I’ve been eating what I feel like lately which was always recommended as a good way of staying healthy in all the beauty write ups when I was a teenager; that experiment was cited; the one about the way, if you fill a table with food children naturally eat what they need, our bodies are hard wired to know what nutrition we need and to tell us to eat it.
I haven’t been looking at the cost. I decided to just eat what my body told me I needed and check in with my credit card at the end of the month.
This morning I heeded the quiet voice telling me to go and buy some salmon. It was Bank Holiday Monday, and maybe Coop wouldn’t be open at 7 am. I googled it and found it opened at 6 am on the high street. I walked down and bought the salmon and ate that for my breakfast with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Lovely. I’d also got 3 k of walking in. I decided to rest today and not cycle my usual 17 k. I’ve got low iron so I’m a little dizzy at times, but I don’t want to eat too many iron tablets because, strangely, they make me feel tired every time I take them and they clog my bowel up.
This year I reduced my cycling almost by halve and still managed to achieve the previous accolade simply by being in the right place at the right time, which is a lesson for us all. We are all capable of more than we know, but it isn’t always necessary to over do it in order to succeed.
I’m proud of my May cycling stats. Over the past two years, I’ve cycled more than I have ever cycled in my life. I’ve discovered the joys of cycling in Majorca and Wales, earned 7 trophies for cycling challenges, raised money for Cancer Research and managed to reach the tops of hills I never thought was possible.
Last year I clocked up over 4 000 k of cycling and was averaging 100 K a week. This year I am aiming for a modest 2 K. So far I have clocked up 1400 K and an average of 75 K a week. After falling off my bike in the rain in February, and badly injuring my elbow right to the bone, I decided to reduce my cycling. Usually a fall is a warning that you are doing too much or ignoring an aspect of yourself that also needs attention; it is foolish not to heed falls.
Although it has been great to have some “me” time for my physical self, I wouldn’t trade all the years spent swimming with my children and nurturing their cycling/sporting and creative talents for more years cycling; the two experiences are not comparable. It is just worth sharing with you that when you begin to hang your parenting hat up (and your children are able to go out there and achieve things for themselves without your help so much), there will be something else out there for you to take up instead to fill the void.
I’ve always allowed myself the liberty of intellectual free time as a mother. I think it is very important to let your children know that you are not always available. You might just need to write for half an hour or pop out once a month for a chat with a friend. This lets them off the hook as responsible adults (that is my theory). They won’t feel they have to pop round and check in on you all the time. It lets them know you are able to live a full life as an individual as well as fulfill your role as a parent; helps them to see that you have other responsibilities that need your attention. It’s difficult to get right and I do miss them but I want to give them the space to form other emotional attachments, and they won’t be able to do this with me forever checking up on them.
Another asset of “me time” and nurturing yourself as well as your children is that they learn by watching you do the things that you love. They often develop, not just hobbies and loves of their own, real talents for the hobbies you yourself pursued when they were young children, often becoming even better at those pursuits than you were at their age. This progression in them is a joy to share and to be a part of.
Sometimes life gets in the way of self love, but its a really important way to show our loved-ones how much we care for them by caring for ourselves.
Love you all immensely,
Hermione Laake
hermionelaake 
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