Head & Heart – April 2015

I’ve been following Chisa’s Head & Heart posts for a few months, and thought they provide a really nice framework for a regular reflection practice. So this month I’ve decided to jump in and have a go too!

Head & Heart is designed to be “a monthly capture of my feelings and doings, in the raw.” [Check out the details about the Head & Heart project over on Lime Tree Bower]

I’m grateful for

• The time E gets to spend with my mum. Mum came over at the start of April to look after E while Jason and I went to Sydney for our wedding anniversary. The two of them have such a lovely time together and I know how precious it is. It makes me think about the wonderful time I had with my grandmother as a young girl, and wish that she could have got to meet E. They would have made each other so happy.

I’ve been thinking about

• Saying ‘sorry’. E went through a little phase of apologising a lot and noticing this has made me reflect on how much I say ‘sorry’ in my everyday life. I also read this piece – I’m Not Sorry – which has got me thinking about being more intentional with my apologies!
• My slow progress on my decluttering/minimalism journey. Since reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up I feel so much more conscious of our clutter and frustrated by how slow I’ve been to achieve my vision for a decluttered space. But little wins do bring joy – like creating a special space for our keys/wallets/phones. It has definitely cut down on the number of frustrating ‘where are my keys?’ (or more often ‘where did you put the keys?’) comments and demonstrates the value of the ‘having a place of everything’ approach.
• Supporting roles. This tweet from Austin Kleon got me thinking about them in the context of my life/work. I feel like I naturally gravitate to supporting roles and they’re often the roles that make use of my strengths, but sometimes I struggle to see the value of supporting roles and wonder if I should be striving for a ‘main part’.

I’m excited for

• Starting my podcast – Women Talk Work. I was super excited to receive a YWCA Canberra Great Ydeas grant for my project to help get it off the ground. I’m looking forward to learning new skills and connecting with interesting women.
• She Leads events. Our two YWCA Canberra She Leads Conferences are happening in May [at the time of finalising this post, one has already happened!]. I’m excited to see them actually become a reality (after starting as a little speck of an idea), but also anxious about getting everything done and done well. Honestly I’m not sure whether I’m excited for the events, or excited for them to be over!

What I’ve been doing

• 

  April was a big month for preparation on the She Leads Conferences. I’ve been working really hard and long hours (especially with E’s daycare closing over the school holidays), so it feels like this is pretty much all I’ve been doing. I also spent quite a bit of time preparing for a For Purpose Design Thinking Bootcamp that I’m running in May.

• But in spite of all the work busy-ness, we did get to Sydney for a night away for our 4th wedding anniversary to see Rodrigo & Gabriela. My first night away from Ella (which was fine – for both of us!). Such a highlight to be able to go out for a meal and eat with both hands and take longer than 15 minutes!

I’ve been reading

• I finished (and enjoyed) 168 Hours. Main takeaway was about being intentional with how I spend my time. Intentionality seems to be emerging as a key theme in many ares of my life this year.
• I also started 1-2-3 Magic, but my interest has waned and I’ve now abandoned it for the time-being. Maybe because I like my reading to be an escape from the challenges of parenting a toddler!
• I’m a big Annabel Crabb fan-girl, and she has a cracker of a piece in the May issue of The Monthly.

I’ve been listening to

• Chat 10 Looks 3. See above comment about Annabel Crabb. Her podcast with Leigh Sales is such a delight and always makes me smile.
• The Matt Mullenweg interview on the Tim Ferriss podcast was one of the best I’ve listened to. I learnt about the term ‘bike shedding’ and got lots of useful tips (on things from music to meditating to running).
• Season 2 of Working.
• Clare Bowditch is on the line-up for the She Leads Conference, so I’ve been listening to and really enjoying her ‘The Winter I Chose Happiness’ album,

Interested in joining this monthly reflection project? Pop on over to Lime Tree Bower for all the details and to share your post.