Happy Christmas eve to you folks. My early gift to me is time, space and state of mind to start writing again. Truth is I just haven’t felt like writing for an incredibly long time. I could say it’s because I’ve been busy with other things and thinking, and I have. But this is certainly something I’ve missed. In coming months I’ll be writing about being a woman, a mum in leadership.
It’s taken me a long time to come to this point (talking about myself as a leader that is), but now I’m ready to converse on these terms my goal is to intertwine my pursuit of the truth with this story. And ‘the truth’ is something that fascinates me on a daily basis. Is there any such thing?
Anyway…
It’s been a long year full of many twists and turns, but also a year of reaping the rewards of hard (bloody hard) work.
Having been self-employed for most of my working life the luxury of holidays is something I’m only just coming around to – oh, who am I kidding, I’m LOVING it.
I must admit the thought of coming to an abrupt halt after a busy year was something I wasn’t looking forward to so I gently eased myself into it by converting my office to a ‘pop up’ Christmas shop selling recycled goodies over a period of three days.
I lasted about – oh – 1.5 of those days, deciding at long last the retail life ain’t for me and enhancing my admiration of anyone that can interface with the public for extended periods of time and stay sane.
The thing about having time, which is the thing I’ve been most worried about is exactly that… time.
Time to ponder, time to notice, time to think.
It’s little wonder alcohol consumption goes through the roof at this time of year, it’s the great escape from reality. And with a Christmasie cocktail of tenuous family relationships, ignored household repairs, financial pressure and so much more it’s little wonder Aussies queue in droves for gallons of booze to drown out the pain that no kale smoothie will ever touch the sides of. Yet, things that eventually need to be examined all the same.
Anyway – I write from the high moral ground of an alcohol free day (AFD) yesterday. Teetotaller I am not but I must admit my cynicism towards Australia’s amber obsession is growing by the year.
But it’s Christmas so let’s leave that topic on the shelf for the time being. My time to think, time for space has brought forward several very important points. One of which is that I seem to have an inordinate amount of beetroot in my pantry. In fact, at last count seven tins. I clearly recall a recent, or was it several trips to the local grocery store and shoving a tin into the trolley with thoughts of walnuts and fetta crumbled over sumptuous baby beets. Or was it the tin of sliced beetroot which was clearly needed for the burgers.
Horrified in my obvious oversight I asked my more organised daughter (she’s 10 now) if she knew of this ridiculous collection
“I just thought you collected them” she told me, understanding and accommodating as always.
The beetroot discovery reminded me just how easy it is for things to build up. It made me remember that sometimes it’s not until we stop, look and listen that we notice what’s really going on, and the effect that it is having on our lives.
It’s incredibly fortuitous that beetroot is a very effective liver cleanser, perhaps a subconscious hint to improve my health over the break. I’m going to be doing a lot of noticing in the next few weeks – in my holidays. Signing out now as pre-Christmas cleaning and declutter calls. No, I am not leaving the house for more beetroot.
