Life Lately - Starting 2018

And just like that the holidays are over, the kids are back to school and things are returning to normal - if we can even call this life we live normal! I'm a bit late to the draw this year with getting the blog going. Precious time with the family had taken precedence over updating this space over here...especially after our rough start to Summer (read about it HERE ). But that rough start has made me realise more than ever to capitalise on whatever time we have with our loved ones, and so we kept the Summer partying going till the very end before we get swallowed up by our busy schedules. I suppose that's why, even though we are way past halfway through January, it feels like I'm only really getting started with 2018 now!

At first, I found the idea of 50 days and 150 meals of Summer vacation a little daunting and exhausting. But by the end of it, I found it to be a great time to reconnect with my kids - to have long and meaningful conversations with them, listen to their woes (and sometimes, complaints about my parenting), delve a bit deeper into their psyche, focus on character building...you know - all the things we let slip by during the year because there's just too many things to do. And somewhere along the line, as kids often have the power to do, they have brought about the biggest changes and realisations within ME!  

 

 I feel like the end of 2017 and this Summer holiday has really set the tone for things I need to change and focus on in 2018. It started out as a little niggly voice in the back of my mind, a little whisper into my subconscious; and is now reverberating through every aspect of my life. It's a common theme that's coming pouring through - especially out of the mouths of my kids and I think it's time I really start listening to the signals.

So, even though I have no profound resolutions or goals set for myself  for 2018; the one single change I want to focus on is to live less of my moments behind a screen or a camera lens! To live less of my moments observing my family live their lives from my own created fortress of technology...to stop trying to capture every single moment perfectly and start to live every single moment that I am given with my family! If there's one thing I want to achieve this year, then it is to find a happy medium between the two.

 I know that this is just the beginning of a very long stretch...that there's plenty more lessons still to come; and I'm ready to embrace and learn from whatever comes way; but at least it's a pretty good way to get the year started - focused on family and ready to grow :-)

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Peace,

 

 

NAMU :)