Julie Helen: Making the ordinary feel magical 

This week is notorious for being tough for mental health. Sometimes, it feels like we are 753 days into the month of January.

I certainly tend to feel like I haven’t embraced the chance to eat healthily or “start again” on all the things I want to achieve. Then I remember that just being in my space, organising what I can, bit by bit, is enough.

With my husband David having been in hospital over the festive period for a week, I feel like we started off on the back foot. Like many people who seemed to experience the awful illnesses doing the rounds, he had to return to the doctor last week for another dose of antibiotics.

I could feel the frustration in David, and my heart went out to him. It’s also not easy when the only place he can really direct that frustration is at me, so we end up arguing about the silliest of things, or I end up feeling useless when there isn’t really anything more I can do to make things better.

We just have to ride the wave, and thankfully, Dave is starting to turn the corner now so things are gradually improving day by day.

On the way home from school one day last week, Ricky said he was going to ride his bike around the house on the new Tarmac that arrived when we were on holiday in December. The Tarmac allows me to get in and out of all the doors of the house and get around the house completely. This may seem like a really simple thing, but I don’t know any other house in the world where there is total wheelchair access. It feels great to be able to go all around the house and feel comfortable and safe.

As Ricky was flying around the house, he asked me to time him, and in under a minute, he was the whole way around. Then, with a glint in his eye, he asked would I have a go. I agreed, which he definitely wasn’t expecting. So off I went as fast as I could, self-propelling myself in my wheelchair, and left the boy timing me. The first trip took me nearly two minutes, and then, as I got used to the run, I got a little bit faster, but I’ll never be some impressive athlete.

What mattered most was that I said yes to my son. I am showing him that I will always try new things. I will always do my best to be involved with him and be part of his world, where everything is possible, even if we do things slightly differently from other families. Of course, part of me will always wish that I could just jump up and run with Ricky, but it wasn’t the overwhelming feeling. Getting my heart rate up felt great. Being out in the fresh air did us both the world of good, and when Ricky saw my wheelchair tracks cutting a corner at one end of the house, I got into big trouble, and we had a great laugh.

Now, each day after school we go outside with drinks and snacks for our “training session”. I could be berating myself for not being active enough. Instead, I’m enjoying finding the pockets of activity that work for us.

The Tarmac came into its own once more when the Northern lights made an appearance. I was able to shoot out the door and take photos from every angle. There was an eerie pink glow and an eerie green tint too. It made the ordinary feel magical.