Finally the holidays are over, and it's time to wind my way upstairs and get to work. Sitting down in front of a new notebook. Sometimes just sitting
with a physical notebook helps to ground my feelings. Yesterday, I started a matrix noting down the various different things I've got to do, with quadrants for home (fix that damned washing machine), work (lots here), some sociable things and some longer term planning. Just physically writing things down helps to settle me and now I'll start working through them.
Reflecting thoughtfully is vital for improving self awareness, effectiveness and professional development according to Gillie Bolton in her book, "Reflective Practice". It's something that I'm not very good at. This year I'm going to try to spend a little more time thinking about what's going on; acknowledging how I'm feeling and then also thinking about what these feelings mean, what they tell me about me; and what I might do. And what I might do about it could simply be acknowledging and sitting with it. Not everything can, or should, or needs to be fixed. Even though my instinct is to "make it alright".
I started my day today with a few minutes of writing reflection which has got me in a place of being more focused, more thoughtful and I hope, more productive.