All work and no play

I am always onto people… especially parents about the importance of taking “me time”. And last week it kind of dawned on me that I have been neglecting myself in this department the past couple of months.

Face in laptop, camera or other device from 6am till midnight, (of course interpersed with rad little moments with little miss and my gorg fam) has not been uncommon for me over the last 10 months of birthing this new awesome business of mine.

So I decided to make it my mission to practice what I preach and schedule in a play day.

At the encouragement of my friend Mel from MABPT, yesterday I joined in on a Kayak Adventure she coordinated.

Peace & Quiet & Qualm

As soon as my kayak hit the water it hit me just how damn good it feels to just get outdoors and get quiet in the mind.

Here I am drifting along the river, breathing in the chilled fresh air, enjoying the peace and quiet, taking in the birds, the water, the blue sky and fresh breeze and then

BAM

Mind overdrive…

Only this is not like the usual got to buy this, hang that, source those, edit post call message blah blah endless chatter that normally keeps me up or starts banging around as the 5am alarm goes off.

No this is new, completely awesome material.

Totally inspired, crazy creative, life shifting, idea upon idea upon idea.

What’s even better? I ain’t got no where else to be except on this kayak heading over to Mel’s Island.

I can’t hear someone saying Mummy, Paula, Pet anything. And there’s no point worrying about where I have to be, and I am definately not thinking about what I did yesterday.

I am just looking ahead at the point I know I am aiming for, digging my paddle into the water in a nice steady rhythm, and letting my thoughts float around like the puffy clouds ahead of me.

I swear I came up with about 3 new business plans in that 20 minute paddle across the water.

As I float past Mel I can’t help but share

“I wish I has the recorder to catch the thoughts in my mind”

But I know if I tried to I would only spoil the flow. So rather than try and lasso, steer or control, I just let it flow.

And float towards this awesome magical space.

On the Island, Mel puts me and a small group of just beautiful women through a bootcamp, that my inner thighs are screaming at me today for. But that 20 minutes of torture it is totally washed away when we all lie down to do a meditation together.

Totally special, awesome and just what I needed after a very busy month of photographing so many wonderful women.

Reward yourself with self care

I know this may seem obvious to some, but if you are like me and sometimes just caught up and need gentle reminders (or a big fat push), this is my message to you.

Sometimes we all just find it hard to slow down, as work life commitments children bills get busier & bigger, so do our minds, although not always in a productive way.

How many of us end up running on half speed as we are constantly running on half a tank of self care?

My message to you today people’s… If you are feeling stuck, and stale, and needing inspiration, then get off the devices, switch off and disconnect from your day to day and take yourself on an adventure.

It will totally fill your self love buckets, so you have so much more of your goodness to spread around 🙂

The moment when my mind went bamLook how delicious and sirupy the water looks

My view post meditation… AHHH

Mel’s signature move. I love how the sunlight is like all the awesome inspired thoughts that came flooding in to me