#myheartylife | 11 – gratitude| success| beauty

Reflecting weekly on the beauty in every day moments, reasons to be thankful and celebrating small successes with the #myhearty life linky.

I’m grateful for ….
.. being taught to sew as a child by my Mum just as her Mum had taught her. She made it fun and encouraged me when I became frustrated. We made a skirt together when I was 15 which landed me in hospital when a lose wire in the sewing machine gave me an electric shock. I’ve hoarded fabric cuttings over the years but never made anything else. I have bigger ideas in my head than my abilities can maintain! But I am grateful for the unshakeable confidence in my ability to stitch and have no fear or loathing when it comes to stitching jobs for E like adapting World Book Day costumes or sewing badges onto his Beavers uniform. For someone who lacks confidence in many other areas of my life it gives me a warm feeling to know I’ve got this. Thanks Mum.

I succeeded at …
..prioritising sleep on my one child free morning. On a Tuesday I love to start my day with a swim. Night times with Luca can be exhausting and this week I was tired and headachy the moment my eyes opened on my swim morning this week. I felt a slight lump in my throat when I swallowed and wondered if I was developing the cough the boys both have. The cough that kept E from his swimming lesson on Sunday. I decided a swim for me was likely to lead to further exhaustion and potentially earache or a cold so after getting the boys dressed I crept back into bed. I fell asleep listening to the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Centre’s ”Body scan for sleep” (works every time, go check it out if you have any difficulty dropping off). I woke 2 hours later so clearly made the right decision! I didn’t get anything on my to-do list done that morning but I had practiced good self-care and felt like my mind was clearer, calmer and more able to work out what my priorities really were this week.

I found beauty in …
Father and son. One learning, one helping. Both smiling, both exhausted by the end. E showed no interest in riding a bike until fairly recently. We don’t have a garden and live near a main road so even trips to the park would have involved carrying the bike there for him and restricting his use of it. We figured we’d wait until he was older and asked for one and he just didn’t until this Christmas. The poor weather has meant only now is he learning to ride it.

My previous #myheartylife reflections can be found here

I’m linking this post to the supportive and positive blogging community that is #BestBootForward hosted by Kate on Thin Ice and Indigo Wilderness. It’s a weekly linkup for sharing positive celebrations of life, successes through challenge or simply spreading a little cheer.