Category: Nourish

My word of the year is nourish and similar to a gratitude journal I’m going to try and do a weekly post of what has nourished me in the past week.

1. Mary Poppins Returns

We finally got to see Mary Poppins Returns at the cinema last Sunday and it was so special and magical. The songs, characters, animations etc.. were ‘practically perfect’ and the soundtrack has been on my playlist this week. I left the cinema feeling so light and happy, delighted at a perfect little film shared with my children.

2. Home made soup

I love home made soup and although I often take soup to work for lunch, I have a new Chilly tumbler. The pink is unusual for me but I’m really quite taken by it. On the cold January lunchtimes, I’ve enjoyed red pepper, tomato and lentil soup and my favourite, celeriac. Lunchtimes are to be enjoyed and to simply pause.

3. Family bike ride in the forest.

It was a mad week at work with an Ofsted inspection. Much of my week has been spent in front of a computer creating documents and producing and analysing data, far too much screen time! This morning we went on a much needed bike ride in the forest, corny as it might sound, I needed to reconnect with my family and nature. For a January morning it was a beautiful crisp day and the ride was fun for us all. It was the first time that we’ve all been able to ride together as the children are now both confident cyclists and don’t need us to run alongside them. Little Man was really chuffed at being able to ride his mountain bike and asked for us to take his photo so he could put it in his proud book at school. After a long ride we all enjoyed our picnic lunch, I’m impressed that we had our first outdoor picnic of the year in January.

I really enjoy listening to the Happier podcast with the writer Gretchen Rubin and one of her recent talks was on creating a theme for your upcoming year.  I liked this idea and started to think of words which could shape my year.  After much thought, I have chosen nourish.  There are a number of reasons for this, I want to focus on my health and lifestyle this year.  At times I feel overwhelmed by the toxicity in life, the relentless 24 hour lifestyle and I want to step back and choose what I want my life to look like.  I also feel that this is a year where I need to be there for my family, its a tough year for Little Miss, SATS, the move to secondary school and some other personal bits and for Little Man ensuring that his learning difficulties don’t lead to isolation.  Mr S also needs a little TLC too.  Whilst my primary focus is my family, I feel the theme will also trickle out into our community.

I think that my first part of the project is myself, I can’t support others without being nourished myself.  Although the main things, preparing healthy, fresh, local food, being outside more etc.. will have an immediate effect on my family as we eat the same meals and given the children’s ages, share the same leisure activities.  To stop the feeling of being overwhelmed, I have already put a plan of the week together, choosing nights for different areas, eg Tues, lifestyle, Sat, blog, Sun, household admin.  I have also added a ‘Nourish Thursday’ once a month in my diary up until August (I need the new school year dates to continue further) Once a month I have put aside a day to do something solely for myself, my ideas include a massage, visit a museum, shopping etc..

I love that there is so much one can explore on this project, to nourish the mind, body  and soul. I started brainstorming a few ideas and created the word art below.  I am looking forward to a year of nourishment for us all.