50shadesofbrave

Hello?

Is anybody there?

It has been 16 months since I last wrote a post… and we all know what happened in between. Who could have seen that coming?! Covid-19 has had a huge impact on everyone’s life, and for me it has signalled another point at which to assess where I am in life and what choices I want to make going forward. I re-read my last post, with its conjecture about what I could do with my impending ‘freedom’, and I smiled to myself… Freedom seems to have taken on a whole new meaning these days! All plans for travel have been put on hold; thoughts of a different job are still at the forefront of my mind, but now they are tempered with a feeling that I’m lucky to have a job at all and I wonder whether now is the best time to reimagine my career; some of the important things in life no longer seem important and other things that never seemed to matter matter a whole lot more!

So, where am I at? Job-wise, I took a new role at the same organisation, but it really hasn’t worked out as expected… so I am back to thinking a lot about getting out! House-wise, I have spent so much time in this house in the past 12-14 months, I have become aware of its every limitation… and for every positive that led me to relocate here, lockdown has turned up a negative. My kids have amazed me with their resilience this past year. In school / Out of school; unable to see friends / girlfriends; remote learning and mental health challenges; living with a nervous mum – they have met every challenge head-on and kept going with grit and determination. I admire them both so much.

I have maintained my own mental health through my discovery of a love of walking. It started with the uptake of the government-permitted one walk a day during lockdown 1, developed into a way for myself and my ‘support-buddy’ to spend time together; expanded into the challenge of a 13 mile sponsored walk for Alzheimer’s, and has now become established as a permanent feature of my daily and weekly planning. I can see the benefits that the fresh air has brought to my skin, and that the walks themselves have brought to my body, heart and mind. I am a convert.

I have also lost and gained a dog. Our faithful cocker departed aged 14.5 years in November 2020, and my resolution that I didn’t want another dog proved to be short-lived! We began by fostering a rescue dog from Spain, fully intending just to foster… but failed miserably and have in the last couple of weeks permanently adopted her 😊

I have other things to update you on… but right now I have a dog to walk and work emails to attend to. So, I promise to write more soon… and I wish you the best of days xx