There are some years I look back on in my life where not a lot happened and life just seemed cruisy, and you know what those years are nice, everything flows you are neither unhappy or happy with life. It just is! Then there are the years where it feels like all there is change and you wonder when things will go back to the cruisy days of old. The following Thoreau quote “Things do not change, we change.” Sums up the last few months of 2018 for me. What are the changes I refer to?
Accident: When I fractured my ankle at the end of November, I had no choice but to slow down and rest. Initially, my injury was diagnosed as a sprain it wasn’t until a few weeks down the track when I started physio that further investigation was carried out.
A few days before Christmas I found myself sporting a moon boot in one of the hottest summers on record for Wellington. I literally read a lot and slept and watched a lot of Netflix and Neon. I was put out about this turn of events as I had other plans for how I would spend my summer. However what I discovered was that sometimes these curve balls can be a blessing in disguise and sometimes you just have to go with the flow, instead of trying to resist or fight it.
Heart Centered and Soul Based Journey: I have been quietly working away in the background on myself. One of the reasons I wanted to take a year off was to discover what I want my life to look and feel like going forward? As someone who is a planner and knows what she wants the unknown of how things would pan out could have felt scary. While I still have no clue what is next for me or even what 2019 will look and feel like, I have embraced the unknown. Instead, this year has felt like a journey of sorts where I feel like I am coming back to myself again. Somewhere along the line I lost a part of myself. This year has seen me step into my own power, a woman who isn’t afraid to speak her truth, to be vulnerable, yet strong and independent when she needed to be. A woman who is no longer hiding her light.
New build and Renovated Home: Mike and I talked about moving in three years’ time and in the meantime work on doing up the interior of our home during that time. Towards the end of January Mike and I realised even though we are both still in our 40’s this would be the perfect time to downsize to a smaller home. Before we knew we had found a house within two weeks put in an offer and on Feb 5 we had bought a new house which was being built and would be ready sometime in July (now August).
Since March we have been living in a house that was being prepared to be sold in July. We used this time to get tradies in to tidy up things we had always meant to do when we moved in 7 years ago. I now get why people move out when they are getting work done on their house. At the end of June, the work and our never-ending to-do list were completed. We are officially on the market with two open homes on the horizon and a tender date closing on the 24th of July.
Creative Block: I realised that my business had left me feeling creativly burnt out, and it has been a struggle this year to feel inspired. The best thing I did for myself was read Julia Cameron’s book “The Artist Way” and complete the morning pages for twelve weeks as well as taking myself out on artist’s dates. I have since completed twelve weeks of the morning pages and have continued to do them I am now up to 15 weeks of writing morning pages. During this time I also enrolled and took part in an 8 week hand building pottery class run through Wellington CEC, our course was run through the Wellington Pottery Association. I found this class fun and relaxing and it was the perfect escapism from a house that was being done up. While I have no desire to do any more pottery I really enjoyed learning something new. Next term I am having private lessons and learning to swim. Even more exciting I have my creative mojo back again and once we have moved I will be able to set up a creative space in the new home.
How is 2018 shaping up for you?