Hello and welcome!

Hello and welcome!





Let me tell you a bit about myself, my reasons for starting the blog and my plans for 2010.





I'm a 30 year old mummy to 2 gorgeous full of life children. K is 5 (6 in the new year) and L is 4 1/2. I have been married to my husband for 8 years and known him since I was 17. Our married life has mainly been smooth sailing but this past year has been turbulent to say the least. My husband (S) has been in the military for 11 years but left late last year for a more "normal" family life. This year we managed to finally get on the property ladder and bought our first ever house (now as poor a church mice!)


I work full time as a Speech Therapist with children and teens with emotional behavioural difficulties which I love but it is definately hard work! Its an unusual area for a speech therapist to work in and I still have loads to learn about it. Ideally I'd prefer to work part-time but finances dictate otherwise.



With things being so difficult over the past year I have come to realise I don't know myself very well anymore. I married young and then had the kids, was an army wife and let my life be dictated by my husbands job and lifestyle. Now that has all changed I have realised I have little idea of what motivates me or brings me joy and this past year I have felt quite lost in many ways as well as being pretty unhappy. So.. I'm on a quest to find out more about myself and also find a good balance between work and home and rediscover some joy in life.

In preparation I have read "The Rough Guide to Happiness" by Dr Nick Bayliss which was a very balanced guide and a great starting point. As a result I intend to label my experiences under the following headings:

1 - Intellect. Learning continues to give me a buzz be it related to work or play.

2 - Play. Having fun, pure and simple!

3 - Creative. Inventing, making, creating. Seeing a project from start to finish.

4 - Relationships. With my husband, children, family, friends, work collegues.

5 - Physical and environment. Exercise (not high on my joy factor), the great outdoors, my home and garden.

6 - Material possessions. Does my shopping habit make me happy or do I shop because I'm looking for happiness?

I will then rate how happy my daily experiences make me out of 10 with 10 being fantastically ecstatic and 1 being far from happy.

I look forward to hearing your comments and ideas. Paula xx