A London Lunchbreak

Apologies for my long absence. It has been a busy few months as I ultimately decided to take the leap and move back to London. While I love Australia, and Sydney will always feel like a second home, the lure of family & friends was just too strong. My attempts at being a rootless citizen of the world only helped me realise just how rooted I really am.

So now I am back in London. I arrived late November and started working almost straight away (I'm not happy unless I'm busy & never let me pretend otherwise). It has been quite an emotional adjustment but I'm still very much at peace with the decision that I made to return. I'm happy here.

In order to ensure I remain happy I have fully embraced the cultural richness that London offers. It feels really good to behave like a tourist in my own city. I recommend it to everyone. I'm going to lots of plays, concerts, films, dinners with friends and I'm taking very long walks through the streets of London to make sure that all that London-ness seeps in and warms my bones.

There are some hangovers (good ones) from Sydney. Given my propensity to walk, I've become addicted to London's bridges. Waterloo, as always, remains my favourite for the "London moment" views (proximity to Waterloo station doesn't hurt either). I think this is because I need to see the water. I saw Sydney Harbour everyday, the water soothes me. I suspect that a proper trip to the sea will be required soon though, the Thames can only do so much.

The other habit is my lunchtime walks. Instead of strolling by the harbour in a summer dress though I'm now wrapped up warm and strolling through Regent's Park (right next to my office). It has to be one of my favourite London parks. You walk through certain parts & feel like you've stepped back in time. Exactly what you need to re-set the old brain cells in the middle of a hard day's work.

Speaking of which I'd better tie up a few bits & bobs before I can enjoy an indulgent weekend packed full of London goodness.

Escaping the Hotel Lounge

How often do you make a major life choice? No, deciding what to have for dinner doesn’t count.

How often do you even review what your choices are? Or are you driving on auto pilot through life? Sometimes the status quo, no matter how miserable it makes you, is the only choice you can see. But unless you are in prison, which is designed to remove the luxury of choice from the prisoner, you do have choices. They aren’t necessarily going to be easy choices. In fact making important, life altering decisions is a distinctly uncomfortable experience.

The reality is that being unsettled by our choices is one of the main reasons that we put up with situations that make us unhappy. Passivity is a growing modern phenomenon as we struggle with indecision. The making of the “wrong” decision feels so much more dangerous than opting out and making no decision at all. This is bullshit!

For one, living in a perpetual hotel lounge is the only consistently wrong choice you can make. It will wear you down. Your abilities to make a decision will atrophy. Eventually you simply won’t be able to find your way out for want of being able to even see the exit sign.

Secondly, while you live in your passive little bubble, people in the world around you are making choices and these will impact you. Change is inevitable. You can either be its victim or its champion.

I have recently had choice forced upon me. I have to move out of my comfortable little house in Sydney. Louis and I have 2 months to find a new place to call home. The initial trauma was horrible. I’m not an agent of change, particularly if that change is disruptive to my day-to-day life. I reacted the only way I know how. I started to research all my options. The house hunt began in earnest within minutes of my being given the news. I didn’t stop to analyse my choices, I scrambled frantically to keep my life exactly how it was. I wanted to find a new home, quick smart, move in and carry on as usual.

Lucky for me, my initial research yielded little success (don’t get me started on anti-pet buildings). This meant that the decision making part of my brain had a chance to be heard. It made me stop my search, just for now. It has made me realise that there are a lot of things that I need to review. I suddenly realised that I had a lot more choices than I realised if I was brave enough to look at them all.

So that is what I’m in the process of doing. It is a very unsettling experience. I find that I have a lot of nervous energy that I didn’t have before. Now that I’m properly using my brain, my body is awake. I’m also much more aware of what makes me happy and what doesn’t.

In fact, I could say that I’m living a much more mindful life. While I may not know where I’ll be living in just over 2 months from now, I have the courage to weigh up my options and make the right choice for me. Once I’ve made those choices and followed them wherever they might take me, I’ll tell you all about it.

I leave you now to live your lives mindfully. I hope you find it as invigorating as I do.