The last few weeks have been busy and stressful—very stressful if I’m honest. Now that my daughter Laura is safely in her new home in BC, I’m more than ready for a break. It’s time to breathe!

Welcome to week 29 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. Week 29 is a little light on content, but I have some thoughts on my upcoming vacation, self-care, and some ideas for the last week of Plastic Free July.  

The Sunday Spark – Week 29

On my mind this week: I’m taking time to breathe

As I sit down to write this, it’s the first day of my vacation. For the next 18 days, there will be no alarms or work deadlines. For most of the time, I’ll be enjoying a change of scenery with no housework or laundry to do. Bliss!

The last few weeks have been crazy. Between work, helping Laura pack and get ready for her move, planning and hosting her going-away party, and making last-minute vacation preparations at home and at work, there has barely been time to breathe.

When life gets really busy, it’s hard to take time away from the seemingly endless to do list. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been neglecting my walks and workouts. My July goal of walking 150 kilometres isn’t looking so good at this point.

Self-care is an overused buzzword

I’m not a fan of the term self-care. We all need to prioritize our health and wellbeing, but self-care has turned into an overused buzzword and billion-dollar money-making industry. In many cases, the quest for self-care just adds more stress to our lives.

Earlier this week, as I read Deb’s post on The Heart of the Matter, I wholeheartedly agreed that the things we really need to prioritize for our wellbeing are really quite simple.

So, I will spend today busily tackling last-minute vacation preparations. Then, for the next 17 days, I will pause, take time to breathe, spend time in nature, and soak up my surroundings. It will be good for the soul. And I might get a little closer to that 150 kilometre goal.

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Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Keeping the trend going, here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week gone by:

• On Sunday afternoon, I enjoyed a much-needed distraction when I attended a local matinee performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This is my all-time favourite musical, and it definitely took my mind off Laura’s departure for BC. I’ve been humming the songs all week.
• If you’ve been following the saga of the records, you’ll be happy to know that all three boxes of records arrived safely and have been unpacked. And the rest of Laura’s boxes have also arrived. She’ll find out soon how good our packing skills were.
• Work on our new deck started this week. As is always the case with these projects, our back garden looked like a war zone for a few days. By week’s end, things are looking much better. I can’t wait until the transformation is complete.

Things I learned this week

Life is all about learning, but when life gets chaotic, it’s tough to find time to learn, or even to absorb the things you hear. I normally jot down notes in my journal as I pick up new nuggets of wisdom each week. Today, when I opened up my journal to write this post, there was a blank page.

That’s okay. Regular service will resume shortly!

Sustainable living tip: Plastic Free July – Final week

Check my handy downloadable calendar for simple changes you can make this Plastic Free July. Here are items to consider for the rest of the month:

• Reusable lunch containers
• Use a loofah or washcloth in place of plastic shower poufs
• Make your own DIY toilet cleaner with 4 simple ingredients
• Find alternatives to glitter for your crafts
• Say no to fast fashion
• Scrutinize all packaging on products you buy
• Buy candy in boxes
• Say no to hotel toiletries

I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.

The Sunday Spark will be on hiatus for a couple of weeks while I enjoy a much-needed break. For the next two Sundays, I’ve got some different content lined up for my Sunday posts. I hope you’ll enjoy it.