declared 2017 my ‘midlife gap year’—a year off to focus on living life rather than earning a living. A year to pause and ponder before moving onto the second half of my life. I embraced all the ‘r’ words: retreat, reflection, reevaluation, rejuvenation, and restoration. I found the whole experience so worthwhile, my midlife gap year extended to two years. It took that long for my pause to pay off, for me to reemerge—restored, renewed and ready.
Almost a year ago I wrote here that I was going to step away from this space for a month – to focus on home and start the new year with a calm mind and a clear vision.
It seems one month wasn’t enough. This space became one of the many casualties of me ruthlessly clearing the clutter from my schedule. A move that was necessary for me to move even closer to living the life that I aspire to.
We can’t have and do everything – we have to choose. And I chose to focus on home for a while.
The countdown to Christmas has become a festival of chaos and consumption. If you prefer to roll into the festive season feeling calm and connected – rather than overwhelmed and broke – now is a good time to prepare your plan of attack. Here are my three favourite tips for avoiding the chaos and consumerism of Christmas.
White space is a wonderful thing to have in your life. But it isn’t easy to find. You have to create it. And work hard to keep it. Here are some of the tools I use to craft white space into my days.
Butterflies are worth encouraging into your garden. There’s a range of plants you can grow to attract beneficial butterflies.
One of the benefits of simplifying is that my life now has white space. Pockets of time where nothing is scheduled. In graphic design, fail to leave sufficient white space and a worthwhile message can be lost among the clutter. Empty space is equally important in our day-to-day lives.
My daughter races around our rural property oblivious to the risk of snakes. I don’t want her to fear snakes. But I also don’t want her to naively run through long grass or pick up rocks and logs.
There’s a handful of venomous snake species here in the Hunter Region, including the Red-bellied Black Snake, Eastern Brown Snake, Common Death Adder and Tiger Snake.
I don’t fear snakes myself. But the idea of my child being bitten horrifies me and sees my protective mum mode emerge.