A phrase I read on A couple of sense’s blog on life with a new baby has stuck with me ‘You will never procrastinate again’ and mostly, it is true.

I found myself thinking and saying aloud lately ‘It feels like I’m always in a state of doing’, ‘There’s always something to do’. Whether it be making bottles up, sterilizing the previous ones, putting a wash on, preparing a bag for a short trip out then to plan that around feeding and changing and finally leaving the front door!

I found for the first time in ages these thoughts disrupted my usual nap or sleep. I couldn’t switch off. At all. Not doing any form of creativity only makes it worse as I add on top things I could do and jot ideas down. A 30-minute nap turned into 30 minutes lying horizontal with my thoughts and silence.

‘I’m only here for Savasana’ totally fits.

A skill being busy does bring about is – being one step ahead- and it’s transferable. I now see why so many mums and dads I’ve been employed alongside me get things done and have a laid back attitude too.

This may seem obvious but it takes motivation and care to get up in the night and pump or check bottles, prepare with water, have a station set out so that 20 minutes before feed time – you are ready. No cries, no wails, you’ve got this and soon your baby and you go back to sleep.

If your not ahead or at least prepared, then you just get behind and it feels like you are crawling to get to where you should be.

I notice what feels good, accept I may not have it all sorted and what I can do to change things and feel good again.

Something I learned from listening to Jay Shetty being I interviewed on Under the Skin, a podcast with Russel Brand is that he used to say ‘I’ve had a busy day’ though it didn’t serve him in getting things done or reflecting on his day. He changed it up to ‘I’ve had a productive day’ and found it served him more in feeling good about his day and had a better sleep too.

As a new mum, I often don’t feel productive, life before meant I only associated productivity with some form of creativity, writing, painting or bullet journaling. Though if I’ve successfully fed, changed, put to sleep, fed, changed, entertained a little person (on repeat throughout the day, a 16 hour day) surely that is productive? Also on top of that if we’ve got out in the morning to see other mums and babies or go for a walk in the fresh air that is even more of a feat and surely productive and a great achievement in its own right.

So I shouldn’t be so hard on myself, neither should you.

And…If on days like today where I get to write then DAMN I have been productive.

Creativity is like a muscle, the more you use the more you strengthen it and creating becomes a habit then goal setting follows, something I’m going to dive deep back into.