Can a cold be a gift?

Posted on by Ali Mortimer

10.21 and I am back in bed.

It feels like I have done a full day already – changed the sheets twice of someone who clearly drank too much before bed…

Willy decides our day is going to start at 5.30am.

Done 30 minutes pilates.

Made breakfast for 3.

Made more beds…

Found missing reading books and driven Tom and a friend to York school.

Listened to an hour of a mind enhancing audiobook as I drive to Leeds.

Got lost.

Dropped off a car in the garage I can never find…

Proof read an email for James 3 times..

Come home in the smelliest taxi in the world with a driver who hawked cigarette phlegm every 10 minutes. (vomit)

I am surrounded by tissues, hot honey & lemon, paracetamol, a plate of toast and homemade bramble jam, two remotes, immunity boosters, FC5 oil and a few good books…

I am probably one of the healthiest people I know – I exercise 4 days a week, pilates most days, I eat a varied and healthy diet and show others how to do the same, I drink vast quantities of water… I am healthy, vibrant and positive the majority of the time.

So why is my nose streaming, my ears blocked and my eyes watering? What did I do to deserve feeling so rotten?

In some books I have read, it says that illness, sickness, disease can come from unhappiness (ie. Disease = dis – ease). We bring it upon ourselves from the negative and sad feelings and thoughts we are having.   So is my snotty nose because I am sad? Because I have suppressed the anguish and sadness of my Mum’s situation – have I been too positive and not looked the sadness in the face and let it out? Should I brave watching Still Alice today in my sick bed and let the tears flow? Something I am not so comfortable about doing…

Or is this just my body telling me to slow down, take a day… You have been looking after everyone, the boys, new school routines, new family chapters, the animals, the car, the food, throwing myself in to my business to make it successful, supporting others to do the same, worrying about my Dad, my sister, my mum. Is my body saying – stop! Slow down! Take a breath… take 5 actually.

So I am back in bed. And here I will stay until the chaos of pick ups starts… including a car pick up today… just for good measure.

It’s 10.51 and blogging is eating in to precious sleeping time, rare TV time… Did someone say Downton had started again? What a treat… my time…. Maybe this cold is a gift?!

The Power of Positivity

Posted on by Ali Mortimer

If I was writing this blog 3 years ago, I would be writing very differently…

My background in building, designing, testing, supporting IT systems lent me to be critical, cynical in nature, looking for the worst that could happen… so that I could ensure it wouldn’t happen! This spilled out into my personal life… a complete worrier, stress monkey, negative Norma… I must have been a real barrel of laughs in the pub!

A far cry from the little girl who was always smiling, laughing and given prizes for the biggest smile, the happiest, the most positive person in the room.

What happened along the way? I had a great job, a gorgeous boyfriend who became an amazing husband and father; a wonderful circle of friends.. make that circles – the iron ring, the uni girls, the Yorkshire circles; sister and sister in law as best friends, healthy family, loved my in-laws (how lucky am I?)…

But I felt in a constant state of lack… I (we?) were always striving for something more, always wanting more, a bigger house, a faster car, another baby, more diamonds, better sofas, more money, a promotions, a more exotic holiday…

So what’s changed?

Instead of seeing the sadness in today, the misery, the lack of my mum, the boys’ Grannie Brooks, attracting the attention of pity, I was able to see this weekend as one of joy….

A day to remember with pride and gratitude for the money we raised (over £2,400 plus more coming in), for the awareness we raised to 100’s of the terrible disease that is Alzheimer’s.

A day to remember as memories of my 3 strapping men playing rugby around the 7km walk in Oxfords parks, my big man teaching our little men to spin throw and tackle safely…

A day to remember as I watch my 79 year old dad have his first experience of Zumba and stride strongly round the course to be presented with his medal.

A day to remember as I hold my sister’s teeny hand as we walk and talk….

A day to remember as we all sit around the table and laugh as we can’t keep up with Willy’s ‘I spy’ games and how easily I lose the ‘Yes / No’ game…

I don’t remember when the shift from negative to positive happened… not exactly anyway…   But I know how. It dawned on me as I got in the car to drive north, the boys slept and I put on one of my favourite audiobooks – The Power By Rhonda Byrne…

The Power of Positive Thoughts.

The Power of Positive Feelings.

The Power of Good Vibrations.

The Power of Love.

Today was about Love – a love for my Mum and for so many others on the walk today and the love that they have for someone who has suffered a disease you wouldn’t wish on anyone. A day to make happy, joyful memories… no one needs more sad ones.

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