💬 Sunday Reflections #58 (only just getting started)
You could say, I’m behind on 2025
Hi! This is Leyla from A Day Well Spent, a newsletter seeking pathways to more purposeful living.
February, already ❄️
Hello all. I am back in town (London town, that is) and I’ve missed you all.
I spent most of December and all of January gently simmering in the delicious heat of Buenos Aires during my annual end-of-year migration in an attempt to flee the British winter because I am a solar powered entity and I really, really don’t like being cold.
I touched down in London exactly a week ago — last Sunday morning — and had intended for this post to reach you then. My plan was to write and schedule it during the flight from Buenos Aires back to London Heathrow (via Rio).
But the cabin crew’s ‘boarding is now complete’ announcement was quickly followed by ‘we regret to inform you there will be no WIFI available throughout this flight.’
So I decided to surrender to the situation, ordered myself a tiny bottle of wine and instead ploughed through the entirety of season two of The White Lotus, which I very much enjoyed. So please accept my apologies for it being a little longer than usual since our last Sunday catch-up.
Which then made me think, surrender could be a good WOTY.
Because we are almost halfway through February and I am yet to have decided on mine.
This is a fair representation of the start of most of my years. The rest of the world is almost six weeks into theirs but the engine of 2025 is only just warming up from me. Who says 1st January should be the ‘start’ anyway?
Similarly as in my daily life, I only really get going a few hours after everyone else. Taking a wide angle view, late February or early March to me feels like the more natural beginning to a new yearly cycle — as Nature prepares to rouse, so do I.
The past week has felt like a thumb smudge smeared across on a pane of glass with little distinction between one day and the next as I grapple with jet lag (can I really still be awake at 04:30..?), sorting important life stuff and an upside down house strewn with travel detritus that really needs putting away.
You could say, I’m behind on 2025.
But it seems like I am most comfortable here, loitering at the rear. I prefer to be one of the last to do things, rather than the first. I am happy to allow everyone else to race forward and instead hang back to first observe how things pan out before I make my move, if any.
I also really, really don’t like being rushed.
Which is why, if I must be somewhere of a morning (something I try to avoid in general), I need to wake up 2.5 hours prior to leaving the house, no matter how early that ends up being.
I prefer to take things slowly. Perhaps this is why I’m always late.
So I’m fine with the slow 2025 start.
That isn’t to say January was a write-off, by any means. As well as all the sun, steak, pasta, red wine, pastries and ice cream, I also got into a solid and regular exercise routine using little more than my rucksack loaded with books and water bottles (btw this is how I strength train at home), along with some strategically re-arranged furniture in the AirBnB.
That good routine has of course gone out the window since I’ve been back because who the hell can do a deadlift when it’s this f*cking cold?
Attempting to acclimatise to the temperature adjustment has been comical and makes me realise how almost everything in life is so much easier when it’s warm.
As well as lying flat out under the sun, I also did quite a lot of work. There’s an exciting project on the horizon and I look forward to sharing it with you all in the coming months.
So that’s where I am at the moment. It feels so nice writing for you again. I have so many thoughts, so much to say. Thank you for being here!
Welcome to Sunday Reflections ☕
For new subscribers welcome to Sunday Reflections, our twice monthly gathering. This is our intimate and friendly space for community and accountability. And the last (or first) Sunday of the month is always a juicy one.
How it works
On two Sundays each month I pose a prompt or question which we discuss (and say hi) in the comments.
Topics tend to cover self-empowerment and personal growth and these regular check-ins allow us to share our wisdoms and get to know ourselves and the other members of the A Day Well Spent community better.
Feel free to have a browse through previous Sunday Reflections to get an idea of the stuff we talk about.
A quick note about a toothbrush
I recently received a very timely email from a company called SURI within just a couple of days of both mine and my husband's Philips electric toothbrushes malfunctioning. They kept bleeping their low battery warning at us no matter how much we charged them and repeatedly shutting down mid-brush.
It’s frustrating and the worst part is, this has happened about three times between us over the years (has this happened to anyone else?). We’ve ended up purchasing new ones each time and feeling pretty bad about this now defunct hunk of plastic and electronics.
Now, considering the hours of research I conduct before anything I purchase to ensure I’m making informed decisions that are as good for people and planet as possible, I was somewhat surprised that I had never heard of B-Corp Certified SURI before.
How did these guys slip past me?
SURI make sustainable sonic electronic toothbrushes.
The toothbrush heads are made from corn starch with bristles derived from castor oil (which SURI recycle for you for free) and the body is aluminium. The toothbrush comes with a magnetic mirror mount. And the seriously sleek travel case even has a UV light to clean the head!
They had got in touch asking if I’d like to try one of their toothbrushes. I replied with a big fat yes. So they kindly sent me one and it is just brilliant, I love it. It is also really beautifully designed.
I told them I’d like to share how great they are with you guys and so I asked if they’d be willing to provide an exclusive A Day Well Spent discount. They generously said yes.
So should you be in the market for a SURI electronic toothbrush, this link automatically has a 10% discount code applied at check-out.
It’s also an affiliate link meaning if you make a purchase, I receive a very small percentage of the sale. Cool huh. You win, I win — we all win (it’s the first time I’ve done one of these affiliate things!)
Before we begin, the January round-up
In case you missed them, here are all the published pieces from last month in one handy list. These were all part of the guest writer season I hosted on A Day Well Spent while I was away.
I’m so delighted to see how much you have been enjoying these fabulous pieces — thank you as always for all the insightful and thoughtful reader comments!
1. Interoception: the secret power of listening to your body
The ability to tune in to what our bodies are trying to tell us is such a beneficial life skill to have. Yet so many of us are so disconnected from our physical selves that we've lost this ability.
Yoga teacher, coach and writer
shares 5 tools to help you tune in to what your body is saying.
A beautiful piece about the meditative properties of clay and how it helped give back purpose, by potter Diana Strinati Baur. Also a wonderful example of starting new ventures and finding your life calling in your late 30s.
3. Adaptogen plants: the ultimate natural remedies for burnout and stress?
I reference herbalist
’s posts at least once a week — she is so generous with her wisdoms about the power of medicinal plants and how to use them. As she has been in this brilliant piece about adaptogen plants.Some of which you can easily grow at home if you can grow tomatoes, by the way!
4. I’m on the cover of a magazine!
I was on the cover of the January issue of easyJet Traveller magazine, read by 7 million people each month!
That was pretty cool.
5. What a 7-day silent meditation retreat is really like
Tuğba Avci has done week-long silent meditations retreats in other countries twice a year for eight years — and this is why! A great read.
6. How strength training changed my body image
Psychologist Sarah Best shares how she went from finding weights ‘horrible’ to loving seeing what her body is capable of. A particularly great read for those who might need some encouragement to start using weights.
Includes her interesting MSc Psychology dissertation findings.
7. Skills and choosing your hard
We discussed the skill(s) we learnt in 2024 and what skill(s) we would like to learn this year.
As well as hard not necessarily equating to bad. And sometimes being able to choose the kind of ‘hard’ we’re willing to face.
This time last year
Here are the pieces I published in February last year you might also enjoy this month:
Hobbies: how to find out what you’re into
Sunday Reflections: taking breaks, doing the opposite
A big WELCOME to new community members
Should you join this community and leave a message when doing so, it would be a lovely thing to read and I’ll be sure to share it in these monthly round-ups.
To all the new members who have joined this month, welcome!
Sunday is for awakening the mind, body and spirit 🧘
Now let’s begin.
Today’s topic: has your year warmed up yet?
