I often say that being a solo parent is one of the hardest things I have had to do and I stand by that. But the reality is that there is no parenting manual and it has taken me years (and some sensible final orders from my late husband) to realise that we really must look after ourselves as much as we look after our loved ones.

With kids returning to school, September seems like the new January and a good time to readdress those priorities. The order that Simon gave me when he was close to the end of his life in the hospice, and which he wrote in a letter that I was instructed to open after he died, was that I needed to be happy because if I was happy the kids would be happy. Those words have at times over the past six years as a widow felt like the most ginormous challenge but within any relationship if one person is not at their best it affects everyone.

So, I’ve put together 10 simple things you can do to make your own transition from Summer to Autumn, as stress free as possible:

1. Plan your day the night before – I always set out my clothes for the next day but a game changer has been running through the day the night before. What’s even nicer is if you can fit into your day at least 30 minutes of ‘free’ time - even if it just allows you time to eat your lunch without multi-tasking!

2. Have a gentle start – especially if you’ve been away, try not to book really important meetings into the first couple of days back at work, so that your brain has time to adjust out of holiday mode.

3. Declutter the inbox – if you have thousands of unread emails, set aside specific short blocks of time to tidy them up. I use the search facility to look at all the messages from each person, then I flag up the ones which need the most urgent attention and focus on those. I go through the less urgent ones later and try to bulk delete and unsubscribe from the ones that are no longer relevant.

4. Meal planning – just before a big supermarket shop, plan out your meals and buy healthy snacks to fuel you. It will reduced costs and eliminates those moments when you don’t know what to cook..

5. Set weekend rewards – Having something to look forward to on Friday evening and a treat on Sunday evening to ease the back-to-work worries, it could be as simple as pizza and a movie with loved ones at the end of the week and clean bed sheets on a Sunday evening.

6. Put a coat, wellies and blanket in your car – I will never forget getting stuck in floods between Hereford and Worcester. England is getting wetter at this time of year and these days, as well as the red triangle and yellow high-vis jackets, I always have wellies & a coat so that I can get out and see how deep the puddles are!

7. Get outside - When we get back into the ‘normal’ routine it can be easy to feel that we don’t have time to spend outside in nature but it is so important - both for your wellbeing and because often our brains come up with light-bulb thoughts when we are relaxed.

8. Tap into the power of connection - Human beings are social animals and sometimes we can find ourselves rushing round to organise other people’s social lives and forget that we need the social interaction as well. Whether you pick up the phone, message a friend or visit a relative or colleague, linking up with others and having meaningful conversations is good for us.

9. Exercise - being physically active can improve your brain health, help manage weight, reduce the risk of disease, strengthen bones and muscles, and improve your ability to do everyday activities, so it's important that we factor in whatever we are capable of doing as part of our everyday routine at home.

10. Prioritise your to-do list – whether it’s at home or at work, it is easy to do whatever job screams loudest, and sometimes the really important stuff falls down the priority list. If you found that over the summer you were worrying about bigger things, such as preparing a Will, getting better insurance or finally getting to grips with budgeting, make sure that you actually do them.

I am the first to admit that it is easy to let a negative frame of mind swing you off course and stop you from doing the good intentions that you set when you were sat in a calmer and more optimistic place. However, you are so important and so is your welfare. If you need help motivating yourself to do something today to put you in a position to help change your circumstances, your energy levels or even your mindset – please let me know.

“By changing nothing, nothing changes”
- Tony Robbins