The 5 Things I need to enjoy the important things in life

You can call it resolutions, but I prefer calling it my To-Do-List.

Resolutions seem harder to follow through the year. To-Do-List sounds more like a grocery list of things you must buy, in this case MUST DO.

This year I am getting closer to half of my lifetime (Ha! What’s the average man’s life span these days?), no, not that old, but old enough to look back to my younger days and reflect. Then I realize that I have been way too busy to enjoy the finer details in life. Not finer things in life. But finer details. That’s a difference. Finer details like my children’s childlike look when they talk, when they eat, when they are focusing on an activity. Finer details like appreciating how they think and their views on a topic. Finer details of how they move their bodies when they run, jump and somersault.

It is easy to forget how to enjoy life when you are at the peak of motherhood and career. Not that I am after the career ladder aggressively, but it happens that my recent career switch coincides with the busiest motherhood years.

I find that when one gets older, especially when I become a mum, I treasure my parents more than I ever had. So, my parents are getting older, and my kids are growing up fast, I am at the peak of womanhood and need to maintain my attractiveness and attention to my husband, I need some changes in my life to be able to grab hold of all these things that matter to me most. So, unlike previous years when I tried to make new year resolutions, I think I need a real focus to ensure I do not neglect the most important things in life.

Here are the 5 things I will do to enjoy the IMPORTANT things in life.

I need to….
S.L.O.W….D.O.W.N
I am deliberately walking slower these days. I even have to force myself to speak slower. I need to remind myself to slow down my breathing at times. I even suspect sometimes I forget to breathe! To some people, slowing down is easy to achieve, but for an impatient person like me, it is an uphill task. That brings me to yearn for a less hurried life. And my goal is lesser hurrying around my children.

W.O.R.R.Y….. L.E.S.S
I am only into the 5th month of my new job, and I got the feedback from peers that I think too much. Close friends who know me well tell me that I am a perfectionist and want to do everything first time right. I do not know if thinking of everything and from all aspects is a good thing, but to fit this into my super fast pace job, I am stressing myself too hard.

When it comes to my children, I worry non-stop of course! Which mum doesn’t? I worry about everything and even think too much for them. The end result is that the kids start to take things for granted because I do too much for them! I have to let go and stop excessive worrying for the children and stop being too thoughtful to everyone. Children need to fall and make mistakes and I cannot always pre-empt mistakes and put things right for them without them going through the hiccups. In work, I cannot always think too much for others and end up with the problem on me because I spend too much time doing things for others and they start to take that for granted.

LESS S.O.C.I.A.L M.E.D.I.A & P.H.O.T.O-T.A.K.I.N.G
I have actually make improvements on this over the past year. I do not enter facebook, instagram, email and WordPress when my children are around me and needing my attention. I am most active while on public transport and like now, blogging at 630am after seeing my girl up the school bus and catching her again on the 2nd round of my morning jog, and before the baby is awake.

I even take less pictures of my children enjoying activities or during family outings. I want to seize the precious moments in life and if my mind if full of taking photos of my children and worse, get them to pose to fit into a picture perfect shot, I am killing the moment. I am happy with 2, 3 pictures just for keep sake memories. So, if you see pictures of us on the blog, it is probably the only photo that I took for that shot. I have also decided to have less reviews and to attend less blog events, unless they are really what I think will benefit us as a family and interesting to my readers. I will blog more on my parenting experience, places we go and my thoughts as a mum. I hope I will continue to have my loyal followers not for my reviews, but to have exchanges of thoughts, and for positive takeaways.

SPEND M.O.R.E T.I.M.E WITH L.O.V.E.D O.N.E.S
As I am spending much more time at work after my job change, I am ever more treasuring my precious moments with my children and family. For my birthday this year, I took 2 days off work with one day spent pampering myself and catching up with my best friend, and the other day, dating my mum and my hubby and finally celebrating with my kids.

Since 2 years back, I make it a point to date my mum to celebrate my birthday with me. I love to talk to her and bring her to new eating places. It is my way of thanking her for being the best mum on this special day when I was born. And it will not be only on my birthday that I bring her to lovely places. I will be doing it more often this year.

I haven’t been dating my hubby for some time, apart from birthday and anniversary celebrations. I am thinking of a honeymoon trip with him without the 3 kids. Lots of arrangement has to be done to make this happen and I am determined to do it. It has been 5 years since we last enjoyed a honeymoon trip. As much guilt as I will be feeling and am feeling now even thinking about it, I think it is important for couples to relive the intimate love from time to time. Apart from that, we shall make time for each other for occasional dinner dates. Definitely high on my list.

For my kiddos, I am planning to have more one to one dates too. They always look forward to these dates! It is quite difficult for me to arrange this frequently due to their after school commitment and all. But I will make it happen more often. I have recently bought an oven (FINALLY!) and am looking forward to having more fun baking time with them. Just thinking about it makes me happy!

E.N.J.O.Y L.I.F.E
Just having my children and family in the pink of health with me, I am already enjoying life at its fullest and as happy as I can be.
At this moment, I have almost everything I want and I can’t be happier than now.

I am simple.

A simple life is a happy life.

A mundane life is a happy life.

A healthy life is a happy life.

If I am able to pause for a moment and think, like what I am doing here, I am satisfied with my life now. I do not need a big house, do not need expensive holidays, fat bank account, and any luxurious things in life. I only need love, health and time for me and my family. These are enough. I want to grab hold of time. This is perhaps the happiest time in my life and I hope it will last very long.

What are the things that you will be doing differently in 2015? Share with me!

Next on this blog train is Valerie:

Valerie is a sentimentalist, a natural hoarder, and a self-confessed mystery. She also likes all things cute and sweet. And that was exactly what little Sweets was, fresh from the womb. PLUS a lot more, as she would soon discover. Loving her family is what she does best, though she doesn’t always get it right. She is into the business of hoarding collecting memories on her blog at Home On the Stone. There she shares the thrills and spills of marriage, parenting, faith, and life and hopes that she can sit down with her hubby and Sweets one day in the far future and laugh and cry as they reminisce the memories they created together.