Sitting on the harbour wall in Catania, Sicily was a little slice of heaven.

I just got back from the Etsy Captain’s Summit and we were talking about burnout and how to overcome and avoid going into overload and crisis. Something that really struck a chord for me was when we starting talking about peak experiences.

A peak experience is a moment where you felt at your best, like you were doing well, life was good, you felt content and just “ahh”. I recognised the feelings we were talking about straight away as that’s exactly how I feel when I’m travelling.

There’s something about heading off to a new place that just gives me a happy heart and I think the act of travelling brings me a whole bunch of the things I need to keep going. My fuel, I guess. Travelling gives me:

// A moment to switch off, not completely, but so much more than I ever would at home
// Constant inspiration from my surroundings
// A fresh start, you don’t have bad memories there, you don’t get distracted by the negatives. The beauty stands out so much more
// Time. For sure with city travel you are always on the go, but there’s time to do the things that you love – eating amazing food in incredible places or spending hours taking photographs
// Quality time with the people I love. I mean actual quality time, not just existing together in our busy lives.

Sitting on the harbour wall in Catania was one of those moment for me; Switching off and admiring the beauty of my surroundings with a fresh mind where anything was possible. Just taking our time, enjoying some lunch, taking photos and just wandering or sitting. Spending time with each other talking or just being side by side. Just looking back at these photos makes me feel a little bit calmer.

So in the absence of having the time and money to be able to travel every week, somehow I need to bring Catania back home with me. I need to find a way to see the beauty again in the places that I see every day and I need to make myself take my time more and do more of the things I love. I need to spend time with friends and family without stress and distractions and the biggest challenge for me will be learning how to switch off.

What are your peak experiences? What do they say about the kind of things you need to avoid burnout?
Loves x xx

Mustard Dress | C&A  //  Black Felt Hat | Accessorize
Poppy Necklace | Ian McGenn  //  Red Moccasins | Minnetonka

I wrote this to clear my head. I have numerous draft posts like this that have never been published, but then I headed to Twitter for a catch up and stumbled across #WhatYouDontSee – so here you go, here’s my little addition to what you don’t see behind my facade of a happy, colourful, bright and breezy world of handmade.

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I’m struggling today. Things started out pretty much as normal, I set my alarm to try and get up at a reasonable time (8am) but ended up peeling my eyes open at 8.30am and scrolling mindlessly through social media on my phone. Boyfriend brought me a cup of tea at 8.45am and I got up and got dressed. Pretty standard weekday routine.

I had breakfast at my desk and wrote my to do list for the week and then ploughed on through today’s tasks – my weekly accounting and order making and packing from the weekend were blitzed earlier than ever. I was feeling pretty fearless. Then I broke for lunch and things went downhill from there. I watched some Netflix with my hot sandwich and salad and became so tired I could have passed out. Instead of curling up and taking a nap, I picked up my knitting to stitch a row and woke myself up enough to get back to work.

I tried taking some Instagram shots, but the lighting and colour balance were all off so I couldn’t even edit them right. I started to get more and more frustrated. I sat down at my laptop which had run out of battery over lunch – Such an effort to retrieve my charger from downstairs. I took a quick loo break and looked at myself in the mirror. The bags around my eyes are like crevices these days and I can barely hold my eyes open as I stare at my weathered face.

“This can’t be normal.”

“I shouldn’t have to put up with this.”

“Why can’t I get to the bottom of what is affecting my physical wellbeing?”

I take my meds for anxiety, but I think the depression is haunting me again. It’s like a playground bully, ripping you to pieces just as you think you might be starting to like yourself.

I get so frustrated with my depression that I feel sick to my stomach. Life is hard enough without an unexplained blackness affecting my ability to work, keep the house clean & tidy and stay in touch with friends.

At this point I am at a complete loss for what to try next because quite frankly I don’t have the energy to care about a solution. I just want to curl up in a dark, warm & cosy ball and sleep until I’m well, but every time I crawl into bed something jolts me back to the real world and I have to get up and start all over again.

Tears have filled my eyes now so at least they feel something else other than sore, but I just can’t go on like this.

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If you’re feeling like this today, I offer you up the warmest of hugs. Let’s grab a cuppa, take a breath and keep pushing on.
Loves x xx