In idle conversation with my husband the other day he asked how many photos of cups of coffee I took in a random week - and I had to confess that it was probably quite a lot.
Of course, me being me, I had to go and look. And scrolling through the stored photos on my phone it soon became apparent that the tagline ‘cats, coffee and knitting’ that I often put in social media bios was a pretty accurate representation of my life.
As hobbies and interests go - it’s not a bad one to have - although looking at the assembled photos I would probably have to add ‘also likes cake’.
One thing that is rather distressingly missing from my photos is my knitting. Increasingly I seem to have got into the habit of using my cafe time for working/writing and considerably less time for relaxing and knitting.
This is definitely something I want to rectify in the coming weeks and months.
“Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes - including you”
Anne Lamott
In a recent coaching call with
we talked about how I wanted to make more time for myself over the coming weeks, but when she asked what I would do with that time there was an uncomfortable pause as I realised I wasn’t entirely sure.When your knitting is your relaxation but also your work - and ditto your writing (and often reading) is seems like there is such a blurring of the boundaries that you don’t know where ‘work you’ ends and ‘relaxing you’ begins.
To that end I have come up with a little list of things I plan to do over the next few weeks in order to take a bit of time and space just for me. Ideally I would take myself off to a fantasy log cabin in the woods but I have to be realistic here and work with what I’ve got.
☕Go to a new cafe, with no laptop/Kindle/notebooks. Just me, my knitting and a real, physical paper book.
☕Get my nails done - I can’t remember the last time I had a proper salon manicure. Although not gel as I need to remember that it wrecks my nails no matter how tempting it is.
☕Take a trip to an art gallery - will wait until school holidays are over for this one.
☕Try a local yoga class I have been meaning to try for ages.
☕Cast on a new project - I’m planning a bit of an epic log cabin blanket - that is going to be my safe haven, my relaxation in September when both my boys are heading Uni-wards and I’m feeling bereft (slightly joking here - but also slightly not).
I’m cheating slightly as the last one is technically work related - I’ll be running a log cabin blanket KAL in the autumn (tentatively named Log-along, although I have a feeling someone else may have already used that). It will be in the same manner as the Mitered Square blanket KAL with accompanying ebook - if I knuckle down and get it written.
So that’s it for this week. I hope you are managing to enjoy a little down time and that the weather is being kind - whatever that looks like for you.
Happy knitting.
What if everyone really is doing their best?
Louise, this is SO me! I'm also a chronic over-scheduler, always trying to squeeze in one more thing. Your list of self-care activities is inspiring – especially the 'no tech' cafe visit. I'm definitely stealing that idea. It's so easy to let work bleed into relaxation time, but setting those boundaries is crucial. Thanks for the reminder!
Best I have seen anywhere! Thank you!