Ahoy there!

I hope everyone is holding up during iso. Feels like it won’t be long before we see some freedoms.

I don’t know about you but working for our iconic St Kilda Restaurants is great fun but I have always bemoaned over having no time to do enough for myself.

I’m a broken record wishing for ‘me time’ and now all of a sudden I have had time and no drive to use it.

We are starting to get the St Kilda Bar’s polished, floors steam cleaned, fresh drinks and produce and organising an awesome #ComingOutParty so we are already heading back to normal, fun St Kilda times.

But I still do have some time, more time than I have had in a while. In fact the minute someone mentions to me that I should perhaps be more proactive with the time I have, I smile and internally wish them to …where the sun doesn’t shine then flounce off to the refrigerator for the 9^th time that day. I am eating some of the best food (but way too much of it).

You know what I’ve realized? This time doesn’t need to be utilized to ‘better’ myself, I don’t need to feel guilty about my 4pm wine on the deck or the fact that I might just still be in my PJ’s for dinner.

We need to make the most of these strange times, even as we get back to normal.

Taking the pressure off always ‘needing to be somewhere’ or ‘do something’ and simply ‘BE’ for a time was refreshing.

Once I let go of the guilt it opened me up for a range of activities that really helped me reset my mindset and I thought I would share with you all here.

Let’s call it Chiara’s Guide to Ceeping Calm (yes that was meant to be a Kardarshian reference, I told you I had a lot of time on my hands…) 

Chiara’s Calming Calmness Techniques (not getting better at this am I?!)

10 minute guided meditations – pop on some fairy lights and place some candles around – I do mine in front of the heater for coziness.
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/10-minute-meditation

Healthy baking – Super fudgy healthy brownies
https://theloopywhisk.com/2019/01/09/super-fudgy-healthy-brownies/

Paint by numbers
https://paintbynumbersaustralia.com.au/

Audible are offering free audio books
https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Listen, at the end of the day we all had to adjusting to this new but temporary way of life. Take each day as it comes and if the need arises for you to bake a chocolate cake at 10pm, just go ahead and do it! It wont be long now and we will all be busy again, enjoying the beachside restaurants, cafes, bars and fun-times in St Kilda – but take some things out the other-side. ‘Some me time’.

See you in St Kilda soon.  

Chiara