Firing up the senses in Seville
And how disruption to your workflow can throw you off kilter
Oh it’s been far too long Substack I’ve missed you!
So I am back on the Heart Leap writing hour, run by
, to throw myself back on to the accountability bus in the nicest possible way. It has been a pretty crazy month, and so I want to talk about how these life anomalies effect my brain!But let’s start by saying it has been a very lovely month, not anything that should cause stress, and it hasn’t caused that, just a lot of discombobulation!
I’m sure that is hiked up by having an ADHD brain, which after being diagnosed last year, I understand way more, and that in itself is helpful – so perhaps I should know better than to expect smooth running when chaos is all around!
There is too much to cover in just one piece on this, and so I’m going to start with our last-minute trip to Seville, just before Easter, when my daughter had returned from Uni, to try and find some sun and a change of scenery before some big decorating projects began.
Note the first shift to my routine here – Last Minute.com. My husband is very last minute on holidays, and it drives my daughter and myself a little mad. Sure it’s wonderful to have a holiday, but we’d love it to be a bit more planned ahead of time.
We like to know what we are doing. We plan our lives a lot. Throwing this in just a few weeks before can set us off kilter, and even more so when decorators were due to arrive not long after we returned.
But of course we also loved the idea of Seville, and so go with it. But then the planning for that takes over our heads and renders us in a ‘freeze’ state on other things we are doing, because mentally we are now preparing for Seville and it’s all consuming:
It goes something like this:
· The dog and cats to organise – in-laws coming to look after them, keys, bedding etc etc
· Baggage only in the hold of the aircraft, so what to take? For every weather eventuality of course, because the forecast involves about 5 different possible situations
· Flying from Birmingham (2.5 hrs away), so had to be ready straight after a coaching call to leave the day before our flight.
· It’s a very early flight, up at 4.30am, I know damn well I won’t really sleep.
· When we get there, we can’t check in to our Air BNB until 3pm. We are going to have to drag our luggage around the street of Seville until then.
Much as I love my husband, he does not consider all these elements like me and my daughter do!
So that first day was interesting! The streets are cobbled in Seville and not great for mini suitcase wheels. Thankfully, we found a lovely coffee shop with superb croissants – the caffeine hit helped, as did the chocolate filling. Then the Air BNB lady let us in early, at 12.30pm, so now we could release our luggage and no longer feel like ladened donkeys!
We had a brilliant time, but it was also an assault on the senses, which as a creative I love – trips like this really fill up my cup and inspire me, but they also exhaust my brain as an introvertish, ADHDer who needs alone time to re-energise.
We were only there for 4 days but there was so much to see, so many people, horses, different noises, smells, and sights I felt my head permanently spinning taking it all in.
For days I was wondering what the glorious smell was, and finally realised it was of course the aroma of the spring blossom from the Sevillian orange trees, I’ve never known a city that smelled this good!
There was constant loud chatter in Spanish (I always love listening to other languages), guitar strumming of buskers, squawking of green parakeets flying above us and the stomping of the flamenco dancers at a show we visited who were incredible in their beautiful outfits, and wearing stern expressions - all part of the flamenco atmosphere!
Add to that the impressive sights of architecture at the cathedral, Salvador church, the Spanish Plaza, Alcazar gardens, the giant walkway nicknamed the ‘mushroom,’ and you get the picture!
The weather was mixed and so it also involved dashing between rain showers, or pausing to enjoy tapas and sangria on cute little tables in the street when the sun did shine, resting our tired feet after walking 40 miles during our trip through the stunning cobbled Sevillian streets!
So we soaked it all in and experienced a lot, it felt like a complete blast to the senses, like a speeded up technicolour dream full of food, pounding the cobbles, music, beautiful sights and the orange blossom smell I still can’t get out of my head.
And then before we knew it we were home again, after a late night flight, in the early hours of Monday morning, back to reality, washing and preparing for the decorators to arrive on Wednesday.
Getting back into work was not easy and so I was actually weirdly grateful for further distractions other than my regular work such as my Aunties Birthday party, and 3 days of different training events… especially as the decorators were now taking over the house!
Then Easter arrived, extra bank holidays, feeling the need to enjoy these days off rather than work, which just threw me off even further, and I wasn’t the only one.
This break in routine was something that came up in the business support group that I run, people feeling off kilter in their usual work, and so I encouraged them to think of these weeks as transition weeks.
Transition weeks usually happen after holiday periods, both chosen and public holidays, where it’s harder to get re-motivated, we start to add pressure onto ourselves and get frustrated with what we perceive to be our lack of productivity.
What I’ve learned over the years since I heard about this, is to try and accept that this will be the case, and that maybe our bodies and minds just need to adjust and process the shift in energy and naturally, slowly, come out of the ‘rest’ or ‘excitement’ state we’ve just been in.
However we still need to do the work right? We can’t just sit there until the mood takes us, especially if we work for ourselves, and don’t have an army of staff, no-one else is going to do it!
So I searched for some strategies to help, and some of my own to share with you. If you can relate and feel overwhelmed after holidays too and need some help getting back into things, here are some pointers to make it smoother:
1. Mentally Prepare Before Returning
Acknowledge the post-holiday dip in energy — and that it’s normal to feel a little sluggish.
Reflect on your holidays, what have you most enjoyed during this time? What inspiration has it given you? Has it given you any new perspectives on your work direction?
Consider the positives of returning, such as reconnecting with colleagues or tackling exciting new projects.
2. Re-Establish Routines
Set a consistent morning routine to regain structure.
Ideally start with a walk to wake up your brain with morning light.
Use time-blocking to divide your day into focused work periods and scheduled breaks.
3. Ease Into Work Gradually
Create some daily focus rather than a dreaded ‘To Do’ list – starting with just 3 small things, you can add to it later once you’ve completed the first 3, but avoid writing a huge list that will make you feel overwhelmed and rubbish!
Start with small tasks instead of diving straight into complex projects.
Prioritize emails and urgent matters first, then move on to bigger projects.
4. Get Organized
Declutter and create a workspace that is a joy to be in and get everything you need close to hand such as snacks, drinks, chargers etc
Remove distractions, such as your phone, that basket of washing.
Think about any new systems that may help, such as Trello and other digital project management tools.
5. Rekindle Motivation
Get a big sheet of paper, coloured pens and do some mind-mapping – did you have any new ideas whilst away? What would you really love to work on over the next quarter?
Set new goals for the next quarter to build some excitement.
Plan something enjoyable, like a lunch with a friend or a small reward for completing tasks.
So I hope some of these ideas may help you to get back into the swing of things. We’ve just had another bank holiday in the UK, and another one is coming at the end of May.
I wonder what we could be celebrating by then and what we might have achieved, so that we can enjoy another Monday off?
I’d love to know how you manage these disruptions to work routines and how it effects you or have you found any interesting tips to help manage these interruptions to your workflow? If so, please do let me know in the comments.
Next time I’ll be talking about disruptions to your surrounding space, whether that be a shift in family dynamics when your kids come home from Uni, or you have the decorators in and taking over the place, it’s quite surprising the effect it can have on daily life! And especially when you go down complete rabbit holes looking at wallpaper and creating mood boards - it is seriously addictive and not conducive to work!
Until next time, I hope you have enjoyed your bank holiday weekend!
With love and light,
Juliet x