Head to https://www.instagram.com/world_of_kat/ for more updates

I've decided that my blogging time has come to an end.

Between my job, my business, Mr Magic and the dog, I have very little time to write extended pieces and really work on those, so I'm making an experiment and migrating to Instagram. You can find my account here.

I hope that the shorter form will let me write more frequently so that those of you who want to keep up to date with my messy life, can do so less haphazardly.

See you over on Instagram!

Brighton photo diary

The truth about having a pup.

Riki has joined our life at the start of October and having him gives us so much joy. He has settled in quickly and is showing his wonderful personality. Riki is mad. He will run around like crazy in the evenings, bark at Mr Magic to hurry him up before walks and try to dig in sofas. When I first got him, I was a little worried about finding our new routine, but I think we've done well and I am absolutely in love with him.

But having a dog is no walk in the park (though loads of those happen on a daily basis). Puppies are hard work, it's pretty much like having a baby. They turn your life upside down.

I thought walks would be the biggest issue, but I'm actually enjoying those. It gets me out of the house and moving, though it's getting colder and gets darker much earlier, so we need to get properly wrapped up and carry a torch. What is tricky though, is arranging walking for days when I'm at school and Mr Magic is not around. Thankfully I've found a dog walker to keep Riki's company, but I always worry about him, not to mention the cost: it's not a lot for each walk (£7), but over the course of the year, it will add up. You also need to factor in insurance, food and grooming costs.

Apart from the financial burden of owning a dog, there is the emotional burden. You become responsible for this little ball of fur and it's a lot to take on. Riki has recently become ill and I was worried sick about him. I worry about his eating, whether he gets enough exercise, if he gets on with other dogs in daycare. That's a lot of worry for 3.5 kilograms of life.

Finally, I had to forsake the idea of a tidy home. Toilet accidents still happen, so I'm constantly wiping the floor, toys are everywhere and we find dental sticks in odd places. Having a dog is a fairly messy affair.

Nonetheless, I am so glad I have him. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Where have I been?

Oh my... Last time I wrote a blog post was on 3rd June. Funnily enough one of my goals for this academic year was to write each week. Clearly, it's going well. I was going backs and forths in terms of whether to return to blogging or not, but I reckon I need an outlet for my creative juices and journaling on paper is not really my thing, so here I am.

It's only right to restart my blogging adventures with what I've been up to for the past five months. And I've been up to A LOT. LOADS. Life is very good now. I'm probably at my happiest point in life so far. It doesn't mean that I don't have any problems or worries, but I'm at peace with myself and enjoy what I'm doing. That's what happiness is, right?

July: I'm working at a summer school. 7 weeks of teaching maths to international students. I am surrounded by the beautiful English countryside, fed three times a day and earn decent money. A trip to Alton Towers is the highlight of my time there. I even manage to make some progress on my dissertation. It's not all roses though as I am suffering from bouts of anxiety and stress. A trip to Wales helps me to relax a little, but I am counting days to going back home.

August: I have about a week before INSET days at school. We go on an incredible trip to Scotland. Mr Magic's dream to visit Edinburgh is realised and we even manage to see a couple of shows at the Fringe. I lose tickets to one of the performances, but we are let in regardless, thanks to a handwritten note from the box office. We go on a hike, on a lake trip and visit a crannog.

September: I start a new job at a private school. The staff and children are lovely. There is free lunch. I start to remember why I wanted to teach in the first place. No more stress and excessively unruly pupils. I submit my dissertation. My parents visit for a couple of weeks, a visit I nickname invasion. Mum is impressed with my flat and dad decides to improve the state of my bathroom. At the end of the month, I get a puppy.

October: Riki has become the centre of our lives. I try to train him a little, but after he learns to sit, he is resistant to learning another command. We attend puppy classes and start looking for doggy daycare. I don't have a moment for myself, but Riki brings me so much joy. Mr Magic is the most wonderful man in the world and I am excited to spend my life with him. My car battery dies.

November: Two-week half term is a blessing and a curse. Loads of time to relax, but it's also an awful lot of time to fill with activities. I go on a solo trip to Bristol (with Riki) which is a much-needed break from Kent. Emily visits and for the first time, we don't have to work on our masters. I try to refocus my life.

~~~

Here we are then. Last five months in a nutshell. I am so excited for the future and everything seems to be falling into place now. I'm going home for almost three weeks over the holidays which will be great, although as I've found out taking a dog over is not such a straightforward affair. Anyway, I'm back. To be fair, I haven't been that far, just extremely busy with organising my life. Working part-time and having my own business is very time-consuming and I have so many ideas I want to develop in the coming months that 24 hours in a day are not quite enough! But I'm looking forward to squeezing in some writing time (it's 3:10am at the moment, don't ask why I'm up at such ungodly hour) and pouring out my thoughts into the bottomless pit of the internet.

Till next time!

Literary Corner: 6 minute writing challenge.

I would like to write more. But it's difficult. I am easily distracted by other people, tasks on my to-do list, new ideas coming into my head. There never seem to be enough time in the week to sit down for more than a couple of minutes and just write. Without interruptions, without thinking too much about the coherence of the sentences, word order or the relevance of the topic.

So I came up with a challenge. For the next 6 weeks, each Saturday morning, I will write uninterruptedly for 6 minutes.

This idea came to me during an English session with one of my students. We were working on persuasive language and using adjective to describe nouns. The task was to write an advert for holidays in Spain. We had some picture prompts to help out imagination. And I must say that I probably enjoyed this exercise much more than my student. I absolutely loved coming up with different ideas about the surroundings, the salty smell of the air, warm golden sand, the loud sound of cicadas...

Such fond memories from about 10 years ago I think.
Family holidays in Croatia

I miss creative writing. I usually write rather functional pieces so to say. Now I want to try writing something completely different.

So here we are. For the next six Saturday mornings, I will spend six minutes writing. I won't produce long, elaborate works of art, but hopefully some good paragraphs. I will post my less than perfect creations here. I am considering if I want to do some editing before publishing each item, not sure yet. Maybe I will post an unedited version and then an edited, somewhat improved version...

To help me, I am going to use an image generator. It's basic, but this is exactly what I need. Nothing fancy, just an image that I can write about. I am really excited to get started in a few days time. Let's get this creative juice flowing again.

Don’t sweat the small stuff.

I consider myself a rather calm and composed person, but there are times when the smallest of things drives me into a rage. If you've ever seen me truly angry (and not many people have), you know that it is not pretty. And, more importantly, it is not healthy. Daily stressful events can cause havoc in our fragile bodies. Research suggests that it is not about the frequency with which we experience daily hassles, but with out perception of their severity.

With this in mind, I conducted a reframing exercise. I considered those small, irritating everyday events that drive me crazy, and I changed tried to change them into something positive. The idea was to have a bank of positive thoughts readily available to draw on in stressful situations.

What are the things that irritate me on a daily basis? Let's take driving. I hate having nowhere to park. I'm not sure why it gets to me so much, I live in a pretty busy area and should really expect the parking spaces to be few and far between. In truth, it's usually not that there is nowhere to park, rather that the available spaces are not convenient enough. So this is really just a wonderful opportunity to up my step count and get some extra low impact exercise into my day. A small change in outlook and now every time I get frustrated with parking, I can think about all the benefits I will reap from walking more.

Walking more with my borrowed doggy.

Waiting is also an everyday hassle which all of us need to endure. It often feels like a big chunk of my life is waiting. Waiting for a bus, waiting in a queue, waiting for my coffee, waiting for customer service, waiting for an important phone call... So much time spent waiting! Interestingly, I am extremely patient with my pupils, but I am so terrible at waiting for things. No patience there (probably because it runs out during my teaching hours). The thing is, though, that waiting is unavoidable and largely outside my control. So, if I cannot do anything about it, I'm not going to stress out about those plentiful waiting moments. Even better, I could actually make good use of them. I often pray while queuing at a supermarket, because I always moan that there is not enough time in the day to pray and do all the work I need to do. Those few minutes spent by the till are perfect for a quick prayer and refocusing my day. I also try to carry a book with me, especially if I go somewhere where I know I am likely to need to wait (medical centre, for instance: you always have to wait. There wasn't a single time when I was actually seen on time). This allows me to read at least a couple of pages, keeping my brain busy.

And children! How annoying they are in public spaces. Especially in confined spaces, such as cafes, restaurants or shops. Don't get me wrong, some children are little angels and they don't bother me at all. But others are a nightmare to be around, shrieking, kicking, running around yelling. I will almost run to a different shopping aisle to avoid any sensory contact with a loud child. This is probably one of the trickiest daily hassles to reframe. How do I start thinking differently about this awful encounter with a loud little person (most likely also travelling at alarmingly high speeds. Possibly also pushing a full sized shopping trolley)? I can't really turn it to my advantage in a similar way to the previous two cases. But I can think about it more positively. I know that parents do an incredibly difficult job raising their children. They have the right to go out for a coffee when they want, though they might not have anybody to leave their child with at home. Or maybe they just want to take their children with them, because they work all day during the week and actually that shopping trip on a Saturday is one of a few precious moments they have to spend together. I guess I just need to learn to endure loud children in public spaces. It's just one of those unavoidable inconveniences of life. Just breathe in and out 10 times and run to that next aisle to hide between toilet rolls and coke bottles until the little monster is out of sight and earshot. 

It is not worth risking my health over minor annoyances, right? So let's reframe those daily hassles into opportunities to do (or think) something positive in those moments of annoyance. 

Sunday Special: Nourish your faith.

I come into a dark and cool interior of the church. There is only a few people scattered around the pews. There is still a good fifteen minutes before the Mass begins.

I came in a little early in hope of receiving some divine inspiration. I haven't felt particularly close to God recently. I pray, yes, I do every day, but my mind is not focused. And this morning again, I kneel down and my mind wanders from one thought to the next. Laundry, shopping, emails, taxes, uncomfortable shoes, itchy elbow... 

I look at the Tabernacle. 

I do want Jesus to be a part of my life. I want to be like one of those people whose eyes light up when they talk about their faith.

And yet as I kneel down before the altar, the emptiness persists. Or rather, my mind is so filled with thoughts about my life, that there is little space for God.

It suddenly clicks. Faith needs nourishing. Like a plant which needs sunlight, water, fertiliser, my faith needs to be nourished regularly so that it may flourish.

It's the same with love. Love needs nourishment. It needs closeness, both physical and emotional, understanding, sometimes sacrifice. And faith is love, love of the One who created and saved us.

With this realisation comes a feeling of being totally loved even when I fall short of the call to love God. I know that MM loves me even when I am impatient, moody, snappy or harsh. How much more does God love me even when I don't make time for prayer, don't appreciate His work in my life, fail to see Him in the people around me...

I leave the church feeling the power of God's love buzzing in my heart. This evening I read a chapter of the Bible and kneeling down beside my bed I pour out my life in front of the Father.

---

It has been about a months now since I make double effort to nourish my faith each day. It's hard work, because there is always something to do, or tiredness makes it difficult to focus, or I am simply too lazy to sit down and pray. But I am trying. Every day is a new chance to become closer to God, to give Him the reign over my whole life. “Behold, I am making all things new.” This is truly my experience: the more I take time to grow my faith through prayer, reading and good works, the more refreshed my spirit is. I just need to keep the momentum going.

Life update.

The last time I posted on this blog was almost two months ago. I'm not sure even where to being, there has been so many changes in my life and so much happened.

I went home for Easter which wasn't entirely planned, but I loved every minute of it. It was relaxing, it was refreshing, it was energising. Since my stay only lasted one week, I didn't get sucked into the whirlwind of domestic drama, but could truly enjoy doing things that I love: baking, reading, playing with a dog.

On that note, I have almost got a dog last month. I was so, so close to getting a furry friend, but the brain won over the heart. It wouldn't be fair on the dog to leave it home for long periods of time while I'm working and it would hugely restrict our ability to travel. HOWEVER, I did find a way around it! I finally got my head round signing up to Borrow My Doggy and bought a membership for £12.99 and these were the best spent money ever as I found a beautiful dachshund in the area which I will be looking after on Fridays. It will be glorious.

Now, the reason why I can be a pet sitter on Fridays is that I have quit my job. I warned you that a lot has happened in the past two months. I was really unhappy at work for a long time and it has taken both a physical and a psychological toll on me, so the only sensible decision was to leave. I have to say it was a massive leap of faith on my part: I was leaving a secure, albeit extremely stressful, job and with it a secure stream of income. And even though money doesn't equal happiness, the mortgage needs to be paid and so do bills etc., so I was more than a little worried about the future.

But this feeling didn't last long. In the Gospel according to St Matthew, Jesus says "Do not worry about tomorrow." I was convinced that I have made the right choice and that everything will work out fince. And so far I was blessed with such an abundance of opportunities! I have several tutoring assignments through a teaching agency and I am beginning to build a client base for my own business. It is a little scary to be effectively self-employed and having such a huge responsibility for everything from finding clients, preparing materials, setting up finances and keeping an organised diary. At the same time, I have so much freedom and such a great balance between work and study, and life. I do have to work evenings and I don't earn quite as much as before, but it's totally worth it. I can decide to do some exercising in the middle of the day. I can cook a healthy lunch at home rather than eating cold past at my desk. I have time to write and read. And, as MM can confirm, I am visibly healthier.

There has been so much going on in the past couple of weeks. I hope to be able to slow down a little in the next few weeks, take more time to build up my weekly leisure schedule (look out for that post in the near future!). And to write more blog post, of course :)

House plants.

I am as far as it gets from being green-fingered. In the past even the most resilient of plants passed away in my care. This is why I've kept to cut flowers to brighten up my living space: they are supposed to die within a week, so no guilt involved.

Bu now that I have my own little place, I really wanted to give plants another go. Plants can purify the air, they look pretty and generally make the space feel so much more put together. I'm proud to report that some plants are with me for almost 6 months now and all are alive and well.

Since I can be a little forgetful, I prefer plants which are forgiving and can cope with long periods without water. 

Devil's Ivy was my first purchase and I've managed to keep it going since summer. It doesn't need that much light, can be watered roughly once a week (in practice I water this beauty less frequently. Allow soil to dry before watering again). I love the hanging stems and heart-shaped leaves. My plant has gained quite a bit in size, so it will need to relocate to a higher spot soon, but for now it is a wonderful decoration in the living room.

I bought Zamioculcas on my sister's recommendation. It is a plant which is so low maintenance that you an virtually forget about it for weeks and weeks. Mine lives in the bedroom, a rather dark room and it is doing fine, it actually grew a few new shoots since I bought it in Novemeber.

Apart from these two that are my absolute favourites, I also have Anthurium, decorating the entrance corridor to my flat, Aloe Vera which currently lives on the dining table and some roses, but these seem not to enjoy my house environment and I am waiting for them to go beyond the point when I could still save them any day now.

I didn't know how beneficial having plants around me would end up being. But I love looking at them and they make me feel better. After a long and difficult day at work when everything seemed to be going wrong I can come back home, sit in my favourite armchair and admire my plants for a few minutes, thinking about how much they have grown, about different patterns on the leaves and any plans to move them to bigger containers in the spring. It might sound silly, but it allows me to switch off completely and just appreciate the simple things.

I will finish with the words of Peter Zumthor, a Swedish architect:

My relationship to plants becomes closer and closer.

They make me quiet; I like to be in their company.

Sunday Special: Don't settle for OK.

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

I'm a nice person. I try not to gossip. I share a kind word with my co-workers every day. I smile at people, don't pick a fight and are able to say sorry (most of the times). I give people the benefit of doubt. I make time for people who matter for me. I turn up for work every day and do my best. I pray regularly and make use of the sacraments. 

Overall, I think I am doing OK.

But being OK is not what I have been created for. I was created for the life of holiness. Jesus made it absolutely clear that mere adherence to the rules of faith is not sufficient. Remember the young man who came to ask Him what he should do to enter the Kingdom of God? Jesus first of all asked him to do everything according to the law, but then He asked him to give everything up and follow him.

This is a challenging call for me today. To give up my worldly attachments and focus on the thing that is eternal. To stop trying to make my life all nice and comfortable at the expense of others, but to go out of my way to serve the most vulnerable. To learn to say ''I'm sorry" to people I alienate from myself. To bear difficulties with patience rather than constantly complaining about minor inconveniences. To always give thanks to the Lord, never attributing my success to myself alone. To bring the light of Christ to those who lost all hope. To do everything for the greater glory of God.

Don't settle for mere OK. You have been created for holiness. It is not about some sort of perfectionism. It is about becoming who you are intended to become from the beginning of the world. This means being in communion with God. Breathing His Spirit every moment of every day. Becoming holy means a constant transformation so that we are more that the One who created us.

In this season of Lent, I want to journey towards the Easter morning in such a way that I will truly recognise the Risen Christ, that I will see His wounds and His glory through a purer heart, tuned to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It will require a serious change of heart. No more mediocrity, just learning to be holier, day by day.

“Let them look up and see no longer me—but only Jesus” Blessed John Henry Newman

Digital declutter.

I have recently left my phone at home when I went for a walk and the urge to reach into my pocket and check if anything popped up on the screen was terrifying. I didn't need it do it. It wouldn't add any value to my life. And yet I craved it so much!

It got me thinking really hard about my relationship with technology. I'm not spending hours and hours of my life online, although I do catch myself going down a rabbit hole of videos, pictures and posts sometimes. I can endlessly search for something on the internet and click link after link.

So I thought that, given that it is Lent now, I will perform a digital declutter as suggested by Cal Newport. I recommend his newest book Digital Minimalism as an interesting background reading and a lot of inspiration. I listed all my optional technology use, decided what to ban and what to limit to a defined set of operational procedures.

Can I stick with it until the end of Lent? Maybe. I know some things will be easier than others. I can probably survive without browsing Facebook, but can I stop compulsively checking my email? Deleting social media from my phone was easy enough, but will I be able not to reach for it so often?

The key to success, according to Newport, is to replace optional technology use with high quality leisure activities. This is probably the more challenging part of the digital declutter. I am used to mindlessly engage in web-browsing, watching videos and checking news sites. Changing this habit into thinking through how I spend my free time requires that I treat leisure seriously, as an important part of my life. I plan my work activities, why shouldn't I plan what I do when I don't work or sleep?

My aim is to plan a leisure activity for each evening. So far I have scheduled in reading, which I do pretty much every day anyway, Clubbercise, baking, making a scrapbook, walking, playing the piano, stretching exercise and joining a book club. I really hope that I would be able to find new joy of leisure in the coming weeks and maybe even discover long-forgotten talents and hobbies.

I suppose that it is quite lucky that my digital declutter coincides with Lent: I need to refocus on my faith and all the digital media often interfere with it. I hope to empty my mind of the cacophony of voices and find peace.

Unexpected pro travel tip.

Travelling can be stressful. I always get a tummy ache on the days when I travel, with an occasional bonus in the shape of a headache. My dad always called it reisefieber. It's an actual thing! A mixture of excitement and anxiety.

There is a lot of things you can do to make travelling this tiny little but less stressful. There are some obvious steps you can take. Like making a list of things to pack. I love a good list and I have a list of essential carry-on items. I'm not so fussed about items in the hold, these are usually easily replaceable at your destination - but anything truly important goes in my carry on bag and I make sure that I have all the essential bits and bobs that make my travel much more comfortable.

Another pretty obvious tip is to leave in plenty of time. Rushing automatically makes everything more stressful. When I fly, I arrive at the airport with about a hundred hours to spare. Well, that's an exaggeration, but I arrive so that I have at least a couple of hours to enjoy the wonderfully overpriced facilities of the departure area. I track down the water fountain, go to the loo about seven times (joy of having a peanut-sized bladder), explored the chilled food section of Boots and have a cup of tea. On a good day, I might even get some work done.

Both of these alleviate the stress of going on holidays prior to departure, but what about coming back? Some of the same principles apply: make sure you pack all the essentials on the carry-on list, leave early to avoid rushing. There is, however, one more thing you can do to specifically make your return from holidays much more pleasant. And this is to clean your house before going on holidays. I know, I can almost hear you saying 'Thanks Kat, as if I didn't have enough to do before going on holidays. And now you want me to clean?!' But hear me out. 

By cleaning the house I don't mean a deep spring clean with hoovering behind all pieces of furniture and cleaning the windows. What I means is washing up the dirty dishes, giving your home a quick hoover, taking the rubbish out. It shouldn't take you more than half an hour. Unless you haven't washed up for a week. We've all been there. But then you only have yourself to blame.

Trust me, after a long day of lugging your suitcase behind you, dealing with delays and sweating from running to catch a bus, you will be happy to return to a reasonably clean house with an empty sink and lovely-smelling bins. Also, make your bed before you leave for holidays, and make sure all the clothes you pulled out of the wardrobe in a packing-frenzy are put away. You will thank me for this one when you arrive exhausted after your lovely break away and are able to literally drop onto a clean bed.

Decluttering my fantasy self.

We all have our fantasy self: that person who we aspire to be, but never actually become. It usually shows through a collection of objects bought with an intention that you start exercising, cooking more interesting dishes, revisit that hobby you abandoned in college. Items that we would like to use, an in ideal world probably would actually use, but the realities of life prevent us from doing so.

Realism is absolutely crucial when you want to declutter your fantasy self. I have so many ideas about the person I want to be and the activities I want to do, but, in all honesty, I scarcely have time or money to pursue them.

Take horse riding for instance. I absolutely loved horse riding when I was at school. And I also rode a few time over the course of doing my degree. I had a complete gear, chaps, hard hat, boots, jodhpurs, gloves, but for years now it has sat in the cupboard. Finally, when I moved to the new flat, I decided that enough is enough.

All my horse riding gear has been sold on ebay. Part of me was reluctant, because I kept thinking 'what if I end up wanting to ride again?' But I haven't ridden for years and if in a few years time I want to ride, I can just wear my standard boots and rent the hard hat at the stables. But it will probably take some years, because spending £50 or more on an hour long session really is not in my weekly budget at the moment.

Second thing that was declutter was my slr digital camera. I've never came round to actually using it properly and out of those tens of modes available and different settings I only ever used auto and macro. Yes, once upon a time I did enjoy taking pictures, but I completely lack commitment to learning the art of photography. Also, such cameras are so bulky, you always seem to need a collection of other items at hand, different lenses, filters, tripods etc. It's so much easier to take a picture with my phone. And I don't even do it that often anymore. The vast majority of my pictures end up somewhere on my laptop drive never to be looked at again, so now, instead of compulsively taking pictures, I just enjoy the moment and look at things with my own two eyes.

So often I am caught up with thinking about the person who I could be in some parallel universe, that I spend very little time working on the person who I actually am. I might not take part in riding competitions or become a professional photographer, but I can dedicate my attention and resources to writing, reading and baking. Life is too short to try to enjoy things that don't really spark any joy within you.

5 love languages.

I don't often read relationship advice. I learn as I go along. But 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman was recommended on one of the YouTube channels I follow as a perfect book for marriage preparation and I thought that it would be good to get a head start in order to improve my relationship before we get engaged and think about the wedding.

I must say that this is one of very few books that I've read which truly made different to the way I live.

The premise is simple. There are five love languages: words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service and physical touch. Each of us have a preference in terms of how we want others to show us that they love us, Chapman calls is our primary love language. My love language is acts of service. I'm not bothered with gifts at all, I appreciate when somebody picked something specifically for me and I am really grateful for it, but I could go on without gifts for a long time. On the other hand, I really feel loved when somebody makes me a cup of tea, or hoovers the house, or unloads the dishwasher. Now I also understand why Mr Magic constantly wants to travel or do some activities. In the past it drove me mad, because I like staying at home, watching a movie or reading a book, but his primary love language is quality time and he wants us to do things. Now I am much more understanding and I am consciously making effort to find things for us to do. Some of these might be out and about (fermenting class anyone?), some at home (like playing games). Whatever it is, I know that Mr Magic wants to have my undivided attention while doing some sort of activity.

I would say that getting this insight made a massive difference to my relationship. I understand Mr Magic better. He understands me better. We are more intentional about how we spend our time and have some solid ideas about how to express love. As an addition to finding out about our love languages, we also listed 30 things that make us know that we are loved. It was a great exercise to show how much we appreciate little things we do for each other and what makes us smile on daily basis.

If you are still planning Valentine's Day, think about your loved one's love language. Depending on what it is, they will be most pleased with different things. Roses and chocolates might be best if their love language is receiving gifts, but if it is quality time, what about a dinner date followed by a walk? And remember to keep your love tank full all your round, not only on February 14th.

The 2 minute rule.

I think we all have these lists of tasks that would not take long to complete at all, yet we always leave them to the last minute. These tasks are an inconvenient necessity of daily like.

The way I tackle those is by employing the 2 minute rule: it it takes less than 2 minutes to complete, I get it done straight away.

I apply it in a variety of areas of my life. House admin, for instance. Incoming and outgoing mail, bills, orders of toiletries. Nothing major and intellectually demanding, but in the past I would so often avoid dealing with these tasks. By employing the 2 minute rule, I get things done promptly, avoiding a backlog that can overwhelm. Every day I check my mailbox when I get back from work and I deal with any correspondence straight away. 2 minutes is enough time to skim through the letters, recycle the envelopes and possible file some of the papers so that I deal with them later. Paying bills or council tax doesn't take long, but in the past I would constantly put it off, now I just get it done.

I do still have extended times each month for 'house admin' when I make sure my finances are in order, check insurance policies and deal with utilities. But for the most part I handle things as and when they come.

The 2 minute rule can also be applied to household chores. I am not particularly fond of packing my dishwasher, but it does only take about 2 minutes to do it. Same with taking the rubbish out, wiping down the table and the counters.

Also at work, the 2 minute rule helps me to get on with little tasks straight away rather than waiting for a better moment. Trimming worksheets, arranging exercise books, cleaning the whiteboard. Little tasks that can be completed straight after a class, without putting it off until just before the next group of pupils arrive.

I found that I am less overwhelmed by small tasks when I deal with them promptly. I won't fill up my day with 2 minute jobs, but I will generally just get it done. It's easier and gives me more uninterrupted time to deal with what's important and what requires more effort.

Living on my own.

Some people wonder why I choose living on my own. I was often met with bewilderment similar to when I told people that I abandoned any ideas of a legal career in order to become a teacher.

I must say this attitude rather surprised me, since there are plenty of perks of living on my own. I can arrange the furniture however I want. And I can rearrange my interior however many times I want. No need for debates with housemates, flipping coins and arguing about the colour of the sofa or how soft it should be. On that note, no housemates. This is a major advantage. Other people are annoying. They have annoying habits. They leave dirty dishes on the table, forget to take laundry out of the washing machine, do not stick to the cleaning schedule. I'm guilty of all of those, but it's ok when I'm on my own. When it comes to other people, I simply cannot tolerate certain things. I can bear Mr Magic being around a lot, because I'm planning to spend my life with him and it would be helpful to accept his few oddities (especially since I have so many), but people who most likely are in my life simply by chance? No, thank you.

But what I like the most about living on my own is the total peace that I get in the mornings and when I get back from work. I can take my time without worrying that I'm in anybody's way. I can relax with a book and a cup of tea away from people after a busy day surrounded by noise. I can replenish my energy in way that would not be possible if I had people coming and going all the time.

Of course, there are some downsides. I do feel lonely sometimes. It would be nice to be able to dump all my thoughts about the day onto somebody when I get home. Or just have an opportunity to hang around with another human in the room. From a more practical point of view, living on my own is expensive, all the charges need to be paid by me rather than splitting it with another person. Not to forget that there isn't anyone to share my baked goodies with, which sometimes proves problematic (there is only so much cake that one can eat. And I eat a lot of cake).

All things considered, though, I do enjoy living on my own. It has taught me to be independent and self-sufficient and gives me a lot of time to do my own thing. I am looking forward to living with my husband in the future, but for now I am embracing my current situation and honestly if I were to choose again, I would choose to have a single-person household. It suits my personality and gives me space to recharge.

Also, have a sneak peek into my apartment. It's nowhere near to be revealed to the world, but my living space looks decent already.

Cultivate what matters.

There are so many demands on our attention that sometimes it is difficult to see the bigger picture. We get bogged down by day-to-day problems, chores to do, errands to run and it often leaves me with the question 'is that it?' Is my life about short episodes of busyness, worry, joy or delight, caught between each other, but ultimately rather fleeting? I crave for a thread that would join all the pieces together, that would give purpose of it all.

As I was setting my goals for the year ahead, I really had to think what mattered. There isn't enough time to devote your time to peripheral things.

One my my colleagues keeps telling me that health is the most important thing in life and that I need to look after myself first. It's a challenge for me as so often I automatically put other people first. But recently my physical and emotional health has taken a massive hit due to stress and simple winter illness and I am become increasingly aware that my wellbeing, understood in very much a holistic sense, is important. There is only one me. So I better take time to do those stretching exercises, plan nutritious meals and schedule health checks.

I've been living on my own for a while now and nurturing important relationship has been something that I am notoriously bad at. Beyond Mr Magic and my parents, I really need to take more time to become a better friend. I have some periods when I'm on the top of things, texting and calling the people who matter to me, but I know that when things go a little crazy at work, I let those slip. Thankfully my friends are extremely forgiving, but I know I need to appreciate them more.

Looking at these two areas, health and relationships, I can't help but to notice how grateful I am for what I've got. Overall, I'm a healthy person with some solid friendships. And beyond these, I have a beautiful home, a decent job, fridge full of food and plans for a bright future. Gratefulness is so important, because it changes your outlook on life. Instead of seeing the glass as half empty, it becomes half full. There are some psychological studies showing that practising gratitude improves life satisfaction. From my own personal experience, I can say that if I pause every day to nice all the blessings I was showered with that day, I am a much happier and optimistic person.

As my journey through 2019 continues, I know I need to stop worrying about the details and start looking at the things that truly make a difference to how I feel and think. It will be a long journey.

Budapest travel diary.

All the pictures from this wonderful, albeit short, visit to Budapest are credit to the most wonderful Mr Magic who captured all the beautiful sights while I just enjoyed the surroundings.

Winter favourites.

Wrangler boots

I've picked these up in TKMaxx months ago and only started wearing them at the end of December when temperatures finally dropped to low single digits. One of a few pairs of shoes that didn't give me blisters. They are cute and sturdy (can these two adjectives ever go together? apparently so) and I hope that the cold returns soon so I can wear them a bit more. Anyone else looking outside of your bedroom window every morning hoping to see snow?

Comfy pjs

No picture here, but my new pjs are so comfy and it's just amazing to sleep in them. I don't think we pay that much attention to out nightwear and we definitely should. Sleep is so important, we spend a third of our lives asleep, so we should make sure we get high quality rest and part of it means feeling comfortable (and fabulous) in what we wear to bed.

Chocolate and pecan spelt cookies

I had some leftover spelt flour in the cupboard and decided to give a new recipe a go. Spelt flour is a source of fibre, many micronutrients (calcium, magnesium, selenium, zinc etc.) and has slightly higher protein content than ordinary wheat flour. It has a distinctive taste so might not appeal to everyone, but I really like it. Chocolate chips give the cookies a little more sweetness and pecans provide a bit of a crunch. I wouldn't say it's a guilt-free pleasure, but it's slightly healthier than store-bought snacks.

Exercise

I have a largely standing job during the day and so I sit loads in the evenings while writing, reading or talking to my loved ones, so my back does suffer due to my lifestyle. I started doing some stretching exercises for about 30 minutes twice a week and I can already feel better. Surprisingly, it doesn't bore me (I do loose interest easily) and it doesn't leave me awfully sweaty. I walk up the stairs (two flights) quickly to get some cardio each day and I started parking my car further away from the entrance at work so that I up my step count. Here's an interesting series of podcasts that really motivated me to get moving.

Honey and cinnamon body scrub

I had this scrub for ages, but only recently started using it regularly. It smells delicious and does wonders to the skin. It's a bit of a luxury for me since I don't really do baths or anything like that very often so anything beyond shampoo and shower gel is a treat for me.

New monthly planner

I'm in love with my new planner. 2019 will be so good. I have multiple stickers, different tracking system and generally I am thoroughly enjoying planning in a very different way than before. The monthly view gives me much more clarity which I need for long-term planning. I look at my planner every day, so I need it to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing and this is exactly what I manage to create now. No-nonsense planner pages where everything is 

Sunday Special: Verse a week.

In the next few weeks I am going to be elaborating on some of my goals for 2019 in hope that 1) it will motivate me to actually achieve them and 2) you will find some motivation and inspiration for your own yearly goals.

I call them goals rather than resolutions, because resolution sounds to me like something that you need to keep up every day without fail, whereas goals are things you aspire to and work towards. 

One of my spiritual goals for this year is to memorise 52 Bible verses: one verse for each week of the year.

Why bother?, you ask.

I had a number of friends over the years who were able to whip up an appropriate Bible verse together with where you could find it in the Bible just like that and I've always wondered how they did it. It has only recently occurred to me that they must have memorised them. They must have made an effort to commit those important verses to their memory so that they could permeate their lives. This is the reason why I want to memorise 52 Bible verses this year: to immerse my life in life-giving Words of God.

How do I go about it? Every morning I write out the verse in my notebook and repeated it a few times. I come back to it throughout the day and make it a centre of my prayer in the evening.

So far I'm on my second verse of the year. Last week it was the last verse of Psalm 23, this week it's a verse from the 2nd Letter to Timothy. If you feel inspired and would like to join in, here's the link to my schedule. Yellow fields are Psalms, blue are verses from the Gospel. I'm going to finish off putting in the last weeks of the year in the coming days so it will then be all ready be printed, copied into the planner or whatever else you might want to do with it.

Have a truly blessed and joyful 2019!

Getting ready for the New Year.

I've actually starter planning my 2019 goals in late October. I like to be ahead and really clear as to what I want to do. I also had a bit of spare time on my hands and October is as good as any other month for planning the new year.

In my 2019 planner I've divided a notes page into four sections for four categories of goals I will focus on: personal, work, financial and spiritual. These will probably change slightly by the time we get to Easter, but listing things that are important to me will help with staying on track and will also be a helpful reminder of where I am heading.

This is really why I'm doing it. To refocus my attention which is so often fragmented by the worries of today. To have something to go back to in times of confusion.

I really encourage you to do the same. Make a list of goals you want to achieve this year. Not by the end of January, but by the end of 2019.

Below is a picture from my planner with the goals I've set myself. Maybe these can inspire you. They didn't take me that long to come up with, though you might need to do some more soul searching depending on your self-awareness. As you will probably notice, most of my goals are long-term. I cannot achieve them overnight. To achieve them will require a lot of very intentional planning. And who doesn't like some serious planning?

I'm planning (ha! again, planning here, can you see a pattern here?) to post regular updates with how I'm getting on with these. I will also elaborate on some of these in the coming weeks, mostly for my own benefit, I don't really know what I think until I write it down.

Many people say that having two, maybe three, a maximum of four top priority goals to focus on is best. As you can see, I have way more than that, but most of them are pretty actionable or I know what steps I need to take and when to achieve them. For some I need to schedule a date to start the process (sorting out my digital clutter). For others, I'm already doing it (rosary, reading) or have taken steps to achieve those goals (I've applied for the position of the examiner, I'm regularly saving money to build up my emergency fund). Establishing a better work-life balance ties nicely with exercising and reading. So hopefully these goals for 2019 will not be overwhelming, but will become a foundation of my everyday choices.

I'm really looking forward to this year. It will be a good one.