It's all about realistic expectations.

Just recently, all of our weekends have been absolutely crazy. With small children and a dog, performing any sort of DIY is just an epic task. Epic. Especially with a husband who likes to paint the carpets, and indeed ceiling, as well as the walls...

Having moved into a new build, every single wall is, or rather was, magnolia. We started off thinking that this was clean and fresh, and that we could live with it for quite some time. A few weeks in and we just found it monotonous and depressing. Our house just felt like a house, not a home. There was no personality, no welcoming familiarity, and no warmth. 

So we set about the monumental task of deciding which colour should go in which room, and how (paper, tiles, paint, wall stickers - who even knew that there were so many options?!) it should be done. After coming up with a whole host of ideas, we then realised that many were far beyond our capabilities, and we certainly didn't have the budget to employ the services of a professional! So, t was down to paint.

Weeks later and Mr W has done a spectacular job throughout the house. Most rooms now have some colour, and boy have we been bold. Lime green in the kitchen, red in the bedroom, teal in the "man cave", pink and yellow in the eldest's room, and an incredible zoo-like scene in the youngest child's room. Really, I'm so impressed.

But all of this has got me thinking - it's taken time, effort, money, but most of all, being realistic to get us this far.

We didn't just wake up one day and have a house that was just how we wanted it. There are still many things that we'd like to do, such as put some grass in the back garden - who knew you didn't get grass with a new house?! We also couldn't expect to have it all done in a day, as we couldn't freeze the children in some sort of bizarre 2015 re-make of Bernard's Watch. Being realistic in our expectations is what has got us to this stage, and will no doubt take us forward.

Applying the same principle to work and life in general is a pretty sensible move. I'm tired of seeing on social media, people whining because they have been in a job for five minutes and can't believe that they have been passed over for a promotion over Jane that has been there ten years, or couples that have been together a month and one of them is complaining because all of their friends are getting married and having babies and they think that they should be doing the same. 

Just calm down! 

Life is too short to waste time doing things that make you unhappy, or to let it pass you by. But by the same token, it's too short to make rash decisions and put too much pressure on yourself - the end result would undoubtedly be misery.

Grasp every opportunity that comes your way, enjoy every moment, and above all, don't force or rush things so that you miss the good stuff that happens along the way.

L xx