ROOM TO BREATHE...

Joe. Blogs #111 – Sunday 05 January 2024

ROOM TO BREATHE…

Howzit guys!

Belated happy New Year to all of you! I hope that 2025 is everything you deserve!

This first week of 2025 has flown by already but in a good way. We have been enjoying the benefits of having the sea close to home. So even though we did not ‘go away’ this December we still feel like we are on holiday after being here for two years.

We have been to our local beach a few times but have also ventured out a bit further, going out to Pringle Bay and more recently, Onrus. The drive out to Pringle and Onrus is beautiful and makes the extra distance completely worth it!

The little suburb of Onrus was beautiful, we thoroughly enjoyed the beach and lagoon. The restaurant on the lagoon was awesome and the holiday vibe was so cool. Pringle Bay is just as amazing and also has the lagoon that the kids can enjoy. The road trip along Clarens drive is magical and I could literally do it every day, my kids not so much! ??

Just the fact that we can wake up at home and have a choice of different beaches within close proximity is still amazing for me.

And when the weather gets a bit miserable, we can choose any number of wine farms to visit.

I spoke about gratitude over the past few weeks, and I can’t say it enough how grateful I am right now.

As everyone does at the end of the year, we all make New Year’s resolutions based on what we want to change or do better but for me its about just being grateful for every day and choosing to be present in every moment. Live every moment but also cherish that moment.

For me I have realised that moving to the Cape has given me the room to breathe…

For someone like me, suffering from high anxiety, the best medicine is breathing. Breathing might be a spontaneous thing to most people but to an anxiety sufferer it is the fine line between living peacefully or not.

Learning to breathe properly is a challenge for us anxious people. We are notoriously bad breathers. We hold our breathe without realising it, causing a heightened feeling that something is not right. We do not know what it is that might be wrong and in most cases its nothing more than the anticipation that something might go wrong and before we know it, we are either holding our breath or breathing too shallow…

Hanging how you breathe or controlling how you breathe is extremely difficult especially if you have been doing it wrong your whole life!

I continuously feel like I am holding my breath or feel like I need to forcefully take a few long deep breathes just to release some of the anxiety.

Focusing on my breathing is critical in how I manage my day but subconsciously before I know it my breathing becomes affected and once the anxiety kicks in its exceedingly difficult to change. It is a catch twenty-two situation where the anxiety affects the breathing, and the breathing affect the anxiety in a very vicious circle!

So, when I say that my new lifestyle has given me the room to breathe you must know how hugely significant this is for me.

When I have room to breathe, I am far more relaxed and do not worry about something going wrong.

I have time to think properly and deeply about the things that matter and not the reasons for it falling apart.

I become more creative; nobody likes trying to create something when you are worried about everything falling apart around you.

Breathing soothes the soul and directs my creativity to a place where beautiful things start to happen.

Finding room to breathe is so important for me but again I am so grateful to be able to appreciate it and use it to be better and to also find my true self.

Finding the room to breathe has also help me find who I really am, without all the stress and anxiety clouding my vision.

We sometimes live through the stress without fully understanding where its coming from. We just try our best to survive! But survive what??

When you find more time, you get a better perspective.

I am not running away from my responsibilities, but I am also not letting the stress and anxiety dictate my life.

My life is mine to create.

Finding room to breathe makes you realise how much space you have in your life.

Finding time to breathe means finding time to live.

Think about that.

I wish you an amazing week and will see you on the other side!

Later,????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Joe.blogs