This is normally the hour on a Sunday when I press publish on my weekly book review, however this week I am going to take a break from that series. Last week was tinged with a visit from an old foe, and so I found myself binge watching ITV’s Poirot in between work and gardening, to distract myself from my own mind; and I ashamedly didn’t pick up a single book. As my husband affectionately puts it, “I am not life-ing very well”. In the interest of self-care I will not berate myself too much, and will instead say that we all need a break sometimes, even from the things that bring us joy. After all, forcing yourself to do something you love is a very good way to make it a mundane chore. So, I am going to take this post as a moment to remind you to look after yourself. We all need to wallow sometimes, to give ourselves time to process, to refocus, to heal. I have found my mental health rolls in cycles, and every now and then I need what I refer to as a ‘reset week’. These weeks often come when I have let the stress pressure cooker sit on the hob for too long without releasing steam. A somewhat laboured metaphor that probably came to mind as I was thinking of my Nani’s cooking earlier today, but it gets the point across, my pressure cooker was about to explode. I needed a week where I wasn’t straining to do certain activities, outside of those vital to living; wash, breathe, brush your teeth, put pants in the washing machine, go to work, et cetera. I won’t say the old foe has completely departed but I can keep an eye on him and will continue to look after myself in the meantime.
In the absence of reading, I turned myself to a task that I have been putting off for some time, and that was sorting and editing the photos I have taken so far this year. I picked up my camera in January after a hiatus to focus on other things in life, and I do wonder why I ever put it down. Experimenting with a new lens, I have been out and about at exploring the wildlife (predominantly birds) at National Trust and WWT centres, as well as across my home county of Gloucestershire. I have compiled a selection of my favourite photos from this year so far, I hope you enjoy!
All photographs on this website are copyrighted by Maya Richards (Maya Emily Photography). Any use of these images, including but not limited to reproduction, distribution, display, or alteration, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission from the copyright holder.
I hope you have a good week!
Happy Living ❤
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