Hello Me!

Last week was the last week at my old job and I’m currently enjoying the leisurely limbo of being between jobs (7 whole working days off, pure bliss). Many flowers were sacrificed to celebrate my new adventure and I love the sweet scent of lilies and roses that is permeating my house. It is quite a heady mix of smells and fits perfectly with a wonderful sunshine filled Monday afternoon. I’m cleaning the house in fits and starts (kitchen + washing have been done – next step is the vacuuming) as I tend to overheat if I do too much in one go.

My mission for my time off is to focus on looking after me. That means exercising my rather lazy muscles so that I’ve got a good base fitness before I get sucked back into the work grind. I’m reminding myself that I actually enjoy exercising. In fact I really seem to be re-discovering myself, as I’ve come to realise that I’ve changed a lot, and not necessarily in a good way, over the years.

It would be fair to say that in my teens and early twenties I was very open to adventure and trying new things. I loved yoga before it was considered mainstream, taught myself everything I could about aromatherapy, tried meditating (badly) and learned how to read tarot cards. All this fell to the wayside when I started to work. Suddenly, instead of following my own bliss and learning about all the things I wanted to know more about, I became a work drone putting off adventures until an undefined later date.

I started to conform. Not that I was particularly rebellious before, but I never tried to fit myself into a pre-conceived box. I did what suited me but once in the work place that was subsumed by the need to do what suited others. This replaced all of my healthy selfish urges, no doubt contributing to my eventual meltdown. Ironically, it is now that I’ve come to terms with my depression and am living on the other side of the planet that I’ve realised that “me” is still there, waiting for “later” to become “now”.

So what does this mean? Well in essence, I’m going to nurture my physical and creative needs. I’ve started well with my guitar lessons, which I love. It has really helped me to realise that I should have been doing this ages ago. What else am I adding to my life:

• Yoga – I love it and it is good for me. Now that I’ve got the car no excuse not to make classes
• Pilates – which I enjoy and gives me extra class options if yoga doesn’t fit with my diary
• Swimming – car opens up lots of swimming opportunities across the summer that I can easily take advantage of
• Writing – beyond the blog, I’m making a conscious decision to spend a minimum of 2 hours writing a week working on creative projects. This may not sound much but I’d rather put in a small amount and exceed it than abuse myself for under delivering
• Theatre/concerts – need to drag friends along to more theatre and concerts. OK so some of the music that appeals to me is a tad quirky but surely I’m not the only person that likes weird arty stuff?
• Exploring – now that I have my car, need to get out there and explore the Sydney area. Best way to get over my hatred of driving
• Hanging out with friends – need to do this much more than I have been recently. Thinking more entertaining at my house is definitely called for, I do love to cook
• Experimenting – opening my mind to new recipes, new aromatherapy mixes, learning more re tarot etc.. I have a naturally inquisitive mind and it needs more nourishment than media can provide. I may even try that African Drumming Class that has been tempting me for the last couple of years. Anything goes really

What are the things that you don’t do/haven’t done in ages because you are too busy? I think you should write them down and work out if they are worth missing out on. Those friends you haven’t seen in years, give them a call. If you’ve always wanted to try an art class, what is stopping you? Look online, I bet there are lots of options in your area. These things are a part of our education growing up, why do we see them as so frivolous once we are adults? They are all parts of what make us fully rounded and happy human beings.

If the fear of being bad at it is what is stopping you, all I can say is get over it. You don’t need to be good at something to enjoy it. If you do have some talent, that is gravy. I’m not exactly the world’s best at yoga but it does me the world of good and I don’t mind looking silly for an hour or so. Frankly I think we should all be encouraged to look silly for at least 1 hour each week. Particularly those of us that tend to be high-flyers in the workplace, being a beginner at something can be very grounding.

Well I have to admit, I’m excited about the world of opportunities out there. I’m not deluding myself, I know that I’ll be working hard at my new work-place, media isn’t exactly a 9-5 job. But it is about making the effort to fit the other things in too. After all, we set our own priorities; we shouldn’t be allowing our clients and bosses to be setting them for us. Plus, I suspect they would rather you were healthier and happier rather than stressed out and exhausted.

So have fun, I know I’m planning to.