To not understand where my Summer has gone!

[smoulderingmould]

I am back to work in 2 days & the dc go back to school next week, I am not ready!

I have had almost a month off work which I appreciate is nice but it has gone way too fast. Plus all the things I intended to do; daily yoga, sort out a Vinted pile, order a new bathroom blind, read, etc has not happened. And the list of things I need to do is still very long eg sort school uniform & shoes, dentist etc.

Pretty sure i'm peri menopausal but I am dreading the grind of early mornings, work, school, dc's activities etc. I'm feeling quite depressed about it all & that is unusual for me. Any tips to improve my mood & make Autumn & life in general more pleasant?

Work and endless routine is thoroughly depressing.

This is the hardest part of having dc for me, the routines & losing spontaneity. Thinking about it this is the first summer they have been old enough to not need a routine and there hasn't been other things going on. Last summer I had a very ill parent & previous summer we moved house and schools. I am definitely more relaxed than I have been for a long time.

@5128gap good advice which I will take.

Back next Monday 😖 I don’t want to go, I’m having too much of a lovely time relaxing, drinking wine on a week night and no marking. Getting up at 5.45am is going to be a shock to the system, roll on half term!

Forgot to add to this, I’m not a teacher so I worked 8-4:30 most days of the summer anyway…got plenty done.

Now this I’ve not heard before! You only like the sun in places other than the UK? Why don’t you like the sun in the UK? Is it the heat and lack of A/C? Does it make you wish you were on a Mediterranean beach? I LOVE the sun in the UK because it’s not searing…but it’s getting that way sadly :(

I know hey 😂I remind myself it helps keep everything open all year round for us who live here permanently... wouldn't change it for the world, it's just 8 weeks of craziness , normality is so very very close 🎉😁

Lack of AC, lack of proximity to the sea, land locked sweaty mess in work and it’s just awful. Give me 35 degree heat in Thailand any day of the week. In Milton Keynes, it’s just vile.

Hope you're having a good first day back, OP.

I know what you're saying - the summer seems to have flown by. I did get an awful lot done - part bathroom rennovation, meeting people, dentist and doctor's appointments, 3 short holidays and a fair few day trips, but between the kids and a relatively new relationship I've hardly had any time to relax and just wind down; it feels like I've been on the go since the beginning of the holidays. It's not a bad thing and has been a lot of fun, but I'm not sure I have actually regained enough energy to start the new term.

It did help that I've been doing some of my leftover "gained time" work on and off all summer, and that I was at work for results day, just to get back in the swing of things.

Part of me is looking forward to the return to a full routine, part of me is dreading it, but mainly I dislike dark days and the wet and cold that is to come.

I booked a few things to do in September, which should take the edge off things and still gives us something to look forward to.