Sell one and buy a small Spring flower arrangement with a primrose, miniature narcissi and one lone hyacinth bulb.

Actually, there’s not a big market for second hand bread, so probably freeze the second loaf instead and use it later on for a decent round of sardines on toast one Saturday teatime. Sardines on toast always makes me feel nostalgic for The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, which I haven’t watched for years or reread in about a decade. I might be due to set a week aside and read the Chronicles of Narnia straight through. I used to read them all at least once a year, and love them. I suspect losing that tradition (around about 25-ish) was one of the signs that I had *finally* achieved adulthood, and lost my ‘freetime’ in a haze of housekeeping and homework.

And in recent years I have lost my homemaking mojo: Covid, seasonal affective disorder, menopause… everything, everywhere and all at once had driven me into splinters. I had piles of stuff all over the place, in reality and internally. It was like I would gather together the parts of me that love home and want a clean house, put them in the room I intended to clear and then run out of that room and into another one, where I would start again. I’d gather the parts of me internally that wanted a life less ordinary or a life of everyday sacred or a life of everyday ordinary… just a life that had a space externally and internally that I could breathe in… put them in a spot and then move on. From work, to house, to family, to garden, to learning, to entertaining, to being entertained… I wanted it all and all at once.

And that’s not good.

So here I am, again, putting the piles back where they belong, taking steps away from daily grinds and pressures and concentrating on the everyday ordinary details that give me peace. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I need to do this often. To stop, put back the plates I’ve collected and just pick up the ones I really need at that time. To remind myself that I don’t need to do everything, everywhere and all at once. It’s a good feeling, a bit like doing a deep declutter of the soul. March always seems to me to be a better time to start anew, to gather plans and plant them like seeds. To use the rejuvenated spirit that has rested throughout winter and look outwards again. Not New Year resolutions, but kind of lining the pathway I’m on with new fairy lights, a few bright torches and a patio heater at the end to gather round.

I didn’t choose a word this year, I was aiming to be all stoical and grown up, concentrating on the four virtues and reading about them as the year passed. I’m still doing that, but stoicism just is, if you know what I mean. It’s like saying that you’re spending your time looking at the foundations of the house without caring what the house looks like or feels like. You need solid foundations, of course… but the house needs to feel welcoming and to have the things that make you feel comfortable at home before it truly becomes a home. I’m feeling secure enough in my foundations now, I know which way I’m heading in love, life and work, so it’s time to pause and take the breather that lets me adjust the course slightly.

I’m ready to choose a word of the moment (a year, a season or just a month? I’m not sure) and my word is Gather. I’m gathering in new experiences and resources, I’m gathering new memories with family and friends, I’m ready to gather people together in my home to talk, eat, drink and be. I’m gathering confidence to take the next step, gathering strength to do what must be done and face what will be.

And in the meantime, when I have a chance to, I’m watching the tete a tetes, the hyacinth and the primrose grow. Hope in a bowl. Perhaps that’s what I’d swap my extra loaf for. Hope.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of summer.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is a photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash. I love the snowdrops, such a harbinger of Spring, while the colours behind make me think sunrise and the start of the day. And the Header is by Brie Odom-Mabey on Unsplash. I can’t go through spring without hyacinths on the table. These, of course, are in teh wild which is where most of mine end up. I put the bowls out on the small flowerbed by my front door where they are never as early as the forced hyacinths… but by March and definitely April provide me with my own purple and blue display of hope.