Merry Go Round

Life can become mundane and boring sometimes, that's why it's so important to get off the Merry Go Round of mediocrity and change up your routine. Finding new inspiration can be hard though, but so important to keep life interesting and worth living.

Getting into a rut is the first small step down into the long pit of depression and apathy, and it's not a nice place. I'm normally a very optimistic person, but this year (My first year of homeschooling) I became quite down. I realised after much introspection, that things hadn't turned out the way I planned...hello, what does? And that I need to revamp my energy levels and sort some shit out.

So, 2017 is going to more focused on me taking care of myself, so I can be a great un/homeschooling mum.

So's here's a list of things I've compiled that have helped me in the past to get myself out of a rut and some general rules I've learned about living a much happier and burden free life:

1. Clean out my wardrobe. Yes, it's cliché, but oh so true! Decluttering and changing up your look gives you an instant revamp. If you look and feel fresher, it ultimately flows into other areas of your life.

2. Also try wearing clothes you may not normally wear, or a different style, new or different makeup, different hair colour can all add to your new found sense of adventure.

3. One of my favourite things...write a list. A list of all the things you've always wanted to do, or maybe just pick five things and tick them off over the next six months. The sense of accomplishment will give you more confidence.

4. Meditate. Close your eyes, put on some relaxing music and try to listen to what your soul really wants, or tune out and listen to nothing at all but peace.

5. Ask for help more, even if it's just hey can you babysit/mind the kids so I can go out and do such and such. When you try to do everything you fall apart.

6. Forgive yourself more. You might of sleep half the day, the kids might have watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles all day and the only thing they learnt is that radiation mutates things. Great. Are they still alive? Yes? It's been a good day, get over it.

7. Be more assertive. When people are unexpectedly rude, sometimes it might take a moment to respond, then you don't...not really. Not the way you said you would in your head, because that person didn't really mean it like that did they? Well, if they didn't they will tell you. If someone is unnecessarily rude, sometimes the only thing to do it politely, yet firmly give it back to them. You don't want to be holding onto the rudeness of strangers all week, wishing you'd said what you should’ve.

8. Volunteer, if you have time. Helping others is the best way to take your mind off your own issues and perhaps even see them in a new light.

9.Write a story. It can be about anything. The point is you're getting 'it' out, whatever that may be.

10. Have a holiday, or a weekend away, or a day trip. Anything. Just see something new.

11. Get together with your closest friends for a girl’s night in or out and just remember what it was like to be a teenager or without responsibility for one night...just don't go too far, because I don't want you to end up like a scene from Bad Moms ;)

12. Create something. Art. A movie on your Camera phone. Just have fun.

13. Take a class at a community centre in anything.

14. Go for long walks in the Bush or Forest and take photos of nature.

15. Redecorate a room in your home or create a special little office space just for you to do your thing, maybe it's blogging, drawing, or just checking Facebook and playing candy crush.

16. Reconnect with people from your past and make peace with old grudges.

17. Cook yourself your favourite meal, go have a warm bubble bath and then sit down to eat it, in front of the T.V with your favourite show, and then have your favourite dessert.

18. Write a list of the amazing things you love about your partner and children and remind yourself how blessed you are.

19. Make a mixtape of all the songs that have meant something special to you during your lifetime, then get the kids up and dancing and that's their P.D for the day :)

20. Start a Blog...about whatever you're passionate about.

21. Teach yourself a new skill or instrument. There really is no excuse these days with all the YouTube videos and apps around.

I truly believe the secret to getting out of a rut is true self-expression and listening to what your heart really wants.

I've become a great lover and believer in the Unschooling method. I've seen my kids struggle this year and I have wondered to what end? Especially children with developmental delays, is it fair to expect them to keep up to their peers in ways that just produce anxiety and stress? And what does it matter really?

In Sweden they don't actually start school until they are seven, yet, in Australia, we are teaching them how to write their name at three. If your child is ready for that, great! By all means teach them! But if they just wanna sit in the corner and stack block does it really matter at that age?

I know I suffered from a lot of pressure and stress when I did the HSC, and I just thought why on Earth do we do this to ourselves and our children? People are more stressed out and depressed these days than previous years and what is causing it?

The pressure to perform, obtain and succeed. The movies of the eighties told us we could do anything, the nineties told us women could have it all, and I think the last two decades have shown us we can have meltdowns and burnouts.

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with having ambition and aiming high. Everyone should do the very best they can in life, but there's a greed or a misconception that has spread over the western world, that we always need to be striving for more.

And if you're not, there's something wrong with you. I've meet too many people whose whole concept of self is wrapped up in what they own, what they do and who they know, rather than who they are as a person. The danger in this, is we never know where life can take us, and this is all you have going for you, if you ever lost it, how would measure your self-worth then?

I refuse to put that kind of pressure on my children, and that's why I've chosen an unschooling lifestyle. I talked to the kids about it and explained what it would mean and they were very keen to learn more naturally.

I just wish I'd discovered it sooner and let them enjoy their childhood more. But it's never too late to turn things around.

We've been conditioned as a society to believe that the only way to learn and socialise is through institutionalized education. Yet many of the world's greatest thinkers and artist were self-taught or homeschooled. You do not need a piece of paper to prove you are educated, and you do not need to go to formal classes to learn something. Yes, gaining knowledge from someone older and wiser in many instances can be beneficial, but I'm saying it's not the only way to learn.

I've heard schools kill creativity. I've lived it. How can you have time to create when you're expected to do three to six hours of homework a night and you've been at school all day?

When do you have time to think for yourself and work out who you are?

Play teaches children to imagine, to problem solve, to co-operate, and children are learning even when they don't realise it, especially when are younger. If only schools could incorporate a more play based, hands on method of teaching, than half the kids with ADHD would probably lose their diagnosis, kids would be more engaged, and be more relaxed.

But until then I'll continue to Unschool thanks.