Day 7 and summary of 'Reset, Relax, Revitalise' Week

Breaking news - the world does not stop spinning because you decide to step off for a while and take a break!!

How can I possibly take some time out for myself?  Well, the fact is that the world keeps turning and the sun keeps rising regardless, so do yourself (and those around you) a favour by stepping off the treadmill and having a break.  

This week's blog is a round-up of my well-deserved break and I can't tell you how good I feel for taking it.  

I've had THE most fabulous week off work yet I've not done anything remotely exciting, I've barely strayed across the county border but I've had THE best time.

My intention was to 'reset, relax, revitalise' and I put no pressure on myself to achieve anything else.  So instead of having a 'to do' list I used these intentions instead, for example, what do I need to do to reset (learning and self-development), what do I need to do to relax (yoga and meditation), what do I need to do to revitalise (exercise and declutter).  Hand on heart, I can say that I have 100% achieved what I set out to do.

I started every morning with 10 minutes of yoga and meditation, which was then followed by some sort of cardio or strength workout.  This helped to set up my day and made me feel positive and energised.

I've had some lovely long walks enjoying the beautiful countryside on my doorstep which is bursting with autumn colours right now.  I absolutely love autumn, it's my favourite season and usually a time of reflection for me and also an opportunity to change my routines and do something new.

One of my intentions was learning and self-development so I did just that, for both work and my fitness business.  I attended a free online course one morning on how to 'Stay visible whilst working virtually', something we all need right now!  I incorporated some new exercises into my fitness sessions and I also did some work on a new project which included making a video but more of that at a later date.

I also took the opportunity to do something a bit daft so I dedicated Thursday to all things French and was no longer Tracy from Barnsley but Therese from Toulouse!  I tried to get into character ahead of my French lesson that evening.

Hell, I even ran in a real-life race for the first time in over 6 months.  It was only the intra-club winter handicap race but personal pride was at stake nevertheless!  The idea is that you all finish within a similar timeframe so you're given a 'handicap time', meaning that you are chasing slower runners who set off before you and faster runners are then chasing you down as they set off after you.  It's a real incentive to chase down the runners ahead and not get caught by those behind you.  You can't avoid it if you're an average kind of pace like me but you can certainly keep the damage to a minimum.  I'm one of those runners who only knows one way to run in races and that's 100% commitment and to finish knowing I couldn't have done any more.  Unfortunately, this doesn't alway work in your favour in a handicap race.  I beat my predicted time by 1 min 30 secs which means I'll actually be penalised next time and will have to run even faster!

I've done a few jobs around the house but only because I wanted to and I've popped out to various places here and there throughout the week, but as you can see I've not done anything to set the world alight.  However, I've achieved exactly what I intended and that was to 'reset, relax, revitalise' so job well done.

Lessons learnt:

• You are not as important as what you think you are.  The world keeps turning and the work will still be there when you get back.  So for goodness sake, take a break.

• If you think you don't need a break ... then you most definitely do.

• Don't put yourself under pressure to do anything when you take a break.  We feel compelled to still do things on holiday because we know that people will say 'ooh what have you been up to'.  It's ok to stay at home (ha ha, quite inevitable these days) and not do anything exciting.  The whole idea of a break is to recharge your batteries.

• It's ok to do something just for YOU and not involve anyone else.  You deserve it and you need it.

• Rather than have a list of things to do, set your intentions and work from there instead.  For example, if you need to decorate then your intention could be something like 'create a relaxing environment'.  Make the whole experience more enjoyable.

I was going to do a review of quarter 3 this week but I've got a bit carried away so we'll do that next week.  I'm sure that very much like my goals and intentions for the year, yours have continued to change too but don't worry, life is never straight forward anyway.

#2020