Spring Cleaning Blog Post #2

It's that time of year again when like Mole in The Wind In The Willows I'm feeling the instinctive, uncontrollable urge to clean.

The sleepy Spring bulbs are awakening and poking their noses up. Birdsong is all around and the hours of daylight are slowly getting longer.

Clearing the clutter of my Pinterest account, Instagram feed and also my Website does wonders for the mind.

Deciding what to focus more on this year, helps too.

Family

And no, I'm not including home schooling! Anyone who knows me, knows that this is a massive thorn in my side, it's so hard managing my time with the jewellery business now but small steps all lead forward, I just have to accept it's going to take a little bit longer.

I remind myself daily to 'Just keep going!'

So what will I be focusing more on this year?

Well...

For reasons above,

Time management

That is flexible around our newish daily routine.

Who knows when the schools will open again here in the UK we've been told March 8th at the earliest, but more than likely after the Easter holiday. If then. So it looks like home schooling is here to stay a while longer.

I find that writing a list and trying to stick to that list each day doesn't always work out.

Who am I kidding, I feel like a massive achievement has been made just finding my materials and setting them out for that planned (by probably not completed) days work.

Am I gonna beat myself up about it?

No.

This little ladies gonna give herself a break, making these tasks flexible is key to avoiding overwhelm, just moving forward is what matters here. So only a small step forward today, but it's a step in the right direction and every step counts, right?

Trying to keep up with four messy kids  (by the way if you have teenagers you will surely sympathise) I have two girls aged fourteen and sixteen along with twin nine year old boys and it's the girls that make the most mess.

Even the simplest action like reaching the other side of the room to open the window, allowing fresh air to circulate is made almost impossible.

Surely the heroic, story book Prince had an easier task cutting through the thorny bramble to reach Sleeping Beauty in the tower.

I gingerly poke my head in their bedroom, stare in horror at the scene before me and then to the target I need to reach. I retreat as swiftly as possible, trying to remove the traumatic image from my mind, whilst not giving in to feelings of exasperation!

We're all dealing with enough, so I won't berate them too harshly, the room will get it's weekly clean at some point when even they can't stand living in a jungle of discarded clothes, plates, cartons, wrappers, paper, pens....the list goes on...

So where was I?

Time management and getting that list done.

Actually who am I kidding, I amaze myself if I get just one thing finished in a day.

But that's ok, I'm not going to give myself a hard time about it, I've accepted the situation we're in and intend to get done what I can, when I can, but still keep some sort of routine and focus on tasks for the day ahead, for growing my fledgling business, it's just that they need to be a bit more flexible now.

When I would normally be  designing and creating jewellery when the kids are at school, I now homeschool first, then about 2 until 4 create, then its cooking meals, and later on the night when the twins are in bed I get on with marketing and admin.

Luckily when my husband steps in on his days off I get a few more hours, so even though I have nowhere near the amount of time to work as before, its not all hopeless and progress is being made.

Another focus will be spending quality family time each day, be it just chatting whilst we get our daily exercise, board game playing, cooking and just watching tv together, the little things that bring a touch of normality and a smile to the day.

Because let's be honest, it's not been easy has it?

I for one have found it much harder to get through lockdown number 3 than the previous two.

Livng cooped up, dark, cold winter days, never knowing when life will return to some kind of normality again, we all seem to be digging deeper than ever before to find that little ray of sunshine in each day.

But I believe brighter days are ahead,  Spring is almost upon us, the daffodils, bluebells and tulips are poking their noses up and the darker nights are getting shorter, hurrah!

My designs are taking on more brighter, uplifting colours, yellow is definitely speaking to me at the moment. Must be the thought of those sunny Daffs opening in a few weeks cheering up the flower bed.

The Scandinavian folk inspired earrings brighten up my outfit,  (even if that is pyjama bottoms and a casual top, finished off with fluffy socks) well a girl has these little tricks to make her feel a million dollars, and also they are the perfect statement, fun, bold accessory to liven up video calls.

So brighter, more cheerful statement designs are definitely here to stay.

Which isn't a bad thing is it?

Why not start on your Spring Clean, remove some of those tasks to a later time, simplify that website, get rid of old stock add some new, clean up your social media feed, it's surprising how rejuvenating it can be.

And above all, give yourself a break. It doesn't have to be done in huge steps, remember each step counts no matter how small.

Well that's my little nuggets of advice given, I hope it helps, even a bit.

Right, back to it, now where did I put that duster?