After living away from the family home, it’s always nice to return for a weekend or maybe even a week, and then go back to your own flat, knowing that you have your own bubble to escape to… not so anymore, I’m back at my family home, living with my family and we’re all adjusting back to this idea.
One of the reasons being… LONDON IS EXPENSIVE. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. As a student it’s great, you don’t think about things like bills and rent and cleaning products because your all wrapped up in your student-y world, so please don’t let me ever put you off going to university there, do it, it’s great and the biggest change you’ll ever make (unless of course you actually already live there…). I’m also fairly sure that when you have a decent income it’s pretty fantastic too, but for someone who is relatively new to all this property malark, and also trying to find my feet in the design world, I’ve found it all to be a pretty daunting experience.
My other reason for coming home – I’m preparing for my PGCE, so I’ll be working on revising, placements, volunteering etc. While I’m at home. I love having this goal, it makes me so determined, and being around my family is really great for having a support system
So… here I am, back home.
I can say absolutely whole-heartedly, I LOVE not having to commute everyday an hour and a half across the city… it is so wonderful to wake up, have breakfast and take my laptop to the table and sit and work there everyday. I’ll still be going back to London, as that’s where the office is, but less frequently, and without the stress of living there.
Which brings me on to stress… If I’m stressed, my IBS flares up, to the point of I want to curl up in a ball. A few weeks ago with the move pending, I was in a lot of pain, stressing about moving, about work, about starting my new part of my life, about not seeing the boyfriend in ages, about multiple things that overall created week upon week of sleepless, restless nights and pain-filled days.
I resorted back to an old favourite one night to try to get me to relax (nope, not medicinal or alcohol related and certainly nothing dodgy!) I went back to doing yoga and pilates. I used to do this EVERY single morning for a year, but I stopped last year and never really got back into it as much as I wanted to… I tried, but my head and my heart just wasn’t in it. But now, with the move over, the unpacking to be done, the eBaying to commence and a lot more time for me, I’ve decided to re-instate this exercise back into my days. I’ll still be fitting in walking, exercise DVDs and getting on my bike (the stationary one and now I’m home, the real one)
So, with that, here’s my tips for de-stressing, bringing a little calm to your life and generally taking some you-time when everything piles on top of you.
First up i’ll point out my favourite tips for de-stressing:
If I’m stressed, I have to do something… whether this is exercise (bike, pilates, yoga, exercise DVD), getting out for a walk, reading a book or magazine or going to the kitchen and baking something. I’m not someone who can de-stress by sitting still, I can’t relax until i’ve got rid of all the energy that has built up inside of me because i’m stressed out.
I recently read in a magazine that my ‘Stress Type’ (nice way to put it… so now not only are we a stressed nation, we are also giving our stress personality types!) is ‘Stressed and Wired‘ which I think about sums me up! I’m totally on the go and find it very difficult to sit still and be comfortable with myself in a quiet surrounding… I have a need to be busy, to talk and to fill up silences… Basically I worry too much and feel like I have to stop everyone else worrying too… despite them not actually having any worries?! So, I like to do active things to de-stress, but I thought I would look more into ways of zoning out from everything that would be less counter-productive to the relaxing element of de-stressing… how am I meant to relax when I’ve just plugged myself into 45 minutes of Pump?! This article is V useful from the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/jul/17/healthandwellbeing.health4
And here’s where to get yourself some calming and de-stressing all natural treats, personally I love the Valerian tea… v soothing, but I have the Clipper one: http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/categories.asp?cid=223&left=1&page=2
Here’s what you all said on Twitter about how you all de-stress:
@RubellesMoonHaha thanks! On a slightly more helpful note, I find painting my nails very therapeutic 
So yes, I’ve moved home, but no, I haven’t given up on my goals or any of that, I’m on the next chapter of everything and I am really excited. I miss the boyfriend a ridiculous amount… living together and having lots of things we did together like weekends out, evenings relaxing and all the things that make moving away hard are things that I can’t wait to get back into once we find our own place. For now though, I’m throwing myself whole-heartedly into being home and taking the time to organise my life a little! I’ll be blogging throughout my time back home, and I’ll keep you up-to-date with how everything is going.
