Today I had such a lovely day, I went out for lunch with my sister, her husband and my friend. We went to Coco’s in South Perth and it was so lovely.

Now I have not been out to lunch to a beautiful place with such a lovely view across the water in a long time.  I loved it.

I am so grateful that we had a table that overlooked the river, it was lovely.

There is something about going out with friends and just relaxing.

There is something about South Perth.

My lunch was a salmon nicoise and oh my gosh it was so lovely. We had some glasses of wine and enjoyed the most amazing view.

One of my goals for 2019 is to go out for lunch at least once a month.

Well check for January.

Well Coco’s thank you for such a lovely meal.

After lunch my sister and I went to Bunnings.

I brought a few things for my house. I brought some flowers vincas (I  think they are called that) for the front garden. Now for me I do not have the gift of gardening but my sister does. So, she helped my dig a hole for the plants, to make sure that it was the right size, and then we placed the flowers into the hole. We watered it and hopefully they will grow over the next few days. I am really excited about this.

I will share more tomorrow.

Tracey Buckley

This morning I woke early, I made myself a coffee and sat on the lounge. I love being able to drink my coffee slowly and pause to think about the day.

Today’s focus was on –

Decluttering

Cue the dramatic music.

Now I don’t know how you feel about decluttering?

I know that there are people that are really good at it and then there are the people that can feel their anxiety rising at the mention of the word.

We are all on our individual journey and that is okay.

I can drift between being really good with it and then sometimes I just don’t want to get rid of anything.

I have to be in the right mood for it to be productive.

I also have to be practical about it, I live in a small house so I don’t have that much space for storage.

So today I was determined to make the most of my, let’s get it done attitude.

I was surprised by how much I achieved, I still have a bit to go but it is all good.

I have such a love of stationary, especially pens, pencils or really anything that I can be creative with. Let’s just say that I really do not need to buy anymore pens for a while. Well!

So now I am feeling quite content with what I have accomplished today, knowing that tomorrow brings new opportunities to sort out some other items.

Will share more tomorrow.

Tracey Buckley

I am on holidays and I am just taking it slowly. I am grateful for holidays, grateful for time spent resting and refreshing.

I have been reading and thinking about this year.

I want it to be different, I want to mix things up this year.

I want to embrace 2019 and be brave, to have faith and to have courage.

Somehow in 2018, I lost a bit of my courage, a bit of my can-do courage.

So, 2019 I am claiming it back, I am going to blog, to write and to not be afraid. I am going to speak about my journey with courage and faith.

I am going to embrace this year and not get caught up in those lies that we can tell ourselves.

The lies-

• that you are not good enough
• why write this, no one is going to read your blog
• other people are already doing it better then you
• why bother.

I am sure you could probably add some more to this list.

How about if we change those lies into-

• you have a story to share
• you have something that someone needs to hear
• yes, you can make a difference.

What if we were just a bit kinder to ourselves?

What if we encouraged ourselves like we encourage others around us?

How would our year be?

What would our life be like?

How would this year be different?

Will share more soon.

Tracey Buckley

Happy New Year

I love the first day of the new year, I love that there are 356 days of new possibilities. I love that there are 356 days to dream, to plan, to set some new goals and to make a difference.

356 days of new possibilities, how exciting.

I love looking at my planner, my diary and seeing that there is nothing in it. It is blank. It is waiting for the next adventure.

Last night I didn’t last to see in the new year, I fell asleep. I did go out for a really nice dinner with my sister and her husband. Then I came home.

The first day of the new year and I have decided that I will blog every day for January. Yes, this is my challenge.

I am wanting to get back to what I love doing and not be afraid.

What are your plans for this year?

What is something that you have been afraid of that you have been putting off?

In 2019 let’s not let fear stop us from what we really want to do.

In 2019 let us be brave and step out into the 356 days of endless opportunities.

Let 2019 be your year.

Will share more soon.

Tracey Buckley

I love this time of year, I love putting up the Christmas Tree, listening to Christmas Carols and yes even Christmas shopping. What can I say, I love this time of year.

I am now on holidays so I have decided that from now until Christmas Eve I will give myself a little Challenge.

Bring on the Christmas Challenge.

This is my Christmas Challenge-

1. Have a photo with Santa
2. Make a homemade gift
3. Drink hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows and add a candy can
4. Watch a Christmas movie
5. Wrap Christmas presents
6. Attend a Church Christmas Service
7. Do a random act of kindness
8. Go and look at Christmas lights.

I will blog about the Christmas Challenge on this page and you can also follow me on Instagram @traceybuckley1

Is there a Christmas Challenge that you would like to explore?

I would love to hear about it.

Will share more soon.

There is something about this time of year.

I know for some people though it can be quite stressful and difficult. There are so many changes that can happen in this season.

For some people it is not a happy time and I want to acknowledge you. Yes, we are here for you. We really are.

Whatever you are going through, please know that you are not alone.

I want to reflect on this time of year. I love this time of year, I love the whole Christmas story. Whatever is going on in my life I hold on to the miracle of the Christmas story. Yes, I have been through some difficult times but I choose time and time again to hold on to the hope.

Hope, it is my foundation.

It is about new beginnings.  Whatever is going on read about the birth of Jesus.

I love reading the story about the birth of Jesus. I love the story of Mary and Joseph and their complete trust in God.

I love the Christmas story about new beginnings about new possibilities.

I don’t know what you have been through this year, but I know that the Christmas story is one of hope.

Hold onto it, embrace it, believe in it, read it and share it.

If you need anything, please let me know.

How are you?

I have been reading Rachel Hollis’s book Girl wash your face and it is really speaking to me at the moment. I haven’t finished it yet, but any chance that I have, I will read a few pages.

I love the way that each chapter is about a lie that we believe. The lies of I’m not good enough and I should be further along by now.

The lie I should be further along by now really resonated with me. You see I have just celebrated a big something _0 birthday and at first, I was in denial of being this age.

I didn’t really want to celebrate it and I was wondering why. Then I read the chapter of -I should be further along by now and realised I didn’t want to be this age. The reason was I thought that I would have achieved a lot more before reaching this age.

But that is a lie.

Sure, there is a time and season for everything in our

lives. I believe this.

Why is it that we gravitate to what is not happening in our lives instead of celebrating all that we have achieved?

Why is it that we focus on the negative?

I have a lot to be grateful for and especially reaching this age the _0.

Why are we not celebrating every day?

A friend of mine and mentor challenged me one year to say yes. To say yes to things that normally I would go oh no I couldn’t possible to that. It was a really great year with lots of opportunity and adventures.

I feel that November and December will be the months of saying yes.

Yes!

This will be my challenge.

I will not let entertain the lie of -I should be further along by now anymore.

I will not let the lie influence my life.

What are you going to say yes to in November?

Will share more soon.

This weekend I spent sometime at home, which I must say I have loved.

The last few weeks and weekends have just been full and I love it I really do.

I also have to admit that I love just spending time at home slowing down.

So, this weekend I decided to give myself a little staycation, a little time just resting, a little time just being at home.

This weekend I have-

• watched movies
• read books
• listened to podcasts
• slept in
• gone shopping
• cleaned my home
• cooked meals for the week
• wrote about my dreams and goals.

I have decided that I want to blog and I want to continue writing, I also have decided that I want to say yes to things, to be a bit more spontaneous.

I have been asking myself where to now?

Where to now?

This is such an empowering question, I want to leave a legacy.

How do I do this?

Have you asked yourself this?

Have you asked yourself, what do I want to do?

How do I achieve this?

Have you asked yourself where to now?

This is what I want to explore in the next few weeks and I would love you to journey with me.

Will you join me in this adventure?

Let’s explore where to now together.

Tonight I find myself reflecting on this scripture.

Really wanted to share it with you tonight.

I spoke last night at the new Perth Children’s Hospital for Body Awareness and Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

I wanted to share with you my talk for the night.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Hi my name is Tracey and I am going to talk tonight about what recovery is actually like for me now.

I had an eating disorder for a long time and have now I have been recovered for over 10 years now. I am never going back.

I have this saying that today is a gift, it was a day that I didn’t think that I would have and I embrace every moment.

I am passionate about giving back and sharing my journey.

Tonight, I wanted to share what recovery for me is like. This is my journey and what I have learnt along the way.

Recovery for me was about finding my purpose, it is about rediscovering who I am- Tracey without the control and thoughts of the eating disorder consuming me and keeping my world small.

I have great support of amazing friends who were there for me.

It is about embracing the new, I had to learn to explore new ways of doing things.  It was doing things totally different then what I was used to. I had to step out of my comfort zone.

I had one year where I would just say yes to new experiences. A friend of mine challenged me. Just to say yes and to see what happened.

Which was a little bit aaagh but it was so important in expanding my world and experiences.

Recovery for me was -discovering my creativity and that was such an important part in my recovery.

Journaling helped me so much, I love to journal.

Being creative helped me so much. I love writing.  I can now call myself a blogger, I have a blog,I write about my journey, I write about encouraging women.  I have written for some publications in America, I just submitted an article and it was accepted, I am a singer/songwriter and I am passionate about making a difference.

I work as a primary school chaplain for nearly 7 years and I love what I get to do. Every day is an adventure. My days are so varied and my life now is so completely different to the woman I was who was stuck in an eating disorder.

I laugh, I have a very distinct laugh and I make no apology, there was a time where the eating disorder stole my joy. I laugh and I have learnt to laugh at myself.

My role as a primary school Chaplain has seen me-

• Speak at assemblies
• I run a girls’ group for years 4 to 6 where we look at friendships, identity, self-esteem.
• I have run a Disco, never run a disco before.
• I have a Drumbeat group.
• I have gone on camps where I have gone abseiling, rock climbing and orienteering.
• I am there for the whole school community. Love community.

I am still learning that my life has meaning, my life has purpose.

I am a work in progress, I love that cause it just allows us to rest in it.

She designed a life that she loved.

I want to leave you with these words tonight you are worthy, valued and loved. Yes, you are.

Thank you