This week we look at changing times at home, with our youngest son flying the nest (for the second time!), the importance of maintaining a quality sleep pattern and some thoughts on the people that we surround ourselves with.
How great are the longer daylight hours? Something so simple as an hour of extra daylight on an evening makes us feel so much more positive. Summer is coming, you can feel it in the air, and with summer comes adventures. We have felt a noticeable shift in our mood and our plans this week. Everything continues to become very real- and that is so exciting. For us, it has been the end of term week, before our Easter two week holiday and it has been a busy one. My schedule has been full, the work hours have been long and my energy levels have plummeted.
Time to move on. The last couple of covid ravaged years have had a huge effect on all of our lives. There have been many positives and yet also so many negatives. One significant change that we have had to cope with over the last year or so was the return of our youngest child to the family home! As someone who works from home, he decided that he had had enough living on his own in an isolated house in Cardiff and returned home after a number of years away. As much as we have enjoyed this time, and valued our time together as a family, this week was a family milestone as he moved out into his first house with his longterm girlfriend. We have regained our office, cleared his clutter and moved another step closer in our own plans to relocate in our early retirement.
Sleep and stress. Sleep has been an issue for me this week. For whatever reason, I have been absolutely knackered at work during the day, and yet waking in the middle of the night with an inability to calm my racing mind. I have always struggled with establishing a consistent sleep pattern, and it seems that I am in another dip that I have had to face many times before. At these times, I have resorted to a number of simple actions that often help:
Don’t worry about not sleeping. If the body is tired it will sleep. For me, having this mindset is essential in reestablishing a more regular sleep pattern. A poor nights sleep will inevitably result in a better nights sleep the next day, or the next, or whenever it happens. The key is not to worry about it.
Only go to bed when you are tired.
If sleep doesn’t happen- get up. It is really important to have a strong association between our bed and sleeping.
Monitor caffeine consumption- I know that I cannot consume caffeine after 3pm or it will keep me awake.
Limit alcohol consumption- alcohol absolutely trashes my sleep pattern. I may be in bed along time, but my sleep quality is tragically poor. I have had to resign myself to not having the two things simultaneously.
Have a bed time routine that works for you. This may include limiting screen time, reading, having a shower, etc. The more we habituate our routines, the calmer our minds become with that consistent approach.
Get things off your mind well before bed- if you are dwelling on things, or fearful of forgetting things, write them down in a trusted place to clear your mind before bed.
Look to mindfulness apps such as Headspace for really good guided meditations for going to sleep, for emergency wake-ups in the night and for calming morning meditations.
Try to go to bed and wake up at a similar time each day- even on the weekend. Extra long lie-ins may be nice, but wreak havoc with our sleep patterns.
Rebel ideas. I attended my final annual development weekend at work this week. The focus as always was the ongoing development of teaching and learning at the school. It is always a great opportunity to get together with people that I don’t often get the chance to work with day-to-day and do some strategic thinking and planning. It was just lovely to spend time with people that I really respect and they gave me some really encouraging feedback on the impact that I have made in my role, but also encouragement to enjoy the future of early retirement.
One of the things that we looked at was Matthew Syed’s concept of Rebel Ideas. This is a principle that explores the importance of different view points and perspectives when coming to a decision. I may blog on this more in the future, but for now, it provided valuable insight into our current point of change.
The people that we surround ourselves with are so influential on out decisions and outlook on life, and we need to be constantly aware of this influence. If we surround ourselves solely with like minded individuals in life, our thinking and ideas become one dimensional and rather tunnel like. If we have people who look at things differently to us, that is not a threat, but a benefit, as the combination of all these different perspectives provide a richer environment for our decision making.
When we made the decision to retire early, we were fortunate to be surrounded by people with wildly different views and perspectives. We had people who agreed, disagreed and those who were indifferent to the whole idea. This was a blessing, as it forced us to fully consider our plans from widely different perspectives. It forced us to look at the potential benefits and dangers that we would not have even considered on our own. This was good, as we now feel we are in a position where we are not only comfortable with the decision that we have come to, but we also have solutions to many of the “what if” situations that may arise in the future.
Off to the wild places.
We thought that we might give you an insight into the logistics of packing the van for 2 weeks adventures on the road. As you will be aware, we are setting off for Arran and the Mull of Kintyre this weekend- with no real plans apart from a ferry booking on Tuesday. Packing the van didn't take too long, even though we have probably over estimated what we need. In preparation for some future creative projects we have planned, we had a go at time lapsing the packing process- every day is a learning opportunity!
Anyway, we took advantage of a sneaky getaway 24 hours earlier than expected, and after a visit to Mum in Yorkshire, we hit the road north, stopping at one of our favourite overnight spots at the Ribblehead viaduct near Chapel-le-dale in the Yorkshire dales. It was so nice to be out and about again, having the time to potter with the camera and enjoy a beautiful sunset in the wilds.
So that's it for another week, we have just crossed the border into Scotland and we will leave you with some images that should just melt your heart. If the week has been tough, get out into the great outdoors and watch some lambs- we defy you not to feel better!
Have a great week,
Richard & Jackie
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