I can’t believe it’s already March! 2018 is zooming past, and last month was, on the whole, a good month for the Purple family.
At the start of February I gave a talk at the National Autistic Society anxiety conference. I spoke about catastrophising. Which is the tendency to predict negative outcomes to situations. The talk went really well, people responded extremely positively, and I came away feeling like I had made a contribution, which is so good for my own well being.
After the conference I started talks with Jessica Kingsley publishers about potentially writing a book. This is something I’ve always wanted to do. However having discussed it further I had to take the sad decision not to commit to this right now.
This decision is based on a number of factors. Firstly putting my ‘money where my mouth is’ regarding self care, and energy accounting. I have limited time to work, as I have my family and pets to care for, and a chronic health condition to consider. Secondly what they wanted me to write is not what I think my skills and experience are best suited too, and I didn’t want to compromise and write something I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. So that’s on the back burner for now, or perhaps I’ll start writing what I want to write without deadlines and time pressure and submit it in my own time.
So for now I’ll be focussing on my online work which, whilst not being financially profitable for me, reaches the largest audiences and is extremely accessible for those that need it. Plus my speaking work, and I have a few jobs coming up to focus on over the next few months. Additionally I wrote this article for Network Autism, feel free to check it out.
On the self care front I have become increasingly engaged in my daily yoga practise. I’m currently loving Yoga With Adrienne. She encourages mental engagement with the practise, mindfulness and mantras which is brilliant for reminding me what my focus is each day, and also helps with my anxiety.
My main goal over the coming month is good choices. I am absolutely doing better with this one than I used to when I would do lots of running away from my issues, and distractions with smoking and other people. But there’s still room for improvement. I want to be making good choices for my time, my diet, my work, and my family as much of the time as possible.
News from the rest of the Purple family;
Coco, the Purple pup, continues to grow, learn and make us laugh every day. We have been taking her to puppy training and today she has her last class in the Kennel Club puppy group before moving into the next stage. She is learning leave, down, stay, walking nicely on lead, and for my own entertainment I’m teaching her to give me a high five. We practise every day and I’m enjoying the progress she makes.
Katsu, the purple cat, is learning to tolerate her puppy sibling. In fact she seems to rather enjoy the odd game of bat the puppy with my paw. She had an eye infection and I had the task of giving eye drops twice a day for a week. She didn’t love that and neither did I but it’s all cleared up now.
The Purple children have enjoyed the recent snow. We went sledging, and threw snowballs, as well as enjoying the extra time off school with hot chocolates, movies and board games. Super Kid has been dancing lots as he prepares for his upcoming grade two ballet. Wonder Girl has been doing music therapy, which I’m hoping will help her be able to communicate more freely. Robo Boy has been attending the puppy training classes with Coco and I, and committing to his own training sessions with her each day.
Mr Purple has been bloody brilliant this month. Helping me as I continue to work on strategies to reduce my anxiety, as well as working hard with his own business. He enjoyed the snow by finally doing his 1000 piece jigsaw which I brought him for Christmas.
Overall a good month for the Purple family, I really feel like my life is in a good place right now and I feel really blessed.