Between the end of a regular contract, the Easter school break and associated bank holidays this month has felt a little more hodge podge than most. Somehow, though, I don’t seem to have slowed down. All the same, it has been nice to see some sunshine creeping back into the fray in April and to mix up my routine a bit. Here’s my round up of a mixed up month.

The Easter holidays meant that half of the month was quieter than usual – I’m so used to hopping between schools to run workshops most weeks so it made for a more noticeable shift in pace than I’ve found with half terms and Christmas breaks in the past. I sneaked a workshop in at the end of April, though, and have lots of school work lined up between now and the summer.

Instead of facilitation, I’ve been kept busy by a new consultancy contract with Plan International UK, who I joined in early April and will be working with until late May. I’m working with them to develop the structure and details for the youth engagement component of an upcoming global campaign. It has been fascinating to look at how to engage, motivate and support young people from around the world and create a sense of teamwork, purpose and ownership despite the distance between them. I’m looking forward to developing the work further in May.

This month has been heavily creative outside of my working life. I finished my illustration course at House of Illustration, learning about monoprinting, watercolour and 3D art in the process. I absolutely loved the experience and am trying to find more workshops and courses I can try out to further my skills. The course really fired me up to experiment and do more art work outside of the class. I’ve been playing with different techniques, buying new materials and even learning to use my scanner properly so I can create digital versions of my artwork.

I’ve also sneaked in a couple of trips to the theatre. First, I saw the stage adaptation of “Grief is the Thing with Feathers” at the Barbican. Cillian Murphy gave a masterclass in acting, although I found the overall production something of a sensory overload (which isn’t ideal for someone with a sensitive nervous system!) I also saw “Home, I’m Darling”, the new play from Laura Wade. It was another show I was unsure about – I wasn’t sure I understood what I was supposed to take away – but the set was brilliant and despite buying cheap tickets we got to pretend to be fancy in a box!

The rest of my free time has been a mixed bag, from a glorious laid back Easter weekend painting and working on my novel to attending my first roller derby match to support a friend and cultured weekends at exhibitions. All in all, I feel like I’ve been more able to enjoy my free time lately and it’s been so wonderful to rediscover a little bit of balance.

May has a lot in store for me and I’m really looking forward to it. Work wise, I’m continuing my project with Plan, as well as running bespoke youth mental health training for Arts Emergency, running workshops in schools and mentoring my students as part of the HeadStart Action programme.

Outside of work, I have a creative month of workshops lined up, including an embroidery class, a book binding class and a social sketching workshop. I’ll fill the gaps with writing, drawing, painting and social plans (and possibly a touch of existential dread as my 30th birthday begins to loom). I’ll see you on the other side.