A recent post got me thinking about the roles that we all undertake in our life... and how some of them ebb and flow and others are always constant.

For now here are a few of mine... the ones that stay are Wife, Stepmum, Dog-Mother and Friend (although some of the ones made in England have not stood the test of time following a move 500 miles away).

The Stepmum role has been fully invested in since the daught was 3.5 (and is now 23) but in 2016 we moved to Scotland and she didn't want to uproot herself from all that she knew. Now I am more of a friend but I will always be a (albeit geographically far) parent. That will never change.

Wife is a nice role, occasionally challenging as most marriages are. I am lucky enough to find someone that gets me, is thoughtful, funny, intelligent, creative and my soul mate as we have negotiated life's at times, rocky road.

Dog-Mum is interesting... part door-person (one comes in, the other one goes out), separator-of-fights (with minimum collateral damage, to me at least), dog-egg-picker-upper (an egg is a polite word for poo), walker, soother, stroker, feeder, water-er, calmer-of-the-waters (one dog is mentally challenging as we are convinced he is on the spectrum... is there such a thing for dogs?).

I am also a sister, but not a daughter any more (both parents are dead, mum has been dead since I was 16) and an aunt to my wonderful nephew, as well as an in-law.

Other roles are as follows in my professional working life are currently PA/Carer and Civil Funeral Celebrant. Both involve a high degree of caring, an element of counselling, a good degree of mental energy, reliability and a massive amount of focus on others and at times at the expense of your own wellbeing. But it's part of both jobs. I ditched the Housekeeper role as on the three occasions I did it after we had moved, they all proved to be fairly miserable experiences – picky supervisor, horrid hotel and mildly deranged titled employer. I'm self-employed and also in other paid employment so at times will have to be a juggler too – of three jobs.

As for the home, I'm full-time chef, part-time cleaner, DIY'er, gardener and account manager (of our jointly managed bill account). I'm also a budding artist/crafter, writer (attempting a novel), poet, aspirational singer and Moodscope contributor.

Moving forwards to 2019, I intend to have some new roles – part-time singer in a band, artist who sells stuff (instead of makes it to gift to friends or stack up in the house) and more successful business woman (more of the celebrancy please) which means that I must get better at marketing and promotional affairs and set aside the time to do so. Another one will be personal trainer – to myself – with a big push on getting fitter.

How about you? What roles do you have?

Liz

A Moodscope member.