 A wave crashing over your head and filling your ears, diving down to touch the very bottom of the ocean, a seemingly never-ending expanse of blue to explore. This was my childhood. Rain or shine we were down the beach and more importantly in the sea. Days full of handstand competitions, body surfing and races to the buoy. I still remember the magic of those days. The freedom I felt exploring the sand and sea.
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 Hello and how are we all doing in this crazy and unfathomable time!?
I hope you are coping well with isolation and social distancing and everything in between! It has been a long time since I have been to my little corner of the internet and I suppose it has been two fold - 1. I ran out of time. Or I suppose I was always running out of time every single day. Between teaching, toddlers and brain injuries there wasn't much room for my creative outlet to live on! and 2. I didn't feel I had anything of importance or worthwhile to share. And then came COVID-19 and I have slightly more time (questionable with the aforementioned toddler!) and I think* I may have a few things worth adding to the internet. The first is a printable book review you can do with your children! I did this in school with my year two class but it is quite open ended and you can write as much as you want! Adults can even try it too!  To the outside world my little universe is normal - mother, wife, teacher- happy but unfortunately that’s not the whole story. To cut a very long story short, six years ago my husband (then boyfriend of a year) had a massive bleed on the brain. It devastated our lives and still the effects ripple through our every day and will for the rest of our lives. He has been left with weakness down his left hand side, meaning fine motor skills are affected and simple everyday physical tasks are ten times harder for him. He can actually put his socks on using one hand - it’s pretty impressive!  Hello and welcome back to the Simple Series!
I took a little Easter break but I’m back sharing the simple ways to make your life lovely! Today I wanted to talk about the ways in which I *think we influenced our son to love reading. Both my husband and I are big readers - I read books and my husband reads articles and reports because he is a freelance sports journalist. It was a kind of conscious unconscious decision to make books a priority. We both just knew we wanted Reggie to have a love of reading. And he does! Boy does that kiddo love reading - so much so he just brings books to us one after another just saying ‘peas!’ I have five tips I believe have made a big impact on Reggie’s love of books and the best thing about them is they are so simple!  This week I wanted to share my simple ways to stop worrying about weight - I suppose in essence for me that was to lose weight. But now I have shifted a few pounds (stones - I actually don’t know because I never weighed myself!) I don’t worry about weight anymore. I feel happy, I’ve definitely still got a way to go but from now everything is a bonus. I actually think for me my next step is exercise - but that’s a whole other story!
I am all about keeping things simple and lovely and that definitely extends to weight loss. If it’s complicated, time consuming and tasteless it’s not for me! I hope my top ten tips will help inspire you to start your own journey to not worry about your weight!  I have done some research on personal policies since deciding to share their power in my life. It turns out I think I do it slightly differently than most people - but that’s okay - it definitely is very similar! I think I first heard about them on an Elsie gets crafty podcast episode but I believe Sarah Knight talks about them in her book. For Sarah, it sounds very much linked to mental health and guarding yourself by making personal policies on what you are or are not comfortable doing.
I am really interested in using them with that intention - although I probably already do in my own kind of way. For me, fundamentally personal policies act as a decision-making tool and provide me with clear boundaries in which I work best. I think the best way to describe how I use them is to give an example, here is my personal policy for buying new clothes:  I wholeheartedly believe in the power of routine. My husband had a brain injury six years ago and suffers with severe memory loss so for us routine has been a life saver - literally. I am also a creature of habit and cope horrendously with change.
There are three main reasons why I love routine
 I will not let you steal my sleep
Give so much freely for you to keep I will not let you steal my hope As you sit and stare while I can’t cope I will not let you steal my sparkle Bitch and gossip as if I’m a Markle I will not let you steal my voice Make me feel like I don’t have a choice I will not let you steal my smile Make each interaction into a trial I will not let you steal my weekend Force me to fake smile, act, pretend You see if I let you steal all these And I keep pretending, just to please You’ll have stolen all of me thats good And you should know better you really should But one thing I really wish you knew Im ok hun, because it’s not me it’s you  I will climb the highest mountain
Dive down to the deepest seas Explore all corners of the world Hold the tissue while you sneeze I will fight off fearsome dragons Join with you against each foe Fly through the sky chasing fairies Pull the splinter from your toe I will catch a shooting star Steer our rocket out to space Search the caves for pixies Wipe every tear from your face I will chase lions in the savannah Track the footsteps of their prey Cook our dinner over an open fire Listen to all that you say I cannot promise an easy life If I did, that would be untrue I can however make this promise That we will always and forever love you  Recently I have come to the realisation that something needs to change. I need to change. I have spent the last five years functioning in survival mode - literally getting from one day to the next. I thought I was living but I wasn't. Having Reggie triggered me to breakdown and have to start rebuilding my mental health from scratch.
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