Category: ME

Do cows ever have down days?

Posted on by Libby Withnall

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I’ve been feeling down/ flat ALL this week and I’ve had enough. Not sure what’s going on, though I suspect it’s still travel related :-). I’ve been working on scrapbooking my photos and I just want to go back in the UK on holiday with my family. This is definitely the hardest I’ve had adjusting after a trip – but I guess it’s also the longest trip we’ve ever had. Last week I thought I was back on track but it wasn’t too be.

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The worst part about feeling this way is that I’ve

– not been eating well

– not been exercising

– not wanted to do anything or go anywhere

– not been motivated to blog

– been feeling like a big failure

All of which, does NOT help me get over this funk I’m in. Today I’m supposed to go to my book group and I don’t want to – but I’m planning to make myself go. I know I’ll have a good time once I’m there.

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I’m hoping the weather will warm up soon (it’s been cold) as I’m sure that would help my mood. In the meantime I need to get myself excited about things that are coming up – like our Halloween party, being able to plant our vegetable garden, getting back in the swimming pool, etc.

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If anyone has any great tips for getting past this sort of feeling please share.

Todays “baby” cow photos were taken at John O’Groats in Scotland. And I’m pretty sure cows never have a down day….. except maybe in Winter when it’s cold and they’re shut inside 🙂

 

Learning to love yourself

Posted on by Libby Withnall

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The lovely Caitlin of Healthy Tipping Point and Operation Beautiful has just released her book and to celebrate she has challenged her readers to write about “changing the way you see not the way you look”. To me this comes down to what we say to ourselves about our bodies. For far too many years I would continually put myself down – I was too fat, had too many freckles, etc. Sure it might have true but by focusing on the negative it became harder and harder to find the positive and therefore strive towards the life I wanted. And while to could to control (or in my case, not control) my weight I was totally powerless in regard to my freckles.

I’m still on my journey to find my ideal healthy body but with losing a substantial amount of weight and getting a whole lot fitter my attitude has shifted and I really believe that’s the key to reaching our optimal healthy body. While I’m far from thin I know I am healthy because I fuel my body with the right foods and I know I’m reasonably fit because I make time to do some kind of activity every day (and I love it). But the biggest change has been how I talk to myself.  The fat talk has ended. These days I feel comfortable in my own skin (most of the time). Sure it still needs a lot of work but I can see the positives. I have lovely red hair, clear skin, fit comfortably into my clothes, have defined muscles in my arms and legs,  can ride my bike and, at nearly 40 years old, feel in the best shape of my life.  And I can even laugh about my different sized legs (due to a blood clot), saggy skin (due to weight loss) and stretch marks (due to babies). After all we are so much more than how we look. And that’s the biggest thing to realized in  learning to love yourself. These days I eat and exercise before it makes me feel good! And that in turn makes me look good – in my own eyes at least. And I find the better the feel about myself, the better I treat myself, the better I talk to myself, and it keeps going round.

One thing that Operation Beautiful has taught me is that so women don’t see themselves the same way that we see them and even hate their bodies. I never realized it was quite so previlent in our society. It’s just so sad. Us women spend far too much time and energy not loving ourselves but thanks to Operation Beautiful I hope that will change and women, esp. young girls, will learn to love themselves however they look.

Feeling out of sorts

Posted on by Libby Withnall

I’m feeling a bit out of sorts this afternoon. Not really sure why. I think it’s partly to do with having so much I want to do and not enough time to do it. Plus it’s just 3.5 weeks until our trip so I have limited time to get done what I want to. It’s probably also partly to do with the fact that weight is not coming off as quick as I’d hoped (though it’s been a good rate) and my jeans still don’t fit!! Hoping I’ll be over it in the morning. So this post isn’t all doom and gloom here’s  some of my recent favourite flickr photos.

My creation

The problem with Libby

Posted on by Libby Withnall

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Okay, I’m sure there are lots of problems with me but today I wanted to talk about the fact that even though I’m at home a lot I still don’t have time to do all the things I want to do. I have all these ideas but when I have the time I forget what I wanted to do. I blame this on one thing – TOO MANY HOBBIES AND INTERESTS!!!!

Today I planned to do some scrapbooking (for which I been suffering big time scrappers block) after cleaning the house this morning. I stopped at 1pm and had lunch which watching Cleanaholics – which of course led to a few random cleaning jobs after lunch, ‘ washing, some time on the computer, making brownies (Amy invited a friend for a sleepover at the last minute). It’s now 4.45pm and I don’t feel I have gotten anything done this afternoon. Certainly no scrapbooking – in part because the girls took over the scrapbook room. But I could have done something else. This isn’t just an isolated incident – it’s been happening a lot over the last few weeks. I tend to jump from one thing to another. Things I think about….

* catching up on my fav. blogs

* organising my flickr photos

* getting up to date, or finishing, the 4 online scrapbook classes I’m taking

* actually doing some layouts

* working on plans for our upcoming trip

* tidying or sorting out somewhere in the house

* sewing projects (haven’t sewed in months)

* crochet and knitting projects

* new, healthy recipes to try

* time to read books and magazines

* how to deal with two children who don’t like each other very much at the moment

* how to be a better wife, Mum and friend (definitely failing at the friend thing of late)

* and the list goes on.

On top of this I’m about to learn how to use a Digital SLR and possibly do a course at TAFE on backyard gardening!!!!

I know spending less time online would free up more time. I’ve been doing this but it hasn’t really helped. I could never go cold turkey as I get so much inspiration and encouragement from the blog world.

So I ask you, my blog readers, how do you manage making time for all the things you want to do? Do you make lists, draft a timetable, drop some hobbies? Any ideas and suggestions are most welcome as I’m getting rather frustrated with myself.