Does the dread of the working week ahead ever sneak up on you on a Sunday and ruin your last evening off work? Welcome to the Sunday Night Rats.

I’m sitting here on a Sunday night, as I so often do, with my better half, planning out the week ahead as we juggle the multitude of commitments we each have both professionally and personally as we discuss and plan both our own calendar and that of our 3 beautiful little humans.

Our lives are so so full.

While this often ends up in overwhelm and frequent frustration and a commitment to do less, at the same time I am also quietly grateful for this life and everything it is currently throwing our way. We are very fortunate to have a beautiful little family, a home to call our own, a few quid in the revolut and a car to get us around the place. We have access to healthy food to fuel our healthy bodies that allow us to do an array of exercise, that helps to keep our minds stable and in a good place. We have friends and family that we meet frequently, people that we can call in the dead of night in an emergency and know that they will be there in minutes.

I have a laptop and a connection to the internet. I can learn anything I want. I can pay my bills and provide for my family. I have a cup of tea and a biscuit, and steal a quiet moment to myself. I feel good in myself, probably the best I have felt in years. I am 3 years and 2 months alcohol free.

So yes our lives are very very full, often hectic and chaotic. But underneath the chaos, lies the beautiful tapestry of life, delicately interwoven with other mums, dads, friends and family, and underneath that lies a heart beat of gratefulness for all of these little opportunities and good fortune we currently have.

So I’m choosing not to let the Sunday Night Rats win this time, and to see the week ahead as full of opportunity to learn, grow, experience and nurture life and all it’s relationships.

We are here. We are alive. Let’s go.

JP