It’s August, and for once we’ve actually had a proper summer here in the UK. Quite a few warm – sometimes too warm – sunny days. These are great if you’re a sun worshipper. Not so great if you have to keep your skin out of the sun and if you have an old dog – walkies at 7am and 9pm and sleeping on the sofa as the bedroom upstairs is like a sauna.
But hey, we don’t complain, as we’d sure complain if it rained all summer again.
For me the hot days meant I was inside, working on my website and setting up my coaching business.
I have to say I am in the depth of it all. Not overwhelmed. Just wonderfully, frustratingly, deeply in the middle of creating something new.
It’s a lot. It’s not moving fast. I had to learn – again – to be patient. Especially with things I don’t really understand like website codes, or plugins, or cache … huh?
But I am doing it. Every time I click on something and it works, I feel a real sense of achievement. Funny really, because it’s a word that reminds me of my corporate days, yet here it feels completely different. This achievement feels personal. As I am doing everything myself (ok, ok, my husband gets dragged in from time to time, of course) and I am proud of it.
I have a quote on my homepage, from Confucius:
I hear and I forget.
I see and I remember.
I do and I understand.
This is so true. As my husband keeps saying to me, when I get frustrated with the technicalities of the website, “if you do it yourself, you’ll know it, you’ll understand it and when it breaks, you’ll know how to fix it”.
As I thought about that quote later, I realised it’s true of so many things in wellbeing too. We really truly only understand if something works for us or not, when we do it ourselves.
Someone mentions to you something they’ve read or done – something that helped them. You think “oh, I shall try that” but by the time you got home or by the time you found time for yourself, you forgot about it. Then you actually read about the same thing yourself and then you remember you friend mentioning it. And then you decide to actually do it. And then, you understand. And you, and only you, can decide whether it works for you or not. Whether it’s something worth continuing with.
My husband’s phrase “and when it breaks, you’ll know how to fix it” also applies to our wellbeing journey. Not because our wellbeing breaks. It doesn’t. But life still happens and it will continue to throw challenges at you. But once you have the skills and tools and once you know what’s working and what’s not, you can come back to these over and over again, when needed. With those skills and tools, you will be able to navigate these challenges and once things settle again, to feel better again.
So, here’s one small invitation this month. As like me, am sure a lot of you are in the depth of it all.
Choose one thing today.
Just one.
And do it. Just do it.
And do it again tomorrow, and the day after. And see if it works for you.
Something you’ve heard but immediately forgot, something you’ve seen or read and thought about it, something that’s been on your “kind things to do for myself” list for a while.
Nothing big, nothing dramatic.
Maybe just a glass of water first thing in the morning.
Maybe just 5 minutes, really just 5 minutes, of sitting down and breathing.
Maybe that overnight oats breakfast recipe you wanted to try and see how you feel after it.
Nothing big, nothing dramatic.
I recently wrote a blog article called Is Wellbeing Hard Work? You might enjoy it.
Is Wellbeing Hard Work? – My Own Wellbeing Coaching
Wherever you are on your wellbeing journey this month, I hope you take a moment to appreciate your own strength and kindness towards yourself.
And everything you do to help yourself, no matter how big or small.
As I know you do it, but it sometimes goes unnoticed.
So, take a moment.
Until next time,
Angela