Four ways to transform Monday into your favourite day
Ah, Monday. In the working world, it gets such a bad rap for being the start of the working week, that I thought I’d share some ways to make it better.
1. If you’re able to work flexi-time, go in later or finish earlier on Mondays. I changed my hours so I have Monday afternoons off and work longer days Tuesday to Friday and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Blogging from the garden on a Monday afternoon in June.
2. Arrange regular Monday treats with colleagues or other self-employed people. A few of us at my day job meet regularly on Mondays for anything from full blown afternoon tea to a quick cuppa between meetings, and knowing I’m going to see these lovely sparkly ladies makes my whole week better!
3. Make Monday evening a night for dates or catch ups – so you can either spend quality time with your significant other, or catch up with friends (in person is brilliant, over Skype is perfectly acceptable – Contrariety Rose’s Louise and I often have wine nights over Skype!). The day goes faster if you’re looking forward to something in the evening, and you can plan your outfit in those really boring meetings.
4. Trying to escape the day job? Make Monday your Great Escape Plan day – commit to spending an amount of time each Monday working on the broader plan or picture. If you’ve not started something on the side yet, use the time for planning, self-development or training, and taking concrete baby steps towards your vision. If you have already started, promise yourself you’ll use that time solely for planning your next moves, not for doing client work or admin.
Four quick ways to turn Monday from blah to woohoo!
What’s your favourite? Do you have any other tips for making the start of the week better?
Dates with myself (try it, it might just change your life)
Way back when I was still working in London, I wrote about my spontaneous booking of tickets to see the English National Ballet and Flawless at the Hammersmith Apollo.
There wasn’t anyone immediately available who I particularly wanted to join me, so I took myself. It was a Friday night, and my colleagues thought I was crazy and a little tragic. I may even have thought that myself for about five minutes after I left the office.
And then I realised, it wasn’t tragic, it was wonderful. The feeling of independence of doing something typically associated with group or couple outings by myself was incredible. It’s also very freeing not to have any expectations around an event or place – you don’t have to comment on it, or work around anyone else’s plans or needs – you can simply be, and absorb, and enjoy (and eat cake).
And so I’ve carried on having dates with myself when I feel the need to recharge my creative and emotional batteries.
I’ve been to gardens, museums, galleries, parks, coffee shops, restaurants, talks, all sorts. Often I’ll discover it for the first time with someone, and return on my own to appreciate it properly.
It doesn’t have to be a day out, either. Sometimes I’ll go and visit a particular shop I love, or I’ll spend an afternoon scrapbooking, delving into memories.
I might go horse riding, skating or simply sit with a slice of something sweet and watch the world go by.
It’s not always educational and it’s not always obviously connected with anything – but I always, always feel refreshed, motivated and more me when I return. Whether it’s a whole weekend or just half an hour, it helps.
I found Julia Cameron’s “Artist Date” concept via Leonie Dawson this morning, which seems to describe my dates with myself fairly accurately, and as this post was already brewing I thought it was a good sign that I should get on and write it already.
So who’s with me? Julia suggests weekly – I don’t have a schedule, but find I’m drawn to doing things alone whenever I need to recharge, which could be at any interval from a couple of days to a few months.
Whether you’re single or partnered up, a parent or child-free, see if you can find time this week to try it. There are some great suggestions at The Artist’s Way but feel free to choose anything at all to do – something you are drawn to.
The only rule is that you do it solo.
And then let me know how you got on!
This post first appeared on Ducking Fabulous.
On dealing with sadness – remember yourself
While seeking solace for an unexpected sadness recently, I came across Rebelle Society’s wonderful advice for a broken heart.
My heart is not broken, merely bruised; my pride is dented, but intact. I know this because I know how it feels to have your heart shattered into a million pieces and each individual piece trampled on over a period of time. I remember what it felt like to lose someone I truly loved… and though I am sad, I know this is not that same broken feeling. Though I cared more than a little, it was never meant to be a long term thing.
Reading it, surrounded by the kind words and happy wishes, hilarious observations and unicorn pictures from my beyond amazing friends and family, I began to remember other things, too.
I remember how much I treasure my solitude and my ability to be happy alone.
I remember how lucky I am to have friends and family who see through my insecurities to the beacon of light underneath. They know me even better than I know myself, and they guide me back to myself when I lose my way.
I remember fleeting and enduring passions – for horses, skating, sewing and more.
I remember the feeling of freedom and independence that was hiding under the longing to belong.
I remember that I do belong, many times over, with the people who accept me and love me exactly as I am.
I remember that friendship (with people and with animals) is the most precious thing in the world.
I remember that once, from the depths of darkness, a newer, happier version of me emerged. Though I am nowhere near darkness from this particular episode, I am still excited to leap forward into the next edition of myself.
And along with the remembering, I realised that I have, in the last few years, been building not just a lifestyle but also myself.
Of course I have grieved, I have been sad. But I can feel myself already leaving the disappointment behind and bounding forward into another phase of my life.
What do you remember when you need to reconnect with yourself? What gets you through periods of sadness?
photo credit: Chris Gin via photopin cc | This post first appeared on Letters from my Twenties.
A new way of working – single-tasking
We spend so much time these days doing eight things at once. At my day job today I had 19 tabs open across three different browsers, 17 programs on my start bar, 9 of which were running, plus two productivity timers. I also have two notebooks (one personal, one business), my mobile, my tablet and my desk phone.
My desk at home isn’t much better…
… though muchly improved by the kitten. They’re usually up here when I’m working, one on the desk and one on the floor. But even here, where I choose what I do, I have multiple notebooks, folders, tabs in my browser, scraps of paper with interesting snippets on them, my mobile which is constantly pinging, letters and postcards to reply to.
You know what it’s like – you barely finish reading one article before shifting to the next. Sometimes you’ll click on a tab halfway through the day and realise you only got halfway through that tutorial on how to procrastinate less before *BOOM*, the Shiny Thing Problem resurfaced and you flew off to look at the next exciting thing.
This is partly to do with personality (creatives and entrepreneurs often find it nearly impossible to switch off bits of their brain and focus on one thing at a time), but is also because this is WAY too much information for one human being to process at once.
Among this mass of technology I often try to eat breakfast, do yesterday’s paper filing and talk to my colleagues about reasonably important things that need doing. I am forever making to-do lists which seem to grow rather than shrink as I achieve the items on them.
Enough is enough, and I want to try an experiement. I want to try to do one single thing at a time – eat breakfast, have a conversation, read an article, write a post, finish a list of website edits… without hopping from one thing to another. I’d like to extend this to home and social life as well as my various working lives.
To cook without reading, play with the cats without being on the phone, talk to my friends on the phone without folding the washing (and doing the laundry without tripping over the cat?!).
I tend to subscribe to the view that if you’re busy, you’re getting things done. But my pleasantly busy has rapidly become complete overwhelm, where I have time for neither the things that must be done nor the things I want to do.
My friend Morwhenna says that to achieve more, you need to slow right down. I’ve fairly recently become officially properly single, which gives me incredible freedom to do exactly what I want without having to worry about anyone else. This seems like a good time to start the experiment.
I want to pay attention to everything that I do, whether mundane, necessary or exciting. Be in the moment more, be grateful that I am able to do these things, even if I’m not enjoying them much. Be aware of my senses – the movement, noises, smells and sights.
I’ll try it. I’ll let you know how I get on.
What can you do to slow down?
Trade show adventures at London Edge
Most of you will know that I’ve shared my entrepreneurial journey with Louise of Contrariety Rose. While I took a while to find my ‘thing’ (or several things as it turns out), she’s always had a way with fabric and a passion for pin up clothing. So it was only natural that her label should develop in that direction.
Last week we headed up to Olympia to exhibit at London Edge, a trade show for alternative, rockabilly, goth and pin up fashion (which would have been our idea of heaven even if we hadn’t been exhibitors, to be fair).
It was great fun, absolutely knackering and I had surprisingly little time to take photos – but here are a few pics from the week.
Lou with her stand after setup:
Our apartment (SO much nicer than a hotel – doing this again next time I go anywhere) and all three of my drinks on Saturday night – I’m so rock & roll!
Me looking cheesy in front of the stand on the Sunday:
Catching up in the evening with Diablo Rose and Lynsey Le Keux of Le Keux events and cosmetics, and Courtney from Silly Old Sea Dog…
And finally, me with a Balloonicorn (no, I have no idea what one is either), the iPad with a mailing list I set up (I was proud) and Lou and I on the stand complete with vintage hair.
We met some brilliant people among other exhibitors and visitors to the show, felt like Olympia was home for a few days and I learned masses about wholesale too, while reigniting my longing for colour in my hair again.
It was a really good experience as a small business owner myself, to make connections and see how this kind of thing works. Because then if I ever find myself at some kind of web designers’ convention, I can at least pack a pretty dress and a typewriter!
You can find Louise and buy Contrariety Rose’s latest collection and a selection of her previous ones at Contrariety Rose.
Unicorn shoes – eeek!
Since Irregular Choice released sneak preview pictures of their February unicorn shoes, a quite ridiculous number of people have pointed them out to me via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and excited texts and phone calls.
My sneaky secret was that I’d already discovered their existence on a trip down to Brighton in the summer and put my name on two pre-release lists.
I then promptly missed the calls from both boutiques who were holding pairs for me. Sad times!
And then…
Yep, they are mine! (and ironically another pair are now on their way to me – these are 7s and I want to try the 8s before I commit to keeping either pair).
I spent the day in town with Mum on Friday, and we ordered them next day delivery from Schuh. Full marks for customer service (and also for their delivery guy not thinking I was mad insisting I took delivery through the window, as the kitties were sprinting around the living room…).
Here are some more shots… I don’t think I’ve ever loved another pair of shoes more!!
The stripes are gold & black, but I think they still have more than a touch of the Night Circus about them. And the weaving is in shades of turquoise and blue. It really is as though they were made for me.
I won’t be wearing them on our snowdrop walk tomorrow, but I’ll take them for a test run as soon as I’ve decided which size I’m keeping 🙂
I'm Carla, a quirky thirtysomething with a penchant for unicorns and glitter. I believe in magic and make-believe, and the gorgeous rebellion of making your life absolutely your own. And I'm a proud multipod!
I am a photographer and catalyst for small business owners, and a real life mermaid. I photograph people as they truly are, help women see and step into their brightest and best selves, add a sprinkling of magic to the mundane, and am a happy ambassador for stationery and slow living.
Proud to be both girly and geeky, when I’m not writing, photographing or daydreaming, you can find me dancing burlesque, riding my bicycle Bluebell, growing herbs and collecting typewriters.