A Little Bit of November Self-Care….

I quite like November. I know it’s dark by what feels like the middle of the afternoon and the weather is usually a bit rubbish but I’m OK with that. I’m more than happy at home when it’s cold and dark outside, especially when I’ve got nowhere I need to be.

I’ve been thinking about self-care lately and I think mine is probably a bit different to the version you usually see online. I’m not booking myself into a spa or starting my day with meditation and a green smoothie. 😁 It’s more early pyjamas, candles everywhere, baking something nice and saying no to things I don’t want to do.

And I’m actually getting quite good at all of those things.

I’m getting out for a walk at lunchtime

When I’m working from home, if it’s not pouring down then I’ll go out for a walk at lunchtime. I spend a lot of my working day sitting at my laptop so it’s nice to get away from it for a bit and get outside while it’s still light.

And I love coming back in afterwards and having a nice hot bowl of soup for lunch to warm me up. There’s something about going for a walk when it’s cold outside and then coming back into the warm that I really enjoy, especially when there’s soup involved.

It’s nothing complicated and I’m not going miles, it’s just a bit of time outside in the middle of my working day rather than sitting at my laptop all day.

I’m lighting all the candles

I’m lighting candles pretty much every night at the minute because I just love the atmosphere they create in a room when it’s dark outside. I have them dotted around and as soon as the curtains are closed, I’ll light a few and everything instantly feels a bit cosier.

The kids bought me a Jo Malone candle a couple of Christmases ago and I didn’t burn it for ages because it looked all posh sitting on the shelf and it seemed a shame to use it. Eventually I decided to actually light it and it lasted me about a week and was honestly the nicest smelling candle I’ve ever had.

It’s gone now and I’m back to my supermarket specials but I still love them. 😁 I think I actually got more enjoyment out of that Jo Malone candle in the week I was burning it than I did in all the time it was sitting on the shelf looking pretty, so I’m definitely not saving candles anymore.

I’m baking more

I’ve been baking a lot more lately and even though I might not be able to eat all the goodies I’m making, I’m really enjoying actually making them. Brownies, pies and all sorts of comfort food are on the go at the minute and I’m quite happy spending an afternoon in the kitchen making something.

I absolutely love the kitchen in this house which probably helps. It’s much bigger than any kitchen I’m used to and it has a proper pantry and everything. 😉 I’ve got my iPad set up permanently on the kitchen counter so I’ll put some random YouTube video on in the background and just potter about in there for the afternoon.

I don’t even think it’s really about what I’m baking half the time, I just like being in there. It’s a lovely room to spend time in and baking gives me an excuse to do exactly that.

I’m saying no more

I’ve got much better at saying no as I’ve got older.

I used to say yes to things that I didn’t really want to do because I didn’t want to hurt people’s feelings, so I’d agree to something and then wish I hadn’t. I spent far too much time worrying about how someone else would feel if I said no rather than thinking about whether I actually wanted to do whatever it was in the first place.

Now if I don’t want to do something then I just won’t. That doesn’t mean I say no to everything but I don’t automatically say yes just because I’m worried about upsetting someone either.

It’s taken me a long time to get to that point but life is much easier when you stop agreeing to things you don’t actually want to do.

I’m enjoying my early nights

My partner works two night shifts a week and I really enjoy those nights at home on my own. I’ll get my pyjamas on early, find something I want to watch and just switch off for the evening.

I have a few programmes that I love watching and I’m quite happy watching a few episodes back to back with nobody else to think about. And if I’m tired then I’ll just go to bed early, which is something else I really enjoy at this time of year when it’s cold and dark outside.

There’s no big plan for those nights and that’s probably why I like them so much. It’s just an evening where I can watch what I want, go to bed when I want and not really do very much at all.

My November plan

I don’t think self-care needs to be something that takes loads of planning or costs money. Mine definitely doesn’t because right now it seems to mostly involve candles, baking, soup, walks and saying no to things. 😁

And I think that’s why I’m enjoying all of these things so much. They’re just normal little parts of my days that I’m making more time for because I enjoy them.

So that’s my plan for November really. More afternoons pottering around in my kitchen with YouTube playing, more lunchtime walks followed by hot soup, plenty of candles and absolutely no guilt about an early night when I fancy one.

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