Monday 23rd July 2012

It’s funny, moving to another country.  One day you can feel like you’re settling in and enjoying a real summers day like yesterday and then the next morning you can wake up just feeling really homesick and horrible.  Spent most of today just feeling like I was about to sob at any moment – but didn’t.  At least this time around, I understand what is happening – when I last lived over here I had a tough time some days but wasn’t sure how to cope with it.  Now, when I’m feeling like this there are a few strategies I have to manage:

• write – this blog is partly to share the experience with those who are interested and sometimes part therapy!  I also handwrite a daily diary.
• rest – I was lucky to be able to take a short nap this afternoon – when you’re feeling really down just curling up and sleeping for a bit seems to help
• get outside – it can be tempting to just hibernate and stay inside but it’s good to get out.  We took a nice family trip to a “zorgborderij” I will write about below.  It was just for an hour or so but made a difference to my day.
• take small steps – feeling really overwhelmed at the moment with so much we have to do in the coming weeks – writing a list and just ticking off a couple of things at a time (or nothing at all on some days when it’s too difficult!) means you can just work through when you’re able
• tell someone – in the past when I was feeling down I’d tend to keep it all to myself so as not to burden others.  I’ve since learnt that i can lean on friends and family when I need to.  Just letting my husband know I’m having a difficult day can mean he may spend a bit of extra time with the kids to give me a break, and I also have some lovely friends in a private Facebook group which is a safe place to vent and get support.  I didn’t of course ring the people I’m really missing to tell them or would end up in a mess!  Better to talk to them when I’m feeling stronger.
• enjoy the simple things – I sat and watched my daughter play in the wind today with the washing, so simple but so nice to see.

The girls talked to some chickens and rabbits.

and here is some of their produce:

I’m writing this later as I didn’t feel up to it at the time, but all in all it was quite a nice day looking back, and it’s of course to be expected that with such a big move there are going to be days which are more difficult than others.

So that was another day of our Life in The Netherlands.