Tag: healthy relationships

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This is the end.

With brain fog & not enough sleep the time has come. This is the end (almost)…

It’s the time of year when all the crazy, tired, & lack of patience is exposed. The time when getting to work feels like an extreme sport, & the holidays are so close yet so far away. That strange time of year when Halloween & Christmas decorations overlap in a rather disturbing way,  when the mixed feelings of seeing family causes us more stress than it should, & we day dream about reaching the year’s finish line with all our faculties intact (hopefully 😂), when we can really exhale & delare – this is finally the end of the year!

Since the chances of me doing a December blog are slim to none, I thought this would be the best time for a wee little reflection & a humble request. 2025 has been a whole lotof ALOT for many of us- some would say quite like being awake during an ex lap (an open abdominal explorative surgery)

This week a friend of mine lost her sister who was just 4 months older than I am.  A short while ago one of my closest friends lost her partner of 3+ years to a freak accident, he was here the one day & gone the next. A few months ago one of my staff members lost their sister, & before that the other lost a sister & brother – all taken too soon.

The news is full of sadness & corruption, life has become a fight in many cases & different ways. My request is that we all take a moment before we enter 2026 to self reflect, to maybe soften just a little, to perhaps try to show more love & appreciation to ourselves and our loved ones. To exercise more patience with ourselves & others. People are important & time is fleeting.

Let’s be awake to take in the precious memories, moments in time that time cannot steal from us.

Yes, we’re busy, tired, overworked, need more money, upset over something silly. In the greater scheme of things, are we going to allow the challenges of life to steal from the living we have left?

People are important, and time… time is fleeting.

As we all claw closer to the end of 2025, hoping & praying for ease, relief, change, and many other things; maybe what we haven’t realised is that this ease, relief, change and other things are developed in the moment to moment, in the day to day.

From me to all of you – make time for yourself, love loudly AND keep those healthy boundaries intact. Give yourself all the love, gifts, downtime that you wish for the people you love the most – we can help a little with some of that 💆🏻👌🏻

I love you all!

Laurien Erin 

 

 

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What soothes you?

Hi, I’m Laurien and I’m a procrastinator. 🤦🏽‍♀️I have a growing talent for leaving things to the very last minute, and the May blog has been a prime example.

Putting my head in the sand when I don’t feel like facing a task is fast becoming a hobby, when I should in fact, be getting more task orientated!

May really isn’t a favourite month to write my thoughts to be honest. May = Mothers’ day, &  is a tricky one for me – the past few years have been interesting to navigate. A word for the younger generation, don’t be so keen to declare that you don’t want kids; one day you wake up 35 & fall in love with some lil people & discover you had all the maternal bones all along 🫢

April is our birthday month (the shop & I ) & just as I’m getting settled into the new age, May peeps her motherly head around the corner to remind me of my womb that no-one has called home yet. – RUDE-

I was relaxing, walking, eating, dancing & drinking on a wine farm in Cpt for a few days, & I didn’t feel the urge to rush back from the beach to write this blog – It’s the honesty for me!

The past few days I’ve sat with some thoughts; are we experiencing more of the same in different ways? I took another bash at a dating site recently, I’ve always known my S.O wouldn’t be found there, but I was admittedly without entertainment… until I saw my (not single) cousin’s profile & proceeded to delete it, yet again! As I stared at the familiar pictures, I couldn’t help but wonder… am I existing in a time not meant for me?
Fam! Carrie Bradshaw lifts my spirits- even in the 90s, things were much the same with the exception of fake profiles & way too much social media, what is it about relatability that settles the spirit?

 

When all the frozen yoghurt & SATC reruns fail to hit the spot, my next best is my Good mood in jars, conveniently found in my bathroom cabinet.

The slight sagging of cheeks (& heart) are made well with the floating fingers over my face, the aroma that behaves like I’d imagine the balm of Gilead did. The meticulously crafted texture has a way of softening my mind. Bliss!

Look, it won’t change things around me, but it somehow changes me, slightly shifting my view, my mood; it sings me a lullaby with the promise of of a better tomorrow.

 

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Just checking in

Driving to work this morning I listened to a podcast, Erwin McManus said “anyone can create art but not many can create beauty” this on the heel of the notion that hate is easy, but hope, forgiveness & love are hard; that the human condition means more effort is attached to higher emotions.

I find this analogy truly beautiful. So often our strength is measured by how little emotion we display, how nonchalant we come across, perhaps even how little things, situations & people phase us. I think this misrepresentation of strength is what makes us weaker.

During the wars, the men, strong, tough, manly men, were strong enough to write love letters to the woman who held their hearts captive. Serenades in the rain and having the pleasure of her company weren’t something to be ashamed of, what happened to the beauty and wonder of those emotions?

After taking this in I suddenly wondered how everyone feels their year is going. We’re always getting to the end of the year & complaining about how bad, or slow, or disappointing it was, maybe we could “check-in” with each other here, at the end of Q1, to share some love, do something special for someone, or just tell a friend how wonderful they are. Just maybe we can throw caution to the wind & be reckless with how much we choose to love, because that’s what it is right? A choice.

 Galatians 5:22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness

Reflecting on my year so far, I’m so proud of the changes I’ve made, proud of my heart & the new things about myself I’ve fallen in love with. I’m slowly, yet ever surely becoming the best version of myself, I used to beat myself up for loving & caring so much, now I’m just so thankful. ❤️🙏🏽

I can’t wait for the next chapter in my story & the empathetic, loving people I’m still going to meet (husband, I’m ready 😉)

A Thank -you to you,

“On the 1st of April 2015 I never could have imagined the road that lay ahead. Thank God I didn’t, because there’s no way I would’ve chosen to still take that first leap.
As each year goes by, I’m more & more in awe of God’s hand over my life, more in love with myself, and no longer scared of being proud of where I am.
A warm, heartfelt THANK-YOU to each & every client & friend who chooses Matis Fourways every time. To my gorgeous mommy, my life’s companions, my hype team & my amazing staff, I love you all so dearly!”

 

With love,

Laurien