Last week was a tough one. I’m not going to lie. It wasn’t BAD particularly. I was just exhausted. I’ve been on the go for a while now with no weekends off in the middle. It was a long work week too. I’m super grateful that I get all these amazing opportunities, but they take their toll eventually… and this week was evidently when they started to take their toll.

I knew that it was going to be a tiring week, so what I decided to do was to write a blog post, little by little, day by day, thinking about the things that make me smile, make me feel better or make me feel calm. What came of it is this blog post. It gave me something to think about at night when I was just exhausted. Some of the days I wrote a lot of words, some of the days I wrote two or three and that was OK. Some days I wrote words on a morning, some days I wrote at lunchtime as I sat at the table in the staff room, some days I wrote at the computer or in bed. But every day I managed to find something that was positive.

 The things that make me happiest:

• Texts from friends;
• Drag Race – in particular the Snatch Game episodes;
• Laughing with my children;
• Reading blog posts;
• Listening to the same songs 100s of times;
• Being in bed early;
• My brother;
• Reading books – whether it’s 10 pages or 50;
• My mam;
• Knowing I’m doing something I want to do for the rest of forever;
• Parents Evening – might be exhausting, but so lush to talk to parents and the kids;
• Knowing other people are equally exhausted;
• Looking forward to the holidays;
• People saying lovely things about me;
• My kids not being scared to be honest with me;
• Oreos;
• Waking up after a great night’s sleep;
• Just ignoring texts occasionally;
• Having friends who understand that you’re not really ignoring you, but you just need space;
• Watching SimplyNailogical videos on Youtube;
• Pictures of cats;
• Making time to just look after myself;
• Allowing myself to have a cry;
• Putting on my pyjamas;
• Book post;
• Post from friends;
• Quilliams for breakfast;
• Sunshine!!!!

I think it’s so important that we find time to look after ourselves. I’m not always great at it. Do you have any tips for how to get better, especially when I’m grumpy and exhausted? What are your favourite self care things to do?

S x