I took this video during today’s (very cold) sea paddle to help you bring a few moments of calm and peace into your day and ponder whatever lights YOU up. What brings you joy? What do you want MORE of in 2020 and beyond?

If you haven’t already started back at work or school, you probably will tomorrow.

A lot of people might be groaning at the prospect but if that’s you, rather than immediately sucking it up and getting on with it, maybe give yourself even a few minutes to ask yourself:

• what are you least looking forward to about your return to ‘real life’?
• what feels like the most heart sinking element of ‘being back’?
• what ARE you looking forward to about it?
• what do you wish your ‘real life’ every day had MORE of?
• how might you use the back to work blahs to help you create life and work you feel BETTER about returning to?

If you’d like my support in figuring out what you’d like to be returning to, the kind of life you’d look forward to leaping out of bed for each morning (or whenever your day begins) and my approach appeals, get in touch to book a free telephone consultation.

And, of course, at the heart of my approach is YOUR knowing what’s best for YOU. I’m just there to support you in figuring it out and putting steps in place to help you MAKE it your reality. I have a wide range of resources available throughout the site and you can access them through the Be Your Own Self Care Coach pages.

You might also find my book, 365 Ways to Feel Better (available at many bookshops, online and at libraries) helpful – while you can start it at any time of year, it was written for a New Year’s Day start.

This is a really rich, transformative time of year if we let it be. With so much time off work, so much time with loved ones (or thinking about who we might wish we had more time with), we’ve been thinking – consciously or unconsciously – about what’s important to us.

By using it instead of grumbling that we just need to get on with things, we can bring that information into the new year AND get on with things with a lighter heart, knowing that we’re creating a different, better future for ourselves.

With love,