From Parenting Overwhelm to Joy: How I Found My Happy Place
Embracing a simpler, more playful approach to parenting
This year, more than ever, the reflections I do and the intentions I set matter more than ever. As you probably know by now, I recently did an international move, going from Vienna back to the UK. Over the last 9 years, I have become something of a pro at international moves but with that being said, the stress and upheaval of those moves doesn’t get easier. Some things are out of my control - when the heavy baggage arrives on the shipping container arrives, for example - but for the most part, I’m getting really intentional about how the next year will go.
As a person and as a mother, I wouldn’t consider myself to be particularly ‘wooo’ and yet, I have found that the more intentional I am, the better family life goes. I believe that my energy as a mother can affect the way my children behave. If I am stressed and snappy, that will have an impact. t
Over the years, I have become a highly organised person. Creating family rhythms, is one such way in which I have been able to embrace each season and enjoy even the most basic, hum-drum events.
An epiphany of sorts came for me almost exactly 5 years ago today. There I was standing in St Stephens Square in Vienna feeling miserable. We’d just moved to the city from Canberra, Australia and I hated how different it felt. It was bitterly cold, the people seemed miserable, I didn’t understand any German, we had no friends and our new apartment was devoid of any personality or homely touches.
And yet, Vienna had been voted the best place to live in the World (it achieves this accolade on a regular basis).
And yet, I was surrounded by tourists who had probably spent a lot of money on a weekend trip to the city of music and culture.
I started to realise that I gotten myself caught in a mindset spiral. It had become easy to see the negatives of my situation rather than amazing opportunities.
The reality was: if I couldn’t be happy in Vienna, exactly what would it take? Because what had started as perfectly reasonable niggles that one gets when moving countries had taken over my entire being. I was snappy, I didn’t want to do anything and I felt completely rudderless.
My options were to uproot everyone again and start somewhere new (which may or may not have been better) or start to do something to feel better again.
Here’s What I Did To Move From Parental Overwhelm Towards Joy
To move from a place where I felt constantly guilty and overwhelmed towards a place where I did feel joy in the day to day, I need to get to the root nub of my parental overwhelm. I realised that:
Our rhythm was non-existent: one day would be crazy-busy and the next day incredibly dull.
I was trying to play teacher at home: I spent far too long creating and tidying up planned activities which didn’t always engage my children in the same way that independent play did.
Our house was not a home yet: We had too much stuff that made it difficult to keep on top of the house and I found myself endlessly cleaning up.
I spent zero time on doing things for myself: this included both work and self-care which made me feel even more burnt out.
So I started to really analyse how I could make our lives simpler in a way that we could all benefit from. This then became the basis of This Playful Home and later, this newsletter How I drink my Coffee Hot.
The name itself is a little tongue-in-cheek. As mothers, there’s often complaints about drinking cold coffee owing to the demands of parenthood, however having a good family rhythm means I can genuinely sit down and have a cappuccino without being nagged.
To be clear, this approach won’t work for everyone. I am a mother and a teacher, not a doctor. Always seek help from a health care professional when needed.
Reflections and Intentions Journaling
When trying to get to the root cause of my feelings, journaling became a key tool for me. Journaling has helped me get more intentional and allowed me to move from a place where I felt overwhelmed and exhausted to a place where I feel in control.
Through writing a journal, I could connect the dots and allow myself to move forward. For example, when I realised that I hadn’t made any real time for exercise, I set about making a small corner of my bedroom into a yoga and fitness area. Now it might not seem like much, but having a small area in my house dedicated to something ‘just for me’ has helped me to get more intentional (and more consistent) with exercise.


Set your Intentions for 2024
This is something I do every December during the quiet week between Christmas and New Years.
I personally prefer to set intentions rather than New Years Resolutions. Intentions allow me to really think about what I want to achieve rather than writing down an arbitrary goal to ‘stop eating junk’ or ‘exercise more.'
The Reflections & Intentions Journal is part of the paid A Playful Year membership. If you aren’t yet a paid subscriber, consider joining us! The monthly masterclasses are packed full of value along with downloadable resources that have previously only been available in my online store and via my courses. Here, you get the masterclass and printable resources for as little as $5.801 each month.