One thing about journaling weekly, or doing anything regularly - particularly weekly or monthly - is how it marks the passing of time so clearly, it seems to make everything speed up.
Surely it's not time to write my journal again already?!
I'm hoping it helps keep me a little more rooted in the present - the harking back over the last few days somehow counter-balancing my tendency to live in the future somewhere... it's what I'm continuing to be challenged by...this whole 'presence' thing.
It's also why I think I feel so GOOD during and after teaching Pilates classes. There's no option but to be present, with what you're delivering, interacting with the people in the room, it's one of the very few times in my day-to-day life where I'm not in my head thinking about 400,000,000 other things. I do enjoy that illusive 'flow state' and it's genuinely when I feel calmest and just 'goodest' - I really hope that continues to be the case as I continue to ramp up my teaching hours over the coming weeks and months!
In a bid to not get carried away into future land, here's what I've been up to in the last 7 days:
Weekend 14/15th
So so so lovely to go and visit one of my dear friends from secondary school, she and I used to be INSEPARABLE in our younger years. She once bought be a fridge magnet which said 'you'll always be my friend, you know too much.' Ha! So in a bid to maintain our secrets we have remained in touch for well over 15 years now. Sometimes, what with the houses and kids and stuff, it almost feels like we're grown ups now or something?! She had a new baby boy three months ago and it was my first time meeting him, so precious! Her older boy and Lyra played beautifully together all afternoon leaving the (apparently) grown ups to chain-drink tea and have a catch up. I felt totally emotionally topped up after such a warm afternoon.
Sunday was just a quiet day, we visited a swap shop locally (I was on the hunt for plant pots to no avail) and stopped in at my parents house for a quick cup of tea and round or three of alphabet bingo that Lyra had picked up from aforementioned swap shop.
That evening, Danny was excited to harvest and cook up the oyster mushrooms he'd been growing from Fruit Bodhi Organics - we whipped up a creamy risotto with lemon, parmesan and some of the mushrooms on top. Lyra and I felt similarly: glad we tasted them, but not for us I'm afraid! I just really enjoyed watching them grow and they were sooooo pretty!
Monday 16th
I mean, it's just been back-to-back illness hasn't it? I could feel myself deteriorating again in the evening, perhaps having visited mum yesterday with a cold. Anyway, that aside I did manage to pop into a local solicitors and get paperwork co-signed for the lease of the Sherborne studio space. I literally cannot express enough my enthusiasm for this project, it occupies a large percentage of my brain at the moment, to the extent that it's starting to impact negatively on other areas of my work and life a bit I think - a balance of focus which I'm really struggling with at the moment.
Tuesday 17th
A bit of a write-off day here! A very fun snowy drop-off at school followed by a pretty low day of feeling under the weather. Highlight of the day was most definitely picking up my energy and taking Lyra for one of our fave activities: a visit to the pet shop and Starbucks!
Wednesday 17th
I felt very strongly that I needed to get out my lil work from home bubble. I combined both getting some fresh air in the gorgeous sunshine, with a bit of social time popping in at, lets face it, the best coffee shop in the world (probably) Bean Shot. With such a warm and welcoming atmosphere G and Alex always make you feel like a close friend popping in, and I always end up meeting and chatting with other people in there too - is it just the layout of the seating? Is it the whole atmosphere they've cultivated? Is it something in the coffee beans?
Don't know, but we love it.
I got the final bits of 'studio paperwork' signed and sent off to the post office, had a little visualisation daydream walk up the high street (soon to be Kore's new home) and felt approximately 2737450294u873p2759 times better having been around other people, been on a walk in the fresh air and shaken up my energy a bit.
With that in mind, I also decided to set myself a little challenge in February - half for my physical health and half for mental health. I did a 3km-a-day challenge in October, and whilst I sometimes struggles logistically to get that in every day, I really did feel good on it.
So in February I'm going to ATTEMPT
- 3km a day - jogging ideally, but walking good too
- 20 min Pilates a day
- Document it at post videos each day (I'm working on growing Kore's social media accounts!)
Is that too much? When I'll be preparing for a studio launch too? Well, let's see how we go hey....
Back to class this evening! I had programmed a class focusing on ABS, and was so pleased to welcome some new faces to class too, especially as two of my new participants were a mum and daughter team. My first Pilates experience was on a holiday - me and my Dad did a Pilates class together when I was a similar age, about 15 - ahhhh didn't even realise the parallels until now that's so cool. I really look forward to welcoming them back, and as keen horse-riders I'm doing some research on the best ways to support them with that - I'm thinking core stability and inner thigh strength!
Thursday 18th
What a lovely start to the day! Did my 9:30 class with Caroline and Rachel in such beautiful sunny frosty conditions, plus after class I stuck around and joined in with the coffee morning which also happens in the West End Hall - was so lovely to kick back after class with a cup of tea and chatter and get to know my Pilates people a little more - thanks guys!
Whizzed home to do my Instagram live midday 'Thursday Club' which I really love to be honest. Even though there's still not really anyone joining in (thanks instagram algorithm) I like the practice, and it's encouraging me to get the virtual studio out and running. Hopefully people can catch up on it later should they like to try a little movement guidance throughout their week sometime...
This afternoon when I was doing some marketing tinkering on the laptop, I think I might have accidentally stolen a cat! This lil guy (girly?) came to my window and then just came in to hang out! To my witchy friends, is it some kind of spiritual message?
Friday 19th
My mission for today: marketing work, creating myself a new content strategy, you know me and just doing one simple thing at a time right? Yeah, we're going for Youtube, instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, blogs and email newsletters - I genuinely LOVE this kind of thing though, and am really lucky that I enjoy both sides: the movement education, teaching , learning, practising plus the behind the scenes things like websites, marketing, strategy etc. I HOPING 🤞🤞🤞
Anyway after a day of that I'm hopping in the car and joining Danny in Southampton for a weekend, and I'm really looking froward to switching off a bit.
This Week:
Grateful for: simple but true: PILATES!
Highlight moment: Having a girly chit chat over a hot chocolate with my daughter, I've thought about it all week.
I learnt: The Pilates magic circle was originally design to fit into a suitcase so you can take your Pilates equipment workout with you everywhere.
I struggled with: Dip in energy / mood / vibe mid-week when I'm on my own without Danny & Lyra
Word of the week: patience
Recommendation of the week: This episode all about adrenal fatigue. Nate and Sahara do such a great job of interlacing the spiritual and scientific/physical, which to me are all the same. I love the way they explore these holistic approaches to health.
Signing off ✌🏻
Sarah x
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