Let Me Introduce You to 5 Things Friday! How Exciting!
Amanda Jayne OHare
I teach AuDHD entrepreneurs how to plan their food, exercise and lifestyle to support their unique energy so they can thrive in life and business
This week has been one with a rollercoaster of energy and emotions and so I felt called to lean a little more into sharing the things with you that bring me joy, in the hopes it will bring you a little joy too. Maybe to even encourage you to think of your own favourite things on a more regular basis.
What simple pleasures bring you joy?
It can be said that when you're feeling tired, it can often be not so much that you're doing too much, but that you're doing too much of what doesn't matter to you; or not doing enough of what brings you joy.
It hits differently depending on what you're experiencing at the moment and, of course, how much you have on your plate which is simply inescapable. As an autistic single mum from pregnancy, I know this feeling all too well. I remember when my hairdresser had candidly said 'wow, imagine the difference it would make if you just got 48 hours to be yourself', which when I was viscerally exhausted from lack of sleep and the challenges of multiple moves, I found myself trying not to cry!
Sometimes it is that you need just less full stop.
Even then, more of what you love could bring little pockets of love, joy and respite.
You deserve those pockets of joy!
I've always tried to find ways I can thrive within my means and though it's not always been successful; and there have been many, many periods where I've been doing the work in therapy that can leave me feeling like I'm falling apart where my world is actually being cracked wide open; when I declutter my schedule of things I've told myself I need to do and replace it with space; or more of what brings me joy - my energy shifts for the better; even if only for a little while.
I recently decluttered huge amounts of fluff out of my schedule to free up time to just be and I can still declutter, delegate, automate and outsource more - it's a work in progress and will always be shifting, so there's no rush - but to leave it unexamined and unchanged would, well, suck.
This week I started off über excited and trying to do it all. I was in my zone! But... I also crashed and burned later in the week for it.
Womp womp womp
I have no regrets there, as after the fall came the clarity - and instead of trying to produce and create and do, I took today tp instead rest and let it all land.
I've been taking lots of time to be with myself in relative silence. Taking long walks, or runs and hill walks, followed by lying down in the afternoons and keeping my creative and work time a little more rounded off by loving boundaries.
With technology at our fingertips and plenty of voices telling you what to do and not to do, it can feel like there's a race to make everything in life perfect; to feel like you need to be listening to or following someone else's blueprint in order to get there.
When really, you have all the answers within you.
To find them, requires creating the space and time to listen to you.
And that's what I've been doing this week.
What's Up With Nourishment?
This week in Nourishment, we started our live round and began exploring one small change to focus on in the first week. Nourishment as a course has been quite the deep dive into beliefs, behaviours and actions related to food, exercise and lifestyle.
The Live Round is a gorgeous way of homing in on just one or two incremental changes at a time, making it easier to create a sustainable lifestyle without stumping for the ever-tempting lifestyle overhaul.
Feeling like you're missing out? No Worries! You can still join by following the link here.
5 Things Friday
(Some of the things I love are Amazon Affiliate linked and all are my personal recommendations)
This week I’m reading Courage by OSHO, perfect for the Pisces season vibes and the Venus Retrograde feels, this is my second read of this gorgeous book and it's landing so perfectly for the season I am in, where I am taking so many bold leaps into the unknown; one of which is by being so gentle with myself as I do so.
This week I’m enjoying Planet Paleo Cacao Magic. Ok, let's be real here - I'm enjoying this all the time (except when I run out of it). It's basically my version of a boujee mocha in the morning; and it feels like warm velvet. Again, I am obsessed.
This week I’m watching Top Guns: Inside The RAF. I've been watching this for a few weeks now and it's been a bit of an emotional one as I'm finding it's giving me more insight into the world of my grandad, who I miss immensely. He was a fighter pilot in the RAF and an Air Sea Rescue Pilot and whilst I always had huge respect for him and the work he did; I don't think I truly understood the depths of his courage until I started watching this. It's been so cathartic.
This week I’m also loving Mullein Tea. Ok, it's another one that, had I started the 5 things Friday many moons ago, it would have been top of the list. Mullein tea is really great for respiratory health and as I've had a couple of bouts of a sketchy chest over the last couple of years with all the life pressures - this has been my balm - I love it's subtle, earthy taste and find it very comforting before bedtime. I'm always sad when it runs out.
Have a great week,
Amanda Jayne