Prolonged absence and some useful links~

Regular readers may notice that I haven't been super active on my blog for some time. Many of those regular readers will also know why that is - March and April were pretty busy for me! I turned 26 on March 2nd (I am still thinking about having more celebration around this as it was with little fanfare at the time) and then Xin and I got married later in the month :D The end of March and half of April was taken up with our honeymoon to Japan and South Korea!

When we got back there was a lot of time spent trying to organise my brain and life again, and when I finally felt like things were starting to move forward, I encountered a little block. So I turned and tried a different way, and I encountered another block. I tried doing something else - found a block there, too. And then, in the past week, I have gotten more and more exhausted with each passing day. Earlier in the week I figured this was just a little 'symptom tantrum' from having done so much in the past two months.

And then when it didn't get better, I realised that I was not feeling joyful about some things that usually light me up, and that I was putting off a lot of stuff that I would normally just get done. And I realised, just yesterday, that I recognised these things, these feelings, because I had had them before. And they had been going on since I finished my recent degree at the end of last year.

Burnout, how are you doing? It is interesting to see you again.

Yesterday I decided that I needed to employ some serious self-love tactics for a while until I feel more excited and joyful, and more capable of taking things on. And then I began to remember a few things that I often read when I am feeling this way, so I thought I would share them with you in case you need some self-love nudges at the moment. 

[by the way, there is a strong chance I have shared these links before. if so, I am not going to apologise because, honestly, sometimes things are so valuable that you just need to reread them and be reminded!]

Leonie Dawson's exploration of burnout in this post is just fantastic. It makes me sigh with relief and feel like 'hey, I'm not the only person that deals with this!' and reminds me of things I can do to heal myself.

Havi Bell is someone I turn to so regularly for permission to just be me, and she always reminds me with her gentle 'interior decorating' that everyone has their own stuff to work on, and wouldn't it be great if we worked on our own stuff and supported each other instead of throwing "shoes"? (ie. throwing our stuff at other people under the guise of anger or betrayal). This is her most recent post and it really touched me when I read it. Crown On/Do Less - yes.

This post was recently shared with me by a dear friend and, while it addresses chronic illness and the mystery through which it acts, I think it is worth looking at for the gorgeous dog and book pictures alone.

I hope these links connect with you. Love to all who read.

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