Happy new year

Welcome to 2012. A new colour for a new year and many more changes in store. This blog will not stay active for much longer hopefully. Soon you will be able to read the blog only at; http://www.safehavenonlinetherapy.com/blog/

Right now I am working hard on adding new pages and making it really awesome. Very different and more orientated on what you the reader are looking for. [hopefully so feedback is always more than welcome]

That leads me to my new year's resolutions. It is almost impossible to avoid those this week, aren't they. Are you sick of them already? Chucked yours out?

So many people make their resolution and then within weeks fail to stick to them. On the 1st of January we sit down full of confidence, the holidays are behind us and we have new energy.

And that is often the start of the problem. We are so enthusiastic that we ask too much of ourselves. We want it all and we want it now. That might work for a few weeks, yet too often we burn ourselves out that way.

As with everything it is better to plan your resolutions and not ask too much of yourself:

• Be flexible in your scedule
• Leave time for fun things!
• Leave blank spaces for unforseen events
• Start small, many small goals are easier to achieve then one big one
• Try not to go it alone. Select a good friend to go over your plans and ask for feedback
• Don't throw it all out if you are dissapointed with your progress. Little things are better then nothing.

I don't make a year plan anymore, I make 3 months plans, both for what I like to get done for work and some projects in my private life. I started experimenting with that last year. What I found out so far is that for me smaller is better. I started out with making my list of goals much too long and that way I had so much added stress. Now I have a few things that I really want to achieve and a small lists of things that I can do if I have time to spare and it works so much better.





Let me know what works for you! And good luck in this new year.

Summer scedule

First of all I am obviously back from holiday. And what an amazing break it was. We stayed in two seperate cottages, the first one in a small village just outside Snowdonia was a marvel! It was a converted chapel that was very beautifully restored making it modern yet keeping it's original features. The way it was furnished had something to do with it. Llan chapel in Llanerfyl keep that name in mind if you ever want to go to Wales. And the weather gods did look down kindly on us. Besides the first sunday we had dry weather every time we needed it. It would rain on travel days, evenings and time spend driving towards an attraction and would be great when we got there. So I had a nice mix of activies that give me joy. Visit castles and churches, spend time with friends and meet up with friends in Britain.

Once back I gave myself a few days to gently ease myself back into work again. Rushing has never worked for me. Like more people who are selfemployed, summer is not the busiest time of the year. Clients tend to also go on holiday and tutoring also stops during the summer. An organized person is not shocked or panicked by this development. Instead summer gives you the time to get to the tasks that are left behind during the rest of the year. Being an organised person it certainly works that way for me.

During the summer months I do allow myself a gentler space to also enjoy the good weather and spend time with friends. [One highlight this year will be my Lithuanian friends coming over for a midweek] And I make a scedule of all the small tasks I would like to finish during the summer.
For me these include:

• More time to read! As a counsellor & Coach there are always new books to read. More information that you can use to make your practice even better.
• Prepare for my tutoring duties in the fall.
• Take an online class in effective writing and after that overhaul my website once more.
• But also clear away clutter from my home. This might not seem like work but having more space in my house leads to more room in my head.

Next to my normal duties, this will be more than enough to keep me occupied this summer.

If you like, please share what your plans are for this summer.