SEPTEMBER has always been my favourite month. Forget spring cleaning – the beginning of autumn is what galvanises me to actually get stuff done. I think having spent pretty much my entire life in an educational setting in one way or another has meant I consider 1st September the official beginning of any year. Also, in my old fashionista life, September is when London Fashion Week is and when all magazines publish their most important issues. It has always been a hectic month for me and I’ve thrived on the buzz of the new.

This September looked to be the same with Dali starting school and Bay returning to preschool. I have relished the chance to establish some long overdue routine back in our lives and thought I would immediately get involved in tasks that I’ve been itching to do but are impossible with two crazy children in tow. I’ve had a pot of paint sat in the boot of my car for three months waiting for me to finally paint our dining room. I have a website I haven’t written for in months because I haven’t had the time. I have a list of people I haven’t seen. I now have the time to do all of these things but on the first day of term, I did the most sensible thing I’ve done for a while….I went back to bed for the whole day and in fact, I did the same the next day too.

With Greg not on active treatment for a few months and both girls out of my hair for six hours, I was hit like a truck by something I have been sorely missing – silence and solitude. As I lay in bed, I realised that I am never on my own. NEVER. Not even to use the bathroom because I have a two year old and obviously, it’s unacceptable that I dare to do anything on my own. My only alone time comes when I realise we haven’t got milk for the morning and I drive the two minute journey to Tesco Express. What a strange state of affairs it is when that becomes like a holiday.

I have zero guilt for just hanging out in bed; snoozing, reading, just thinking. Just being with no outcome is seriously underrated. With all this new spare time, it’s going to become my new hobby.

* Stacey Heale has left her career as a fashion lecturer to focus on her two lively little girls and fiancé, Delays frontman Greg Gilbert, who was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer in November 2016. She launched the viral campaign Give4Greg to raise funds for lifesaving treatment: gofundme.com/give4greg. You can read more at her blog beneaththeweather.com