Can you remember your childhood birthday parties?
In my family, like most families in the 80’s and early 90’s, birthday parties were nearly always at home. There were no venues booked or bouncy castles or children’s entertainers.
Birthdays were just having a few friends over, having a party in the garage (cause I was 13 and too cool to be having it in the kitchen under the watchful eye of my mother) and playing Van Morrison, The Beatles and the Travelling Wilburys on the Hi-Fi….ahem….okay I totally wasn’t cool and had adopted my parents’ taste in music!
However it’s come full circle now and the Travelling Wilburys are cool in a retro sort of way! Right?!
Anyway, birthday parties were great all the same weren’t they? Hanging out with friends without a care in the world.
But then you become an adult….and life gets busy, really busy!
From the moment we get out of our beds we’re under pressure. Most mornings I’m scrambling to get the kids out the door for school.
I spend the first hour of the day in a panicked state, searching through mountains of laundry (which I haven’t gotten around to sorting) trying to find matching socks for the kids. (Socks are the bane of my life!)
Come the evening time we’re rushing through dinner and racing to after-school activities. Even on the “quiet” evenings we’re all glued to screens bombarding our minds with information.
Being an adult can be so exhausting!
Things have changed a lot since my childhood. And whilst I long for a simplier life, the reality is that life is hectic for everyone.
I’ve made a commitment to myself though, to spend 10 minutes every day taking time out, no phone and no distractions. It’s only 10 minutes but it really is restorative.
It’s so important to take a moment out of the daily grind, to step back and appreciate the good things in our lives.
I’ll never get back to that carefree time in my childhood, but a cup of tea and a bit of Van Morrison playing in the background is a good substitute.
There’s nothing like a tune from your childhood to reclaim that space where you hung out with your friends and hadn’t a care in the world.
Do you have any everyday ceremonies to help you recharge? I’d love to hear about them.