Thursday, June 11, 2020

Mama Life || Five Things That Make Me Happy


Aside from the obvious things like my family, the kids, some warm sunshine, there are some things that really make me feel myself and make me super happy. With life being a little surreal right now, I'm all about focusing on those positives. Lock down has proved pretty helpful for me in terms of realising what's important, what needs ditching from my life and what makes me tick, so I thought I'd share five of the things that really make me happy right now.

Getting creative


Whether it's getting out with my camera to take some floral or family photos, making some new illustrations or getting the paints out and relaxing with a canvas, anything creative really makes me feel like myself and truly happy. During lock down I've had more time to create which has really got me through. I've learnt how to lino printing again which I'm really enjoying having not done it since school! I've created tonnes of prints for my Etsy store, made cards, taken photographs, edited photos, built decking in the garden, re-organised a room to look better and planted up our garden to make use of the space. I'm making our house nicer, I'm keeping my mind busy and best of all, people really like my work now which is great as it means I can get a few sales!

Finding perfect clothes


Since becoming a Mum and my body changing in lots of ways, I have felt a bit lost with what to wear. Part of me I think felt that I should look a bit more grown up and sensible once I had a child and part of me has clung on to that 17 year old skater girl phase, so I've been a bit lost in a mix of clothes that don't go, that I don't really like, that don't fit or just don't suit me. Just lately though I've found what's 'me', what I feel happy in regardless of size and how important it is to have clothes that fit, whatever the label says. I've always been really hung up on the numbers, and as much as I'd love to be a perfect ten for example, I'm not going to get there quick, if ever, so buying clothes for my size that are comfortable is the only answer. For so many years I've grasped onto those smaller sizes, squeezed into things because I refused to go to that next size bracket and just really felt a little bit shit every time I got dressed. Now I have a range of clothes from 12 - 22, all different shapes, sizes and brands but I love them, I can put outfits together and I feel very 'me'. I love dungarees and have always been put off by my size and what people would say, but right now as I sit here in daisy print dungarees, I can honestly say that doesn't bother me any more! If I'm happy, that's what counts as it's my body, my clothes and my choice. I just hope I can keep this confidence up when life gets back to normal.

The coast


Being away from the seaside and being restricted from visits has really shown me what I'm missing and I have a real deep longing for the sea right now. Although lock down has been lifted slightly, so many people will be venturing to the coast in these early days of partial freedom, so it doesn't feel safe yet and I'd hate to go to my favourite places and find them crammed full of humans, yuck. I miss walking down the beach looking for treasure, wading through pebbles looking for fossils, having a sea swim, a float on the waves, collecting shells, playing with the kids, screaming at ice cold waves splashing on our feet, wrapping up in a clean dry hoodie after a beach day, napping on the car ride home, every single part of it. I always say Brighton is my soul home and this is still true, but I really feel that at some point we need to relocate closer to the sea, because this is killing me!

A good TV series


I'm a bit of a slob when it comes to TV, but a bit, or a lot of escapism is so needed right now and I'm a sucker for a good series. The funny thing is I rarely put on a film as I think I don't want to sit and watch for that long, so end up finding a series, getting glued to it and binge watching that instead! I watch series with Adam, but really love it when I find a series he's not bothered about so I can watch odd bits of it through the day when I need a few minutes out.

Music


For some reason I stopped actively listening to music for years unless I was in the car. I think it was partly because our CDs were always buried and the CD player was always unplugged or broken, so I just lost interest with it because the effort was a lot. Since the last couple of years having Alexa devices though, I've got well back into music, re-listening to tracks I loved when I was younger, music I played in with bands, special songs, sad songs, dancing songs, everything. I have different play lists set up and listen on my phone now, which I know is nothing new for most people but I've been so long not bothering with music I forgot how good it is for me. I listen on the way to work to calm my anxiety, in bed if I can't sleep, every time I need to do anything that requires energy as music just fuels that and just have it in the background with music for whatever mood I'm in. The kids are learning more about music now and it's got me back into playing my guitar from time to time and singing a lot more which is good for the soul, even if it sounds a little crow like.


What makes you super happy?