My new vlog is out today - it's a list of ideas and tips to provide proper skincare for yourself in all this sunshine!
Enjoy :) x
How good are you at relaxing …or better still doing absolutely nothing?
I’ve been thinking about this for the last few weeks. So, I suppose in some ways this post is my way of asking for advice.
I have always been pretty bad at relaxing. I am definitely a “doer” so when I sit down to chill, it’s as though I have “ants in my pants”.
It takes me at least three sittings to watch a 40 minute programme on TV as I always leap up to “just something quickly”, thereby sabotaging my own relaxation.
As for actually doing nothing – I am truly abysmal. I find the theory quite appealing, but in reality doing nothing feels bewildering and slightly scary.
I’m getting rather annoyed with myself, and tired, so I need to take action, but how?
Now I am not claiming my life is any more full than anyone else’s and I have always thought of being self-employed (as I am) as a luxury, especially when you have children. I can fit things around my children’s needs and make up time elsewhere.
But the down side is I can always make up time elsewhere so I don’t factor in time to stop.
I am, however, quite good at doing things for my well-being. I meditate daily, exercise 5 times a week and my sleep is extremely precious to me.
But I have realized it’s not same.
Meditation, exercise, even sleep have a purpose. Relaxation doesn’t feel that way. And as for doing nothing - isn’t that a bit of a waste of time?
There is also the ‘maternal guilt factor’ - because just sitting down to relax or doing nothing feels lazy.
As I write this, I remember reading an article several years ago in relation to parenting, which discussed the importance and benefits of children doing nothing and how too much structure was not good for them. So I suppose the same principles can apply to adults.
So I wanted to come up with a list of things I could do to relax so I have been asking friends and here are some things they have suggested:
Reading – This one should be easy. I love to read. But nowadays I rarely sit down with a book unless I’m on holiday.
Watch a TV programme or film from start to finish without my laptop or phone to hand (this feels like intermediate level relaxation…)
Go for a walk – just for the sake of going for a walk. I always have the best of intentions with this one, but never seem to manage to make the time.
Gardening – I feel this one might be a joke as I am not known for my “green fingers” – but maybe I could sit in my garden more often…with a book??
Do something restful – like sew or knit. Funnily enough I used to do both these things as a teenager…maybe it is time to dust off my sewing machine…
Cook for pleasure – now I must admit I don’t really associate cooking as relaxing these days, it is more a necessity – and I’m pretty sure many mothers would agree. But as I have mentioned before I do find baking very restful, so maybe I need to make more time for that, as I’m sure it would be appreciated in my house.
So whilst this list is not looking unachievable, I have no idea where I would find the time and I suppose that is the point.We have to make the time to relax and the purpose can be that there is no purpose and that has benefits in itself....What do you think? I'd love to know your thoughts and what you do to relax.And as for actually doing nothing - that feels far too advanced for me - so I’ll have to work up to it…
Detox, denial and discipline
About ten years ago I started detoxing, once a year for ten days. Based completely around eating whole, fresh foods, I guess it was eating extremely cleanly without the label.
Detoxes tend to suit my personality - I associate it with resetting my body. And in particular controlling my “sugar switch”, which is really highly charged. Sugar is without doubt my downfall.
I have never been a fan of a diet, which in my mind is linked to weight loss, or denying myself something. In fact, if I tell myself I can’t or shouldn’t have “whatever”, that’s all I want.
Over the last few years however, I have fallen out of the detox habit. Life has been increasingly busy and I felt my training and daily nutrition were pretty good so I didn’t feel the need to do a formal detox.
This year though, some kind of health and fitness shake up was on my mind. And in the general busyness of life, eating cake and going out for drinks was becoming more of a regular occurrence rather than an occasional pleasure.
However, after my summer holiday, I made up my mind. Drinking nearly every night – which I find quite brutal these days - coupled with a video shoot coming up in the next few weeks my mind-set just flipped. I don’t know what you’re like, but once I make my mind up – I’m pretty focused and generally don’t deviate from my goals.
So, what am I actually doing? A ten-day detox. I started my regular “eating clean” regime – no sugar, caffeine, alcohol or starchy carbs. All was going well, and then on day 3 I decided to turbo charge the whole experience - I have no idea why - and bought David Kirsch’s 48 Hour Super Charged Cleanse.
This has been around for a while but I have never tried it. It is 48 hours of a liquid cleanse, no food whatsoever. I found that doing the cleanse with vitamin supplements and herbal teas my energy levels didn’t really dip at all. The only change I noticed was I didn’t sleep particular well, but I don’t know if that is coincidental.
I must say though, the hardest part for me was missing actually eating food – as I really enjoy eating!
Anyway, so far I have lost 1.7kg in 5 days. But for me, this is not principally about weight loss. It’s more about feeling good about myself and confident especially if I am going to be in front of a camera. I am great believer in feeling positive on the inside and projecting that outwards. And maybe there is a little vanity in there too…I also feel lighter, leaner, more energised and cleaner and my stomach, which is definitely my Achilles heel, like many mothers, is currently completely flat!
I am going to do my best to keep on this healthy track for a while after my detox is officially over, especially as I don’t have a firm shoot day for my video yet.
And whilst I would quite like a cupcake I’m going to hold out for as long as I can. A little self-imposed discipline won’t do me any harm!
What I would tell my teenager self about – sport and exercise
I have been thinking a lot lately about what kind of person I was when I was younger – character traits that have changed beyond recognition, things about me that have been constant throughout my life and this has got me thinking about what I would say to myself, if I met “teenager me” in a parallel universe.
Me being me, I would want to say quite a lot about several things, so much so “teenage me” would be bored stiff! But the subject that leapt into my head was sport and exercise. I would say, “Don’t skip sports lessons or pretend you’re ill so you don’t have to join in.
”When I was teenager I didn’t really engage in any sort of sporting activity. I was in fact “Queen of bunking off games”. I am quite ashamed of that now. I guess I could blame my upbringing, sport was not prevalent, but I think it is far too easy to do that and I am not a fan of the blame game. I was quite wayward and mischievous – but is that really an excuse either?
The reality is I wasn’t naturally very good at any sports, so I didn’t try, so over time I accumulated absolutely no ability for anything sporty whatsoever!
What is interesting is I look to my kids, who perhaps wouldn’t thank me for saying, but before the ages of 10/11 they weren’t great at sport – but they had a love for it and wanted to be active.
As soon as they hit their teens - well - their sporting lives became very important and found their running legs spectacularly. Both of them have run for their schools competitively and are incredible. Proud mother – right here – and I can’t pretend these genes have come from me!
Through my kids I have learned about the excitement, camaraderie and competitive spirit that comes from playing team sports and representing your school in a vital match.
I wish "teenage me" could see what they are like and felt how they feel. Training sessions are non negotiable for my son and my daughter clears her head by going for a run at the end of the day. I understand the merits of all this now – but it didn’t enter my head to do it when I was younger.
I train quite hard these days 5-6 days a week for 8 weeks then I have a rest week when I concentrate on yoga and flexibility. But I am very late to the party. I only really got into exercise in my 20s when I was pregnant and then trying to shift pregnancy weight. In fact, at the time we used to live in Sydney, I used to feed my daughter at about 6am and go for a run along a path near Sydney Harbour - I know don’t fall over in shock!
I think the reason I started thinking about this, is sometimes I find it so hard to motivate myself and I’m not sure it any of it comes naturally to me. And whilst I am very accepting of how I am and look, I wonder if I had started getting into exercise at a younger age if there would now be a difference to my strength, aerobic fitness, physique and health – undoubtedly yes.
So what do you think? And what are your experiences? I love to know…
Acupuncture with Sally Kean–Hammerson
For some time now I have wanted to write about my experiences with acupuncture and today is the day!Yesterday afternoon I had an incredible treatment with my acupuncturist Sally Kean–Hammerson (http://www.sallykean-hammerson.co.uk/) and I couldn’t put it off any longer.
I know I am on the “holisitic/spirititual” side of the spectrum and some people don’t adhere to alternative therapies; in fact that there are members of my family who will refer to anything alternative as “voodoo” (!!) But for me it works and I have seen results, so with that in mind I wanted to share.
I went to Sally because about 4 years ago I ended up being incredibly ill and bed ridden for about two weeks. I was admitted to hospital, had every test under the sun and saw a variety of consultants. The good news was that none of the tests showed anything untoward. The bad news was that I didn’t know what was wrong. I was weak, couldn’t eat, and couldn’t sleep due to incredible pain.
Whilst the cocktails of prescribed medication dulled the pain and in time I was back on my feet - it took about 6-8 weeks to regain full strength - I didn’t have a diagnosis. One by-product of being ill though was that my already sensitive stomach was even more so and I wanted to find a way to balance myself out.
As you can imagine there is a lot of information on Sally’s website and the internet but here’s an overview. Acupuncture is carried out by inserting fine needles into the skin at specific points in the body. These points are located along channels or meridians where our life energy, Qi, flows.
To be healthy our Qi must flow freely - if it becomes blocked, or deficient, we may start to feel unwell. Points are chosen for each individual person in order to maintain the smooth flow of Qi and the whole person is treated; body, mind and spirit, the main aim being to restore a person’s equilibrium.
Above all, when you first meet Sally you will see that she knows her stuff and is incredibly thorough. In addition to this she is thoughtful, caring and really wants to help.
I ramble, she listens, and then she inserts several needles everywhere - legs, arms, stomach, head and then I tune out for about 30/40 minutes. She doesn’t let me chat…which is incredibly hard for me. But yesterday I seemed to be able to meditate during the treatment, which was an added bonus.
Every time the treatment is over and I open my eyes, it is like someone has turned up the brightness in my head. Everything is sharper and more vivid. This is not my imagination – many people I know who have acupuncture say the same thing.
And the beauty of acupuncture for me is there is an instant effect married with a deeper, long lasting one.
I’m not saying go out and have acupuncture, you may not need it. But if like me you have minor health issues that need tweaking and balancing and you don’t want to pop pills or brush your ailments under the carpet in the hope they go away then acupuncture might be worth looking at.
Sally is the only acupuncturist I know and in my opinion she is excellent – so check her out.