My Mother Reads My Blog Now

So apparently I need to balance my work posts with how I relax and unwind

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

I’m one of the lucky few who found a career path doing what I love. I’ve been a writer in some form my entire life and have found numerous ways to get paid for putting words together.

I need to remind myself that not everyone is this lucky, which means their experience and attitude towards work is different. They’re more disciplined about working eight hours a day and not a minute more. They don’t check emails in their off hours and don’t think about work all the time. The idea of being so consumed with work that you have to make an effort to not work is terrifying. Or something to fix. Or avoid.

Yes, I’ve been overwhelmed and needed to take a mental health leave. I’m driven, independent and self-sufficient. It’s lead to success, but when left unchecked, can also leave me exhausted. But I’ve also felt invigorated, fuelled by a creative charge that needs to be worked out and turned into something.

It’s why I feel uniquely positioned to share my stresses and how I deal with them. We can’t eliminate stress entirely, but we can take note of systems and thought-patterns to help keep it in check; to make sure the stress in our lives is pushing us forward, not pushing us down.

I thought I did this in a recent post about how keeping a budget keeps money stress in check. I wanted to share a moment in my life when I wasn’t keeping track of my finances and let some costly tasks build up. My attention was split in so many directions I had nothing left at the end of the day to submit health benefit claims or file my taxes.

I meant to illustrate how keeping track of my budget broke things down into manageable tasks, deflating the stress bubble and chipping away at my debt.

I meant to illustrate how keeping track of my budget helps me navigate the changing income levels of this new phase of my career. I’m getting used to having an inconsistent income and knowing my financial situation gives me peace of mind.

Clearly I needed to spend more time finessing that overall message because the day I posted, I got a text from my mother.

If you ever need help, you know you can always ask your father and I.

The only thing she picked up on was that at one point I let my debt build and give me stress. The only she sees in my posts is work giving me stress.

She’s convinced I’m on the brink of another nervous breakdown.

I’m happy to report, this is not the case. But also realizing that in only sharing stories about hard work and stress management it might look like my life is completely off-balance.

So for her sake, and for mine, instead of talking about work, for the next few paragraphs I’m going to only talk about how much I love fall (spoiler alert, there’s no mention of pumpkin spice anything).

1. It’s a full season of renewal. I know technically January is the start of the calendar year and resolutions, yada yada yada. But September has always felt like a happier time for renewal. One that goes back to elementary school. September always held the promise of new teachers, new friends, new lessons. As an adult I still feel the pull to buy new school supplies (I LOVE pens and new notebooks). And I usually take this time to reflect on what I want from my work life for the next few months: balance and focus. I’m taking the last week of September off from my news writing job and plan on spending that time mapping out goals for my business. Maybe I’ll finally get around to writing a business plan?
2. It’s the end of humidity. Anyone who has spent a summer in Toronto knows it’s the birthplace of the phrase “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity”. And this summer was peak humidity. Even my island dog Pearl (a rescue from St Lucia) struggled with the humidity most days. Walks were frequent, but short. And slow. And you can forget about running. To get a decent run in during summer, you need to wake before dawn. I’m already doing that for work most days, which means I’ve been stuck on the treadmill for months. Until today. I finished my work day with a 4-km run along the lakefront. My favourite trail and my favourite way to mark the end of the official work day and the beginning of “me” time.
3. It’s the return of the duvet. In the summer I like sleeping with just a light quilt. I like being a little bit cold at night. But once fall hits? It’s duvet-city, baby! I even treated myself to a new duvet cover for a cheap-and-cheerful bedroom makeover. The only thing better than snuggling under a duvet, is snuggling with the dog under a duvet. Even waking at 3 a.m. this morning I thought “what a great sleep”. Best way to start your day.
4. Roasting vegetables. Enough said.
5. Roasting chicken. My favourite budget and meal-planning hack for years. Roast a chicken on Sunday and you have protein for salads, rice bowls, roast chicken dinners and bones for broth at the end of the week.

I may be a summer baby, but true joy happens for me in September and lasts all the way until January (when a different season of renewal and rebirth takes over).

Mindful moments happen every time you walk out your door. That moment when you realize you need a jacket. Or that moment you realize the leaves are already starting to fall. Or that moment you realize it’s getting darker earlier. Nature continuously tells you the hard work and intensity of summer is over. Now is the time to let go and reap the benefits of everything that brought you to this moment.

And maybe these more joyful moments of appreciating what’s happening now deserve a place in this space too.