Create a Place to reflect!

It's so important to create a space for YOU. In this age of busyness and being constantly on demand with family, work, friends, there is always someone who wants your attention. It's good to be wanted and nice to do things for others but in order to keep going and prevent yourself from burning out you must be on your own. This is the time you reflect on all things that are going on, think about the good times and nice things people have said and done for you too. It's a time to be thankful and grateful for all the memories you have, the belongings you possess, the dreams and hopes you have for the future. If you like to write then perhaps make notes and plan what your next steps are going to be. Always push forward!

Back in the summer I realised I did not have this time or space to reflect. Wrapped up in a family life, school runs, preparing meals, working part time (This was before I gave up my part time job as a nutritional chef to work full time on USANA), trying to keep the house clean and be a good wife. I can't actually remember the last time I went to the hairdressers or got my nails done. Those things just do not seem important to me.

The pull got stronger to create this "space" so I got planning on where I wanted it to be, how I wanted it to look, the sights, smells and sounds that make me happy. The idea was to build a seating area in the garden for all to enjoy. We had an abandoned area at the back of the garden where the children's broken trampoline use to be. They were getting older and we had got rid of the trampoline but left the area bare. I researched youtube endlessly on how to lay a patio. One thing about having an end goal is while you discover how to get there, perhaps through trial and error, you will learn a whole bunch of new skills. Some you thought you would never be able to do. I wanted to see how cheaply this space could be created to make it possible for anyone to try.

I prepared the area, removed all the old play bark. Ordered the patio slabs and all building materials and got to work. That was a work out in itself (not much gym attendance happened that month). I took my time and did it slowly so not to create stress and it gave me time to continue to parent. It took about a month to complete (Still need to finish a bit of grouting).

The sense of completing something you saw only in a vision and creating a plan on how to get there and learning new skills along the way is pretty amazing. Once you have done it once you know you can do it again.

For 2017 my first piece of advise is to (if you have not got one already) create a "reflection space". It could be a window seat, a nice chair in your bedroom, under the stairs or outside like mine is. This is the space where you can read, be alone, be grateful, reflect on your life and think of nice positive things. Dream and set goals for your future and figure out a way on how you can get there.

Matthew 6:6