Hello! It’s been a while!
I’ve been ready to get back into writing for a couple of months now but just haven’t seem to have found the time to sit down and write anything out. Because it’s been so long I feel like it’s time to reboot the blog. Not so much start from scratch but just reconsider what’s going to be here in the next 12 months or so.
As I write this little A is sitting in the hall playing with her toy shelf and happily entertaining herself. For the first time in quite a while I feel I don’t need to be either helping her with anything or catching up on housework.
I’m half way through a pruning job outside but I’ve done as much as I physically can do for that today. It’s not a washing day, so no washing to put on or hang out. Yesterday’s load is almost dry but not quite so I can’t put it away yet. So yes, I have finally found a chance to sit down and write some of the things that have been running through my head for the last 6-12 months.
A quick update…
Before I move on to what I want to talk about today I think it’s fair to provide you with a quick update of what my life has been like the last 12 or so months.
Little A came into this world 10 days after she was due in July last year. Overall I have coped really well with the birth, recovery, and my new life as “Mummy”.
To be honest I feel like I’ve had more energy over the last 12 months than I’ve had in years which I put down to a combination of hormonal changes and generally trying to look after myself and have rests whenever I can. Physically, my pain has been higher but I’ve been working with my health team and have added a new physio to that team in order to manage this.
Since she’s been born, my main focus has been on Little A. My days are mostly spent following her lead. We play, we eat (breast milk and solids since just before 6 months), we change (cloth) nappies and make other sustainable living choices, we sleep. We’ve visited family and friends, did 6 months of swimming lessons, and have just started to set up a routine for visiting the library regularly. I have managed to add in 1-2 yoga sessions a week and try to walk with Little A as much as I can.
Let’s Reboot!
As I said above, I’ve been thinking about writing and returning to some form of work for a while. I’ve spent a lot of time when lying down trapped under a sleeping baby reading other blogs and getting inspired to get back into it. I’ve been particularly inspired reading back through archived posts of the Frugalwoods and All About Balance.
They have inspired me to set some goals for achieving the lifestyle we want here in the LiveKen household. I want to keep myself accountable for what I hope to achieve so I’m going to set myself some goals for the rest of the year and then report back here regularly to make sure I stay on track and achieve what I can.
In setting these goals and rebooting LiveKen I’m hoping to rededicate to living the simple, sustainable and meaningful life we’ve discussed previously here on LiveKen.
So let’s do it…
Goal 1: Write at least 1 blog post a month on LiveKen
This one is probably the simplest goal of the lot as I’m planning to do a monthly update post for these goals. However, I will also try to do other posts throughout the post (maybe weekly or fortnightly).
For example, at the end of last year Melissa from Melissa vs Fibromylagia asked for reviews of her first book, Pregnancy and Fibromyalgia, and I agreed to do a review. I really need to apologise for the delay as I have read the book and loved it and hope to have a review up next week! She’s recently published a second book, Melissa vs Fibromyalgia: My Journey Fighting Chronic Pain, Chronic Fatigue and Insomnia. I haven’t read the second one but based on her blog posts and the first book it should be informative and written with brain fog/fatigue in mind to make it easy to read.
Goal 2: Earn some money…
Ok, so we’re able to live off E’s income but I’d really like to be able to save for the future and work towards Financial Independence so that both E and I can work part time and spend more time with Little A and our families.
I know this goal isn’t a SMART goal as I’ve written it so I’m breaking it down into a few smaller sub-goals…
Goal 2.1 Promote Foggy Frog and the Pain Gang
With being pregnant, and then having Little A to look after, I never really got around to promoting the book after the launch. I’m going to approach several libraries and pain support groups here in Adelaide/South Australia over the next few months and see if I can schedule in some events to read/promote the book.
Goal 2.2 Write/Develop further books and workshops
I’ve started outlining the second book that supports the Foggy Frog picture book and a couple of workshops around living simple, sustainable and meaningful lives. If I can get the book and one workshop completed by the end of the year I’d be happy.
Goal 2.3 Start a Business
I’m currently in discussions with a couple of friends about setting up our own business. In a future post I will probably go into further detail and ask for your input in our ideas… Stay tuned for more info…
Goal 3: Look after myself physically and mentally
Again, this one will be broken down into a couple of subgoals.
Goal 3.1 Walk an average of 7,000 steps per day
This was the average I was doing before Little A arrived on the scene. I’ve been slowly building back up and most weeks I’m just below this at the moment. I feel better when I’ve been moving enough but still pacing myself. I need to find a balance where I don’t have too many days way below the target. At the moment I still have days where I do less than 2,000 steps.
Goal 3.2 Yoga at least twice a week
I’ve got the once a week down pat and now need to work on consistently doing the second class or an at home work out.
Goal 3.3 Meditate Daily
I sleep better if I wind down properly. The last few weeks my sleep has been getting worse and worse so I want to add in a 5-10 min meditation just before bed each night and see if that helps.
And that’s it! LiveKen is being rebooted and will go back to focusing on my adventure in trying to live a well balanced, simple, sustainable and meaningful life. I’m hoping by doing this I’ll be able to get back into the habit of blogging regularly and reconnect with people I’ve lost touch with over the last year and make some new friends.
Do you have any goals set this year? I’d love to hear how you’re all going as well!
Welcome back!! It’s great to hear from you and thank-you for the update. Sounds like you’ve been managing pretty good =D