I recently read a blog post by Bethany Menzel, a Vancouver blogger, called Life Lately.
For reference, here it is.
I do a lot of talking on here about my status with my mental illnesses, but not with my life just in general, so I thought this would be a fun little update post about life for me now!
But… before I get to the “lately” questions, I figured I’d share a couple of updates on my life, because it’s been full of excitement these last couple months!
I got accepted to UBC’s Master of Education in Counselling Psychology program. Starting in September, I will be attending part-time (while I continue to teach full-time) with a specialization in School Counselling. The end game is to become a high school guidance counsellor. It should take me about three years!
I also accepted a full-time continuing contract teaching for West Vancouver Schools (SD 45). This is a huge step for me because now, after four years of teaching, I’ve finally got that coveted job security I’ve been talking about. Right now it’s looking pretty certain that next year I’ll be teaching at the same school I’m at this year, which has never happened for me before! I’ll also know what subjects I’ll be teaching in May or June, instead of the day before school starts! It’s a breath of fresh air.
Finally, I just went on a Spring Break trip to Cuba with my mom!
Andrew’s not big on hot vacations and has a lot going on at work right now, so after not being able to visit my mom for a year, it was the perfect occasion for us to travel together! I had never been to Cuba before and it was absolutely amazing. Perfect beaches and weather. Now if only Vancouver could get itself together and start getting sunnier, life would be totally grand…
Lately I am…
Eating for breakfast: Oatmeal made with milk and mixed with a little maple syrup. I used to think oatmeal was disgusting, but milk makes a HUGE difference (over water). I’ve also found the most amazing brand of oats, Rogers. The kind that I get is called “Original Porridge Oats and Healthy Grains.” It’s a combination of oat flakes, wheat bran, oat bran, and flaxseed. It’s DELICIOUS. I buy it at London Drugs, and unfortunately I’ve never seen it anywhere else.
Reading: Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket, and The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (translated to English from Chinese by Ken Liu ). If you’re interested in what I’m reading, I have a fully-dedicated reading blog over at Paperback Patronus, or you can follow my Bookstagram account at @paperbackpatronus. I’m in a book club, and the Liu is our March pick! We’re meeting this weekend to discuss.
Wearing on repeat: Jeans and floral, spring/summery tops. My heart is still in Cuba even though Raincouver is coming at me with a vengeance. Good thing I’ve overfilled my vitamin D stores, because otherwise I’d be risking an SAD relapse.
Inspired by: Jenny Lawson. See my upcoming book review of Furiously Happy for more details. But, suffice it to say that she’s an amazing mental health advocate, and her writing is both super hilarious and super relatable and uplifting.
Doing before bed: Reading. As always.
Listening to: The Gilmore Guys podcast (I’m late to the train on this one) and several other amazing podcasts. The podcasts I most regularly recommend to people are Homecoming, Serial, Reply All, The Pitch, Science VS, Sounds Good with Branden Harvey, and The Chasing Joy Podcast.
Wishing I was better at: Getting out of bed shortly after I wake up. I’m hoping this is just lingering effects of SAD and I’ll start getting up and doing some yoga before work soon.
Trying to stop: Wasting my time on my phone and eating (as much) dairy. I’m doing Ali Edwards‘ One Little Word project for 2018. The word I chose is “presence.” It’s a work in progress. On the dairy front, I’ve been having stomach problems since about June of last year. It’s the next thing that’s been suggested I cut down on. We’ll see.. like I said, milk in oatmeal has been a life changer for me. Anyone have any favourite milk alternatives (coconut? cashew?)?
See you soon…
That’s all for now! I hope you enjoyed; I plan on doing this type of post at least a couple of times a year!
I’m also really feeling like I’m out of the woods on my SAD funk. So, I’m hoping to get the next post in the self-care series up in the next week or two!
Peace and love,
Bee.