I have missed you.
The holidays passed, not in a whirlwind of tinsel and cheer but in a slow rolling, easy kind of way.
It was a different Christmas for us this year, away from the traditional and the familiar, spent in the warm hues of an island paradise.
Yes, we missed home and all the trappings but the freedom, both mental and physical, to let the year go in a gentle and relaxed fashion was as therapeutic as it gets.
I am home with a whole new mind-set.
Not brand new resolutions because they might set me on a path to disappointment. This year I want to focus on “growth” and a “refresh” in every area of life. I don’t want to fill my head with unrealistic expectations or stress myself along the road to failure; I want to look at the year as an expansion, as a time to grow all the good and refresh what is already in place.
I want to make the time count.
I am old enough to understand every second is precious and should never be taken for granted. Using time wisely is an art and I want to work on that. I don’t want to look back with wishful thinking and regret time wasted. This is the one thing we can make sure of. This is a year to DO. Small wishes or impossible dreams, there is no time to lose.
Over the holidays I started reading for pleasure again.
I left the computer idle, the iPad uncharged, the Facebook page unattended, the emails unopened and read fiction. I am confident my almost digital detox has given me mental clarity and a refreshed mind-set. It was hard to push down my day-to-day habits, to leave behind connectivity in favour of my own imagination but I managed. Now I feel in reverse; I am slow and gawky on the keyboard, like a teenager getting ready for a date. I am expectant but unsure; I am ready but tentative. Here goes.
Deep down I trust the break and I am committed to finding the balance between work and play. Why is my default position one or the other? This year I want to find equilibrium; equal doses of everything.
I cannot believe I am about to write this sentence. I started yoga.
Finally after years of umming and arring I am committed. It took an incredible Ayurvedic Doctor, an island escape and a body with an embarrassing lack of flexibility to push me over the edge.
Yoga has been something I am always meaning to do. I see the benefits on others and I am well intentioned but before now, I never made it. There was always time in the future to learn a pose and go with “the flow”. The time is now. Now I see stretching, in the discipline of choice, as a non-negotiable. It is not easy for me, I won’t say it is a pleasure but afterwards it makes me feel like a whole new me. I am stronger, more agile and most importantly relaxed. I can breathe.
Yoga will be a part of my fitness routine for now and evermore. I know I am speaking to many who are much smarter and have been practising for years and yes, please say I told you so.
I am making small changes, nothing revolutionary. I’m not unrealistic but I do hope to work on what’s already in play and I am excited to see what this brings.
I have so many plans and yet none of them fixed. Let’s grow together and make our great greater.
It’s easy when we have each other. xv
image, levis.com, the revel
