Wow, 9 months since I did a blog post! It does not feel like that at all! Life is busy. That's not an excuse, it's a fact. I'm fed up explaining to people why I'm a bit slower to do things, why my mind might not fully be on the task at hand or why they (and their wants) are not my top priority. My son is my top priority. His needs come first. Then mine and my husband's. Everything else comes after and I refuse to feel guilty about it anymore.
With this decision came huge relief! Without the stress of trying to please everyone, I'm happier.
"Where does aikido fit in?" I hear you ask. Aikido is a part of both my life and my husband's so it's not difficult to keep it there! On that note, I'd like to go back to a blog post from a while back when my son was first born. I wrote about my experience of breathing properly when I had to go for an emergency section. More recently, the importance of breathing properly has come up again but for dealing with stress in general. There are a lot of changes happening at work, my son is starting his tantrums, there have been a couple of deaths in my family recently and sometimes I feel it all crushing down on me. It's because I have forgotten to breathe properly.
If you haven't thought about it before, I urge you to do so. Fill your lungs as much as you can then exhale slow and steady. Do this 3 or 4 times and you'd be surprised how much better you feel.
This isn't a disguised ramble about the wonders of Ki breathing. A simple google search on the benefits of breathing properly will show there is science behind it too!
So it's time to breathe, stay focussed and be happy. No more stressing to try and please everyone while pleasing no one!
