Last week the husband said to me ‘I like spending time with you’!

Well… you would hope so! After all, we are married, and especially as next week will be the 16th anniversary of being together!

So, why the need to declare it? For Christmas we got two vouchers for restaurants, and we’ve used them both in a few days! There’s two reasons why I like going out for a meal with the husband, or with anyone for that matter. I generally like the food, but more importantly you get to talk properly and without distraction.

Don’t get me wrong we talk to each other at home, but it’s normally with a backdrop of TV, or frustration that we’re missing something on TV, and often just about the day to day. When we were just us, out, we talked about all sorts – the horrificness of last year for me, the achievements of last year for him, hopes for the future, plus a lot of laughing!

There is something so special about face to face conversation or even phone conversation.

Living in a world in front of a screen or behind a screen, sending messages, emojis, memes rather than having a conversation it can be so isolating and you also forget the energy that you get from other people.

Yesterday I felt like going into full isolation mode. I was just going to hide in my room, and only see the classes that I was teaching. But I’d had this blog going round in my head and I changed my mind and went for my usual cuppa first thing and I’m glad I did. I was able to talk about what was going on but then able to move on (for that moment) as well. If I had gone with my instinct I would probably have struggled a lot more yesterday but energy and strength was gained from conversation.

Why do we hide behind screens? I think there’s two key reasons. 1. It is definitely easier. 2. We can hide. People can’t hear our voices or see our faces which will give us away!

I challenge you as I challenge myself to speak to people more, especially but not solely with the big stuff. You’ve been given a voice… use it! (Mum if you’re reading this I’m sensing the irony as I’ve been trying to rest my virtually non existent one this week – will call you later!)