Are we planting seeds for our future?

Zoe - 23 Apr 20

I’m living this lovely lockdown in Barcelona. In a small apartment. With the only outdoor space being a little balcony. Damn, I wish we’d made it nice when we renovated the rest of the apartment last year. ‘We never use it’, he said.

Everyone has their challenges right now, so we are far from unique. But, in Spain, kids are not allowed outside. This will be slightly relaxed from next week, but only with a far from generous 10 minute limit. So, until now, my 2 year old and 2 month old have not been properly outside for 40 whole days. 40 days and 40 nights. This is when the black clouds are supposed to pass, right?

Sat on my messy balcony last weekend, getting as much Vitamin D as humanly possible before the sun passed, in a space stuffed with bikes, recycling and cleaning stuff, I was dreaming about what to do with our little, and now very needed, outside space. Flicking though ‘balcony decor ideas’ on Pinterest, it seemed acquiring some plants and flowers would be key. Sadly, I have neither right now. And I have no way of getting pots, compost or even seeds.

But, while sat on that messy balcony, thinking about the seeds I didn’t have, I actually realised that I was planting some other, more important, seeds. Some lifestyle seeds, you could say. We, like many others, have had to make some changes to the our lives. I genuinely hope we’ll continue these after some kind normality resumes.

I now do a little yoga everyday. It was something I always wanted to do, seeing inspiring Instagram posts of people doing yoga at sunrise. I’m not doing that, of course. But I am finding 10 minutes at the end of each day to stretch out my body. It feels good. I hope to continue this.

I bake. I have never baked. But now I have given a few cakes a go, and they have turned out okay. Banana bread, of course… the lockdown baking staple. May I continue this rather than buy shop bought.

I meal plan. This has been on my to do list for ever. Decide what you want to cook each week. So, decide what you are going to buy. Simple. Before lockdown, it was just too easy to decide meals in the moment. Eating in or eating out. What did we fancy. What we could be bothered to prepare. And so, way more waste. I am so ashamed of what food I used to throw away. No more.

I’ve actually properly played with my 2 year old during this time. Like ‘role-play’ play. Before, we would go to the park, to the beach or the playground for entertainment. At home, after nursery, she would watch a bit of TV or play alone, while I got on with stuff. I never had time to go on adventures with Peppa, fly to space, have a tea party, or be the tickle monster. Now yes. I must make more time for this in the future.

No shopping. Not even internet purchases. So, no unnecessary crap has entered my house between March 15th and now. In fact, we’ve even streamlined what we do have due to a 6 week long and slow sort out. It will feel so good when I can finally take the contents of our spare room to be dumped, recycled, sold or given away.

So, that’s it. My few little lifestyle seeds. I hope I nurture these seeds. Water them. Give them enough sun. Talk to them. Make sure they stay alive. But sadly, I think, as the world returns to some normality in the coming months I may forget, and possibly return to my old ways. I hope not. Although, I did kill the last balcony plants I potted, so there is every chance it will happen again.

Logging (and maybe blogging) snippets of life advice for my girls on Instagram @deargirls.byzoe.

Zoe

Barcelona based Brit. Two daughters. One husband. Navigating life.

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