♨️ Off to the onsen again for another couple of hours of soaking and sweating. The weather in Osaka is phenomenal today, so I’ll be out on the rooftop baths to catch some sun. ☀️
Wellbeing
Barely able to keep my eyes open. So it’s time for a shower and an early night. And hopefully a full night’s sleep. There’s no way I’m staying up to watch all this breathless - and pointless - US election coverage. Far too early…
Awake since 4:30am and my last client appointment doesn’t finish until 5pm. Today is going to feel like a very long day indeed.
🍑 Baring it all in Japan:
This could be a tiny decades-old bath in Kyoto, or a ‘super onsen’ in Tokyo. The experience is similar: long periods of time spent soaking in communal baths and letting my cares disappear and the aches on my muscles vanish.
Gym is habit, repeat
Monday, October 28, 2024
A productive day, all in all. With my eyes firmly on the prize (our departure for Tokyo next week) I got the head down and tore through my task list in work this morning. I actually got so much done that I managed to leave the office early and get to the gym. I know, I was shocked too. It has been …✈️ Staring the weekend in the face
Present day me would love nothing more than to cancel the whole thing and spend the weekend lying down somewhere comfortable.
👉🏻 Read on…
🧠 Another evening when my thoughts turn to simplifying my life and deleting some social media accounts. There are just too many of them for me to maintain, too many subscriptions, too much…hassle.
The irony that I’m writing about wellbeing and self-care on my professional blog, while sitting here with a head cold, isn’t lost on me! Still, I’m feeling a lot better this morning, and I don’t have to leave the apartment. And you can bet that my weekend will be starting early this week.
I miss my sauna
Thursday, October 3, 2024
I’m wishing I could sweat out this cold in the sauna in my old apartment building. My routine was simple. I’d bring a book or a magazine, an alcohol-free beer (chilled to the max in preparation), and toddle down to the sauna for about an hour. Several sessions in the heat. Several very cold …Nine hours of sleep later...
Thursday, October 3, 2024
I truly believe that sleep cures all. Yes, I’m still feeling decidedly grim, my throat still hurts and I have the most annoying ticklish cough. But I don’t have a headache, I’m not aching all over, and I don’t have the urge to curl up in bed and hide under the duvet. …The scratching continues
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
So I made it through this morning’s must-do online meeting with a client. My voice held up - just. Now I can relax with a hot drink until 3pm. Then, it’s a webinar I need to run for a different client. As soon as that’s done - should be about 30mins - I’ll be heading home for …Scratchy scratchy
Wednesday, October 2, 2024
I woke with one of them yesterday morning: a tiny scratch at the back of my throat. Not painful, just noticeable. It got worse throughout the day - bearing in mind I had several calls and a podcast interview to record - until after work, when my voice began to disintegrate completely. 👉🏻 Read …The darkness
Tuesday, October 1, 2024
I woke to complete darkness this morning, a rough reminder that we’re now in October. I didn’t grow up in tropical climes. Unless you consder Dublin a haven of sunshine and warm breezes. (It is not). But even now, in the midst of my forty-eighth year on this planet, I’m still not …🔗 I’m a tad tired…
I had fully intended to have a lie on this morning, with my first appointment not until 9am. But no, my brain sabotaged my plans and left me sitting up in bed well before dawn, sipping coffee and cursing my luck.
Read on: Nothing left
Thursday, September 12, 2024 →
🧠 It seems like normal brain service has resumed. Feeling an awful lot better this morning!
Wednesday, September 11, 2024 →
🧠 It was one of those days when my brain just didn’t cooperate.
It hasn’t happened in quite a while, but today I had an epileptic seizure at work. I’m lucky, in that most of my seizures tend to take the form of ‘absences’ - where I just zone out while my brain basically reboots.
👉🏻 A brain fart
💡 New blog post: A relaxing interlude
This isn’t a ‘New Year, New Me’ announcement or anything. Just the stark realisation that I’ve for some work to do before I can feel comfortable in these shorts again.
💻 New blog post: Retreating to Sitges
I return to London feeling lots better, with a ton of notes and plans for personal and professional life. I experience a kind of inspiration there that I don’t get anywhere else. It just works, which is why I go back every year.
🏋🏼 Made it to the gym again after work this evening.
A much nicer elliptical workout, while watching some ‘Tokyo Vice’'. Why though, do some people go to the gym for the sole purpose of making phone calls? Not while exercising, while sitting on machines and not moving a muscle.
Puzzling.
🏋🏼 Made it to the gym for a very half-hearted workout on the elliptical. Brought me to a total of 10km of walking today, which isn’t bad. Let’s see what I manage tomorrow.
I’m back on the beach in Sitges in two weeks, so every little helps. Right?
💡 I spent the weekend intentionally disconnecting from work and instead spending time with family.
And you know what? I came back to London feeling great!
New blog post: Disconnecting.
🚶🏼 New blog: Where there’s a will, there’s a walk
Over on my new MacPsych.blog endeavour, using the very lovely Pika platform.
I’ve had a client webinar cancelled at the very last minute, so instead of mainlining political news all over again, I’m going to head downstairs to the gym and get some exercise. A much better use of my time.
Not the gym buddy I was hoping for...
Thursday, June 27, 2024
🏋🏼 I had the gym in our building all to myself this afternoon. Until the last ten minutes of my workout, when this giant beast of a neighbour came down, dressed in street clothes, and chose the treadmill next to me for… a walk. And a telephone conversation. While on speakerphone. Loudly. I …😬 I appear to have eaten something that is violently disagreeing with me.
🧠 Again with the anxiety dreams?!
Last night’s included:
- Having to start university all over again, but couldn’t find my degree certificates to prove I didn’t need to.
- Somehow finding myself signed up for a maths and statistics degree. Not psychology.
- Accidentally donating all my clothes to a charity shop and then having to ask for them back.
I have absolutely no idea what my brain is trying to tell me with all this nonsense. Though it wold at least be fun if I didn’t wake up in a panic at the end of each one. Sleep? I don’t know her…
😴 Last night’s sleep destroyed by a horrible dream that I was in Egypt, stuck in a hotel due to some kind of coup, and unable to find my passport. Gunfire and screams outside. It all felt so, so real. Woke in a panic and had to check it was where I always keep it.
Thanks for nothing, brain.
📆 A superb Monday so far!
- Excellent feedback from a client as we completed his coaching programme this morning
- My long-awaited prescription issue has been resolved and my epilepsy meds are ready for collection
- I completed a video edit ahead of schedule, so I’m treating myself to a walk in the sun
Aaaargh. My hay fever is off the scale this morning. Feeling utterly miserable and I haven’t even left the apartment yet. Eyes streaming, constant sneezing, itchy all over. Seems my meds aren’t doing a thing today.
🦷 Starting my weekend with a trip to the dentist.
Nothing serious, just a check-up. But never, ever anything less than a chore.