first things first

The first of March.

The first birthday of this blog - happy birthday to this little corner of the internet and thank you so much to all of you who have visited over the past twelve months. 

The first visit to a new local pub with very good friends for Sunday lunch, then back to their house for coffee and chats. They are due to have their first baby any day now so it was an exciting visit. The next time we see them they could very well have an addition to the family, which is a fabulous thought.

The first time in a while we have taken Millie on the long route near our house. After our trip to the nature reserve on Valentine's Day we are trying to get in some longer walks at the weekend, and it was nice to be out for over an hour, chatting and watching her bounce in and out of the undergrowth. It was bitterly cold though, and we were glad to get in and warm tonight.

The first day in a while I haven't stuck to the to-do list. I recently downloaded a to-do list app on my phone and have become a bit of a convert. I am finding it quite addictive, and as a result getting lots more done. I thought I would miss writing out my list on paper, but I enjoy the fact that I can set certain tasks, such as walking Millie, and making lunch, to recur daily, so that I can cross them off when they are achieved, but automatically have a new list ready the next day. It has made a real difference in lots of ways. My weekly ironing task has meant that each weekend I get up early and get it done, so we no longer have a huge backlog of washing and ironing to get through. I have also begun to add in new habits, such as daily yoga, and am sticking to it far more successfully than previously. As I mentioned recently, I am trying to introduce these positive changes step-by-step, and so I started the daily yoga two weeks ago, last week I added in daily meditation, and from next week I have added in the couch-to-5k runs three times a week. However, for all of the positives, I am trying to be careful that it doesn't become detrimental.

The first thing that made me think a bit more carefully was when, ironically enough, the website I am using for the daily yoga course published this article. It gave me pause for thought, and so I started to try and make sure that I didn't spend every free moment trying to tick off another task. I made sure that I let myself relax and enjoy time off. I definitely found it easier to do when I was able to think that I'd done everything I needed to do that day, but worked more on not looking ahead and seeing if I could make a start on tomorrow's, or next week's, or one of those random jobs that is on the list but doesn't have a time limit. Today didn't work out so well though. I have been cleaning the house each weekend, and had planned to do it this afternoon after lunch with friends. Gradually lunch became coffee, we had an extended catch up, suddenly it was early evening, and we got home and headed out to walk the dog. I couldn't work out why I felt troubled, we'd had a lovely day, we were enjoying the last of the light on a walk, and yet I had this sense of guilt because I hadn't ticked off the cleaning, and I knew we would run out of time to get it done. The Husband wisely pointed out that we had barely been home this week, we are both doing lots of long days next week, and that nothing will spoil if we don't get the hoover out tonight. As he sagely commented, a to-do-list is great for keeping us on track, but when we are doing jobs for the sake of ticking them off a list, rather than because they need doing, it becomes a burden.

At first I agreed, but still felt a little disconcerted. I felt a bit of a failure for not having achieved enough. Since getting home from the walk, I re-read that article above as well as a few blogs that were full of the lovely, hopeful things people have said about March. The positive sense of spring ahead, and the small joys that each day brings. In February (and for a few days at the start of January), I joined in with Amanda's celebrating dailiness project on twitter, and the pictures on this post are some of the things that were worth celebrating in recent weeks. Mostly it seems to be Millie, food and flowers! It made me realise that the hoovering may not be done, and the list may be unfinished, but it has been a wonderful day. Far better to appreciate that than worry about housework.

The first of March has been a day of small pleasures rather than productivity, and that is no bad thing at all.