It’s the last day of the year and I’m curled up in the corner of our sofa, cosy with candles and all, having a moment of reflection over the past two weeks. My partner summed it up well saying: “it’s nice to have my bubbly and smiley girl back”. It was a good break.
The run up to Christmas was, as I’ve mentioned before, exciting but also quite hectic both at work and in my personal life. I had business trips on four consecutive weeks that meant abnormal sleeping and eating rhythms, higher stress levels and less time for exercise (!). Project House and Project Baby kept us busy otherwise and in fairness, added to the stress levels…
But luckily in banking we have what we call an annual mandatory “two-week block leave” (for compliance reasons) and I happily used mine over the Christmas period! I had the opportunity to spend quality time with my family under the Florida sun and then some more back in Finland together with with my partner.
Although my Florida trip unfortunately coincided with our next window (to conceive), the change of scenery, the sun and the sea were just what I needed to snap out of the virtuous circle! We’ve got time and for baby making feeling relaxed and happy is obviously a much better starting point!
I’m definitely a woman of routines (makes life so much easier eh?) but at times it’s good to take a break also from those. For example, during this two-week break my workouts were very spontaneous and included running, beach yoga, skiing and just one “proper” gym session – and that was great!
And yes, my diet was indulgent as well, as it should be at Christmas time! Purely to keep us feeling good, we aimed to balance the very rich Finnish traditional Christmas meals with occasional lighter meals consisting of fish and vegetables. I don’t limit my (fairly heavy) consumption of treats over holidays, but I do set a limit to how many days the feast lasts. By New Year’s Eve at latest I get back to more normal diet and all extra boxes of chocolate can be passed on to friends (win-win!).
Getting on that holiday mode mentally can sometimes be challenging and sometimes just the change of scenery doesn’t do the trick. This is where the holiday activities come in to play for me – it’s very easy to live in the moment when on an alligator safari I promise you!
Spending time with family is precious to me, not living in the same country as them… Also visiting my country a few times a year is always good for me – Finnish nature is so beautiful and healing for the soul!
That we should live in the present and appreciate what we have sounds so obvious, but sometimes it requires real effort not to forget how fortunate I am for having my family, home and good health, when aspiring for the next step in life. Being ambitious should not mean being discontent with present. 🙂
I’m excited to start the New Year! We’ve got great plans but who knows what the year will bring!!
xoxoxo,
Sini