Best (and worst) of January

Guys, we've made it! January is done in a few short hours, and boy, what a relief. That one was a long one, wasn't it? I decided to revive my Best of series, because it's such a great way to remember all the little things that are good in life, but that are easily forgotten.
However, this time I'm adding the other side of the equation: the not-so-great moments. Because they are part of life, too!

Let's start with the good, okay?

The good:
1 Second a Day is back!
I did this fun project in 2016, and I'm doing it again this year. It's simple: you download the app (here), take a 1-second video every day, and mash them together. To add music, I use the app VivaVideo.
Here is January:

Dog walks
I pretty much stopped walking my dogs in December, because of he massive amounts of snow and the massive amount of work at home. But whenever I stop, I get restless and cranky, so I started walking them again regularly. I've been listening to some great audiobooks (the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jefferey Deaver), which is the distraction I need when I'm tempted to start cursing the snow. It may be hard to walk in, but it sure looks pretty:

Rich's health

He is getting better all the time! Tiny improvements, but improvements nonetheless. We went out for sushi last night, which would not have been possible two weeks ago. He's also reduced his use of painkillers drastically - some days, he's managed to take none! His healing seems slow (but then again, I'm an impossible impatient person), but it's happening. 

Weird fact: our neighbours told us that the previous owner of our house got Lyme last summer! Isn't that random? She finished her antibiotics and is fine, according to our neighbours. I wonder if this means something? Maybe nothing more than that the world is a funny place...

Online shopping

I've been living in sweats and old jeans, and while it may be practical and comfy, it doesn't do anything for feeling pretty or uplifted. So, I made a decision: just because I'm not leaving the house much right now, doesn't mean I can't dress up a bit when I feel  like it! Right? Right.

To celebrate this groundbreaking epiphany, I ordered a couple dresses for the spring:

Left: eShakti; right: Asos

Can't wait for them to arrive! No worries, there will be mirror selfies 😂

Journaling

I started journaling again. Every morning, I curl up in my favourite chair with my first cup of coffee, and spend a few minutes writing down what I'm grateful for and what my intentions are for the day. It's honestly a game changer! You start the day grounded, with calmness and gratitude in your heart, and when a day starts out like that it's pretty hard to become really terrible (hard, but not impossible ↠ see below).

The bad:

Emotions

January was tough for me. My emotions were all over the place, I felt unbalanced and restless, and one particularly bad night I lay down in the hay outside and had a long cry. The reason? There was no reason. Just overwhelmed with it all (and a hefty dose of depression).

Thankfully, the walks, journaling, great books (I mentioned it in my newsletter, you have to read Brené Brown's Daring Greatly, it's fantastic!) and eating a ton more fruit and veggies are working their magic, and I'm feeling a lot better. 

I watched someone die

Several weeks ago, I was called to the hospital in the middle of the night. The patient was in respiratory distress, but conscious and alert, and at first it didn't look that bad. The doctor needed to intubate the patient (putting a breathing tube into the windpipe to help the person breathe), which is done under sedation. As soon as the patient was sedated, everything went to hell. Vomiting, then no pulse, then CPR for 45 minutes. They couldn't bring him back. 

It was a traumatic experience, especially since some family members were just outside, anxiously waiting for good news that we couldn't deliver.  

Mama died

One of our cows died a few days ago. She was very old and died a natural, peaceful death, but I was shaken because she is Murphy's mother:

Thankfully, Murphy is doing absolutely fine. He is weaned and doesn't seem upset. Kids calves are much more resilient than we think!

That's life, isn't it? There can't be light without darkness.

I also added a few new categories to the blog (on the top):

Book!

Depression

Lyme Disease

They are pretty much all I'm thinking about/dealing with right now, so I had to write about it haha!

And that's a wrap!

How was your January?

xoxo Miriam 

Bloglovin'. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Pinterest.