on all the fun.

(2) Get comfortable with the new "normal" 
Once you accept that change is happening embrace it. All change feels uncomfortable at first but struggling with it, resisting it will only make the transition last longer and feel miserable in the process.

(3) Be gentle with yourself.
Some days everything will feel fine and others you will struggle with. It is all okay. Beating yourself up for having a bad day won't help. Taking a warm bath and going to bed early might be just the thing you need. Gentle, gentle.

(4) Look at yourself in the mirror every morning and say "I love you"
Keep reminding yourself how much you love you. Even on the days you feel like crap. Especially on the days you feel like crap. Do something you love. Treat yourself like your own best friend.

(5) Celebrate!
Take the time to acknowledge how far you have come . Every small step in the direction you want to go is a huge victory so take the time to celebrate. And keep going!