Affirmations, Chocolate and Hot Men

I fear I am turning into one of those women who you find in book shops on a Saturday with a pile of self help books. You know the ones I mean; they have a slight tinge of sadness and desperation to them and you just know they will be crying into their buckets of wine later - Bridget Jones style. Although I hope my ‘tinge’ is slightly less on the desperate side.

It would be fair to say that I do delve into the world of self help on a regular basis. (Oh God – I am one of those women.) But with the events a few weeks ago I seem to have delved a bit deeper than normal. (Yes, the irony is not lost on me: criticised for embracing a psychological component in recovery, pick myself up by doing more psychological stuff.)

Whichever way I look at it, the whole blog saga had a really negative impact on me. And yes that impact was psychological but my body is not that great at handling stress and so inevitably there was a physical chain reaction. It also knocked my confidence in my belief in recovery and my recovery strategy; I think this was the most damaging part of the experience.

So I have overdosed on self help to encourage the positive me back: I have had a coaching session, a hypnotherapy session, said what feels like a million affirmations (is it normal to walk down the street saying affirmations out loud?), done extra yoga, worked on my recovery programme; and I’m reading ‘You Can Heal Your Life’ by Louise Hay. And here is the thing - all this stuff helps me; I am once again reminded that the ‘mumbo jumbo’ is maybe not so ‘mumbo jumbo.’

And when I have needed a break from being ‘zen’ I have had chocolate therapy, wine therapy and hot men on TV therapy. (Is it just me or do there seem to be a lot of hotties on TV at the moment? There is McSteamy in Grey’s; Lenny in The Big C; some French guy in Brothers and Sisters – I don’t even know his name but who cares; and of course, Romeo in Home and Away.)

Oh and I have been putting together a refurbishment plan for our apartment. So as well as being a crazy woman who walks down the street saying affirmations to herself, I am now also the crazy woman who gets excited about fabric swatches and new lamp shades; and I now even enjoy spending time in John Lewis home department. Yep – I am now THAT woman.

And I am glad to report that my ‘take care of me package’ has worked. I am back on track - which is super handy as we go to Malaysia for two weeks on Wednesday. We haven’t done long haul for a couple of years (for obvious reasons) so this is a great step forward for me. I won’t lie, I am a little apprehensive - mainly about the travelling. But hey I have my friend pacing and I have a separate bag for my self help books! And of course, I have the most important ingredient: a husband who makes these trips possible for me. (And if he was on TV I would have included him in the hotties’ list.)

I have missed writing and I have missed my blogging friends so I just wanted to say hi before we go away. And you know what? I think I will be ready to come back to blogging after Malaysia. I think the temptation to write about the experience will be too great – especially as our adventure includes a trip to the Grand Prix.

See you soon my lovelies. Lots of love...xx