Back to reality

So after a lovely week away, normality resumes but life is hopefully a little altered for the better by the time spent with family and friends in a beautiful part of the world. I always like to spend a bit of time on holiday reflecting on my life and thinking about my hopes and dreams. Here is what I concluded during this holiday's musings....

• I don't take enough time to marvel at the beautiful world we live in. It was an absolute joy to watch O's face as we showed her the landscape of the Peak District.  Her face lit up as she looked at the views around her (certainly beats the view of the inside of her carry cot) and in turn it made me look at these breathtaking views with renewed awe and wonder. Whilst we live in a turbulent and often frightening world, we are also surrounded by vast beauty and I for one need to spend more time immersing myself in the latter.

•Small thing are wonderful. This revelation came to me in the form of a delicious plate of sausage and mash. Why do we need to make life so complicated and consequently stressful when we can find so much joy in the simple things like a plate of sausage and mash, a good conversation, a walk in the sunshine, a hot bath or a comfy bed to sleep in.

• I don't need as much stuff as I thought. For a while now, I have felt challenged to own less stuff but this holiday challenged my views even more. With a baby in tow, there was much less room for my luggage so I packed less. I wore the same pair of shoes for the whole week and the only make up I took was a mascara and a lipstick. Nothing bad happened due to the lack of stuff I had with me and I noticed I wasn't as worried about how I looked.

• A holiday with a baby isn't that much of a holiday. I am in no way saying that I didn't enjoy my holiday. I did. It was lovely. However babies don't realise they're on holiday and so still expect their 6am feed and to be in bed by 7pm. O pretty much dictated our days by her routine and I didn't get the lay ins I have dreamt of but it was brilliant to spend a week as family without the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Perhaps these reflections seem a bit 'deep' after all I was on holiday but they were all fuelled by good conversations, lots of laughter, fabulous surroundings, music and lots of cake.