A New Year… A New Start

Sarah Lloyd - 10 Jan 17

So, that’s it Christmas is over. And, it feels a bit like a shorter more active version of maternity leave – like you have a hangover without consuming the alcohol – i.e. knackered, seeing the same 4 walls for days on end and craving some time alone so you can pee / poo / get dressed without an audience telling you that you have a squishy tummy.

Husband and I have spent the best part of 10 days blissfully wandering around in PJ’s (apart from the 4 days we had plans with family / at Panto), scoffing chocolate and cheese (and wine on some days), moving mess from one room to another.  Sky Movies PIXAR was alternated with CBeebies Nutcracker (I loved it the first few times – but our eldest actually knows all the words we’ve seen it that much) and both of us slept in shifts (amazing).

The house hasn’t been cleaned or tidied for around two weeks apart from to wipe up food bombs and try to squeeze all the recycling into the bin. Seriously – how much packaging for one poxy doll… and you need to make sure you have batteries, scissors and a swiss army knife to hand so you can get the damn toy out quickly so they can play with it ‘now now NOW mummy!’

So come yesterday, when it was the first day back to work for Hubbie and the first day back at nursery for the children, I was in my element!

I took an extra day’s holiday to basically do one of my favourite things… Tidying up or ‘sorting shit out’.  So off to the local supermarket I went to purchase a trolley full of storage tubs to basically house all these new toys.

It’s immensely satisfying after living knee deep in naked Disney Princesses (why she underdresses them – no clue), felt tip pens, playdough and Fisher Price/Vtech noisy toys (!) to finally see the lounge carpet.  I feel a little sad for the girls as now all their playthings are neatly tucked away in cupboards but I guess that’s the beauty them both having birthdays so close to Christmas, they get their minds blown from the amount of presents to open in one hit and then mummy can hide them all away so throughout the year ‘new’ toys can be unearthed…

Anyway I digress… so new year…  In the past the same as so many others – I have set empty resolutions, putting things down like ‘get fit, lose weight, learn a language, quit drinking as much, save money etc etc’. I think this year I want to set ‘intentions’ as opposed to ‘resolutions’ are much less hollow.

One thing this Christmas has taught me, it’s to be ‘present’ – and in the ‘moment’ – as you don’t get a second go.  It’s also taught me, that I need to look after myself to give my girls and husband the best version of me.

So my intentions for this year are

– To live in the moment to be present for all the moments – good and bad

– To look after me – fill myself up on things that I need to feel good – more laughter, more meditation, more time out from being mummy, more scribbles, more yoga, more sleep, more bubbles…

And of course to give up booze, stop eating cheese, get fit, save money and loose weight…(Kidding!)

Sarah Lloyd

I am a corporate communications professional who has been in the business for over 17 years (gulp). Nearly 3 years ago I embarked on the hardest job of my life, becoming mummy to Lucy, and as it couldn't have been all bad, more recently Amy.

View profile for posts, events and more info