On Monday I started the 75 Hard Challenge. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do since the new year but decided to wait a while as I’d bought Carla a chocolate making workshop for Christmas. As the workshop wasn’t until the end of February, I decided to wait. Yes, I could have given my place to someone else but part of the joy was in us being able to experience the workshop together and who wants to go to a chocolate-making workshop and not taste their creations? Not me!
Hello April, you seemed to crept by rather quietly. Or maybe it was me, wrapped up in my own cocoon of busyness and becoming oblivious to the passing of time. Busy times can turn us into modern day zombies if not kept in check. Eat, work, sleep, repeat.
Despite taking a social media sabbatical, I’ve been very busy behind the scenes. In fact, there were times when my days seemed to become one endless to-do list. It’s all for very good reasons, my business is growing and I’ve had more work coming my way, but at the back of my mind the nagging concern remained that life is for living and, as regular readers know, time freedom is very important to me.
However, I’m also aware that I have a very contradictory aspect of myself that prides itself on being busy. And it is for that reason, I decided that my aim for April’s Year of Letting Go challenge is to let go of busyness.
Each year I make a Simnel cake. Along with my extremely alcoholic Christmas cakes, it’s become a much loved family tradition. I envision myself, in the future, marking out the seasons with different cakes. I’m almost there, as my carrot and courgette cakes are widely welcomed during the summer and help manage the courgette glut.
As an avid baker, once I find a recipe that works, I tend to stick with it. My firm favourite for Simnel cake is one by Nigella Lawson which can be found in her book Feast, but is also available for free here. I highly recommend you try it. The only tweak I’ve made to the recipe is to soak the fruit in brandy beforehand, about 3 tbsp should do it. If you don’t fancy alcohol, then orange juice would also do the trick. It keeps the fruit nice and juicy.
March is upon us and for the next installment of my Year of Letting Go challenge, I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to let go of overthinking.
For some reason, I’ve got into to habit of excessive rumination and its not healthy. Instead of taking a proactive approach and moving forward, I get stuck into a thought loop. It’s exhausting.
While taking part in the 30 day minimalism game I became sensitive to how much digital baggage I carried around with me.
In the morning, I’d switch on my phone and be faced with pages of apps that instantly made me feel exhausted. Later, while using my laptop I’d become aware of a barrage of documents that hadn’t been opened for years. It felt overwhelming.