Guest blog – Doing it differently this year – Christine Murray

Previously I have tried …

Not working – makes me feel guilty and it feels so hard starting up again after the Summer.

Working all holidays – leaves me feeling guilty, I did not spend as much time with the children as I would have liked to, when I did it was not even quality time.

Neither of these approaches work for me end up being very stressful…. and inevitably leave me feeling worn out, a bad mummy and generally frustrated and stressed about working or not working.

This is how I am going to Do It this year!

I am going to take my own advice that I give clients as a holistic therapist about balancing their lives and Nicola Lauries’ (Ms Tidy Owl) about planning …..

After sitting down and looking at priorities, thinking about how I need to balance all areas of my life over the summer. This is my plan.

I have scheduled ‘me-time’, have looked at finances for days out, have my husband on board about what is going on, when I need his help. The children know what is happening, so they are prepared too.

I will be putting out a message to clients about replies to questions and enquiries being slower over the holidays.

I am currently finalising dates on an overall plan and will look at weekly planning in detail each Sunday – things do change, so I am not going to get hung up on that either.

We will have family days out; we are not going away this year.

I have allocated some days to work with clients.

I am scheduling posts on my groups and pages ahead of time.

I will also be working on my business not in my business to improve my visibility and move various course content online some days ready for September.

The children will be having friends over and they usually amuse themselves, they are 10 and 12 and fairly independent – so I can get on with other non-urgent background business tasks on these days.

I have a regular networking meeting on a Friday which I will continue to attend.

I wake early so will do my 30 minute morning routine, this helps me focus on the day and gets me in the right mindset

A mindful glass of water.

20 Minutes Meditation

Deep breathing and stretching.

I will deal with emails, phone messages and small admin tasks between 7 & 9am daily.

I am also going away for a weekend in August with a cousin and a friend, to take some time off for me and recharge.

So, this is how I am going to do it this summer, however you plan to do it I wish you a Balanced, Wonderful, Fulfilling, Relaxing Making Memories kind of Summer.

Christine is the founder of Complementary Therapies with Christine Michele Murray – find out more on Facebook or via her website. Please do post any thoughts you have on her blog below as she’d love to hear what you think!