Meditation is doing wonders for my mental wellbeing | Cheryl Gibbs

A few years ago I completed a mindfulness course in Southsea and it provided so much value to my mental wellbeing that I swore I’d keep at it for life.

Well, life gets in the way and all of a sudden you forget the promises you made to yourself. I had such a clear head when I was away that despite the fact we are back to the grind, I wanted to start it up again. It really has been amazing to feel a sense of calm that you get from practicing everyday.

With a little one and trying to work too, I’m only doing ten minutes a day but it’s making all the difference.

Our garden’s transformed into a big mushroom farm

We had such a wonderful time at Butlins last week and it was amazing to be in this little holiday bubble for a few days.

I think it’s easy to let each day run into the next without stopping and having some time to yourself.

It really did us all the world of good to just get away, breathe and just be.

We were also really lucky with the weather. It didn’t rain until the day we got home and most days it was so sunny that we all just walked around in T-shirts and shorts or dresses.

It was honestly perfect and I never really thought I’d say that about a mini break to Bognor, but there you have it.

In fact, my sister-in-law rang me to say that she had seen a million photos of me in exotic locations and I never looked as happy as I did during our little break to Butlins.

I thank my lucky stars every single day that the reason for this smile is because of our daughter, Harley – I’ll never take her for granted.

It really was lovely to relax and unwind but that feeling didn’t last long unfortunately.

After driving back home in the torrential pouring rain, we walked through the door and in the garden we saw about 200 mushrooms had grown in our newly-laid and nurtured lawn.

It took Matt about two hours to go round the garden and dig every one out. They were the poisonous kind so we weren’t going to take any risks with Harley or other people being out there.

Matt had read the best way to deal with them is to take the mushrooms out at the root but also the surrounding area around the mushroom.

But with around 200 of them, our garden looked like a burial ground – there are potholes absolutely everywhere.

I also told him I read that mixing white vinegar with water and putting it in the holes would help get rid of a re-growth.

Well, that may be the case, but what I didn’t read about was the effect it would have on our lawn.

It has burnt the grass, so we now have a holey, burnt yellow lawn.

Not quite the look we were going for – ah, to be home.

Finding time for yourself is hard when you’re a mum

I have also dedicated more time to my wellbeing and made sure I have been exercising.

I haven’t gone for a run as often as I’d like and certainly not for as long as I’d like, but a few times this week I’ve managed to grab 20 on our running machine.

I’d much prefer to run outside, but it’s just easier to manage my day if I just nip into the garage (that might also be an excuse as road running is harder).

I haven’t done any exercise for about two months so I was relieved that I didn’t find it as hard as I thought.

I’m just trying to carve out some time in my day that’s for me – a hard thing to do when you’re a busy working mum.

But at least I’m trying!