I arrived at 8.15 last night and flopped down in my bed. It dawned on me that other than driving and perching on the side of a grubby sandpit at the local farm I hadn’t sat down all day.
Early on in the day I realised I didn’t have my wits about me, which is easily done when you have two small people screaming demands from the get go.
We bailed out of the car, I rearranged Giorgia’s chef hat at request, and then intercepted a potential meltdown over who stinky doggy was going to hold hands with. I locked the car and we trotted off laden with sticker books, pencil cases and drawing pads, which is pretty standard for a cafe visit if you want to drink a coffee while it’s hot.
We’d traveled far around the bend when a woman approached me and asked me if my car was the blue one at the end. Yes it was.
I dragged the girls back, with more urgency than we had initially departed with, to see my 'locked' car with one of the passenger doors left WIDE open.
I had done my meditation and some yoga early in the morning and I was feeling relatively un- frazzled by this point in the car park considering.
Beggars belief.
By the time we got home in the afternoon I was shattered after rhyme time in the library and waaaay too many hours pushing swings, pretending to ride wooden horses, climbing into small spaces, and a massively failed attempt at getting the girls to sleep in the car.
I plonked down the lunch boxes, mass of library books, and clothing that has been removed in the grotty sandpit to begin picking up the trail of coats, shoes and soft toys that had been scattered between the front door and the kitchen.
Led to the kitchen I clocked my full cup of tea still sitting on the table from breakfast, lurking somewhere below room temperature.
I was parched. Other than my coffee I hadn’t had anything to drink all day.
At 4.27pm I considered the Marlborough Sav Blanc chilling in the fridge. Was it too early to have a drink?
My thoughts were very quickly interrupted by the first meltdown of the evening and a request to fill a bath.
By the time I arrived in my bed at 8.15pm I felt the remaining morsels of life being sucked out of me right there on the spot.
My mind began to circle around the clunky moments of the day and so I sat up in bed, grabbed my journal, and wrote.
“Today I am proud that I started the day with meditation and yoga”
“I am proud of the girls for how calmly they sat in the cafe and how kindly they interacted with one another and their friends”
“I am proud of meeting Anna with love and kindness after a very messy meltdown".
There is so much that goes on in a day, it’s easy to settle into bed reeling over all the ‘stupid’ or less than perfect things you did in a day.
Sitting with 3 proud of statements at the end of the day is a really effective way to change the energy and arrive within a sense of peace before closing your eyes and starting again.
I invite you to practice this.
"Today I am proud of..."